~A70 Ch26~

A blistering Apollo, humid air, dry earth, once great rivers that had dried up into thin, almost non-existent trickles of their former selves; these were the elements that surrounded a walking man.

He was tall for a man and physically built to fight and wage war though he was getting on in his years, with wrinkles in his skin, crinkles around his lips indicating that he had smiled greatly in his fifty years of living, veteran sea-green eyes, and a salt and pepper mixture of hair that looked as if it had been hacked off with a dagger or knife.

He wore light colored soft clothing to allow the persistent, ever-present heat to escape his body. A sword, celestial bronze in make, was present at his waist, enchanted to harm beings of the mortal and immortal worlds alike. Two silver daggers were hidden on his person in case he was disarmed. On his back was a leather knapsack that held his various armor pieces in addition to drachmas held in a smaller pouch, a leather flask holding water, a change of clothing, and several other various trinkets. He was also capable of summoning an enchanted silver bow given to him by the Goddess of the Moon. He was well versed in using all his weaponry.

Sweat oozed from the pores of his skin, dripping down his brow, and trailing down his weathered cheeks until the drops fell to the ground, moistening the baked earth. Perseus sighed as he cancelled the projection of the small fireball in his left hand and sighed as much of the heat surrounding him dissipated, granting him much needed relief.

The majority of his powers had come back to him easily for they were a part of him, instinct more than habit. Fire manipulation, however, was not a natural part of his abilities, so to regain his former abilities, he had to practice. The intensity and duration of the heat was the most difficult to master so he had saved that training for last.

The other form of flame manipulation included was shape, the construction of flames through willpower and imagination. A flame manipulator must will the fire into existence, then shape it using imagination, while simultaneously sustain the flame and maintain its temperature. Failing but one of these elements would cause the flame to disperse.

The fireball was the basic technique to increase control, at least according to his father. The size of the sphere was dependent upon the amount of control and was easy to imagine, meaning that Perseus could focus solely on the temperature and duration of the fireball. In two months, he had managed to sustain the flame with a sufficient amount of heat for an entire day, from sunrise to sunset; it was good enough for Perseus to finally be able to use in battle.

Perseus had dispersed his fireball because there was a village in the distance. Though Greeks knew of demigods they were rare enough in numbers that the appearance of one warranted praise and admiration. Perseus preferred not to deal with such unnecessary affection.

It was a small village that Perseus had arrived in; there were few buildings made of stone, namely the local tax collector's building, a single inn, a tavern, a building to give worship to the gods, and a few stores. The rest, mainly residences, were made of strong, hardy wood. It seemed to a quiet village, with many toiling away, bathing in the heat of Apollo at midday.

And it was to this sight, the view of farmers ploughing the earth under a summer's day, that Perseus was swallowed by the earth, never to reach that tiny, quiet village in Crete.

...

Perseus woke up an hour later in the dark of a small, rocky passage. He was on a hard, uneven surface that hurt his back the longer he laid upon it so he slowly stood up, stretching his body get rid of the soreness. He raised a single hand and conjured a small fireball that gave off enough light to allow him to see thirty feet in both directions.

Spotting his leather bag, unbroken in the fall, he walked over, picked it up, and began rummaging around until he found his armor pieces, and began putting them on. A leather, flexible chest piece went over his shoulders, leather leg armor allowed him to still preform acrobatics while not sacrificing speed or flexibility, and his trusty, bronze vambraces were on his forearms, allowing him to block even overhead strikes without fearing the loss of an arm. His weapons, a sword and two daggers, had somehow managed to stay on his person. Slinging the leather bag over his back, he began to think and rationalize his location.

I'm in Crete. What happened here in the past that could tell me where I am. I'm underground in what appears to be a maze. A maze in underground Crete. Which means that I must be in Daedalus's Labyrinth. But shouldn't it be in ruins after a couple hundred years?

Perseus reached out his other hand to touch the Labyrinth wall. There was no evidence of erosion or even minuscule cracks in the wall. Of course, we're underground so it's protected from the elements. Perseus frowned. Even so, there should at least be some pressure. Several hundred years have passed since Minos's rule. Strange.

Perseus cleared his thoughts. He had no desire to focus on what could be labeled as myth. He had to find a way out of here though how long it could take was another question entirely.

