A/N: Hi. New writer here. Obviously, this is my first story. Please judge this chapter fairly. I know I'm taking things a bit fast, but sadly it needs to be done. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and continue enjoying the story!
When the text is like this, it means that Percy is talking to the gods in his head.
Their replies are like "This"
Curse of the Faded
The Beginning of the End:
Unknown Time - Unknown Area
The Fates, in all their wisdom and glory, sat in their secluded dimension hidden from mortals and immortals alike. Power radiated from the three sisters that could cripple Olympus itself. Yet, even the great weavers were astounded and disturbed with what has occurred. It could mean the end of the Fifth Age as we know it. The Moirai began to plan in order to combat the oncoming darkness. If the Fates succeeded in this gamble, the stars would weep with joy.
Meanwhile - End of the First Giant War – Throne Room of Olympus
The Big Three sat in the throne room alone. Not even Hestia was tending the hearth at their request as an important matter needed to be discussed. While Hades is not allowed on Olympus, he was the one who called this urgent meeting. Hades sat in a makeshift throne with his pitch black robes billowing (even though there was no wind) giving off an aura of darkness and death. You could hear the painful whispers echoing in his robes, and his Helm of Darkness would make any mere mortal shiver and flee in terror.
"Zeus, you cannot act rash at what I am about to do," Hades exclaimed.
"What do you mean not act rash?" Zeus suspiciously replied, reaching for his Master Bolt. He wore his greek chiton and his aura commanded authority. His electric blue eyes unnerved those who he gazed upon, and looked at everyone with a hint of arrogance.
"Tartarus requested an audience, brother," Hades replied smoothly, glancing at Zeus with obvious distaste as he noticed the movement.
"You dare-"
"Now brother, even you cannot ignore a summons from a primordial," Poseidon interjected. The sea god also wore a greek chiton. His sea green eyes flashed and he gripped his Trident tighter when Tartarus was mentioned.
"Yes Zeus, it would be wise not to anger your superiors," Tartarus' mocking voice echoed off the throne room walls. All three gods immediately gripped their weapons and went into a battle stance.
"I did not allow-"
"Of course you didn't Hades, but I am a Protogenoi, I have my ways," Tartarus stated, cutting Hades off.
"I come with a warning. You, with the interference of my nieces, were victorious in this Giant War. You imprisoned my wife and defeated my son, Typhon. However, since you so generously gave me back my other children, the Gigantes, I will give you something in return. Your next true hero will be cursed to forever fight my minions and to walk on my wife's plane. He will be cursed to never be free, to always have a struggle, physically and mentally. Your destined savior will now be your destroyer, if the Moirai can disrupt fate, I will as well. I have bestowed upon him the Curse of the Faded!"
With that statement, the embodiment of the Pit left, leaving three shell shocked gods and a hearth blazing dangerously low. The other Olympians flashed in to see what the source of power was, only to gaze upon the Big Three frozen in fear. Before Athena could question them, they flashed away leaving only their fearful faces in the minds of the Olympians. They all wondered the same thing;
What the hell happened here?
November 8th, 2000 – Near the forest of Camp Half-Blood
A 7 year old boy shivered in the cold night, hugging his torn jacket for warmth. His jet black hair blended in with the darkness of the night. His vibrant sea green eyes showing a hint of mirth, but they also showed tiredness. He sat alone on a bench, lost in his thoughts, digging up unwanted memories that were buried deep within his mind. His mother's untimely demise, he thought about the voices in his head wondering if they were real-
"Of course we're real, you dolt! How many times do we have to tell you that you thick headed sea spawn?!" The resident thunder God (sorry, Primordial, he is a bit sensitive) screamed in his head.
The young boy rolled his eyes and scowled at the deity's childish use of language.
Ouranos, can you shut the fuck up?
"What did I say about abusive language Perseus Jackson?" Selene, the titaness of the moon, reprimanded. He winced at his full name. Of course Selene's brother just snickered quietly in the background.
Percy had always known that he was unique, even amongst demigods. Yes, he knew of the Olympians and the mythological world's existence. He even knew which Olympian was his father. It was that dusty old deity of the sea – Poseidon. Of course he resented him after leaving his mother to die, even though it was Percy's fault and he just wanted to put the blame on someone else.
"It was not your fault damnit, how many times do we have to repeat that?" The titan of the sun, Helios (Selene's brother), stated, interrupting his train of thought.
"We've talked about the ancient laws Percy, you have to let go." Ouranos said, agreeing with Helios.
I can't let go, for Olympus' sake I just can't.
