Layton / January 14th (2010)
Studying must suck. Then again, I would prefer to have gone to school like any other kid instead of having to hunt down monsters and people. Though, I'm pretty sure anyone would feel that way.
"Check it out, there's apparently this book in Japanese legend where if you write someones name down in it, they'll die" Chloe said. She was sitting in the corner of the room, looking at a red book with a golden side, and a title written with Japanese kanji
"I had a run in with a Shinigami once"
"You mean a Japanese god of death?" Chloe responded
"Yeah. It was exactly one year after Kronos had cursed me, and that day I was assigned the biggest mission I had ever been on, even up until now. Seven cooperate heads were abusing their power, and hiring assassins to take out the people running their rival corporations. In order to have completed my assignment, I had to sneak past the entire city's police force and make my way up their skyscraper. I was almost caught several times, but I completed my assignment" I explained. Currently I was laying down on the table in the center of the room as if it was a bed. "On my way back, I encountered the book you're talking about. I don't remember what it's called, but it takes the shape of a black journal. When I touched it, I met a Shinigami named Ryuk. He was persuading, but I left the book"
There was a momentary pause of silence until she spoke. "You know, you can take off your armor. Isn't it hot in there?"
"I can't take it off. Kronos's curse is gone, but I still have to deal with Syn's. My mask is the only thing protecting another possession"
Gazing around the room I noticed two books that were conveniently placed next to each other. Getting up and walking over, I pulled out a book on the Mist and another on the Netherworld. If there was some way we could lure the Shadow-Dragons into the Netherworld using the Mist, we could kill them. Problem is, even if we do that, killing them would still be a challenge.
"What are you planning now?" Chloe inquired with a suspicious tone
I walked back over to the table in the center of the room and laid back down on to it like I was before. "I know how we can win, but everything needs to go perfectly. By that, we can't make a single mistake"
"I don't like the sound of that. By simple nature, we're bound to make at least one mistake" Chloe pointed out
"I'll set aside for now until we have time to discuss it with the others. We'll need everyone board for it to work" I replied
What seemed like years passed by, and I read through multiple books just for the fun of it. When the world is close its end, and you're in a room with infinite time, you'd be surprised at the kind of things you can come up with.
"Hey look, there's a book about you" Chloe announced, pulling out a black book with a white crescent moon on the cover
There goes my secret, I thought
"It's not about me specifically" I muttered, just loud enough for her to hear
"Apparently you aren't the first to go by Moon Knight"
"Hera didn't me my armor or my name" I confessed. "After I was resurrected by her, I was chosen by the Egyptian moon god - Khonsu - to be next in line to inhabit the Spirit of Vengeance"
"Why would an Egyptian god choose a Greek demigod?" Chloe questioned
"The pantheons are closer than you think, so it was entirely possible. I've always had a strong connection to the moon and night time. For the longest time, I thought it was because of my inner darkness, but now I think it might be because of something else" I said vaguely
"Right" Chloe flipped to the second page. "Here it lists all of the abilities you get, meaning after I read this, I'll know all of your powers"
There was a long list of some abilities I got as inhabiting the Spirit of Vengeance, but there was only one I would have preferred to have kept hidden - lumina scientiarum, or in English: the eyes of knowledge.
"Umbrakinesis - the ability to manipulate light and shadow. High pain tolerance, adept in various weaponry, great detective ability, enhance stamina and strength, and the list goes on" Chloe listed. "Apparently your abilities are enhanced greatly under the full moon, where you might be able to lift up to two tons depending on the person. At the bottom of the list is something called lumina scientiarum"
"The eyes of knowledge. I haven't used them in years, because to be frank, it's a bit weird and creepy" I said
"What do they do?"
"If I use them, then whoever I'm looking at, I gain instant knowledge on everything about them. Their full name, where they were born, who their parents are, what kind of powers they have, things like that"
"That is a bit weird" Chloe said as she leaned against the wall and tapped her chin with her finger. "But it's also cool. Why don't you give it a try on me? I want to test it"
"If you say so" I sat up and stared at her intensely. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard. Inside the darkness, it was like my vision was spiraling out of control until there was a certain degree of pain. Opening my eyes, everything was red, as if I was looking through a pair of red contacts. Looking at Chloe was unlike any other time I had used the eyes though. This time, multiple scenes flashed through my head along with the all of the information.
"So did it work?"
My eyesight returned to normal and I shook my head to clear the last scene I had seen in my head - not one of the past, but the future. "Chloe Grace Cooper, born January 30th, 1990 in New York to the Greek goddess Selene and the professional golfer Jay Cooper. Your father and brother both died to Morpheus"
"Morpheus?"
"Looks like we're connected after all" I said. "Morpheus was an electrical engineer based in New York by the name of Robert Markham. After contracting a deadly virus, he consulted a doctor and was given a drug that badly reacted with his DNA - giving him a freakish appearance. I had a few run ins with him, and I finally killed him four years ago in 2006. During our last encounter, I used the eyes on him and the thing that stuck out the most was that he had killed a demigod and their mortal parent five years prior, and he had been on his way to finish off the job - with you"
"I doubt he would have found me, or have been able to kill me at that time, but thanks anyways... I guess" Chloe said, blinking at me
"There are some other events that point out to me. I'm not sure if they're coincidences... or fate. Three years ago, 2007, you were sent after a monster from the Hidden Archives, and when you took them down, you saved the life of an elderly man. The next day, I was sent after him and took him out.