Perseus took a deep breath, held it in for a minute, and then released it. "Well, time to get started."

A firm grip on the pommel of his sword and fireball emanating from his other hand, he began walking.

...

"Maybe I should have gone the other way," Perseus groaned aloud as he continued walking down the seemingly endless path to no where.

There had been twists and turns and even other passageways which Perseus had taken only to come to a dead end. He had kept on the main passage, lit only by his fireball. He had not come across any rooms within the maze from which he could could chart the Labyrinth. It was simply an endless expanse of curled stone and unfathomable darkness that promised a hauntingly cruel, slow death.

Unless he managed to escape, that would be his destiny. An inevitable death followed by an unwanted resurrection only to wander to his death. An eternal cycle.

Wait, what is that?

It was a speck of light in the distance, small yet bright enough to allow Perseus to cancel his fireball. Though he wished to explore the light, he was tired after having walked for hours in the maze.

He sat down, back against the rocky wall, hoping that his body clock did not fail him in telling him to sleep. He left his armor on, in case he suddenly had to fight. He opened his bag and took out his flask, taking a sip of water before he returned the flask to his bag. He had no clue as to how he long he would be in the Labyrinth so he rationed his water. He put his leather bag behind his head and fell into a light sleep.

Hours later, a good enough rest for an old body to be fully alert, Perseus woke up. After taking a small mouthful of water, he headed towards the light.

It was almost two hours worth of walking though an hour in, torches had begun appearing, as if heralding the coming of a god though being extremely hungry and having accumulated dirt and grime on his person in a single day, Perseus felt more like an unfortunate, unlucky, lost traveler than some sort of god.

Warily, Perseus approached a large, ornate, golden door and slowly pushed the door open. Greeting him was a cacophony of cheers and clapping.

Perseus looked around. It was a huge, underground arena. Skulls picked clean littered the floor. Elevated seats in a circular shape housed hundreds if not thousands of monsters of all species. Dracaena, Cyclopses, and various other species Perseus was unfamiliar with including a seductive yet horrendous looking human female look alike, with one bronze leg and one donkey leg. Straight across from him was a grand seat elevated above the audience.

Seated upon a gold, ornate seat was a bulky figure surrounded by two of those with startling human female appearances, empousa, if Perseus recalled correctly, one running her hands across the bloated figure's chest, and the other kissing the god, moaning and writhing in apparent pleasure. To Perseus's eyes, it was a repulsive sight.

It was even worse when the man began to speak through the kissing.

"Welcome, challenger, to my arena, where you may fight to your heart's content. I am Antaeus, your glorious host! Here, you will fight for your very right to live. Welcome, challenger, welcome to the end of your miserable existence." The man let out a satisfied sigh as the empousa rose from his lap and walked off; Perseus hoped it was to gargle her mouth with scented soap.

Perseus's attention was now redirected to two sounds, one behind him telling him the doors had closed followed by multiple clicking sounds, signaling that the door had been locked, and the second being the rapidly opening gates underneath the man's personal seat.

Perseus drew his sword and took a stance, sword pointing upwards at an angle, and waited patiently for whatever was to come. Soon enough, a loud noise filled the air as if thunder had had descended from the heavens.

Soon enough, Perseus's first foe appeared, a dracaena wielding a net and spear, and driving a blue and green colored chariot, with twin horses pulling the contraption along. Almost immediately, it charged Perseus, the spear angling to pierce his chest and end his life.

Perseus waited, muscles coiled and ready to spring at a moment's notice, as the chariot drew closer, spear looming closer to its final destination. Mere seconds before the dracaena was upon him, Perseus dodged to the left, allowing the chariot to zoom past him, unstoppable in its momentum.

The dracaena, realizing her impending doom, abandoned her chariot, allowing the vehicle and horses to crash into the golden doors that had been behind Perseus. Chariot pieces and horse innards was all that remained of the grand chariot.

The dracaena snarled as she gripped her spear with both hands. Her net had been caught at the last moment by the spoke of one of the chariot's wheel when she had abandoned her advantage and had been forced to release the net from her grasp lest she lose her arm as well.

She was not the smartest monster that ever existed.

The dracanae charged Perseus, having no particular spear fighting technique but to rush in and hope her spear pierced demigod flesh. To a master combatant like Perseus, her charge was slow, though that might have something to do with her fastest charge being sluggish considering she had twin serpent trunks rather than legs, and her grasp on her spear was less than firm.

