Chapter 21, I get offered the worst deal ever.
Again guys, sorry about the slow updates. Writer's Block is a huge pain in the butt. I'm working a night shift now, and it's starting to take its toll on my focus. I'll update whenever I can think to work on this story. In case it wasn't obvious, I haven't exactly planned this story ahead very far. I promise I'll outline the next two books more thoroughly.
Zane's POV
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" I overheard Annabeth talking to Raven in her room. I wanted to check on her before going to bed, wanting to see how much she'd recovered from that Chaos Steel arrow.
"We only have one weapon left to find, and I'm not spending the search holed up in my room." Raven told her. "I'm going to find that next weapon."
"You already helped Luna get the shield. You don't have to prove anything."
"I've been in all of two fights since Zane and I came to your camp. If I stay in my room during the whole quest, my powers, wherever they came from, are literally going to waste. I need to help claim the next weapon." Raven then came directly out of her room, as if to end the conversation.
"Raven!" Annabeth called, seeming to try and make her come back. "Gods damnit!"
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing." Annabeth said quickly, starting to look a bit nervous. "I'm going to bed. Good night." she quickly left to head to the room she was sharing with Percy before I could ask anything else.
"What's with everyone?" Sierra asked as she came up behind me, herself still awake. Again, her pajamas left little to the imagination, making me nervous just looking at her.
"I don't know." I told her, but then I gave her my best guess. "I'm starting to get the feeling that Annabeth and the others know something I don't."
"You think they're keeping secrets from you?"
"It's possible. I haven't known these guys very long. Aside from James, Luna, and my sister, I've only known everyone on this ship for a few days." She raised an eyebrow at me, and I could tell what she was about to ask. "And yes, you're on that list too."
"Well, your dad left a lot of weapons behind. Once we find the last key, you'll have to share those weapons with everyone on this ship."
"Where did my dad keep all those weapons anyway?"
"Magical weapons tend to turn into ordinary objects for easy storage. Like with Jason's sword/lance. It turns into a coin. Your dad probably did the same thing."
"Or maybe he had his own storage dimension or something, like all the cool video game characters."
Sierra laughed a bit at the thought of that. "Come to think of it, your dad would make the coolest video game ever."
"Second coolest. Skyrim has everything beat."
"Oh yeah. Good point. Either that, or the Kingdom Hearts series in general."
"Oh great, now I can't decide." Sierra and I suddenly got into a two way rant about how Skyrim was the better game, mostly because of how bad Ovlivion and previous games were, but Kingdom Hearts was the better series. I'd met a lot of girls before, but none of them had been able to nerd out with me on the same level as Sierra. Just when I thought I couldn't like Sierra any more already, we turn out to have the same favorites in, well just about everything; video games, movies, TV shows, all of it. It was clear now. I liked Sierra more than I'd ever liked any other girl, even my biggest crushes growing up.
"Well, I'd love to keep chatting about Kamen Rider, but I'm going to bed. Good night Stripes." Sierra eventually told me.
"Okay. Good night." I hung back and tried not to stare at her from behind, but my wandering eye got the better of me. As I finally turned around to head to my room, I ran straight into someone.
"What's wrong with you?!" Luna immediately smacked me in the forehead, whispering in a way that could be considered 'quiet yelling'. "That was literally the perfect time to ask her out, tell her you like her, kiss her, SOMETHING!"
"Ow." I replied, rubbing my forehead. Never underestimate how hard a girl can slap you. "And what are you talking about?" I asked, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
"Oh don't play dumb with me Zane. I've known you long enough to know when you REALLY like a girl."
"What do you expect me to do? What if she friendzones me?"
"Oh. My. Gods. You attack a chimera alone and unarmed, you wrestle a metal lion to the ground, you even attack a bat-harpy and rip her wings off, but you're afraid to ask a girl out for real. You didn't seem very afraid to have a one-night stand with Drew back at camp."
"Hey! You know I have a weakness for asian girls."
"Yet another giveaway of your crush on Sierra."
Damn it. She had a point. I forgot to describe her that way earlier, but Sierra's asian.
"Look." Luna told me. "I get it. You're afraid of rejection. But I can tell Sierra likes you too. If you don't ask her out soon, you'll end up friendzoning her." She left to go to her room so that thought could sink into my head, starting to freak me out.
