Hey Everyone, hope you're enjoying the story so far. Glad to be back and updating again, I know its been a long, long time. Apologies to those I left waiting, especially those who really enjoyed my first story. Thanks for supporting me and stick around because there are some very good prewritten chapters waiting to be posted fairly regularly. Hoping to finish this story in the next couple of months.
As always, please favorite, follow, and review! Your feedback is what keeps the chapters coming. Now on with the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO, just my own OC's and plot ideas.
With every flap of the great bird's wings, the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. It was no longer pulled through the sky by the Olympian sun god Apollo, but rather by Helios, who had resumed his old duties after the war was completed. He was happy to have some of his old power restored—Helios was older than Apollo and being treated like a bench player by the Olympians was not something he enjoyed. Time passed on, and as opportunities presented themselves to Helios, so too was this eagle taking advantage of one.
The bird had been flying for several hours at this point, having reached the sea and being careful not to fly too low. It seemed determined to reach somewhere distant, as its ceaseless flight had lasted all morning. Its brown feathers and powerful wings danced with the wind, a testament to its experience in the air; a master aviator.
The eagle's wingspan spread wide, taking a break from its long flight by gliding through the Atlantic air. Its bright blue eyes glistened with speckles of infinity, as if the cosmos itself had come to life within its irises. The bird looked relaxed, resting after this distant leg in its journey. Suddenly, the air around the bird hummed with energy, and the eagle's eyes sprung with focus. The space before the bird rippled like waves on the ocean, and a dark sphere emerged before the bird, light refracting around it, almost in orbit.
The bird took a deep breath through its nose, tucked its wings in, and darted into the sphere, disappearing from the Atlantic air in an instant. It emerged in a massive chamber, arches holding up the massive frame of the room. The ceiling was alive, with galaxies spiraling around each other. It put it all into perspective for this eagle—one bird amongst thousands of galaxies.
Except the eagle was nowhere to be found. In its place stood a young man with a strong build, wearing a black leather tunic. His eyes were lightning blue, yet also resembled the ceiling above him. The eagle was among the cosmos and was the cosmos. A young man wise with experience of hardship and determination. This was Zade, son of Zeus.
Across the room was a man covered in the night sky, who had been waiting for the thunder god's son. He spread his arms and grinned.
"General Zade, it's good to see you again. How was your time on Earth?" Zade smiled back at him, approaching him for an embrace.
"It was nice being back, Commander Ouranous. It's been decades…" he replied to the ancient being, father of the Titans and Gaia's first lover. Ouranous emanated power, but it was just, as if fairly judging every particle he interacted with. The Primordial had once ruled over Earth, and had been through everything—even murdered by his own children for his tyrannical rule over life. Eons of reforming after Kronos' revolution had changed Ouranous, each additional renewed part of his spirit containing wisdom and insight that he didn't possess prior to his destruction.
His demeanor changed as his eyebrows furrowed in concern. He looked deeply into Zade's eyes, asking "And being back at camp, seeing the boy and all… how are you holding up?" Zade shrugged.
"I'm fine–I moved past that anger long ago. That child just doesn't know the terrors his father has inflicted upon so many of our loved ones," he said, his calm complexion concealing a fire still burning within. Ouranous simply nodded, quickly changing the subject; there were more important matters to discuss.
"Regardless of what happened on Earth, Oblivion is glad to have you back, and the court in Highgard needs your expertise. There's been a… situation of sorts."
"What kind of situation?" Zade replied, perplexed.
"The kind where one of our army's highest-ranking officers publicly decrying Chaos in front of her hundreds of soldiers. That kind," Ouranous said. Zade nodded, knowing exactly what had happened.
"I'll talk to her and we'll smooth things out. She's just been antsy and wants to take action rather than continue to wait."
The two beings continued to talk in Zade's chambers for another half hour, before making their leave of each other. Ouranous, making his grand exit as always, flashed away to speak with his father while Zade walked out of his room and into the open air of Oblivion. The view of the miniature world always took his breath away.
