"Wha-Wha?" I said groggily. "Who's their?"
I slowly got up with blurry vision. I looked around and found myself looking at a being in front of me. "Zoe?" I said sleepily.
"No, someone cuter." I heard a deep familiar voice reply. I immediately snapped back to reality and was met with the face of Deimos a couple inches away.
He looked me in my eyes with a weird expression, as if he was searching for something, but after a second he simply turned around and hopped off the chariot without a word. I watched as he harnessed the horses, this time with no struggle.
I watched the god in silence, and I noticed some interesting things. The god had multiple rips in his clothing, especially on his back and upper chest, but he had no injuries. Though to some it may have just looked like he had cut himself on some branches, I could tell he had had a battle, but had healed his wounds.
"Who could do that, to Deimos?" I wondered.
Though a minor god, Deimos had plenty experience as a war god. Plus he had some bad experiences with other gods that had made him feared even among the olympians.
So the fact that something had caused so much damage to him was surprising. And I doubted it was Da Vinci because he had said he was coming for me specifically and I don't feel like he lied about that. Also after he had left, I could sense no traces of him, which was pretty unusual.
I decided to not say anything, as the god made his way back onto the chariot.
"Home?" I asked as I sat up.
"Mmmm, not quite." He said. I raised an eyebrow.
"We've got to deliver this first." He said as he raised the Teumessian fox pelt. I quickly patted my pocket, wondering how he had got it without waking me up.
"Didn't wanna wake you up, but we're on a tight schedule. You slept longer then I had expected though, so I had to." He said as he whipped the reigns.
"So where are we going?" I asked, having only a slight idea.
"Olympus." The god said as he glanced back. "I know it's not desirable, but we have to. But don't worry, you can wait in the lobby." He said
"Unless...?"
"I'm fine with waiting." I said, declining his subtle offer. Though I had never been, I didn't really plan on going to Olympus any time soon. To me the idea had always annoyed me, but that was a different story.
"Where's Icarus?" I asked as I noticed the lack of a hippogriff.
"I sent him home." The god replied as we made our way into the air. "I had to send something back, plus he was tired."
"I'm guessing you didn't want him to get hurt too, huh?" I said while looking off to the side.
"What do you mean?" Said the god, looking forward, knowing exactly what I meant.
"Did your clothes rip by themselves then? And then you spent the whole day doing what?" I asked with slight sarcasm, but still seriously.
"Someone strong."
I raised a brow, waiting for him to elaborate.
"Stronger than you?" I finally asked.
"Mmmmm...
are you stronger then me, Percy?" He asked after thinking for a moment.
Though I would like to say yes, I knew the answer.
"No. Not yet, at least." I admitted.
"Then no, they weren't stronger then me." He said.
"Stronger then me, then?" I asked, wondering who he was talking about.
"Mmmm, maybe. But I don't think so. But you are still a demigod, so that doesn't help." He said without trying to be funny.
"You going to tell who it was?" I asked.
"Nah, I don't think so. Maybe later." He said, but I was pretty sure I would never find out.
After a moment, I asked what I had been thinking the entire time.
"You won right?" I asked.
"Nah, not this one. But I'm alive, so I guess I didn't lose." He said, but by his voice sounded bored almost, but it wasn't that surprising.
Deimos was often bored outside of the house, but I had thought that maybe this person who had given the god a fight would change his mood, but I guess not.
"But what about you?" Asked the god. "You also fought something."
The god stepped back and sat down next to me, laying his head down as the horses continued fly by themselves.
"And you feel different." He said with closed eyes.
It was as he said this is when I noticed something about the god. Right now, and since I had woke up, Deimos had been in a much younger form. Maybe a year younger then me, instead of his usually form at around 16 years old. That probably explained his slight mood change.
"Yeah I fought someone, and they were pretty strong too."
"Stronger than me?" He asked with closed eyes.
"Yeah, probably." I replied. Though in all honesty, I don't think I was lying. Something told me that Da Vinci wasn't even trying against me, something I guess I should be grateful for.
"Really?" The god asked with one eye open.
"Really." I confirmed as I stared at my ring.
"Wild." Said the god as he yawned.
I could really see the difference of mood between his 16 year old form and his 12 year old one.
We sat in silence as the two horses dragged the chariot across the sky.
"Yeah, he took the stone of souls, too." I said casually.
"Ohhh, that's it. That's why you feel a bit different." The god hopped into his feet. He stepped closer to me and bent down so we were face to face.
To most it would look completely unsafe for a child to be standing on a chariot going hundreds of miles per hour through the air, even if he was a god. But somehow Deimos kept his balance.
"Your aura is completely different, less scary, to be honest. You almost seem like a normal demigod now." He said before laying back down.
