CHAPTER 1: THE PROPHECY
[UNDISCLOSED LOCATION]
There were two beings sitting in what seemed to make-shift thrones made up of rough marble, although in the dark cavernous room it was hard for me to make out exactly. I was hidden in the recesses of the room observing the two. After many years of having demigod dreams it was easy to discern that this was one of those dreams. I couldn't put my finger on it, but the two beings had a powerful energy resonating off of them, it was different from the energy the Olympians gave off. It seemed strange , which was saying something because the Olympians were weird . I was snapped back to the scene at hand when I heard a voice.
"I almost feel sorry for the boy, to make it this far and still be pestered by the immortals and their issues" a deep, male voice boomed.
A husky feminine voice replied, "I'm inclined to agree brother. Being a part of not one, but two great prophecies is a lot for anyone especially a demigod. Unfortunately, I don't believe the fates are done with him yet". The woman sounded sad, almost empathetic, as if she could understand just how it felt to have experienced a life ruined by the fates.
"Hmm yes it would appear that the sea-spawn has many trials and tribulations ahead of him" The male being agreed.
My heart suddenly began palpitating, sea spawn. There were only a few possible people who could fit that category…
I was once again snapped back to their conversion when the woman responded to the man, this time her tone was angrier.
"Do not call him that! You and I both know what the Olympians had conspired to do!" she paused, and her tone softened. "I apologise brother, the mere thought of the usurpers using our champion angers me. Although the I did not support the rule of the titans, the gods are no better."
The male being simply sighed as if he had heard his sentiment for the millionth time. "Let us be on our way sister, we have dwelt here for far too long. Even our most secluded spots are becoming common knowledge to others."
With this the two being rose from their pseudo thrones. The man pulsed with a fiery light and the woman with a silvery one as they both flashed out of the room. Leaving me with a bajillion thoughts swirling through my mind as my vision began to darken indicating the end of the dream.
[CAMP HALFBLOOD – 14 AUGUST]
I woke to the feeling of someone poking my face while saying my name over and over.
"Percy, Percy, Percy, Percy, Percy, Peeeeeeeeeercy" a voice said, dragging my name out the last time while poking my face extra hard.
I opened my eyes, slightly irritated with the method of my awakening.
"Thalia, I swear the gods if you poke me one- "I paused at the sight before me. "Hey Kayla, I didn't expect to see you up this early on a Saturday, your pigtails look adorable by the way".
Kayla beamed with pride and grinned at the praise, with her two front teeth missing I couldn't help but smile at my younger sister. Kayla was my sister from the godly side and mortal side of the family. The Big Three had voided the oath when it came to light that only Hades had abstained from having children. Five years ago, when I was about 15 my father Poseidon had gotten a lot closer to my mother, Sally Jackson. She fell pregnant again. Of course, I was ecstatic for a sibling but worried of the danger that could befall Kayla. She had a scent stronger than mine at her age and I could already tell that she was going to be an extremely powerful demigod. Hence why she was at camp at such a young age. She had the same sea green eyes and jet-black hair as I did courtesy of our father. Although her hair ran down till the small of her back.
"Percy its already 10am, you missed breakfast! Anyways Chiron would like to see you at the big house" her green eyes narrowed at me in suspicion.
For a five-year-old Kayla had a pretty condescending tone and I pouted at the fact that I missed breakfast. I was starving. But curiosity overcame my need for food as I wondered what Chiron could possibly need to see me for.
I put my hand on Kayla's head and patted her "Alright thanks Kay, I'll head on over".
