Chapter 14- The Castalian Spring

"Life if beautiful and terrible, all at the same time.
But if we're only living part of it, then we're not living it at all"

Sara Lance (DC Legends of Tomorrow)

"So, this is the infamous lost Castalian Spring," Jason whistled in appreciation.

Percy's first impression of the island was that it was powerful. To the normal eye, it looked like any other normal tropical island, greenery spreading for miles, trees lurching over, shooting high up to the heavens and a gentle breeze that swayed across the atmosphere, carrying the subtle scent of fresh mint along the island. But Percy could feel an aura past the physical pleasantries. Almost like someone…or something was present, something ancient and powerful. Not necessarily evil, but nonetheless unsettling.

Despite that, he along with the rest of the group marched on. Leila, who was in awe of the nature that surrounded them, took the lead.

"What exactly am I meant to do?" she asked as they carried on walking. Both Jason and Reyna turned to Percy, who shrugged.

"Don't ask me. I'm not the child of Ceres here. Just focus on an ancient plant. Silphium hasn't been seen or used since the Fall of Rome, it should give off a slightly powerful aura, but a comforting one since it's a medicinal plant. Just try and hone in on whatever is magical and old, I guess?" Percy said with a puzzled look.

"Magical and old. Got it," Leila muttered as she closed her eyes in concentration. She never tried to tap into her mother's powers to this high of an extent until she had created the storm to help Percy. Since then, she had begun discovering things about her abilities she was sure that no other child of Ceres ever knew they possessed.

"I'm picking up something, some plant that radiates a different power to the rest of the island. It's North-West of here, not too far but we'll need to walk at a slightly quicker pace," Leila said, looking at Jason.

"Well, lead the way," Jason nodded as they walked briskly. "Is there any physical description that could help us locate this plant?"

"Not that I know of. There aren't many records of Silphium, except its uses and capabilities. That's why I insisted on having Leila, so she could identify it for us," Percy replied.

"Speaking of powers," Jason began, turning to look at Reyna, "What was that energy boost you gave me earlier?"

"Energy boost?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow as Reyna sighed.

"When I trained with Lupa, she told me about an ability passed on from my mother," Reyna told the group, "the ability to learn and understand weapons faster than anyone else being one of them. But the main one was to be able to lend strength and courage to others when I want to. Jason was completely out of breath when you were free falling from the sky so I lent my strength to him so he could get to you,"

"Useful power," Leila noted as Reyna shrugged.

"It comes in handy at times but this was the second time ever I've actually tried to use it. I try not to because I don't want to seem like I'm controlling others," Reyna said, ending the conversation.

There was a brief silence after that as they followed Leila, unsure of which direction they were actually walking in. Percy's mind began to wander over the events that took place these past few days. He didn't have a chance to process everything that he had just discovered. Being cursed by an immortal. Not just any immortal but a Titan? He didn't admit it to the others, but deep inside, he was deathly afraid of what it could mean for him. He remembered the burst of rage that had erupted inside of him during the battle and how his mind was clouded and he couldn't think straight. He was lucky that Jason was there but what if he hadn't been? What if in another situation, his anger got out of hand and ended up getting the ones he cared about hurt? Or even worse killed? He didn't mind losing his life, he'd happily trade his life to save any of the others. But if they lost their lives, all because he couldn't control himself, he'd never forgive himself for it. And even more so, what if he couldn't figure out how to reverse it. Would he be constantly stuck with those dark thoughts that haunted him as a child? Percy remembered certain flashes of his childhood. The werewolves that attacked him, his mother's scream, the droplets of blood that flew across the sky. He mentally shook his head. He'd never, absolutely never, let those thoughts or feelings resurface. He buried them deep inside and locked them in eternal darkness to never distract him; he wasn't going to let them affect him, especially while on mission.

"We're getting close," Leila announced, cutting Percy's trail of thoughts as he surveyed their surroundings. Something didn't seem right. It felt almost…too easy. Saturn knew where they were heading, surely, he'd send some sort of attack to slow them down. He looked around, trying to find anything that was out of the ordinary, but found absolutely nothing. It was almost like the Titan lord wanted them to get away with what was happening. But that didn't make sense?

As Jason walked on, Percy walked towards Reyna.

"Keep an eye out on the edges. This seems almost too easy to do. I doubt that we're just going to be able to walk right in and get what we want," he told her in an undertone. Reyna frowned but nodded at him.

