Chapter 2

The night was bleak with clouds obscuring the little light that fell to Earth from the moon and stars. A figure lying in bed stirred restlessly as a cold wind crept its way into the room from the open window. A loud bang filled the room as the window slammed shut and the figure bolted upright in panic. Blindly, the man fumbled for the light switch as fear began to rise unbidden in his heart. With a click the light switch was flicked upwards, but no light filled the extravagant bedroom. The man, still in darkness, cursed before flicking the switch up and down to no ends and the room remained shrouded in pitch black.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, the man placed one foot down onto the floor. He instantly recoiled as his toes were greeted by a pool of icy cold water. The man's breathing grew faster and, without touching the floor, groped for his bedside table. In his haste, several items fell to the floor with a sickening splash before his meaty hands clutched tightly around one item: a lighter. With shaking hands, the man sparked the lighter and for his efforts was rewarded with a meagre flame. The room was suddenly dimly lit and now he could appreciate the inky pools of water that occupied his floor like shadows.

A gust of wind suddenly appeared to extinguish his light and once more he was plunged into darkness. He cursed once more, the harsh words seemed to comfort him, and he desperately tried to spark the flame once more. Flick flick went the spark wheel, but no sparks emerged. Swearing even louder now, he managed to revive the flame once again, however another blast of wind extinguished it before he could gain a better look at the room. As he attempted to relight the flame once again, a single thought slowly occurred to him: the window slamming shut was what had woken him in the first place. The temperature of the room seemed to suddenly drop and the man's heart began to pound in his ears.

"The window isn't open. The window isn't open. The window isn't open. The window isn't open." The man's thoughts looped like a broken record in his head as the impossibility of the situation set in.

A sudden flare of light brought him back to reality and, with trembling hands, he gazed down at the small flame he held in incredulity. A small smile spread across his face at the sight of such warmth. He became certain that the wind was simply a draft and the water simply a plumbing issue. As he lifted the lighter up and looked across the room, the smile faded. A bloated corpse stared straight at him with empty sockets and, as the man began to scream, filthy black water began to gush from its mouth and eyes.

The lighter fell to the floor and the room once again fell to darkness.

The forest was silent save for the soft crackling of a fire; the occasional spark drifted towards the cloudless sky and the flames casted dark shadows. The boy sat near the fire, slowly feeding it fuel from a diminishing pile of timber. His black hair had grown longer and wilder but his eyes had regained their keen look of determination: the emerald green eyes rekindled by hope. The boy was older and with it came a sense of quiet maturity that seemingly caused the forest to be silent as if out of respect. The boy was no longer a boy. He was a man ravished by loss and war, but still fighting for what he believed right. A thick hooded jacket of a material so black it may as well have been made of shadow garbed him, matching his demeanour perfectly.

The snap of a broken twig echoed out through the clearing and yet the boy did not move instead choosing to call out.

"Lady Hestia, you are becoming careless." He called out in a low voice.

"Or is it that I am simply letting my presence be known to my champion?" A lilting voice replied.

"Either way, I know you're here, so come and greet me." Perseus replied, his voice unchanged.

Lady Hestia stepped out from the murky tree line and into the clearing, the fire seemingly leapt at her presence and she smiled as it grew stronger. She looked exactly as she did one year ago when she found him at Hades' door: her brown hair flowed down her back and her red dress seemed to flicker with embers.

"Do you not think what you did to that man was a little unnecessary?" She asked.

"He got what was coming to him." Perseus replied nonchalantly.

"And what is that? The need for constant psychiatric help for the rest of his mortal life?"

"You asked me to protect this forest, and he was in the way of that." Perseus responded, seemingly unaffected by her comments.

"I suppose he was, but have you not considered that there might have been other ways to stop him?"

"His logging became an issue I could not stop through conventional means. So I resorted to unconventional ones."

"You mean by manipulating the mist and half scaring him to death?"

"Yes." Perseus stated bluntly, seemingly ending the conversation.

Hestia pursed her lips before speaking once more. "You have grown, Percy" She stated softly as she stared at her champion, although frowned as she saw him wince at her use of Percy.

"Why do you frown when I refer to you as Percy?" She asked curiously.

"Percy was forgotten a long time ago and I'd prefer it to stay that way." Perseus replied mechanically.

"Percy was a great hero, the bane of Kronos and Gaia, slayer of Hyperion and many more titles, why are you ashamed of who you are?"

"Because I am no longer him, he would be disgusted by me and rightly so. They were right to turn their backs on me. I am no longer deserving of those titles as they belong to another boy." He replied and his voice cracked as he did.

Hestia became quiet as she heard this and the fire became low.

"You have been guarding this forest against all forces that seek to claim it for a year now, Perseus, and you have done it well, but the time has come for you to leave. The satyrs have deemed the forest a Place of the Wild and have come to claim it in the name of Pan. They shall guard the forest in your stead." She commanded.

"What would you have me do now, Lady Hestia?" Perseus asked as he gazed at the forest that had been his home. He had defended it against hellhounds, cyclopes, loggers and many more that would see damage done to this place.

"Demi-Gods are on the rise and as such more and more are slipping through the satyrs' net. They need to be defended and brought to the Camp; it is unjust that they suffer death from our lack of care." The sky rumbled as she spoke but nothing more happened.

"Where do I begin?" Perseus replied without a hint of emotion causing Hestia to frown somewhat.

"New York. Monsters have begun to congregate there and any Demi-God will be at risk. Good luck Perseus, my only champion." She stated, her voice lowering to a soft tone as she wished him good luck.

A column of whirling fire surrounded Lady Hestia, and Perseus is once again alone in the forest. The fire crackled as if nothing had happened.

As always, any and all feedback is well received. Hope you enjoy:)