Author's Note: So time passed, I guess I should wise all you guys a late and early holiday, but that's not the point here. The Act is coming to a close, the next chapter being the end, short, right? Yeah well the next one's gonna be shorter, BUT with a real character that's dying to be revealed. I know how some of you might not like OC but trust me, they'll have minimal parts, and the next act will be important if I ever want to write a sequel.
Anyway, enjoy (because I certainly enjoyed the 3-day long process of editing).
Believe Me
Pain, such an immense, relentless force, its arms welcomes my body and my mind, burning my flesh, stinging crisps of skin. Haunting my dreams just beyond the limitations of recollection. However, one thought cease to vanish, a ribbon holding great emotions to which I can't even begin to fathom. One name that stuck to my lips, one that wasn't mine. Percy.
The barren plain stretched wider than the eye can see, to three sides wrapping upward like a shell. Within the center of the landscape, wooden pillars and splinters broken and burnt protruded from the dry soil.
Percy gripped his stomach causing a distantly familiar sensation of twisting guts. He fell to the ground, but didn't hit. His body dropped slowly, so agonizingly slow that he knew he wouldn't reach the impact.
The wooden wreckage, he knew what they were, what they used to be. A broken plank painted bleach white a small silver knocker in a form of a horse along with a silver door nob, the bottom half of the door was buried in the dirt. Percy remembered because it was his, it was Poseidon Cabin's door, it was his cabin torn to pieces. Not just his, the whole valley was clustered with broken bits and dribbles of wood and marble, the whole camp was here.
Splash, Percy finally landed on the ground, filled with red water. The flood began to rise, from an inch to a foot, however Percy didn't sink, he floated in his kneeling position; perhaps the buildings were drowning themselves? There was a sudden ripple that distorted Percy's imaged from his defined cheekbones to a fleshless skull with sharp, soul eating fangs and burning yellow flames filling its empty eye sockets.
Percy slapped his hands to his face and tried to squeeze his closed eyes, but they wouldn't budge, his eyelids moved in such a slow pace that it felt like hours of staring into the flaming eyes of Death. He turned away, where the ripple had started were a nub in the flat surface of the blood sea. In the poor light of the small moon, so distant away from his, he made out the lump as a body of a child.
Another ripple, Percy turned to find another body, this one turned upright; the body was larger than the other, a bold head and a larger built than average, the shocking feature on his face- a face that haunted Percy so many nights, Bleckendorf.
Heads bobbing, bodies began to surface in every direction. The faces were first familiar such as Luke or Zoë, and then they began to turn into strangers ranging from young to adults to even the elderly. Realization dawned on him, as he stared at the small girl, not even seven years old, floating at his knees, these were all the people that died, or somehow were killed involving his disabilities. These were the people he had killed.
He destroyed everyone, everything in the barren valley, all the people who he killed, lives that he'd stolen, and the one home that was set ablaze. Tears began to edge the rim of his eyes, what was this? Was he crying? How was that?
Percy stood from his kneeling and wiped away the tears with his long black sleeves.
"Death doesn't cry..."
Percy hung his head and spotted the black cloth floating around his ankles, two strands extended from the pad, an eye patch? Percy gasp in terror just before an eye snapped open next to the eye patch, a glowing gray eye.
Firm fingers wrapped around Percy's legs, leaving him only enough time to yelp before pulling him under. The distant moon disappeared, the wooden wreckage was gone, and everything faded into blackness.
Painful light flashed, forming a circular courtroom. Deep black fog poured from the twelve thrones circling the room. The black fog condensed and press together forming twelve figures, twelve faceless giants that towered over Percy, everyone of them held a pure black spear, they stabbed Percy in unison.
There was no pain, technically, but Percy believed it, he felt the twelve pierces, the sharp electric pain that immediately turned into fire and numbness. Percy was lifted, rising out of his body and into the darkness above. Below, his body cracked and crumbled, breaking like fragile pottery, because it lacked life to sustain its will.
Percy's soul looked upwards, letting his body flow and move like he would in water. He rolled over on his back and let his chest rise, his limbs hanging limp on all sides, his eyelids felt heavy, his glowing white form began to fade and dim.
Fire.
The Fire of Time. Gold and red and black, the Titans flame pulsed like a heart, warm and powerful. Gold for furious, immense power, red for life, and black for beginning, the hard evidence that the Titans were involved in something greater, something that the gods could never conceive. A curse and a blessing, the beginning, the loneness that cradled the cold Earth before fire, before hates or loves or envy. Pure, the gods feared this and the human did as well, but never as much as the gods. This pureness was so feared that it had been altered and blurred, given its new name, Death.
The Flames of Time grew grand and broad, it harden and solidified, forming into an elderly man with a strong face and gentle eyes. With white and gray beard and untamed, messy long hair, a humble, but honorable king, the King of Titans.
Kronos extended both arms and reached for the dimming soul, his fingers wrapped around it like a cocoon then squeezed, crushing Percy in his grip.
Percy bolted up from his sleep panting, his body covered in shining sweat. Summer humidity seeped into the rundown wooden cabin, trapping the heat in like an oven. The rotten food and old, wet wood made the place reek, painfully bright rays peeked through the cabin's crakes and holes in the thin curtains.
Luke fell back onto his butt by surprise, giving a weak laugh. Percy blinked and realized that Luke was trying to wake him. He turned from side to side and found Bianca sitting beside him, blinking in a daze; even with the six o'clock training routine the weight of last night's battle had struck hard.
"What time is it?" Percy grumbled.
"I'm not sure, I think it's about one." Luke said as he pushed himself back up. "We definitely overslept."
Can you blame us? Percy snapped inwardly, but he knew Luke was joking, trying to lighten the mood, but his morning crankiness wouldn't allow him to swallow that comment.
"Where's that other ass—" Percy cut himself off with a sigh. "Where's Justin?"
