This is my first story. I think I did alright, but it was for school, and school isn't the place I try my hardest. This is an exception, I really enjoyed writing this. I'd be happy to continue if it gets attention, and of course, if people like it.
I check this everyday being the impatient being that I am.
15/05/14 Since the end was rushed, I've been polishing it off and fixing it. It still may not be as flawless as Elsa's Staircase, but it's getting there. Around 100~200 words changed, sentences, paragraphs even. IT MUST BE ACCEPTABLE!
17/5/14 Couldn't help it. Work has begun on chapter 2.
25/6/14 No, this isn't dead. I recently reread the HoO books, and realized some of this wouldn't work with the story, so I fixed it up. The story is slightly changed. School holidays soon, so if I can be stuffed, which I probably could be, I'll continue this. Thanks for all the good reviews! And each Fav and Follow mean alot, thanks :D
DISCLAIMER: If you haven't guessed already, I don't own Percy Jackson or Frozen. I can dream though.
Something has been stolen. Something so crucial to keep the world in balance, that people will sacrifice their lives to protect it, or take it. Something worthy of the gods themselves. We are lucky that this world has heroes, heroes the world didn't know existed, heroes that are willing to put their own lives at stake to make sure that all is kept in balance. These people are demigods, half god, half mortal. We will fight for our people until our last breath, for the sake of the world, and every living thing upon it. We are sons and daughters of gods. We are demigods.
When Jason told me it was going to be cold, I thought 'Sure, I'll just grab some jeans and a jacket, spare change of pants and off we go!'
I wish he told me we'd be going to the arctic. If I didn't have total control over water, I probably would've frozen within the first few seconds, but, the cold never really bothered me anyway. Surprisingly, I thought it was quite comfortable, being surrounded by 70% of the Earth's fresh water. The sun was rising up over the horizon, turning all the ice red, showering the landscape in a warm glow.
Unfortunately for Jason, he wasn't as good with water and ice as I was, since he was the son of Zeus and all. Lightning or storms won't really help you too much when you're out for a stroll in one of the coldest places on earth. I read somewhere that the average temperature is in the arctic -37 degrees celsius, which I guessed is pretty cold. Jason was wearing so many layers of clothes he was probably bulletproof. And he was still shivering like crazy.
"So, where to?" I asked him.
"uhm.." he said, his face starting to turn blue. He took what looked like an ordinary smart phone, and started navigating it, with extreme difficulty. I wonder how good the reception was down here. Finally, he reached what he was looking for.
"It says here, we have to go to -82.98 north,-156.81 west. So lead the way, Mr GPS." Because I was the son of the Poseidon, God of the Sea, Bringer of Earthquakes, Lord of horses, I knew my stuff when it came to navigating the sea. It just came to me. And because we were surrounded by not much more than solidified water, it counted. I knew where to go.
"This way" I said, starting to wade through the snow. It was probably a foot deep, which slowed us down a little, but we had the energy to keep going. After what felt like hours, we finally came to a clearing. Or what seemed like one. The area looked like a flawless frozen lake, except that it didn't look like there was any water underneath, not that I could sense anyway. I could tell where running water was from a mile away, and it wasn't here. It was in the shape of a flawless circle, maybe something around a kilometre in diameter. But what surprised me was that it was completely empty.
"Are we missing something?" I asked Jason, "is it supposed to be like this?" Jason looked at me like I was a dog that just took a poop on the front lawn.
"Step inside, find out for yourself." He said that like the sphere counted as being 'inside'. I took a step in.
Suddenly the world around me changed. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, but that wasn't the least of it. There was a town here, castle and all. But what amazed me more was that it was completely created out of ice. All the houses, the pathways, everything, was made out of ice. It reminded me of Olympus, just instead of actual building materials it was ice. Must've been pretty expensive to create, I thought. And surprisingly, none of it seemed to be melting, even though the weather inside the sphere was quite comfortable. Jason, also gazing in awe out his surroundings, looked like he was even starting to sweat inside.
