Tartaurus looked at him, turned to me, and said, "Sorry."
And flashed away.
Asshole.
I looked back at Ouranos, to see that he had dropped the furious expression. Instead was a grin that reminded me of my dad in a good mood. I have to admit, it confused me.
"Hello, Assassin God." I jumped about a foot into the air. I spun around searching for whoever had sneaked up on me before I remembered that some Primordials can use telepathy and face-palmed myself for forgetting. Mind linkiing is different, because you can only access the minds of one or two other people. "I take it you are here to take the title of Hidden Spirit?" Ouranos asked.
I closed my eyes and focused on mind-linking with him. "Yes, Lo-"
"Don't even thiink of addiing honorifics. My grandson is, I regret to say, an arrogant and pompous fool," he said.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank Chaos. I am so glad I don't have to deal with two of Zeus. One is annoying enough. May I ask why you seemed to be so angry when you first saw me and Tartaurus?"
He smiled. "I was less than pleased with what happened to my wifes mind. It took thirty years to get her even semi-sane again. Turns out something else had told her to rise again. You freed her mind, and for that I am grateful."
I smiled back. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, all in all. "So... How does one actually go around doing this? The 'becoming the Hidden Spirit' thing?"
He grinned. "You have to be able to pass three tests, they're all pretty short thankfully for you. Because, as I recall, you are the new Guardian of the Hunt, correct?" I paled. I come back, she is going to kill me. "Yes, I am correct. Now then. The first test is simple. Answer a question." I blinked. "From the Sphinx."
"Oh. I knew it was too simple. Where is the overgrown bird?"
He smirked. "Look behind you."
I turned to see her and the The Sphinx glared at me, knowing that if I answered correctly, she would die permanently. I gestured for her to ask her question. "What happened twenty years ago?"
I laughed. "Old Boreas, Primordial of mountains got pissed off, found out that the slayer of his sister wasn't bound by ancient laws, and ran away again."
POP! Goes the Sphinx head!
I turned back to Ouranos to find him next to a table with three weapons on it. "Next, you have to figure out which weapon would be best in different scenarios."
"OK."
"First, you are fighting a horse-like monster. What weapon do you choose?" I looked at the weapons available, to see a spear, a sword, and a staff.
I picked up each one, before settling on the spear. Unlike the other two, this one seemed to be giving off a light. I handed it to Ouranos who nodded. "Good. Next, you have tgwo enemies, one on either side of you. Both are using clubs. Which oine do you choose?" I immediately picked up the staff, which was the one that gave off light this time. "Excellent! Finally, you are challenged to a duel against two opponents, one at a time. Which do you choose?" I gave him the sword before he had even finished his sentence. His jaw fell. "No one has gotten them all right. How did you..?"
I shrugged, "I don't know. I just watched for whichever one was glowing."
He paled. "Oh. Now I know why Chaos wants you to be the Hidden Spirit. You apparently also gained the Blood Weapon Blessing."
I frowned. "The Blood what?" I was confused obviously.
He took a shaky breath. "The Blood Weapon Blessing. It's a hereditary blessing passed down in the children of the Sea. It allows you to immediately know which weapon is best in a certain event. And if you're powerful enough, which you are now, allows you to summon a weapon made from blood."
I could only think of one thing to say to the 'weapon-made-out-of-blood-summoning' thing.
"Wow. That's uh...Disturbing."
He grimaced. "Tell me about it. Anyway, third testis that you have to fight the current Hidden Spirit, and no, it is not me." I tensed. "It's my brother, Aether, Primordial of light."
I groaned. "Noooo..."
He grinned, "Sorry, Traitos, but he had to fight Kronos for it."
"Honestly, I would prefer fighting all of the Titans combined, over this guy."
He smirked. "OK, Aether! It's time!" he shhouted before walking a few yards away. I looked at the apparently dry river to see a light coming from one end. I watched as a guy that was literally white as a sheet. Everything, clothes, hair, eyes, lips even!
He grinned at me. "Hey, there, fututre Hidden Spirit! Name?"
I sighed. Great, another Apollo. I could tell from the way that he seemed to think that he was the shit. "How about I tell you after one of us wins this fight?"
He frowned before saying that one thiing that very few people will say to me.
