Jason was still mentally preparing himself as the legion approached Othrys, the thundering boots of the legionaries all around him doing him no favors. They marched up the path cohort by cohort, the first leading them. All the legionaries wore hardened expressions, they knew it would come down to this, the final decisive battle after almost a year of skirmishes with warbands within and around New Rome.

Jason was at the front of his cohort, being promoted to centurion after Enzo had fallen defending their home. Jason had held him as he bled from his chest, the wound being to deep and severe, a long shaft of pilum that had been thrown back at them by a dracaena lodged in his abdomen. Jason blinked the memory out of the forefront of his mind, he used thoughts thoughts to empower his determination, not bolster his weakness.

The mountain path began to wrap around the mountain, as the legion slowly ascended to the top, ready to face the horrors of the fortress at Othrys. At the front of the column, a hasty cry was heard, The legion halted, and Jason could see the first raise their shields in a testudo. Looking up, Jason could see why. Above the legionaries was a group of Dracaena archers, making their bows ready as the first volley of arrows fell upon the romans. It was a testament to Jason vigorous training that the fifth reacted instantly, closing ranks and raising their shields, just as the arrows reached them, bouncing uselessly of the red and gold roman shields.

The column continued to move up the hill at a slower rate, still trying to hold tight formation. As they marched on, they would occasionally march over piles of dissipating gold dust, a sign that the first was dealing with the frontal threats. Jason looked up again, and saw that more archers had posted themselves on the ledge overlooking the legion, and continued to rain down fire.

The first wouldn't reach them in time before they could cause casualties, so Jason decided to take things into his own hands. Jason broke formation and used the winds to propel himself upwards towards the ledge. He bent the air currents in front of him to force the arrows to part, leaving them to uselessly whistle beside him. The landed next to them with a thud, and drew his imperial gold sword.

Before the dracaena could react, the closest one to Jason dissolved into dust from a hard sword arc. The rest of the monsters drew shields, swords and knives to try and deal with the threat. The second lunged at Jason, sword and shield ready. He raised his shield up and at a forty-five degree angle, leaving the dracaena's attack to ping of the rim of his shield and leaving both her arms up. Jason pushed up under the shield and plunged his sword into a chest of the snake woman, leaving her to dissolve.

The rest of the warriors had closed ranks and were ready to fight, their armour, shoddy celestial bronze glinted in the sun, giving Jason an idea. He raised his sword, and allowed power to flow through him as the felt the signature tug at his gut. A large lightning bolt fell from the heavens and struck the monster's, their crude metal armour superconducting the blast and wiping all of the dracaena out, he heaved out a sigh of relief and rejoined his cohort.

-FM-

Reyna flinched as another telekhine threw itself onto the front of her shield, another wall of them making contact with the shield wall that her cohort had put up. The second cohort was holding, but it was a difficult struggle. The trek up the mountain pass had been plagued with monsters and the occasional trap. Reaching the clearing in front of the castle gates, the first had instantly come under fire from archers atop the walls and monsters that had charged them. However they had been able to beat them back and push through the chokepoint, allowing the other cohorts to run in and help fight the monsters.

The wave of telekhines that they were fighting were just some of many that would routinely spew out of the mountain fortress. She thrust her sword through the gap beside her shield, and was coated in a fine mist of gold dust. As she did she looked up to see the archers on the walls release a volley that sailed towards the legion, whistling as they cut through the air.

"Shields!" She called, luckily her vague message was understood, and the rest of the cohort raised their shields above their head. Most arrows clattered uselessly to the ground, but distinct cries of pain were heard from others who hadn't been fast enough and were struck by an arrow. Reyna pulled back to assess the damage, allowing another legionary to plug the gap she had opened. She weaved through the ranks of her cohort, following a slick of blood where one of the soldiers had been dragged away to safety.

She escaped the lines of her cohort to find her centurion, Angela Rennie, being attended to by medics. An arrow had slid between a tiny gap in her armour and sticking out of her chest, as Reyna approached she could hear her commanding officer hacking up blood as coughs violently rattled her body. Reyna knelt down by her and gripped her hand as Angela choked on her own blood. The dying centurion made one last hardened look into Reyna's eyes, Lead the cohort, it seemed to say, before she succumbed to her injuries and fell motionless.

