Energy Unbound

Chapter 08

Oracle

Ari was in her room in the new Cabin Eleven, pacing in front of a metallic orb that hovered just at her hand height. It was about the size of a bowling ball and had orange patterns rapidly appearing, flowing across it, and disappearing. She was nervously waiting for something, looking over her shoulder randomly as if to see if anyone was eavesdropping on her.

Hurry up, damn it, she scolded the orb, wringing her hands together. The stress of having to hide who she was all the time was going to give her gray hair, she just knew it. And for a being such as herself, that was mighty impressive.

Deciding that moping wouldn't help the job finish faster, she reflected over her first day at Camp. Despite the Stolls blowing up their cabin, forcing her to reveal a lot about herself, it was still a good day. She'd met five of the Seven, befriending them almost instantly. True, that was more on their friendliness than her own, but she had not scared them off.

She'd implemented organization and voting among the population. She'd clued the gods into the loophole present in the Ancient Laws, her laws, that allowed them to interact with their children's and the mortal world without any consequences. Moreover she'd revealed that deities were not all aloof or evil to the demigods themselves, an incredibly important milestone.

Ari had even reconnected with a lost flame, pardon the pun, of her previous self.

Hestia.

The thought of her was incredibly distracting so she buried it for now. The good memories would always be there to review later, after all.

Overall, despite sticking out as an abnormally powerful demigod, nobody who shouldn't be was any the wiser of her true purpose.

Well, except for Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.

She'd have to corner the two of them, force them to swear on the Styx not to reveal anything. Not an attractive aspect of this cloak and dagger plan she was doing. But it was necessary to preserve peace as long as possible. If not for the gods, then for their children; they deserved at least that much.

Ari had also become fast friends with that daughter of Ares, something that would help when it finally became time for his trial. Provided the god of War had not changed his ways, he was definitely in for some serious stuff. How to handle the trials took over her focus, causing her to fret about gray hair again.

Before she could actually start growing gray hair, the orb let out a pleasant tone, indicating it's job was finished. Ari practically clung to the orb as she lay her fingers on it, getting the results of the job through a mental link. And what she saw was not what she wanted.

"Damn it!" she cursed, going right back to pacing. "Damn the Fates and their senses!" she yelled, thankful the rooms were soundproof.

She had a massive dilemma. To start reorganizing the systems of governance on Terra, she needed to use a lot more of her power. But that was like sending up a giant flag saying "Hey Zeus! I'm over here!" and would undermine the entire purpose of her plan; the Lord of the Sky could not become aware of her true nature just yet.

Now, she had a solution to that issue; she could turn the essence density of all demigods up, WAY up, making them more god than mortal, which would successfully cloak her power output. The new cabin had been searching for monitoring mechanisms on Terra since it was built, and had finally found them.

Ari snorted. Those systems must have been designed by an absolute moron.

They were looking for spikes in power output, not the overall average level. Because of that oversight, the plan might work. The problem was, the amount needed for her to hide was about eighty percent.

The Fates did not need anything like a detection mechanism, and would take notice of the demigods turned gods at seventy percent (ish) density. They would then start handing out domains and titles like no tomorrow; another giant red flag. Even though the difference was a measly ten percent, it was more than enough to sabotage her plan.

The only option was to neutralize the Fates, which was certainly in her power to do; but the job of the Fates was mandatory to continued order on Terra, so she couldn't just get rid of them without a replacement. No demigods could be used since they were monitored by the Olympians, and they wouldn't be tuned to the essence of Fate anyways.

"Hmm," Ari muttered, rubbing her chin. Suddenly an idea occurred to her.

How did Camp Half-Blood ordain quests for demigods? Someone or something with the gift of foresight would have to be present, and anything attuned to rupturing the flow of Time would be a perfect candidate for receiving the role of Fate.

The girl racked her brain for any knowledge of foresight gifted beings in Greek mythos. There was obviously Apollo, god of prophecy, but Ari shuddered at the god of 'poetry' being in charge of people's lives. There was that snake-demon woman Lamia, but the whole 'eater of children' bit took her out as a potential candidate. She could always just return the domain to Ananke…

Wait. Snakes… Why is that ringing a bell?

Suddenly she gasped. "Of course! The Oracle! There must be one here at camp," she exclaimed, rubbing her hands together. The Oracle had always been a clear sighted mortal female, and thus was likely not watched by anyone other than Apollo himself. And Ari could definitely handle Apollo alone.

