Chapter 9
New chapter. Celebration now. (Put on whatever celebration song you like best to play in the background). Hope you like it. (Sorry about the spelling mistakes, last chapter, and it is CourtingTheMoon. Also mortals may play a biggish role possibly near the end, but mostly the CIA thing was just a demonstration of Strazio's power.). Many surprises, and some hints on how Olympus thinks of Percy and how what happen at his betrayal.
3rd person POV … again.
Strazio walked into his room. Killing mortals was a boring chore but it had to be done. Their power was so small it was pathetic. Even the weakest demi-god was ten times stronger than any mortal.
Strazio sighed before closing the door of his room, automatically locking it with the silver key around his neck. He walked over to his desk, weapons still on him, and opened a draw. He withdrew a well-thumbed, black writing book and a black foundation pen.
He opened the book up and flipped the pages that were filled with ancient Greek, Latin and an even older script that was unknown to mortals, and indeed barely known to the Titans, let alone the Olympians. He turned to a black page and wrote down the incident. He checked his watch and wrote down the time.
Suddenly a fire erupted at the fireplace. Hestia's face was in the flames calling his name. "Strazio, are you there? We need to talk."
Strazio walked over to the flames and sat in front of them, knowing this was the only way for Hestia to see him.
"Hestia, is this about the Artemis incident?"
"Yes. Zeus called a meeting and they have agreed to your help."
"Good. I suppose they have decided to have them keep an eye on me."
"Yes, please don't kill them. They will be needed in this war."
"Alright, but if they try anything, I will not hesitate, I still hate them and will not take even the smallest of insults from them."
"I understand. Be careful, you are the only hope we have left. Remember, revenge is not always the way, it can lead to bitterness and form there, hate. Do not let your emotions cloud your judgment."
Strazio nodded. "I know. We cannot afford for mistakes in this war, but they will pay from what they have done."
Hestia sighed, knowing there was no way to change his mind once it had been made up. She had tried many times before with no results, wry she smiled and changed the subject, "Zeus has decided to ask you to come to Half-blood hill in two days."
"We will come but we will not stay; I do not have enough time to spare and my duties will keep me elsewhere. I also ask you to make sure Zeus knows this, I will take no orders from him or the council - I do not want to have him throw a tantrum when I will not do what he asks"
"Okay, I will inform Zeus that you have been informed of the council's decision. May hope be in your heart."
The flames died down and Strazio was left sitting at an empty fireplace.
He stood up and, without bothering to put up his hood, opened his room's door and walked out. As he navigated the black tunnels he smiled evilly to himself, he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Line break of time and space
Olympus was unusually grave. The white marble seemed to have a gloomy atmosphere. The Demi-gods of the two wars were together, huddled against the coldness of the world around them. Annabeth, Jason, Hazel and Frank stood tall. They were nervous as the demi-gods afore them but gave no visible sign. They were just as unaware to what was about to unfold. They had all just been summoned to the throne room.
The Demi-gods were whispering in hush tones as they walked slowly through the courtyard to the throne room of Olympus. The air of nervousness and unease grew as the Demi-gods got closer and closer to the doors of the throne room. They dawdled around, fidgeting their weapons.
The feeling of anxiousness, tapped away at the edges of their minds, ever since the war with Gaia they were more edgy than other half-bloods but this feeling took it to a whole new level. Some recognized it as the feeling before the 2nd Titan war and the 2nd Giant war.
The throne room doors opened to reveal the Olympians, many of the minor gods and the Hunters. The Olympians sat on their respective thrones, the minor gods were gathered around in a group to the side of the throne room, near the hearth and the hunters were around Lady Artemis's silver glowing throne.
Immediately they knew something was wrong. The tension in the air was palpable. The Olympians looked greatly unsettled, the minor gods were throwing apprehensive looks and the Hunters were alert and uneasy, with their bows out, as if they thought they would be attacked any second.
"Demi-gods of the second Titan war and the second giant war, Minor gods and fellow Olympians. We have gathered here to discuss a rather unsavory situation we all are in. There have been some disturbing developments recently… and we need to… hmmm… discuss with all of you the… ah… options we have available. Athena and Artemis, please explain the situation."
Artemis stood up and said, "I and my hunters were attacked by Strazio."
Immediately all the minor gods and demi-gods began whispering among themselves. Annabeth stood forward.
"So he does exist? I thought, although there was a small amount of proof, there was not nearly enough to prove his existence. Why, if it is indeed him would he attack the hunters, what does he stand to gain, it does not fit with the little information I have gathered on him and his warriors."
"He stands to gain allies for the upcoming war, with Kronos and Gaia. He claims that they will soon rise and attack us. He also claims he can take on the titans and Gaia but needs us to hold off the monster army. We are fairly certain he is telling the truth on both accounts. He is also right, that if this is the case, we cannot defeat them without help. The council has come up with a plan that will minimize the risk of agreeing with Strazio." Athena answered.
"The plan is to make the demi-gods of the two wars younger, about the same age as they were at the last war. This will triple the amount of demi-gods we have. We also will release what is left of the seven from their godly duties to train the demi-gods." Athena continued.
Everyone nodded understanding the wisdom of this proposal.
"Hunters you will continue to stay at Camp Olympus, it is too risky for you to be out hunting while the threat of Titans and Gaia looms over us." Artemis looked at her hunters daring them to disagree
"Yes, milady, we shall stay there but we warn that we will not tolerate any nonsense from males." Phoebe said the last word in undisguised disgust.
"I would not expect any different." Artemis turned to the demi-gods, "You have been warned."
The demi-gods males visibly flinched and several of the gulped remembering the last time the hunters came to camp; while the females smiled, amused at the male's misfortune.
