A/N: Guess who's back?
Chapter 9
(Land of Dreams)
The group stood near a tall cliff overlooking the ocean. The cliff spanned in left and right as far as the eye could see. The ocean seemed to be in a darker shade of green than usual.
What they noticed was that it was snowing. Not that they felt the cold, but their breathed out steam anyway.
"Where are we?" Sophia asked.
"Far north," Hestia muttered. "Whoever's dream this is, it's not going to be pretty."
"You're right, sister," A deep voice said behind them. Everyone turned around to see Poseidon in his Bermuda shorts and beach shirt. But his usual glow and happy face wasn't there. Instead, he looked grim, as if he's preparing for a fight. "It's good to see you,"
"Brother," Hestia gave Poseidon a warm hug. "Where are we?"
"The North Sea, just near the southern coast of Norway."
"Why are we here anyway?" Mary asked. "Do we need to help you get over your depression or something?"
Poseidon just raised an eyebrow at her. "Jack the Ripper, ay? You killed one of my kids back in England. Not that I'm disappointed or anything."
Mary just shrugged. The wind suddenly got stronger.
"It's coming," Poseidon said grimly.
"What's coming?" Sophia asked.
"The only monster I cannot defeat. "The Kraken,"
The name somehow made the atmosphere feel a lot heavier.
"Um, excuse me, Lord Poseidon," Annabeth raised her hand. "Isn't the Kraken just a myth?"
Poseidon smiled lightly at her. "In Greece, it's a myth, yes. But in here, it's very much real."
"Here? In Norway?"
Poseidon nodded. "You see, we gods have some control on certain parts of the world. But some are just not in our jurisdiction. That's why we don't have much power further North. It belongs to other people,"
"And by other people, you mean . . ."
"Yes. The Norse gods." Poseidon said. "This is their territory,"
As soon as he said that, the ocean in front of them rumbled. An ungodly roar came from the depths of the ocean, making the ground rumble.
"If the Kraken's just another monster, we can blow it to bits," Sophia suggested.
"I wish it was that simple," Poseidon said. "The thing about the Kraken is, it's a Norse monster. Unless we slay it with our own hands, Greek powers will not have any effect over it."
"Then, we just have to fight it?" Mary said, holding up her scythe. "This should be easy. I mean, it's just a giant octopus, right?"
"You'll see for yourself."
On cue, the ground rumbled. The ocean stirred and the winds whipped them around. Rising from the cliffs were eight tentacles, each of them made the Washington Monument look like a Lego block. One side of each tentacle was filled with suckers that has a giant claw at the middle, probably to rip your face apart after sucking it dry.
And that was just the tentacles. It seems that the body stayed underwater, which was fine, assuming they survived this onslaught.
"Okay, this might be tricky," Mary muttered.
(Real World)
Artemis went to Athena for answers, naturally. She was in the Olympian library, trying to find any answers to solve their current problem faster.
Athena was currently in front of a computer. The search bar read, 'how to wake people from dreaming without killing them painfully'. Google couldn't find any result for it.
"Uh, Athena?" Artemis called. Athena jumped a bit. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."
"It's okay," Athena sighed. "I'm just feeling a bit stressed.
"You do know Google doesn't have the answer for everything, right?"
"That's like saying Wikipedia doesn't have all the information about us."
"They don't,"
"Which proves my point,"
Artemis didn't know how to reply to that. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me with something," Artemis said. She told her the whole story about her little 'sparring' session with Percy on the beach and the weird power-drunk ego boost she's been feeling.
"Seems to me like you're going to get a new domain," Athena said. "Which doesn't happen unless it's under the Queen of Olympus's command,"
"And since Hestia's in the Realm of Dreams, this thing is being given to me from another source." Artemis presumed.
"Someone higher than the Ruler of Olympus," Athena nodded. "A more ancient deity, and gave the Olympians their powers,"
"The Fates?" Artemis asked.
"Nope, too high," Athena shook her head. "They control our fates, our lives, but they have no powers on our powers."
Artemis thought of it even more. "Chaos?"
"You're getting colder," Athena rolled her eyes. "You really think she's going to pay attention to us?"
"Wait, Chaos is a she?"
"Off topic." Athena waved off her question. "Now, think more. Who has authority more than the gods, but not as powerful as a primordial?"
Artemis thought about it. "Titans,"
"And which two Titans have an authority higher than even the Queen of Olympus?" Athena asked. "And which of the two doesn't have a thirst for vengeance?"
