So many questions last time! I have answered them at the end, so they will not disturb you, though you may want to read the one underlined.
The number off reviews has exceeded the Answer To Life, The Universe And Everything! In case you haven't noticed, I'm really fascinated with the Douglas Adams digits: there's a four and a two in every chapter (I hope I haven't missed a chapter). I'm just shocked by the amount of fame this number has gained.
And thank you all for the amount of support shown! I really didn't expect to get this many visitors and views! I am so drunk off this response, even though I can't really show it through text.
Also, I have tried some humor in this one, tell me whether it stinks or not.
And don't you tell me that Zoë is out of character. No reader has ever know her thoughts directly, or even read about her initial years. So don't tell me she is OOC, since we don't know what was In Character for Zoë before she was a Hunter.
Check out my other stories if you haven't yet. I think that Demigod Parenting 101 I've really poured my heart into, though it has got an absolutely microscopic response.
8. A Hundred Mile Evening Stroll.
As soon he teleported to Artemis' palace, Perseus threw his sword like a javelin at his father, giving a scream of anger and pain- mostly the latter, since it hurt like Hades.
Zeus' state of undress he didn't miss, and intensified his rage. However, he managed to speak in a tone that didn't portray his killing intent- at least not fully, "What are you doing father?!"
Zeus, who was pinned to the wall by the sword, struggled to pull it out of his sternum, "That," he coughed ichor, "is not your issue, Perseus."
"I can prove to you that you raping my sister is, in fact, my issue." He stepped toward the god aggressively, "Do you require another wound to get that?"
"Firstly, it wasn't that. Secondly, you cannot threaten me, for I am your king."
Perseus' anger increased by how casually Zeus was dealing with the topic. He knew he had to let out his anger, at least partially.
A swift and hard hit to the face and wrenching the sword out made the youngest of Kronos and Rhea comply, "If you must know," The king of Olympus said, as if he wasn't speaking to someone who had just made him cry out in pain, "I was finding a wife."
The younger god, by now, could think of at least forty-two unflattering things he could say about Zeus that Rhea or Leto won't approve of, "You cannot, however."
For all his confidence and flaring temper, Perseus could barely hold himself up at this point amidst aftershocks of losing his immortality, so he put up an illusion of himself talking to his father while he sat on the floor and screamed his heart out, cursing at Zeus, hitting the furniture and floor around him with all he had in him (which wasn't a lot, by the way) and praying to Nemesis for a chance to replace the non-living objects by a certain immortal. Involuntary tears flooded his eyes as his body acclimated to the quiet of mortality after the worse-than-Tartarus pain from the spell he'd placed on himself.
"Why, pray tell me, is that so?"
"BECAUSE YOU DID NOT GET HER CONSENT, YOU MANSLUT!" he screamed at him behind the illusion, though to Zeus he call calmly said, "She is married, Zeus. And someone on Olympus told me that you're completely against women having multiple partners."
"Who is her spouse?" The king of the gods hissed at his son, "Then why didn't she mention it earlier? It is mandatory to check the alignment of the Domains when receiving them and perform godly marriage rites after that."
"I do not know of him and what passed between them. She just said that he informed her he'd visit sometime after her becoming a goddess."
"Somehow, I do not believe you at all."
"Of course you don't."-'Because you just want to use her body, and I'm restricting you.'-"Please ask her the truth yourself. Tartarus, ask the god of Truth to confirm my statements!"
Perseus desired nothing more than to transform Zeus' face into something akin to Erebus' excretory solids, but he estimated that his body could manage neither that attack nor the fight that would follow, seeing as his chest was set on fire whenever he tried to move faster than a three-toed sloth.
"That I will," Zeus flashed out.
As soon as he did, Perseus let go of the illusion, and finally and somewhat completely, relaxed, now that he didn't have to concentrate on keeping the spell. He then sent a copy of his memories of the conversation and the incident that was it's cause to Apollo, Artemis and Leto so that they won't be caught off-guard when his father confronted them.
After completing the more urgent tasks and dispelling the acoustic and material barrier he'd placed around Artemis so she won't wake up and foil all his lies, he stumbled his way out the door of Artemis' palace. When he reached his own, he went straight to his own room and started packing stuff he'd need in order to survive as a mortal on his way to regaining immortality.
He summoned writing material using the little magical power he had left and scribbled a quick note to his mother:
Mother,
Provide me with a way of communicating with you on my quest. Stall the matter with Zeus for a while. I'll try to make it back here as soon as is possible.
Then he left the palace, and the mountain.
Perseus estimated that the edge of civilisation was about a week away from Olympus at least. It would be a long walk, but he just hoped he would be able to come back before Apollo's temper managed to destroy all chances of a peaceful way out of his sister's predicament. Leto was certainly capable of handling the matter, and she'd know how to mold any loose-ends that his quick lies had had, into a better lie for Artemis' safety. Hera would help her too. Apollo'd probably get temporarily weaker after betraying his Domain, but he'd easily do that for his sister, Perseus was sure
'I just hope that there's no rule against hurting our dear weak princess called Zeus,' Percy thought as he walked through the forest towards civilisation, 'for I cannot risk Olympus disrupting my quest.'
His body was tiring as he walked. It wasn't the first time he'd performed strenuous activity while mortal, but 'twas the first time he'd done it without Apollo nearby to provide him with a form of nectar that could be consumed by his mortal body.
So, when high noon of the next day was reached, he sat by a tree trunk and forced his body to relax. He focused on seeing through the Mist and the forest of unknown animal tongues came to life with the Greek language of immortals. Dryads and satyrs roamed about, cautiously avoiding the mortal in their territory. Some nature spirits were tending to their sources and others were teasing the satyrs. It was a normal day to them.
He looked at the dryad in front of himself, and asked her, "Which is the direction to the nearest city, pray tell?"
The tree nymph looked around a bit, searching for the source of the inquiry, perhaps a demigod, not at all a mortal. Percy called her again, "It is I who calls you, dryad."
She located him and stared at him, confused, "And who are you?"
"Just a passerby. Please, what is the closest way to civilisation?"
The nymph thought for a while, "Straight west till nightfall," she informed him, "and you'll reach Derimus."
Perseus thanked her and got up to start walking again, probably incorrectly judging that he had had enough rest.
The son of Leto reached Derimus a little after nightfall, since he had taken another stop to recuperate. On the way there, Perseus had concluded that he had to fight with more of Athena's Domain now, since he had less of Ares': until now he'd been using his godly abilities to push past his bodily limit, to delay the pain and weakness while in a fight- that's why he'd been fighting through with no problems and collapsing straight afterwards, since using up all his energy reserves during the fight did not quite guarantee his health after.
Now that he hadn't got any freely-available allies or other helpers, he couldn't afford to pick fights for pleasing his temper. He would have think and plan and then fight. Just as Iapetus had advised him.
He sold some of his belongings- the one that weren't magical or godly (cutlery, for instance, had brought him a sizable sum)- to pay for a horse, a map of the trade routes, a load of traveller's food and a private room for the night, for he did not wish to have someone discover him conversing with the wind nymphs.
The nymphs informed him that Olympus was in complete uproar. Between Hera's rage, Zeus screaming about rules and Apollo's killing intent, most denizens were afraid they'd be obliterated in the clash that would break out. Leto had claimed severe trauma wouldn't let Artemis attend the Council, so the topic of her godly marriage and Zeus' crimes of 'trespassing' and 'intended harm' were postponed. Also, all of Olympus now knew of his state of mortality. There weren't currently any declaration of a decision to eradicate him to obtain his Domains, but that could mean many things.
He bid the spirits good-bye and contemplated the disadvantages of being a god for a little while before turning into a rock for the night.
'Now that the skeleton is complete,' Perseus thought as he travelled through the thick forest of marshy undergrowth, 'let's start searching for extreme scenarios, one step at a time.
'One: Get to the Mountain Of Despair. Possibilities: Mortal mercenaries and thieves and other criminals hired or otherwise and enemies or hired immortals from Olympus or Tartarus.
'Two: Get access to the Tree Of Immortality. Possibilities: Mostly none, since mother has secured me Hera's support, and it is her tree to use... but if Zeus hires or threatens the guards, I'll be in deep trouble.
'Three: Take an Apple, consume it, and teleport back home. Possibilities: As before, not many complex scenarios- either I'm in trouble or it's a milk run.'
It was the Reaching The Mountain part that was the only one determinable as difficult then. Thanks to his brother sparing him the exhaustion of the long and hot noon hours, and a prayer to Leto providing him more nutritious food and better gear, though, the first part was close to completion. Tomorrow he'd start scaling the yet-out-of-eyeshot terrain holding the Garden Of The Hesperides.
He only called it a day after the steep slopes leading to his goal were clearly visible, partially to be able to scout it out from afar for any large enemy groups, and partially to ease his worrying subconscious, to remind it perpetually that the landform hadn't, in fact, teleported away while he wasn't looking at it: being a mortal was really difficult in the most mysterious and commonplace ways.
He heated some pieces of meat his mother had previously partially cooked and preserved well for him, for dinner, and then fed his animal. Then, he fell asleep, hopefully for the last time in such a dangerous territory.
The Mountain Of Despair was, in fact, perfectly manufactured to suit its name. The slopes alternated between soft half-quicksand of silt and loose gravel and rubble so rapidly and frequently that Perseus somewhat understood why the gardens were not that hot a tourist destination: the path leading to the summit was meant to kill the visitors and save valuable time for the residents. Perseus took his time trekking, since he didn't want to get himself hurt before a potential fight. Also, he didn't want to waste his energy running up. Also-also, he'd have to wait for dusk to enter anyway.
The aroma that beckoned him to the top by itself was worth the hike. All kinds of fragrances mingled in the air, bringing messages from one flower to another. Beyond the generic mortal-flower fragrance, there were also: a slightly acidic smell that usually accompanied citrus fruits, an unusually pleasing and strong eucalyptus smell, and the sickly-sweet and slightly overpowering aroma that belonged either in Persephone's garden in the Underworld, or in Akhlys' poison exhibit in her garden.
The view was worth seven more hikes.
The flowers and plants were clearly assorted. The only rule the gardeners had implemented was 'Every plant be visible.' No flower beds, no swaths of color, no gradients of height or families or species. It all seemed to be purely natural, as if Persephone herself had danced with her handmaidens on these grounds. Of course, the Hesperides were probably even more experienced and powerful in this regards, being the nymphs of the garden.
Surrounding the garden and a path around it, acting as windbreak, were the tall trees of eucalyptus that had surprised him. Just beyond the trees toward the interior, was the golden Tree Of Immortality, glowing in the dying light of Apollo's chariot. He hoped Artemis remembered to extend the twilight and brighten up her Domain for his stay at the Garden, 'cause he didn't really have night-vision goggles. Nobody did, actually (Nobody in the sense of 'no one', not the demigod who called himself Nobody).
He chose the road not taken, the past going around the garden, not taking the well-worn paths that the caretakers used, that wove through the plants. As he lumbered deliberately and took the longest time, he surveyed for any terrain advantage he could use, and any easy escape-routes. There was only the exit that he'd come from... and the exit that involved tumbling down the slope and dying un-painlessly.
Most of the area around the Tree was flat and anti-sneaking. A quarter-turn from the Tree to the right were the steps that led further up and to the Titan Atlas, where he stood, hunched under his father's dead-weight. 'Making the proud kneel,'
Passing from path to dirt, he stomped his way to his goal slowly, to gauge the hardness of the ground to know if he could afford being thrown around. The gray-brown soil was softer than he'd thought he'd find on a mountain, probably due to a seasonal stream that flowed across this part. The extent of the river-soil was unknown, though. The nymphs would have had levelled the land magically and dried it. Still, a good thirty meter radius around the Tree Of Immortality was clearly suitable for falling hard.
The dragon was wrapped around the trunk, indicating that Hera's orders to it of relaxing on its job were overridden by Zeus' 'KILL THAT IMBECILE!' He knew it to be a child of Typhon, and knew it to be the worst second-generation monster. Its name was Ladon, and now that he was close enough, he thought that the Hesperides had probably grown the myriad of flowers only to cover the stench of the dragon.
A female stood near one of the heads of dragon, dressed in a plain white chiton, showing the coppery skin of her goddess-perfect arms. She was feeding one head of the dragon... eucalyptus leaves? Oh, so that was the reason for the forest of eucalyptus trees around the garden. 'Do they need to feed every one of its heads,' he wondered, 'or is there a common gustatory nerve for all the hundred mouths?'
When he was within conversational space, she said to him, without interrupting her task, "I take it that you are the recently-mortal son of Zeus?"
"Not the title I would use myself, but yes."
She turned around at that, "A son of Zeus hating being one?" She asked skeptically, though there was a moment, just after she'd finished turning, that she paused. 'Is it hesitation?', he thought, 'There was also something in her tone and form that changed.' But he dismissed it as his Emotions Domain picking up too much.
"Clearly, you don't receive much news up here."
"Our isolation is beautiful and joyous, but I find it worse than our sister Calypso's."
"It may seem like so for a few centuries, but I trust Zeus to be less forgiving of his enemies than his enemies' relations. That reminds me, where are your sisters? I thought that all the Hesperides would be present at either the garden or here."
Zoha didn't answer for a while. She was trying to clear her disorientation and judge rationally whether or not to inform him of her situation. That wasn't easy, since looking into his eyes had fried her mind and warmed her heart and probably get face too. She knew it was quite cliche and cheesy, but couldn't help but experience it.
Now, this is a good place to have a small, one-way heart-to-heart 'conversation' between reader and author. You should be wondering by now about how these records contain so many words and ideas that have no translation or meaning or existence in the times and places that form the setting. As you all will know by the end, I have a special reason for recounting this part of history to you, and have chosen a mortal to deliver these ideas to the public and educate them with the truth. I haven't been able to go mainstream, since this is the most I can do without angering Lady Chaos.
Sure him and I have had some disagreements ("No! I will not use my primordial powers to get you a truckload of forever-young puppies!"; "If you ask me to bless you with the power to 'attract the ladies like Jace' one more time, I WILL CURSE YOU WITH ETERNAL PAIN AND SORROW!"; "No! I won't get you a complete copy of An Imperial Affliction! Nor will I fetch for you Alaska's last words and thoughts!") but I've been mostly able to get this imbecile to write properly. The parts that don't come in the 'mostly' fraction have manifested as modern and stupid like the one who wrote them ("Hey!"). I haven't been able to completely control his form without dunking him in the Styx, which I know this too-selective-to-have-friends-and/or-a-mortal-anchor dumbass can't survive, and so I have resigned in those parts of his control to simply ensure the historical accuracy that lies beneath the mortal's writing.
Now that all of that is known to you, let's continue.
Yes, Zoha felt the person in front of her to be attractive and beautiful. Even though she hadn't yet seen the god in his natural Olympian Form, she was already to the stage that she'd get dizzy and unexplainably giddy just looking at him. There was also the matter of hating his father, enduring hardships, humbleness (as of now, at least), et cetera. She knew they were meant to get married and live eternally together.
She'd thought that the one before had held the same amount of charm and looks, but she'd later realised that his hand image had been the product of praises and her desperation to leave the place and enjoy the world. In the demigod she had seen the world she wanted to be a part of.
She decided to trust the god. 'It's not because of his appearance.' She reassured herself, 'Perhaps this one will take me with him. Or perhaps he'll be kind enough to get me killed before father gets his figurative hands on me.' A chill traced her spine on thinking of what his father would have his minions so to his traitorous daughter.
"The others are with my father, discussing what to do with me."
"Meaning?"
"The one that came before, the demigod son of Zeus, I helped him get an Apple. Ladon was already drugged by his father, but I wished he'd get me out of this place, and do I helped him."
"It wasn't your father's loss that the demigod was able to get the fruit easily." The mortal frowned.
"It is against his wishes that we have visitors that haven't tamed Ladon." Zoha paused, and quickly congratulated herself for maintaining a suitable demeanor, "On that topic, please start with your fight and task quickly. I have nothing to offer you to aid you except this: He is trained well."
'Well, can't quite say that he isn't trained well.' Perseus thought-slash-internally-grumbled as he ducked under a head and swung his sword above himself stop as to sever the offending part of the dragon. But just as he deleted that particular head, the neck of another one coiled around his right foot and jerked him into the air and halfway to his mistresses' garden.
The half the dragon was physically resting, he saw, waiting patiently to get a turn or need to attack. Some heads were coming on eucalyptus while others were cleaning the stubs that were once heads in order to prevent further agony. Alert he was, but not caffeinated enough to expend more energy than utterly necessary. The heads alive were looking at the dead ones so forlornly, that Perseus wondered if each of them possessed a separate consciousness, and if so, could there be two heads that were married? And then he shook his head to shake away the Random Thought as a wet canine, water.
Perseus wished to strike at its vulnerable midsection, but everything he did that, one of the heads would swat aside his attack.
He rushed the creature, using the Ares approach for the last time for the day and trying for the last time for the day to get ideas for the Athena approach.
As soon as he way within the dragon's range, the active mini-dragons formed three groups and curved like Poseidon's Weapon targeted at him, except this one had sub-prongs and sub-sub-prongs. The largest and quickest was the head-on fraction. Perseus spun his sword in front of himself like a rotating shield too decapitate the dragon. The central clump pulled back a little, but even before he had a chance to see if this behavior was with anything, he was stung by three mini-Ladons from the left.
Perseus grunted in pain as the venom seeped into him, the saliva of the dragon closing and binding the wound so it mayn't escape. He pushed his sword off its circular motion a bit and extended his arm so he could use the momentum to cut the heads off while not comprising anything more than his right side, which he paid careful attention to in his peripheral vision.
Sure enough, the right bench approached cautiously, but it wasn't exactly sneaking up on him. It seemed more like: 'Here I come. Run, run hard and run far.'
'Yeah,' Perseus responded to the imaginary warning by the monster, 'That won't do well for me now, will it?' And he stopped pushing the front and left parties, turned to his right and assumed a stance that said that he was preparing to rush the right fraction.
But only for a moment. As soon as the heads, on high alert, accelerated towards him, he back-flipped thrice and simultaneously threw his diblade at the dragon to further enrage it. There were about three feet between him and the dragon before the last back-flip, but he managed to complete it without getting another treat of venom.
But as soon as he was out of sitting-range, the heads stopped the chase and pseudo-relaxed. That intrigued Perseus. So there was a region outside of which he'd be safe no matter how much he provoked it? Far-fetched, but it was easily verifiable.
And it was easily verified. While providing the exact radius of the Dragon zone, he also found out that there was a smaller area stepping into which which triggered the dragon more fully and lethally. He named it the Spooked Dragon zone. Moreover, he discovered that hurting the monster from the Dragon zone also results in attacks.
He sat on the ground a few meter beyond the largest zone, resting from a quick escape to reverify all of his conjectures. He looked at the zombie moon and at the other direction where dawn began to caress the summits in the distance and wondered about the absence of a rule against leaving at times other than the evening: if the Hesperides wished to honor themselves by creating a fixed time to enter, why couldn't they restrict all-day exits then?
He murdered the Random Thought, got up and entered the Dragon zone.
He saw that Zoha had once again assumed her seat on the steps leading up: she'd been alternately watching him and the Garden. Her presence signified that either a few of the parties upstairs vouching for her and dragging the debate of her punishment... or the parties upstairs were debating how to make her punishment worse.
It was perhaps good that the dragon was simple minded: no thinking creature would have displayed the same amount of alertness and sense if duty as it did after about three dozen attempts to invade its territory in the same fashion. It was like the creature had the memory of a chimpanzee. The dragon steadily watched him as he approached it directly, and then quickly and suddenly lunged at him as he stepped into the Spooked Dragon zone.
Perseus was ready for this though, at least mentally. He swung his sword and decreased the number of heads by another four and jumped backwards as far as he could and followed that up by a liquid-like reverse handspring and pushed himself out of the Danger zone.
He took a breather as the dragon, unable to approach it, blasted at him and coiled around the tree once again.
When Perseus entered a minute later, the same routine followed, except with more heads. 'Memory of a chimpanzee,' Perseus grinned.
"You did not so much as flinch seeing him get maimed and almost killed." Perseus stated in a questioning tone as walked to where Zoha sat, unmoving since the final fight.
"Hera cares enough for him. Besides, the monster betrays me too."
"As in denies you the golden apple? Why do you require them?"
The nymph paused only a moment. "My father will surely turn me mortal for helping the demigod who came before. I had asked of him only to rescue me from the consequences of helping him, and he denied me. Ladon wasn't hurt enough for me to pluck an Apple of my own, so I simply waited for my mortality and death at the hands of hired creatures."
"Well, Ladon certainly is wounded now, is he not?"
"And for that I thank you." She hesitated once more, "I never found our your name and Domains."
"Perseus," he said, taking a bite out of the paradise that was the fruit in his hand, "Demigods, Civilisation, Twilight, Emotions and Life."
"Twilight is an interesting Domain." The girl said as she stepped over the single head that remained of Ladon's hundred. The dragon was trying its best to hide away the last head from danger so as to retain its job and life. "Even immortal, I'll have a hard time figuring out a life outside this garden." She plucked the lustrous fruit and searched for a worthy container, "Will you do me that favor?" She asked, acting only half-desperate.
"I have a matter on Olympus to bring an end to. You can stay on the mountain for the while, or acclimate to living amongst mortals in the nearest town.
"I desire the first- who can deny the luxury?- but require the latter."
Perseus smiled a little, "Its name is Derimus." He offered her his hand as he began to glow, "Shall we, my lady?"
Please review. I would like to know how my writing feels like at the reading end.
Summary:
The Quest For Immortality.
Perseus finds Zeus without clothes in Artemis' room, with the goddess asleep. After a polite exchange, Perseus forces Zeus to leave Artemis alone. He losses his immortality in the process and the rest of the chapter is the quest for his immortality. (Seriously, who writes so much about one godsdamned apple?)
Answers:
Guest:
I just wished to avoid anyone complaining that he was over-powered and too good-natured. He defeated a Domain-ed Titaness when he was less than a year old, to be sure.
You don't consider the fact that a the relationship between god and Domain is symbiotic: once a god receives a Domain, their immortality is linked to it solely (except for oaths on the Fates).
Zeus is a major god. Also, the Fates so have some duties to the Lord of the universe, be it someone superior in the power order, like Ouranos, or even our harmful-as-a-snail Zeus.
Such oaths can't be nullified.
The knowledge comes with: (i) the blessing, and (ii) the immortality/godhood.
The liquid Apollo feeds him in excess gives him power, though you must understand that the 'rapist' part is actually inside Selene's head: Perseus is making her see that.
E:
You'll get to know about his ranged weapons later.
How can you expect the Fates to Grant him control over his Flaw? One of them imposed on everyone, and he hasn't done much to attend out.
About the Loyalty, I suggest that you think it parallel to his fatal flaw in canon.
chimera629:
A few words before I answer you: If these questions are rhetoric, please don't post them without an actual comment about the chapter, or if they're really what bothers or strikes you the most regarding the story, okay. I can only advise you to keep a more open mind when reading, and not dissect things in fiction logically. Most of what you've asked is things that'll be revealed later. Also, add some thoughts. Also-after-the-also, I have ignored some questions as rhetoric.
The oath is bound to the person, not immortality. A mortal swearing it would go straight to the Fields Of Punishment on breaking it.
The oath will remain an important plot point throughout the story.
He retained his parentage. What he re-received were the powers from his heritage, if any.
No one gets to control their Flaw. No one.
I told you, on separate occasions, that: (i) Percy is faster than his siblings, and (ii) Artemis is fast. Is that contradictory at all?
Theoretically, she could, but she's too I overwhelmed by what's happening to her child that she can't.
I have always thought that most 'AU' stories on this site would technically be more suitable for FictionPress: there are many stories that just take the characters' names and alter all of their demeanor, personality and setting. I've tried to create a story that wouldn't be coherent if I just change the names or post on FictionPress. There has to be some similar points to canon, right?
Tartarus0884:
Let's see: Spear-up-his-butt father and unyielding son. Hope you for your disaster kit for that one!