"Out." Luke answered plainly. "I just woke up when he left, most likely just to freshen up."
Percy rose from the floor and limped outside, the forest were blinding with the sun at its peek. He closed his eyes and tried to reorganize the situation.
"Time." Percy requested, still grumpy.
"1:12 P.M. Thursday, September 3 rd." Mnemosyne stated as usually would. Sometimes Percy would completely forget she was even there anymore.
"So that means that the battle last night happened…"
"During 12:23 to 2:10, it took you 23 minutes to reach the cabin, your sleep began at 2:55."
That's right. They had escaped from the town and fled into the woods, Justin just so happened to camp in these woods, the run down cabin had been abandoned and now served as a hard and painful bed, full of insects and mold and plants. In fact, because of that goddamn crooked floor, Percy couldn't fall asleep for that longest time, just staring at the small holes in the ceiling and counting to the thousands of sheep.
"Actually…" Mnemosyne spoke up. "That was because of me."
Come again?
"The rebooting of each individual system had taken longer that I intended."
What rebooting? Why did you have to—wait, why did the rebooting affect me?
"We are now linked." Mnemosyne said, almost like she was annoyed. "Remember? I am now currently trapped in your mind."
Wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait. Percy shook his head trying to swing Mnemosyne from his head. He shouldn't have, the motion hurt his head like he was shoving his brain from one side of the skull to the other. You're INSIDE me!
"More or less melted to your mind, but I guess."
"That's not my point!" Percy yelled frantically. Why the hell are you rebooting "inside" me?
"Because, last night a strange phenomenon occurred in which you mental systems shut off," Percy had a hard time keeping up with and improvising for the new meanings of her vocabularies to fit into their new settings. "our connections were failing, so I decided to go through a system check, scanning then rebooting." Was that why he felt so dizzy and lightheaded during the car ride? "It seems that there are no damages, but I did find a few unidentified data clustering in areas."
What? Why? How?
"Take into consideration that I am speaking very figuratively. This occurrences is not totally unusual, it could easily be that there were disfigured Arcana or the process of converting and reforming Arcana was disturbed or even that the missing memories were causing irregular mental retaliations."
All of which couldn't possibly be strong enough to knock both of us out.
"Not exactly true, we don't know the complete extent of a distorted Arcana."
Speaking of which, my memories-!
"Percy?" Luke poked his head out of the cabin entrance, the door had long since fell out of place. "Whom are you talking to?" He glanced around the clearing quickly.
Just an annoying mental insect. There was a distinctive sharp stab and numbness that felt like brain-freeze.
"N-No one, I was just thinking out loud." Luke raised an eyebrow. Oh, what the hell, I'm already coming off as a crazy psychopath, might as well add in DID.
"So… just talkin." Luke said with a smirk.
"Mayday, faint water source detected, 3:44 o'clock, approximately 43 meters away."
"I uh, think I found a stream or lake somewhere." Percy began to walk with hasty strides.
"Just leave it up to a Poseidon's kid to find water." Luke sighed. "Report back if you find the target."
"Roger that Cap." Percy raised his hand to his forehead and waved lazily, then jogged away into the forest. His silent lasted only until the cabin was out of sight, covered by fallen trees and fluffy bushes. "Maybe you should talk less." Percy grumbled to himself.
"Less the recently?" Mnemosyne tilted her head causing Percy to make the same movements. "I believe that'll be nonexistent."
No, that's not the solution. Percy sighed and climbed a log, finally hearing the currents of the stream.
"Then should I make the adjustments to speak more?"
"God no." Percy exaggerated his statement. Why was he becoming uncomfortable with Mnemosyne after so many years of close connection like this? Maybe it was because he was starting to socialize with other people? More or less, well, it isn't like he didn't talk with people in the rebellion, they just didn't talk normally. Always tactics, always plans, status, casualties, nothing about… life. I guess we don't really get to have lives in a war.
He reached a small stream that stretched 5 meters wide and traveled down the bumpy hills and rocks. Now for an area with enough room. Percy moved downwards to his right until the stream deepened enough to fit his body. He crouched down and tapped the rushing water, perfectly cold. Without taking his clothes off Percy sank his knees in water, then his whole body, staying completely dry.
His body spread outwards, floating almost like flying. The weightlessness reminded him of his dream, the lightness he felt in the dark. Was that where he felt the most comforting?
"Perseus, there is something strange with the water."
Percy rolled to his back and opened his mouth, letting the stream water to pool in, and then out. He sat up on the surface of the stream, the water dripping off as if his skin was hydrophobic.
"What do you mean?"
"There seems to be very minimal amount of substance dissolved in the water."
In other words, this water is clean?
"Extremely so, almost like there are some kind of filter along the stream."
Percy stood up and walked across the surface of the stream, wobbling to the side as the currents seemed to be oddly fast.
Why would some one create a stream of water?
"On that matter, how or what would be a better question." Mnemosyne suggested.
Maybe the local town water storage was broken and the water leaked into this stream?
"Unlikely, it seems that this stream formation is quite natural, therefore, unless the original stream of water had been completely cut off and perfectly replaced with filtered water, it is unlikely."
"That's saying if the water storage isn't 600 times normal size." Percy retorted doubly.
"Percy, that's extremely unlikely, almost impossible, even with the storage being that size—"
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Percy tapped his chin with his right index, his left arm wrapped around his chest, supporting his right elbow.
"Percy… don't be stu—"
"Right Watson," Percy marched out off of the stream. "analyze the location in which the stream originated."
"Aye," Mnemosyne said after a sigh. "will do, old friend."
"Did you find water?" Luke sat up from the rotting logs next to the cabin entrance.
"Yup, a stream, clean as filtered water." Percy swung out his right arm and flashed his erected thumb.
"Great, that means I don't have to share." Luke leaned forwards and hulled the iron bucket of water to his face and poured it down his topless body, drinking what he could in the process.
"Justin?" Percy asked.
