A quick note, if Percy ever uses some Philly slang, I'll make sure to include an author's note explaining what exactly it is
Disclaimer: All characters not created by me are owned by Rick Riordan.
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When I finally awoke after hours of peaceful sleep, I found myself near the top of a giant room, laying in midair.
Immediately my heart dropped in panic, as I began to swing my arms and legs frantically, preparing to fall and become a small stain in the ground below me. A silent scream left my throat as well, thinking about how pointless it had been for my mother to make me a new body and save my soul, just for me to die in such a lame way, hours later.
I mean really, what raw ass people have you heard die from falling? No offense if someone you knew has before, but seriously ... falling? Even in video games, dying from fall damage was just so noobish, if people still use that term.
But here I was, about to die from-
Wait, back it up.
"A silent scream left my throat …"
And wait a minute, I wasn't even falling. I was kinda just floating in the middle of the room, chillin', if I do say so myself.
Maybe it was a dream, which honestly would be equally as weird as waking up to suddenly falling to your death. I never dreamed, ever.
I'm lying actually, I did dream sometimes. As you can clearly tell, since right before I "died" on that plane crash, I was dreaming about that terrifying old guy. But I didn't dream often, and I can say for certain I didn't dream on consecutive nights. Every single dream I'd had in my life, I remembered, giving you the perfect idea of 1: how rare they were, and 2: how significant they seemed to be.
Everything from getting eviscerated by an evil tyrant, wrestling very sexily with some moon lady, to getting shot off the top of a mountain telekinetically, I remembered it all.
But unless my wizard mother had somehow given me flying magic, and the price of it was my ability to speak, a dream was probably the only logical explanation to my current state. Plus, the more I looked around, the more foggy and fictitious it seemed to be. Everything seemed to be moving slightly, from my own arms and legs, to the roof I was right under. So, at least for right now, I felt safe.
I examined my surroundings, to see that I was in what looked like a giant throne room. I used my phenomenal deductive reasoning skills to reach that theory, since at the head of the room was twelve, giant thrones, side by side in the shape of an upside down "U". And by giant, I meant the size of houses you'd see in the suburbs of Philly. Not only was each throne astronomically giant, each one seemed to be made of different material, and with a different design as well. The one that caught my eye the most was the golden one, largely because it appeared to be able to shine and radiate light, as if it was made from the sun itself.
I was about to examine the rest of the space, and had begun wondering who the hell was sitting in the middle of the room by the giant hearth, when a small snap and flash of light appeared in my peripheral vision. I looked to where it came from, to see a man, walking frantically towards the exact throne I pointed out before. He looked like one of those surfers that I'd always seen on the Shore (A/N: Jersey Shore), blonde and lean, wearing a sleeveless shirt with some super short cargos on.
He looked distressed, but still forced a smile to the person at the hearth. "Hey, auntie!"
She waved at him. She wore a brown, plain hood, not allowing me to see her face. "Hello, Apollo. Something wrong?"
Apollo? Twelve thrones?
Any chance of the past day being some terrible acid trip had just gone out the window.
He shrugged, before stopping in front of the golden throne. "You can decide for yourself in a second."
Then, without another word, he grew to an enormous size, and sat on the throne behind him. That must've been some of the magic that my mother had talked about. He looked to his left and right, before clapping his hands twice, releasing sonic booms that shook the room.
"I call for a meeting to take place!" the blonde man declared, his command rolling throughout the entirety of the hall.
Not even five seconds went by when two other people appeared. They, just like Apollo before, walked to their respective thrones, grew to the size of giants, and sat down. A few more seconds passed, and before I knew it all but one throne was filled in the room.
A suited man in the center throne, who had a long grey and black beard, and the sharpest blue eyes I'd ever seen in my life, sighed heavily. "Where is Artemis?"
