Author's Note;
Hey guys! I'm sorry for the late updates; I'm full-time at work and going to school, and it's taking most of my time away from writing. Thank you for still reading this even though my updates have had gaps than promised. It makes me so happy this story is still going strong and growing.
With that said....Thank you! The story has been up for over a year now, and I can't believe it has gotten this big. I initially published the first three chapters of this story late at night, thinking to myself that if I never post something, I'll never get better at writing. It was a last-minute decision saying, "Screw it!" I don't regret anything and am thankful for the feedback. I used to be horrible with anything related to writing, but a friend of mine told me my descriptions and imagination were too good to be left unused. Sadly, she and I don't talk anymore, but she is still a massive part of my writing, and I would not be publishing this without her support. But now, it's not her support that drives me but more so the support of you readers.
You are all amazing! Thank you for reading. Please vote on the story and leave a comment!
Percy POV
We continued on down the maze until we found a room filled with waterfalls. The room was covered with damp, wet walls as the waterfalls led all the water down a bottomless cavernous pit. Leaves and vegetation grew on the damp rocks. But the vegetation did not reach the crater. The area surrounding the pit was a dark volcanic rock.
"This pit leads straight to Tartarus. Maybe I should jump in and save you the trouble," Briares told the group.
"Please don't say that," Silena reassured.
"You honestly would cause us even more trouble if you do," I muttered. Annabeth and Grover elbowed me to shut me up.
"I think you are awesome. You helped the gods win the first time. I think you are more than able to do it again," Silena told him.
"What about your brothers? They can help us too!" Tyson said happily.
"They are faded. They faded long ago," Briares told us.
"Faded? What's that again?" Beckendorf asked.
"That's when a deity doesn't want to live anymore. They willingly give into the void of chaos and stop existing. On a side note, the more beings there are sacrificed to the void, the more powerful the next being born will be. That's why the primordials are so powerful. The void was full of potential. And why the gods are weaker in comparison, the number of deities that exist are far more now than there were when the primordials came to be," Annabeth informed.
"That last part makes a lot of sense. I never thought of it like that," I thought out loud.
"We could use your help," Silena advised.
"I am no help," he told us.
I grabbed one of his arms and pulled him towards one of the waterfalls. I told him that he could help. Tyson believed in him, and if Tyson believed in him, that meant that not only do I believe in him, but the whole of Poseidon cabin believed in him even though they didn't know it yet. I told him everything that happened so far since Luke betrayed us, everything leading up to Zeus' cabin switching sides. I told him that if Tyson believed he could help us fight off an army, I thought he could fight ten of them.
Briars then said that he didn't have a cheating coin to make everything easy, unlike me. He didn't have a magic coin that made sure he could win. He looked sad, depressed. He looked as though hope was a distant memory lost to the sands of time. He began to walk away before he could walk into the shadows of another tunnel; I spoke up.
"Olethros is a tool," I said. "It's not all-powerful. It's not the ultimate trump card. It's a part of me. It's a matter of perspective. Like all tools, it matters how it is used. I just know my tool better than I know anything else. And with that, things could happen. I promise you. If you give up and let the titans win, you will fade like your brothers. If you fight and win with us, you could do so much more. You won't live for them as you did for thousands of years or just live for Zeus like you did when he broke you out. You would now be able to live for yourself. Fight for yourself. Tyson believes in you. If Tartarus itself can't stop you...nothing can," I ranted.
Briars looked back for a few seconds before walking out, into the shadows, out of my field of view. Once he left, I turned back to the group. Everyone looked tired, and I told everyone that they should rest up and I would stay awake. Annabeth said I should rest too, but I pointed to the water and told them that it would do me more good than any sleep.
Aperio and Aioniotia transformed back to regular forms due to the excess space of the room we were in. I could see Silena snuggling closer to Aperio while everyone was asleep. Beckendorf accidentally rolled closer in his sleep, and both lions began to growl in response. Beckendorf, in his sleep, frowned and rolled back over.
Silena woke up with a start and began to pant. She was drenched with sweat. I rushed over, and when she saw me, she melted into my embrace. She looked troubled and concerned. She told me she had a dream of Daedalus and Icarus. About how Daedalus made the wings and barely escaped King Minos. She then saw the father and son jump out the window and fly away using the bronze wings Daedalus had made. But then she saw Icarus fall, and she felt the feeling of falling during his entire descent down.
"Demigod dreams suck," Silena muttered. "Well, yours seems alright. You dream of mom and not in the nice sweet way but actually see her in the literal could have a conversation way." She then looked at my face. "What's wrong?"
"That is the question I'm asking myself. Your mother has been giving me the silent treatment. I've prayed and tried to speak to her, but all I'm getting is the feeling that I'm wasting my time," I admitted.
"She's not responding? That's weird; talking to you is like the highlight of her day. She's like a schoolgirl with a crush. Which makes sense since her entire personality is based on love itself. Maybe something happened?"
"That's what's got me worried," I enlightened.
The next morning everyone ate their breakfast and began down the maze once more. Aperion and Aioniotita reluctantly turned back into their smaller forms. Grove started to mention that it smelled like the Underworld. We continued down the path until we made it through some tall grass and ended up back outside. I was near a wooden fence to hold back cattle.
