Dark-Hera and Dark-Artemis walked through an underground corridor with few torches illuminating their way, the air itself seemed to be different, hot enough to feel like they were inside a volcano. The two soon stopped in front of a pair of doors made of stones, and once they were there, they began to move, entering the walls forming an arch that led to a gigantic cave with an orange glow coming from it.
With that, the two entered and saw that the cave was even bigger there with several lava waterfalls that collapsed in small pits of boiling lava. However, the cave was full of scattered tools, as well as an iron table in the middle of it with a pond of normal water on the side, there were several geysers coming out around the cave and in the middle of the room were Dark-Hephaestus, Dark-Athena and Dark-Demeter gathered looking at what appeared to be a stone creature.
It was a humanoid being about the size of a Minotaur; however, the creature was much more round with two large bulky arms with long legs and a rock-like head that was carved out of a simple human face.
"So… Have you finished?" Asks Dark-Artemis approaching the trio who turned to him.
"Yes, we finished the Petristiles." Answers Dark-Athena making Dark-Artemis turn to him.
Dark-Athena was a male by his build and wore gray armor with gauntlets in the shape of sharp claws, as well as a cape that appeared to be several blades in the shape of feathers joined in fabric, his costume had a kind of white plumage that blended in gray metal with brown leather. In addition, his helmet was shaped like an owl with two circular green lenses similar to emeralds.
Dark-Hera nodded walking towards the stone creature and stared it straight in the face assessing it, with that the woman turned to Dark-Hephaestus.
"Is he supposed to be so…not alive?" Asks Dark-Hera cautiously, which made Dark-Hephaestus' shoulders tremble while a noise came out of him, a laugh.
"They hasn't... been activated... yet... Dark-Demeter..." Declares the giant walking away, hitting his huge sledgehammer on the ground.
It was at that moment that Dark-Demeter stepped forward, with that she joined her hands making some roots come out of it and join in the same slowly forming a small seed, which the woman quickly raised showing to everyone present. With that done, she approached the stone creature before placing the seed in the stone lips and pushing it inside.
After that, the woman approached and blew sending a kind of green mist to the statue. That done, she walked away, a few seconds passed until small roots began to come out from within the cracks covering each one of them and soon the eyes began to fill with a bright green liquid, with that, the creature raised its head letting out a roar to the ceiling of the cave that made the whole place shake.
Dark-Artemis looked at the creature with his arms crossed before turning to Dark-Hephaestus, who looked proud of his work.
"When do you think ten of these would be ready?" Asks the boy making Dark-Hephaestus laugh, however this time Dark-Athena and Dark-Demeter started laughing.
"Ah young and innocent Dark-Artemis, we already have an army ready." Declares Dark-Athena before nodding to their blacksmith.
With that, Dark-Hephaestus released a large amount of steam raising his sledgehammer and hitting it on the ground making the whole cave tremble. After that, several stones around the wall began to move revealing to be other Petristiles; soon the creatures began to gather around the five before they began to kneel down, lowering their heads to everyone.
Seeing this Dark-Hera and Dark-Artemis exchanged a glance.
(At Camp Half-Blood.)
A yawn was heard when Percy came out of his hut stretching wearing his camp shirt, it had been a few days since he returned and the boy had to admit he had never had such a peaceful week, aside from the incident that occurred upon his arrival. Since that happened, Chiron was in charge of the camp while Dionysus was in a meeting with the other gods, however this time he was taking longer than usual.
Both campers and hunters were growing tenser with the delay and lack of news from the gods. Percy at first did not care so much about the situation, but that all changed when Hestia also ended up going to Olympus for the meeting, in fact, it seemed like all the Greek and Roman gods were summoned.
The situation was certainly tense, but Percy was an upbeat person most of the time, so he concentrated on enjoying the tranquility of the moment by spending time with his girlfriend, Annabeth, and his friends, as well as meeting his new cousin, Zack. Hillbrey. He was a nice person, despite his apparent nervousness, something the son of Poseidon never imagined he would see in a son of Zeus and he could tell Thalia did not imagine anything like that either.