He remembered parts of the day, unsuccessfully keeping the memory at bay; blood staining the walls, that monster who murdered her, his eyes glinting with an evil light, his mother's dull and lifeless eyes…
Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, yet he maintained his scowl. He had moved to underneath a tree so people passing by wouldn't hear him muttering about fate being a pain in the ass, thinking of him as an escapee from an asylum.
Percy always wondered why he was the only one with these voices. He had tried coming to a conclusion through- BOOM!
An unearthly explosion rocked the forest, sending the tree Percy was under on top of him, but his quick reflexes allowed him to roll away just in time. Percy heard shouts and screams coming from the other direction, and Helios kept on babbling about how Percy would save a damsel in distress again while Selene tried to silence him. He always wondered how the deities in his head could hit each other, even though they had no bodies. No wonder he got headaches- BOOM!
He heard another earth-shattering explosion and then a loud cry of pain. Cursing his ADHD, he quickened his pace, going as fast as a seven year old with godly abilities could manage. When he reached his destination, his face lost all its color.
There stood an army of monsters chasing three demigods and a satyr. One demigod- a girl, presumably his age- was being carried by an older demigod with blue eyes and sword sheathed to his sides. He was followed by the satyr and a girl –who has spiky black hair and stunning electric blue eyes with punk style clothing – followed them up the hill. Having a fierce expression on her face, she looked like she could spit in death's face if it even dared to come to her. The monsters were hot on their tail before the punk girl called down a lightning bolt and halted the monsters' advance.
"A daughter of Zeus," Ouranos hissed.
"I will not help you."
Why not?
"Because I hate Zeus and his children,"
So? I'm going to help.
"Let her die. The Lord of the Dead is after her, wouldn't want him to discover you now would you? She brings death to everyone around her."
So do I.
With that, Percy summoned Selene's bow (Λαθραίο ποτό - Moonshine), and picked off monsters one by one. He willed four lightning bolts to crash into the monster's ranks, causing pain to flare up in his gut.
"Don't use too much power otherwise you'll fall unconscious or burn up," Selene advised.
Heeding her advice, Percy charged the monsters with the bow before it changed into Ηλιακό έγκαυμα (Sunburn), Helios' sword. Percy front flipped over the first line monsters and began hacking and slashing his way to the demigods. He jumped over the club of a Cyclops before stabbing a pouncing hellhound in mid-air, while twisting his body to make a fiery whip miss its mark. Trying to see who the whip belonged to, his instincts screamed (well the voices did too – "we are not voices!") and he immediately complied by ducking and taking a wild jab at the Cyclops who attacked him. Percy turned around to see something that nearly made him shit his pants – a fucking Fury. It's leathery wings flapping in the air, and it was giving him a fanged smile that chilled him to the bone.
"Interfering with our mission demigod means that you will perish along with that sky spawn. You do however have a faint smell… a faint smell of the-" the Fury's – Alecto (Helios told Percy) – eyes widened. Before she could even react, Percy drove his sword into her chest and she silently dissolved into gold dust with shock still present on her face.
Percy did not have the chance to celebrate as a Cyclops smashed him with a club and he flew into a tree. How could he be so stupid? He forgot to wear his armor. Percy stood up on one knee, holding his now- broken ribs and coughing up blood, before roaring in anger and attacking the Cyclops. He distinctly heard Ouranos say he forgot his armor again, but he obviously ignored it. With blinding speed, he cut off its leg and stabbed it in the chest as it fell down.
Not skipping a beat, Percy turned around and stabbed a skeleton warrior in the chest, parried another warriors' strike, before ripping it's head off and throwing it into an incoming hellhound. Using the distraction, Percy did a baseball slide underneath the overgrown mutt while holding his sword up, which slit the hound's throat. He jumped over a Cyclops' swing, before using the club as a spring board and stabbing the Cyclops in the eye. Covering his fist in fire, he punched the ground and the flames shot outwards, incinerating any beast nearby and pushing others back.
"Damn bro, those ladies are checking you out. Especially the little- oh shit. They're being chased by the other two Kindly Ones," Helios exclaimed.
He saw one of the Furies get blasted by lightning, but the last on immediately preyed on the satyr and the running demigod. Percy, being one of a kind, threw his sword. Percy could have turned it into a bow, but nope. Throwing a sword is so much more accurate. He mentally groans knowing that Selene will give him an earful soon. The sword hit its marks, and the Fury dissolved into gold dust.
Percy ran up to the demigods before dropping on his knees, his exhaustion catching up to him and the pain in his chest more prominent. The punk demigoddess immediately helped him up.