Not long after entering the clearing of what I figured was a ranch, we began to see exotic mythical animals. Aperio and Aioniotita started to lick their lips at some of the animals and monsters on display. Even in their small forms, they were feared since most creatures backed away, figuring out what my cat-disguised-lions were.
Aioniotita had stopped Aperio from eating an animal when a man came towards us. He called for our attention as if he knew my lions were up to no good. He was tall and muscular. He had stark white long hair and a beard. He looked like a redneck father-time. Actually, now that I looked at him, he looked like buff Sam Elliott when he had long hair. He even sounded like him. If you don't know who that is, imagine the ideal actor for any cowboy role or southern American role, and you still won't be able to come close to how spot-on he is for it. He is the embodiment of an old southern actor with a deep, wise voice. I don't know how a voice sounds clever, but trust me, he is. I knew who he was by reputation but never had the chance to meet him before, that is, if I guessed who he was correctly.
Orthus, the miniature, the two headed, version of Cerberus, was standing by his side. The old-looking buff guy had a large club with spikes coming from it. Orthus stood tall ready to fight. He was going to bark before my cats jumped forward. He began to bark at them, seeing he was bigger. But slowly, they grew in size, and the barks became lower and lower in volume. Until they sounded like a whisper and whimper. The lions roared, and Orthus hid behind his tall owner.
"Wielder of Olethros," the man greeted with a southern accent.
"Wielder of Baseball bat filled with nails," I returned. The man smirked at the joke.
"Half-bloods?" he asked the rest of the group.
"Daughters of Aphrodite and Athena, son of Hephaestus, a satyr and a cyclops. I'm a son of Poseidon and legacy of Athena," I told him, pointing to everyone respectively.
"Legacy? Of Athena?" he asked cryptically, but Silena and I knew what he meant. Greek demigods don't usually live long enough to have kids. Seeing a legacy of a Greek god or goddess might as well be impossible. I nodded my head to his question. "I'm the son of Ares and Erytheia. Name's Eurytion."
"I'm surprised you're not a cyclops," I said a little too loud. Silena elbowed me in the gut but then leaned in to ask why I said that. "Erytheia is one of Zoe Nightshade's sisters. She's one of the Hesperides. And we all know that when a deity has a kid with a nymph, which the Hesperides is, the baby is usually one of these guys," I said, trying and failing to give Tyson a nuggy.
"If I were you, I would head back the way you came. Guess it was the labyrinth since the entrance is so close to here. Most demigods that come usually come through the entrance," Eurytion told us.
"I'm sorry, but we can't. We're on a quest." Annabeth countered.
"Y'all leave me no choice then. Gotta bring you to the big boss man," he said with a bit of sadness. "Keep your weapons down. That's not a suggestion. It's a rule." Most of us put our weapons away. Beckendorf turned his hammer into one of those toy ones that squeaked loudly when they hit something. I put Olethros in my pocket as a coin.
We followed him into a barn and saw a sight I didn't want to see ever again. A giant monster then looked like he had three necks attached to one body. The best way to describe it was having three bodies compressed together, but the left body had only had the left arm since its right part was connected to the middle body, and the right body only had the right arm since its left side was connected to the middle as well. Where the two other heads should have been for the other bodies were nothing but stubs.
"Ah, Perseus Jackson. I was wondering when a businessman like yourself was going to come here," the monster said.
"Geryon. So, you are the owner of Triple G ranch. I have to say your scorpions are dangerous they nearly killed me during a camp exercise," I admitted.
"Ah, so they did well then. Killing powerful beings is what they are supposed to do," Geryon informed.
Before we could carry on our conversation, I heard someone open the door. I looked to see Nico walking in and was going to say something to Geryon. The moment he saw us, I could see the confusion. As if he didn't know how to make us.
"Nico? What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Oh, I see you know the other guest we have here. Mr. Di Angelo has come here since his ghost friend Minos believes that I may be of assistance."
"Minos?" Silena asked. "Like the evil king the trapped Daedalus?"
"Oh, great. He's going to be fun to deal with," I said sarcastically. "Nico, I think you can get better advice from an actual snake than him."
"I don't need to hear anything from you," Nico countered.
"You want to bring someone back from the dead, right?" I asked.
"How did you...." Nico was going to ask. "Were you spying on me?"
"Not really," I admitted. "Someone just opened an Iris message, and there you were trying to bring back the dead."
"Like he's going to believe that, then someone else Iris-messaged, you lie," Greyson informed.
"Nico bringing back the dead is never a good idea," I told them. "You should never permanatly bring the dead back to life. Something temporary may be fine for several hours but anything longer is bad. Outside of Hades himself doing it, they come back...wrong. Yes, kids of Hades could get darn near close, but the dead don't feel right. They hurt, deep down inside; they even know they don't feel right."
"I could do it. I want to bring her back. I want to know her," Nico countered. Pain could be heard in the base of his voice. I wanted to stop him before he did something he regretted. I wanted him to learn this before he messed with the fundamental laws of the godly world.