Luke nodded after he was finished. "He was just here, left back to the stream to carry another bucketful."
Bianca stepped from the shaded cabin and into the small clearing, her bare feet crunching on fallen leaves.
"Great you're up." Luke set the bucket down. "There's supposedly a stream that way." He pointed to the direction Percy had come from. "You should clean up."
Bianca pursed her lips as if to take offence to his comment. "I thought Justin was bring the water."
"We should use that for drinking instead." Luke said simply, Bianca tisked then dragged her feet into the forest.
"You're mean." Percy turned back to Luke.
"Yeah well, discipline is a vital attribute in Greece."
"So is lying, it seems."
Luke chuckled. "It's in my blood to lie." He smirked deviously. (AN: quick note, is it just me or am I making this into a Percy X Luke thing? Is that bad?)
"Well, it's nice to have diversity at least." Percy turned around and stretched his creaking bones.
"You're a better liar than any if us, and we both know it." Luke turned a more serious tone.
"Call it a curse." Percy didn't turn around and kept stretching.
"We can't wait forever."
"What do you want to know, spit it out already."
"I don't want your slapstick answers." They both fell into silence.
Percy dropped his arms and looked into the distant branches, their moving leaves calmed him, convincing him that the world was moving so absolutely slow.
"Everyone is entitled to secrets." Percy said lightly, almost a whisper.
"Not unless it can harm people we care about." Luke pushed harder.
The answer, it that what Luke wanted? Isn't that what we all want?
"The truth." Percy closed his eyes and imagined the war, the fighting, the killing, and the gods. "I can't tell you." Percy raised his arms to feel the cool wind. "Maybe I don't even know what the truth is, but I can't tell you, there might be lives dependent on this secret, and not to mention I don't even know who the enemies are."
"We don't need to know who the enemies are, we just need to know who our comrades are." Luke stood from the logs once more.
"Yeah?" Percy smirked. "And just who are they, exactly?"
"Hell if I know, you were the one bullshitting this yesterday." Luke laughed, he stopped and seemed to realize something and stared at Percy.
"What is it?" Percy touched his cheeks and rubbed his face to rid whatever was stuck on his face.
"Nothing…" Luke said in a questioning tone.
"Okaaay?"
"No, that's the strange thing." Luke waved his hands. "You know that big fight last night—"
"Yeah, I was there."
"—and after ever fight, you… that thing happens." Luke said the last part in a whisper.
Percy blinked and inhaled. "Oh, yeah." His eyebrows furled. "Yeah, you're right!" Percy stretched out his right arm and touched his elbow, a vital point where Arcane travels through. He closed his eyes; his skin began to shimmer with a faint, radiant glow.
Percy snapped open his eyes. "Clykes!" The air in front of his open right palm shifted with a translucent golden glow, that atmosphere cracked with yellow lights at the rifts. The spark of light burst out a foot before dissipating.
Luke shuffled backwards, for the first time seeing one of these up close.
"No," Percy frowned. "It's the opposite, I feel a bet better."
"Um, is that bad? That not bad right?"
"It's… strange." Percy flexed his arm. "It feels like my reserve has increased. Not by much, but it's noticeable."
"So… not, bad right?" Luke didn't come closer.
"Y-Yeah, I hope so." Luke swallowed, it seemed that Percy did mean what he said the confusion in the 12-year-old's voice seemed to resemble everything that had been collected in Luke for the longest time. Were they on the same boat? No one knows what was going on, they just had to figure it out step by step. "Maybe it was from last night."
Percy shivered, his jaw clenched and his arms fell to his sides.
"I think we were having a little too much fun." Luke continued, it felt all so fuzzy; it was nice to voice it. "Like a dream almost, if you asked me. I can't even remember how many monsters I got."
"Yeah…" Percy breathed out. Last night had a strange feel to it, like a nightmare that left a painful scar that bleeds every time Percy ponders on the event. "I, lost control." He said with bitter sweetness.
Luke laughed and continued on his rant of the events that happened just when everything began to cripple. His recorder, however, wasn't quite up to the task of remembering Luke's tales, Percy still felt uncomfortable within his very own mind, like sliding inside his custom chair after fighting a bloody battle for the position. The movement in his arms, did they always felt so… weak?
"-so I guess kicking was a the better choice." Luke smirked at his reference to an argument he had had with Clarisse about arm versus legs.
"Accuracy vs. strength, your choice." Percy shrugged he turned back to Luke.
"I guess I prefer strength." Luke admitted, after all, he had fought for that side in the previous argument. "Recklessness is just in my blood, screw accuracy."
"See, if you just learn to use your legs properly that wouldn't be an issue." Percy walked back into the cabin to search for a pen; a plan was beginning to unravel, though he still didn't know the main objective. There was feeling, an instinctive urge to move, to keep moving forward.
"And are you saying you can teach me?" Luke shouted from outside.
"Maybe," Percy answered then lowered his voice into a whisper. "if I can teach myself first."
He kept searching, the dust-filled cabinets and loose drawers. Nothing, the place has been wiped clean. Not a signal crunched up piece of paper was left vaguely useful. Percy just wanted to do something; he couldn't put it into words, his instincts were usually like that. Big. He thought. Big, bright, accelerating!
"I believe this object you are searching for is a bomb." Mnemosyne said as if she was talking to a child. Strict… yet like she was talking to a child…
"Right!" Percy whispered loudly in triumph, he usually felt a slight satisfaction when he (or/ usually Mnemosyne) figured out his instinctive wishes. "Now we need pen and maybe we can use the floor as the canvas. We'll have to break off a part of the ceiling to let in light…"
"Perhaps the dirt ground can due, considering that Luke Castellan is quite literally right outside."
But we don't have a pen or marker, and even if we did they won't show well on dirt.
"Then simply replace the obstacle."
Easier said than done. Percy pressed his back to the wall. How exactly am I suppose to "simply replace the obstacle"?