"Leila, is this is?" Jason asked, glancing down. Percy moved forward to get a better view of the plant. It had a luscious, rich green colour, outlined in gold and seemed to glow off in the moonlight. As Percy leaned forward, the smell of tropical fruits filled his nostrils.

Leila glanced forward, her eyes focusing on the plant. There was a tensed silence for 30 seconds before she slowly nodded.

"I think so. The aura this plant is giving off is different to the rest of the island," Leila confirmed, "I can sense a few more along the path. We should get as many as we can. With the war coming up, we could store a few more for emergencies,"

"Alright lets just pluck them out," Jason said, bending down to pick the plant from the ground.

"Oh, no no you don't!" Leila interrupted in a sharp tone, catching all of them off guard. "You rip them out, and we lose any chance of growing more,"

"Wait, what?" Percy asked in a confused voice.

"Look, if these plants are as powerful as you say, then it'd be very useful if we can grow more of these so we have a supply of them for the legion. All the nutrients that are needed to grow these plants are on the island, I can feel them," Leila explained. "We just need to carefully remove them from their roots without damaging the roots and I can tap into my powers to stimulate their growth process again,"

She bent down, carefully scraping the soil around the plant with her fingers till the edges of the roots were exposed. She showed the others how to carefully remove the plant without discarding the roots from the ground. She then closed her eyes, muttering a few words under her breath. A light green light appeared around her for a moment as it spread from her fingers into the earth and faded away.

"Do what I've shown you for the rest of the plants and I'll come over to start the growth progress," she told them, putting her plant in a satchel she brought, as they split off to find more of the plants.

Percy went North, seeing a line of Silphium plants gleaming in the moonlight. He bent down, following Leila's instructions, and picked the plants in his eyesight. He winced slightly at the sight of skeletons, clearly buried from eons ago that had found the island but never made it out. However, one thing caught his attention. A small dagger that reflected the moonlight and seemed to be emitting a different vibe. He picked it up, examining it closely. It was a long triangular blade, and at the top of the hilt was a small image of a spear embedded into it.

The symbol of Mars.

He looked back at the dead bodies, his mind making the connections. Romans had attempted to come to this island before and had made it here successfully but never made it out. Something had prevented them from leaving. He glanced back at the dagger, something about it seemed intriguing. A long triangular blade, carried by Mars once.

Then it hit him. Lupa had taught him about different weapons, significant icons that carried the spirit of Rome. This was a Parazonium dagger, said to be blessed by Mars to give courage, even in the darkest moments of war. This was normally carried by leaders or emperors. Percy pocketed the dagger on the waistband of his jeans and carried on to find the plants.

As he picked up the last one, he felt a harsh gust of wind sweep past him. He ignored it at first but then a larger one brushed against his skin, almost as though trying to warn him.

Percy narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The air was mostly still since the moon rose so either Jason was up to something or someone from above was trying to warn him. He crept forward, trying not to make any noise. As he moved on, he heard slight rustling in the bush, which put his senses to high alert. He ducked underneath, crawling forward, trying to move without being detected.

"The demigods are nearby," spoke a raspy voice. "Lord Polus was right. They were coming here, regardless of whatever was on their way. Now is our chance to try and get the children of Jupiter and Neptune,"

Percy glanced forward and his eyes widened. In front was someone in a hood that he couldn't see but flanking the figure were 2 dracanae and a giant scorpion.

Percy slowly crept back and saw Leila at his previous location muttering the same prayer she did earlier. Without hesitating, he sprinted towards her, grabbing her arm and pulled her alongside him.

"Percy, what the hell?" Leila spoke in between breaths as they continued to run towards where they previously saw Jason and Reyna.

"Percy?" came another voice as Percy sighed in relief. Reyna emerged from the trees to his right, her eyebrows knitted in confusion as she saw both of them panting slightly.

"Reyna, thank the gods. Where's Jason? We need to leave now," Percy rushed.

"What's happening Percy?" Reyna asked as Leila turned towards him as well.

"It's an ambush. There's two dracanae here, along with someone I couldn't quite get an eye on and there's a massive scorpion with them. They were expecting us and are on their way to kill us," Percy explained quickly as Leila's eyes widened.

