The hordes of monsters kept coming, and they didn't stop coming. Wave after wave, dracanae, basilisks and about every different type of monster cane swarming through the gates of Camp Jupiter. While half of us were struggling to fend off the monsters, the other half were dealing with the Titans.
"But don't mistake him for dead." Hermes had said to Percy. I just hoped that we had listened to Hermes' warning earlier. Maybe we would have been more prepared. Then again, what could prepare us for the Titan Lord of Time himself?
Flanking Kronos were his three brothers. To his left, Iapetus and Atlas. To his right, Hyperion. Even at ten feet tall, Iapetus seemed puny next to his brothers. Though with drastically different personalities, they had a common vendetta.
Percy. In one way or another, he angered each of the Titans. Only Prometheus had decided not to join his brothers in arm.
Iapetus was the closest. With the sharpened end of his broomstick, he stabbed heroes and interrogated them as they were bleeding out. Once small and fragile, his pet kitten grew up to be a miniature Nemean Lion. It chased down heroes and held them in its mouth, laying them mercilessly at Iapetus' feet. As the bodies piled up on the metal spear, his patience ran thin. Yet, no hero answered his question. Nobody would give up Percy's location. Loyal to their death.
Not far from him, Atlas stomped on demigods and other monsters alike. He had no care for who he was trampling on, simply bloodthirsty and hungry for one specific demigod's blood. The demigod that shamed him by carrying the sky; a weight mere mortals could never have supported. His massive, calloused hands crumpled those around him, swatting them aside as he continued his search.
Hyperion was glowing. It wasn't some special skin-care routine. The dude was literally emanating light. With shining gold eyes, he blasted through trees and buildings with his gaze. As such, the Hephaestus demigods from Cabin 9 were busy trying to take him down with complex mechanisms and traps. Immune to his heat and light, they valiantly stood their ground and prevented his continued onslaught.
At last, there was Kronos. Lazily swinging his scythe, he slashed and hacked through bodies and bodies of demigods. Able to bend time to his will, there was nothing that we could do to stop him. Being fully aware of that, we still tried anyway. If Percy was given up to the Titans, we would have all perished either way. It was more noble to go out fighting like heroes and allowing Percy to attack at full strength.
With his recent blessing from the Gods, he alone had a chance of taking on a Titan. For now, we stalled for time. Against the Titan Lord of time. Go figure.
Feathers sprouting from my back and along my arms, I leaped into the air and transformed into a Stymphalian Bird. Using my razor sharp claws, I grabbed a centaur and dropped it on Atlas' head.
With mild annoyance, he swatted it aside, straight into the path of a drakon. With a deafening crunch, the centaur became lizard food.
As I flew from Titan to Titan, slowing down their progress, I noticed the slew of mutilated bodies strewn across the battlefield. Blood was streaked across fallen trees, and bones were scattered around everywhere, making it impossible to identify individual bodies. Not that I would want to either.
In bird form, my peripheral vision was enhanced. It wasn't hard for me to see a small whirlpool forming near the seashore. In the centre was a man with black hair. Percy.
Instinctively, I dived and transformed into a peregrine falcon. The wind battered against my eyes mid-flight but I shrugged it off. Something was wrong. Percy wasn't supposed to come from the ocean. He wasn't following the plan Annabeth had laid out for us. Did something go awry?
With arm outstretched, he slowly rose in height. Devoid of emotion, his face betrayed no hint of fear or apprehension as he spotted one of the Titans walking towards him. With every thundering step of Hyperion approaching him, the whirlpool increased exponentially in size.
The look on his face made me slow my descent. A million questions entered my mind. I was torn between whether to watch and stare in awe at the strongest demigod facing off against the mighty Titan god of heavenly light, or to approach Percy and ask him what had happened.
Suddenly, a blinding beam of light shot out from the tip of the spear he was holding. Aimed directly at Percy, it shot straight through the crashing wall of water he had raised.
"Percy!" I cried, continuing to fly towards him as fast as I could. The beam struck him square in the chest and seemed to pierce easily through him. His back arched backwards as the whirlpool consumed him.
A triumphant roar bellowed from the Titan as he continued making his way over to Percy. Right before I could reach him and try to take him to safety, a giant vortex shot up in his wake.
In the centre of it was Percy yet again, alive as ever. However, something was different. His hair was no longer it's usual tousled look. Oddly, it was a silver-grey colour instead.
With a puzzled look on his face, Hyperion shot another beam of light at Percy. Without a second wasted, Percy raised a sheet of ice and flung it in Hyperion's direction.
Not wanting to feel useless, I circled back to shore to try to aid Percy as much as I could by disabling or restraining the Titan. Before I could get any closer, Percy flung another sheet of ice at us.
I narrowly dodged out of the way, almost getting my feathers stuck to the giant slab he threw.
"What is going on here?"
a/n: btw, story doesn't follow a distinct timeline. each chapter is just kinda jumping left and right time-wise, hope it's not too confusing