I don't own any characters in the Percy Jackson universe which is rightfully owned by Rick Riodan. However, the Greek gods and/or other mythological figures are used in my own imagination and well you can't claim copyright on history.

Chapter 25

"Lord Pan!" Grover exclaims.

We approach a satyr. He was sitting on the floor, breathing heavily as if injured. He looks up at all of us and speaks to Grover.

"You stubborn satyrs. Even when humans thought I was dead, you foolish satyrs refused to believe it. You prolonged my life."

"You must return with us. The other satyrs would be so overjoyed to see you! Please, return with us." Grover says.

"No, my brave young satyr. My life should have ended hundreds of years ago. It was the satyrs who helped me live longer than I should've."

"That can't be true. Don't joke around like that." Grover insists.

"Ask your friends. Nico and Percy probably know."

I hated telling my best friend that his idol was dying. But the Hades in me was tingling indicating that Pan was in fact dying. I started to open my mouth but Nico interrupts.

"Grover. Pan is fading I can tell." Says Nico.

Grover looks over to me with a sad face. I didn't find the heart to outright answer him, so I just nodded. He slowly looks away.

"These are my last words to all of you. Perseus Jackson, I can feel the energy coming off of you. There has never been a stronger demigod. I know you will be a great hero. Do not let yourself think that loyalty is your Achilles heel. It is better to care too much for your comrades than too little. Nico de Angelo, you are troubled about your past. Your fatal flaw is holding a grudge. Let the past go. You're also afraid of the looks and whispers behind your back. Someday, you will prove these people wrong. Annabeth Chase, you are a brilliant mastermind. I have faith that you will become someone important. Chase your dreams and do not get out of hand with your hubris. Rachel Elizabeth Dare, do not fret. You are not your father. You will grow to be something better. Grover Underwood, my brave young satyr. You have a bright future ahead of you. Tell the people that the god Pan is really dead. Revive nature in my place."

"I can't do that. I need your help…." Grover says with tears in his eyes.

"No, you are strong. You were the only one who found me. You will spread my message."

Pan insists.

Grover finally relents and nods.

"Now I can rest in peace. I have a parting gift. Goodbye, heroes."

He dissolves into a white mist and everything in the room dissolves as well. The mist eventually completely fills the room and starts to stir. It enters through our mouths and I'm overcome with a calmness. Pan had been originated from the word Πάω, or "to go". Pan was the god of nature and flocks among other things correlated to nature. He had given us one last blessing to be able to connect with nature. It was truly a blessing worthy of the god Pan. However, it did seem that Grover had gotten more than we did. He turns and wipes his tears. He seemed to have grown more mature in the last few minutes. The once scared and whiny satyr I knew was gone, replaced with a more serious and fearless satyr.

"Let us go. We need to tell the world that the great god Pan, is truly dead."

We solemnly nod and rise. I focus on the purple inside of me and I can once again see into the darkness. I hand Rachel my sword.

"Are you sure? Aren't you going to need a weapon?"

"No, I have a bow. Besides, you can't be a guide if you can't see." I respond.

She nods reluctantly taking the sword. She holds it tenderly.

"Don't worry it won't hurt you." I grabbed the sword, swinging it.

It passes right through her. She has still instinctively jumped. She takes a breath and holds it close to her.

"Uh, this way." She stutters.

We follow her and suddenly we hear voices up ahead.

"Watch out for demigods. We have to capture them." A raspy voice says.

"Aw, can't I play a little?" Responds a sweet, charming voice.

Suddenly I was compelled for whatever play that monster had in mind.

"Snap out of it. It's charmspeak. Must be empousi." Annabeth says sharply.

I was still in a daze. I started to walk towards the voice. Suddenly a sharp pain runs through my arm.

"Ow, what the hell."

Annabeth turns and pinches Nico's arm.

"The fuck is wrong with you. What was that for?"

"That was an empousi. They use charmspeak, but it only works on human males." She responds.

We try to sharpen our focus when suddenly something appears in front of us.

"Hi, I'm Kelli. I'm going to take you to Luke."

Annabeth tenses and pulls out her knife. Rachel brandishes my sword in front of her.

"Put those toys down."

She kicks the blade out of Rachel's hands. She starts towards Annabeth.

"Stop, we'll go."

Kelli stops and comes to me, holding me hostage.

"So you don't try anything funny. Come on you heard him. Walk." She says.

They follow her into a large stadium. It's filled with various demigods and monsters. She leads us to the first row. Luke was standing there with a smile and spots us.