"Leila, Jason went up ahead to gather the last of the plants. Follow the trail, you'll find him. I'll join you in a second," Reyna said as Leila rushed off immediately. "Percy, get back to the ship. Prepare for take off and ready the sails for our next destination,"

"I'm not going to just leave you to fight that thing on your own," Percy said stubbornly.

"Percy, you're already injured from a fight and your energy is almost depleted. You're in no position to fight at all," Reyna insisted.

"Reyna let m-" Percy began.

"Perseus Jackson," Reyna warned and for the first time Percy gulped at the deadly look in her eyes, a shudder of fear running through his spine, "get to the boat now or I swear to all the gods, I'll knock you into a pulp myself. Clear?"

"Crystal," Percy said, cursing himself for his voice breaking slightly causing Reyna to smirk. Percy thought for a moment before removing the dagger he found earlier.

"Give this to Jason," he said, handing her the parazonium dagger. "He was raised by Lupa, he'll understand what this is. It'll help him,"

Reyna nodded before dashing off as Percy sighed, grumbling and cursing himself for being afraid of Reyna as he walked back towards the ship. He hopped onto the deck and began raising the sails and turning the ship in the direction that they needed to go. He concentrated on the pearls of Neptune, the destination of Seattle forming in his mind as his mind went into autopilot, the words yet again just streaming from his mouth like muscle memory as the world around him began to shift to his will.

His prayer was disrupted by a large clap of thunder. He ran towards the rail and grimaced as he watched Jason, Reyna and Leila fight off the group of monsters that had emerged. However, what caught his attention was the wisps of smoke that were travelling towards Jason, forming themselves into ghosts.

No, not just any ghosts.

A group of spirits, in standard legionnaire armour began to round themselves around Jason.

Of course. Percy could've slapped himself at that moment.

This place was a spiritual place, the residual power of the Pythia still surrounding it. When it realised that it was being desecrated by their enemies, it hosted the spirits of fallen soldiers so they could aid whoever next came to the island. And with Jason carrying the Parazonium dagger of Mars, the ghosts recognised him as their leader and were at his beck and call.

Jason seemed to realise this as well as he began shouting out commands to his new allies, circling the giant scorpion. A few of them began igniting their arrows on fire as Jason advanced forward with his gladius. To his right was Leila, fighting the two dracanae that he saw earlier. Percy had to say he was proud of her; she clearly remembered everything he had taught her as he watched her weave through their defences and dodging underneath before swinging her elbow back and pushing her blade forward. Even further he saw Reyna engaged in a fierce duel against the hooded figure he saw earlier. He still had his hood up but seemed to be carrying a different sword that Percy couldn't identify. Even more surprising was that Reyna seemed to having a slightly harder time fighting against him and he could see why. The mysterious guy seemed to know his way around a sword, expertly dodging past Reyna's strikes and countering with his own attacks.

Just as Percy thought things couldn't get any worse, a loud roar shook the earth as Percy looked around for the source of the noise. He swore loudly at the arrival of the new opponent, his heart racing in trepidation of the new player.

It was 7 feet tall, his arms and legs bulging out like something from the Muscle Man magazine. The top half was filled with rough brown hair that began from his belly button and seemed to get even thicker towards his shoulder. The neck was filled with large muscles and even darker fur reaching up to his head. He had a large snout with a dark brass ring, cruel and soulless black eyes along with horns that reminded him of barbed wire on electric fences, absolutely sharp and no getting past them.

Yup, you guessed it.

The Minotaur

Percy glanced at his friends, realising that they were in no shape to engage against the new arrival.

"Sorry Reyna," Percy said to himself, "but looks like you'll have to beat me into a pulp. Well, that's if our new friend doesn't do it first,"

(I really wanted to end it here, but since I haven't posted in 2 months, I'm allowing it this once. You lucky people XD)

He popped his shield out, and jumped off the boat, running full speed towards the Minotaur. It didn't notice his presence until the last second as Percy barged right into his face at full force. It stumbled for a moment before facing the son of Neptune.

"Well, well well. If it isn't the almighty beef jerky himself. Nice to put an appearance to the all-terrifying name," Percy taunted with a smirk. It worked. The Minotaur roared in anger as it prepared to charge at Percy. Percy narrowed his eyes as he remembered what he learnt about the Minotaur.

"And how would I defeat one, Mother Lupa?" Percy questioned. Lupa had just taught him about the adventure of Theseus in the Labyrinth.

"You forget what I told you Perseus," Lupa replied, "The Minotaur mainly relies on his sense of smell. And due to its weight and density, once it begins its charge, it can't change directions or stop himself. You can use this to your advantage to manoeuvrer around him and hit him once he's off balance. Disorientate him and you can strike the finishing blow,"

"You really think I'll have to face him at some point?" Percy asked. Lupa's fur moved upwards, almost like she was raising an imaginary eyebrow.

"Knowing your track record to attracting monsters, I'd be more surprised if you didn't young destroyer," Lupa replied.

"Wait, you said that the Minotaur was raised by his mother, right?" Percy inquired. Lupa nodded, waiting for the question. "Surely, she gave him a proper name, right? She wouldn't have just referred to her son as The Minotaur?"

"Clever boy, thinking outside the box" Lupa smiled. "Indeed, you are right. Back before he became the fearsome beast he is known today; his original name was Asterion."

Percy knew his sword wouldn't be of much use here. Not against that large axe he was wielding. He would have to rely on his body strength, agility, brute force and his shield. As the Minotaur began running at him full speed, Percy leapt out of the way, dodging the head on attack before running towards the nearest tree and leaping off it, throwing a right hook on the Minotaur's snout and rolling underneath and turning around immediately. Without missing a beat, he pushed forward with his shield out, hitting it in the snout again. He pushed onto the Minotaur's knee, using it as a springboard to leap onto his head.

The Minotaur didn't quite like that.

Percy barely had a second to register where he had landed as the Minotaur bucked back and forth wildly, thrashing him around like a toy. He barely kept a grip on its horn as he felt his whole world turn upside down, his body pushing muscles he didn't know existed and his teeth smashing and jittering against one another. He was pretty sure he felt his brain crack after hitting it against the Minotaur's head for the fourth time. Then he lost the grip on the horn as it bucked forward with so much force. The bad part? His body went flying right into the ship, his head and shoulder taking full impact against the ship. The good part? Right after, he felt his body douse into the sea water. He felt his head clear instantly, strength surging into his limbs and even his shoulder loosening. He got back up, realising the Minotaur was still eyeing him.

He retracted his shield and got into a defensive stance. The Minotaur let out a growl as it stalked towards Percy. His legs tensed, as if readying itself for another charge. Raising his axe, he began running towards Percy. Just as he was getting near, Percy yelled

"Hey Asterion! Miss your parents, do you? Must be sad, knowing that you weren't wanted by either of your parents," Percy taunted again.

At hearing his real name, the Minotaur stopped in his tracks as though confused. His eyes dazed, as though trying to remember something. Percy used the moment of confusion to his advantage. He used the sea water to propel him upwards, vaulting right over the Minotaur, turning around mid-air and landing on his head again. He took out his sword, smashing the hilt of it as hard as he could into the Minotaur's skull. He used whatever remaining strength he had left and with a grunt, pulled back while holding one of the horns.

SNAP!

The minotaur's horn came clean off his head as Percy fell to the floor. The Minotaur let out a horrendous scream filled with rage, but before it could act anymore, Percy pushed forward, jabbing the horn into his neck. There was one more scream that came loose as the monster slowly disintegrated into dust, the axe falling onto the floor with a thud.

Percy stood there for a moment, trying to process what he'd just done. But before he could do anything further, he felt his vision begin to darken, as the last thing he saw was Jason running towards him before he lost himself to unconsciousness.

Author's Note: Well, it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry for the long delay but like I said in previous chapters, I've had 5 weeks of exams and those were very stressful, finally finished them last week. On top of that, Covid has hit my family quite hard and I've had to go through a lot so I was very busy with that but I finally got motivation to continue writing a few days ago to produce this.

Overall, 3607 words, not too bad. Not my usual standards but considering the time I wrote it in, I say it's still fairly good and I'll try to get back to my normal length of words when ideas strike me.
As usual, thanks to RoyalInstinctz, SpartanBoi, Spartanboi and Sneakyracoon10 for your reviews. I hoped for a few more, but considering my inconsistency understable enough, and I hope to get more chapters out now that I have more time available on me.

That's pretty much it for this chapter. Don't have much else to say at the moment honestly.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter as usual.

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I'll see you all in the next one

Keep safe,

SpiritsOfTheWorld