"Use your blood as the marker."
Don't—Percy's words trailed off. Damn. It was true that blood worked far better than any artificial marking material, blood contains a certain attraction of Arcana in a way that it can both disturb casting spells and also, more practically, used as healing elements. Considering that, when wounded, blood would pour and thus attract Arcana and making the healing of that wound easier, however the caster must be extremely careful, otherwise they might cut off the limb or close organs if they lose concentration.
Of course. Percy scolded himself for forgetting one of the most important, and widely ignored, fact of the blood. But can she blame him? After all, using blood can easily disrupt the spell, especially if that spell was targeted towards blood, there might even be a chain reaction in which the blood inside him are turned into explosives. This is why they created soulchalk, a tool that attracts and maintains Arcana, however less potent than blood.
This'll be risky.
"Sorry, did you just say that something might be risky?" Mnemosyne teased, rarely did she do so, but it is even rarer that Percy slipped up, marking this a fine occasion to act out.
"Go to hell." Percy walked out into the burning sun.
"-she'll be right back, so don't worry." It seemed that Percy was far too wrapped in his mental conversation that he didn't hear Justin returning. The jock had pulled out another bucket of water and set it on the ground next to where the empty ones are.
"Yo." Percy waved to Justin, who nodded then turned brushed pass Percy and entered the cabin. "Well…" He walked up to Luke, holding his concerned eyes. "I need to take a piss." He nodded as if sharing his secret to Luke, who only nodded back absently.
Percy made sure to walk opposite of the lake; he traveled further than before, and found himself a nice space circled by trees and bushes. There he crouched down and pulled out a small, thumb sized splinter, he pressed the edge to his left ring finger and slid open a lengthy cut.
Crimson blood bulged from the cut and dripped on the flat ground. Percy waved his right hand over the soil to make sure there was nothing protruding that might mess up his drawing. With a wince, Percy pressed the blood on his thumb and used that as a brush to draw two ridged circle, then a square inside another circle.
Percy brushed on wavy characters in the spaces of the two outer circles then a few more images in the gaps, and then he was finished. Far from perfect, but it'll have to do, anyway, alchemy was never his favorite art.
Percy lifted his hand over the center of the circle and squeezed his hand shut, dripping down the last few pecks of blood needed, and then he closed his eyes. Arcana, everywhere flowing in the air, seeping into the ground, dripping off the leaves and holding to the barks, they all began to move, slowly, steadily. They crawled into the thin lines of the blood, infused into the cast circle.
No words were needed to preform Alchemy; there was no describing creation or conversion, only thought, the feeling of the object, the smell, and taste changing into something completely different. Certainly, Percy didn't like this art, so much counted on imagination, so much could go wrong, and so little control was left to the caster.
Percy's eyes were shut, it help to picture the object when they were closed, however in his 12 year old body, Percy didn't have a clue how the object felt, or smelled, or tasted. This was extremely dangerous, like having a completely regular civilian defuse a bomb with the instructions of a professional.
Explosives the tool that Percy had used so valuably however not as frequently. There!
Percy slammed his open palm down onto the center of the foot diameter casting-circle, hot smokes hissed into the air with the sour smell of sulfur. His hands closed around a small nub, Percy cautiously peeked out of one eye and confirmed, no, the forest wasn't ablaze.
He lifted the heavy marble in his fist; the ground where the markings have been was now a small crater the same size. The sphere in Percy's hand was a copper covered ball the size of his eye.
"Successful, that good news."
Percy nearly threw the thing in surprise, that's right she was still there.
"Don't sound angered, I was congratulating your success, though it could have been more potent."
Shut up, this is technically my first, be glad I still have all ten fingers.
"I am."
"You know what?" Percy stood from his kneeling position. "You're under my head and I have rules—"
"Watch out, company."
Not a second later the bushes rustle. Percy stuffed the bomb into his pocket and spun around.
"Percy?" Bianca fumbled out from the other side. "Oh!" She jolted backwards when they came face to face. "Percy!"
"Bianca." Percy mimicked her tone, his stupid way of hiding his own shock. "What's up."
"Uh," She stepped into the small patch of space just to get out between the two bushes. "Justin said to come get you." She breathed, breath heavy from the short run, her hair wet and clumped pulled back against her damped shirt.
"Was he? Shocker." Percy remarked. He didn't mark an effort to move back to give Bianca room to breath, partly because he was standing right in front of the pit and partly because he didn't have room to move back in.
"Uh, Per—" Bianca trailed off, her eyes lowered to her feet, her forehead touched Percy's worn camp shirt. A warmth heated Percy's chest, the wetness that leaked from Bianca's freshly washed hair, dampened his shirt. "I'm, uh… I'm sorry for last night."
"The Empty genocide part or the road decimating part?"
"When I yelled at you, I didn't mean to take out my anger out on you." Her fist curled into fist as she spoke, her body trembled slightly. "I'm just a kid, I never even thought some thing like… and then to trouble—"
Bianca was cut off as Percy press her closer to him, his arms wrapped tightly around her small form. His chin rested just barely above her head as he sighed.
"You admitted to your venial mishap, which is more than a grownup can say, you're fine for your age." Percy said in a more gentle tone. Bianca pushed away and raised an eyebrow at Percy.
"We're the same age, Percy." She smirked.
"Yeah well, that's debatable." Percy patted her head and pushed her out of the bushes, following closely behind. "I believe we have to meat up with a certain stuck up, uh, jerk."
"Where've you been?" Justin scolded at Percy as he leaned against the doorframe of the cabin.
"What, no 'oh, hey guys, glad to know you're still alive'?" Percy walked into the small clearing, matching Justin's glare.
"We should probably think up a plan for our next sets of actions." Luke interjected the staring contest, which Percy liked to note that he was winning. Luke narrowed his eyes as if to prod at Percy.
"Um, well, there is only one lead left."