The dracanae lasted only for the first thrust to the Persian's heart before the spear was ripped from her grasp, and thrown away from the combatants. The dracanae attempted to punch the demigod, hoping her above human strength would inflict pain upon the demigod, only to have her arm sliced off at the elbow because of Perseus's flick of his celestial bronze sword.

As the dracanae screeched in pain, Perseus seized the opportunity to kick the green creature away before jumping and descending upon the thrashing monster like an owl swooping down on its prey, his sword in both hands brought down to the monster's heart, stabbing through scales and bones alike, ending its existence.

Perseus got up from his position on the ground, spinning his sword in one hand casually and brushing the golden essence of monsters off his person.

"NO!" Antaeus boomed from his seat high above Perseus and the audience. "You do not kill until I give the signal!"

Perseus bowed, rolling his eyes that were unseen by all. "My humblest apologies, Antaeus, but I have not been explained the rules of this arena."

Antaeus sighed. "I suppose there must always be some incompetence in the world otherwise how could one such as I rise above all in the world? Very well demigod, I will excuse your lack of knowledge this time."

Antaeus sat back in his throne comfortably. He clapped his hands, causing all noise and activity to cease. "Now then, we have a very special treat today. For the first time since its death at the hands of Heracles," at this word, Antaeus scowled, "this being has been resurrected. Created by Zeus to tear out the ever-regenerating liver of Prometheus, please welcome... the Caucasian Eagle!"

A long, drawn out caw echoed across the arena, causing many to cover their ears lest they lose their hearing. Perseus, having to quickly recover from the deafening cry of the bird since it was his own life at risk, drew his sword and shrouded it in flames, and faced the direction of the overly large gates, to the left of Antaeus's throne, from which the the caw of the eagle had resonated from and prepared himself for battle.

Perseus had only instant in which to take in the appearance of the eagle before it was upon him. The Caucasian Eagle was enormous, perhaps five to six times larger than the largest bird Perseus had ever encountered. Its plumage was dark brown as was its talons and most of its head though the crown was a golden color. Its feet and fearsome, sharp beak were both yellow. It had black pupils but gold sclera. Its eyes were the eyes of an angry, fearless predator bent on killing him. Unfortunately.

And then it was upon him, slashing and cutting and pecking and scratching with its talons, hoping to injure and kill the demigod before quickly disengaging, not allowing Perseus to counterattack. His armor was in bad condition, taking the brunt of the eagle's attacks. A few of the eagle's attacks had shallowly pierced his skin.

Perseus ignored his injuries ad carefully watched the eagle who was circling the arena, eyeing Perseus. Then, Perseus spotted it wrapped around the eagle's neck. A black collar that appeared to be shocking the avian with electricity if the yellow sparks were anything to go by.

The Caucasian Eagle cawed once more before dive-bombing Perseus, furling its half spread wings to gain speed. Perseus rolled unorthodoxly to the left, his sword forcing him to calibrate his roll in a way to incorporate his burning, lengthy sword. The eagle cawed before rising once more to avoid crashing into the arena wall. Perseus ran to the middle of the arena, Antaeus's throne behind him.

That's what I need to aim for. The collar. Perseus will the flames to cease to exist and sheathed it before bracing himself for his next plan of action. Perseus willed a sphere of fire into his hands and readied himself for when the eagle dived.

Once again, the eagle dived, intent on tearing Perseus to pieces. It was then that Perseus threw his fireball, causing the Caucasian Eagle to dive lower than it had wanted him to. Perseus took the initiative and ran forward, jumping on to the back of the eagle, easily ridable because of its large size.

Turning about, Perseus quickly clenched the collar of the eagle with both hands and began putting pressure, causing it to crumble before his superior strength. It was then that Perseus experienced what it was like to be shocked. He had only noticed the plumage of the eagle turn gold before he was was shocked with an uncountable amount of volts of electricity.

Gritting his teeth, Perseus broke the black collar in two, allowing it to fall to the ground, before he yanked at the eagle's neck harshly, forcing it fly upwards, still electrified, straight at Antaeus's throne.

Antaeus looked on, paralyzed, silently screaming in horror.

Perseus grinned, still suffering from the eagle's unrelenting, electrified self.

