(Recap: I needed time. Lot of time. I'll apologize to Skylar for leaving her, but later. I went to the one place my heart was aching to see, the one place that I was scared to visit, it had been so many years after all. But I went there. Nothing had changed, even after hundreds of years. Of course my powers had something to do with it, a graveyard couldn't be the same for over 450 years. But I kept it the same. As a reminder. A reminder that no matter what I did, there were always three people I'd failed, 3 people I'd forgotten when Id left. I was standing in front of the graves of Sally Jackson - my mom, Paul Blofis - my step dad and Brianna Jackson - My sister.)
Standing there, looking at my family's graves, I felt like I was a little kid again. My life is now full of crazy dangerous missions. And I love it. Of course, I'm happy to do it because I like helping people, but one of the other reasons is that this keeps me busy. It keeps my mind off the past. I still remember the day I came to know about this -
I was in the training arena with Commander Omega. He had a few years before retirement and wanted to teach me as much as he could. Just then a soldier ran up and announced
"Commander Omega, Lieutenant Stormbringer. Lord Chaos demands your presence immediately. Princess Skylar is already there."
Now even in my short time, I knew how kind Chaos was and how precisely the messengers passed on the orders from him. Never had he demanded something from anyone till now. So something is up. Something serious. We rushed to his cabin and entered withput knocking, just in time to overhear the words "I know it's going to be difficult for him Skylar, but that's why I've called you and Omega both. He needs to know-"
"Know what Lord Chaos? " I interrupted. His face immediately morphed into a sad one, a look I'd never seen him give. I already had a bad feeling about this.
"Percy. Have a seat."
"What's the matter sir? It's gotta do something with Earth, doesn't it?"
"I'm afraid yes Perseus. Have a seat."
Once I sat down, Skylar took my hand in hers and squeezed."
"Perseus. Your mom, step - dad and sister." And I understood.
I stopped breathing. My hearbeat escalated. I'd totally gone numb.
"No. Why me. WHY ME ALL THE FREAKING TIME! WHY CAN'T I HAVE A BREAK FOR A FEW YEARS!" I was so emotionally distraught that words stopped coming out of my mouth.
"H.. Ho... How?"
"Your house caught fire."
"What! Fire! How! "
"The mortal cops say that it was a gas cylinder burst, but the way the fire spread, so fast so viciously, we suspect there was fowl play."
"My family never had any mortal enemies. They were much too kind to cause anyone any trouble. And as far as my dad's side of the world is concerned, I'm dead there as well, so couldn't have been the work of monsters."
"I know Percy. This has proven to be such a typical mortal case. Even if there was fowl play our investigation team sent there have returned with no info on what could have actually happened. I'm sorry Percy."
I don't want to remember everything again, but those were the roughest days of my entire existence. And now staring at their graves, it just makes this more real. The last time I was hear was 15 days after they were buried. To caste some magic on the graves and graveyard to always be the same, not change or get damaged or anything. Today, at camp, seeing all those not trusting me, those memories again came back to me. I'd let my family down. If only I'd been there, they may not have faced untimely death. My sister, Brianna. She was just 12 when this happened. I hadn't even told her I was alive. Sally and Paul couldn't know, but I had planned on telling Brianna. I wanted to be a big brother to her, at least as much as I could've with my job. I'd planned to reveal everything to her on her 16th birthday. And she di-...The words constricted in my throat. All my fault. I failed them. I failed my family. I wanted to unravel this mystery behind their death. I always had this gut feeling, this nagging suspicion that something about their death was off. I was an emotional wreck for weeks before I could think straight enough to resume my command and run the city as well as the army. A few days later I found out something. Something that makes my blood boil. The fire. My intel reports, upon more scrutinized investiagtion of the scene confirmed that it was fire started by a monster. But that's not it, my parents weren't targets. Yeah that's right. They could have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, but it was their own freaking home! So who could have been the target then? Maybe the moster mistook me to be alive? No, not exactly. The monster or monsters (We don't have know how many were there) were alerted due to strong demigod scents in the house. So strong were the scents, because the ones inside were an assortment of the most powerful demigods of the century. Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo, Thalia Grace, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Leo Valdez, Katie Gardener, Will Solace. Yes, all of them. At first I thought they'd gone to actually help my mom out with my disappearance and to see Brianna. Boy was I wrong. I soon found out why they'd gone there. To return my belongings from camp half blood back. They'd officially declared me dead. So much power in one house, the monsters were petrified of attacking. So they chose the easy path. They burned down the house. My whole family was inside. And they were burnt alive. The demigods, they'd all run out of the house as soon as they realized the house was on fire. And took Sally and Paul with them. But forgot my then 12 year old sister. Once Sally and Paul realised this, their paternal instincts kicked in and they ran inside the house to get her. But they were late, the entire foundation gave way and the building collapsed due to burns. With my family inside. Poseidon realized what had happened. Never had I seen a God try to quell fire for the sake of a mortal's life. But Poseidon tried. To dissipate the fire and find them. He broke the ancient laws and interfered in mortal affairs, but it was too late. He returned with their charred and dead bodies. That day the whole earth experienced their biggest ever earthquake of a staggering 8.7 on Richter scale. I didn't know dad cared so much about her. That's one of the reasons it pains me to see him, knowing how much he cared about us and what I gave him in return.
