AN: Hey guys so to answer some quick questions. First though it was hinted in the last chapter I wanted to clarify that the domain of Horizons was Percy's gift from Uranus.
Second many of you have had questions about Percy x Artemis. Let me be clear on this, I have a plan and no I won't tell you because it will ruin the story so please stop asking. The same can be said for Percy's fourth domain.
Lastly I am trying to update as often as I can but between school and work I'm lucky to find time to eat in peace let alone write. I'm sure anyone whose been to college can understand this. Sending me PM's or Comments that say 'Please Update' or 'When will you update' doesn't help. Also I know I can go a while between updates but can you please stop asking if I'm dead that is by far the most annoying and makes me want to write even less.
Now that I have finished venting please enjoy the Chapter.
Chapter 56
Percy POV
It had all been going so well but of course that was only temporary. Beckendorf and I had snuck onto the cruise ship easily enough and we even made it to the engine room. That's when everything went to Tartarus. We heard monsters coming to check the area so I ran out of the room and down the hall. I then came at them from the direction of our boat in the hopes that they would think that we haven't quite made it to the engine room yet.
I beheaded one of those dog-faced sea demons and started running down the hall leading them on a wild chase through the cruise ship. It was terrifying to be honest because everywhere I looked there was something new trying to kill me: a giant crab I read about myths, demigods I once knew at Camp Half-Blood, I swear I even saw a hydra swimming in the pool at one point. But that all ended when I reached the upper deck I came face-to-face with Luke but when I looked at him it wasn't the demigod I once knew.
"Hello Perseus" the voice may have come from Luke's mouth but that was not Luke's voice. It was a voice I recognized instantly but I had hoped never to hear again. It was Kronos. I must have had quite the look on my face because Luke's face twisted and amusement. "What got nothing to say for your dear grandfather?" he taunted.
"What have you done?" I asked, staring at him in disbelief.
"Well because of the actions of your father and his brothers my own body was rather damaged. Luke here was kind enough to offer me his as a temporary vessel. It won't be for long just until my own body has fully regenerated but until that point Luke's body will serve quite nicely."
This was bad. We had heard rumors that Kronos was somehow reforming even though he shouldn't be able to, we thought maybe they had found some way to heal him but any method we had come up with to do it should have taken several years before he would even be able to walk on his new thing whatever it was changed everything. Luke was still a demigod, as far as we knew, which meant there was no possible way the Lord of time to be at full strength but even if he could access only a fraction of his power it completely threw out our timeline. Things were going to happen much faster than we had anticipated.
I didn't know what to do but I knew one thing if I could just Land one blow right now in just the right spot I could kill Kronos and end this war before it began. Rushing forward I swung my sword aiming for his neck. I would have to kill Luke in the process but if it meant stopping Kronos it was something I was just going to have to accept. Part of me had always hoped that maybe I could turn Luke back but if Kronos had taken over his body then Luke was already dead, there was just no way in my mind he was going to come out of this alive. Just as my blade came within a few inches of his neck I froze mid-swing. I could think and hear but I couldn't move.
"I applaud your effort Perseus'' Kronos laughed "if I wasn't the lord of time or had prepared this body to contain my power you might have just stopped our war effort cold. It might have even taken years to get back to this point."
'Luke's body was prepared?' I thought as I struggled against whatever was holding me. For a moment I broke free, though my blade only moved a total of two inches. It caused Kronos to back up suddenly as his eyes widened.
"My, my, little grandson I must say you take after your father more than I thought." He laughed "Though it seems like that little push drained what energy you had." I tried to glare at him but he was right. Even though I was suspended in mid air I could feel my energy flowing from me. With a start I realized Jason must be in trouble and my power was being drained to protect him. It wasn't much but somehow I knew I wouldn't be able to break free until the drain ended.
"Sire!" a raspy voice called out "We've found another one!" .
'No!' We knew the risks when we accepted the mission but if they found the bombs then the two of us will have died for nothing.