2006 again, you and Ryan were in Paris investigating a vampire that was draining the life force that came from love. But you never found him and gave up, returning back to New York on March 7th, after I killed the vampire March 5th.
2005, you, Ryan, and Victor camped out in a village where a monster released from the archives were tormenting the citizens. After the first night, you discovered its dead body. I killed it.
2004, the three of you had to sneak into a funeral to kill a monster. The funeral was for a man I had killed.
2003, one night around two in the morning, you left your room in this very mansion and walked through the halls, searching for the kitchen for a glass of water. There were heavy footsteps and the end of a hall, and you caught a glimpse of a pair of glowing red eyes. Next, a loud thud that scared you enough for you to retreat back to your room. Those pair of eyes belonged to me. I had returned from one of my missions badly injured, and I fainted before making it to the medical room.
Last but definitely not least, in 2002, you were sent out on your first mission to take out a rogue four-armed beast from the archives. You succeeded with surprising ease, and afterwards you decided to head to a cafe, where you met a middle-aged man that struck up a conversation with you. The conversation ended up last for about a half hour until you decided it was time to leave, thanking the man for his kind words. That man... was my dad, and I killed him ten minutes later in an alleyway when he left the shop"
"That's... a lot to take in" Chloe continued to just blink in my direction
"With enough coincidences like that, you could call it fate. Normally my eyes don't tell me give me that much specifics on certain events like that, but somehow I knew by using them. Also, you're really good at golf like your dad, and you hate your biology teacher"
"No one likes Mr. Carter" Chloe muttered
I stood up and walked over to her, offering out my hand. She took it and I helped her up. "Let's go, I've got a plan"
We walked back to the exit and passed through the still-open metal doors that amounted to seven in total, and the passed the previously barred archway. Making our way back to the elevator, I couldn't help but think that there was definitely something strange about the girl next to me. Between the two of us, there seemed to be so many connections and coincidences.
Though, even stranger, we never let go of each other's hands.
Nico
"My apologies," Reyna said, "we shouldn't have gone after the artifact with such little knowledge"
"So long as we're alive" Percy exhaled
"As much as I don't like it, the Shadow-Dragons are winning" Annabeth said. "Yet, they keep trying to take the easy way out"
"Either they're being generous," Hazel said, "or they know the one thing that can take them down might not be too difficult to find"
"We still can't read the book, so we wouldn't know" I pointed out. "I was thinking we could ask the Olympians, considering they wrote it in the first place"
"My dad seemed pretty confident when he confronted Mera, so either he knows how to kill one of these dragons, or it's a work in progress" Percy replied
"Perhaps we should head to Camp Jupiter. We might be able to find something there" Reyna suggested
The trip to Camp Jupiter took around an hour. San Fransisco seemed to be one of the lesser impacted cities in all of this. We passed by the Oakland hills and landed within the camp borders, attracting a crowd that gathered around to see the return of some familiar faces.
We were mostly met by warming faces, but others - probably the smarter ones - gave us a worried look, knowing that the gathering of all of these demigods meant something big was happening, and chances were that it wasn't good. They would be right.
"Maybe the Lares would know something about the Shadow-Dragons" Percy said
"A Shadow-Dragon you say?" a familiar voice called out
Turning to the right, we noticed Vitellius the Ridiculous slowly walking towards us. He was a Lar, and he was well-known for tripping on his toga that was clearly too long for him. As he got closer, his purple aura grew brighter and brighter until it was a bit distracting once he was next to us.
"Vitellius?" Hazel said
"I heard someone say 'Shadow-Dragon,' so I walked over" Vitellius said. "Those dragons are quite something. I once encountered one by the name of, er... he looked like a mole at first, but-"
"Terram" Piper filled in
"Ah yes, Terram. During the Punic War, my squadron got ambushed when there was this sudden rumble in the ground. The 'dragon' burst out of the ground and massacred about half of us" Vitellius explained. "And that was before it transformed! I and two others were the only survivors of there attack"
"So would you know how to permanently kill one?" Piper inquired
"Well, there was this rumor that overloading a Shadow-Dragon with enough of its own element might kill it permanently" Vitellius informed
"It would explain why Poseidon was so confident against Mera" I added
"That might work for some like Terram and Mera, but Syn and Ira don't exactly have elements" Annabeth said
"Still. The less the merrier" Percy said
"I haven't heard the name in ages. Syn..." Vitellius looked up to the sky with a thinking face on. "He was a lot like Gaea - whispering to people and trying to manipulate them - but they hated each other"
"Galactic rule seems a bit extra though" Frank mumbled
"Syn wants to destroy the galaxy and then recreate it in his own image" Vitellius said
"So far," I looked up at the sky where Vitellius was looking, "he's not doing a bad job"