Prologue

The feeling was all too familiar. In the past few years, Luke Castellan had grown more and more terrified at everything around him. And as the ground shook beneath him, he felt his skin crawl in anticipation, as if a silent plea from his body to run far, far, away from that man.

His master, the titan Kronos, had spent millennia rotting in the blackest pit of Hades, Tartarus, mixing with whatever Lovecraftian horrors lurked in those depths. No doubt the horrifying appendages and torturous conditions would prove ample inspiration for the titan lord to punish him.

His heart froze. The titan's chest emerged from the stone steps of the battlement. His master's torso was a thick slab of dark red magma rock, punctuated with pulsating lava veins. Luke looked into his red eyes, swarming with hungry fire, and swallowed.

Kronos looked over at Luke, and then turned to look beyond the battlements at the sea of bright green grass shimmering before him. His posture straight, chest pronounced, hands folded behind his back, he looked the picture of a general. He nodded gently to Luke.

The boy remained still, unsure of what it meant. Kronos coughed expectantly, prompting Luke to curse and hustle to his side. "My Lord," he began, his voice quivering, "I have terrible news to report."

Kronos turned to look down at Luke, his glassy eyes hovering over the boy's face. His mouth betrayed no emotion. He placed one massive palm against Luke's back, the heat of the palm nearly searing into the young demigod's back. Luke shivered.

"Stand up straight." Kronos gave his back a solid tap where it had been bulging out. "How are you going to face the gods with such terrible posture?"

"I… Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

Luke stumbled. "My lord, I–

"I already know about the labyrinth," grunted Kronos, his shoulders sinking a bit. "It's sunk. Whatever."

Luke's body stopped trembling for a minute. "You don't care?"

Kronos turned to Luke, leaning down to look him in the face. He raised a very annoyed eyebrow at the boy. "Of course it bothers me!" He turned back to look out at the grass. "But it's not the end of the war. We need to move on."

Luke stared at his master warily, more than a little confused. Kronos took notice. "Stop looking at me like that. It's unsettling."

"Apologies, my lord," muttered Luke. "You just seem more… how should I put this…

"My gods, spit it out already!"

Luke couldn't help but chuckle a bit. That's more like it. "Well, in our past communications, you've been a little more… irritable."

"Have I?" asked Kronos, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he stared out at the grass. "I was contacting you from Tartarus. I had other things on my mind."

Luke shivered. "No doubt."

"So forgive me if I got a little testy."

"Right," said Luke. Sensing an opening, he lobbed a nagging question at the titan lord. "How exactly did you get out of Tartarus early, again?"

Kronos frowned, avoiding Luke's gaze. He began to play with his hands – nervously, if Luke didn't know any better. "I discovered a pathway out of Tartarus. But it's a secret, of course. The gods can't find out."

"Alright." Luke paused, looking away from the titan lord. "I get that you want to move on, but the labyrinth's fall leveled our best form of transport AND half our army. I don't understand how-

"No one seems to understand," muttered Kronos, taking a seat cross-legged on the battlements. "My brothers are backing out already. Well, they were weak even when I took down our father."

"But even so-

"Luke, do you think I can't win this war?"

Luke snapped his mouth shut, trying to make himself smaller. He had said something wrong. He had fucking said something wrong, something horrible, something–

"I asked you a question."

"Of course you can win, my lord."

"STOP." Kronos's command hung in the air for a minute, the sweat pouring from Luke's pores. Kronos sighed, shaking his head. "I didn't ask you to kowtow to me. Tell me the truth, Luke."

"You can win," said Luke, "but you don't have much room for error."

Kronos pushed himself up from the ground, methodically stretching his limbs. They seemed to crack as he lengthened them one by one. "Walk with me," he grunted. "This is the first time we've met in person, no?"

"It is."

"When you were back at camp, what did you think of Percy Jackson?"

Luke held his forehead, his eyes narrowing with distaste. "It's been a long time. He was a kid back then."