I'm not going to return to camp today, the war can wait. I won't go anywhere. I just sat there and cried my heart out. Till my throat hurt, till I was exhausted. I slept there.
When I woke up, it was a few minutes past dawn. I rose, dusted my clothes and adjusted them to look more decent than the night in the graveyard had made them. Just then, I saw white mist form in front of me. An Iris message. Here? No. Nobody can know where I am . I immediately wiped my hand through the Mist before it even formed. And teleported directly to my cabin at camp half blood.
"-just didn't connect Skylar, I don't know why. He must have seen the mist and swiped through it before it the message could connect." Elmont was saying.
"Why would he do that?"
"Maybe he didn't wanna be found?"
They hadn't noticed my presence yet.
"Hey, you called?" I interrupted.
They both turned and looked at me.
"Holy Chaos! Where were you? We were worried sick! And why is there so much dust and dirt in your hair and on your clothes?" Elmont asked wide eyed once he saw the condition of my hair and clothes.
"It's nothing. Don't worry. Doesn't matter where I was, I'm here now aren't I? So tell me, why did you IM me?" I said, trying to avoid the topic of my whereabouts. Keyword, trying.
"No, tell us. What happened? " Skylar persisted.
"I went there alright. Happy now!"
They both immediately understood and said "I'm sorry" in unison.
"It's okay, in fact I'm sorry, for dissappearing and then for my behavior right now. Its not your fault. It's theirs." I say bitterly.
Yeah, you must've wondered why I was so pissed at the campers. Now you know. Its their fault. Everything. Me caste away, my family's death, my dad's broken state. Even after all these years, even after trying so many times, I just couldn't get over it. Lord Chaos told me to forget about it. Forget, not forgive. And I did, for a very long time, till I was thrust back here. To relive all of it.
"It's okay Percy, you'll figure it out. We're here for you at all times." Skylar said reassuringly.
I smiled at that "Of course you are, what would I do without you guys."
Sudden commotion interrupted our moment. When we went outside, the campers were all surrounding a girl in long red hair wearing a tank top. I couldn't see her, but I saw a hairbrush on her hand and the comfort and posture with which she was talking to the immortal campers. Rachel Dare had arrived. The oracle, and the only living mortal who hadn't betrayed me.
"All right, scoot now. Let her rest, she just came after a long journey."Chiron said to the campers.
"Rachel, my dear. How have you been? I know you would want to rest, but before that, I'd like you to meet someone." He said smiling. You could tell from his face he was really glad Rachel came. That's when she turned so I could see her. She hadn't changed at all. Her features were the same. Seeing her hairbrush, I figured even her habits were the same.
"I've been good Chiron, thank you. And Annabeth filled me in on the war, I presume you want me to meet the Princess and the Commander?" She smiled.
"Yes. This is Princess Skylar, and this is Commander Stormbringer." he pointed at us in order.
"Hello Princess, hello Commander. I'm Rachel Dare, this camp's Oracle." she smiled a friendly smile.
"Peased to meet you miss Dare." I said.
"Hello Rachel." Skylar said.
We shook hands and decided to meet in the big house for a counselors meeting. She said she had some valuable information she needed to share.
In 20 minutes, we all had assembled at the table. I could see the hurt in the immortal campers' when they looked at me. My words from earlier had stung them. But that could wait. If Rachel said something was important, it most definitely couldn't wait. Once Chiron signalled for the meeting to begin, Rachel started straight away
"I have some moderate news, some bad news and some very bad news.
The moderate news is that I've had visions that the titans have started stirring. All of them are waking, and Tartarus is helping the process. If all the titans and remaining giants along with gaea and end attack, we stand no chance. Even with both the armies. And if other non - council Primordials like Pontus or Tartarus see the strength of our enemies, they might form an alliance with them. That would most certainly be the end of the world." She let it sink in.
"If this is the moderate news, do we even want to know the very bad news?" Connor said.
"Yes, no one's given you a choice Connor. Okay, now the bad news. There will soon be an attack at camp led by Kronos himself."
"Hey that's not so bad, we have two extra armies with us after all." Leo said.
"Yes, I think war is not the problem right now. There has to be a way to stop the rebirth of the titans. Rachel, is there any that you know of? And what is this very bad news you were about to say?" Thalia said.