She gave me a nod and one more smile before she turned and zoomed out of the cabin in search of something to occupy her ADHD brain. I got out of bed, brushed my teeth and hopped in the shower. After I dressed I began my walk over to the Big House. Even though I had seen the camp with all the new cabins I still couldn't get over how different it looked. The original twelve cabins were arranged in a loose "U", each cabin reflecting the gods and goddesses' styles and domains. After the Titan war they had added more cabins, in accordance to the wish I made instead of taking immortality. In retrospect I was still bitter with regret from turning it down. At the time I had rejected the offer for my lover. Not wanting to let her grow old alone. I chuckled at the irony of the situation, seeing as it was Annabeth that now held immortality, even though technically she could fall in battle. I didn't blame her for joining the hunters though. I was missing for a long eight months when Hera kidnapped and wiped my memory, Annabeth was unsure as to where to go for help. Lady Artemis had promised her that if she joined the hunters, they would work tirelessly to find me. Of course, Annabeth had taken the deal. Willing to do anything to help me. Except now she is bound by oath to forsake the company of all men, if she were to break that oath her soul would cast into the river Styx for eternity. This broke my heart entirely. I couldn't help but feel anger towards Artemis for taking my wise girl from me.
Finally, I reached the porch of the Big House and rapped on the door. Chiron opened and smiled, his eyes wrinkled in the corners, however the smile seemed somehow pained.
"Percy my boy, it's good to see you've finally woken up. Mr. D and I have a few things we would like to discuss with you…"
"Hey Chiron. Is everything alright?" I asked, concern evident in my voice.
"That is still yet to be determined. Come in, come in. Let's move from prying ears." Chiron ushered me inside and gestured for me to take a seat.
I sat on the cough and nodded in greeting to Mr. D who sat opposite to me. He grunted in reply and continued reading a magazine on wine.
"So, what's going on Chiron?" I asked.
"My idiot half-brother visited last night and informed me that his oracle will be issuing a prophecy today and that you were to go and receive it at noon" Dionysus replied without lifting his eyes from his magazine.
"Apollo is issuing me another prophecy. But why? I'm already 20, aren't I getting a bit old for quests Chiron?"
Chiron explained his answer easily "You see normally demigods leave camp when they get to your age making them unavailable for quests. However, you've been here teaching sword fighting Percy. There's no actual age limit on quests."
What Chiron had said made sense. Usually demigods were old enough to fend for themselves so they went to work or study.
Finally, I asked the obvious question. "When can I go see Rachel?"
"She actually got back from mortal duties this morning; you can go now to see her." Chiron replied.
I rose to meet Rachel at her cave. As I made my way over to Rachels cave I couldn't stop thinking about the dream I had last night and now Apollos new prophecy for me. A small part of me was excited to go on a quest like I usually would in the old days.
I finally made it to the cave and hollered past the curtains by the entrance. "HEY RACHEL ITS ME PERCY, WE NEED TO TALK"
"Dude seriously, why are you shouting" a voice behind me calmly responded.
I whirled around to see the familiar red head with freckles, although they'd begun to fade as she got older.
I smiled warmly and greeted.
"Hey Rach, it's great to see you. Listen there's some things we need to talk about."
"Hey Perce." She said happily before her face grew serious. "Yeah Apollo already told me what needs to happen, I have to give you a prophecy at noon." She said while lifting her wrist to check her watch "speaking of which its already Twelv-"
Rachels body suddenly stiffened and her eyes glowed a dark green whilst smoke billowed from her mouth.
Rachel began to speak but it wasn't her voice. It sounded like three raspy voices speaking at once:
"I am the Oracle of Delphi, speaker of prophecies of Lord Phoebus Apollo. Step forward and receive your quest hero".
I had fought insanely powerful immortals and even been through Tartarus but somehow this still made me afraid. I nervously stepped forward.
Rachel began to issue the prophecy:
"When the bane of Kronos reaches twenty-one
He shall hear the truth from the faded moon and sun
In a blind rage
The serpent bull shall be slayed
The Lord of lightning decides
Take his roots
Or end his days
To restore the lost child's power
A pantheon of immortals must be devoured
To begin the legend of old
Seek out Luna and Sol"
Just before Rachel fell to the ground, I caught her. I carried her bridal style to the big house and laid her on the couch. I sat down once again with Chiron and recited the prophecy to him. Chiron seemed to age as every line was delivered.
"It's pretty obvious what this means, Zeus is going to kill me, and I don't even know why" I said dejectedly.
"Perseus you and I both know that prophecies are difficult to interpret and don't often mean exactly what is said."
What Chiron said was somewhat comforting but knowing that my 21st birthday was only four days away was extremely worrying.