"So… Why are we here again?" I thought we were just going out for some bowling or something, but I scraped that idea when we got on the helicopter. Jason, still in a daze, kept starting at the castle. It was really something. It must've taken years for mortals to build, especially in this climate.
Eventually, he replied. "I told you before; Khione has a 'job' for us."
Gah. Khione. She was one of Gaia's highest officers, but when the 7 put the Earth back to sleep, she didn't go down with it well. The gods made her take a casual bath in the River Lethe, which erased her resent memories. The gods had learned to be nicer to the minor gods, so there wasn't any more 'misunderstandings'. She forgot about what she did, and since the gods were nice to her, she lost her hatred. She wasn't an enemy, but she was still cold, and just like her, snow can be ruthless and unforgiving.
It must've been pretty important what she wanted to do with us, because she could've probably quite easily come to us or at least sent an email or something.
We started towards the castle, looking more and more incredible the closer we got. After a while of passing through the village, I still managed to underestimate the castle. It had towers that reached the skies, flawless in every edge. The entrance was massive, at least 5 meters high. I knocked. And it opened, just by itself. It didn't look mechanical either, probably just your ordinary simple magic.
Inside were wind spirits aimlessly floating around the place, but apart from that is was practically empty. No furniture, just one giant room, and a double staircase leading upstairs. It really pleased my OCD.
"Upstairs, I'm guessing?" I asked Jason.
He nodded.
"Try not to slip" he muttered, his eyes wandering. He was probably used to being around wind spirits, because of his relationship and the wind. Yea, he can control that too.
At the top of the staircase was another door, but this one was open. Once we reached the top, we were greeted by a woman, maybe in her early thirties, staring out on the balcony. She wore a white dress, making her slightly hard to see with hundreds of kilometers of snow in front of her.
"Khione." I breathed.
"Hello Percy, it's been a while."
I'm not sure what a 'while' was to her, since she was a few thousand years old. But she was a goddess, daughter of Boreas, the god of the wind and stuff, so she could look however she wanted to be. She actually had once been in a relationship with my father Poseidon, so would that make her my stepmother? Since she only looked about 10 years older than me, that fact gave me the hebe-jebes.
She turned around. Her skin was unnaturally white and pale, and she had lush black hair and cold coffee brown eyes, which gave off a very cold gaze. I felt chills run through my spine.
"I've called you here for a very important request." She said sturdily.
"Something very important of mine has been taken. Something which must be returned immediately."
"And what would that be?" Jason asked.
"I am not allowed to tell you, that you must find out for yourself."
"Gee, thanks." Jason whispered to himself.
Khione's voice sounded slightly desperate, like whatever was taken from her kept her intact.
Jason looked at me, and I could tell that he wanted me to decide whether to accept or not. Khione must have seen that too, because she also looked at me in question.
"Fine, where do we start?"
I'm glad I bought that spare change of pants. Khione led us to another location, somewhere else in the arctic, on her sleigh pulled by some pretty darn fast wolves. This place made Khione's kingdom look like a sandcastle. This place, unlike Khione's, was fortified to the teeth. 20 meter high walls surrounded the place which made it look like a high security prison.
There was only 1 door visible, a massive iron gate that loomed over the moat surrounding the kingdom. Yes, there was a moat. Fortunately for me, moats worked the opposite way. It was practically putting a bridge and a ladder leading up to the top of the wall, so getting on top shouldn't be a problem. And, of course, Jason could just fly up. What worried me were the Venti flying up and down the walls. There were at least 10 of them in sight, all keeping a cautious eye on the landscape. If we didn't find this snow boulder to hide behind, we would've been toast. Or frozen sliced bread. Whichever.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"This is a kingdom of Boreas. My Father."
I nearly choked on my tongue. Your Father?
Jason looked like he had just seen a ghost. Which was true, with all the Venti flying around. Jason had told me he met him once, things didn't go so well.
"Wait." Jason said. "Doesn't he live in Canada?"