"He still seems like a kid to me."

"No," said Luke, his face hardening. "Four years at camp toughens you. He's bound to have changed."

"But he's not like you," said Kronos. "He's not doing anything about the corruption in Olympus like you are. I think he's been able to ignore it thus far. To avoid growing up and facing it. He's still immature."

"I guess," shrugged Luke.

Kronos paused his walk, a smile cracking through his craggy face. "So how did someone who's just trying to survive take out the most genius inventor to ever spring from Athena's brain?"

Luke frowned. "Well, Annabeth probably did it."

"Kill her idol?" asked Kronos, chuckling a bit. "Come on, Luke. I sincerely doubt that."

"Well, it couldn't be Percy," said Luke, turning to face Kronos. He balled his fists a little. "He doesn't have it in him. He's not tough enough."

"And Annabeth does?" asked Kronos, leaning in. "To kill the one man who could teach her to be the greatest inventor of the next generation?"

Luke shrunk. He didn't get why Kronos had cornered him about this. He absolutely hated hearing about Percy, and this should've been blatantly obvious, even to a titan. Rather than lash out, Luke tried to get straight to the point. "What are you getting at?"

"It's unlikely Percy outsmarted Daedalus. After all, he had a soft spot for a sea cow. We think he murdered his girlfriend's idol? In cold blood, right in front of her? Or that she did it herself?

"Sure, it's odd," admitted Luke, his tone flaring. "Maybe it was self-defense. I don't know. Frankly, I don't care."

"What if Daedalus sacrificed himself?"
"That's impossible!" said Luke, a little more aggressively than he intended. "You… must've missed hearing the stories. The gods abandoned him. He hates his mother."

"I've heard," said Kronos, smirking. "Either way, the answer is strange. Which leads me back to the boy. Do you think he's odd?"

"He's lucky," shot Luke, clenching his fists. "He's been at camp all this time, and he's still happy and oblivious. Can we not talk about Percy for a minute?"

"I wouldn't be so harsh, Luke," said Kronos. "Maybe he hasn't had it as rough as you, but he's still a demigod. But, yes, we could probably chalk a few things down to luck. For example, when I had the Sirens sing to him, he wasn't hypnotized like other sailors would be."

Luke stopped walking, eyes widening. "What? That's impossible."

"Indeed. And yet Medusa recalls him accidentally catching her eye when fighting her. I didn't see any stone statues of him nearby. These are all direct reports from my monsters. They've filtered back to me over the years. One can be chalked up to a fluke, but I've heard so many reports, Luke. And now he's convinced Daedalus to do the impossible and commit suicide to protect the Olympians.

Luke's voice grew icy. "You never mentioned any of this."

Kronos chuckled. "I like keeping my cards close to my chest. Only way you can survive as a titan under Olympian rule. Percy may be even more powerful than we can imagine."

"If that's the case, we'll lose!" said Luke, shaking his head vigorously. He felt a deep distaste churning in his stomach. "He's fighting for the Olympians."

"So we'll lose… If he stays with them."

Luke's eyes widened. He turned on a heel, baring his teeth at Kronos. "Of course he will! For fuck's sake, he's been an Olympian brat since he arrived at camp! I saw it in him when I first met him. He never understood the cruelty of the gods. He just wanted to get through the fucking day. Gods, it drives me insane!"

"You can only put up with so much abuse at that age," said Kronos, waving his hand in the air. An orb of blue flame appeared, a wispy image of the Olympian Council Room superimposed on it, complete with Zeus's self-important stare and bushy beard.

Zeus leaned closer to the orb, as if speaking directly to Luke. "Percy Jackson remains a threat to our realm!" he thundered, his voice sending ripples along the edges of the orb. "Before we let him leave, we need to decide if we're going to let him live."

The orb shimmered, the scene changing to a man with an unkempt beard and leopard print shirt sneering down at Luke. Dionysus. "Kid, I'd sooner turn you into a dolphin and send you back to your father than help you out. At least in that form you'd be entertaining to beachgoers."