Thankfully, my dream that night wasn't a nightmare about getting friendzoned by Sierra, but it was another dream about my dad. I guess it took place after Zeus double crossed him.
Kratos burst through an iron door into a frozen cave, the flames of Olympus erupting from his skin, a new power given to him by Prometheus to increase his strength. He made his way through the cave, fighting through several enemies along the way. At the end of the freezing cavern, a hand made entirely of ice lay on top of the other exit. The ice was so cold and thick, it had turned opaque, completely concealing whatever might lie beneath.
Unleashing his flames once more, Kratos stabbed his Blades of Athena into the hand several times, prying away each finger one by one, until the hand lifted up to reveal a pegasus with wings, tail, hooves, and mane entirely enveloped in fire. Despite the incredible weight it had been trapped by, the pegasus eagerly stood up and approached Kratos, again ready to take flight.
"Are you sure you are ready to proceed with my quest?" Kratos asked the horse. "Those griffins will be ready to attack once more." The horse neighed in agreement, nodding its head as if to agree to the plan. "You are very brave for a pegasus, worthy of the Spartan name." Kratos told the horse, climbing onto its back. The pegasus' wings burst into flames once more as it took to the skies, propelling itself at breakneck speeds towards Kratos' goal.
As predicted, griffins swarmed the Ghost of Sparta once more. These were no ordinary hybrids of eagle and lion. These griffins had jagged, bladed tails, and could shoot projectiles of poisonous breath. These griffins had been altered by magic, bred for war. One of the griffins, bigger than the rest, seemed to be leading the pack. Dark Satyrs were riding the other griffins, carrying oddly curved swords of unknown origins.
Kratos and the pegasus attacked the griffins and their Riders head on. The pegasus' hooves were powerful blunt weapons for slamming into griffins, knocking their riders off to plummet to their deaths. However, some riders leapt from their flying mounts to attack Kratos directly, only to be stabbed in the chest and thrown to their deaths anyway. Whenever a griffin with no Rider was seen, Kratos leapt from his pegasus and onto the beasts' backs, cutting off both wings and then throwing the beasts at other riders, his pegasus catching him quickly.
Within a short time, only the dark griffin remained, but was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the pegasus neighed and bucked wildly in the air, as if in pain. Kratos looked to either side to see numerous amethyst shards embedded in the wings. He looked behind to see the dark griffin's rider, carrying a spear with a large blade on one end and a collection of crystal shards on the other end.
Seeing his steed was slowing down, Kratos pulled the pegasus to fly higher, leaping from its back just in time to freefall down and stab the griffin's side to hang on. The rider took notice of Kratos, and attempted to kick the Spartan off. Kratos caught the kick and pulled the rider down enough to punch him backupwards. He then used the distraction to get onto the griffin's back and pin the rider down, stabbing him in the side. However, Kratos was kicked off and knocked onto his back on the griffin's wing. The rider tried to stab Kratos through the neck, but the Ghost of Sparta narrowly dodged the attack, managing to grab the spear from the Rider, and stab him through the chest with it. With the rider fatally wounded and falling to his death, Kratos immediately shoved the spear through the griffin's neck, finishing it off by cutting off its wing as well.
Jumping from the falling griffin's wing, Kratos fell quickly towards the sea, but used his Blades of Athena to grapple onto the side of a nearby cliff, saving himself from the rider's fate. After an arduous climb, Kratos found a temple to the Fates at the top. "This must be the right place." Another surprise awaited him at the top, the pegasus was alive, seeming to be forcing itself to keep going. The shards were still embedded in its wings. After some time, Kratos removed all the shards, bandaging whatever wounds were still bleeding. "You're even stronger than I thought." Kratos tried to touch the wing, but the pegasus pulled back with a pained whinny.
"I see. You can return on your own, but you have not the strength to carry me any further." The horse nodded sadly. "Go then. Return to Gaia. I will find another way to reach the Fates." The pegasus nodded farewell to Kratos and took to the skies, while the Ghost of Sparta proceeded ahead on his own.
Before I could wonder why I was seeing that particular moment, I heard a voice behind me. "You know, it takes a lot of guts to get a face tattoo like that." I didn't have to turn around to know who it was. I felt angrier just by being near this guy. Percy told me about this earlier, since he'd had the same feeling during his encounter with him.