"Excellent," she almost cackled, then covered her mouth in shock. "No cackling, Ari, you're not a witch," she scolded herself.

Right. Let's find you, little Oracle, she thought. She extended her presence across the camp, albeit at a very low level. No good would come from exposing herself on a mission explicitly to prevent being exposed.

A little ways into the forest she found her quarry. It seemed the Oracle was currently being hosted in the body of a red-headed teenager, who was currently asleep.

...Or so it seemed.

The girl must have known she was coming because she was faking sleep very well. Not well enough, but Ari gave her credit for trying. She noticed the dagger in her hand, clenched tightly. The girl seemed not to know what was coming for her, just that something was.

Like that little butter knife will even scratch me, Ari thought smugly. Then she drew back her presence to her body, simultaneously entering the coordinates of the cave into a small screen that had just appeared on her arm.

This suit was one of my best ideas, she thought, patting herself on the back, It allows me to do so many 'godly' activities without actually using my power. If only the mortals of Terra knew how far technology can go. Putting a smile on her face, she punched a green button that had appeared; a low hum rang out, and then she was gone from her room. Much like things she unsummoned, she was simply gone.

The same low hum sounded in the Oracle's cave, then Ari appeared out of thin air. Her hair had some ice on it from the trip, so she ran a hand through her hair to get rid of it. Then she took in her surroundings. The cave was nice, as caves go, and had a lot of easels set up in various places with paintings on them. Some of the paintings depicted quite gruesome images.

Poor kid, she thought with pity, If this is what the Oracle shows you, you should be glad I'm here. The cave had a carpeted floor, and torches lined the walls. There was a giant 60 inch TV on one wall in front of a couch, and what looked like the entrance to a bedchamber on another wall. That must be where the Oracle was, feigning sleep. Smirking, the crimson haired girl started walking towards the entrance when she heard a prayer to Apollo.

Lord Apollo, I know you can hear me. Something is here. Please help, it said, and Ari realized it was the Oracle.

DAMN IT, she thought, and promptly activated her suit's cloaking ability. She heard a flash, as the Olympians called it, and felt the signature of a godly presence.

Yep, it was Apollo all right. Come to see to the urgent cry of his precious Oracle. Ari grumbled, knowing this would make her job that much harder, but resigned that it must be done. So she entered the bedchamber and found the sun god embracing the red-haired girl. She was weeping, a frightened look on her face.

Come on, she thought, I'm not THAT bad. Then it occurred to her. The Spirit of Delphi must have shown her something horrible to prevent it's own demise. That really pissed her off, considering it was just another example of higher beings exploiting lower ones. That is not how the universe was supposed to work.

"Lord Apollo, thank you for coming," the Oracle girl said, still sniffling, but not trembling. Fear was still evident in her eyes, but she seemed to feel protected with a god there. Not that she needs protecting, Ari snarled, again cursing Delphi in her mind.

"Anytime, Red," Apollo said, laying a comforting hand on the shoulder of the girl. He seemed to care for her, more so than Ari remembered of his other Oracles. Which sucked, given what she was about to do. Surely she could find someone else?

Probably, but letting the current Fates do what they liked with proceedings on Terra was not up for grabs, and they'd have to be eliminated eventually anyways. Might as well kill multiple birds with one stone.

Ari sighed, and let the cloak drop. Apollo seemed to notice, since in the blink of an eye he had a golden bow shimmering with sunlight in his hands, an arrow notched and pointing straight at her head. That must have been quite the sight to Red, as Ari guessed she was named; the sun god aiming a glowing bow at a crimson haired girl who had just appeared out of nowhere clad in some kind of spy suit.

"Apollo, you can put that down," Ari said, pushing the arrow, and by extension the bow, out of her face. Apollo was naturally surprised, given that she'd just touched one of his symbols of power and hadn't even blinked. She just smirked at his expression.

"Who are you?" the god of the sun asked dangerously, his bow still out but no longer trained on her.

"I'm Ari. Pleased to meet you, Apollo," she said, extending a hand to shake.

"Lord Apollo," he corrected, glaring at her.

She glared right back, crossing her arms, a bit miffed he hadn't taken the offered handshake. "No."

"Excuse me?" he asked, shock on his face.

"I said no. What, can't handle not being called by your title?" Ari teased.

Apollo growled at her, narrowing his eyes. Then he suddenly gained mirth in them, and he laughed. "You've got spirit, girl. Other gods would not be as forgiving."