Then it changed a final time, a closeup of a woman with long blonde hair and stark gray eyes. Athena's gaze seemed to capture every detail in her wide view, her eyes unblinking and uncompromising. "Get too close to my daughter, Percy Jackson, and I will view it in light of all your previous misjudgments and failures. I will not hesitate to kill anything I see that threatens my daughter's safety and security, including you."

Luke looked up at Kronos in disgust. "Are you really trying to make me feel bad for the enemy?"

Kronos raised an eyebrow. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you came to me to help the demigods, not kill them. He may be naïve, but that's a common defense to trauma." Kronos paused, his voice growing just a bit lighter. "And… he has his mother… and friends to think about. Are you going to fault him for that?"

"I don't need your sympathy," muttered Luke. He sighed. "Maybe I'm a little harsh, fine. That's how life is, though. You can't seriously think he'll join us. And even if he did, why wouldn't he just overthrow you?"

"It's not a concern," shrugged Kronos. "I'd just step aside, anyways."

Luke's body trembled violently. The part of his brain that filtered speech shut off, and his eyes filled with hatred. "What?"

Kronos shook his head. "I'm not going to be sitting in Olympus all day."

"Have you gone mad?" screamed Luke. "I thought the whole point of this war-

Kronos held up a massive hand in Luke's face. The heat was enough to get him to shut up. "I started this war to free myself from Olympian tyranny. I have no desire to rule, nor to be ruled."

"The Olympian throne will remain open!" said Luke. "How could you turn down the opportunity to reshape the world? You'd have to be insane to give that up! No wonder the gods overthrew you!"

Kronos whipped his head towards Luke, his voice growing harsh. The fire in his eyes flared, coming very close to singeing Luke's face. "You have no clue what you're talking about, boy! You want to know how I can leave the throne open? Why I seem to be a huge fool? I castrated my own father and ruled for thousands of years. What did it get me, Luke?"

"The power to change and rule the world!" shouted Luke. "To do whatever–

"My gods, how envious you must be of thousands of years settling petty disputes between siblings, of avoiding plots to overthrow me by my own family! Have you seen the disputes of the gods? 90% of it is about who they fuck or fuck over. You think I'm insane? You're the insane one if you think that throne is worth anything!"

"Then I've fought for nothing!" screamed Luke. "You led me astray, convinced me we were going to remake this world-

"And you will," said Kronos. "You might have to share it with other demigods, but I intend to deliver. I admire your vision for the future, Luke, but I cannot return to the throne after thousands of years in exile. When you and the others have created a better Olympus, I will take my leave to see what has been made of the mortal world."

"So, you'll leave me and Percy to clean up the mess, basically?" sneered Luke. "Is that it?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, is that not what you asked for?" yelled Kronos, curling a massive fist in Luke's face. "You came to me asking for a change! I'm handing you Olympus on a silver platter!"

"You're just like my father!" screamed Luke, nearly headbutting the titan lord. "A fraud and a coward!"

"I AM NOTHING LIKE YOUR FATHER!" roared the titan lord. Kronos's chest pulsed with lava, the air around the two of them flared about forty degrees to a point so hot Luke could barely think, and suddenly Luke remembered who he was talking to. He stepped back from Kronos, horror painted on his face.

Kronos stood back up straight, reclaiming his perfect posture. His nostrils steamed, but otherwise his anger had died. "I'm helping you get what you want, aren't I? I may leave after everything is done, but I'll be there when you need it. That's more than your father can say."

Luke composed himself, his voice faltering. "Why go so far? Why start a war where hundreds die?"

"I want to be free," said Kronos, his eyes trained on the endless sea of grass stretching off into the horizon. "That's it. The demigods happen to benefit if the gods are overthrown. Is there something wrong with that?"

Luke balled his fists. "I never would've worked with you if I had known it was just personal. I didn't betray my family just to make your life easier."