However, one thing that really surprised Percy was how quickly his new cousin seemed to befriend Piper, not that he had anything against her personally, they were friends, but after her and Jason's breakup, things got slightly awkward.
It was at that moment, that the boy heard some laughter and looked around to see that Zack and Piper were sitting next to each other talking on top of a log in front of the campfire. This made Percy end up smiling seeing the two so relaxed, it was good to see that he wasn't the only one trying to take advantage of what little peace he had.
(With Zack and Piper.)
Zack had to take a deep breath to calm down as Piper also finished laughing; it was at that moment that she patted him on the shoulder with a smile.
"I have to admit, you are fun to talk to." Comments Piper smiling at him, which made Zack smile back at her.
"Thank you, I must say the same about you, it's been a long time since I've had such a relaxed conversation with someone, since..." Starts Zack before he stops with a confused look and turns to the fire, something he did not passed unnoticed by Piper.
"Since? ...Zack?" Calls the girl staring at him now, her expression getting slightly worried.
It was at that moment that a group of huntress was passing by the two before one of them stopped staring at them and turned to Thalia who was in the group.
"Eh... Thalia, what's going on with your brother?" Asks the hunter making Thalia stare at her before turning to what she was looking at and her eyes widened when she saw who was with her brother.
"MCLEAN!" Thalia exclaims walking towards the two, with small sparks coming out of her eyes.
However, as she got closer, she could see Piper's worried expression as she tried to talk to Zack and her new brother seemed to be lost in thought, which normally wouldn't be a bad thing, but the fact that blood was dripping from his nose and eyes was not a good thing. Immediately Thalia ran towards the two kneeling in front of Zack taking his shoulders while looking at him worriedly.
"Zack!? Zack what's going on!? Damn Mclean, what in the name of Olympus happened!?" Demands an angry Thalia looking at Piper who stared at her shocked and slightly scared.
"I don't know in one moment we were talking and the next it started." Reports Piper worried, at that time several campers were approaching to see what was happening.
Percy, who was among the approaching demigods, widened his eyes seeing Zack's situation and quickly exchanged a look with Annabeth, she held his gaze for a while before nodding, and with that, the son of Poseidon closed his eyes almost praying.
"Apollo..."
(Start of flashback.)
A woman let out a sigh rubbing her forehead to wipe away the sweat, she wore a simple beige dress with a white apron and hat, and she had brown hair and eyes with fair skin, carrying a small basket in her arms that had various foodstuffs and products. She walked along a simple dirt road next to an entirely wooden fence that showed a large pasture with some animals there.
As she walked, she could not help but sigh hearing the sound of footsteps, with that she turned around before giving a warm smile to whoever approached. It was a younger Zack, he wore a gray shirt with black pants with suspenders, in addition, on his head, he had a beret of the same color as his pants, and in addition, he had black boots.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Calls Zack as he takes the woman's hand making her smile at him.
"Zacharias, my sweet boy, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to help Tobias with the crops." Asks the woman staring at him, which made the boy smile before sticking his hand in his pocket.
"And I helped Mom, look; he even gave me money for the help." Declares the boy raising a note to his mother who laughed at his excitement before starting to walk with him.
"Well done, my little hero." With those words the boy just smiled with more joy and pride.
(...)
Zack was screaming while his lower torso was completely inside a molten rock, he was visibly older with several chains attached to him by hooks, all connected to other random points in the place and around him there was only darkness with a shadow staring at him. The boy was covered in soot, blood and tears as he sobbed with his wide eyes staring at the figure in the darkness.
- Please... Please... I can't take it anymore... - Begs the whining blonde which makes the shadow approach him even more when two completely white eyes appeared on it.
"No, don't you remember that your father threw you here?" Whispers a voice as if telling a secret in his ears, in that a pair of skeletal fingers grabbed his chin and lifted it. "There is no way you can escape, there's no one to trust, there's no hope, there's just..."
Suddenly the pain in Zack increased even more when the chains started to move making him scream even more with wide eyes.
"Revenge."
Slowly a spark appeared in Zack's eyes as his expression and screams began to change.
"Revenge."
A growl began to come out of the boy's throat as the chains pulled at him.
"REVENGE!"