Reyna rose only when she heard her name being called. She slowly rose to her feet, dimly aware of the blood slowly dripping from her hands. Jason had run over to her, and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back into reality. She looked up into his blue eyes, and dimly nodded.

"We're sticking to the plan, I'm going in." He said. She nodded dimly in response. He gripped her forearms, "Stay safe." She nodded again, vaguely aware of Jason running over to the edge of the black fort, flying in with another legionary.

-FM-

Jason and Michael landed softly within the Citadel, sticking to the shadows and moving slowly. The darkness seemed to claw at Jason, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, his skin crawled. He and Michael snuck through the forest before hearing a deep voice round the corner.

"The Prisoners. Kill them." The voice resonated with power, and his orders were simple. Jason peeked to see two dracaena bowing before a large figure. They were about 7 feet tall, power seemed to flow from them. Taking a better look, Jason believed the figure to be the titan Krios.

"Dude. We gotta stop them." Michael whispered into his ear. Jason agreed. They waited until the titan left, and stalked the two monsters throughout the fortress. The descended some stairs and stopped as they opened a door. They waited, and heard another door being unlocked. Jason pressed himself against the wall as he heard them approach again. He risked a peek and saw both of them approaching another door, and he spied a bloody dagger in one's hand.

Jason withheld a snarl as he looked to Michael and jutted his head towards the door. The son of Venus got the message, and followed Jason as he silently stalked towards them. He rounded the corner and was face to face with the monsters. They only had time to blink before they were both dust at the hand of a seething Son of Jupiter. Now infront of them was the body of a girl, dead. Her blood pooling on the floor. Jason didn't recognize her, and pushed on to check the other cells.

The corridor was long and dark, and Jason's unease was getting worse, yet the shadows seemed to be pulling him towards the metal door at the end of the corridor. Moving through the dungeon, Jason could see corpses of demigods of a similar to his own age, few older. Many seemed to have starved. He quickly looked away as they arrived at the end door.

It was made of celestial bronze, a rare metal, and inferior to Jason's imperial gold sword. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He tried barging into it with his shoulder, but the heavy metal door refused to budge. Huffing, he turned to Michael, who was leaning against the wall, a smug smirk on his face. Jason was about to bark out a what! but before he could, Michael opened his palm, revealing a key, no doubt to the door. Jason took the key, aware of Michaels silent laughter.

The door clicked as the key unlocked it, and Jason slowly pushed the door open. Instantly, he gagged. The smell of dried blood, old and new hit his nostrils, and he fought the urge to puke. Inside the room was complete darkness, and he pushed the door all the way open to let the light of the hallway in. The rectangle of light cast into the room made it about halfway, but made the room slightly brighter.

At the top of the light, a pair of feet were visible, Jason looked closer, and very quickly turned away. 7 toes in total were missing from them. He looked up at the actual prisoner, and gasped. A large mop of black hair covered the majority of their face, and their hands were bound in celestial bronze above his head. Of which two fingers were missing from their left hand. middle and ring finger.

Jason opened his mouth, but his voice was gone. His hands were shaking. The boy was completely still. Jason wasn't sure if he was alive. His voice finally returned, and he called out. "P-Percy?" He asked tentatively.

The son of Pluto's head snapped up, his long, untamed hair whipping up with him. Jason could see a black blindfold on him. "Jason?" He called out, his voice weak, gravelly, but with a tinge of hope.

"Yeah, it's me." His voice was shaky. "Me and Michael, We're here to get you out of her-"

"No." he cut off, Percy was shaky. He began shaking his head. "No no no no no."

"Percy, you okay?" Jason asked.

"Get out of my HEAD!" He roared. He nodded his head forward and slammed it backwards into the metal paneled wall. The sound reverberating around the room.

"Hey HEY Percy!" Jason called, trying to reassure him. Which only seemed to worsen the problem, as the deranged boy struggled more, pulling against the chains and continuing to hit his head against the metal wall. Jason reached forwards to untie the blindfold, his hands found the knot of the black rag, his hands were soaked in Percy's blood, the coppery smelling and dark liquid caked his hands.