"The temple." Justin finished, getting off of his self-promoting lean and walking up the other three, his eyes looking serious for once. "What's the plan?"
"What is the plan?"
Shutup woman, I'm working on it! "Well, maybe we can find a secret path the branches off from the original one we took." Percy eyed Justin, asking him the question directly.
"Yeah, I know of this one path that's pretty old, but it'll get us there." Justin nodded, his brows curled down in thought. Percy turned towards Luke, who nodded.
Odd, it was Percy that was supposed to nod in agreement, not Luke. This made Luke under the ranked of Percy.
"When should we take off?" Justin brought the two back to him.
"Anytime," Luke answered. "But we should probably drink some water and wait a few before leaving."
"Yeah." Justin turned around, picking up an empty bucket of water. "I'll go refill."
Justin sink into the woods, his rustles faded from their ears, Bianca entered the cabin to avoid any form of color on her skin.
"Then there were two." Percy fell down on a heap of logs that were chopped a good year ago.
"It must be tough." Luke breathed out, his eyes staring in the direction Justin had left.
"Hmm?"
"Justin, his mother, she…"
"Yeah." Percy sighed. He could get a break today, could he?
"He's been fetching water this whole day." Luke tightened his jaw. That was just how he relieved his distress, occupying his thoughts with pulling in and out buckets. A better way if Percy could say.
For the Reaper himself, well his relieve was quite easy to tell. Killing and killing, he once used to stay silent, holding his breath for as long as he could in his dark bunk. Huddled in blankets trying to warm his freezing, numb hands. Then, after he could manage better, he rested on the ceiling of the rebel base, staring at the bondless stars.
For Luke, it was a search, a thirst for more. To be rewarded for his hardships, for all of their hardships, for the gods to move, to change, any form of acknowledgment, even fear.
"We're all fucked up somehow, how else are you suppose to survive in our world." Luke turned to Percy, not saying anything. Monsters didn't have souls, so there was no guilt for killing one of those, but Luke didn't think Percy meant the demigod world, something different, something that they may share. "I just can't shake my feelings for that guy."
"Hmm? Feelings?" Luke grinned.
"Ha ha, make fun of a twelve year old." Percy blinked; did he just use his false age as a defense unconsciously?
"Well," Luke turned back to the woods. "I know what you mean, something happened last night."
"You mean before the monsters?"
"Right before."
Percy started to remember the scene, Luke's shocked expression, and Justin's mother with her claws ready to snatch away the portrait. "That picture frame, what was on it?"
Luke stayed silent, his breath became uneven, his knuckles showed white.
"There was a picture, it looked to be pretty old, maybe 20 or so years." Luke let out a shaky breath. "it was a picture of my- my mother." Percy held his breath, completely unexpected by the information, was this relevant? How will this affect the quest's outcome? Is it even tied to the quest?
The bucket of water fell to the ground and it's content poured into the parched dirt. Luke and Percy turned to the new comer, Justin who stood, mouth gaped.
"What did you say?" Justin said, barely a whisper. Luke stood up, his shock mixed with frustration.
"That was my mother in that picture." Luke stated, more sure. "Why was she there."
"Are you sure?" Justin exclaimed; Luke nodded. "That can't be, that's… that's my aunt May."
"May- what?" Percy asked from behind Luke.
"I-I don't know! Mom never talked about her family!"
Percy turned to Luke and gave a questioning glance.
"Y-Yeah, it was the same with me, my mom never talked about her family." Luke said quietly. Justin and Luke stared at one another, they looked so different, tanned skin, tanner skin, blue eyes, covered ones, sandy blonde hair, blonder and shorter hair.
"No way." Percy gasped. Now that he looked again, one just looked like a douchier version of the other.
"W-We should finish this later, quest first." Justin stuttered, clearly way out of his comfort zone. "Let's go!" He shouted and stomped off in the general direction of where they came from. Bianca stepped out and turned from one shocked boy to the other.
"What I miss?" She slurred out.
"Nothing, we're going." Luke marched off.
From all of my collections, I must admit; traveling is quite literally the upmost boring part of a mission. Now I haven't exactly realized this on the other rides when the world was still striking to my hazed eyes, and even when I have gotten used to the bleak and grim world, I could always engross myself in a light conversation with Perseus. This time though, my company has died silent, holding his breath at thoughts and emotions that he didn't feel like sharing.
It's a secret, well it used to be a secret, but Perseus could almost never completely bury his thoughts from me, might it be a curse or a gift, only he could decide. Being able to peak into the deepest, darkest corners of someone's mind is very similar to being robbed of all their possessions, or so Perseus said. Did this mean that I am constantly stealing from him, even while he was in the act of using an item? This isn't the first time I've thought of this, after all; I have quite a lot of time to my own devices.
It's never lonely. No. It's never quiet inside Perseus's mind; the company loves to hear his own thought-voice. On stranger days Perseus would slowly change his voice, from his original nonchalant tone to a higher weaker one, then completely into a girl's voice, it was fun to tease him on his "uncontrollable habits".
But I digress; Perseus didn't feel confortable about how I can listen to his every thought, while mine are so concealed. I tried to convince him that I didn't have thoughts, that all my voices are combined in one, that I have thousands of trains that scale my mind. However he didn't believe me, so we agreed that I let some of these voices out.
Well, that week wasn't the greatest on his track record.
"I kinda miss your annoying voices." Perseus had commented when the bet was over, but he certainly freaked out when I purpose for a second round. That company will never learn there was no wining against a Titan, which was a fact.
A fallible statement no doubt, after all: "Perseus might be our only chance-" Prometheus said after the third mission Perseus had reported, of course Perseus didn't hear that, we didn't want too mush pressure on him. But who knew of his unseen potential? His vas charge of growth that pushed him to the end, it was a shame that my recordings were scratched during the travel, maybe the memories could have served as encouragement when all else fails. Or maybe it could act as a catalyst that pushes him over the edge.
