This is the sequel to my other book: The Son of Kronos if you haven't read that book then reading ahead will not make much sense.
I do not own Percy Jackson or any greek myths, so still don't sue me.
The Dark One's Bane - Chapter 1 - Second Son of Darkness
Drake
Erebos was a minor god, and Drake spent hours wondering why. Erebos spoke to Drake whenever he was in trouble, he was always there to help. Furthermore, the greek god of darkness was one of the first five beings to come into existence, older than the gods themselves, alongside the Titans, a son of Chaos. Drake sat on his bed in his small cabin, his father had few children but when people called you a son of darkness you didn't get many friends. Still, the people at camp Half-Blood were accepting of Drake, even if they didn't like him too much. The son of the god of darkness meditated as he usually did whenever his thoughts threatened to consume him. He thought about the day he'd met his brother, Raan. Raan was about the same age as him and among the children of Hephaestus, yet the moment Drake had laid his eyes upon Raan he knew his true heritage, that they were both the spawn of shadow.
Raan had been like a brother to Drake, showing him how to control his powers, how to handle a sword and all he'd asked in return was not to tell anybody whose son he really was, which Drake sensed his father was alright with, so he decided it was fine too. As time went on and Drake's powers grew he could always sense Raan, at first only when he was near, but eventually he was able to sense his brother no matter how far away he was, quite an advantage in the weekly game of capture the flag. Drake had approached Raan about this but Raan did not share the same power and they'd never spoken of it since. Drake was coming to the end of his meditating session as his thoughts started to quell when an internal alarm set itself off inside his mind. He dragged the thought to the forefront of his mind and felt Raan unleashing power, dark power.
Admittedly, yet regrettably, Drake's first thought was 'Awesome' when he felt the raw power his brother was emitting, but he got to worrying as to why Raan was unleashing such power and if anybody was around, he was out on a quest after all. Drake got more feelings of power flowing out of his brother before his father got bored of watching his naivety and gave him a push. Attempt to look through his eyes. Erebos advised. 'But Raan told me that would only ever have a chance of working if he unleashed his power' Drake replied, telepathically and his mind filled with images of Erebos face palming as he chuckled and put two and two together. Drake held his breath and imagined his eyes linking with his brothers and then he opened his eyes, but he no longer saw his cabin. Drake saw a boy in a block cloak fire thunder but Drake lifted his sword and absorbed it, no it wasn't his sword, he wasn't controlling his body, he was sharing his body with Raan.
Impressive. Erebos complimented as shadows formed next to Drake and formed a ball of dense shadow, a manifestation of his father. A body share, didn't see that one coming he sounded surprised but Drake barely picked it up, he was too busy watching the battle. Raan inevitably lost, he hadn't practiced his dark powers in a long time and couldn't use them to block or even attack. When he hit the floor Drake felt his lack of energy and tried to move Raan's body himself, to no avail, then he tried to simply lend power, but he failed that too. Not possible was all the manifestation of Erebos said, watching as intently as Drake. 'Do something!' Drake wailed as he saw what was coming. 'Tartarus is your territory' he reasoned, but all he felt was a sense of regret from his father. Ichor spilled into Tartarus and then, as much as he tried to stop it, Raan's throat was slit, his brother's life was lost as his blood spilt into the bottomless pit. As each drop of blood left Raan's body the vividness of Drake's vision faded until, when the final drop left he was back in his cabin.
Drake rose when he found himself in the same position that Raan had been in when he died. You're lucky you survived his father spoke in his head but Drake wasn't in the mood to answer. He scooped up his black jacket and put it on and made for the door. He got the door about halfway open before an earthquake shook the camp. He rushed outside and his vision instantly went to the sky, where a purple scythe was spinning around and around, that was about the point when Drake realised what the boy in his vision had done, the bastard had revived the Titan lord of time, Kronos himself. Drake had little time to waste, he rushed for the woods, passing dozens of nymphs, satyrs and campers in a panic. He ran for a good ten minutes, not slowing for a second before he came to the rock the campers called Zeus' fist and sat upon the rock was one of his only friends at the camp, if he could really call her a friend, Spirit daughter of Hypnos greek god of sleep. She was looking up at the sky, dressed in full black like Drake, which did not go well with her long, blonde hair, but she didn't really seem to care.
Spirit was one of three children of Hypnos at camp Half-Blood and the only one that did not spend all her time asleep.
"What up, dad?" She welcomed him, calling him dad since Erebos was the father of Hypnos and his twin, Thanatos.
"Raan's dead, Kronos is alive and as for what is literally above us, or what was, is a huge scythe, so, in conclusion, a lot is up."
"Bummer," was the reply he got "pretty cool scythe though." Spirit didn't spend her time asleep, but she might as well have for all the good she did.
"What you here for then, if your bro's dead?" She looked genuinely curious.
"We're going to kill Kronos." Drake replied.
"You're getting mixed up with your english again, hun, we means more than one person." She tilted her head and smiled sympathetically.