Almost immediately after he asked this, a silver flash of light drew my eyes to the center of the room. The spots of light in my vision were a bit persistent, but when they finally disappeared, my eyes locked onto the new woman who'd appeared in the room.
Woah, she's really hot.
Standing in the center of the room was a girl, probably a bit older than myself by two or three years. The first thing I noticed was her eyes, which were a glassy yellow color, almost like that of an exotic cat. My eyes then moved to the rest of her face, which was fair and blemish-free, littered about with tiny freckles. Her shoulders were wide, portraying to all her levels of confidence within herself, allowing for me to marvel at her auburn hair, which flowed freely over the top of her shoulders. Beneath her hairline sat a small crown (or tiara, whatever girls wear), with a silver crescent, littered with shiny jewels that I couldn't name even if I tried.
Did I say she was hot? Nah, she was straight up beautiful. Probably the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen in my life. She reminded me a lot of Renee, not just because of their red hair, but because of how they carried themselves. Although I'd only "known" this woman for a few seconds, there was something about her that just gave off this feeling of elegance and respect.
I moved from the lunar symbol on her forehead to her eyebrows, which were thick, but perfectly symmetrical, and sat on her face remarkably well. Then, my eyes travelled down to her lips which were just-
Wait a second.
I looked up a bit, and felt my heart drop out from the bottom of my ass.
Why ... in the fuck was she looking right at me?
These guys could fucking see me!? Once again, just like when I thought I was falling to my death, I began to panic, looking all around to find a way to escape from this beautiful woman's gaze.
I looked back at her, to see if it was just a strange coincidence that she'd directly locked eyes with me, but felt a punch to my gut when I found her eyes still waiting for me. It was at this moment when I noticed she had a giant fucking bow on her back, as well as quiver of silver arrows, which definitely looked sharp enough to pierce right through me.
But right as I was about to clasp my hands together and mouth to her: 'Please don't kill me', she looked away, and walked towards the last empty throne amongst the Olympians.
The man who had asked for her before, looked at her strangely. "Is everything okay, Artemis?"
She, just like everyone else, grew to the size of the throne, and sat down. She adjusted herself in her seat. "Yes father, it's nothing."
I sighed internally, and relaxed a bit.
Thank you, homegirl.
My relaxation immediately went away, when she once again looked at me. Her beauti-
No, stop it!
Her terrifyingly scary eyes began to peer straight into the essence of my soul. My eyes widened, as she seemingly began to watch me again, immune to whatever invisibility cloak I had to the other gods.
"You good, Arty?"
She looked away from me again, and towards the man who'd asked her, the one who'd called for the meeting.
"Yeah, it's just that I was in the middle of doing something when you called for us," she explained, the last part of her sentence practically dripping in a venomous tone that said: "Don't ask again."
Apollo's eyes widened, and he began to laugh nervously. "Right, sorry about that."
"Enough of all this," said the man in the middle. "We're all busy, Apollo. So why don't you just come out and say what you've done now."
Apollo's jaw dropped, and his eyebrows shot up in shock. "What the? Why do you always think-"
"Just tell us what happened already," said a woman, sitting beside who I assumed to be Zeus. She wore what I knew for certain to be a crown, for it was large, extravagant, and very expensive looking. She was really pretty too, with big brown eyes that held power within them, but nothing compared to that Artemis woman. She had long, braided brown hair, and a cup of wine in her hand.
The man stopped his theatrics, and nodded. "Very well, Lady Hera." He cleared his voice, and sat up straight in his throne. "A new prophecy has been uttered by the Oracle of Delphi."
Immediately after he said that, the Olympians stiffened up. All of them had wide eyes and baffled expressions, especially Zeus. I snuck a peek at Artemis again, letting go a sigh when I saw that she too was looking intently at Apollo, wanting him to elaborate on his announcement.
Thank god, hopefully she doesn't look at me again.
The man in the center spoke again, "How did this happen?"
