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Disclaimer: Don't own universe. Don't own book. Rick Riordan owns it. Why am I writing this, this is in the Percy Jackson fanfiction section.
Nonexistent bar that didn't work for the last chapter.
So, as it turns out. Discovering your godly parentage also means you start having weird dreams. I was in a grand treasury fit for a queen. The treasury was just as big as an apartment complex, the elevator at the end surely leading to more floors.
The treasures being kept in the treasury weren't weapons or the sort. There were beautiful jewels and other items. The pedestals lining the room carried a magical item each. I saw a necklace with a jewel the size of a fist. A feather, drab and dreary yet still exuding an aura similar to the others. There were other items, but I didn't have time to check them all before a peacock ran in the room.
The peacock was drab and dreary, just like the feather. It probably came from the peacock. The peacock strode over with the grace of royalty, studying each item. For a second I thought it owned all the items, but the peacock started staring at the feather. I shrugged and waited by the elevator. I tried to press the elevator button, but I couldn't touch it.
The peacock walked over to the elevator and pressed the button. I followed it into the elevator. The elevator had a bundle of buttons on the side. There was one that lead to 'The Garden of the Hesperides' and another that was called 'Randomiser.' The peacock pressed the latter.
The elevator didn't feel like it was moving. The elevator door closed and that was it. Great, I even had to wait in my dream. The peacock seemed annoyed at it too and shrieked. The voice of the peacock was lulling and I felt like I could sleep like a baby at any moment. The sound of cows mooing woke me up and I decided to close my dream ears to avoid falling back asleep. I had to see where I was.
I kept my mouth shut, partly because I didn't like the peacock and partly because I was afraid the peacock would hear me. The peacock was probably a magic peacock that could kill me with a scream.
The elevator stopped. The doors slowly opened and the peacock cautiously moved forward. I thought that we might have ended up in its mistress' bedroom because of the smell, but we weren't there. I moved along with the peacock, cautiously watching for any intruders. I sincerely hoped that whatever was out there couldn't hurt dream me.
From the looks of it, the floor was another treasury, but with even more precious treasures. There were doors in the back that must have lead to more. There were jewels the size of heads this time. Not only that, the pedestals had lights that showed the best parts of each item. There was a pile of golden apples laid in a basket, a bird cage holding various cuckoos and a fenced off area with cows. Strangely, the dung that the cows should've shat out didn't touch the floor. The dung disappeared, presumably to a toilet?
"You shouldn't be here." I turned around as fast as I could and took a step back. The peacock shuffled around nervously and looked as if it was getting ready to squawk for help. I looked ahead, battle ready. For some reason, the boar tusk was still in my pocket. I didn't know if it would work, but it was my only weapon. So there I was, preparing to fight for my life with a peacock by my side.
I couldn't describe the being before me without reducing her presence. She looked like a human girl with hair as silvery as the moon. Her eyes were piercing silver and she wore clothing with a silver theme. She really loved the colour huh? But, her appearance was the least of my worries. Just being near the thing was pressuring me more than I had ever felt.
"I can't believe Apollo managed to predict even this," the goddess muttered. It was a fair assumption, she mentioned Apollo. Considering the silver themed attire, she was probably Artemis. I still didn't know if she could see me, but before I could consider trying to sneak off she spoke again.
"You two should run along now," Artemis said, though it felt more like a command. The peacock squawked defiantly and I had a sudden urge to shut it up. Shoot it with the boar tusk and burn off all of its feathers. I didn't know why I felt that way. I've dealt with grumpy Selena who was far more annoying yet I felt like if it were her instead of the peacock, I'd kill the peacock any day.
I realised it was Artemis. Her presence was making me want to hunt. No, not hunt, kill or to massacre. I just wanted to kill the peacock, stop its squawking. I had regarded it as an impromptu ally against her, but now I wanted to kill it. I stayed my hand, remembering Orion.
He was a guy who went insane and started killing animals willy-nilly. He killed anything that moved until he was killed by a scorpion. People thought it was sent by Apollo who didn't want any men near his sister, but I always thought it was Artemis who sent the scorpion. She was the goddess of the hunt after all. She hated people who killed animals without reason. If you wanted to kill an animal, you had to do it with clear reason.
Artemis picked up one of the golden apples and held it up high. My attention was wholly drawn to it. I couldn't think of anything but the apple. Looking at the apple in all its glory, I couldn't help but reach for it. The apple had to be perfectly ripe, and its taste had to be amazing. It looked like the most wondrous treasure in the entire world. I had to have it.
Artemis tossed the apple towards the elevator and I followed. The peacock squawked behind me but had no chance of grabbing the apple. An arrow shot into the elevator button, breaking it. The elevator door opened and the apple rolled in. I rushed in and managed to grab it before the peacock did. I looked towards Artemis, feeling immense gratitude towards her.