Now it was Ari's turn to make light of the situation. "Most of the gods have sticks up their rears. I'm not surprised."

Apollo was always one of the most forgiving gods, but even he had a limit. "You need to learn to respect your betters, girl," he sneered.

"Wow, your face does not look good when you sneer. Damn."

Apollo looked incredulous. "Did you hear me?" he bellowed.

"Yes, I heard you. And I do respect my betters. You just aren't one of them," Ari said, egging him on. She had a new plan; taunt Apollo into unleashing his power on her, so that she could use hers without raising a red flag. Zeus wouldn't look twice at his son using power to smite an insolent demigod, and his would cloak hers.

"What are you doing, Ari?" Red asked, fear for the girl evident on her face. Ari just winked at her.

"Red, close your eyes. Now," Apollo ordered, seething.

Guessing what he was about to do, Red clamped her eyes shut hard, and turned to look at the wall. Apollo expected the crimson haired Ari to do the same, but she just stood there, arms crossed and smirking, eyes staring straight at him, egging him on.

"Fine then, you can fry in the presence of my true form," the god of the sun said, before going supernova.

Ari simply stared at him, drinking in the power radiating off his godly essence. And then she began to shimmer, a silver aura appearing around her.

It was in that moment Apollo realized just how badly he'd messed up.

He found himself forced back into his normal form. A moment later the three of them were in a copy of the bedchamber. This room was coated in metal with glowing orange lines running throughout it, looking an awful lot like the same material that made up Ari's suit. Apollo gaped at her, all signs of his rage evaporated.

"Red, you can open your eyes now," she said, looking at the young Oracle.

The girl gradually turned to her, a look of disbelief on her freckled face. No doubt Red expected Ari to be vaporized as most would have assumed she would be. "You're not a demigod, are you?

Ari shook her head, smiling. She knew Apollo knew that they were now in her domain. Well, one of her domains. He didn't need to know that. She could do anything she wanted to either of them. But she was only here to accomplish a goal; temporarily pissing off Apollo was just an improvised step in the plan.

Admittedly a very entertaining step.

"Sorry I had to do that, Apollo. Couldn't risk dear old dad noticing my power output, now could I?" she asked rhetorically, a sad smile on her lips. "Thank you for the cover, by the way."

"What?" Apollo asked, looking terribly confused.

Ari sighed. Of course Zeus would never teach younger gods about what they truly were. "When you went 'supernova', showed me your true form, your energy caused a momentary sensory blackout in this area," she explained. "That allowed me to then utilize my power whilst anyone watching were blinded."

"What are you? And why did you not just use your power outright if you can override me?" Apollo asked.

"What I am is not of anyone's concern yet. I didn't override you until you caused the blackout because I need to remain hidden for my plan to work."

Apollo didn't like the sound of that. "What plan?"

Ari laughed. "Relax, it's not bad. No wars or anything. Well, provided I remain hidden until I am ready. If I'm exposed earlier, a certain loudmouth Thunderhead will definitely start a war," she chuckled, then abruptly grimaced. "A war I would have to stop. Forcefully." The way she said this made Apollo gulp, not wanting to be on the receiving end of that force.

"So… why are you here, in my Oracle's home?" he asked her tentatively, not wanting to piss her off. He was pretty sure he knew what she was, and that did not bode well for any of the Olympians. Without his domains of Truth and Prophecy he would have no clue about her at all.

Ari smiled at him knowingly. "Your guess is correct, Apollo. I am on Terra for the reason you think. However, I'm trying it a new way. Instead of a clean sweep I will be giving the Olympian gods a chance. That's actually why I'm remaining hidden for now." She sighed. "As for what I'm doing here, I need the assistance of a certain foresighted individual to do something for me."

Apollo watched her suspiciously, glancing over at his Oracle wearily. "What exactly is this 'something'?"

Ari smiled, then looked to the mortal girl. "Red here knows."

Apollo looked to his Oracle, brow raised. She had a look of fear on her face.

"You're the monster Delphi warned me about," Red gasped in realization, grabbing onto Apollo for shielding.

"Delphi warned you about me, yes. But I am no monster," Ari said, still smiling kindly. "The very fact the spirit painted me as such just convinces me even more that this course of action is the best one."

"What do you mean?" Apollo asked, gaining an edge of fear to his tone.