Instead of letting Apollo speak again, another Olympian, this one wearing a leopard-print shirt, spoke, "I heard some ruckus in the attic of the Big House at Camp, so I went up there, and saw the Oracle shaking on the floor."
The man in the suit nodded. "And then?"
Everyone in the room looked at the man for his answer, only for him to shrug nonchalantly. "It spoke a prophecy! I forgot all that it said.."
The Olympians sighed collectively.
Apollo shook his head. "You're an idiot, Dionysus."
This Dionysus man gave a short laugh. "Like you're any brighter, Sunny-D."
"Huh? That doesn't even make any sense!"
"Apollo," said Zeus, his voice sounding a bit louder than before.
"Right," he said, shooting his gaze back towards his dad. "It went like this:
After centuries of peace without the gods of old,
the old lord will come alive, with eyes of gold.
But alas, the wife will finally prove unfaithful,
while the crazed king commits an act, truly disgraceful.
A war among men, set ablaze by these actions,
a conflict, that will leave modern ways in ashes.
Beware, for the true threat lies in wait,
waiting for the Olympians to take the bait.
The hero of the war will seduce the Virgin,
the son of the traitor will take the burden,
of taking on what truly threatens the globe.
Success or failure, either way we will have to cope."
No one in the room said a word, as they all seemed to be letting the poem settle in. The silence was finally broken however, when a man in a leather jacket burst out in a fit of laughter. "Well, that one sounds like a shit show! How long is that damn thing? That has to be a new record or something."
Another woman, who had a pair of insanely cool grey eyes, didn't seem as pleased as the man did. "It is very long," she admitted. "I'm guessing that because of its length, it will take a lot of time to end once it's started." She motioned thoughtfully with her head. "It does mention a war."
This ignited large-form conversation between all the Olympians, ending abruptly when a large boom was heard, making the entire room tremble. The man in the suit was the one who caused it, slamming a large rod of lightning on the floor beneath him. "Silence!"
Is that the Master Bolt? My eyes widened. Is this a vision from before that Winter Solstice meeting? My eyes shot back towards Artemis, who was looking towards her father. If it is, how the hell does she know I'm here?
"We are not going to yell and scream over one another!" He declared, perhaps not realizing that yelling over everyone is what he literally just did. "If you have something to say, you can wait until we're done deciphering this damn thing!" He motioned towards the blonde man. "Apollo, repeat the first two lines."
He did as he was asked:
"After centuries of peace without the gods of old,
the old lord will come alive, with eyes of gold."
The throne room was enveloped in silence once again.
The woman with grey eyes spoke up. "After centuries of peace without the gods of old … It could be speaking about the Titans, even though the Titans haven't ever been considered gods. As for the second line, one of these old gods must have eyes of gold." She pressed her fingers against her chin, thoughtfully. "Whoever it is, will wish to bring about our end, I have no doubt about that."
A man with a trident in his hand and a Hawaiian shirt on looked blankly towards the back of the room, solemnly. "Father had golden eyes."
Zeus shook his head. "Kronos wasn't a god. If he hadn't eaten all of you when you were babes, he would have been defeated easily."
"It could still be referring to the Titans, father. You know how these prophecies are," said the woman again.
Zeus simply nodded, and motioned for Apollo to continue on.
"But alas, the wife will finally prove unfaithful,
while the crazed king commits an act, truly disgraceful."
Once again, everyone, including me, looked towards the grey-eyed woman.
She rubbed her bottom lip in thought. "But alas, the wife will finally prove unfaithful. I haven't the slightest clue what that could be. That could be speaking about anyone. As for the crazed king matter, I can't think of any king of importance other than you two," she said, looking towards Zeus and the man with the trident.
Zeus looked taken aback by this statement. "When have I ever acted crazed before?" The woman beside him scoffed at this, a gesture he seemed to ignore.
He looked at the man sitting beside him, who I was beginning to guess was Poseidon. "And you, brother? This must be speaking about you then."