The Caucasian Eagle cawed, eager to hurt the immortal who had forced it to submit to him.

Just before the eagle crashed into Antaeus, Perseus decided to depart from what was obviously going to be a headache by detaching himself from the eagle and falling to the ground, unharmed except for what wounds he had suffered previously.

Then, he ran through the door underneath Antaeus's throne, leaving an angry, slowly reforming immortal, a cawing, fearsome predator, and a confuses audience behind.

...

He had been running for hours now, desperately groping blindly at walls, not daring to use his power over fire to light his way for fear the hordes of monsters and that blasted Caucasian Eagle would find him.

Perseus had only a half hour's head-start before they had begun chasing him. From what Perseus had overheard when he had nearly been caught from the quickest pair of scouts, Antaeus wanted his head.

Perseus ran faster and faster though after three hours of running, he was getting tired, especially with the wounds he had suffered from the Caucasian Eagle.

The cawing grew louder.

He ran and ran, running into far more dead ends than he would have liked but all the while slowing down.

The cawing grew closer.

He was at his stamina's end. No longer could he run. He was a tired, old man. Perhaps in his youth, he could have kept the pace for an entire day, did in fact keep up a relentless pace during his time with the Persian Army, but old age affected everyone. He couldn't wait for when he was able to control his age but for now...

Perseus turned and drew his sword. He could sense the eagle almost upon him.

The cawing upon was him.

Perseus slashed, believing that he would easily hit the large avian. He hadn't anticipated the eagle to have miniaturized itself to the standard size of a bird. Before Perseus could make a move to attack the bird again, it landed on his shoulder.

Perseus turned his head ninety degrees and stared at the bird on his left shoulder who stared back at him unblinkingly with its black eyes, tilting its head cutely.

"What? You want to come with me now?"

The eagle cawed quietly as if it understood the delicate position Perseus was in.

"If your hurt me, I'll snap your neck," Perseus warned.

The eagle cawed once in agreement.

"Do you think you could fly me farther? I've been running for hours," Perseus said.

The eagle must have agreed because it suddenly grew to a size that was easily able to carry the Persian away. The eagle grasped the demigod carefully and began flying away, far from the reach of Antaeus's monster army.

And further into the unknown.

~A70 Ch26~

A/N:

First Guest on April 25: You would be correct.

adrian11: I've been thinking Japan. Later on, of course. Homer's time had passed. But it is theorized that Homer's stories were actually just stories passed down orally until someone (Homer) put the stories into written words. Homer is dead but there are always his descendants.

the things that define you: They do have other priorities.

Utoris son of Gaia: I'm not particularly interested in writing lemons. I can't post the days I'll update since even I don'r know when the urge to write will strike me!

Ritter: With powers sealed and only twenty years of skill in weapon-wielding, I don't believe Perseus will be able to take on a goddess with thousands of years of experience. Especially when that goddess is a goddess of war who is constantly fighting and honing her skill.

Remvis: The main romance won't be so short. That was simply my way of writing a time skip/romance mini-story.

Guest on April 26: You would be correct.

my name is jack: She's doing the only thing a Goddess of the Hunt would do.

Iceboi: That's funny. When I first came up with the idea for this story, one of my ideas was that in the time of the Roman Empire, Artemis would ask Perseus to watch over Athena (Minerva) since she became crazy after the theft of her statue by the Romans.

Ronnie R15: You would be incorrect. Adopted children, however, is always a possibility.

wolfess49ers: Nope, got a couple more Greek era arcs left in me.

FinalGuardian: I know, I know. I'm trying to correct that.

Guest on May 2: That's probably what I was forgetting. I'll use him for a rainy day which is to say in the distant future. Maybe Holy Roman Empire era.

This may be my last chapter for a while. Tests, endless tests await your author.

This chapter's name was between The Labyrinth of Daedalus (which didn't seem very appealing after a while) and this title's chapter which I came up moments after finishing the chapter.

Whoo! Past 500 reviews!

May the Fourth be with you...for these last 45 minutes and...

Thanks for reading!

Edit 2 minutes after publishing: I knew I forgot something again. My question is, why does everyone assume that there will be a Percy named Percy Jackson son of Sally Jackson and Poseidon? This is an AU...and there is always a de-aged Thalia Grace option...