"Ares?" I asked, turning around. Sure enough, I was standing face to face with a guy with huge muscles, an oily black crew cut, black jeans, a black leather duster, and a red muscle shirt under a bulletproof vest. He had a big hunting knife sheathed in his belt, and a baseball bat in his hand, leaning on his shoulder.
"You catch on fast, kid. You might even be smarter than your old man." Ares told me, slowly walking around me. For some reason, we were still in the temple from the end of my dream about the pegasus.
"That says alot about the guy who kicked your ass, doesn't it?" I pointed out. I could hear Ares taking a frustrated deep breath through his nose.
"You're definitely Kratos' son alright." he said after a few seconds. "Is that any way to greet your uncle?"
"Oh yeah, the evil uncle who wants your dad dead. 'Never seen that before.' said no one who ever watched even one movie in their life."
"Let's get back to the point here." Ares said after another tense pause.
"So what the hell are we doing here? Are you being an overprotective dad about Sierra?"
"That did cross my mind, but she can handle herself. I'm here to give you a warning, and make you an offer."
"What's the warning? Don't be like my dad?"
"Seriously, focus. Your arrival brought out more than just rare types of Greek monsters. There's a centaur named Nessus looking for the last key."
"What's he want with it?"
"Do you know what story he's from?"
"Not really."
"He's from the Heracles legend. He tried to kidnap Deianira, but was shot by Heracles before he could get away with her. With his dying breaths, he convinced Deianira that his blood could be used as a love potion in case she needed to keep Heracles faithful to her."
"Isn't Centaur blood basically like acid?"
"Yep, and this particular sample of centaur blood was mixed with poisonous Hydra blood. So when Deianira heard that Heracles had fallen for another woman while off on one of his adventures, she smeared the blood on one of his shirts and sent it to him. The mixed monster blood burned into his skin, making it impossible to remove the shirt without completely ripping it off."
"And I'm guessing that's when Heracles became a god after his mortal half died."
"After burning himself in a funeral pyre, yes."
"So Nessus' trick backfired,...and he wants my dad's weapons so he can kill Heracles for real this time."
"Exactly. And he's bringing his centaur buddies with him. The sword's going to be at a renaissance fair, as the trophy for a jousting tournament."
"So why are you telling me this? Thinking you'll get back some of your old gear?"
"That's my business. I'm telling you this because you need help getting those weapons back, and I'm offering exactly what you need to give you the edge in claiming them."
( Fairy Tail OST – Sun Village )
Ares let something fall out of his sleeve, then held it up for me to have a look. It was a pair of short blades, too big to be daggers, but not long enough to be regular swords. I'd seen these before, the night before I came to Camp Half-Blood. They had seemed to change since then, having red glowing cracks within the blades, and the notch furthest from the hilt was the biggest, giving the blades themselves a hook-like design, but there was no other weapon they could be.
"The Blades of Chaos?" I managed to ask without falling backwards in shock.
"You've been paying attention." Ares commented with a smirk.
I suddenly put two and two together. "You want me to make the same mistake my dad made all those years ago."
"Mistake? Without that 'mistake' you wouldn't exist today. Your father wouldn't be the most feared being in the Ancient Greek Pantheon, a man so feared, the whole of Olympus didn't let any stories about him survive, in the hopes that he would disappear."
"Don't screw with me!" I snapped. "I know what you made him do with those. You tricked Dad into killing Lysandra and Calliope, so that nothing would hold him back. How do I know you wouldn't make me do the same thing? You'd just make me kill Raven, James, Luna, and even Sierra."
"Two things. One, because Sierra's my daughter, and I'd completely disembowel you if you did that to her. And two, because you'd do the exact same thing your father did, and trap me in Tartarus, or even kill me, taking the throne of the God of War by force." I glared at him suspiciously, wanting to know what else he would say, and I guess he got tired of that conversation as well. "I'll leave this offer open for now. If you ever get a brain and decide you need help with this, you know how to get in touch with me again." The only way I could think of to contact Ares was to yell his name out really loud, like my dad did back then, but before I could ask if that was it, I started to wake up.
I heard someone knocking on my door when I woke up, figuring it was time for breakfast, and the search team assignments. I didn't want to tell anyone that I knew where the next and final key was, but hopefully, I could just call dibs on searching the Renaissance fair.