It clicked onto her. "Rhea? Rhea's giving me this new power?"
Athena smiled. "Our grandmother, yes,"
"She's alive?"
"Well, not technically," Athena said. "Her consciousness is, but her physical form isn't."
"But why?" Artemis asked. "Why me and not Percy?"
Athena shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe Percy can't know she's alive. Or maybe she saw you as a better fit. I mean, eclipses and moon aren't very far apart,"
The second point made more sense. But it doesn't answer her question as to why Rhea did it. "How did you know it was Rhea?"
"I told you. Google has everything." Athena said. "Except for a solution to our current problem."
"Well, thanks," Artemis said.
Athena nodded. "Where are they now?"
"They're helping Poseidon," Artemis said.
Again, Athena nodded. "And my daughter?"
"She's safe, for now,"
Athena sighed. "Well, I should help them out from this side. Maybe the books might have an answer . . ."
Line Break
Back at Montauk, the ocean was restless. The winds were getting stronger and the waves were crashing onto the sands harder.
Poseidon was agitated.
The frown on his face confirmed it. They're facing whatever that is keeping him inside his dreams. Amphitrite was getting worried. She tried to comfort Poseidon, but it seems that just made it worse. There's nothing worse than watching the one you care about suffer while you can't do anything about it.
"I know," Percy said, noticing her worried expression. "I'm worried too."
"Is there really nothing we can do to help?" Amphitrite asked.
Percy shook his head. "If there was, that's what I'd be doing. Unfortunately, they're on their own. The only thing we can do is hope for the best."
Amphitrite sighed. "Let's just hope that's enough."
Artemis then flashed into the scene, looking worried. "Heya," Percy greeted.
She just returned it with a smile. Clearly, their sparring session had her worried. That includes Percy. He's worried about her. Being linked, Percy could sense anger and fear stirring up inside. Whatever happened during her time in the Land of Dreams, it had changed her.
At first, Percy thought she was still mad about Sophia, but that was not it. He wanted to ask her about it, but with the way she is now, he would probably get ignored.
"You okay?" Percy asked simply.
"The Olympians are trapped in the Demos Oneiroi," Artemis said. "I'm not okay,"
"Fair point," Percy shrugged. He sat down next to Artemis in the sands. "So, wanna tell me what's going on?"
Artemis stared deeply into the ocean. "I don't know," She admitted. "I don't feel like talking about it,"
"Hey, I'm here for you," Percy laced his hand with hers. She gripped it tightly. It made her feel a little better to know that he's with her.
Artemis sighed. "When I was in the Land of Dreams," She started. "I-I was useless. A Nightmare attacked. We fought it, but . . ." She looked at her trembling hands. "I'm useless. I rely on my powers too much. I can't even hit the thing with a bow and arrow. Someone almost got killed because I was weak,"
She balled her fists. "When Mary told me how weak I was, I guess it set off a spark. I wanted to become stronger. I wanted more power, But . . ." She hugged her knees. "I'm scared, Percy. This new power I have. It's making me . . . hungry,"
"Hungry?"
"I felt like I wanted more." Artemis admitted. "I'm just afraid I'm gonna hurt someone."
"Hey, look at me," Percy said. Artemis looked at him. It surprised Percy to see her eyes welling up with tears. "You're gonna be fine. We're gonna get through this together, okay?" Percy kissed her lightly on the forehead.
Artemis smiled a bit. "Thanks, Percy."
Percy grinned. "And here I thought that you don't like males," Artemis hit him on the chest. "Ouch,"
(Realm of Dreams)
If Annabeth had to describe what it felt like to fight the Kraken, it's like running through a very hard obstacle course. They had done nothing but jump, ducked, rolled, and mostly avoiding getting hit by the Kraken's tentacles.
They moved around like a bunch of flailing hands, making it hard to predict their course. And there's eight of them. Some of them tried to slash or cut them off, but the tentacles moved way too fast for them to reach it in time. Either that or they got smacked out of the way by another tentacle before even reaching it.
Even if they did reach it, their weapons are ineffective against its thick skin, which was bullshit because tentacles are not that thick.
"Is there any way to kill it?" Mary asked as she jumped over a tentacle.
"The head," Poseidon said. "Attack the head,"
"Well, where is it?"
He pointed down the cliff. Of course the head would be there. There's two problems, however. One, they couldn't see the head and don't know exactly where it is.