We're here.
"Think you for alerting me."
I just thought you were being unusually quiet.
"And I to you."
The group wondered into the forest, taking the same route as the first time, when they reached the out-of-place section of the bushes, Justin waved them to a stop and led them into the dark path.
Just as last time, the path was defined by the curvature in dirt. Some time later the path disappeared, but the fence was already in sight.
Percy shook his head, signaling for the others to pass him.
"No guard?" Bianca mumbled to herself.
"I would guess not," Percy answered as he matched her pace. "the town should already know about the dangerous conditions of the temple, not to mention I doubt there's enough officers to spend on this old relict after last night."
"Would a better question be 'why are they even guarding this place anyway?'" Bianca looked at Percy in the corner of her eyes. He smiled.
"Maybe." Let's not overlook logic here, though. Of course, logic has no nest in this ancient hold.
The worship building was just beyond the thin, interlocking wires. Yellow, weak bricked stairs that leads into the opening it it's highest level. Ominous. No. Gravitational. The temple pulled at Percy's skin, beckoning him, lead him in then devour him. The thought of entering felt like submission, Percy hated not having power.
"The electricity is off, dipshit." Justin called from the other side of the fence.
"Justin…" Luke warned in a low tone, Justin shrugged.
Percy sighed through his gritting teeth, which sharpened the sound, then took hold of the fence and launched himself to the top of the fence and dropped down.
"Miss me?"
"Hardly." Luke replied. Justin led the group around the huge temple, hugging the wall the whole time. "It's larger than I remembered."
"We didn't have a good look last time." Percy whispered from behind. They had been under so much tension before they didn't fully comprehend the size of the temple.
Unlike last time, there were no guards at the front, which was understandable considering the events that occurred last night, however, it also meant they wasted their time crawling around in silence.
"Before we go in, I like to remind everyone that this is probably where everything's going to go down." Percy said in a louder voice. "I just want everyone to be on your guards, anything could happen now."
Bianca smiled, Luke nodded. This was the best warning he could give them without sounding suspicious.
Now, are you sure about this?
"Positive."
Because this might very well hurt one of us.
"Are you doubting my analysis?" Mnemosyne questioned.
No, it's just so…
"Impossible?" She offered.
Improbable.
"Everything that is impossible is only a factuality which is completely possible, improbable is therefore highly probable, and this is because it is." Other then the conceded attitude, this was a big reason Percy hated arguments with Mnemosyne; pull out a couple lines philosophy is practically cheating.
Yeah, Yeah. Expect everything, gotcha. Percy frowned in reality, climbing the steep stairs at the front of the temple. Hope you know that it made no sense what so ever.
"How so?"
Because you just combined two completely different ideas to prove your point.
"Which is only your interpretation of it. Though this was a fairly simplistic one."
"How old is this place exactly?" Luke followed a line of arch that reached over his head.
"Don't know, pretty old I would guess." Justin paid no mind to the figures of art on the walls: the abstract awls, tigers, and bears, the sea of interweaving vines on the lower halve. Annabeth would have loved to study here.
"A door." Bianca pointed to the darkness before them. An iron double door clogged the hallway, standing a good 10 feet tall.
"Right, we should be able to move it." Luke traced his fingers on the handles that erected from both doors. "It's a sliding door." He pointed to the creases in the ceiling lining the edge of the door, seeping into the wall at the end.
"Well, good luck." Percy gave Justin a "friendly" push.
"The hell? I ain't pushing that?" He yelled.
"Hey, are you, an 18—"
"19."
" – year think that I, a twelve year old have more physical strength than you?" Percy said in an innocent voice.
Justin growled deep within, then grab ahold of the stone levers, Luke and Justin counted to three then pulled the door open. The double rock doors rumbled apart, rocks and pebbles sliding from the walls and ceiling. They patted against the walls, barely two feet apart.
Clearly whoever built this didn't want a large mass of people in.
"Or they could have had inexperienced architects." She suggested.
My idea is far more ominous.
The passage behind the door led downwards into the dark, steep, long stairs that made the descent awkward and trippy. All this way up, now down again. They really are trying to separate the world from whatever is inside.
Percy's first step into the dark corridor, a rush of hot and cold air pinched through his flesh, sending shutters down his back. Lights popped from both sides, lighting the tunnel like stairs way.
Torches.
"Nice to know the ancient natives had superior motion technology." Percy breathed out his sigh.
Was Percy… scared? Bianca wondered, because she was certainly startled.
"I guess we're not alone after all." Luke began to lead the way into the distant dark, where the torches ended. Justin shifted to the side letting the others the pass, suddenly very welcome to being last in line.
"You sound disappointed." Percy huffed. "I thought this was our last resort?"
"I didn't want them to know we're coming." Luke replied.
"Expect everything." Percy whispered.
The tunnel continued on and on, for what felt like hours, being in a claustrophobic stair way can do that. Not to mention the ceiling could collapse anytime. Finally they reached the "bottom" floor, or so they thought, the torches ended, true, however the tunnel only opened into a large hallway, with stone pillars that supported the darkness above. Percy sighed with relief, for a moment he thought his "plan" would end up in flames. Now all he needed was to loop around… A faint blur shined in the distant, not too far away to his left. Were they still above ground?
Perfect. "Empty!" Percy shouted over his shoulder at his team, who gave him startled looks mixed with confusion and annoyance. "Uh- I mean, monsters! I heard monsters over there!" He pointed to the direction close to the small spot of light. "Follow me!" He began to sprint, having ran almost every day since his "recovery" at the beginning of summer, Percy gave Justin a good chase.
As expected, Luke picked up the act right away and dashed alongside Percy, Justin tailing closely behind, cursing the whole way.
Percy suddenly came to a halt, Justin slammed full force into the boy, Percy leaned to the side last second causing Justin to flip over and fall onto the ground. Percy then continued ahead.