"That's actually the very bad news. There is a way, but it isn't going to be easy. There needs to be a quest, the questers needing to be smarter than any, braver than any and stronger than any being on. That will be around the time when Kronos attacks. The quest is going to be somewhere dark and dangerous, and the destination alone makes it very bad news. The attack by Kronos at around the same time makes it ba md news, as our best would be indisposed at that moment, trying to not die mostly."
There was complete silence while we let that sink in. This was gonna be tough. Tougher than any battle we'd faced. For once, the enemies were actually using brains, dividing our forces.
"We have no choice. What needs to be done needs to be done." I said firmly.
I think I have a very good idea of what place Rachel speaks about.
"Wait, if the titans are growing power, they must be in tartarus! You're not suggesting a quest there are you?" Travis said. But everyone realized that was exactly where the quest needed to go.
I could see the colour drained from Nico and Annabeth's face. I'm sure mine resembled that look as well. The mask prevented them from seeing it, that's all. Even after all those years, tartarus isn't a place you can get over. You simply learn to live with the horror story replaying in the back of your mind sometimes. Once Nico and Annabeth had composes themselves, Annabeth said
"Last time, I passed through the area where I saw them. The titans, being reborn. Assuming they haven't changed their place of rebirth, I can lead a quest there. I would just need someone willing to come, I can't do it alone.
"I'll come with you. Besided you there's only me who actually knows thw place.
"Not just you both, there have to be more. Five, to be precise." Rachel said.
The way she said it, everyone immediately understood. And Skylar voiced that "You have a prophecy already don't you, Rachel?"
"Yes. Since a few weeks now. That's what forced me to come here and deliver the message in person."
"Let's hear it. This once we're going to make an exception, due to the dangerous destination. We'll first hear the prophecy, then we'll see what to do and who should go." I said.
"Commander, I don't think that's how it works. It's against the ancient laws, we can't simply break them. We need volunteers first then we give them a prophecy." Chiron said, even though his expressions said he'd want nothing more than to do just what I'd said.
Before I could reply Skylar interrupted "I Skylar Void, as member of the Primordial Council and daughter of Chaos, give you my full permission to break the law just this once and know the prophecy before hand." Skylar announced.
"Happy now Chiron?" I smiled. He was beaming.
"Thank you Princess, thank you very much!" He exclaimed, not ever expecting such a possibility.
Skylar just smiled and nodded to him.
"Rachel, now we can hear the prophecy. You have it memorised or written?" Reyna said.
"Memorised. It goes like this :
Five shall venture into eternal hell,
One shall be lost forever, I foretell.
Three of the Gods, two of Chaos must go east,
To stop the rebirth guarded by the beast.
The lost hero's past and present must unite,
Or all will fall to the beast's might.
The course of the war will be deicided by all,
But to only one must the beast fall."
Once that sunk in, everyone started speaking together. Chiron pounded his hoof on the floor to quiet down everyone.
"Relax, at least we know the prophecy now. So we can chose. It clearly mentions 3 half bloods and 2 from the army must go." He tried to reassure everyone.
"Yeah, and that's it. It says nothing more." Clarisse said, exasperated.
"Yeah, we also know the questers have to go east and that one is going to be lost during the journey." Leo said.
"That's kinda depressing to know" Piper said in a small voice.
"Sorry pipes, I was just saying what we know." He said.
"The known ends there though, we know nothing else. This is crazy." Connor said.
"True, this is going to be difficult. It seems there is another unknown monster that is actually guarding the place." Thalia said.
"And we have no clue who the hero is, let alone how to unite his past and present." Reyna piped in.
"And it seems like the beast is only going to fall to one of the questers, and as usual, we have no clue who that is gonna be." Annabeth said.
"So all in all your average prophecy?" Skylar said.
"Yes actually, you could say that." Chiron said. It looked like the centaur had aged 25 years during the course of this discussion.
"Tonight at campfire I'll announce the peophecy and ask for volunteers."
"No, your campers are a good lot, but we need experience and skill of the highest level. Whatever happens, no camper can volunteer. Even in my army, I'm going to tell only Elmont and Gregory. And Fritz from the Council's Army. One of them can come, that would make the two of us from Chaos' side. I'll ask them while you decide on who to take. But I suggest you give everyone time to think about it."
"Okay, maybe you're right. They need time. You all do actually." Chiron said looking at me. So they'd told him of today's events.
We all left, pondering about this.
While I was leaving, Skylar stopped me and pulled me back "What do you think you mean by 'one of them can come?' You can't see me?"
"What?No Skylar! That's too dangerous! No way you're coming."
"I make my own decisions Percy." She whispered angrily.
"And I've decided to come with you. That's final." She stormed out huffing in anger.
Well, it looks like the 2 members of the Chaos side are fixed.
(A/N: THE NEXT UPDATE REQUIRES ME TO THINK A LOT SO I'LL REQUIRE MORE TIME TO UPDATE. MIGHT BE A FEW DAYS, MAY EVEN EXCEED A WEEK. COMMENT AND VOTE, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS APPRECIATED.)