Sorry for the wait but I kinda got lazy again and I had writer's block yesterday. (Like literally, my computer failed me. It didn't let me upload the chapter so I could edit and post it) Since this book is the most liked, I'm gonna tell you that there might be two new books entering my account wink wink nudge nudge.I would also suggest to check out my favourite authors, their books are really good as well. Thanks everyone for helping me out with this career! - Steven

Chapter 10: The Very, Very Brief Return

A year later…

Percy's POV

I had been having a blast for the past year with my new friends up here in Chaos Land. We had been doing the usual, going on life-or-death missions and killing people and monsters alike, just an average day with your friends right? Chaos had also officially crowned me as the new king a week after the oath ceremony, which gave me 100% access to my newfound powers. Anyways, Chaos had assigned me a solo mission, but he didn't tell me where and what to do, being very vague for once. He was sending me to where I needed to go himself, which was odd. I could teleport by myself, but as to why he was doing the job for me I didn't know why. It was a mystery to me until I gave him the thumbs up that I was ready before he sended me off.

I landed in the middle of a clearing in a forest. I landed like a cat, crouched slightly waiting to quickly spring on any lurking nearby. Not sensing anything, I stood up and got my bearings. The forest seemed alien to me, and yet it felt like I knew this place from a long time ago. I had a very, very tiny phobia of forests since once I went to this planet with all of my friends, which had been dotted with jungles. We were traveling through them for ages, batting away snakes, monkeys and the occasional tiger. There had also been one nasty patch of the place that had this gooey and sticky stuff that got in everyone's hair, weapons and clothes. It apparently also pulled itself to other pieces of itself, so... I'm not saying anymore than that. I'll leave the job of explaining the rest of the story to your imagination to think about what happened next.

Anyways, I started to search around for any clues on where I was. Chaos had taught us all about the different planets and drilled (Not literally) into us the thought to memorize them all. I had done that first, so I knew what to look for. The ground and trees were covered in snow, which narrowed the field down to planets that had winters. That was pretty much all I could see, since everything was covered in snow. I walked over to a tree and brushed some off, revealing it to be a pine. That also helped, since the climate on some planets were too hot or cold to grow pines. As I pondered about where I could be, pacing around the clearing, I slipped on some ice, which had been hidden in the snow. Now, being the new king of Chaos's city doesn't mean I won't slip and fall on ice, although there isn't any ice in the city. I stumbled a few steps before falling flat on my face. Let me tell you, don't try this at home kids, because it hurts. I groaned as I got up, my face hurt slightly from the fall. I pressed my hand to my face and healed the bruise. I could do that now, by the way. I looked up to the sky and I saw snow start to gently fall down. A snowflake fell onto my hand. I palmed it, then looked up again. Once I did that, I now knew where I was. I could barely see a black spire poking up over the trees.

I was in the woods that surrounded Westover Hall, the place where me, Thalia, Grover and Annabeth saved Bianca and Nico during the third prophecy. Artemis and her hunters had jumped in as well during that time. Chaos had not told me where I was going because of the location. I was slightly homesick, but my original home still brought bad memories about all of my friends dying because of my actions in the two wars. The third prophecy had also been the first prophecy that I encountered that asked for deaths on the mission. "I'm gonna need to have a little chat with Chaos later." I thought. I started to head my way towards the school, when I heard a hunting horn being blown to my left. I turned towards the sound. "Really?!" I said out loud. I ran towards the sound. "Chaos must have sent me to help the hunters do something." I thought. "But what?" The hunters were capable of doing many things, although I heard that they had much trouble with the giant Orion. That was pretty much the only time they had much trouble, which made me a bit scared to see why Chaos sent me to help, second most powerful being in the world to face this problem.

I kept running towards the sound until I reached the battle. I looked at the battle that ensued. The hunters were back to back showering a horde of monsters with arrows and stabbing them with hunting knives whenever they got too close for comfort. However, they were getting overwhelmed. I braced myself for what I was about to do, crouching and tensing as if I was gonna exert myself in a blast of power. I took off, attacking anything I could see with Riptide. It had gotten an upgrade ever since I became Chaos's successor. I can change the type of metal it was made out of at thought. If not, it stays in its original celestial bronze mode. It was in said mode right now, slicing through monsters. The hunters were also helping, renewed in strength by the fact that some mysterious force was helping them out. They shot their bows at anything they could, until there were no monsters left, the last of them fleeing or turning into dust.

Now, usually I would quickly sprint off and not let anyone see me, but I couldn't do that. I could sense someone walking towards the clearing, someone dangerous. I kept my back to the hunters, to prevent them from seeing my face. I could use the Mist to change my features, but that was tiring and I haven't gotten the full hang of it yet. I instead quickly pulled my hood over my head to cover my face. "Show yourself warrior." I said. "Come out of the shadows." The man walked into view. He was dressed completely in gold armor, the helmet fashioned as a gorgon's head. "The Golden Sword." I said.

"Greetings." I had fought him on the Argo II sword to sword, but I couldn't match his skill and was completely destroyed. But that was a long time ago. Now I would destroy him and take vengeance.

"What brings you here?" I asked him.

"Why, fulfilling my contract to my new patron of course!" he replied.

"And who is that?" I asked him. He smiled.

"I would think you know that answer to that question! As how I know your identity!" I stopped at that.

"You do?" I said, as calmly as I could.

"Actually, no. But I will once I beat you!" he told me.

"And why would you?" I asked.

"Because of my offer! If I win, you tell me your identity and I leave for my patron. If I lose, you get to do whatever you want to me. Deal or not?" I pondered his terms for a moment before nodding for confirmation. He raised his sword. "Then we battle." he said before charging me. I met him, sword to sword, clashing.

He was still a good swordsman I'll give him that, but he was no match for me now. I just kept slashing, stabbing and dodging, eventually pushing him into a trap I set up for him myself. He took a swing at me, but I blocked the attack and disarmed him, using the very technique that Luke taught me years ago. As his sword flew in the air, I kicked him down and he fell. I quickly pulled out rope from my belt and lassoed him in, tying him up in the process. "You'll be coming with me to my patron now." I said, grinning. "You were a fool to believe you could defeat me in a sword fight." As I started to drag him away so that I could teleport away from prying eyes, a familiar voice called out, "Wait, who are you?".

I turned, face in shadows to see the goddess of the hunt staring me down, Thalia by her side. I bowed lightly. "I am sorry, but I'm on a tight schedule. I am sure we will meet again sometime. I will introduce myself properly then."

"If you won't tell me your identity, then I have no choice but to kill you." she threatened. "I need your identity to identify you as an enemy to Olympus or not." I raised my hands in surrender.

"If you want to be so upfront about it, then be my guest. I am Desmond Grace, and I'll see you another day goddess." As she fired silver arrows at me, I teleported away back to my city, leaving many hunters and Artemis herself shocked, staring at where I had disappeared.

Well, Percy returns really briefly and he still blames himself for what happened in the two wars! At least he has resurrected everyone. Will he someday believe it wasn't his doings that undo his friends? Find out later on in this book! - Steven (Holy crap that was much cringe)