"Death is a part of life. It makes it so much better," I told him. "It makes things precious."
"But my father is the god of the dead. I should be able to bring life back into death," Nico argued. He was smart, I could admit. Through death, there is wisdom, and the children of Hades know this best. They suffer because of death, but they do become wise.
"Hades is the god of the dead. Not the god of death, Nico," I warned him. "Phanes, the primordial of life, once spoke to Thanatos, the god of death. Phanes asked why Phanes was loved, but Thanatos was hated. Do you know what Thanatos said?"
"I don't care," Nico said, blind to the fact I was trying to help him.
"Do you know what he said!" I screamed. The entire land shook in my rage. The skies darkened, and the thunder rolled due to my connection to Olethros and the sky. But that same connection was making my reactions rash. Everyone shied away from me.
"No," Nico said, taken back.
"Thanatos said that Phanes is a beautiful lie and that he, Thanatos, is an ugly lie. Ironic considering that he could pass as a god of beauty. The meaning of this is that death follows truth. Life does not follow death. Life is painful but beautiful. Death is finality and ugly. So, in other words, trying to bring anyone back completely and permanently if you're not Hades himself is stupid and prideful."
"I don't care...I want to meet her," Nico told me.
"Meet who?" Silena asked.
"My mother," Nico muttered. "I want to meet my mother."
"How touchin'n," Greyson muttered sarcastically. "You know, speakin'n about meetin'n other people, I heard somethin'n excitin'n."
"What would that be?" I asked to get ready and tighten my grip on Olethros in my pocket.
"Mr.Bolt is payin'n a pretty drachma for any demigods. The more powerful the demigod, the more money," Greyson told me. "I thought if I held on to Mr. Di Angelo long, enough someone would come by that might've been lookin'n for him. Y'all fit the description pretty well, I'd say. A daughter of Aphrodite might be useful, considerin'n your mom was one of the main reasons the titan's lost the last time. Hephaestus's son with a stygian iron hammer, means he's better than all his siblings, I'd wager."
"Would you now?" I asked cryptically.
"I'd imagine that Mr.Bolt would pay even more considerin'n we've got a son of Hades," Greyson told me. "Eurytion, you know what you got to do."
The moment he said that Eurytion grabbed his large club and went to swing it towards Beckendorf. Tyson caught the club and, thankfully, the spikes missed his hands. Then Beckendorf turned and tried to swing his hammer towards Eurytion's head. Before Beckendorf could finish his swing, the two-headed dog jumped towards him and tried to bite down on him.
Aperio, in his true size, jumps forward and hits Orthus out of the way before he can hurt anyone. Aioniotita jumped up and tried to tackle Eurytion. But before we could turn the tides, someone coughed loudly, trying to get our attention.
Everyone turned to see Geryon holding Silena and Grover by their throats. I was going to run towards him and cut off his head, but he moved Silena in the way of the slash. I had to stop mid-strike and ducked under her to try and cut him in half from his waist. But before I could even do that, he moved Grover in the way, and I had to force myself to a stop and nearly tripped up on myself.
"Nice try, kid. But if you move, the two die. I don't know about you, but their necks look mighty breakable from my perspective," Geryon said in his southern drawl.
"So, help me, gods, I will kill you and feed you to your monster pets," I warned. "Let them go, and it will be painless. Scratch that; it's going to be painful either way, but at least the better option is not as severe," I warned him.
"Temper, temper. You sons of the big O' Barnacle Beard have no control of your own emotions," Geryone returned. "Now, I have made a contract with a client saying that two of your questers are free to go. More specifically, this contract is for two demigods, the Wilder of Olethros and Miss Chase, here. The contract says nothin'n about the two other demigods on this quest or the two monsters."
"Monsters?" Grover asked. He looked sad that he was called a monster.
"How about a deal then?" I asked.
"A deal?" Geryon asked.
"Simple, I noticed that one of your stables was dirtier and smellier than a guy's locker room on Taco Tuesday, and every taco was half the price," I told him.
"The Flesh-eatin'n horses," Geryon enlightened.
"I'll clean them. I'll clean them in exchange that you let every single last one of us free. Even the non-quester. Let all of us free, and don't tell Mr.Bolt that you have us here, and I'll clean the entire stables free of charge," I offered. It didn't take a geneius to figure out that Mr.Bolt was Marcus Bolt.
"Those stables do need a proper clean'n," he amused.
"Plus, if you clean the stables, there would be more space for more cattle. More cattle means more profit," Annabeth added.
"I don't see how you could possibly lose from this," I added. "You get more money, and it's not a short-term investment either. The last person to clean those stables was Heracles, and I'm guessing you were making money off of the extra space for a while."
"You got yourself a deal," Geryon said with a simile. "But this will only work if you can clean that entire stable by sunset."
"But that's not enough time!" Selena screamed. She then tried to use her charm to speak. "Just please, give him a bit mo...." Before she could finish, Geryon tightened his grip on her throat and caused her to choke. She could barely breathe and began kicking her legs and flailing around.