"I told you to tell me your name. Now, what is your name?" He didn't seem to notice how pale Ouranos had gone. Obviously SOMEONE has been watching me. Zeus once tried the 'I'm-older-so-you-should-obey-me' bit.
Right before he was put in the hospital for a decade.
I was not happy.
Zeus has been terrified of my anger ever since.
Aether didn't have time to notice his brothers face.
Why?
Because he found himself getting beaten black and blue with earth, time, swords, pain, nightmares, gravity, lightning, fire, bolts of sea green energy, and a whole lot of ice.
Let's just say that he was no longer having a good day, especially since they were all moving too fast for him to block or control.
"OW! OK, OK, I yield! Please do not kill me or put in the hospital, I'm sorry!" immediately the whirlwind of beating he was getting vanished. "I see why you told me not to piss him off, brother."
Ouranos just nodded. "Be glad you weren't Zeus. He didn't stop even when Zeus was unconscious." Aether gave me a terrified look. Honestly, I would be too.
He shook himself and said, "OK. Now for the transfer of titles." He stood up and turned toward the river. "I, Aether, Son of Chaos, yield my name of Hidden Spirit and Master of the Hidden River, to Perseus Achilles Jackson, now Traitos, Assassin God of Olympus." Immediately a orb that looked like it was made out of pure starlight came out of his chest and hovered in front of him for a second before hurtling towards me. It slammed into myy chest like a battering ram, and trust me, I know how it feels to get hit by one of those.
Don't ask.
The pain was surprisingly light, it just hit really hard, knocking the air out of my lungs.
Then my back felt like it got dipped in pure acid.
I am n ot ashamed to say that I screamed. Long and loud.
When the pain finally went away, I felt taller, and more back-heavy. I turned my head to see that I had a pair of dark purple wings with shots of sea-green and gold. I brushed my hand down and then back up before jerking my hand away as pain flared up in my hand.
Just because I'm the god of pain, doesn't mean that I am immune to it.
I turned to Aether and Ouranos to see them slack-jawed and staring at my wings. They jerked themselves out of it before turning to each other and whispering to each-other. Ouranos turned back to me before asking, "Could you summon a flame for us? Just out of curiosity." I shruggeed before summoning a flame that was almost the same color as my wings, only difference wass thatt it was just the purple and gold. "Thank you, by the way, FATES! GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE!"
Immediately they flashed in. They took one look at me before saying, "All hail Traitos, Olympian god of swords, time, earth, hurricanes, loyalty, betrayed people, war, heroes, pain, nightmares, monsters, promises, lost causes, choice, ancient laws, assassins, protectors, leaders, soldiers, Pegasi, friendship, emotions, rebellion, responsibilities, senses, constellations, light, memory, and Keeper of Tartaurus, Keeper of the Five Rivers of the Underworld, Master of the Tides, Wielder of Chaos Fire, and Hidden Spirit of the Forgotten River. Now, if you'll excuse us, wwe're going to collapse now." As soon as they were done, they fell to the ground unconscious.
Ouranos shook his head and flashed them out. He turned back to me with a smile. "Well, great-grandson, now you must return to the Hunt. Good luck surviving the next few minutes."
"Yeah, I'm gonna need it." I grumbled, before flashing out.
Artemis POV
I sighed as we waited on the new 'guardians' return. I'll admit, even if I do hate most men, this one is different. He has killed more beings than even me, and I've killedf a lot of things in my 3000+ years. I considered what would happen if he was put into a fight with Chaos.
Who would win? I know Perseus is powerful, hell he was literally impossible to beat 100 years ago. Chaos has powers that even Gaia would be scared shitless of. I was thinking of all the many scenarios that could occur when I felt an immensely powerful presence thirty yardsw from the border. My eyes snappedd oopen to see Perseus walking in, with something on his back.
Wait.
When did he get WINGS?!
He stopped and frowned. An instant later he was holding a pair of swords out to either side. He swore. "Shit. Didn't we already go through this, you flying bitches with tails!?" he snarled out before spinning and swingging at the nearest shadow. A scream came out of the air around us. Suddenly eighteen creatures that I recognized as Hilans, a creature that was the prototype of the Harpy.
I swore, "Crap! Traitos! get them away from the camp! I'll get the Hunters out of here!" He nodded. I ran towards the camp, shooting two of them on the way. Perseus...
