Chapter 10 – The Bane's Return

Poseidon appeared in the lake as soon as he was able to. He saw Percy's eyes close slowly just as he had gotten there. He cursed briefly before turning to the Nymph. "I came as soon as I could. Thank you for defending my soon. He will no doubt be very grateful." Poseidon nodded as he slowly made his way over.

"He is quite remarkable my lord. He had already started to fight through the paralyzers just to correct me calling him Perseus." The Nymph smiled before looking back down at Percy with something more than just a sense of duty in her eyes. Poseidon was weary because he knew of the curse that was placed upon her. He sought to visit her once every decade out of sheer pity. Even he could not brake the curse that was put upon her. But the way that she was looking at his son, could it possibly be Percy that would finally end her reign of solitude in the lake long forgotten by mortal and immortal eyes.

"He is indeed. I know for a fact that he will visit you often just for showing you this kindness. Fear not though, his life was never in danger, not from Artemis' hunters. Perseus is the most powerful demi-god in history. He even has his own trident. He rivals the weaker Olympians in power, Artemis could not kill Perseus without blowing up half of the country. Still, she wasn't exactly trying or he'd be in much worse shape." Poseidon explained with a frown. "I should probably speak to her while I can. The night descends and she will be called away soon." Poseidon commented before turning into a current and shooting towards the surface. When he broke through he was face to face with a blushing Artemis.

"Is he OK? Poseidon?" She blurted out before reigning her tongue in. Poseidon nodded. "Thank you for not trying to kill him. He would not fight you back for he admired you and cares for Thalia too much. The destruction would be overwhelming if he was ever to flat out fight an Olympian." Poseidon told her before remembering what he had truly come to tell her.

"Ah, about that. I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but it's incredibly important either way. Percy isn't a demi-god any longer." She told him quietly, unsure of how Poseidon would take the news if it so happened to be news to him.

"Excuse me?" He asked her in confusion, tilting his head to the side for a moment. Most of the hunters all watching from the safety of a far distance. All knew of Poseidon, though few had ever met the sea God. The one thing they all knew for certain was the tales of his legendary rage, and it was only earlier that day that most of them had managed to lodge an arrow in his son's body.

"He's half Demon from his mother's side, and half God. Not half demi-god, but half GOD. I think you understand what this means Poseidon." Artemis told him, casting a weary glance over him, anaylsing his reaction as best she could. Of course he knew what it meant, but he was more shocked to find out that, supposing what he'd heard was true, that Sally Jackson was either a Demon, or from a blood line of Demons. To the best of Poseidon's knowledge, Demons had actually fully gone extinct from the mortal world a few thousand years ago.

Poseidon sighed, knwoing that nothing good would come from pondering it for too long. "Do not take your aggravations out on the Nymph living here Artemis. She is cursed by magic older than most Gods. Only an old forgotten prophecy will break her free of the magic and let her resume her life in the sea." Poseidon told her sternly. Artemis crossed her arms and pouted before she briefly froze when the scent of perfume crossed her nostrils.

"Aphrodite." Poseidon greeted with a curt nod of his head. She just waved it off. Time was short and formalities would only take much more of it.

"I know of this curse Poseidon. I usually wouldn't help in affairs such as this but Perseus is by far the favoured demi-god of the Gods, even Ares." Aphrodite added the last part to help give gravity to the situation.

"The curse can indeed be broken but for only a short amount of time. The one who put the magic on the beautiful Nymph needs to be destroyed while the magic is down. The ancient witch who was once known as the temptress Glenda. Do you remember Poseidon?" Aphrodite asked him quickly.

Poseidon's brow scrunched up in confusion, "The water mage? She withered and died did she not? Well over two millennia ago." Poseidon pointed out.

"She did not. She is still the oldest immortal and simply cannot fade, but instead she can be killed. She was made immortal by her own power and magic's therefore there are ways to dispatch her. First Percy must temporarily break the curse that poor Esther has lived with but he simply cannot do that with the state his heart is in right now." Aphrodite looked at the floor saddened that this would ever happen to anyone.

"What do you mean?" Artemis asked her with narrowed eyes. She was weary of tricks Aphrodite liked to pull but this was below anyone.

"His heart lies in three places moon Goddess. I truly believe that he is the hero destined to break the curse the Nymph was put upon. But the prophecy calls for the heroe's heart to be clear in what it needs. WHO it needs. It's clear from the words that Esther in there is one of them, but it hints to others. I'll leave you to figure it out Artemis, you're a clever girl." Aphrodite winked before leaving. Poseidon was not nearly as dull as many believed.

"I don't approve of what that means Artemis, but it is Percy's choice to persue whatever paths he sees fit, but know now that if you choose to accept what Aphrodite's words mean, then the backlash between your father and I could cause a lot of damage and dare I say it, some pointless deaths." Poseidon glanced towards the water.