"Thalia," the demigoddess curtly introduced herself (with Ouranos hissing her last name: Grace). She took out her hand.
"Percy," he said, shaking her hand in response.
"You got a death wish fighting that many monsters?" Thalia asked.
"Guess you could say that."
Percy heard Ouranos chanting "KILL HER!" in the back of his mind while Selene and Helios calmed him down.
Thalia handed him some ambrosia, the food of the gods. Percy thanked her and his broken ribs instantly mended and the pain was reduced to dull throbbing. The two demigods were half way up the hill when the satyr and the other demigod carrying the demigoddess caught up to them. The demigod was much taller and probably older than he was. His blue eyes glinted with mischief but they had certain weariness to them. He had a strong build but he looked to be a bit thin due to food deprivation. The demigoddess in his arms was as old as him, with startling gray eyes and honey blonde hair that looked like princess curls. Those eyes looked like as if she was finding out ways to kill him.
"The pretty boy is Luke while the girl is Annabeth, now we have to hurry before the other monsters catch us," Thalia hurriedly introduced.
"Percy, son of some god" He said, introducing himself and giving Luke and Annabeth a nod. Annabath gave him a weak smile.
Selene whispered their last names and heritage;
"Luke Castellan is a son of Hermes while Annabeth Chase is a daughter of Athena. Grover Underwood is the satyr."
Mentally thanking Selene, he noticed Grover, whose whisky chin trembled, his eyes darted around in fright and one shoe missing from one of his hooves.
The demigods started to trek up the hill when they heard a loud roar which shook them to the bones. Percy turned around and nearly shit his pants, again. Even the deities in his head were silent as they saw the monstrous drakon before them. It was at least one hundred feet long covered in impenetrable scales and spikes jutting out from random positions. Poison dripping from its fangs and the grass underneath it withered and died. The presence of the drakon diminished the shine of the moon by a mere fraction, but enough to piss off Selene.
The worst part, it was ungodly fast. It covered the distance between us in a few seconds while we were frozen in fear.
"I don't think Hades sent that, Thals," Luke exclaimed.
Percy wasn't going to let them die today, no matter how pissed off Ouranos was. Plus, he found Thalia to be a bit too pretty to die. He was determined to save them- oh shit… Helios heard those thoughts.
Not a word, Helios.
"Grover, take these three and lead them up the hill. I'll cover you and reach you as soon as you are safe. And for Olympus' sake Grover, lose the damn shoe!" Percy ordered them angrily. They were surprised but obliged.
"How do you know Grover's name?" Annabeth asked.
Percy froze, cursing himself mentally for the slip up.
"I heard you one of you scream his name," Percy said, lying smoothly.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes in suspicion but thankfully (actually, no, Percy isn't thankful) the drakon roared and sent a blast of fire towards them. Percy rolled away while the others scrambled up the hill. He immediately faced the drakon already making his first mistake by looking into its eyes, which paralyzed him. However, Helios came to the rescue;
"Can't die yet. Gotta ask Thalia out first, Perce" He snapped Percy out of the trance and barely dodged before the poison hit him.
The drakon started to charged. Unfortunately, the belly was even covered with scales, so Percy did whatever some normal person would; Percy set his sword on fire, jumping in the air using the winds to propel himself onto the drakon. Of course that was "the stupidest idea ever, of all time" as Helios so aptly put it. The drakon thrashed around trying to buck Percy off. His sword fell out of his hands and tumbled onto the ground. He couldn't concentrate to summon any other weapon because well, he was piggybacking a fucking drakon.
The three deities kept on complaining about them becoming dizzy while Percy tried to not be thrashed to death – if that's even possible. With his luck, it probably is.
Out of frustration, Percy yelled, and he immediately regretted it because his tongue was probably chomped off by his teeth. But instead, his body automatically set on fire, while drawing power from the moon, the night sky was illuminated by the flash of a lightning bolt which would make Zeus jealous. The drakon wailed in agony and writhed in pain, spewing fire in a futile attempt to hit an enemy blind to its eyes, before it burst into gold dust.
Percy unceremoniously fell on the ground, his landing being anything but soft. Exhaustion seeped into his bones and he was dead tired. His gut felt as if it was burning with greek fire, stars swam in his vision. With the last of his strength, he shadow traveled away as he saw a horse – wait no, centaur - what? His last thought was… well, not his.
Ouranos stole the limelight, "You did good kid. You did good."
That was all that was heard before he succumbed to the sweet embrace of darkness.