The knot came loose and he pulled the blindfold off, the black cloth was both simultaneously soaked in new blood, and crusty from old blood. Jason took the opportunity to give Percy a proper close up examination, and soon wished he hadn't. Scars ran up and down his face, along his jawline, cascading down over his left eye, across his nose, down his cheek, down his forehead. Jason looked into Percy's eyes. The left no longer held the dark void within, but was a milky white. Jason's heart sunk as he realised he was half blinded, and examined the wide scar that ran over said eye. It was not from a knife like the others appeared, but appeared to be from a claw.

Jason's examination then covered the boys arms. They were suspended above him in celestial bronze shackles. The left was missing two fingers, middle and ring finger, and his arms wielded the same damage that his face had. The was barely an inch of space on the pale white skin that wasn't scarred, not even had hands had been given mercy from the blade either. Jason stood and brought his sword up, ready to slice the celestial bronze shackles off his impromptu patient. The swing was clean, and the shackles fell uselessly to the ground.

Jason bit his lip. The boys wrists were raw to the bone, quite literally in certain spots. The boy took the second his hands were free to curl up on himself like a child having a nightmare, burying his head in his hands, resting his forehead on his knees. As he hunched over, Jason looked at the boys back. At appeared that no part of his body had been spared. Across the top of his back, below his neck was the digits DCXXXV. 635, he calculated. At first the number didn't have any significance, but he ran it through his head and it clicked. 635 was how many days Percy had been missing, and in Titan captivity.

His gaze moved further down to the branding that was on his back. Jason recognized the scythe of Saturn, it was on the flags that marred the outside the black fortress. Jason laid his hand on the boys bare shoulder, who flinched at the touch. "Hey, Percy, we've got to go." His voice was soft, but urgent.

He shook his head. "Go. I'll only slow you down." his voice was soft, more broken than anything. Jason frowned, not wanting to leave the borderline crippled boy. After a minute of debate he complied, turning his back and walking out of the cell.

The new light of the corridor made him squint as he adjusted to new light. Michael Kahale was outside, sitting on the ground, a puddle of vomit in the near corner. Jason was in like mind to do the same but held it in. He nudged the son of Venus, who nodded and got up, ready to move out. As they began to move, Jason saw a metal surgical tray outside the cell door, something he had previously missed. He looked closer, and puked immediately. Carefully laid were all of Percy's missing appendages. 2 fingers and 7 toes, perfectly preserved.

He quickly moved on, and found the exterior wall, hopping it again to reunite with the legion.

-FM-

Reyna saw Jason and Michael exit the black fortress and meet up with the other centurions, she quickly jogged over to join them, taker her position as acting centurion. As she arrived, heads turned towards her. Bobby's eyes narrowed. "Where's Angela?" He all but demanded.

Reyna bit her lip and looked at the ground. "An arrow hit her, slipped through a gap in her armour." She said quietly. Bobby looked like he had been sucker punched, before pulling himself together.

He looked over at Jason and Michael, who had been silent during the small encounter. "What did you find?"

Jason was silent for a moment, before replying. "W-we found which Titan is in there." He said, his voice having a small shake about it. "Krios." He answered upon seeing inquiring looks. Emily, the other Praetor, whose arm was in a sling, tilted her head.

"Jason," She began, her voice soft. "What else did you find?" Her brown eyes seemed to be looking into the boys soul. Jason moved his hands behind his back, but from where Reyna was standing, she could still see them. They were shaking. She looked over at Michael, who had sat himself on a rock, a 'thousand yard stare' on his blank face. Reyna recognised it from old history documentaries. His blank gaze and shaking body were clear signs of PTSD. Emily seemed to notice this as well, her Hazel eyes widening.

"Jason." She said more forcefully, a soft commanding tone. "Show me your hands." The son of Jupiter's eyes widened at the odd command, and he began to stutter out an excuse, but Emily offered out a lithe hand in response. Jason's hands slowly came around, no longer hiding behind his back. They were shaking rapidly now, like an old persons would. Emily took his hands into her own, in a comforting gesture, allowing the shaking to stop in her grip. "What did you see." She asked again.

Jason didn't respond for a few moments, eyes lost in his own thousand yard stare. "T-T-The D-Dungeons." He managed to get out.

Emily's eyes widened a fraction, but she suppressed her visible surprise. "What did you see in there." her voice soft again.