I was going to attack, but Geryon eyed me down and warned me he could quickly kill her if he wanted to. He loosened his grip, and Silena began to breathe once more. I tried to kill him right there but knew that both Silena's and Grover's lives would be forfeited if I tried to do anything.
"If you try to charm-speak me, darlin'n, I will snap your neck like a toothpick," Geryon warned her. I would leave the room to start off with cleaning, and Aperio and Aioniotita followed me. But before I could leave Geryon stopped me. "Leave your lions here. I don't need them trying to eat my cattle or help you come up with a way to renege on our deal."
"Renege?" Grover asked.
"It means to go back on your word," Annabeth told him.
"Not the time," I said, walking out.
Once I did, I made my way to the table filled with the red, man-eating horses. I stared at them while they began sizing me up. They looked as though they were ready to devour me. You would assume that since I was Poseidon's son, they would at least pretend to like me. My dad created you; at least pretend to like me.
I tried to speak with them and communicate, but most of the conservation was how they could eat me and how they would prefer if I screamed while they ate me alive. Something about them liking a dinner and a show and preferring seafood.
I looked at them and tried to get into the stables, but they quickly went to bite me, and I had jumped out just as fast. I thought about freezing them than cleaning them, but I might actually freeze them to the point that they die the second they dethaw. Whoever thought that getting more powerful would make things easier obviously never thought that there is still the whole thing of a human with godly powers. I can't control everything, especially since Olethros has gotten more powerful.
Every option I could think about in trying to get them out of the stables ended up hurting them in some way, and that was not good if I wanted to complete my side of the deal. I couldn't think of anything that could help. Until I thought of the person that completed the sale before me, Heracles. He diverged an entire river to clean the stables. But I understand better than most how pissed off that nymph was once he did so. I looked to my right and saw the river and, more interestingly, the nymph in question.
"Hello there," I said. She turned to look at me. Her hair was literally made of water, and her eyes were the same blue as the river she represented.
"Perseus Jackson, the Skybreaker, son of Poseidon, and legacy of Athena," she said as if she was terrified. This is understandable since I was the son of the guy in charge of anything water-related and the grandson of the woman that can make you a prisoner to your own mind. "What are you doing here?"
"Cleaning up after some horses," I responded.
Her eyes widened in horror. "No! No. You can't use my river to clean your stables! It took years for me to get the polluted water out. My fish were swimming in poop and pee forever." She stood tall, looking at me definitely. I could see her shaking and straining her body just to look at me intimidatingly. She clenched her fists hard enough for her knuckles to turn white.
Her river was rushing faster and harsher as if trying to be like a deadly river instead of the calm, steady stream it once was. She was trying to scare me into doing what she wanted. At least that's what it looked like to anyone not related to the sea. She was actually making a show to give herself enough confidence to fight against her own prince, I'm son of a king of water, if you forgot. She was trying to look strong enough to hold a conversation with me instead.
I didn't realize it, but my aura was showing as well. It was intimidating to face a demigod when you're a weaker nymph. Now imagine facing a child of the Big Three. And then add on to that said person is tri-blood, and now you might find out that your underwear is not the same color as it originally was.
I let out a sigh. "I'm not going to force you to help me," I admitted. "What type of prince would I be if I force you to do what I want? My dad has nymphs in his court."
She sighed in relief and released her river from her control, letting it follow back to normal. She let her hands stop clenching into fists. But she still seemed a little tense. All things considered, she is talking to her prince, so that does make sense.
"But I do need your help," I told her.
She tensed even more but tried to hide it. "What do you need?"
"I could control the water. That is basically my birthright. I could feel it when near bodies of water, but there was something else. I'm a legacy of Athena, so I'm not stupid. There is water vapor in the air. Around 60 percent of the human body is made of water. Plants rely on water to have them stored up. In other words, even the earth, vegetation mostly, and sky because he is in charge of all water., is within my fathers domains, even if loosely. But since most children are demigods, they can't control everything. It's even worse when you think about the divide between Roman and Greek," I ranted.
"What do you mean?" she gasped.
"Please, Olethros has been in both sides of the pantheon. I know better than anyone that there are others besides us in camp. That being said, the divide between Roman aspects and Greek makes it, so the demigods are better at some parts of their father's domain than others. For my father, if your Roman, you are better with storms. If you are Greek, you're better with water. But since both are only half-god, they can never reach their full potential with either and if they do well, ask the last child of Hephaestus that controlled fire and worked in a fiery volcanic forge. I wonder how many people actually know the reason Pompei happened," I added.
"What are you getting at?" she finally said rudely, getting tired of my monologue. I looked at her, and she got frightened again.
"Half-bloods don't live very long on this side of the pantheon because they don't rely on others as much as the Romans and are forced to grow more powerful. They usually cap off at sixteen because they have grown too powerful for mortal flesh. At least that's what Athena and I theorized, and from the book she gave me, it seems right. But I don't have that issue. I am a tri-blood, and ,at that, drunk the essence of another powerful godly pantheon. I am strong enough to face titans, but I haven't figured out how to use my father's domains to their fullest."
"So, what do you want me to do...my prince?" she asked.