Poseidon met his brother with a glare. "If you really suspect me to be the one considered crazed, you clearly have forgotten about our other brother." Hades, I was guessing.
Zeus's intimidating gaze weakened, and nodded. "You're probably right, I will visit him as soon as this is over."
Apollo looked between all the Olympians, and once he realized nothing else had to be said, he continued:
"A war among men, set ablaze by these actions,
a conflict, that will leave modern ways in ashes."
The woman with grey eyes thought for a bit. "So whatever this king does that is deemed disgraceful, is going to cause a war. It also seems that it's going to affect mortals specifically, as it specifically references a war among men."
A woman with dark hair and green robes sighed, holding her head in her hands. "This sounds like World War II all over again."
No one in the room spoke, but I noticed a few of the Olympians nod solemnly in agreement.
One seemed to be happy though, and it was the same man in the leather jacket as before, who also had a pair of black aviators on. He rubbed his hands together, with a wicked smile on his face. "Daddy's 'bout to have a bit of fun."
The grey-eyed woman continued. "I have no idea what the prophecy means with the modern ways in ashes bit. It sounds like this war may be fought in new ways, ones that will blow modern tactics to bits."
Apollo continued:
"Beware, for the true threat lies in wait,
waiting for the Olympians to take the bait."
The grey-eyed woman nodded fairly quickly. "So, it seems like this war may simply be a ploy, used by someone waiting in the background for their chance to strike." She motioned to no one in particular. "Perhaps, this god with golden eyes?"
Zeus shook his head to himself. "Last time we didn't get involved in one of these mortal wars, millions of innocents were slaughtered, and two nuclear bombs were dropped! How can we not get involved?"
The woman next to him, looked out into the distance, bored. "Maybe if someone could keep their oaths, that wouldn't be a possibility." She didn't seem to be talking to anyone, but the statement was definitely pointed.
The Artemis girl spoke up. "She has a point."
Oh man, even her voice was sex-
I slapped my dream-self. Enough, this is serious!
Apollo laughed sheepishly, clearly not liking the tenseness in the room, and quickly recited the last four lines of the prophecy:
"The hero of the war will seduce the virgin,
the son of the traitor will take the burden,
of taking on what truly threatens the globe.
Success or failure, either way we will have to cope."
A bit strange, and because of that most of the Olympians looked between Apollo and the grey-eyed woman, confused.
"That … is a bit vague." She once again motioned with her head, her thoughts and predictions likely racing through her mind. "Just like most of this thing, the first part can honestly talk about anyone. The hero of the war, the virgin, that really has no use to us, since we still don't even know what this war is."
Apollo shrugged. "I mean, the virgin part is pretty cool." I don't really know if he meant to say that aloud, but he did, and was met with glares from practically every single goddess in the room.
The grey-eyed woman, however, ignored his remark. "A traitor though, that's noteworthy. And it would seem that their son will take the burden of … something. Perhaps, the burden needed to end the war?"
The man in the leather jacket looked confused. "It says the son of the traitor will save us? Why would a traitor's son help us?"
She shrugged. "Perhaps they're not a traitor to us, but to the enemy. And when they betray them, it signals the end of this war. Maybe the burden he'll have to take on is the infamy of being a traitor."
Everyone looked at her strangely, including me. The way she said that was strangely specific.
However, she returned the looks of confusion with one of defense. "What? I'm the only one thinking of possibilities here!"
"We know daughter, this is just a lot, and we're … on edge," Zeus explained. He looked around. "I think we've all heard all that we need to, at least for right now."
His daughter nodded. "We should all think on this some more, and meet again tomorrow." She eyed everyone around the room. "Perhaps someone other than me will have some ideas."
Wow, she seemed like a bitch.
Was it warranted? Yeah.
Zeus nodded, standing up from his throne. "I agree, daughter. I will look into what Hades has been up to, and think upon this prophecy some more. We will meet again tomorrow, at this time." His gaze turned towards the chubby man, dressed in leopard-print. "Dionysus, I trust that you will be preparing your campers?"