"C'mon Bianca, no time to be trippin'." Percy shouted to Bianca who stopped to help Justin up.
"There, on your right!" Mnemosyne yelled as they neared the light that grew significantly brighter.
Percy grabbed the orb in his pocket and swung the small copper sphere behind him. With a snap of his fingers the darkness illuminated into bright yellow-orange mixtures.
"Keep going!" The ringing that took place after the bang muffled Percy's shout. It wasn't a big explosion, but within the darkness that swallowed them, the sudden light pierced their eyes.
Luke hit the wall first, holding onto the crumbing rock surface as the temple shook, dribbles of rocks fell from the unknown above. He turned in time to see the fall of a severed pillar, shifting in the shadow, he didn't see the impact, but felt the strong vibration.
Ears pulsing, Luke pressed his head against the wall, his own breathing becoming the loudest sound in this darkness. Before him was a ray of white light that pointed to the ground from the wall.
Another shift, this one in the light, one that Luke saw perfectly fine. Percy leaped into the dust filled air at the crack in the wall.
"Clykes!" Percy screamed as he threw his right hand at the wall, a burst of golden light blew away the thin wall, between them and the outside. Light flooded the hallway like water from a damn, immense and overwhelming. "Grab Bianca!"
Luke shook his head to clear away his dizziness; he turned to the thick wall of dust. Within the mass, Bianca's form shifted not far away, the two boys ran into the mass and hook onto Bianca's arms and carried her into the light.
"The hell happened back there?!" Luke shouted at Percy, who averted his eyes. "What if Justin was hurt as well, what if he's trapped or killed?"
Percy remained silent.
"You could have killed Bianca too." Luke said in a low tone. Percy tightened his jaws.
"No, please don't say that!" Bianca gripped on Luke's collar as he carried her. "I'm not even hurt. It's just my ankle."
"Which could have easily been your chest, or your head, or neck." Luke fumed, stomping on a detached branch. "What was that for Percy?" He turned to the boy again. "You need to tell us what you're planning, especially if it could potentially harm one of us!" The boy dropped his head in shame, an act that was rarely seen, in their case never seen, and probably never again. "Remember our promise," Percy glanced at Luke in the corner of his eyes. "You said that you'll fight with me, and I'll fight for you, so you have to share your thoughts with me." His tone softened. "That's how it's going to be from now on, kay?"
Percy sighed, taking a deep breath before talking. "I had a theory." He glanced at Luke, who waited patiently for the story. "You remember this 'god' I we mentioned on the plane? The same one that gave us the info?" Luke nodded. "Well, I just thought, maybe he's still with us."
"Like, Justin?" Luke raised an eyebrow.
"No, no, not like that, I mean maybe this god could still be here on the island, looking after us."
"Good thing or bad?"
"I would guess it's a bad thing. This thing that's looking over us is affecting the whole town, maybe even the island.
"It's just a guess, but maybe, maybe the behaviors of the town was manipulated by this thing. Maybe this thing even manipulated the monsters at that certain time and forced them on us, therefore forcing us to solve this quest by…"
"Entering the Temple." Luke finished. "So was this rumor of the temple's past is fake as well?" He wasn't sure why, but the thought just came to him as important.
"Maybe. Maybe it's true or maybe it's just made up to lure us into the temple." Percy said. "I'm leaning towards the latter."
"Wait," Luke came to a sudden realization. "If what you're saying is true does this mean that Justin is also under the control of this thing?"
"Not full control, I don't think even the gods can do that, maybe he can alter emotion: anger, hatred, disgust." Percy said. "But it's easy to break out of that phase as long as there isn't a legit reason to have those feelings."
"So you separated us from Justin to escape from this thing." Luke said. Percy nodded. "What are we suppose to do now?"
"Now –"
"Unhh." Bianca grunted from behind Luke, her face covered in his back.
"Oh, sorry, did I twist your feet?" Luke asked lightly. Bianca shook her head, hiding her face.
Percy moved next to Luke and lightly tugged loose the strings of Bianca's right converse. He carefully shifted the shoe, Bianca moaned into Luke's back, and then pulled it off.
Broken leg. Percy bit his lower lip, she couldn't fight like this, but it'll be worst to leave her behind. Even in the cabin she won't be safe.
Mnemosyne, do you have anything for this?
"I have plenty, but..." She didn't have to finish, they both knew that Percy was no healer, never was. He was trained to destroy, to kill. Never has he been in a position when he needed to heal, of course a few times to himself but that was small, simple flesh wounds, not broken bones.
Anything will do. Anything that's doable he meant.
"I'm not certain if this will work properly, or of the risk of worsening the damage." She knew, of course, whenever she said that, it usually meant it wasn't good. "We can preform a simple mending process which is used to reattach torn muscles and large selections of tissues, I can retarget it to the bones, and mix that with a novice bone healing spell to fill in the parts of the bone regeneration that you lack the skills to preform."
So we're mixing two spells together? Percy sounded doubtful, fusion was usually a technique that ended up with something that's so much more potent and even more uncontrollable, followed by big explosions as far as Percy remembered it.
"Don't worry, these spell are quite similar, they both originate from the same roots, not to mention this is fragment fusion, where we combine parts, not complete fusion were we combine two whole arts." Little comfort, but it was something. "Now on to the materials, we need a sustaining heal on the part that is being casted on, because as of right now your balance of Arcana is far from perfect, which means you could easily burn the subject. This sustaining heal must also be able to target the issue and also clarify the spell as it passes through."
Like medic bands?
"Yes."
But we don't have those. Percy shivered his voice trembled slightly. We won't be able to get our hands on those for another 4 years!
"Calm down." Mnemosyne's hard voice reminded him of the attitude he should be keeping. "We can use nectar as replacement, nectar has healing properties and can purify the healing spell once it enters."
"Alright," Luke stopped and shuffled to see his comrade. "I have a plan."