"I want you to help me. I want to learn how to fully use my father's domains of water. And since we are at it, I'll give you something as a thank you. You teach me, and I'll make sure to make your river bigger, making you stronger, and I'll give you a sand dollar. As children of water, we both know how important a sand dollar is, living or otherwise. And to give you more incentive a couple freshwater clams or mussels, your choice."
"A sand dollar? Are you serious? That's impossible! We both know that only a highly prominent sea deity can give those out," she argued.
"I control the sea of monsters. Monsters don't eat regular animals, so the ecosystem in the sea of monsters is in better shape than any other sea ecosystem ever was in history. The previous users of Olethros made many deals with my father to get as many sea animals that filter water as possible. For thousands of years, the number has exploded. Giving away a couple won't bother me at all," I told her with a knowing smirk. I reached out my hand. "Deal?"
She shook my hand without a second thought. "I want clams. If you could turn them into fresh water and make sure they are sapphire blue or emerald green, I will be in your debt. I could use a few more bragging points with the other nymphs. I hate that Heracles polluted my river, but the other river nymphs bring it up all the time and never let it go."
"I would like to consider this a begging of a wonderful friendship and partnership then," I said as we shook hands. "Now, on to the lesson. I could always use Olethros to get water from the seas and stuff, but that would be too powerful. I need something I could regulate, and learning to use water from the air is the best option. Let's Professor Nymph."
"I'll show you the same way my mother taught me," she said.
"I didn't even know a river was so famous if you actually had parents. I thought you were born when the stream was made like most of the older generation," I throughout out loud.
"I do, too, have a mom! Her name is...." she muttered the name. I looked at her and told her to actually say the word. After several mutterings and going in a circle, she relented. "We're stepsiblings, okay! My mother is Amphitrite."
"When, the Tartarus, did she cheat on Poseidon?" I asked. She did not want to respond and decided to go into the lesson.
"Okay, first, take a deep breath while closing your eyes," she said while I did as she spoke. "Focus on your breath solely your breath. Now listen to your heartbeat. Ignore all other sounds around us and listen to your heart. Think of the waters of the world. My stream, your father's oceans. Slowly focus on it."
When she said that, I noticed something I had never done in my life. My heartbeat matched the crashing of the waves of the ocean. Whatever place I focused on, the sea met the land; my heartbeat matched the crash. My breath reached the moment when the water slowly rose onto the shore. When the water gradually went up the shore, I took a breath; my breath exhaled when the waters returned to the ocean.
"Now, think of the sky as another ocean. Feel the wind and unimaginable heights. Imagine the heights as the depths of the sea. Think of the plants like the ones you would find underwater. Feel the water in them. Draw the water to you. It obeys you; you are its prince, its chosen. The oceans chose you to have the Heart of the Sea; the waters love you; they embrace you. Those related to the sea are jealous and territorial, we do not give up what is ours, and you belong to the water depths. She is with you always. Imagine them here and ask them to come to you. The waves of the world push and pull, do not force them, guide them."
I listened to every word. I could feel the waters around me. They were small but asked them to join together. When I finally opened my eyes, I could see water surrounding me and turning around me. It reminded me of the rings of an atom but made of only water. Then the water changed direction and converted to make new spirals and rings like rivers changing shape and reconverging together.
"Wow." I had to admit this is new. I looked at the nymph and smiled. "Alpheus, you are a good teacher."
"You knew my name the whole time and didn't say it?' she asked, angry and agitated.
"Consider it payback for trying to intimidate me the second we met. I will hold up my end of the deal when the quest is over."
She smiled at the end after remembering what she would get in return and slowly back into her river. Once she left, I returned to the stables and confronted the horses. They continued to say they would like to eat me and belittle me. I offered one chance to end this without anything terrible happening, and they told me they would eat my little Percy maker. I like my little Percy maker, and so we're all on the same page. It's anything but minor.
With that, I called all the water I could and heled its place above the stables without the horses knowing. I continued to add more water until nearly a thousand gallons of water was above the vast stable. It would not kill them; the water was spread wide over the stables and was enough to clean everything, relax.
I allowed the water to give in to gravity, and it fell on top of all the horses cleaning the entire stable in one fell swoop. The horses were panting and trying to run around, but the ground was now muddy, and their grip on the ground was nonexistent. They each began to fall and slip and crash into each other.
The water seeped back into the ground, and the smell is gone since the water is perfect and neutralizes terrible odors. The ground around me was damp and moist due to the amount of water I had just dropped on top of the area.
Once it was over, I went back to the main barn where everyone was. Everyone was outside as Geryon was warming up the barbeque. All of my friends, daughter, and Nico were chained up in celestial bronze. Geryon was surprised that I even finished cleaning the stables, let alone before the time expired. He wasn't mad; he was happy, the task was done and earlier than he expected.
"Did really good on your end, kid," Geryon told me. He was holding Silena by the throat and
"I had to honor my end of the bargain," I replied. "Now, I want your end of the deal in full."
"In full? Now, that could be a problem. Because I thought about our deal. I think I need to change it. I'll let everyone on the quest go...alive. I won't even tell Mr.Bolt that y'all were here. But Mr. I-see-dead-people is stay'n here with me," Greyson suggested.