"Ah, Percy you came to visit! What a pleasant surprise. Come join me. The next fight will start soon. And you brought friends. Grover, nice to see you old buddy. And Annabeth?" He falters for a second. He clears his throat and continues. "Nico, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. And a mortal. Take a seat."

Seeing the position we were in we took a seat. Suddenly in the arena, a centaur and a cyclops come out from opposite doors. The cyclops roars and the centaur just shuffle his feet.

"BEGIN!" Booms Luke.

The cyclops roars and lifts its club. The centaur runs away from the cyclops putting as much distance as he can. The cyclops runs to the cowering centaur and swings its club. The club connects and sends the centaur flying towards where I was sitting. His legs were bent in a painful position.

"Help me, please!" He yells.

I couldn't bear to watch as I rose to my feet. Suddenly a knife is at my neck.

"Don't even try."

I sit back down. The cyclops looks up to a rather large man sitting next to Luke. He nods and the cyclops brought the club down onto the centaur. He explodes into dust and the cyclops goes and picks up the remaining hoof and roars. The crowd cheers.

"That was a nice fight. However, it is not something I haven't seen before. Amuse me, son of Hermes." He booms.

Luke's save twitches as Hermes was mentioned. He then smirks.

"My gracious host, I have an exciting surprise. The son of Poseidon will fight!"

"The son of the sea god? Very well. This should be interesting. Proceed."

He looks at me. I rise and walk to the stadium on my own, surprising Luke. I wanted to show him that I wasn't the little demigod I was before. I climb into the stadium and land on my feet. Immediately the crowd jeers and throws insults and various bits and pieces of trash. I ignore them, dodging the trash they threw at me with minimal effort.

"START!" Luke yells.

The opposite door opens and a Scythian Dracaena slithers out. Dracaenas are basically a rather pretty woman front waist up, but below that was the body of 2 snakes. I remembered a story where the queen of dracaenas asked Hercules to mate with her which he quickly agreed to. When I read that, I wasn't really surprised. Hercules was mating with everyone he saw. She was holding a spear and net. Typical gladiator tools. She came to me, throwing the net hoping to snag my sword and stab me. This was a joke compared to my skills. I easily sidestepped and stabbed her. She wailed and dissolved into dust.

"Unacceptable. I did not give the killing order. Don't do it again or I will snap your neck myself." The strange man calls out.

The door opens again and this time a demigod walks out. He was holding a sword and shield. Suddenly my anger disappears. I couldn't kill a demigod. He walks up to me.

"Hello, I'm Ethan Nakamura. Sorry, but I was told I need to kill you. Not a great way to get to know a person." Ethan says and backs up.

He was an Asian guy. He had eyepatch over the left eye.

"START."

He lifts his shield and slowly advances towards me. He swung at me and, I slowly backstepped. He missed and loses his balance. I took advantage and kicked his shield. He falls back and decided the shield was a waste of time. He slowly lifts it and chucks it at me. It comes right towards my head. I simply tilt my head and it whooshes by my face. He was much quicker without his shield. He still didn't match up to my skill, however. The crowd starts jeering and throwing things again. It had been a couple of minutes and no blood had been shed. Eventually, I knock his sword out of his hands. I hold my sword to his neck. The crowd quiets down.

"Get it over with." Ethan growls.

"No. I refuse to kill you."

I help him up and the crowd starts yelling.

"You dare make a mockery of my arena?" Yells the host.

He jumps down and the ground shakes.

"You will have the honor of dying to my hands."

"Dying doesn't seem like an honor."

"Oh, but it is….brother."

He laughs as I look at him in shock.

"I am the son of Poseidon and Gaea. I am his favorite son. My entire arena is dedicated to him."

"Father doesn't like violence."

"Then you must not know him well. Any weapons?"

"No. My sword and bow are enough."

He shrugs and cracks his hands.

"Foolish hero. I started wrestling. I have never lost it! I will destroy you."

"Didn't Hercules kill you?"

He roars in anger and charges. I slashed my blade and it cleanly passed straight through his body. He howls in pain and falls to the ground. I had thought I won but suddenly a fist comes flying to me and I go flying. I looked up and saw he was fine. The cut I gave him was healed. My sword was behind him so I decided to pull out my bow. If I could keep my distance, that was better for me. I fired an arrow and it hit him. He once again was injured. The strange thing was instead of blood or ichor, he was bleeding sand. Suddenly the ground beneath him climbed up his body covering his wound. When the dirt fell away he was fine.

"See why you can't win?"

End of chapter 25. A quick shoutout to flashlan. Thank you for letting me know about Grammarly. I was using google docs yet the grammar feature wouldn't work properly. It would tell me the document was all good. Hopefully, things are better now. I have decided the add Annabeth. Thanks for reading.