"The completion of the mission will assert the ultimate safety of the group." So the task was divided between Percy and Luke. They had left Bianca next the to a branch of stream water, soaking her feet in the cool current help little to ease the pain.
Reluctantly, Percy assigned Luke to the position of returning to the town to obtain their bags and some food while he was there. Percy on the other hand departed to the opposing direction were he hopped the road would eventually lead to the next town.
He needed to know, to see the condition of the city and cause. An Earthquake didn't seem likely, maybe he could even fetch some supplies in the town; canned beans, maybe some soup would be the highest hope.
He didn't stay on the road for long, as soon as he reached a sign, which mapped out the distance; Percy separated from mankind and sank into the woods, leaving it to his trained instinct to lead the way.
Civilization, that's where this entity would be look for them, no way it would simply pick a random path in the woods and search for him. This was why he felt so compelled to swap tasks with Luke, but no, the further away from this entity the less control it has, which means that monsters would be roaming freely and unrestraint.
10 to 15 miles? No problem, well, it wasn't a problem. At this very moment the run would be a testament of Percy's entire summer's worth of training, a test of determination and judgment, separating weak from strong.
Easier said than done, the running wasn't the worst, but it was the fact that Percy had to choose his path, around a hill into a creek or steep incline then steady decline? This also meant that he couldn't simply switch off his mind and concentrate on the footsteps, he had to pay close attention every single second. This dragged the run from hell to Dante's 6th ring of torment, hell.
Finally after what felt like days of pilgrimage, Percy reached his destinations. Having rested a mile before to ready himself if even more running was going to be necessary. A risky move, he nearly fell asleep, his numb legs throbbing on the dry grass and withered leaves.
The town was completely off right as he laid eyes on it. The buildings and roadways crackled and snapped into pieces, an ominous silent befell them, cutting even the sound of rushing winds.
Completely empty, everything was completely empty.
Completely wrong, completely and utterly wrong, how could this happen?
What could have possibly caused this, this incomprehensible destruction?
Percy loosely gripped the packet of documents, bringing it slowly into the white light, almost frightened. Above all else he noticed the small logo of three long, vertical, diamonds the center one being the longest. At the midsection of the three diamonds was a word written in all caps.
"IMMORTALS"
Luke held his breath, his head pressed against the tree behind him.
Quiet.
The town was quiet, of course it was, after the monster attack last night the townspeople had better evacuated or at the least moved to a safer area, then came the question; was there a safe place to stay?
Luke opened his eyes and poked his head to survey the town beneath the hill.
Completely still.
His footsteps were quiet as well, so careful and quick that it might as well been the passing wind. Crouching low, he slid down the steep hill and onto the road under. Just his luck that Justin's house was located at the edge of the town on the side of the shores, which meant he had to move through the entire district. The quiet, lifeless town, nothing to worry about, but one could never be too safe.
He didn't want to hurt anyone, even if he knew these people didn't have the guts to inflict any serious damage, their judgment could easily be bent by this god that watched over them, if there was one.
Even if one couldn't take Luke down, that didn't mean a whole handful can't take a tow on him. So he stuck to the shadows, sliding from one building to the next, making sure to avoid the town square, anywhere but there.
The anxiety and excitement took ahold of him and before he knew it the town was behind him, only a minute's walk away from the house.
Just as Luke made his way up the gravel road, a pair of figures stood to the side of the road in the distance. Luke jumped into the trees the moment he noticed.
Two of them, standing next to a billboard reading "Limestone, where green and blue meet".
He bit back a curse; of course it wasn't going to be easy, the gods would never let it be so simple. Without another thought, Luke turned around and traced closer into the woods that ran along the road. It seemed like detour wasn't nearly as long as Luke would have thought. Poking his head out from behind a tree, the house was clear, no guards or anything of the sorts, eve so Luke had loop around to the backside, climbing the latter to the balcony and opened the unlocked door.
Everything was as he saw it, though the fireplace was extinguished. Luke ran up the stairs into the closest room, picking up their untouched bags. Before he could leave a reminder hit him, his cell was still in the master bedroom, when he dropped it after seeing that photo.
Luke rushed though the hall into the room at the end, the doors were locked, unshakable. He pulled off his slap bracelet, morphing it into Backbitter, Luke slice the lock in half.
There on the floor was his phone, he knelt down and picked it up. Then slowly rose, a cold creped into his skin, his eyes pulled his head to the right at the bump under the cover.
Luke sucked in and held his breath as he approached the bed, lightly tucking at the blanket, the figure underneath did not move, rather it stayed completely still. Luke pull the thick, rough blankets off the head of the figure, finding an old lady laying there, eyes closed, fist curled pressed against her chest.
"Wake up." Luke whispered weakly only able to convince himself enough not to panic. "Wake up, please." He touched her shoulder with his fingers. "We need to go." He pulled lightly, feeling the stillness of the joints like an unbending doll. Luke stepped back, a stench reached his nose, a rotting smell, like a road kill.
Luke stumbled back, his breath hurried, she was dead- she's been dead. He turning and rushed out of the master bedroom, grabbing the bags in both arms and hurried down the steps. He burst through the front door and stumbled down the staircase, skidding across the front lawn. His breath was strained, breathing heavy, but slowly recovering. Luke pushed pass the bushes and into the open road when suddenly bumping into a tall figure.
The body fell over face first. Luke instinctively reached and pulled the man back up when his skin made contact with cold, hard flesh, skin peeling off like a rotten fruit.
Luke gasped, releasing the arm; it fell to the ground with a thud. He turned to run when I finally noticed everyone, the whole town standing in this crowd, eyes glazed, flesh cold, skin sliding.
Dead, they were all dead.
Great fun, I've realized that I've done a horrible job of writing this Act, and I am very sorry, all I've been doing was saying "Hey! There's something off!" the whole time without proper clues, I'll definitely try harder on the next one!