"We made a deal," I told him, anger filling every word.
"You never made me vow on the river Styx, now, did ya?" he asked rhetorically. Olethros spun in my hand as a coin. "Eurytion, this boy is anyoin'n. Kill 'em for me."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Silena warned him. "All it takes is one cut from this thing, and you aren't coming back to life for some time, Mr.Immortal-demigod," she mocked
"Shut it you! I thought I warned you!" Geryon warned her. "After Eurytion kills him, he's gonna teach you a lesson too."
"You're gonna be waitin'n a while since I'm not going to fight him," Eurytion told him.
"What?" Geryon returned.
"I've been cleanin'n your messes and killing people for you for eons. I've been killed for you dumb self more times than I can count. Being killed by the Wielder of Olethros himself is not something I want to add to the ways I've been offed. You can kill 'em yourself. If that's even possible," Eurytion muttered the last part to himself. He then grabbed a beer sitting next to his two-headed dog to, I assume, watch the fight.
"You dare defy me," Geryon questioned. Eurytion took a long sip from his beer, then lit a cigarette and did the same. I am not ashamed to say I wanted to join him. "Fine, "I'll deal with you after I kill this brat."
Geryon snapped his fingers, and two large hellhounds came forth. They were bigger than me, and they looked different than usual. Their body was cracked like stone, more so than even the more ancient hellhounds. The cracks on their body bleed fiery blue light that matched their eyes, and the glows in their mouths. They had six eyes, and their fur was matted and wreaked of rotting flesh. Ribs and bones jutted out of their bodies, and it took me far too long to realize what happened to them.
"My gods, what have you done?" asked scared now.
"I haven't done anything, boy. I found em like this," Geryon told me. "I thought they looked intrstin'n and held onto them. I didn't know if they were goin'n to sell, but with the look on your face, they have to be worth a pretty penny."
"Aperion and Aioniotita, here," I uttered. My kittens jumped to my side, away from the beast of a two-headed dog. They grew in size until they were giant lion forms. They growled at enemy hellhounds.
"Now they could catch me a pretty penny," Geryon told me, giving my lions a new look and once over. "Sick 'em."
Geryon took out a large sword with a metal hilt with a metal cow skull engraved on the crossguard. Our two sides collided in a second as we clashed toward each other. Aperion and Aioniotita tackled down the hellhounds roughly their sizes as they each began to fight and claw for dominance.
Geryon stood tall as he Leaped up and turned Olethros into a spear, forced lighting from the tip, and tried to ram it down into his chest for a quick victory. He sided stepped way o quickly for a monster of his size.
When I landed on the ground, I tried to go for three more strikes, but he dodged each lunge quickly and with minimal effort. I went for a giant swing with my spear, and when it was about to hit him, he ducked under it as if limboing. Before I could continue the swing's motion, I changed directions so that I could lunge at him with a strike since he was unbalanced due to his dodge.
He quickly got ready and blocked the strike with his sword as we stayed there in the brief standstill. My strike went past his sword and grazed his cheek. The force of my strike was enough for me to push him back and into the wall. I went for another strike, and this time he blocked it outright, but the force of the blow was enough to cause winds strong enough to push everyone away from us. We clashed once more, and the earth beneath us cracked as rubble was shot up into the sky.
I went for a wide swing once more, but he was ready and ducked under it. With my right side opened, he kicked me out of the building and into the building. The force of the kick sent me reeling through the wall as wood and exploded out of the barn. I tried to get up from the pile of wood, but Geryon was already on me. He tried to strike, but I punched him in the jaw with enough force to send him flying towards the staircase going upstairs.
Slowly, the two of us rose as we cracked our necks and other bones that basically proved that we were ready for round two to the other person. I stood up and began to twirl my spear around my hand to demonstrate my expertise with the weapon. Then I slammed the but of the spear into the ground with enough force to cause it to leap back into the air. I then kicked the spear, causing it to fly at speeds faster than even the eye could see.
Geryon saw it coming but couldn't block it as it sliced through his body. It embedded itself right in the center of his middle chest. The force of the blow was enough to force him to fall back down the hole of a staircase he once was in. I smirked as I saw his body go limp.
"Nice try, kid. Three bodies mean three hearts," Geryon said as he slowly rose with my spear sticking out of his chest. Before I had the chance to resummon my weapon to my hand, Geryon launched himself towards me and slammed me to the ground.
I dodged three slashes, but one slammed into my back. I would have had a bad scar if it weren't for the black lion's fur coat. I tried to reach out my hand for Olethros to fly into my grasp, but each time Geryone forced me to give up so that I could dodge, the next blade could never come back to me.
Geryon went for another swing, but I ducked under it and punched out his knee before kneeing him in the face with enough force to cause him to collapse. Before I could capitalize on it, a hellhound leaped at me and tackled me to the ground. Its gnashing teeth and claws tried to rip me to shreds, but it was difficult considering my coat couldn't be penetrated.
I punched its side full force, but it barely did anything. These things are dangerous. They could take on a punch from a tri-blood with the strength of a godly pantheon.