"Alright. Are you going to work for them now?" asked Kronos, raising an eyebrow.

Luke's body trembled. He swallowed heavily, but he balled his fists. Even if he had to die here, he wasn't about to let another immortal bully him. "I won't work for them, but… I will let them know. That you're just the same as them all." He stood there for a few seconds, waiting for Kronos to stab him. To end his life. He had angered the titan lord, and this was how he would go out. Speaking righteousness until the end, and-

Kronos began laughing, each laugh permeating the air with greater and greater gravity. Then he grew silent for a moment, taking a breath of fresh air and smiling. "Alright. Go ahead. Leave. I won't stop you."

Luke blinked. "You won't?"

"Go back to the demigods. See if they can help you rule over Olympus. Or maybe in five thousand years' time, you can make peace with the gods and join them on the council. Dionysus found his way on."

Luke stared at the titan in disbelief. "But I… I could tell them so many secrets, I-

Kronos chuckled, swinging his scythe playfully in the air. "Oh, you thought that you would go out feeling like a hero, huh? Well it's not that simple, kid. While you spout off, titans and gods and demigods all suffer. Just because I'm not doing this for exactly the reasons you want doesn't mean my goals are worthless." Kronos froze, frowning, turning back to the sunset. "And anyways, I'm not selfish. You know nothing about me. So what will you do now, Luke?"

For the first time in a long time, Luke was unsure of himself. He stood frozen, his eyes locked on Kronos's stolid figure, his perfect posture, his fiery rhetoric, the look of longing in his eyes as he looked out at the horizon. It shook Luke's sense of drive and purpose. He wondered if he could ever match this man in any way. "I've failed," said Luke, hanging his head in shame.

Kronos sighed, sheathing his scythe. He walked over to Luke, patting him on the head. "Come on. We've got somewhere to go. I haven't been totally honest with you. Might have told a lie or two. And you should learn the truth."

"Why tell me all this?" asked Luke. "I'm not part of this. I'm not part of anything–

Kronos smirked. "Much as you piss me off hurling baseless accusations around, I like you. I want you to succeed. And I'm not petty like the Olympians, so I can take a twenty-something yelling at me, though it sounds like a terrible fate."

"But I just called you worthless!" said Luke. "And I can't rule Olympus, it's–

"Yeah? I've worked with some wonderful demigods in the past. Never regretted it."

Luke frowned. "Wait, you said… that you've been locked inside Tartarus all this time."

"Like I said, I might've told a few lies," said Kronos. "Didn't think I had to win you over. So Luke, what do you say? You want to know why I started this war?"

"Yes," said Luke, raising his head. "I want to know."

"Then follow me."

"Where are we going?"

Kronos smirked. "To see an old friend." And then, he let out a great, bawdy laugh, operatic in tone. Luke's stomach swelled with a melancholy feeling, one of longing. For a second, as the fading sunbathed Kronos in light, the faint contours of the titan's form seemed softer. Bold, yet benign. For a second Luke thought he looked like what a father should be.

*–*–*–*

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

*–*–*–*

Hello! Before you continue on, a quick author's note:

I began dreaming up this story right before the Last Olympian came out. Because I had the first few chapters of Last Olympian as a preview, it begins very similarly, but around chapter 6 you will see a significant divergence between the two. And I have tweaked details of earlier books as well, which I hope is made clear in later chapters. Still, even in the first few chapters, the narrative differs in some key ways.

There is also, technically, a sequel . But I published it years ago. It is in a different style and I do find it a little embarrassing. If you're so inclined, it is still on my profile, and called Percy Jackson and the Spear of Power. But I warn you – it's not good! It doesn't even make narrative sense with the way this story ends. One day, I may rewrite it, but I hesitate to make promises I can't keep. It's been nine years since I published that first story… so don't expect to hear anything soon!

Of course, most of the characters herein are the property of Rick Riordan. This is merely a work of fan fiction and is not meant to claim ownership of any of his characters in any way.

Please enjoy!