"Well, yes. That is his main palace. You could call this his holiday home. He's been having a lot more free time after he left old job."
Jason had told me that Boreas was the weatherman for the gods. Recently he had been fired for, you know, wanting to destroy the gods with Gaea. It didn't seem like much a punishment, but it seemed to have left a scar on Boreas. The gods told Khione that Boreas had quit, as the work was getting on top of him. But, of course, we know the truth.
"Why did your father take your belongings?"
"I… I don't know, but ever since what happened, he changed. He seemed much more aggressive then he normally is, which is really saying something. He just stormed in; literally, in a snow storm, and took… it"
I thought about this. I knew Khione was a much better person then Boreas, and whatever it was, it meant a lot to Khione. I had to do it for her.
"So what's the plan?" I asked.
"What we know is this. My..." She stuttered and paused for a second. "My item is being kept in the dungeons down below." The item must've had some sentimental value to her, because I've never seen her breaking like this ever.
"There's an entrance to the dungeon in the left wing on the castle inside. We've recovered some information from one of my people, who escaped from the castle."
She handed me a rolled up piece of paper, it was crumpled and stained with what looked like blood. I unravelled it, and on it, it had just a few letters. A113. She must've noticed that I was confused, so she helped.
"We don't know what it is. Although a code, or a name of something would be logical. Whatever it is, it has something to do with h…" There it was again. Another stutter. I wondered what it was.
"Has something to do with it." She corrected. If it was possible for her to be paler, she was.
"I wish you luck. I would join you if I could, but unfortunately I have some… business, to attend to."
She hurried off onto her sleigh, then sped down the horizon.
"Thanks for the help." Jason murmured under his breath.
I wish I knew what was going on with Khione. And I knew I was going to find out, after I recovered the thing.
"Well then, let's get started."
I wish I could say I had a well thought out plan. But, of course, being me, I didn't work well with plans. Jason, on the other hand, being much more responsible than me, quickly thought one up. We were going to get on top of the wall as quiet as we could, Jason would fly up and I would use the water. Then we would stealthily sneak to the main building, into the dungeon, work out what the code meant, get whatever it was that Khione lost, sneak out, and all would be well. I really wish it was that easy. We snuck up to the wall unseen, camouflaging into the snow. There was also a slight blizzard going on that worked in our favour. We managed to meet up inside one of the watch towers.
From here we could see the entire place. It was more of a town, moderate in size, but, like Khione's, stood a massive castle in the middle. It did remind me a lot of Khione, except not everything was made of ice, and there was no protective barrier protecting the town from the harsh climates of the arctic. Although no one seemed to care. The streets were bustling with what looked like normal people, but were probably more wind nymphs. What also was a standout was that everything was old fashioned, where else Khione's kingdom was much more modernized, although you don't really notice it until you go back.
"Right" Jason said, "Now comes the hard bit."
We tried our best slithering through the streets that snaked all the way the town. It was very disorientating, and every now and then Jason would have to fly up to see which way we were heading. It was lucky that seemed normal since everyone else was a wind nymph. We seemed to reach the castle gates without a problem. But the castle was a problem. 2 Heavily defended guards stood out front, watching the pass-byers cautiously.
We're going to need to cause a distraction.
Jason didn't think twice. He summoned the wind to blow a few nymphs into a carriage of 'Demeter's Fresh Fruit & Veg' and sent them tumbling down. The guards went to the collision and we were able to slip inside.
It looked almost identical to Khione's castle, except that this one was filled with furniture and decorations. There were paintings on a wall, and one caught my eye. It was an old looking man, probably Boreas, with 2 younger boys. I realized they were his sons, Zethes and Calais. They both looked around their mid-thirties, and they all had wings. Something bothered me about the painting, like something was missing. Someone. Khione.
I would've stared at it for longer, but Jason pulled me behind a pillar. I heard footsteps coming down a set of stairs.
I took a peak. There he was, Boreas, looking exactly like the portrait of him. His hair and beard were covered in frost. He wore a suit which concealed most of his wings, but you could clearly see a large bulge in the back of his suit.
