XI

PERCY

Percy could feel her eyes on him as he stared up at the dark skies. He could almost imagine the whole world watching him now as if he was a ticking time bomb about to blow—watching for the spread of an angel's blackened wings.

He looked back at Artemis now. He caught a glimpse of something in her eyes…Was it fear? He couldn't quite tell. The whole scene before him seemed so surreal as if he was watching from a distance—the whole world seemed so distant to him now. Because now he knew what he was going to become…

"I won't let him take over." The words came out of his mouth firm and cold, but it almost felt like it came from the lips of a stranger. Inside Percy was afraid—he was afraid…and desperate. He could almost see the darkness around him as if it were a living thing, wrapping its tendrils of emptiness around him, molding into him, sinking beneath his skin, becoming him.

The silence pursued. Artemis averted her eyes from his, staring at a space at the corner of her eye. It might have been just a trick of the light of the night sky but Percy thought he caught a glimpse of a lone tear trickle from her cheek.

The goddess broke the stillness, standing up. "I won't either, Percy. But…but how can we stop him?" there was a tremor in her voice as she bit her lip. She hastily wiped her eyes and looked up at him again, this time composed—at least outwardly.

Percy looked up at the night sky again. He didn't answer her question because he himself didn't know the answer.

…

It was dark. It was so dark. That night was one of the darkest nights Percy ever experienced.

When Percy felt that he had laid there in his bed for more than half the night, the nightmare began.

He was running again—running along with two other shadowy figures. They were racing across a blackened horizon again, through the graveyard of heroes. Trampling weapons, helms, and bones alike, trying to get away…

Trying to get away from what?

He looked back…and saw a blood-stained black citadel rising from the earth. It was so tall so huge that it seemed to loom over them as if it was hot on their heels. It rose to touch the sky and kept on rising. There was a throne that stood at the top of the highest tower, on the dark balcony. It gleamed crimson red in the dark skies...under the gaze of the blood red moon.

No matter how hard they ran, the tower seemed to chase after them like a moving stronghold—something almost sentient...something evil and unearthly.

The Throne...There was someone sitting on it. But Percy couldn't make out who it was—only its glowing red eyes and the black trident it held in its hands. It reached out a hand toward Percy as if to grab him and dark tendrils shrieked as they streaked toward the three running figures.

Percy stopped and drew his sword. It wasn't Riptide. His gladius gleamed gold and bright...weird, where was his old sword? "Go! I'll hold them off!"

Someone screamed. He looked behind him but there was nobody there. He was alone now.

"Yes, you're all alone." Percy jumped at the voice and whipped around, slashing with his sword frantically. But there was no one there. Then the tendrils reached him and he was pulled along with frightening speed toward the black fortress. He was pulled before the king at his highest tower.

Black tendrils grasped him tightly like thousands of hands holding him down. He cried out as he was slammed into the ground, forced to kneel before the Dark Majesty. Lightning flashed overhead. Thunder rumbled. The Sky began to cry.

Percy looked up and gasped. The one sitting on the throne was him. "You—!"

The king smiled crookedly. "Welcome to Hell's Necropolis, young demigod." Its eyes gleamed the color of blood. "It's game over for you, Jason Grace."

The one atop the throne was none other than himself. He stared horrorstruck at his darkened figure, at the glowing red eyes, at the evil presence that wrapped itself around himself. The gold gladius dropped from his hands and clattered to the ground. "How can this be?" he heard himself whisper. "You're the Fallen One?"

Percy stared intently at himself. This was a vision of the future...He was going to become that thing. His view shifted suddenly and he was now gazing on from the side. He saw a blonde-haired boy kneeling before his darker self. So he was Jason...

The king turned to him suddenly as if he had just seen him. "You don't have much longer, Perseus Jackson. Some time soon. Very soon. I'll have control of you and you will be powerless to stop me." He raised his trident towards the skies. Eerie screams began to echo around them.

A chasm beside the citadel began to open and things came out. Things that weren't any monsters Percy had ever seen. "This is the end for your friends. You now have no one except me." He heard his darker form laugh. "But don't worry, with the two of us, Gaea doesn't stand a chance." A sadistic grin crossed his features. "Now, let's begin our reign at the top shall we?"

…

"Ha—!"

Percy woke with a start. The sunlight streamed through his eyes as he started to rise. He looked around him bewildered at the sight of not his bedroom back at Camp Jupiter but the upper deck of a small ship.

"Hey, sleepy head." Thalia exclaimed cheerily. "You've woken up. Had a nightmare? Well, it's time for breakfast."

He sat up. "Where am I now? This isn't my bedroom." He cracked his neck and stretched. What a dream...

"We're on a ship and we're heading to Canada." Hazel replied, amused. "You overslept so we had to bring you in on a stretcher since we couldn't wake you." She laughed nervously as if there was something she wasn't telling him.

"Oh…" Percy grinned sheepishly. "Sorry." What were they not telling him?

"Next time set the alarm clock." Artemis reprimanded, smiling as she lightly punched his shoulder. She yawned and stretched, rubbing her eyes. It didn't look like she slept well either. The goddess looked tired as she sat down beside Percy, waiting expectantly at Hazel for the meal.

"Frank, come over and eat breakfast." Hazel called to the other demigod who was manning the boat. He had a bulky build but a boyish face—like a panda maybe. "Percy, this is Frank. Frank, Percy." The two nodded to each other before getting their food.

"There are usually three people on a quest but Lupa convinced Octavian to make this an exception." Artemis commented offhandedly. "I wonder if the fates will allow it."

"Nothing bad has happened so far." Thalia offered, hopefully, but her tone didn't seem convincing.

"Don't jinx it." Hazel chided as she handed each a coke and a bag of junk food.

"Okay." Percy said, his curiosity getting the better of him. "What's happened since I was out? I thought I wasn't going to go on a quest until I received proper training." He looked at each but they averted their eyes. "C'mon."

There was a pause. Then Artemis spoke up, "The Camp is under siege. The spy inside our ranks is leaking information to Gaea. The Consuls took action—declared an immediate retaliation and a quest. We had to sneak out of the Camp."

Percy took this in. "So, how long do we have? What's the deadline for this quest?"

"The Feast of Fortuna. About a week from now."

"Oh…right." Percy felt like slapping himself. Of course. He knew that. He bit into a sandwich, thinking furiously. "What are we supposed to do on this quest anyway?"

Thalia sighed. "That's Seaweed Brain for you: Clueless"

Percy grunted. "Whatever, Pine Cone."

"To stop Alcyoneus and to take back our eagle that was lost." Frank explained. "Maybe get back all of the fifth cohorts imperial gold, too—if we're lucky."

"Alcyoneus?"

"The giant that lives in Canada. He's supposed to be invincible in his homeland because he's away from the Olympian's turf: America." Hazel explained darkly, her hands were trembling. "He's the Anti-Pluto, created by Gaea to take over the Underworld."

"So he's invincible while he's at Canada." Percy said slowly. "And we're going to fight him...in Canada…where he's invincible…" Something seemed very wrong with their current plan...

"We're winging it right now." Hazel shrugged, albeit abashed. "We don't even know where this giant is in Canada."

"Would you know, my lady?" Thalia asked Artemis, hopefully. "With your power..."

The goddess shook her head. "This giant...he is not easily traced. He's…not within the Olympian's power."

Percy listened on to the group's conversation for a bit longer before his thoughts drifted off to other things. That dream. Something was wrong with the fragmented picture. If the events he had experienced were to come true...What was it all about? It was already slipping from his memory. He could only remember bits and pieces now.

But there was one thing he was certain of: he had been the one sitting on the throne. He was the king of that citadel. And what was more…he was going to kill Jason Grace.

Sorry for the extremely late update. Went overseas for a bit to take a break. To be honest I feel like I'm about to hit a wall on this but hopefully that's just me. O_o

Anyway! Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for any errors—haven't slept in awhile.