The chubby man waved it off nonchalantly, now with a can of Diet Coke in his hand. "Yes, father. I'll make sure they're ready."
Zeus nodded. "Very good." He then looked towards the man in the leather jacket. "Ares, I want you to go to Camp Jupiter. Inform them of the prophecy." When he said "Camp Jupiter", it looked like all of the Olympians' forms shimmered, just for a split second.
The man groaned. "Really? I can't remember that."
Apollo laughed at the man's remark. "Aye, I got you. We'll go together," he said, standing up.
Ares smirked, before standing up. "Alright, cool. Hopefully we don't see that legacy of yours, that dude's weird as fuck."
"Tell me about it," he said, as the two disappeared in a flash of light.
That seemed to start a domino effect, for as soon as they left, everyone began to teleport out of the throne room, until three remained: Zeus, Poseidon, and Artemis.
My heart skipped a beat for about the tenth time, as I began to think of all the ways she was about to torture and then kill me, all for eavesdropping when I didn't have a choice but to. But I calmed down a bit, once I realized that she appeared to be waiting to talk to her father.
But, she would have to wait, as Poseidon had begun talking to him first. "About the whole … crazed king thing-"
"Ah, so you have done something," accused Zeus, his bright blue eyes scanning his brother's entire body.
Poseidon's eyes, which were an aqueous sea-green, widened. Then, his eyebrows shifted downwards, as his anger began to show. "You're so thick headed. The one who would start this whole thing is you." He poked an accusing finger at him. "You've already killed Hades' children and their mother before, so don't act all high and mighty!"
Zeus looked away from his brother, and shrunk in size. "Just shut up. If you're not gonna be doing anything stupid, and we keep Hades in check, all will be fine." He snuck one more glance at his brother. "Keep those children of yours in line, Poseidon. You know I would do anything to keep Olympus safe." And without another word, he disappeared as well.
Poseidon stared at the place his brother had stood just a few moments before, before laughing suddenly. He looked up at Artemis. "You're father is an idiot, and you know what they say about idiotic kings." He didn't give her a chance to respond, instead disappearing out of sight as well.
Artemis did nothing but sigh, as she shrunk to regular mortal size. She began to walk out of my sight, before stopping abruptly.
"I expect you to explain yourself soon, mortal."
Her words struck me between my eyes, as suddenly the force that was keeping me afloat, disappeared. I fell towards the floor, for real now, and as I fell closer and closer, her words echoed within my mind.
"... explain yourself soon, mortal."
I hit the floor, allowing black to envelop my vision once again.
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Uh oh ... some crazy stuff is about to go down ...
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I know I said don't expect a chapter today, but here I go, lying again. Please forgive me ;)
But seriously, don't expect a chapter tomorrow. Just expect one in a reasonable timeframe, probably in a few days. I do have an essay I have to submit this week ...
Anyways, I changed some stuff from the last time I posted this, because I had some new ideas during my time rewriting this. I feel like you guys will like it much, much better.
Quickly, I'll do a review.
This one is from jinhyuk123703: "Your writing style is amazing. This unorthodox story seems really interesting. I still can't seem to figure out how you're going to fit Artemis in this story...I guess it means that you've planned this all out really well. Can't wait to read more lf this!"
Just did, I'm just raw like that.
I'm just playing, I know what you meant. Just trust me, alright? The Pertemis will come, and the Pertemis will be sweet, aight? It might take a little while for things to get romantic, because Artemis does have that whole "not trusting men" thing, so Percy's gonna have to get through that first. So expect some more romance for Percy, before Artemis. I know, it's shocking, that he might actually have some girlfriends before a virgin, man-hating goddess, but please try to keep your composure
Anyways, I'll see you's soon. Please review, and please stay safe! Peace.