He started talking into a phone.
"…I know, I know, she is secured. We have guards surrounding her cell, she won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Khione is weak without her, soon she will be vulnerable. Then we will strike. But for now, we must wait. The time will come."
…Her? Who's her? Then it hit me. It couldn't be, could it?
He disappeared into another room.
Jason looked just as surprised and clueless as me.
"Comon Percy, stay alert, we gotta do this. We need to know." Jason reminded me.
I agreed with him. I wanted to help Khione. I wanted to warn her.
We headed off to the left, hiding when the occasional Wind Nymph came through. We finally managed to reach a set of stairs spiralling down without being noticed.
One way down, I started to descend.
We reached the bottom after about 1 minute of heading down the spiral. Now we were staring into a dark cave, dimly lit by the occasional torch. At the end of the tunnel, we were greeted by a large, sturdy iron door. Luckily for us, it was unlocked.
"Get ready for anything" said Jason.
There was nowhere to hide, so I swung it open, and I almost stopped breathing.
In front of me stood a massive cavern, at least 100 meters high, and who knows how wide. Cells lined the walls back to back, filled with people. The ceiling was covered in rough rock and stalactites hung over the cavern. I walked up to an empty cell; on top of the door it read 'A002'. A002. A113.
It was a cell number.
I turned around to tell Jason, until I heard someone call us. My heart paused. I looked to my right, and found 2 guards running towards us. Jason had noticed them to. I pulled out my sword, Riptide, A gift from my father, and got in a defensive stance. So did Jason. When our swords hit, the entire room rumbled. I got him down with a hilt to the head, and Jason got his down just as quick. Although I felt that more were coming.
"We need to get down there" I called Jason pointing down the cells.
Jason summoned the wild we started flying, literally flying, to the end.
A012, A019, A036, It was taking a while; Jason looked like he was starting to tire already. Prisoners we passed by tried to talk to us, but we just ignored them. We came here for one thing. If Khione also wanted these people to be rescued, or if they were even Khione's, we would've gladly helped.
Jason dropped us at around A105. He looked exhausted, and I didn't blame him. We hadn't done a quest in ages. We had to run to the end of the cells. I looked above the door of the last cell. Just then, we heard a door slam open and saw a group of guards heading towards us. These people weren't Venti, but they didn't look any less intimidating.
'A112'.
"You might wanna see this Percy." Jason puffed, looking at a cell towering over the rest of the cells on the opposite side.
A113. Unlike the other cells, it was completely blank except for a small keyhole to the left. It had no windows, no bars at all. It was probably as dark as Nyx herself in there. It looked like it was made to hold something really big and powerful, that probably not even Poseidon's Cyclops army could barge throw. I also felt an aura of magic around it, probably something Hecate did when she was 'neutral'.
The key was hanging right next to the door. Obviously they weren't thinking that anyone would try and break in. I looked behind me to check on the guards, which were closing in fast. I had to do this now. I turned the lock and heard a very solid 'click'. The door slowly swung open.
She was awake but motionless in the corner, and she looked like she had been crying. She wore a blue dress that was ripped and stained, and her pure white hair was tied back. She was locked in shackles and the room around her was covered in frost. Had she been trying to get out?
Was she… Was she a demigod too? Could she be related to Khione? She slowly looked up.
"Who..?" She struggled.
"Were here to rescue you" I replied softly. "what's your name?"
"I…" She kept stuttering. "I'm Elsa, Daughter of Khione."
Just then, the guards reached the cell.
TO BE CONTINUED.
This was a school project. It had to be in on time, so it was rushed. *Been edited since then multiple times* Thought I'd upload it here for the heck of it.
Sorry about the lack of action.
Sorry not sorry about the current ending.
The end was a bit rushed.
If it gets attention, I'll continue it.
I know that right now Elsa isn't really following her own story, but I might create a new one so it makes sense. I have an idea or two.