Before the creature could do another gnash at me. Aperion leaped in and tackled it out of the side. He did so just in time for me to get punched by Geryon. He punched me several times before picking me up and flinging me toward the other side of the building. I crashed into the building and through several walls before finally hitting the ground, making a small crater.
Geryon was trying to get to me. He was walking slowly and methodically as if savoring this. This was the time I needed to capitalize on. I felt all the water around me and blocked out the sounds of everything that didn't matter. I thought about what the nymph told me and focused on how even small pieces of water were in the air itself. I forced them together and gathered them around me.
"The great Wielder of Olethros is nothing without his weapon. It's practically the only thing you're known for. The weapon makes the hero, I guess, with no weapon. No hero," I mocked, walking towards me.
"Even without my weapon, I'm still a tri-blood," I told him.
When he finally got close to me, he could see that droplets of water were floating mid-air as if gravity was only a suggestion of reality. I thought about what she told me that I was to push and pull the water, not force it but rather guide its destination.
"That's not possible. There was no water around us. Even some of the most powerful children of Poseidon have never pulled somethin'n like this off," Geryon realized.
He rushed towards me with his sword drawn because of this newfound information. He couldn't let me have a chance to win this fight. While he was running towards me, I forced all the thousands of water droplets together into my hand. I moved my body fluidly as if was doing tai chi or something pushing and pulling motions. I moved the water toward his foot and pushed it out from under him while pulling some water around harms causing him to flip in the air.
Before he could collapse on the ground, I called forth all the water I could. It gathered around me and snaked around my arm. An open palm shot forward violently with pressures twice as intense as it took to cut through steel. It hit him, causing him to fly closer to where the others were once more.
I saw him try to get up but soon realized it was hard. Mostly likely due to some broken bones or something. I was going to attack but realized that my lions were in trouble. The beasts they were fighting were something that no one had ever fought before. In all honesty, the book that Athena had given me had theorized about them and called them a hell-draugr. It was theorized that creatures' chances of crossbreeding increased tenfold if the Norse and Greek pantheons were involved enough. 0.00000000000000001% is still ten times more than what it usually is. Hellhounds cross breeding with some sort of draugr. This thing has the strength of two hazardous types of monsters in each pantheon, and the more annoying thing is that they continue to get more dangerous and powerful since hellhounds are associated with the dead and draw strength from them draugrs are deadly creatures. In other words, it gets stronger just by being itself. The Norse and Greek are combing, that's both really good since that means we might work together to face Ragnorke and bad since...well...this...this monstrosity exists and is trying to kill my lions.
I looked at the creatures as my lions tried to fight them off. It was a battle between beasts and the gnashing teeth, and clawing at each other's throats was something you would see in the mythological Animal planet. As the Nemean lion fights the crossbreed Hell-draugr, one can see that they go for the throat.
Aioniotita was about to get tackled down before I blasted the monster with all the water I could and forced it to stay down as I continued the pressure. The other creature leaped at me when I wasn't paying attention. I turned around as in slow motion, it nearly clenched its jaws around me. I pulled all the water I coiled before pushing it forward with both hands to send the creature into several different stabled. Aperio leaped after the injured foe to finish the job.
I looked at Geryon, who had just risen from the ground. I pulled the water from the plants around me and from the skies above as it surged around me, making a tornado of water. I forced the tornado towards my feet as it surrounded the lower half of the body, and it helped me fly in the skies as the tornado raged below me.
"That's not possible," Geryon told me.
"I could do all this when surrounded by bodies of water, but. I have to give it to that nymph that helped me. Now I don't need one to pull off half of the things I imagine I could," I revealed.
"He guys, since when did Percy learn how to make hurricanes to help him fly?" Grover asked.
"Can you stop breaking demigod records for like five minutes," Beckendorf asked rhetorically.
"Do you want him to not save us or..." Silena let the question hang there.
"Fair enough. I heard sons of Poseidon can't make it rain diamonds. Please prove me wrong on that one too while you're at it," Beckendorf continued.
I continued to rise high into the air until I was thirty feet off the ground staring down my foe. Storm clouds began to form around the skies as it began to rain, further adding more water and making me string once more. With two fluid motions of my arms, I stopped all the rain around us from falling and then brought them towards me. I was going to slice Geryon in half before one of the Hell-draugrs ran to attack me.
The tornado made of water bellow moved enough for me to dodge the attack due to my will. With several wide slashes of my hand, the raindrops condensed around my hand and, with wide arcs, slashed through whatever I aimed for. I tried to cut a hell-draugr in half, but it moved out of the way leave a cut-like scar on the ground below.
I continued to do this, but the creatures kept on dodging. Everyone leaped up to attack me, but Aperio and Aioniotita jumped up and tackled him down, continuing my fight as we switched enemies. Aioniotita and Aperio help him down long enough for me to reach out my hand and summon Olethros.
It flew back into my hand, and I threw it at one of the monsters. It dodged expertly but wasn't fast enough to entirely avoid its return to my hand. It moved out of the way enough not to get killed, but a large gash was now left on its side due to not dodging in time.