"I was raised in England, and I do mean we, us three of us taking down the Kronos."
"Now I know for sure there is only two of us here." Spirit counted on her fingers to make a point then looked at Drake seriously. "You don't mean the death child."
Drake chuckled a little sickly as he thought about the possible consequences.
"The one and only." he replied "Glad you're on board." Drake walked away as he heard Spirit climb down from Zeus' fist and follow.
"I hate that guy, you know." Spirit protested.
"Shadow and death, no better combination." Drake argued.
"Where does sleep fit into this?" She quizzed.
"You're very talented." Drake sighed, knowing he'd regret saying that.
"Ah, not really." Spirit began. "You know what I would be good at, being a cloud. They just get to fly around up there, you know."
"No, I don't know." Drake replied as he walked out of the woods with the daughter of Hypnos it tow, deciding he should've recruited the other member of his squad first.
By the time Drake arrived at the cabin of Thanatos he wondered whether or not Spirit really needed her powers to send people to sleep. Spirit almost knocked on the door but Drake grabbed her hand.
"He isn't in there." He informed her.
"Death sense?" She asked.
"Shadow probing." He corrected her. "And yes, I can sense when he's close."
"So why did you walk all the way here then?" Spirit raised her eyebrow and Drake knew he'd suffer for that mistake with a lot more boredom.
"You bored me into laziness." He retorted.
"Nonsense, hun, you were already lazy."
"Don't call me hun." He scowled.
"Meanie." She sulked and Drake kept quiet as he searched out his target, hoping she would too.
Drake found Paro, the son of Thanatos at the pavilion, staring up at the clouds, much like Spirit was in the woods, except his sleek black hair went with his black clothing, a true deathly look if there ever was one.
"Cloud watching?" Spirit asked and continued before Paro had chance to answer, not that he would have anyway. "It'd be nice to be a cloud wouldn't it…"
"You don't shut up do you?" Paro interrupted. "Now I presume you're here because of Drake, so what does he want?"
"Killing Kronos." Drake answered honestly.
"No wonder you need me then." Paro replied, lowering his head at long last. "Who's the forth member of the team then?" Paro quizzed.
"You go get whoever, I'll go clear this with Chiron, and take Spirit." Drake ran off before Paro could argue, he never rose his voice above a murmur so Drake was in no danger of being argued with, truth be told he didn't even need to run, but that didn't stop him in his tracks, he carried on sprinting to the the Big House.
Drake slowed down as he opened the door and headed for the attic, before Chiron stopped him.
"You're not off a quest." He told the son of darkness.
"Someone's gotta stop your dad." He replied, making Chiron halt.
"How do you know?" He whispered. "Son of Erebos." He replied and climbed up to the attic, not being stopped by Chiron. Drake reached the oracle and waiting for a little while before becoming bored. He sat down to meditate again and maybe ask Erebos for advice when the oracle began it's prophecy, which made Drake jump out of his skin.
Those of minor blood will embark
Revenge belongs to the one of the dark
The Dark One's Bane belongs to he
Who will fight the Titan so valiantly
Drake waited a second and then shrugged.
"Thanks." He said and descended the stairs, this time Dionysus stood in his way.
"Where you going, boy?" The Olympian asked. Drake stood there and almost came up with a number of answers that nearly came out of his mouth so many times, but in the end he shrugged once more and just walked out of the door, the god did not feel like pursuing. Drake headed to the tree that stood atop the hill that marked the entrance to camp Half-Blood and was met by his comrades. He remembered the day that he saw Raan up here, along with the boy who killed him and two others who he didn't really know or remember.
Paro sat down leaning on the tree, staring at the sky again as Spirit chattered on. Across from Paro was a girl, the only one of them not wearing black but wearing clothes more…cheerful. She had long brunette hair and wore a pink top and jeans, which was all fine but the thing that really caught his attention was the fireball in her hand. Drake thought she may be have been a daughter of Hephaestus but when he reached the top of the hill she introduced herself as Kristen, daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic.
"Makes sense." Drake replied after she introduced herself.
"Prophecy?" Paro figured.
"Those of minor blood will embark." Drake echoed.
"Our parents are all minor gods." Kristen confirmed. "What else?"
"Revenge belongs to the one of the dark." He continued.
Everybody (except maybe Spirit who was quiet for once) thought for a while.
"That could be any of us." Paro informed them. "Me and Drake for obvious reasons, and Hecate and Hypnos weren't exactly caused nice, so at a stretch any of us. And any of us could want revenge for anything that happens on this quest." Kristen nodded in agreement.
"The Dark One's Bane belongs to he
Who will fight the Titan so valiantly" Drake finished.
"I heard something about the Dark One's Bane being an item to kill Kronos." Spirit spoke seriously, for a change.
"The Titan is probably Kronos." Drake contributed.
"'belongs to he'" Paro pointed out. "Me or you then Drake, unless someone new comes along." We all pondered a moment in silence after our attempt to decipher our prophecy.
"Well let's get going." Paro suggested and off we went.