The Titans got an Upgrade…
Percy POV
Ι got out of the cave, darkness receding behind με like the waves of the sea pulling away from the dry shore; only to be greeted with the blinding light of the sun. Bedazzling rays of golden hot light shining down upon them like the very vengeance of Helios. My eyes were used to the darkness of the cave, so I put one hand in front of them to protect them, a shield of someone who had become so used to the darkness that the light burned like fire. Slowly I started getting used to the bright background, but there was something strange; something not quite so right.
The shadows from the clouds moved too quickly, flashing across the sky like the speeding movements of a tempest … or at least I thought it was the shadows from the clouds, large dark shapes cast against the ground, until I saw that the shadow had a humanoid shape.
I turned to Zeus who was following him behind me only to see him stare in awe and fear to the sky. I followed his gaze and I didn't like what he saw. Standing at a height of at least 300 feet stood a gigantic humanoid. Blocking out the sun like a miniature mountain, hiding the burning light behind it as if that giant itself was darkness, pulling them back into the darkness.
His face was hidden from the shadows as his back was to the sun but his crimson eyes were burning like lit up pieces of coal, rage and hate flickering like the smoldering remains of a past opponent casted upon the hot coals of vengeance. His figure was one of a body builder but tens of times the size with muscle bulging and straining against itself, defined and sculptured as if he was made out of marble. He was still far enough away to be into the sea around the island up to his knees but he still covered the light that would normally be bathing him. All in all he looked like a shadow colossus sent straight from the depths of Tartarus. The soft sound of water lapping quietly at the beings knees echoing out innocently, unaware of the devastating effect it was having on the occupants.
Suddenly I wasn't feeling so certain anymore.
'What the hell is that?' I whispered, my eyes wide even as I took a step back. Subtle fear building up inside my mind.
'That' Zeus gulped and pointed to the large titan, his arm trembling as he did so, 'Is Atlas! Titan of constellations and endurance.' He said, barely not stuttering as he himself trembled before the mere presence of the Titan.
'No he isn't!' I rasped with a voice that suddenly felt course like chalk on stone as my mind began a journey of remembering Atlas from new mount Othrys, when he was holding the sky. That Titan while by no means small was possible to conquer. This one on the other hand could theoretically blow us away. And that's while he was still that far away. 'Dude! This thing is about 300 feet. The Atlas I know is 9 feet tops.' I tried to reason.
'What do you mean "9 feet"?' Asked Zeus 'Since the first time I have seen him he always had 2 feet.' He said. I face palmed.
'No I didn't mean it like that. I meant it as a unit of measure… You know what, leave it, it doesn't matter. What I meant is that he should be many times smaller than the way I see him right now.' I said incredulously.
'He can revert into a smaller form if that is what you mean but that… is how he really fights!' Zeus said
I knew that the Titans weren't in full power when they invaded Manhattan but if this was full power then what I had faced was the absolute possible minimum. And then another thought made me freeze.
If that's how Atlas is in full power then Kronos…
I shivered.
Okay focus. You have had an upgrade since the last time you fought this guy. So what if he had an upgrade too. You can do this.
'Okay, can you strike him with lightning?' I asked. Zeus looked at him funny.
'No.' He said simply
'No?' I asked not certain where this was going.
'No. I can only use lightning in point blank range. I cannot concentrate it enough to emit it away.' He said
'But you are Zeus! Throwing lightning is your whole thing! How can you not throw lightning?' I asked while flailing my hands, momentarily forgetting the danger that was closing in as I turned to round on the supposed King of the Sky.
'Look, I don't know who you are, I don't know where you come from, I don't know who you think I am and I-don't-care! What I do care about is that you said you could beat him so tell me now and let's get this over with. Can you do it?' Zeus asked straightforward.
I thought about it. If I had beaten him when I was mortal then now it should still be a fair fight right? But just in case…
'Get your brothers and sisters and teleport away. If you can't help me you will get in the way!' I said quickly
'I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TELEPORT!' Growled Zeus, seemingly fed up with the skills I thought he had but didn't!
'DO YOU NEED ANY HELP WITH THAT?' Said an amused, booming voice.
I froze.
I slowly turned around only to be greeted with the smiling face of the titan who had come up right behind me and was now towering over me. He had dark slicked-back hair, grey eyes, light brown skin, and a very muscular build. That's an understatement he was extremely muscular with a brutal face, huge shoulders, and hands that could snap the statue of liberty in half. He was dressed in bronze armor with engravings of constellations that if you asked me might as well be in their normal size, engraved like as if he had simply plucked them out from the sky and rubbed them into his armor.
'SO?' The titan asked good willingly.
'No, we are good.' I tried to say calmly through the waves of terror I was getting attacked by, slowly backing away alongside Zeus.
'OH GOOD, I WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO HAVE UNFINISHED BUSINESS HERE BEFORE I SENT YOU TO TARTARUS!' He said and his foot rose almost above the mountain, blocking everything else from sight. His crimson eyes narrowing in sudden rage.