Zade's quarters sat above most of the main city of Highgard, so his view of the city was quite beautiful. But his view of New York while Percy's prisoner was nice too. What made Oblivion different was its place among the heavens. While Olympus sat atop the clouds, Highgard and Oblivion lived among the constellations of Greek Legend, and star systems Zade hadn't heard of until first arriving. Bridges between buildings spanned across rivers of stars and other distant worlds, where Chaos had access to all of them as their innate creator. This physics-defying world could exist nowhere but here, and allowed for easy access to the most distant parts of the universe. But there was an exception.
Earth became difficult to reach from Oblivion, despite it being Chaos' first and favorite creation—its chemistry and aura had fundamentally changed with the renaissance of many Primordial Gods, and the death of its millennia-long rulers. In fact, Zade's recent visit had taken years of planning and patience, requiring lots of time and energy from Ouranous' father.
Time flowed differently in Oblivion—it was not bound by the general laws of gravity within most of the Universe's nether regions, instead operating "in-between-the-lines" of spacetime. Because of this, Zade had spent decades here, yet had remained absence from Earth for not long at all. He liked this place–it was calm, and he had grown wise from the patience taught by the Nephilim and their creator.
He continued walking across an upper passageway connecting his chambers to the other members of the high court. After several minutes, he arrived at his destination, where he could hear yelling behind a large set of pitch-black doors. He waited for a moment before knocking, not wanting to interrupt the interaction before him, and ended up eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Do you not feel the same way?! We've been cooped up here for ages, training for a battle that seemingly will never arrive, wasting our time while Earth is held hostage by a lunatic and his possessed wife. Our home has been tainted, Luke!" yelled a familiar voice. A deeper voice responded with equal vigor.
"Thalia, we've known each other since before we even knew what it meant to be a demigod. Before we even knew about all this–Chaos, Oblivion, Primordials, even Olympus. Before Percy was even on the map, you and I were in the trenches, fighting to survive—"
"So you could start this whole cycle of misery?! So you could set in action the course of events that led to this fucked up situation in the first place!" Thalia screamed back. Zade gulped–this was getting intense.
"And you know what, Thalia, you died protecting me and Annabeth from the worst of it. I had to live with that for years while being tempted by that blasted Titan, before repeatedly being neglected by my godly parent, before I was old enough to understand what had happened. But I moved on and can see clearly now. I know we're not ready! If we go now, we will all die, and all hope is lost, and I'm pretty sure you know it too!" the man yelled back. Thalia had begun to speak but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Zade knew there was no point in letting them go on.
The door opened and Zade was met by the beet-red face of his sister Thalia, heated by her argument. He stared into her electric blue eyes, seeing constellations dance around her irises as they did in his own. She smiled and hugged her brother, a sense of relief washing over her and cleansing the frustration that had plagued her just moments beforehand.
They released from their embrace, and Zade turned to the man in the room—a tall, lean figure covered in scars, hardened by his experiences and wise beyond his years. He had a solemn look on his face, his playful personality a distant memory at this point. His light hair rested soft upon his head, and he nodded to Zade in his own form of greeting.
Luke Castellan had changed since his death decades ago. His redemption in the eyes of the world was a lesson to all in childhood, love, loss, and pain, and how easy it was for the tortured youth to be manipulated by powerful beings. Chaos had noted the honor looked displayed in his last moments, and had recruited him from Elysium where he rested after he destroyed the mad Titan, Kronos, forever.
"Luke, it's good to see you again. And sister, I've missed you," Zade said, smiling.
"Zade, I'm happy that you're home. And I'm sorry about what you heard and I'm sure what you've been hearing about me. I—" she trailed off, pride cutting her sentence short. Zade put his hand on her shoulder.