"Just think about your next actions very wisely. I shall still support anything involving my Percy and should you need help, you know how to contact me." Poseidon flashed away and Artemis could no longer feel his presence around her or in the lake. Like Aphrodite, he had left.

That surprised her, though it wasn't a negative one like Poseidon had initially made it sound. He was going to back Percy regardless of the situation, but that was by extension, him saying that he would stand by her against her father if the King of the Gods refused to see sense.

Percy was part of yet another prophecy? She felt so sorry for him, but she also suspected that only herself and Aphrodite truly knew the truth to it. Percy was falling in love with Esther. Judging by Aphrodite's words he had already felt something for Artemis from a younger age and from the way Perseus and Thalia had been acting and reacting towards each other she knew for a fact that while Thalia outright admitted her affection for him, she could also see that the feeling was returned, but he was still in denial.

How long would it be until he realized the calamity that he was in? Artemis was about to summon some mist so that she could speak to the Nymph and explain what had just happened. That was when she heard something that made her pale completely. A thunderous roar echoed throughout the woods and hunters all started to battle a thrown together creature. The Bane of Percy Jackson had come back for round two.

Panicking, Artemis did what she could, "Apollo, I need you." She whispered. She knew he heard because of the mental link they shared what with being godly twins.

"I'm here Artemis!" Apollo announced as he dove right out of the sky in a barely working sun chariot. It was getting dark and it wouldn't do for him to be driving the Maserati around at full volume. Apollo was very different when Artemis was in need. He was a mature and sensible God.

"The bane of Percy Jackson has returned. Percy lies at the bottom of the lake unconscious. We cannot get into the lake because a Nymph has banned any godly forces." Artemis explained. The twins simultaneously took out similar bows, but with different color schemes.

"Artemis." Apollo's voice was very edgy, "WHY is he unconscious in a lake? We both know that sentence is a huge oxymoron." Apollo's voice adopted a serious sense of worry.

"He tried to run away Apollo. He's adamant that he is the reason for my hunters getting hurt. Indirectly yes, but none of them blame him at all. He believes he is unwanted by the campers and has had enough. I had to do something Apollo, so I ordered my girls to hunt him down using only paralyzer tipped arrows. We both know he is far too strong to be harmed just by arrows." Artemis explained as she dove straight into the action, Apollo hot on her heels.

"Alright, but if this bane is for Perce then we may need backup." Apollo told her sternly.

"We do NOT need backup Apollo." Artemis told him firmly. Just then the bane ripped through the tree line covered in Armour.

"We're gonna need backup." Artemis told him quickly. The bane had a gleaming set of armor covering it's entirety. A mixture of celestial bronze Olympian gold and another godly metal that she didn't immediately recognize. Just when Artemis didn't think things could possibly get any worse, they truly did.

"Glenda sends her regards." The beast spoke up in a very articulate and refined voice. Apollo concentrated for a moment and a second later there were two flashes behind them. Ares came forwards grinning like an idiot brandishing a greatsword that was larger than Apollo. Behind them Poseidon stood firmly against the edge of the lake with his trident in hand.

"This is the bane of Jackson? Right, when I destroy this thing the kid will forever be forced to acknowledge me as superior." Ares grinned even more. The bane regarded him casually.

"Did he not defeat you at only twelve years of age?" It asked. Artemis was certain in that moment that if a dragon's head could be smug, that's what it was doing. Ares grunted before charging and initiating one hell of a painful battle.

Having been the ONLY one to have seen the Bane before, she was the only one aware of the fact that despite the armor being the obvious indication, that it had received some serious upgrades. Perhaps Tartarus had told it to seek out this, Glenda, or perhaps it had found her of it's own free will, but one thing was for sure, it was no where near the level it was back in the forest the other day. This was a whole new beast, possibly one comprised to be a bane to Perseus as well as Percy.

There was only one way to find out, and that was comprised of awakening Percy, and forcing him to finally unleash all of that pent up rage that he'd kept hidden away for so long. A plan was formulating in Artemis' mind, it was a bad plan, but it was still a plan.

"We can't win without him." She announced.

"Who, Percy?" Apollo asked, certain that was the only person she could have been talking about. Poseidon watched all of this with interest. He believed himself to be somewhat on the same page as Artemis.

"No, the dumb-ass that refers to himself as the necessary evil." She groaned. That was enough, much to Poseidon's surprise, there was a shock wave on the surface, and the waters were starting to boil in the middle. He was coming.

If you feel like supporting my other hobby, you can come and watch me play a load of old games from my childhood, a lot of nostalgic playstation 1 gaming happening at the moment, check it out. /channel/UCuR41yuScY68Z7r84rp0nZg