'DODGE' I screamed while tackling Zeus. If it had been one second later we would have become golden paste as the foot couldn't even be seen accelerating. One moment the foot was in the air and the next it had already made gigantic crater on the mountain. The earth catering around it like as if it had been made out of mere hard sand, and considering the way the hardened rock fell away like small pieces of sand it might as well have been.
I looked over my shoulder while lying down on the scale of the destruction the Titan had just caused. My breath had caught in my throat and I couldn't speak. This was beyond anything I had seen before! How had the gods defeated these beings in the first place?!
'OH COME ON LITTLE GOD. DON'T RUN AROUND. HAHAHAHA' His laugh was a cold, horrific, wicked sound that made the blood inside my veins curl. It screeched in the air like the sound of thousand of nails ripping across a blackboard.
At least one thing was still the same. I thought. He is still a total nutcase.
I saw his hands moving leisurely towards me; the Titan knew of his assured victory.
'RUN ZEUS! RUN!' I shouted once again and both gods quickly got to their feet. i was about to dash into the cave when I felt a pull on my right hand.
'NO, WE WILL ENDANGER THE OTHERS!' Shouted Zeus, his sparking eyes large and wide and yet at the same time holding such conviction that I could do nothing but nod. They started climbing up the mountain while Atlas' arm still stretched behind , an us ever catching up limb that seemed to stretch forever, possible of reaching the very stars in the sky up in the highest of the heavens. My muscles screamed in agony as I ran the uphill ground so fast that the solid rocks underneath me cracked.
I could leave any Olympic athlete behind me effortlessly but right now this still seemed to be no more than a snail's pace compared to the colossus behind me. Every time the hand got too close it suddenly slowed down until we had a reasonable handicap.
He is playing with us! I thought, Like a cat with its food!
We reached the top of the mountain, which was almost at eye level with Atlas! Those twin crimson orbs staring viciously at the two of us who stood with feet braced apart, panting with heavy chest as their lungs tried to drag in some air.
'SO WHO WANTS TO DIE FIRST?'Asked Atlas still incredibly amused by their game. A cold smirk dancing across his lips as he looked at upon them with mere indifference, yet behind that I could still see the smoldering coals of pure hatred and rage that simply awaited to be unleashed, simply waited to be unraveled into the pure throat roaring, gut wrenching, bloody raining hatred. It bubbled like molten lava, simmering for the right time.
We both looked at each other and then looked back at Atlas.
We have to gain time!
'Me but…' Before I finished my sentence the fist of Atlas collided with my body.
And then came agony!
Imagine your body going haywire and all the nerves in your body making an alliance to make you feel the worst possible pain, making you feel you are burning, with every bone in your body cracking, ear drums puncturing and your eyes exploding and your own bones puncture you internal organs making them rupture. That is somewhat close to what I felt. There was a chorus of sickening cracks and my body became a soup of bones, meat and muscle travelling towards the sea at hypersonic speeds. I couldn't even scream as my ribs had punctured my lungs and I couldn't even see what I looked like since my eyes were now inside my brain making awful golden stains. I whipped across the sea with a trail of molten gold ichor splashing out behind me.
For that second until I landed to the sea I felt an eternity worth of pain. I couldn't see and I couldn't hear. All I could do was feel and all I felt was pain. I couldn't event think through all the pain. It was drowning everything making me wish I was dead. It was worse than the Styx.
And then I landed it into the sea.
Even through my speed, even through the injuries, I didn't feel pain. On the contrary. It was like the laws of physics stopped working for a bit and I landed on the softest cushion in existence. I started feeling my body healing. The water seeping into my wounds and becoming anything I needed. It seeped into his skull and became eyes. It seeped inside my entrails and became organs and it seeped inside my arms and legs and became bones and ichor. My brain started working again but my body wasn't fully functional. There was no way I could fight like this… or could I?
My brain flew back to the future where I had met a strange Egyptian boy and his chicken headed Avatar. Maybe I could do the same with water.
I started visualizing it. It worked immediately. I felt another body being formed with the core being my own. Then a cry of pain got my attention. What peaked my interest was the duration of the scream. Men usually only scream so much when they are tortured so if Zeus was screaming for that long then something really bad was happening.
I tried to will my body, made of water, to move and it did but just a little. I visualized it standing up and I felt my body rising just before I felt a sharp pain on my thigh and it collapsed back into the sea. It wasn't ready. I needed time.
But I didn't have time!
I poured every ounce of godly power I had inside the sea. My head was burning, my muscles felt like lead. My limbs felt like they were getting torn apart and I finally felt it form more firmly. I rose from the sea as a goliath made of water. A behemoth of the sea that rose with a body formed forth from the rushing surface of the sea, isolated currents whirling across my form like that of a hurricane.
