Chapter 7

That night Percy had a frightening dream. In his dreams he was at an old burnt mansion completely surrounded by…wolves. Big wolves the size of a car with dull shaggy fur. They all seem to be guarding something. Behind them was an earthen cave. Inside that cave was an old women in … wait was that goatskin? Yup! Goatskin and a wand with a lotus. And the crazy thing was she was looking right at me.
"Who are you hero?" an annoyingly familiar voice echoed through my mind. I struggled to remember her. Surely even I couldn't forget an old woman with a lotus wand, especially if she was covered in goatskin.
"Err….do I know you? You sound familiar."
"First tell me, are you a Greek or a Roman?"
Percy thought for a while.
"I'm American. Yup! Definitely American."
The women laughed, though it sounded forced and weak.
"I meant your parentage hero. Is it Greek or ro...?"
She was interrupted by a sleepy chuckle. Another woman appears, covered in what seemed to be….mud. She had sleepy expression on her face, as if she was in a deep sleep and was desperately fighting against her dropping eyelids.
"You heroes have an irritating habit of dropping where you aren't supposed to come in your dreams. Perhaps a lesson is in order. I would like to introduce you to my servant…Kyrios." she announced grandly. The goatskin women grasped, "wake up hero, wake up or you'll die."
"Too late for that" announced the sleepy women cheerily, "another one of those pesky hero down."
The beast in front of Percy was by far the strangest he had ever seen. It had head and body of a dragon with bronze celestial bronze wings that gleamed wickedly in dim light. And in his forelegs he was holding a 10 foot long scimitar and a huge Spartan shield. Its eyes were black abyss, blacker than Tartarus; black fire was coming out of his mouth. Over all, a very frightening view. Gulping quietly, I readied my sword and shield.
The sleepy women laughed.
"This is your worst nightmare hero. Kyrios, the demon of dreams. He's been undefeated since the beginning of time. Not even my siblings could stand up to him. What chance do you have, you puny hero."

Now Percy was used to big scary monsters to say the least. But the….thing in front of him was way out of their league. Smirking, it vanished in thin air as he shrieked in pain. A deep gash appeared on his shoulder as the thing reappeared behind him. Gritting his teeth, he charged, only to meet thin air as another deep gash appeared on his thigh. He winced in pain. Yelling in rage, he began to swing his sword and shield madly to no avail of course. Whenever he would lift his hand to strike, it would disappear. Gashes appeared all over his body as he began to lose strength and blood. His ADHD kicked into effect. He was injured and painfully aware of his surroundings. He could feel a very light shadow, almost a slight disturbance in the air whenever a gash appears on his body. He also observed that no matter how quick he moved he was unable to attack it. So offence was out of question. He concentrated on defense. He closed his eyes and concentrated. The moment He felt that disturbance, to his right, he raised his shield. A deafening CLANG ran throughout the room. Its sword rebounded as it struck Percy's shield and sword. The big bad wolves were completely unaware of the entire battle. The goatskin women's jaw was open in awe as the sleepy woman stopped smiling. His mind went on autopilot. His eyes were closed. He realized they were useless in this battle. He was purely operating on feelings, as he raised his sword, sometimes shield or both to defend himself. The thing was amazingly quick and it took all five years of Percy's training to barely hold against it. Both women watched the battle as if in a trance. Suddenly he felt a burning sensation in his throat as he woke up grasping for fresh air.
Aer and the old woman he saved earlier, what was her name? Medea! were hovering over him. Seeing him awake, Aer rushed into a bone crushing hug.
"Aer….can't…breath…..ri bs… …br oke n… ...o uch ."
Aer released him as quickly, than stared at his bloody body. His clothes were torn and his body was covered with deep gashes.
"How….I….. You…."
Her mouth opened and closed in quick succession, like drowning fish, while Medea looked at him with concern. Percy quickly relayed his dream to them. Aer gaped at him dumbstruck while Medea was staring at him as if he'd grown horns and fangs.
"What? You know what they were talking about?"
Aer hesitatingly glanced at Medea, and then looked back at Percy, "Percy, the women in goatskin was Juno, Roman counterpart of Hera and the sleepy woman was Gaia, mother earth." She said squeaking. Oh right! She was a renegade goddess. Of course she was afraid of Hera.
"What about that scary thing? That Kyrios guy."
Both women shrugged their shoulders but the voice answered him back.
"Kyrios was son of Erebus. He's a creature of two dimensions. Whatever wounds your dream self took, you acquired them in reality. If he'd managed to kill you in you in your dreams, you'd be dead for real. He can only be harmed if he's in your dimension. That's why he's undefeated. He'd devoured countless heroes and others innocents creatures. His return is indeed disturbing. I was about to interfere but you handled the situation nicely."
"What! I was barely able to hold myself against him"
"Hero. No one in seven thousand eons have been able to barely hold against him except me. I didn't thought it was even possible. But you gave him an unexpected setback. He will think twice before attacking you. You will meet, mark my words. But your immediate concern is Hera. She's in trouble. Will you help her?"
As Percy thought about it, Medea cleared her throat and looked at Percy.
"As I said before: thank you for saving my life. You are a rare hero Percy Jackson. I've never met another hero like you before. I am in your debt. Perhaps I'll get a chance to pay you back. But for now, please accept a small gift." She pressed a small vial in my hands. "It's elixir of life. It'll save your life, heal anything as long as the heart is beating. It can bring back even a dying person to life as long as his heart is beating of course. I must be going now. Till we meet again Percy Jackson. Farewell. May fates be kind on you?" With that she vanished into thin air.
"Well that was abrupt." Aer punched him in the guts. "Percy! Be nice. Do you know how rare elixir of life is? It's really priceless. It's said that a really clever person can bring back someone from dead with a single drop. I wonder how she managed to get hold of such a large amount." She blanked out, wondering various possibilities of using the elixir.
Percy broke into her thoughts. "Hera". Aer's expression became tortured, "do we have to? Does she even deserve saving?"