Hebe cleared her throat, "I think with the help of Hecate and Athena I will be able to do this in about five minutes. How long will they need to be young for? If it is any more than six months I will be unable to hold the spell."
"Six months should be more than enough. Kronos plans to hit the demi-gods fast and hard. He understands their value now, he will use much of his power to destroy them, as soon as he has enough power he'll hit them good and hard. He won't spare any of them, annihilation, obliteration, extinction, eradication, extermination, termination, massacre, elimination, abolition, turn to rubble or in other words total destruction." Athena
"Raze." Annabeth said quietly. Almost all the Greek demi-gods and gods froze, paled and stared at Annabeth knowing exactly where she got that word from.
"Umm… well we beat them last time, can't we do so again?" Asked Travis, looking at everyone else in a vain attempt to change the subject. No one bothered to answer, they were all still thinking about the Great prophecy of the children of the big three as it was known as now.
"What's with the loathing to the word raze?" Connor said proudly, finally finding the right context to use the word 'loathing' in.
"Before the prophecy of seven, there was another prophecy, this one predicted a demi-god of the big three who had reached sixteen, dying in order to save or destroy the world, or at least that's what we thought." Annabeth said slowly.
"What you thought?" Jason prompted his girlfriend further.
"Yes, what we thought the meaning to the prophecy was that. We were wrong but not by much. The prophecy was as follows;
A half-blood of the eldest gods
Shall reach sixteen against all odds
And see the world in endless sleep
A hero's soul, a cursed blade shall reap
A single choice shall end his days
Olympus preserve or raze
(A/N I haven't actually got the book with me and so if it's slightly off, sorry. Please tell me if it's right or not, once again I'm only going on memory here.)
We thought it meant that, He would die destroying or attempting to destroy Kronos, but actually it was about his choice whether or not to give Luke, the host of Kronos, a knife to kill himself, and thus scattering Kronos's essence."
No one had to ask what she meant by He, no one was allowed to say his name. The gods still got very angry at the mention of the Traitor, as he was now known. He was the ultimate source of embarrassment to the gods. Poseidon's eyes darkened at the thought of the name of his treacherous, back-stabbing, manipulative son.
They all flashed back to the day they found Percy at the edge of Tartarus looking in and talking to someone or something, mentioning Gaia many times, and them making the symbol of the primordials with his hands before turning away, darkness clear in his eyes. The gods froze in place, they had only ever seen that sign a few times, even the titans rarely spoke of it, from what they had worked out, it meant the ultimate servitude of all primordials.
Everyone heard him say, 'They will realize the truth soon. Olympus is too weak to withstand another war. If they are smart they will be able to keep their domains, if not, well, Tartarus isn't too bad, once you get used to the darkness. Maybe then, they will see the error in their ways.'
After that, the gods burst out of their hiding place and surrounded him with gold and bronze chains, he began to glow a violent black and green and red light, the gods panicked at his power, he was as powerful as a titan, and then proclaimed him a traitor and pushed him into Tartarus, as fast as they possibly could. As he fell, we all saw the hatred and anger in his eyes.
Travis cleared his throat, "As I said before, we beat them last time, can't we do so again?"
Everyone came out of their revive and some shook their heads trying to clear their minds.
"We don't have a prophecy, the whole future is uncertain, we have tried to ask for a prophecy from Apollo and through Rachel to the oracle of Delphi but so far nothing. It's almost like the future has so many possibilities that nothing can be predicted, almost like our fate lies with someone who is out of the fates control." Athena acknowledged.
Silence reigned through the Throne room of Olympus. No one knew how to react to that particular proclamation.
Hebe coughed and said, "I can turn the demi-gods young now, how would you like me to do it, all at once, in groups, or individually?"
"All at once would be best." Athena supposed.
"Alright, get close together demi-gods because this is going to be one hell of a spell." Hecate smiled.
The demi-gods gathered together in one group, trying to squish into the smallest possible space, they had all heard the stories of Hebe and Hecate's spells gone wrong. A circle of white light, barely encircling the demigods, burned on the pure white marble floor. A silvery curtain of light rose up and encased the demi-gods, hiding them form sight.
The screen of light shimmered and then faded to revel the demi-gods, now twenty years old. The demi-gods looked very disorientated and stumbled around for a few seconds, trying to gain a hold on their surroundings. After a few seconds of respite the demi-god's minds were clear and they began to examine their own bodies and that of those around them.
Murmurs rose from the crowd of minor gods and even from some of the Olympians, Hebe and Hecate worked magic, in a manner of speaking. Not a single demi-god was missing a limb or changed a funny colour. All in all it looked like a complete success.
"Now, to release what is left of the seven so they are able to train the campers." Zeus announced.
The minor gods, gathered in front of their King. He stood up and waved his hands over the minor gods and said, "Annabeth Chase, goddess of architecture; Jason Grace, god of lightning strikes and heroes; Hazel Levesque, goddess of precious metals; and Frank Zhang, god of shape shifting; I, Zeus, Lord of the Sky, release you from you're godly duties to Olympus and the underworld, to assist the demi-gods in the upcoming war."
A glow swathed the said minor gods and as it paled, the minor gods looked pretty much the same but all the gods nodded as if something happened. As if on cue the minor god's aura's faded and then changed, by some instinct, anyone watching would be able to tell that they had been released from their duties of being gods of Olympus but still tell they served Olympus.
"Now, tomorrow Strazio agreed to meet us at half-blood hill. I want the entire camp to be ready and message us when he comes. Is that understood?"
"Yes, father." Said Jason, "We will be ready."
Done. Complete. Finished. Resolved. Concluded. Decided. Over. Ended. Terminated. Chapter 9 is now up. I thank you all for being such good and avid readers. REVIEW and tell me what you make of this chapter.
*Darkmoon111*