I didn't have time to admire my achievement. I tried to take a step, and I walked on the surface of the sea as if it was solid ground. I took another then another. Before I knew it I was running on water and reaching the island that I was in. With a final leap I soared into the sky and landed on the island, creating a crater in the process. Somehow, the water form stayed in its shape.
'WELL, WELL, WELL! I THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH YOU'Said Atlas. I focused on him. He was holding Zeus inside his closed palms. Zeus looked passed out and had a trail of blood flowing from his mouth. Underneath Atlas' palms flowed another river of ichor which made me understand why Zeus was screaming.
He was getting squeezed!
'LET-HIM-GO!' I said, anger flaring inside me for the inhumanity this being exhibited. My eyes flaring with the godly power that now surged through me like the rages of the sea. I could feel the connection, an invisible chord that tied to my navel, one that linked me back home. It surged me forth with power, flurrying around me like the raging sea itself; the domain which was mine and mine alone.
'OH? AND WHY WOULD I DO THAT?'Atlas asked with a smug face, his crimson eyes once more piercing right through me like blades through tofu, his teeth flashing underneath the sunlight like individual daggers capable of biting through whole mountains.
'Because I will make you.' I roared and immediately I moved forward slamming my fist on his face. My hand turned to ice on impact and a crack was heard from Atlas' skull. The light blue sheen of ice had hardened within a mere split second before impact, the force behind the colossal body of water more than enough to fell the Titan.
The Titan fell back, throwing Zeus in the process like a child throwing away a broken toy as it tripped from it's own mistakes.
I leaped forward, arms extended and reverted to their water form and caught him. He floated inside my palms until I gently put him down on the entrance of the cave. It was bad but I didn't have the time to heal him, or the energy for that matter. I was about ready to turn back to Atlas when my water head exploded.
Water droplets rushing away from my body, each like pieces of my own head. I felt a blinding headache flooding my senses but I fought it back, gritting ,y teeth as I reached out with the invisible chord at my navel. I pulled the scattered water and reformed the head, water swirling in a circular motion even as I whipped around, rage displayed in the form of a snarl.
I turned to Atlas who was now standing in front of me. The only sign of injury being his broken nose; not even a display of ichor.
'INSECTS DON'T HURT THE TITANS!'Bellowed the Titan furiously, the crimson coals of his eyes starting to fester a slight spark and flame, hatred being fanned by an invisible force that whispered for his fury to be unleashed.
'Insects maybe not, but gods do!' I thundered back, however compared to the rage filled voice of the Titan it seemed like the squeak of a mouse.
'LET'S SEE HOW COCKY YOU WILL BE WHEN I START PLAYING SERIOUSLY' The Titan snarled and pulled a small cylinder from his hip. With a whip of his wrist the cylinder extended into a body high Javelin made from celestial bronze, resting in his palms with a familiarity that screamed danger.
Atlas started whirling it around with the speed of helicopter blades while preparing to attack. The spear all but vanishing above his head with only the sound of a heavy object whipping through air creating any sound and sign of it being there at all. I tried to summon a bubble of water to create a sword, but before I could Atlas leaped forward. He stabbed and sliced way too fast for someone his size, each strike precise, each stab calculated with the wrath and anger of a demon from the depths of Tartarus. The force behind each more than enough to force me back as the Titan whirled and then slammed the butt of his spear shaft into the water avatar's form, knocking it back three steps before following it with another stab into the shoulder area, ripping it out savagely.
With each hit white hot pain exploded into my mind in the place the avatar had been stabbed at. In between this deadly dance I tried some desperate hits but the only result was me getting amputated and feeling even more pain. Atlas laughed the whole time. A sadistic grin splitting his lips as he glared with burning crimson eyes.
'NOT SO TOUGH NOW, ARE YOU?'He asked smugly and cut off one leg causing the already falling apart avatar to fall face first to the ground. Water soaking the earth like blood, 'WELL I DON'T BLAME YOU! I WOULDN'T BE TOUGH AGAINST ME EITHER.' Atlas mocked, his grinning face burning its way with anger into my mind.
Then he reached into the core of the avatar and grabbed my damaged body. His large hand breaking apart the water avatar's chest like a child punching through the wall of sand created only to be destroyed. The avatar tried to hold on to me by freezing a bubble around his hand in a last desperate attempt, but Atlas broke right through with the force of a bombshell going off, and then tendrils of water tried to hold on to the hand but couldn't do anything against his strength.
He pulled me out of the Avatar and held me so close he had to cross his eyes. The water from behind him sloshing into the ground with the loss of its master, turning the ground slick and wet beneath us; yet the Titan merely stood with a large smile as he held me tightly in his grip, keeping him at eye level mere meters away from the burning crimson eyes that promised an eternity of death and pain.
'WELL… INSECT I AM GETTING BORED SO I WILL MAKE THIS RELATIVELY QUICK. READY?' He asked me, but all I managed was a bubbling groan. 'GO.'
Then he clenched his fist and the world exploded into white light.