Jason's eyes were still lost in the horizon. "All dead." he said tonelessly.

Emily eyes widened again. "All?"

"All but one." He whispered, his hands shaking in her grip again.

"Who." She asked.

"P-Percy" He said, almost unheard Reyna was shocked. She knew that he was missing, and had come to the sad conclusion he was probably dead, but two, almost three years in titan captivity? She wasn't sure what was better.

"Incoming." Bobby's voice resounded. All attendees of the impromptu meeting sobered as the gates to the black fortress opened, the legion readying as another wave of monsters emerged. These monsters, however were in strict ranks, and an almost standard uniform, celestial bronze spears and shields glinted in the sun. behind the monsters emerged a rank of Demigods, all in hoplite armour. They marched to the centre of the field, and stood across from the legion, the air rife with tension.

The centurions and praetors stood behind their soldiers, discussing tactics. Just as they were about to reach a conclusion, Reyna stiffened. She had felt that power before. It was clearly noticeable as Jason cocked an eyebrow and looked over to her. "What is it Rey?"

She ignored the use of the hated nickname and looked over. "The Shadows, can't you feel it?" She asked.

Jason reached out. He could feel it. It was like sandpaper running over his skin, he could hear whispers, taunting him, baiting him. He shivered. They felt a power surge towards their enemies, and could see it happen.

The black fortress was enshrouded by a darkness, and it grew like a tsunami wave, looming over the titan soldiers. Jason blinked when it happened. A lace of shadow reached out from the wall and wrapped round a hoplite's ankle, It yanked him off his feet, and dragged him into the wall, his wailing screams echoing in the plateau. Slowly, more and more tendrils of shadows reached out, and slithered through the line.

Now, Jason and Reyna both new a commander when they saw one, and the at the head of the Hoplite ranks was a man in polished gold and silver armour, a perfect horse hair plume and glinting spear and shield. As he turned around to see his soldier dragged off, the tendril on the ground reached up, and wrapped around his neck like a Boa constrictor snake, and squeezed. Even from their position behind all their own soldiers, they could all clearly hear his neck snap. The eerie crunch reached all the ears of the fighters present.

Jason and Reyna watched in morbid fascination as the entire retinue of traitorous demigods and wild monsters was disintegrated at the hands of the shadows. One by one the enemy soldiers were scooped by, or dragged into the shadow wall, either by their feet, necks or arms. Their howling screams ringing the ears. Jason could see the monsters routing, pushing through to escape a gruesome fate.

After it was done, the corpses were gone, and there was a fine mist in the air from the monsters. The gates opened once more and a towering 7 foot figure emerged, power rolling off him in waves. Jason recognised Krios.

He laughed smugly. "I will face you now, son of Jupiter, The Pluto spawn was weak." He leered, throwing a pastel white body out into the middle ground between the two sides. Reyna bit her lip hard to keep herself from gasping. Emily flicked her wrist, and four medicii rushed through the lines to retrieve the liberated legionary. The legion parted to allow them through. They set the stretcher down next to the centurions and immediately began work on the broken boy, Reyna quickly turned away, trying to burn the image of the blood soaked boy out of her mind.

As this was happening Jason was walking towards Krios. The Legion had parted like the Red Sea, and he soon stood before the Titan of constellations. Jason knew that his opponent was overconfident an cocky, he would use it against him. He felt power run through him as prepared to enact justice for what had been inflicted on Percy. He schooled his features, and raised his left hand, taunting the Titan forward. He roared an charged, a huge sword materializing in his hands. He swung with a downward arc towards Jason, who dived to the right, slashing at the Titans shoulder.

Krios growled as he was victim to first blood, and swung at Jason again. He slid under it, and thrust his sword up into the Titan's Chest, who grunted in shock, slowly looking down to the son of Jupiter, as he faded to dust. All was quiet, until a cheer of victory came from the legion. Jason was pulled atop their shields as they marched into the forwards into the black fort, ready to topple Saturn's Throne.

AN.

Wow. Its been a while. This chapter was delayed massively due to many things. Excessive homework, Christmas mayhem, oh and Cyberpunk 2077.

No idea when the next chapter will be, as online school is more hectic than actually at school school.

stay safe and happy,

-Dududuuehehhe