Well, let's just say that as god of pain, he can feed off the pain of others, increase, and cause it without touching them.
As eight of them found out the hard way while the remaining eight were dancing with death himself. There is a reason why even Ares calls him the Avatar of War. Not just a god of war, the actual AVATAR of war.
I was running to the camp when I saw a plume of smoke erupt from it. "NO!" I shouted. I got there just in time to see a horde of Cyclopes and Laistrygonians fighting th\e Hunters. An instant later a pair of Cyclopes were thrown into a ditch about thirty yards away revealing Perseus dancing his dance of death agaiin. His eyes were flickeing with purple and his swords had flame reminiscent of Greek fire, only purple. He seemes to be at multiple places at once, which would explain the absence of dead Hunters. When ever the purplle flames hiit a monster they would suddenly falkl to the ground before disintegrating, and not into golden dust.
They were turning into green ash.
The only fire that I know of that can do that is Tartaurus Flame or Primordial Fire, neither of which are purple. I shrugged it off, thinking that I would ask when he was done slaughtering the monsters.
I shot a Cyclopes that was threatening a Hunter before i could crush her. Perseus spun and threw a spear made from fire at a Laistrygonian that was about to hit me from behind. I whirled around to see that, on his own, he had killed ninety percent of the monsters. He sagged, as the energy drain fnally hit him. He looked at me before saying, "Can I go take a nap now?"
I looked at him, disbelief most likely my main expression. I opened my mouth to respond when my Lieutenant suddenly appeared from the forest.
Traitos took one look at her before his face paled.
"KELP-HEAD?!" Was all she screamed before he yelped like a kicked puppy and sprinted for his tent as she sprinted after him, throwing lightning bolts after him.
Why he was running instead of just flashing there, I do not know.
We heard, "I'M SORRY!", "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" and "I TILD THEM TO LET YOU KNOW MY WHAT I GO BY NOW! IT ISN'T MY FAULT!" The other Hunters came carefully out of the tents to watch the big bad Olympian, twice saviour of Olympus running.
From Thalia.
Not to mention his sisters, who had both joined the Hunt while he was gone. Thalia, I can understand.
Not so much his siblings, who were much better at spear throwing, than archery, but were still rather good at archery, as noticed from the four arrows that broke against Traitos' shield. They had shot six, but the other two...
Well, I'm surprised he isn't on the ground in the fetal position.
Oh, wait, no. Thse ones are in his hands.
Me and the other Hunters were rolling on the ground laughing our heads off when they finally returned with Thalia on his back, and his sisters on his shoulders. He glared at us before letting the three down onto the ground. Thalia grinned and said, "so that's what you were up to, over the two hundred years since I last saw you." His sisters lept onto me and Phoebe, knocking the air out of both of us.
Perseus gave them a stern look, before messing it up by grinning. "Now, come on, you two. You know better than to jump on people." They stuck their tongues out at him. "Careful. I might tape your mouths shut with your tongues out."
They immediately put their tongues back in and got off of me. Not so much for Phoebe, who had a fourteen year old bouncing on her stomach, before Perseus picked her up. Phoebe gasped for breath. "Thank you, Traitos. Sorry about the shooting and throwing things at you. I let my past blind me."
He gave her a blank look. "What throwing and shooting things at me?" Then grinned at her. "Apology accepted, Phoebe. Just don't do it again, because next time I'll leave you with the fourteen year old bouncing on your stomach for over an hour." She paled and quickly nodded. "Glad we understand one another." He turned back to the tents and clapped his hands. Immediately the tents were repaired, as if the attack had never happened.
I shook my head, then remembered the questions I had. "Traitos?"
He looked at me before saying with a hint of amusement in his voice, "You can just call me Percy, Lady Artemis."
I smiled. He really was different. "All right, Percy, so long as you call me Artemis. The only reason the Hunters don't, even though they have permission to do so, is because THEY ARE TOO FORMAL." they ducked their heads. "Anyway, would it be all if I asked you a few questions in my tent?" He nodded. "Thank you. Phoebe, Thalia. You come too."
Let the rain of questions begin, only most will probably be from Thalia or Phoebe.
I will deny I ever said this, but I pity the boy