"Chiron why do you look so perplexed?"
"If I'm being honest my boy it's because there are some parts of the prophecy that alarm me". Chiron confessed.
"What is it?" I enquired. For it to worry him this much it must have been serious…
"If my suspicions are correct then we are in danger. However, it's highly unlikely that they're still alive."
"Who?" As I asked the prophecy line clicked in place 'faded moon and sun', 'Luna and Sol'. It was so obvious even a kelp head like me figured it out.
"Bbb-but how is that possible?!
What Chiron said next rung in my ears as if the words climbed into my brain and tapped danced on it.
"The Titans of the moon and sun never left."
[THREE DAYS LATER]
I woke up tired yet again after another night of restless sleep. I climbed out of bed and tip toed to the shower. Careful not to wake my baby sister up. I gently closed the door and turned the water on to run warm. As I waited, I examined myself in the bathroom mirror. Not much had changed except my facial features had become a lot more adult like. My jawline and cheekbones were more prominent, and my hair had grown even shaggier and messier and hung past my ears. Over the months I had bulked up slightly and stood at a height of 186cm, I was muscular but still lean, much like a swimmer. As I continued to inspect myself, I noticed the water was letting off steam, suddenly I had an idea as to who to ask about the prophecy. Eventually I thought against contacting the hunter purely because I was still too broken up about it to speak to her. I hopped in the hot shower and felt instantly rejuvenated from the water.
After my shower I went to breakfast with Kayla in tow, still rubbing the dust out her eyes and yawning. After breakfast I began to make my way over to the practice arena to begin training the next generation of campers. I secretly hoped that they would never need the training I offered them. Training campers reminded me a lot of what Daedalus did when he was at camp for a short period of time. Hell, I even have the exact same hellhound, I wondered how Nico was treating her. In the past few years the camp had grown alot. Having one on one training sessions with each camper took up the entire day. I watched the sun as it was sinking low into the horizon. Just then horn blew for dinner. I noticed that there was an extra person attending Chiron and Mr.D. I headed to my table to join Kayla. Just as I was about to take my seat Chiron motioned for me to sit by him. So, I rose and joined the two immortals, scratch that three immortals, as it became obvious who it was. His usual cheery attitude was absent as a now much more sombre expression sat on his face.
"Good Evening Lord Apollo"
"Sup Perce, what's up with the formal greeting?" Apollo arched his eyebrow while he enquired.
"Oh, it's just you seem pretty miffed about something" I replied quickly
Apollo simply sighed "Dad wishes to punish me after issuing you your prophecy. He doesn't understand that the fates will for things to happen as they do. Even I do not like the premise of the prophecy, but I cannot challenge fate."
"So why are you here anyway?" I asked, thinking to myself that it should have been my first question.
"My father requests your presence at an emergency meeting on Olympus. He wants to hear the prophecy from you"
Apollo suddenly looked a lot more nervous. Even Dionysus looked uncomfortable.
"Well if it's at Lord Zeus' request I guess I have no choice." As I finished my sentence thunder rumbled across the sky as confirmation.
"So, when do we leave?"
Apollo pondered the question with a finger on his chin. "I'll come by to pick you up before my duties begin tomorrow morning. Sound good?"
I just nodded as Apollo began to glow gold as he flashed back to Olympus. I finally sat down at my table and finished dinner while wondering what would happen to me on my 21st birthday.
-- August 14 (The next day) --
I woke up well before the sun was out and got ready for Apollo to pick me up. As I was finishing up, I heard a knock at the door. I opened the door to see Apollo grinning like a mad man before grabbing me in a bear hug.
"Happy Birthday little cousin. Now I can finally take you drinking with Hermes and myself!" Apollo seemed very excited at this prospect.
"Thanks Apollo, are we going in your sports car?" I asked nervously. Apollo didn't drive a normal sports car.
Apollo nodded excitedly and pulled out the keys to his Maserati Spyder and clicked the button, with a chime the doors both opened, and I hopped in. As we began our ascent, I realised something.
"Hey Apollo, how come you didn't just flash us to Olympus?" I asked sceptically.
