Chapter Text
"Greet the world with open arms!"
Polites smiled, taking the lotus from a lotus eater. Odysseus sighed.
"My friend! I wish that I could say that I agree.." Odysseus pulled a lotus from one of the creatures, splitting it in half, "but look at the way this fruit is glowing and filled with glowing seeds! It took me a while to notice just what kind of fruit they eat, it's a lotus, it controls your mind and never sets you free-"
But Polites didn't even listen. He had walked away, eating the lotus.
"Polites! Don't!" But he was too late. Far too late.
Polites was gone. He wouldn't come back, would he? Odysseus stepped back. He ran. Back to the ship.
And if we don't return, then six hundred men will make this whole place burn.
His own words echoed in his ears. They would make this whole island burn.
Because Odysseus would tell them to.
He reached the ship, finally.
The lotus eaters will burn.
"Captain! Where is Polites?" Eurylochus called.
"Gone. Eurylochus?"
"Yes, captain?"
"Set the island ablaze. We're setting sail, back to Ithaca. Stop at islands across the way!"
"Yes, sir."
Eurylochus turned to the rest of the crew.