Two, it's a hundred foot drop. That's like hitting concrete at a hundred miles an hour.
Yeah, but it's just a dream, you might think.
But dreaming of dropping one hundred feet to your death isn't really fun.
They jumped and rolled, avoiding the tentacles. Mary got hit by one of them and was sent off flying, but she recovered and went back to dodging. There was no opening. Any attempt of getting close to the cliff would just have you getting flown off.
"I got it!" Annabeth said. "Throw a big rock at it!"
If it weren't for the current situation, Mary would've been amused with the idea. But since they've been doing nothing but dodging left and right, it seemed like a good idea.
Mary jumped high to the skies and imagined a boulder the size of a bungalow. She screamed as she swung her scythe and hit the boulder like a baseball, sending it towards the ocean. From where the tentacles are sprouting out, she just had to guess where the Kraken's position really is.
The boulder fell like a meteor, crashing into the ocean and creating a big splash, making it look like it was raining. There was a wail of pain before the tentacles retracted back into the ocean.
Mary landed next to Sophia. "Did we did it?" Sophia asked.
Suddenly, another loud roar pierced through the sky, but it seemed louder and less . . . underwater. It climbed up the cliffs, its tentacles grabbing the ground like claws. The head stood almost as tall as the Chrysler Building, maybe even taller. Its skin glittered from the sun and its eyes looked like those giant satellite dish.
If you're having a hard time, just imagine a really giant mutant octopus. That's basically what it is.
"Okay, um," Mary's lost for words. "I, uh, toilet,"
Out of sheer instinct, Sophia conjured up a javelin and threw it straight at its eye, like a freaking Olympic javelin thrower. What Annabeth noticed was that the javelin gave off a shade of dark purple.
As it hit the Kraken straight in the eye, it wailed in pain. The Kraken then dissolved into purple dust.
The group stared at Sophia, who was panting heavily. She had the same look in her eyes that Percy had. Annabeth had seen it before. It's the look of a fighter, of someone who has a strong battle spirit.
Percy had that same look. Sophia is a natural born warrior.
"Wow," Mary said. "Remind me not to get on your bad side, kid,"
Sophia blinked, as if she'd just realized what just happened. She blushed. "Um, I'm sorry,"
Poseidon just laughed lightly. "There's no need to apologize. You did wonderful, little demigod. I'll be sure to tell your father what you did,"
"My father? You knew?" Sophia asked.
Poseidon smiled. "I didn't until now. That look you had. I only know one man with that same look."
"Well, see you on the other side, brother," Hestia smiled.
Line Break
Poseidon woke up to Amphitrite's crying face. "You're awake!" Amphitrite crushed him with a hug.
"Ow, can't breathe, help," He muttered out.
Percy and Artemis came to his side, smiling. "Look at you sleeping beauty," Percy said. "Had a good night sleep?"
"You can say that," Poseidon woke up, his joints cracking as he did. "Your daughter saved me,"
Percy stiffened. "Sophie?"
Poseidon nodded as he cracked his back. "Defeated the Kraken with one blow."
Percy didn't know what to say. He's immensely proud of his daughter, but he's also a bit afraid. From where does her powers come from? It's one thing to do a lot of training to be a good fighter, but being a natural-born warrior from the start is another.
Defeating the Kraken with one blow with barely any training? That's abnormal. Not only Artemis, but even Sophia is experiencing this power spike.
"Well, at least you're back," Percy said. Poseidon gave him a smile.
"Thank you," Amphitrite said.
Percy shook his head. "Don't thank me. They're the ones doing the work in the Demos Oneiroi."
"Y'know," A voice said behind them. "This really can't work unless you let the Olympians sleep," The group turned around to see Luke grinning at them.
"Luke," Percy growled as he unsheathed his sword. "What are you doing here?"
"No offense, but I plan on sending you all back to slumber," Luke unsheathed his sword.
'Gotta get through me first," Percy dashed forward the same time as Luke. When their swords met, sparks flew. Both of them got locked in a really intense sword fight.
It wasn't until a black lightning struck in between them, disengaging their fight. It didn't look like it was from Luke, because he was smoking. And Percy didn't cause it either.
Standing between them was a person draped in black cloth. Black lightning sparked around him. He gave off a very . . . foreign aura. But Percy knew, he could take both Luke and him head on.
"May I join your little feud?" The man said.
"Who are you?" Luke hissed.
"I'm Ai, son of Thor."
A/N: I'm back.