At that moment, Zack let out a scream of rage when lightning covered him sending lightning to all sides, at the same time that the chains were broken.
"The revenge of Dark-Zeus..."
(End of flashback.)
Suddenly Zack let out a sigh with his eyes returning to focus, at the same time his right fist was covered by lightning and with that, he punched Apollo's face, sending the said god backwards skidding on the ground. After that the blonde got up with little sparks covering him dancing around him like snakes, moreover he seemed to look straight ahead with a furious snarl.
"ZACK!" Thalia exclaims immediately grabbing her brother in a hug, putting herself in front of him and planting his feet on the ground while trying to contain the rays coming out of him and keep him away from the other campers. "Zack, calm down! You are among friends, ZACK!"
However his words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Zack now faced Apollo, his fists clenching completely, at the same time, the weather around him began to darken as lightning was seen falling from the sky, so the blonde began to advance towards the sky. God. Thalia widened her eyes trying to push him back, but it did not seem to have any effect, at the same time Apollo stood up wiping his lip and widened his eyes when he saw some ichor leaking from them.
Thalia snarled as she tried with all her might to hold on to her brother and use her mastery of Zeus's element to control the storm, but it seemed to be ineffective no matter what concentration or power she used. It was at that moment that Piper stood in front of Zack and looked him in the eyes.
"Zack, stop!" Asks Piper using her 'charm' on the boy.
The son of Zeus suddenly stopped blinking in a daze, he took a step back before falling with one of his knees hitting the ground as he covered his face, slowly the lightning that covered him disappeared leaving the boy exhausted and sweating as he breathed hard. .
"Shit... I'd almost blow my cover right now, if it weren't for Piper..." Zack thinks before suddenly narrowing his eyes and dropping his other knee to the ground, bringing both hands to his head adopting an expression of ache. "Dark-Apollo, I need your assistance. Use your powers and made every lie I told be credible"
"Mom? Mom? Mom don't leave me!" Exclaims Zack lifting his face looking around with an expression of panic. "Mom! Where are you? Where are we? Mom!"
"Hey, hey, hey, calm down Zack." Thalia reassures, approaching him with her hands raised, in a placating gesture. "It is me, Thalia, your sister ok? Do you remember me?"
"Tha-Thalia?" Zack stutters before closing his eyes tightly as if he was in pain and opening them again to face his sister who was approaching him again. "What? What happened? I... It's all so confusing."
"That's something I'd like to know too." Apollo declares approaching them before kneeling in front of Zack staring him in the eyes. "What happened? Your reaction was even worse than Percy's."
"I do not know… I was talking to Piper one moment and the next I… I was stuck on a rock and a shadow appeared talking to me saying something about… about…" Starts Zack with a frowned trying to remember something, but that just made Apollo narrow his eyes at him.
"About what?"
"I do not remember." Answers Zack scared making Apollo frown at him before getting up and looking at Percy who was in the crowd.
"Thalia, could you take your brother to the infirmary? I think I need to analyze him and Percy further now."
With that Thalia nodded before lifting her brother, who looked pretty shaken up from what just happened, and heading towards the infirmary, with the campers opening a wide space for them to pass, Piper looked like she was going to follow them, but a look from her daughter of Zeus stopped her. Zack noticed this and looked at Aphrodite's daughter before giving a weak smile, which made the girl return by waving at him, after which the boy started to look down while taking his hand to rub his face.
"Thank you for helping Dark-Apollo, even the god of truth himself cannot notice my act while you helped me." He thanked Zack feeling a slight buzz in his head, which he accepted as a positive response from his colleague.
At the same time as this was happening, Dark-Aphrodite watched from atop a tree, her fingers drumming the scabbard of her sword.
[...]
Bianca was sitting with her legs close to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, the girl was sitting in a dark cave looking into the shadows with only the sound of dripping drops echoing in the cave. This continued for several seconds before the sound disappeared completely, which made her smile weakly and turn around to see Dark-Poseidon standing there staring at her.
"You know... sometimes I wish you had been like that when we first met..." Bianca comments, staring at him with a sad smile.
In response, Dark-Poseidon approached her before kneeling beside her and draping what looked like a mantle of wool over her shoulders. Upon noticing this, Bianca raised an eyebrow to glare at him.