"Well to be completely honest I wanted to just hang out a bit before the meeting" He was fidgeting with his steering wheel.
I noticed his nervousness but decided not to press on it. I chose to rather enjoy the view from so high up. For some reason I felt a lot more calmer flying in Apollo's incarnation of the sun than I did last time. I chalked it up to my age difference at the time, but something told me that wasn't it.
"You shall know your heritage soon my child" a female voice murmured.
I whipped my head around in search of the source of the sound. I saw Apollo with his eye focused on the clouds, clearly, he didn't hear the voice. He did seem uncharacteristically quiet since he spoke earlier. Something didn't feel right. We sat in uncomfortable silence the rest of the drive.
Within a few minutes we had arrived at Olympus right outside the throne room. Apollo helped me out and begun walking up the grand steps towards the humongous golden double doors. He grew to his Olympian height and opened the doors easily. As I walked in, I took in the massive room. No matter how many times I see it, it still takes my breath away. The ceiling of the room was easily 20 meters up and the white marble columns ran down the sides of the room with a smoky marble floor. The thrones were placed in a "U" shape like the cabins at camp. Zeus and Hera were at the middle as King and Queen of the gods. I noticed the mood of the room was tense. As I reached Zeus throne a bowed deeply at his feet and then at Heras.
Zeus voice boomed throughout the room "Rise boy."
I stood to my full height. My father was smiling warmly at me. I tried to look at most of the Olympians eyes until my eyes landed on Aphrodite. To say she was beautiful was an understatement. She appealed to you as your idea of a perfect woman. I couldn't contain myself as she winked at me, I blushed.
Just the Zeus once again bellowed "THIS MEETING IS NOW IN SESSION"
Poseidon just rolled his eyes at his brother's theatrics.
"It has come to my attention that my foolish son has issued you with a rather large prophecy. Recite it." Zeus commanded me.
"As you wish my Lord" I simply responded as I began to recite the prophecy.
"When the bane of Kronos reaches twenty-one
He shall hear the truth from the faded moon and sun
In a blind rage
The serpent bull shall be slayed
The Lord of lightning decides
Take his roots
Or end his days
To restore the lost child's power
The pantheon of immortals must be devoured
To begin the legend of old
Seek out Luna and Sol"
The tension in the throne room could be cut with a knife. Almost everyone in the room had somewhat grasped what the prophecy entailed. Zeus was so red in the face he made Apollos cattle look grey. Athena was ready to say something before was cut off by a flash of light. Standing behind me was a tall man and a woman slightly shorter than he. They wore hooded cloaks, but their energy felt familiar. When the man spoke it clicked, this was the two beings who I dreamt about.
Thunder shook the room.
"WHO DARES INTERRUPT AN OLYMPIAN COUNCIL MEETING!"
Zeus' bolt was humming with energy.
"Peace cousin Zeus, we bring no ill will upon your council" the woman replied.
Zeus looked startled "Who are you?" then with a more disrespectful tone he continued "You're no cousin of mine woman. Identify yourself!"
The lady simply smiled and removed her hood "Perhaps this will help"
Artemis was the first to react. "My Lady!? Is it really you?" she asked in total shock. Artemis continued "but that not possible, you faded Lady Selene."
What followed can only be described as utter speechlessness. Only topped off by the fact that Helios followed soon after and revealed himself as well. The further shocked Olympians were still speechless.
"Bbbbut how? We watched you two fade" Athena stammered.
Helios begun to happily explain. "When power shifted to Rome a while back the romans saw fit to cease praising Selene and me. This resulted in us slowly losing our power. Eventually we knew we would fade so we came up with a plan to imbue our strength in a child we would have together. So we faked our deaths and lived on in secret with just enough power to remain immortal. With Apollo and Artemis controlling our domains we were able to stay alive in the hidden memories of humankind. Until recently we had a child who was born of two titans. It was prophesised that a child born from us would be destined to kill the king of the gods and usurp his throne. Of course, you knew that Zeus, which is why you and your Council did what you did. In fear of our child you stripped him of his immortality as a baby and let him live his life as an adopted demigod child of Olympus"
Zeus bristled and crackled with energy "I fear no one , especially not some third generation minor Titan" he sneered.