Kronos grinned obviously seeing my panic as Beckendorf was hauled just barely into my view "And where exactly did you find him?" The lord of time asked.
"He was trying to sneak into the engine room." One of the creatures said.
"Ah and did you check the engine room?" Kronos asked
"No" it replied uncertainly "it was deemed unnecessary since he hadn't made it there yet."
Despite the situation I grinned inwardly, Beck had tricked them after he set up the bombs, now the question was how long the time was set for. I watched his hands hoping for some kind of signal but Beck was just standing there, probably trying to think of a way out like I was. 'Come on man how long do we have?' I mentally ranted 'Hades Beck how long do we have!'
'Percy?' Beck's voice replied as he locked his gaze on me, confusion clear on his face.
'You can hear me?' I asked equally confused, I'd never been able to communicate like this with something that wasn't part of my father's domain yet this felt similar somehow.
'Yes but how?'
'No clue but we can figure that out later. How much time did you set them for?'
'None, they showed up too quickly.' He said, his hand drifting towards his pocket. 'Listen tell Selina..'
'Don't!' I shouted, as I felt the drain on my power end. An image flashed through my mind of Jason pulling himself out of a lake while monster dust swirled on both the water and shore. 'Beck just hold on a sec I'm going to try and give you an opening. When I do get to the water. Okay?'
Beck nodded subtly and I made a push against whatever was holding me. I pictured the swirl ocean and how it raged in a storm. Nothing could contain that power. I was the son of the sea and I would not be contained.
With a sound that resembled glass shattering the time spell holding me broke completely and did return as before. Much to a certain lord of times surprise. His dual metal blade appeared just in time to stop my strike but it was nothing more than a distraction now any way. Summoning water from the sea air as Triton had taught me I launched it at Kronos who dived away from the blast, just as I hoped he would. The blast while draining carved a path across the deck killing monsters as it went, freeing Beckendorf in the process. In the pandemonium that followed Beck dashed across the deck to the railing not bothering to try and fight any of the monsters. When he was close I jumped off and looked back, expecting to see him right behind me.
Instead I saw him being pulled out of the air and back to the ship. For a moment we made eye contact and he simply nodded before hitting the detonator. From there things seemed to happen in slow motion. Explosions filled the ship as the blast from the engine room raced through the halls setting off secondary explosions. I reached a hand out toward Beck futilely willing him to be safe. A soft blue glow seemed to surround him briefly before both he and the monster holding him were engulfed in flames. As the blast wave hit me time resumed and I was launched into the water, heat searing my back.
Jason
"Are you okay man?" Daniel asked.
"I think so." I said wiping the water from my face. Our recon mission had run into an enemy patrol near the base of mount Tam and we were forced to fight. One of the creatures, a sea demon I believe tackled me into the lake nearby and forced me under the water.
"That's good, you were under there so long I thought for sure you'd drowned." He laughed, clapping me on the back "Man who knew you could hold your breath for so long."
I laughed with him both out of relief and because I couldn't tell him what really happened. The sea demon had hit me in the gut forcing me to exhale and instinctively inhale. I should have drowned but for some reason I could still breath, surprising my attacker. I was able to use that moment of shock to kill the creature and swim back to the surface where the rest of the legionnaires had already finished fighting.
"We should head back." Octavian declared loudly. "We've got a good idea on their numbers and if we pull out now we should be back before they realize what happened."
I had to bite back a snort. We'd barely checked a fraction of the area we were supposed to and most of us were still fighting fit. No to mention the fact from what we had seen we had a solid forty or so minutes before the patrol would be missed and that was assuming they sent out a search party immediately. We could easily get this done and be well on our way back to new Rome before they even started looking for us. The real reason for our retreat was the fact that Octavian was afraid to face another patrol. He didn't train like we did and wasn't suited for the battlefield. But he was the commander here and if he said retreat then that is what we were going to do.