The other creature tried to attack me by leaping up in the air to take me down from my water tornado ride. I pointed the Olethros spear at it as pressurized fire forced itself out of the tip of the blade sent the creature back down.
The wounded one jumped up, but since it was injured, it was now slow. I dodged the attack and rammed the spear in its chest. Then with all the strength, I could manage, I punched it down towards the ground shattering the ground below and kicking up the rubble in an explosion of grass and dirt.
Slowly the creature caught on fire as it slowly turned into dust and died. I turned the remaining hell-draugr and staired it down. I surged the watery tornado forward, ready to clash with the behemoth before me. Before I reached him, I stopped all the water allowing me to free-fall below and fall behind the hell-draugr. I fell in what felt like slow motion as the creature turned with me, ready to face me off once I landed.
Then with a quick motion used all the water from the water tornado and added it to a wide arcing slash from my spear, causing the water pressure to cut through the hell draugr. The water slash cut through it and left it in two separate pieces as it caught on fire and later to dust.
"Wow," Annabeth said, lacking words to say.
"Anybody dating mom has to have some sort of flair for the theatrical," Silena admitted. Beckendorf then leaned in closer and whispered something only I could hear since me being more good made my hearing fare better than anyone else.
"That's going to be my father-in-law," Beckendorf asked. It was safe to assume she must have told him about me and the history of Olethros. It wasn't much of a secret anymore since the gods already knew now, so it didn't really matter at this point.
Aperio and Aiontita were practically ripping Geryon to shreds. He was covered in green blood and cuts and bite marks. He looked broken almost. My lions did more damage to him than I did in my entire fight with him. But sadly, they couldn't deal the finishing blow. Three hearts and all that. I had to kill all three hearts at the same time if I wanted to end this. Thankfully I know how to do it.
I called all the water around me and from the rain above. My hands move slowly and fluidly as if guiding the water. Gradually they formed the shapes of spears or javelins. I tightened my grip on Olethros and froze all the water javelins into ice spikes. They floated mid-air as they were pointed towards Geryon. My lions, knowing what was coming, stood back, leaving him wide open for me. He was so hurt he wouldn't have had the chance to escape either way.
"Never go back on a deal with me Geryon. I take that personally," I warned him. "Maybe the next time you have a conversation with a Wielder of Olethros you can tell him how it felt to be a pin cushion."
I twisted my imperial golden wrist, and all the spikes shot forward and spear through every single part of Geryon's body. All his hearts were destroyed in a second, and his body looked like really bad modern art.
After he was killed, I unchained my friends. Eurytion didn't even try to stop me. Everyone seemed okay, and no one was hurt much. Silena asked what we would do next. Annabeth asked Eurytion how long it takes him to reform, and he told us that it could be more than a hundred years.
Annabeth and Grover advised him, saying that he could change things around here. Grover told him that if she had the animals on his side, things could be more accessible. Annabeth added that he might even be able to boss around Geryon when he gets back. Eurytion was all for that idea. But Grover clarified he would need to start off by getting to know the animals and being nice to them.
Eurytion confirmed that Geryone never had the chance to call the titan army and informed them of the demigods at his ranch. For now, that means that Nico was safe. That was good. Nico stared at me; no, make that glared at me. He was definitely glaring at me.
'You could stay here if you want. You can be safe here," I advised.
"Safe? Safe! What do you care if I'm safe? You left me and my sister to die all those years ago," Nico roared.
I looked to everyone around, and they all had the collective idea that this was a conversation just for the two of us. For some reason, everyone thought it was a good idea to learn how to barbecue some stake. Even Grover...the vegetarian.
"Your sister knows about me and everything, but you I never told. Since you're a son of Hades, and they usually have connections between multiple pantheons, that doesn't necessarily narrow down the options people who knew that," I admitted.
"Why does it matter that someone told me about who you are. It doesn't change the fact that you left us to die," Nico screamed at me.
"It does matter when the person in question is lying to you about half of it," I returned. "I died, Nico. I couldn't save you because I died, and I thought so did you. Not to mention that I'm a blank slate every time I come back unless I avoid death in my lifetime. I bet they never told you that part did they?" Nico remained quiet before continuing on how about it didn't matter that he failed us. "I did."
"What?"
"I failed you. I failed you, sister. I failed you, mother. I failed all of you. But I won't do it again," I returned.
"Sorry doesn't fix the lamp," he told me.
"What did you just say?" I asked. "Say it again."
"It's something I heard once. A woman's voice, I don't know who."
"Your mother. Your mother told me that once when your uncle and I were fighting and bumped into a lamp. It shattered, and when we apologized, that's what she said. Sorry, doesn't fix the lamp. Saying I'm sorry doesn't always fix the issue. She never did like letting things go," I laughed under my breath. I looked to Nico. You want to speak to your mom."
"Why do you care?" he asked angrily.
"Because she has been giving me messages. You deserve to speak to her. Before I leave, I'll help you speak to her. One time, say your hellos and goodbyes."
"Why do you want to help me?" he asked.
"She will always be one of my few regrets. Children of Hades don't own a monopoly, one wanting to make peace with their demons."