"The golden apple will help you, use it when you most need it." I stared at Artemis in shock, breaking out from my trance. "You know its power firsthand. I think you would know how best to utilise it."
I wanted to speak out, make some sort of excuse as to why I was here. I wanted to ask her questions about gods and their legends, if every greek story was real. She stared blankly in response and turned to leave. My eyes followed her to the back of the room. She opened the doors that laid back there and left.
Suddenly, my vision moved. I felt powerful, just like the lightning crash, but even more powerful. My presence felt like a shard of the moon and I could sense the constellations in the sky. I could sense the moon and its dark side. I lamented on the moon's dark side, forever peppered by meteorites. I felt it sad that such a wonderful thing was forced to hide its ugly side away.
I realised I was watching things from Artemis' point of view. She was walking through the next room, which was a hallway. I was lucky that I couldn't hear her thoughts as I was sure I would disintegrate upon doing so. I remembered the tale of Dionysus' birth, where Zeus showed off his true godly form and disintegrated Dionysus' mom. Artemis' thoughts would surely count.
"How cautious of you," Artemis shared her thoughts with me. I was confused, very much so.
"How should I address you?" I thought. Artemis thought back in laughter. She laughed a few tiny laughs before answering me.
"You may call me whatever you wish."
"Is Arty okay?" I stammered. I don't know why, Arty was the first name I came to. I could've went with Lady Artemis or Milady, but I went with Arty. Good job Flak.
Artemis thought on it a while. "It is okay young one." I thanked her on that.
"You must be wondering why I brought you here." Arty opened the hallway door and showed me why.
A weapon unbefitting of a queen, but befitting of a king. It was shaped like a lance with a serrated edge. The lance crackled with electricity, and thunder could be heard rumbling inside. It was made from a material I had no business knowing. The lance was mounted on a pedestal, angled upwards into the hallway.
"Zeus' house?
"Not exactly," Arty answered me. She deliberated on it but did not continue. She looked at the lance, focusing her vision on it. Because of that, my vision was filled with the lightning lance.
My mind focused on it, trying to evaluate the lance with all its power. I knew it wouldn't work, but I tried anyway. The lightning lance was incomprehensible to me. Unimaginable. I couldn't tell how it crackled with lightning or how it managed to emanate the sound of thunder.
"You heroes. Always delving into danger headfirst." Arty chided me. I knew the only reason why I survived trying to evaluate the lightning lance was because I was in Arty's head. She protected me.
"If you don't mind me asking-"
"I don't."
"Thank you Arty." It felt weird using that nickname. It felt disrespectful, as if I was calling my mom by her first name. Though, I suppose she was greater in position.
"What exactly is that? I thought it was a lance of lightning, maybe Zeus throws it at people in the form of lightning bolts. But, after I tried to evaluate it, I couldn't understand it."
"Its power is naturally beyond human comprehension. To put it within a demigod's knowledge, think of it as a focused lightning strike. The original lightning bolt would be more akin to a focused nuke. This lance of lightning cannot be called a lightning bolt."
"What's the difference?"
"The astrapí are gifts from Zeus to the other gods. Most primarily, his closest family members, like his children. I have one myself. Any non-mortal can use an astrapí, but it is exceptionally dangerous. The original lightning bolt is what we call Kyrios."
For the first time in our conversation, Arty spoke greek. I could, for some reason, understand it. I suppose it was from being in Arty's head. Anyway, astrapí means lightning and Kyrios means master. I suppose Zeus would want to show off his master weapon. With that in mind, I wandered about the weapons of other gods. If they had weapons as powerful as Kyrios.
With the reveal of that knowledge, I decided to evaluate the astrapí again. I looked at it and called out its name. The astrapí reacted violently, trembling with power. Despite that, I continued to evaluate it. It was made by an elder cyclopes, one of the few remaining ones alive. Forged in an underwater volcano in a batch of 4 other astrapí. I still couldn't identify its material despite having the ability to look into its history. The astrapí shook, almost flying off the pedestal it was on. It was then that I decided to stop. I didn't know why I could see its history. The only difference was that I knew its name.
"Flak Tartrum, it is time for you to wake up," Arty snapped me out of my thoughts. "Be careful with your newfound knowledge and keep everything you learn from here a secret."
My viewpoint switched back to my dream self. I silently thanked Arty again and prepared myself to wake up. I thought it would've been quick, like how I came into this dream. It wasn't. The first thing I saw when I came back to my dream body was a bolt of lightning. The lightning bolt pierced my body.
I didn't feel pain, I was empowered once again. I felt my body being pulled along by the lightning bolt as it streaked pass the walls of Zeus' house. My body was pulled along through the house and rushed down a mountain. The mountain was what I assumed was Mount Olympus. The lightning bolt streaked along various cities and I realised I couldn't see Olympus anymore. It was as if Olympus had never existed at all. I recognised some of the cities as the lightning bolt passed through a familiar forest. It travelled closer and closer to the forest and shot towards a car. My actual body was on the car.
I woke up with several people looking at me. There was Selena and two other guys. The first guy was a teenage boy who looked older than me and he had an eyepatch. He was clearly still stuck in 6th grade. The other person was a middle-aged man. He had a confident look about on his face.
"You took your time waking up Flak," Selena complained. I jumped off the car roof and waved high to the guys.
"You snore." Selena grabbed the earring from my hand I still hadn't given her back. She attached it to her ear and sighed. That wasn't what I saw however. I saw her reaching into a golden apple and pulling out an earring from inside it. I still had the golden apple, but Selena couldn't interact with it.
"Anyway, I wanna do some introductions. I'm Franz and you must be the new kid. That's Cull, by the way." Franz reached out his hand for me to shake. I tossed the golden apple to my other hand and shook his hand.
"Franz, take care of the car while I check on Selena's and Flak's injuries," Cull spoke up. Franz obeyed his order without question.
"Cull, you have no idea what happened here. The Erymanthian Boar charged at us out of nowhere!" Selena talked animatedly, while Cull checked her wounds. She was much more lively with Cull than with me. I suppose it was because she actually knew him.
"Hey, why did the boar disintegrate?" I asked quick before Selena could exaggerate the story. Cull continued checking her wounds as he answered my question.
"The boar was a monster right? When monsters die, they disintegrate except for a singular reward. That's your prize. What did you get?" I took out the boar tusk and held it up. Cull finished checking Selena's wounds and asked for the tusk. I passed it to him hesitantly.
"A boar tusk that can shoot lightning. I think it can shoot 3 times a day." Just like my curse, I thought.
"Did you evaluate it?" Cull asked nonchalantly.
"I guess. What is evaluation anyway? I just took a look at it and I understood what it did." Cull nodded, as if he totally expected me to understand what I did. He began to inspect my shoulder and apply medicine.
"That's something every demigod has. Otherwise how would we best utilise our prizes?" He smiled as he bandaged up my shoulder. Selena went into the car and rummaged around. She brought up a small backpack and tossed a packet towards Cull.
"This is Ambrosia. Food of the gods. It has medicinal properties, so you should eat one." He handed me a packet filled with golden cubes. I fished one up and popped one in my mouth.
"Good huh? Always tastes like your favorite food," Cull noticed me standing there in shock and spoke. Or at least that was what Selena told me once we reached the city. I was in shock, of course I didn't notice.
I didn't get to taste my 'favorite food' until later. What I did taste almost ruined my life. I can't describe it to say the least. Instant gratification with overwhelming pleasure. Eating it felt like it hit all the spots. I wouldn't be surprised if my tongue exploded from the immense taste. I guess you could call it, the most wondrous taste in all the world, the ideal taste. It had to be golden apple.
I realised the instant I finished it, I had to have more. I tried to take a bite out of my golden apple, only to taste my hand instead. I stared confusedly at my hand for awhile and I think I might have tried again if it weren't for Arty snapping me out of it.
"Now you know the true danger of the golden apple. All other foods will be insufficient for any that take a bite. But do not worry, I will erase that memory. You will never know the golden apple from ambrosia ever again," Arty reprimanded me. She almost left without a trace, leaving me one last message. "When you meet my Hunters, do not mention my name. They'd become quite jealous."
I couldn't pay attention to that last part. It was committed to memory, but I didn't care. I could only think of the taste I lost. That's why I can't tell you what it tasted like, I don't remember it. I could only guess what it tasted like, I just knew it was better than everything else.
"The car's fixed, let's go!" Franz shouted at us. Cull and Selena both went in the back. I managed to get shotgun with Franz. Would the front seats both count as shotgun?
Franz looked over to me, grinning. "You're going to love Epineio!"
I put the golden apple in my bag, hoping to never see it again. I thought back, rationally this time, to what Arty said. She said I now knew the true danger of the golden apple and I certainly did. There was a reason behind my never wanting to see the golden apple again. I was afraid I would take a bite. I knew I couldn't bite it, but the fear still laid present in me.
Even though Arty erased the memory, I felt I wouldn't be able to resist taking a bite out of it. And if I did take a bite, I would probably go insane. Get into a state of depravity and do all I can to have some more. Forget my life and live a living hell where all I could do was search for golden apples. Thanks, Arty.