"Is cold." Answers Dark-Poseidon softly making the girl laugh pulling the blanket around her to feel more comfortable.
"I know, but I'm a daughter of Hades, I'm used to this kind of environment." Comments the girl smiling at him before frowning at her helmet. "You do not have to keep it all the time either, you know? I do not care about that."
Silence again was her answer before Dark-Poseidon got up and started to walk away, however he stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.
"Personally, I prefer now... we are no longer related after becoming what we are today; I lost you once Bianca and I do not intend to allow a second time, and we will be together now and forever, as we never could in our other life." Declares Dark-Poseidon before walking away again, leaving Bianca alone with the blanket around her.
She was quiet for a few seconds before getting up twirling a coin in her hands; suddenly Dark-Hades was in her place with the blanket around her shoulders, with that she disappeared into the shadows below her, being swallowed by them. In the next second, she reappeared at the entrance of the cave, where Dark-Poseidon was, who stopped completely when he saw her.
The two stared at each other in silence when Dark-Hades extended his hand to him, which made the boy stare before walking to his side, taking his hand, with that the two began to walk back to their fortress, with their holding hands.
(At the same time in the fortress.)
Dark-Dionysius sighed happily after drinking a glass of wine, which he quickly filled with more than one bottle at his side. The man was in what looked like a cellar with some white pillars around it with bunches of grapes all around it and a big circular bed in the middle, plus a sort of table in the corner with some chairs on them.
In addition, sitting in one of the chairs was Dark-Hermes who was drumming his fingers on the table impatiently before turning to Dark-Dionysus.
"Why the hell are you still here!? This is our chance for revenge; we should be taking revenge on the Olympians!" Exclaims Dark-Hermes, which makes Dark-Dionysus roll his eyes when he sat down next to his colleague.
"And why are you here?" Asks Dark-Dionysius making his colleague widen his eyes before narrowing them, crossing his arms.
"Touché." Dark-Hermes grumbles taking another cup full of wine and his helmet disappears, completely disassembling, revealing that he was blond with his left eye being blue and the right was a milky white with a scar going down from it towards his cheek , her skin was slightly pale.
Seeing this, Dark-Dionysus rolled his eyes before drinking more of the wine, making both of them silent for a few moments.
"So… How do you feel about all this?" Asks Dark-Dionysius staring at him.
"About getting back into the fight? Get a chance to actually get revenge on the gods and not just be Kronos' host?" Quotes Dark-Hermes rocking his wine with a thoughtful expression before a smile appeared on his face conveying the bloodlust he felt. "I feel wonderful."
"I should have known you would answer that." Grunts Dark-Dionysius filling his cup again. "After all, Luke Castellan lives up to his legend as he always has."
With that, the two shared a chuckle as the doors to the room they were in opened suddenly revealing Dark-Aphrodite approaching them with some sort of haste in her step. They both watched her as she sat down between them and picked up a goblet, which Dark-Dionysus quickly filled with wine.
She discreetly lifted her mask, showing some burned and misshapen skin, and drank from the wine before putting it down.
"It has been a while since I've seen you around, are you still trying to control Dark-Zeus?" Asks Dark-Dionysus carelessly, which made Luke turn his good eye to Dark-Aphrodite, clearly interested.
"Yes! Moreover, he does not help at all!" Complains the woman angrily. "Seriously! I go there all the time, I bring him valuable information, I help him with anything, but no, he just wants to listen to Dark-Hera's reports and flirt with that stupid daughter of Aphrodite, I'm so much hotter than her!"
Dark-Dionysus nodded absently before noticing that the wine was gone, with that he sighed and got up to go get another one around the cellar. Seeing this Luke immediately turned to the woman on the bench and smiled sympathetically at her.
"That must be difficult, right? Not getting what you want..." Starts the blonde making Dark-Aphrodite turn to him.
"And what do you have to do with it?" Asks her angrily, which made Luke raise his hands in a placating gesture.