"This," Ari announced, holding her palms to face Red. She seemed to concentrate, and Red began groaning in pain. Her eyes glowed green, casting light of the same color onto the metal walls. Green smoke poured out of her mouth, flowing into one of the crimson haired girl's palms. It started condensing into a compact ball. Snakes could be seen writhing around in the smoke. An unearthly wail was heard as Apollo felt Delphi being ripped from it's host.

He glared at Ari for hurting the mortal girl. She simply frowned apologetically and continued. Eventually a basketball sized ball of green smoke writhed above her palm, and Red collapsed, hanging onto Apollo lest she hit the floor.

Apollo had no idea how, but the mortal girl was still alive after that. No host had ever survived the transfer of Delphi, so this was outright impossible. But so was extracting Delphi from a host, and the being standing there had just done that in front of his eyes with minimal effort. Given what she was, he wasn't surprised she was capable of it, but still.

"Hmm... This is not the entire spirit," Ari discerned, glaring at Apollo. He just held up his hands, clearly having no idea. She nodded, then glared at the smoke, eyes glowing orange. The wail of Delphi was heard once again, then two mortals shimmered into existence between them. Apollo stared at them, mouth agape.

"You know these mortals, Apollo?"

"Yes. But how did you manage to pull him here?" he asked, pointing to the young elfish man with sandy blonde hair and a scar on his lip.

"What do you you mean?" Ari asked, confused.

"That is Luke Castellan," Apollo said.

Understanding dawned on Ari's face. And then more confusion. "That's a neat trick. Never pulled in a reincarnated person as their previous life before."

"You've done this before?" Apollo asked in awe.

"Retrieving pieces of a being's essence? Plenty of times," she replied. "This is Luke's mother, then," she declared.

"How did you know that?"

Ari tapped her suit. "Remote DNA test," she said. Seeing Apollo's bewildered expression, she huffed. "I don't rely on my power for everything. You should learn to do the same."

Apollo stuck out his tongue.

"Oh, very mature," Ari muttered. Then she turned to look at Luke and his mother. "It appears that there's a small amount of the spirit in both of them," she said, rubbing the bridge if her nose. "No idea how that happened, but regardless."

She held up the smoke orb, and two tiny trails of smoke flowed out of the noses of Luke and his mother, merging into the main orb. The wail stopped, and the smoke turned a much deeper shade of green.

"It is ready," Ari declared, returning her hands to her sides.

"Ready for what?" Red asked.

Ari had completely forgotten she was there. "For the next stage of my plan, Red," she said, then something occurred to her. "Is your name really Red?"

The mortal girl shook her head. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

"Ah, RED," Ari realized with a nod. "Anyways, to answer your question, Rachel, I have to ask you one. Do you like being mortal?"

Apollo figured out what she was offering, and was about to say something when Ari shook her head, warning him to be silent with a glare.

Rachel took a while to respond. "Yes and no, I think," she said.

Ari raised a brow. "Why is that?"

"Yes, because I get to be a part of the normal world," Rachel explained, "and no because even as the Oracle, I never truly felt like I belonged in this one."

The crimson haired girl nodded. "Seems fair. Exactly why I knew this was the right choice," she said solemnly. She had been going on guesswork, but they didn't need to know that.

Apollo narrowed his eyes, but Ari meet his glare. "Do not interfere, Apollo," she warned, a dangerous edge to her tone.

The sun god gulped. "Got it," he agreed.

"Rachel, how would you like to become immortal?" Ari asked, shocking the redhead.

It was a few moments before she spoke. She shook her head. "I must decline, Lady Ari. My friends would miss me."

"Even if I told you that the Ancient Laws would not apply to you?"

Rachel pondered that for a moment, and Ari looked hopeful. Then she shook her head, declining it again. Ari sighed, pitying the girl for what was about to happen.

"Guess we're doing this the hard way then," she said, causing Apollo to run at her, breaking his agreement. Ari looked towards him, merely sighing, as her power rooted him to the spot he was at, body frozen mid stride. She had warned him after all.

Rachel glared at her. "What did you do?" she yelled.

"Nothing much. Just stopped him from interfering is all." Ari then focused her gaze on the redheaded mortal. "I'm truly sorry about this, Rachel, but your loyalty to your friends can't stand against the fate of everyone on Terra."

Rachel's eyes widened, and she began to back up. Suddenly her body wouldn't obey her anymore and marched itself over to stand in front of Ari. They seemed to be the same height, she noticed, in the moments when her mind wasn't in a state of pure panic.

"Please don't do this," she pleaded with the girl in front of her. Rachel had tears in her eyes.

Ari noticed. She sighed, shaking her head, and simply said "It's for the best." Then she turned away from the terrified girl and called out.

"Fates of Terra, you are summoned," Ari bellowed, her voice resounding off the cave walls. There were three flashes, each revealing a elderly woman with gray, wrinkled skin and a single eye between them. The eye rested in the left socket of the middle Fate at the moment.

"You summoned us, Lady Ari?" Clotho asked, bowing to the girl. Rachel was beyond comprehension, since a Fate had just shown reverence to a crimson haired teenager.

"Yes, I did," she replied, nodding to the Fates, who had all bowed. They straightened, waiting for orders.

"You have made serious mistakes in your governance of this world," Ari began by scolding them.

They looked at her incredulously. They didn't believe they'd done anything wrong, but were not suicidal. No way would they tell this girl that.

Ari knew this, however, so she growled. "You have grown cruel in your long existence. You put beings in life or death situations because it entertains you. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!" she yelled, an angry look on her face.

The Fates gulped, but knew better than to grovel. They merely fell to their knees, heads bent down, waiting for the end of their existence.

"However," Ari said, shooting them a pointed look. "In light of your long service to my mother, me, and this Planet, I'm leaving you alive, and immortal. I'm even going to restore your bodies to what they were... before."

The three Fates gasped, wondering what they did to deserve such mercy. "My Lady, why are you being so lenient with us?" Clotho asked.

Ari crossed her arms and glared at her. "I'm turning over a new leaf. Now shut up so I can concentrate."

Clotho did so, all the Fates simply waiting. Rachel gazed on in awe at Ari, wondering what kind of being would supersede the Fates themselves. Whatever she was, she was obviously mind bogglingly powerful.

"However, before I forget, there is a catch," Ari said, causing the Fates to jump a little.

"What is it?" Lachesis asked.

"You will forfeit your positions, your power, and your domains to me," Ari replied with a stern tone, "or I will rip them out myself."

The Fates looked at each other, unanimously deciding against the latter option. Clotho popped out her singular eye and handed it to Ari, who simply smiled and nodded. Suddenly each Fate was surrounded by a maelstrom of orange light, too bright for Rachel to look at.

When the light died down and she could see again, what met her eyes left her mouth agape. Apollo let out a wolf whistle, despite his body still being frozen in place. Because where three crumbled, bony women without eyes previously kneeled, three extremely buxom, attractive young women had taken their place, both eyes intact. They got up, examining their bodies up and down.

"Thank you, My Lady," the woman who was supposedly Clotho said. Her voice sounded like music, laying playfully upon the ears. What a contrast to the sandpaper-on-a-chalkboard sound it had previously carried. The other two Fates had tears in their eyes, and rushed to hug the crimson haired girl.

"Gah! AIR! Atropos, Lachesis, AIR!" Ari gasped, desperately trying to breathe. The women let go of her, then began to kiss her hand.

"Ugh. Clotho, mind getting your sisters off me?" Ari requested of the only mellow Fate. Clotho simply rolled her eyes, dragging her sisters off the girl. Then she glanced at Apollo, and her cheeks instantly heated up, turning slightly golden as her ichor flooded her now beautiful face.

Holding her hand up the the side of her face, thumb and little finger extended as if to form a phone, Clotho mouthed 'call me' to the comparatively young sun god. Even though he was unable to reply, his eyes did the talking. Clotho giggled, then flashed herself and her sisters out.

Now Rachel had truly seen it all. Giggling Fates, she thought, reminding herself that yes, that did just happen. Her shock went away as Ari approached her, replaced by the fear she'd held before the arrival of the Fates.

"Are you ready, Rachel?" Ari asked.

Rachel huffed, wondering why the girl was showing concern when she was being forced into this. "Do I have a choice?" she asked angrily.

"No," Ari said with a sad smile, before crushing the eye of the Fates in her palm. When she opened her hand, a pile of dust was left. She held her other hand above the pile, and a beam of orange light flew from her hand to the pile, igniting it into flames. The fire burned bright for a moment, then extinguished itself, the dust completely vaporized. The gray vapor seemed to condense into a ball the same size as the Spirit of Delphi, and Ari left it hanging in midair next to the spirit.

"I must prepare your essence, Rachel. Fair warning, this is going to sting a little."

Rachel didn't believe the 'little' part one bit.