"Thalia, I get it. No need to explain yourself," he replied, knowingly. Thalia smiled, and the three former campers made their way into Thalia's living room, pulling up chairs around a glowing hearth. The striations in the wood flowed across the table like a stream in the woods, reflecting the age of the tree it came from. Thalia poured them all glasses of wine, and Zade felt right at home.
"I'm sure I speak for Thalia as well, but please Zade, how was your time on Earth?" Luke asked. Thalia and Luke hadn't been home in a lifetime, and had grown to miss not only the air, night sky, and creatures from home, but just being at camp like the good old days.
"Earth's as beautiful as I remembered. And being back at Camp was… strange. As fond as I was of that place for the short time I was there, its oddly familiar to how it used to be. As if the campers and those in charge are at peace, teaching them the lessons we were taught by Chiron and our other mentors years ago.
"But the strangest thing of all was how hard they were all training. There hasn't been a real threat to Percy or the Primordials since that last fight decades ago and they continue to groom these children into killing machines. Fuck, Percy's son took down their Strategos just moments before I flew home. He's a good kid, and powerful too, just like Percy used to be, but he doesn't know what really happened all those years ago. It's odd seeing him and these other young demigod children training like they are. And it's worrisome, too," Zade continued, his fingers fidgeting on the table, tapping along the striations in the wood. "I think they have big plans, and Thalia, I agree. I don't want to wait around to find out what they are."
His sister nodded, and Zade turned to Luke. The former teacher, mentor, and camper looked grimly at the table, choosing his next words carefully.
"I agree that time is of the essence. However, given our place in the universe time is something that's on our side, and I see no rush to push a decision from Chaos and Ouranous. Even the Nephilim feel that its not the right time to head back to Earth, without a sounder understanding of what we're up against," Luke said. Zade nodded, but Thalia rolled her eyes.
"That's the reason Zade went in the first place! Gods sake, Zade, make your case to Chaos and this thick-skulled moron over here!" she pleaded, glaring daggers at Luke. Zade shrugged, noticing Luke's unchanged affect, even after the huntress's insult.
"Honestly, I didn't learn all that much, other than observing Orion training with their Strategos Adrastos and some of the campers practicing their magic. There may be something there that we can take advantage of though… but until we discuss this further, I need some sleep. Warping here always takes the energy out of me." Zade pushed his chair out and stood up.
"Let's talk tomorrow. I think sleeping on this will help me out," he said. Luke and Thalia agreed, and Zade made their leave of the duo, walking out of her chambers and back across the wide passage back to his home.
He stopped along the way, gazing across Highgard and Oblivion beyond. Stars hummed with energy and life, illuminating the city like streetlights on the curbside. He never could get used to that view.
"Neither could I, despite having created it," a deep voice boomed behind him, and Zade knew immediately who it was. He turned and saw a dark sphere morphing into the silhouette of a man. It smiled and nodded at Zade, as if he understood all of his problems and assured they would be okay. Zade smiled back at his master.
"Chaos, it's good to be back," he said, saluting The Creator.
"Enough of that, Zade. The military formalities should be saved for just that. Let us talk as peers," he replied. Zade nodded. Although he had spent decades with this… man of sorts, it was hard to comprehend what exactly he was. His power was limitless, yet kept in check by his absolute discretion. He fought for peace but not directly, recusing himself from influencing how his universe would run its course through time.
"We should speak in the morning after you get some rest. We have lots to discuss, and the high court would like to be there as well," he said. Zade nodded.
"Agreed, sir. Looking forward to our discussion," he replied. Chaos nodded before dissipating into nothingness, leaving Zade alone on the passageway once more, contemplating how he would disseminate his time abroad and present it to the Nephilim and highest officers of Chaos' army. He made his way back to his room, disrobed, and collapsed on his bed, looking up at the heavens which danced on his ceiling, his thoughts drifting away into oblivion.
More to come soon, so stay tuned folks. Don't forget to write a review about what you liked and what you didn't and what your predictions are, or what you're looking forward to the most.