I was extremely quiet until that moment. "Lord Zeus if this child posed such a threat why not slay him?" I knew what I asked was messed up, but I was truly curious. Besides it's something he'd do.
Selene answered for Zeus. "Oh, he definitely tried but the fates have willed that our child live and thus preventing Zeus from killing him."
I finally had one last question… "Where is your child now? "
Helios simply smiled a warm smile and looked me in my eyes. "Well hero of Olympus, it is none other than you. Perseus Jackson."
I burst out laughing. This must have been some cosmic joke but nobody else was laughing. I looked at my father and he looked extremely sad, depressed even. My heart sunk.
"Dad?" I asked nervously
Poseidon couldn't meet my eyes.
"I'm sorry my boy. I truly am."
"I-I, I'm adopted? Is Sally even my mother?"
Poseidon's shoulders just sank. "We wiped her memory and fiddled with it. We let her believe she was your birth mother. We took your immortality and I adopted you as my son. The sea is your birth right my son. "
I couldn't believe the scene unfolding before me. A lone tear raced down my cheek.
I whispered softly that nobody heard "You lied to me."
"Enough of this we mu- "Zeus attempted to speak but my rage was boiling over.
"SILENCE! YOU DO NOT SPEAK ZEUS!!" I shouted so how hard my throat hurt.
Zeus eyes widened in shock before I continued speaking. I asked once softly "Who knew?"
At first nobody responded until I shouted again "WHO KNEW??!!"
The throne room shook as I used my 'father's earth shaker powers. Their silence spoke volumes. They all knew. Nobody could meet my eyes. Poseidon attempted to rise from his throne. I noticed this and shook with anger. "SIT DOWN!" I roared. I stretched my hand out and water materialised in my hand took the shape of a two-meter harpoon, I froze the water and threw it with all my might, it embedded itself in Poseidon's shoulder, pinning him to his throne. Poseidon groaned in pain "My son please don't do this" I replied coldly "I'm no son of yours". The rest of the gods watched in fear whilst the titans watched with sick fascination at their son's raw strength.
Zeus managed to collect himself enough to stand up and point his master bolt at me. Instead of throwing it, electricity collected around my wrists binding me and my powers.
"Just because we can't kill you does not make us powerless boy" Zeus spat.
"We shall do what we did yet again, this time we shall make you mortal."
My eyes bulged at the thought of being mortal. Once again, the room began shaking, this time with more intensity. The Olympians with the exception of Poseidon all stood up and joined hands. They began chanting in Ancient Greek. Slowly I felt my strength wane.
"Selene, Helios, leave now!" I warned them.
They proceeded to hesitantly flash out of the room that was close to collapsing. The room shook so violently that the tank behind the thrones holding Bessie the Ophitourus broke. My eyes widened at the sight of him. Suddenly a line of the prophecy fell into place "The serpent bull shall be slayed". I knew it was wrong to consider what I was thinking but I was simply too angry to care. I used all my remaining strength to snap the cuffs holding me and ran to Bessie. I dragged him over to Hestia's hearth with riptide drawn at the animal's throat. All the Olympians were dead still.
Athena spoke first "Child I know you are upset but what you are about to do will change the fate of Olympus for ever. He who slaughters the ophiotaurus and burns its entrails will gain the strength to topple Olympus."
I couldn't help but smile at the thought. "I have no issue destroying an empire that lied to me my whole life. Hear me 'O great Olympians I swear on the river Styx to enact revenge upon all those who did me wrong." Thunder boomed above.
I brought riptide to slice the animal open, letting its entrails spill out into the hearth. Bessie died quickly. Zeus' voice boomed "Heed my words child, on this day you have chosen to betray Olympus. With the power you possess from slaying the ophiotaurus the council deems you a threat to the pantheon. You are banished from Olympus to live the rest of your life as a mortal." he released a bolt so powerful that it ripped the ceiling off the throne room. The winds grabbed me and shot me into the skies. My Vision faded to darkness.