"You should probably get it back." He said as he closed his eyes once more. "But imma go to sleep, so just wake me up when you see Mt. Olympus." He said.
"So goodnight."
As soon as the god spoke, the horses immediately slowed down to normal speed, well normal for a flying chariot. Though we could've reached Olympus in minutes, now we were on pace for a couple hours. I'm guessing this was so Deimos could sleep.
I looked off into the distance as we flew through the air. Just as I had expected, Deimos didn't really care about the stone. He had no reason to, as long as I could still function without it.
But maybe he was right about me needing to get it back. The god, Da Vinci, had said if I wanted it back I would have to be ready, but could I really get to a point where I would be considered, "worthy"?
I had given it damn near my all with the intent to kill, but Da Vinci simply stopped all my advances with minimal effort. If he really wanted, he could have disabled me in seconds, which meant that even with limitations, Da Vinci was on a whole different level.
But there was one way...
I thought about the me I had seen in my dream, much stronger then me currently specially without the stone. Plus he had an actual arm, something that would be much help.
Even though even he was weak compared to Da Vinci, he was definitely strong enough to pass Da Vinci's "test" based off the fact I had seemingly came close.
Maybe, but I wouldn't worry about it until I really needed to.
I sat in silence, my mind filled with countless thoughts. I thought about the two demigods I had seen in my recent dreams.
One had seemed pretty strong, maybe on my level, and the other had an aura even stronger, but he seemed less skilled.
Though the first one was probably stronger, I kept thinking about the second one I had seen in my recent dream. His raw prescience alone was, as much as I hated to admit, possibly even greater then me.
Though it made sense for most children of Olympians to have a stronger aura then me, the son of a minor god, but my training had made me an exception.
But this demigod was different. I don't know who his parent was, but it wouldn't be some random minor god. Maybe Ares, I thought.
But I decided there was no point in thinking about. What's in the past can stay in the past, unless it affected me. Until then, it's not my problem.
I laid back in my seat, unable to sleep, but incredibly bored. I looked at my metallic arm. I though about what it felt like to have to hand. I thought about how much easier combat would be with two hands.
At times I used to try and think about ways to heal my arm, but I had now come to the conclusion that it could never be, and I didn't much mind.
I felt my eyes get heavy as I though about everything, despite the fact I had slept for quite a long time. I felt my eyes closed, and this time I let them rest. I eventually fell asleep, this time, thankfully with no dreams.
(A/N: Having difficulty writing this because I am quite tired right now, but I have school in the morning, making me scared to sleep because I wanna enjoy my time. Shouldn't be any inconsistencies because I'm gonna proof read, but if there are you know why ;-;)
*8 Hours Later*
-Manhattan-
I sat up I'm my seat and stretched out as I looked around the bright morning sky.
"Morning?" I thought to myself. Did I really just get a full 8 hours of sleep? I think so, but I didn't mind. I stood up in the still moving chariot, and looked below me.
And oh man.
Even though I didn't get too "happy" about many things, but seeing my city below me made me feel some type of way. I stared in awe, memories floating back into my mind.
I quickly shook my head and snapped back to reality. I looked up in front of me, and saw the Empire State Building, directly in our chariots path. I looked over to Deimos to see him passed out, still in his younger form.
Deciding that it was best to wake him up, I shook the god a couple times.
"Wake up." I said.
The god grumbled a bit before he came to consciousness, but he kept his eyes closed.
"What do you want?" Asked the god sleepily.
Deciding we didn't have time for this, I grabbed the god by his shoulders and pulled him to his feet, yet his eyes stayed closed.
One of the pros to Deimos's young form was that I could get away with a lot more stuff.
The god slowly raised his hands and balled his fist. He slowly swung it down at "unimaginable speeds." I simply moved my head as the gods lazy hand hit my shoulder.
"We're at Olympus." I said.
Deimos took a deep breath before opening his eyes: the god shook his head a couple times before he adopted his usual bored look.
"Your gonna have to at least come down." He said. "The chariots not gonna stop."
I raised an eyebrow. "So what's exactly your plan?" I asked.
The god simply waved his hand as if it didn't matter. "Just do what I do, and you should be fine." He said.
The god put his hands on the side of the chariot as we approached Mt Olympus.
"Deimos?"
Before I could get a word from the god, he did something that caught me by surprise.
The god used his hand to launch himself over the railing, sending him down at high speeds towards the pavement below.
I quickly regained composure. With squinted eyes, I watched as the god made his way down. Though he was a god, he couldn't just straight up fly, I don't think.
Of course he would survive, but if he didn't play this right...let's just say he'd be reallyyyy sore.
But me, I couldn't survive this fall, but Deimos's physical body was pretty much indestructible.
With all this in mind, I did as Deimos said and followed his lead. With no hesitation, I leapt off the moving chariot and watched as the ground got closer and closer.