"Calm down, I don't want to say anything bad about you, what I mean is that you're doing this the wrong way." Reveals Luke making the woman face him, seeing that he had his attention, the blonde-haired person continued. "One thing I learned from Kronos is that he is a manipulative bastard, and his method is effective. While you are trying to make Dark-Zeus want you by force, maybe you should do it in a more subtle way... back off a bit little bit and wait for the right moment to act, analyze it, and when you have all the information you act on it, or maybe you can use some of your powers with him."
Dark-Aphrodite is silent, clearly considering his options, which makes Luke smile and lean even closer to her, leaning forward.
"After all, your 'charm' is more ambiguous than a simple suggestion, isn't it?"
It was at that moment that the woman got up and started to walk away, which made Luke smile as he leaned back into his chair, when Dark-Dionysus returned with a fresh bottle and blinked in surprise at Dark-Aphrodite's absence.
"Where did she go?" Asks the man looking at Luke who shrugged with a disinterested expression.
"I don't know, I didn't ask."
[...]
Dark-Athena was walking calmly along the side of a mountain while behind him the large body of a dragon was lying with a large pool of blood on the ground. As well as several species of blades lying on the ground; in addition, the bodies of three women were lying alongside around what appeared to be a garden with a tree now aflame in the middle of it.
The armored man ignored what was happening behind him as he continued his climb up Mount Otris. He continued for several minutes until he stopped where it seemed to be a large desolate area, with some craters around it, as if a great battle had taken place there and in the middle had something unexpected and what Dark-Athena was looking for. It was a man resembling a living statue, he had slicked-back black hair with rock-gray eyes and light brown skin, and he was wearing what appeared to be an expensive looking brown suit.
However, the most curious thing about this living statue was that it breathed and grunted while in its hands it seemed to hold some kind of sky-like dome. Seeing that, Dark-Athena started walking towards him, which caught the attention of the man who started to stare at him, following his steps until he stopped in front of him.
"Who are you? I doubt my daughters would let anyone trespass their precious garden for them to come here." Comments the man while Dark-Athena stared at him.
"They didn't."
Hearing this the man looked surprised before slowly a look of realization appeared on his face and he narrowed his eyes at the person in front of him.
"What you want?"
It was at that moment that Dark-Athena withdrew her hand from inside her cover revealing that she had several small pebbles that had some green lines on them, after showing this to the man holding the sky, the man in armor let the pebbles fall to the ground, being almost absorbed by the earth like drops of water.
Suddenly the ground started to shake and about twenty-one Petristiles came out of the ground with bestial roars as they stretched and looked at the two beings in front of them.
"You there, lift the sky for Atlas." Command Dark-Athena to one of the Petristiles over there.
The creature let out a snarl before walking over to Atlas and lifting the sky for him, remaining upright the entire time. Said titan took the opportunity to step away from his old prison and proceeded to look at the creature holding up the sky with almost no effort or tremor.
"That's amazing, I've never seen a creature like that and yet she's so strong to the point of being able to hold the sky by herself… What exactly are you and what do you want from me?" Asks Atlas turning to Dark-Athena who was staring at him.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, we have a common enemy and this time, you have competent soldiers." Explains Dark-Athena casually making Atlas widen his eyes. "Also consider them a bona fide gift to a mutual alliance, but of course we need something first, a test."
Atlas raised an eyebrow, clearly interested, an army of monsters strong enough to hold the sky? In addition, under his command? Of course, he would want that deal. With that, the titan gestured for his savior to continue.
"We need you to attack Half-Blood Camp and kill two guys, Perseus Jackson and Zacharias Hillbrey."
(At camp.)
Zack groaned as he woke up in the infirmary bed, he slowly started to get up before he felt a hand stopping him from getting up. Opening his eyes he found it was Piper staring at him with concern in her eyes.
"Calm down Zack, I do not know what happened to you, but it did a lot of damage to you." Declares the girl while laying him down again, making the boy nod and look around.
"Where? ..." Starts the boy, but Piper quickly shuts him up by handing him a glass of golden liquid, which he quickly drinks.
"In the infirmary, Apollo does not know what happened, but right after you were brought here you ended up fainting, you worried everyone here, you know? Thalia was on the warpath, the Huntresses had to hold her back from attacking Apollo demanding answers." