~A78 Ch1~
An ice pick dug into the tough ice deeply, embedding itself so throughly into the mountain that even Hercules himself would be hard pressed to remove it with his godly strength. The man holding the ice pick gritted his teeth as he, with an impressive demonstration of strength, hoisted himself up, his other arm raising to grasp at the ledge. For a few short, sweet seconds, he inhaled the thin air like a child munching on the most delicious candy. Then, he stood up, ice pick left where it was, impaled on the icy side of the mountain, and from one of his many pockets, all magically enchanted by him to have a limitless capacity, and finally took out a black rod.
It was an undecorated rod made of Stygian Iron, approximately one foot in length, and at the very tip, a diamond, the interior shifting and swirling with many black wisps, all desiring nothing more than to break free and coalesce into the Titan of Time. However, the diamond was enchanted by Lady Hecate herself, the Mistress of all Magicks, to never shatter, and designed to only absorb the essence of the first being the diamond came in contact with– in this case being the scatter soul pieces of the Titan Kronos. Holding the diamond in place was were four curved edges of Stygian Iron, further contributing as a safeguard to prevent the soul pieces of the Titan King from escaping.
Lady Hecate was a strong goddess, being a former Titaness, however, not even her power would be enough to prevent the collective power of the gathered soul pieces of Kronos from escaping. However, all divine beings or partly divine beings were subject to the powers of the divine metals. Stygian Iron absorbed the essence of monsters, however, because Titans, even with their souls cleaved into thousands of pieces, were a higher being, an actual, immortal deity; not even Stygian Iron could possibly absorb the divine essence of an immortal. However, in Kronos's case, his essence was split, as the man holding the rod discovered with the help of various gods and goddesses, and so it could be gathered and prevented from escaping.
Despite the frigid, thin air, the jet stream buffering him, wanting him to fall off the mountain he had climbed in less three days and plummet to his death– even now, after his death, Zeus still wants me to die because I'm too high up? That's a riot– and the beginning traces of a snowstorm starting to obscure his vision, he laughed madly despite not having used his voice in nearly a year. It was a hoarse, croaking sound that resonated all across the mountain and scared off all wildlife– if there was any wildlife in the Death Zone of Mount Everest, where there was little oxygen for a human to breathe, let alone for any sort of animal to live so high above the earth.
Even the words he spoke sounded strange to his own ears, belonging, in his opinion, to some sort of hermit than he, the once Savior of the World, the Slayer of Kronos, Hyperion, and many more deities including various, infamous monsters, and the self-resurrecting Giants who just couldn't seem to die for more than a die, even when using a Stygian Iron weapon. Fucking Giants.
He made a imposing if, not particular impressive figure, holding a black rod high above him. He was tall, a few inches over six feet, though very thin. He hadn't eaten actual food in weeks, instead relying upon melting snow for water, whatever animals he could find, though that was mostly small insects, for protein, and the local plant-life to supplant the rest of his nutrients. His cheeks were gaunt, sea-green colored eyes inherited from his father, weary with all he had been through, and messy black hair covered in a fine, if spotted, layer of snow, having given up on the hundredth attempt to clear the snow from his hair. Around his shoulders was the pelt of a Nemean Lion, granting him invulnerability from most attacks, a necessity in these war-torn times, though he made sure not to rely upon it lest his skill dulled, warm if uncomfortable pants, thick warm socks, and climbing boots.
His name was Perseus Jackson and he was the last living remnant of the Olympian Pantheon.
The Mother Earth, Gaea to Greeks, and Terra to Romans, had won the Second Giant War many years ago, ten if he was precise, by awakening through the death of two demigods of the Great Prophecy, and causing the obliteration of Mount Olympus, and therefore, the weakening though not the actual deaths of the Olympians. By destroying the thrones of the Olympians atop Mount Olympus, Gaea had weakened the Olympians to the point, where, while they were still immortal, much of their power and abilities had declined exponentially. No longer, since the moment of the destruction of their thrones, could Olympians assume their divine forms, nor could they fight on a divine level to effectively combat the Giants let alone the Mother Earth. Only the minor gods and goddesses were spared from losing the majority of their powers.
The following five years were difficult, the Olympians and allies warring with a policy of blitzkrieg, striking at whatever they could before swiftly retreating. Gods and demigods worked together, ancient laws be damned, though even their combined efforts were only enough to delay the inevitable.
And then, everything came crashing down when Dionysius, the God of Wine, Madness, Theater, and Vegetation, faded at the hands of his Giant counterparts, Otis and Ephitales. And that, had been only the beginning of the true end. His death had caused many demigods to descend into madness and hopelessness, and had caused their deaths, only contributing more to the descent into madness, and thus, the eternal cycle of insanity and death.
After that, the Olympians and the many minor gods allied with them, knowing their time would soon be at an end, turned to training their children so that they may, at least try to find a way to defeat Gaea. By this point, of the original seven, only Perseus remained. Demigods and legacies of both Greece and Rome had only a quarter of the total numbers remaining. Some had died in the final, true battle of Olympus, defending the thrones of the Olympians, others had turned to Gaea in exchange for their survival, the majority had died soon after Dionysius, and the remaining had simply left to go their own ways. The final group had all been hunted down to extinction.
Perseus had benefited most from the training. In actuality, by that point, he was the single, greatest swordsman among all the allies and was better than a great many of the enemy side. So, he had learned how to better manipulate his powers over water. Turning water to ice, and to steam, and learning how to use both aspects of water in combat. Then, when he had received a blessing from Hades, he had learned how to control shadows and darkness though it was slightly less than a child of Hades. More significantly, he could now do more than cause earthquakes. Now, he was capable of controlling the earth to a great degree, more than any child of Hades or Poseidon could control. And of course, perhaps the most beneficial aspect of receiving a blessing from Hades was that he could now wield Stygian Iron without having to fight the metal for possession of his soul.
And then, of all things he could have possible conceived, he would never have believed, not until Zeus had actually done the deed, that Zeus would have given he, the son of Poseidon, his blessing. His control over wind now consisted more than simply creating hurricanes. More importantly, and more interestingly, he could create lightning and manipulate it, though it was far more difficult than manipulating water.
Upon the deaths of the Big Three, the last deaths causing the complete elimination of the Olympians, despite Percy's best efforts, the coalition of Greek and Roman demigods had dissolved into chaos, only further supported by a surprise attack by an absolutely massive army spearheaded by three of the Gigantes, the anti-thesis of the Big Three, and after that battle, when Percy, after witnessing the death of the last demigod other than himself, and simply flooded everything in a three mile radius, before fleeing.
He ran far, far away from Crete, and had traveled continents for two years, a massive horde of monsters always dogging his steps. He had considered, many times, to hide in Tartarus of all places where not even the Gigantes or Gaea would dare to enter for fear of Tartarus and Nyx. Another thing he had considered was to flee to Antartica and, when Gaea herself arrived to slay that demigod in existence, he would collapse the entire, fucking continent on that absolute bitch who had conquered the world and die in the greatest way a demigod could. Giving the finger on each hand to a primordial goddess as he caused the largest earthquake that would ever be known to man (though at that point, he was the only human left) and then, he would flood the collapsed continent as much as he could before something or somebody finally struck him down.
While suicidal, that would have been fun.
On many occasions, he had found himself moving south, to Antartica, to do exactly that, before immediately discarding the idea and walking in another direction. No one would have wanted him to commit suicide, that he knew for sure.
So, he continued traveling, until one day, a goddess approached him with an idea and an offer.
Lady Hecate.
She had presented the idea of gathering the scattered pieces of Kronos and using them in a magical ritual that would send him back in time so that he could prevent Armageddon from ever happening. Percy had his doubts, but, had nothing better to do than go along with the idea. The worst that could happen was that he would die, which wasn't particularly ominous or a concept to be feared considering that one, he had been to the Underworld multiple times, and two, he had contemplated suicide by continent collapse on multiple times. Of course, he would likely be tortured for all eternity but, since it was more than possible to escape the Underworld and Tartarus so he wasn't particularly worried about dying.
Together, they traveled, Hecate blessing him and teaching him first, the ritual that would allow him to travel back in time and then every other magic he could possibly need or want. They had met up with other minor gods and goddesses, and though many of them refused to help them, the Titaness Mnemosyne, had taught him how to seal parts of his memory and how to prevent any being from reading, scanning, or taking away his memory. It wouldn't do if some being from the past accidentally discovered he was from the future.
During that time, they had found many pieces of Kronos's soul, and had absorbed them into the black rod Hecate had created. Many were still scattered about but for the first time in a long time, Percy began to hope.
But then, Gaea had learned of their plan and had tricked them into a trap. Hecate had sacrificed herself, giving Percy enough time to escape.
The following year had found Percy focused intently upon his task, never speaking. He was, by that point, the only living human on Earth. Gaea had followed through on her favorite child's, Kronos's, promise of annihilating any and every human in existence. Not even the demigods who betrayed the Olympians were spared. Only Percy remained. And he was constantly hounded by an entire legion of monsters, anything less being drowned or dropped into Tartarus, courtesy of his his earth powers.
Percy knew that Gaea had been toying with him the entire past year, wanting him to feel hopeless when the success of his task was snatched before his very eyes.
Percy grinned as the diamond began glowing, indicating the presence of the last piece of Kronos's soul nearby. Gaea wouldn't exist long enough to regret her decision.
...
An hour later found Percy at the very peak of Mount Everest, where somehow, when Luke had struck his mortal point, the last sliver of Kronos's soul had come to rest. Touching the invisible soul piece, only visible to Percy by channeling magic to his eyes, with the diamond, absorbed Kronos's last soul piece. Kronos was soul was complete once more though still unable to actually form his divine body.
Looks like it doesn't really take that much to reform Kronos, just a dedicated follower. Apparently, I'm more competent than the combined efforts of several Titans, demigods, hundreds of thousands of monsters, and even Kronos himself when it comes to trying to resurrect the bastard. Percy snorted in amusement. And I had less time too.
Now, where are my stalkers... A roll to the left saved Percy from becoming a popsicle. Ah, there's one.
"Ah, Khione, what a surprise." It really wasn't considering that she had been following Percy for weeks.
"Perseus Jackson," the goddess of snow snarled. "Give up now and I promise your death will be as painful as you could never imagine!"
"Oh, shut up Khione," Percy switched the black rod to his left hand while summoning to his right hand, the Black Sword of Hades, given to him by Hades upon the God of the Underworld's death.
He'd received two other weapons, both considered symbols of powers because of the amount of power the other two of the Big Three had put in before they died. The first was once known as the Eagle of the 12th Legion, though when it had broken against Gaea, Zeus had had it reforged into a simplistic staff made entirely of Imperial Gold and capped at both ends with what used to be Zeus's Master-Bolt. Its name was Fulminata, in honor of what the staff once was and who had given it to him. The other weapon he had received was a second, smaller version of Poseidon's Trident forged for him by his own father so that he wouldn't be left defenseless when the gods faded and couldn't kill a Giant without a god's help. Because the weapon held the power of a god and he was still a demigod, he could kill a Ginat without the help of a god. Its name was Fury because, to Percy, that's what it represented. Not the gentleness of the ocean but the fury of the deep.
"Eradicator," Khione whispered before summoning her own weapon, a Celestial Bronze sword three feet in length.
Yes, Percy, had named the Black Sword of Hades, Eradicator, partly because of its ability to send even a Giant to Tartarus for a day, and because Hades had told him to kill every last monster, Giant, and Primordial that came after him. And he did with relish...and Fury.
"Gaea would like to thank you for gathering all the pieces of her favorite son for her," Khione smirked at him, launching ice javelins at him.
Percy countered by dissolving the ice javelins in midair and retaliated by causing the earth to rise before Khione and essentially, sucker-punch the goddess. She gasped, the air leaving her as she stumbled back.
Giving her no time to rest, Percy dashed forward, intent on slitting the goddess's throat, but was forced to dodge a sword– his sword, Riptide, that had been taken from him by the Mother Earth– at the last moment.
"Gaea," Percy hissed as Khione slowly rose and stood aside Gaea.
"I thought I would thank you in person, Percy," Gaea's voice was light, soothing even. "So thank you, Percy, for retrieving my son's soul fragments. Now, be a good little boy and hand them over."
"Did you know that Hecate had a ritual to send someone back in time?" Perseus asked as he stabbed Eradicator into the mountain and calmly began removing his clothing, black rod still in hand. "Do you know what is needed to power up the ritual?"
Gaea decided to play along despite Khione's silent protests. "I would assume some sort of large power source."
"Correct, Gaea," Gaea frowned at use of her name without the word 'Lady' in front of it. She blinked at the strange, runic inscriptions that covered his body glowing a soft blue.
"Did you know that several times on the run, I had considered drawing you to Antartica, trapping you, somehow, smashing every bit of ice and rock at you of Antartica at you, then flooding everything with water, until I died?" Percy asked. He was naked now, devoid of every strip of clothing. Only his control of wind and ice prevented him from getting frostbite. A hand rested on the pommel of Eradicator.
"That would indeed be an astonishing display of power for a demigod," Gaea commented, having not attacked him solely because of her curiosity of what he planned to do.
"True, I would probably die before I launched a quarter of the continent at you," Percy admitted. "But I should be able to manage a mountain."
Gaea's eyes in surprise as the mountain began shaking and quaking, knocking her off-balance for the first time since her awakening. Khione dashed forward, eager to slay the last demigod in existence, her power minor power over the winds, inherited from her father, allowing her to avoid the surprise earthquake.
"Is that your final technique?" Khione shouted as her pace increased and her sword came closer and closer to Perseus's neck. "Pathetic!"
Just before her sword would cut demigod flesh, Percy extended his hand and allowed her sword to pierce his left palm, angling it in a way that would prevent Khione's sword from touching the black rod. Crimson blood trickled down his hand, partially activating the runes magically inscribed on his body.
"The first thing needed," Percy told the goddess quietly, as his right arm grasped her neck tightly, "is the blood of the person who plans on returning to the past."
"The second thing needed," Percy charged his right hand with electricity, piercing her throat where his hand clutched her throat and drawing ichor, the golden blood of immortals, "is the blood of an immortal. After all, there aren't many things in the world more powerful than a god or goddess."
Percy tossed her away as far as he possibly could, and with his left hand, still bleeding, raised the diamond of the black rod to his heart and touched the rune inscribed there. A white-hot pain coursed through his veins, spreading quickly, and making him feel as if he had somehow managed to get Ladon's poison into his bloodstream. The mountain began collapsing all around him taking Gaea and Khione down, far away from him, and piling tonnes of rock and ice down on them.
A white, blinding light surrounded the demigod and with one, enormous surge of bright, white light, vanished from the war-torn future.
I better get to drop a continent on her next time.
~A78 Ch1~
So, I probably should have worked on another of my fics but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone so, I wrote it. I've always though time-travel in the PJO world would be fairly interesting.
I haven't read the House of Hades or the Blood of Olympus (through, while researching for my other PJO fic, I have stumbled upon elements from the HoH so you might see some of that) so for the most part, I won't be using anything from there.
I've always thought time-travel would be fairly easy considering Kronos, the embodiement of time is around for four years, reforming for the most part so I'm surprised I haven't seen more of these kind of fics around (though I may just be missing them, who knows?).
Likely, harem. I'm open to suggestions though not Annabeth, since I've already thought of a reason why they would be broken up. I thought about Artemis, Zoë, and Thalia, though like I said, I'm open to suggestions.
First chapter title is based off a fic I liked so if you think you've seen it somewhere, that's probably it.
That's about all I could remember of what I wanted to say so...
As always,
Thanks for reading!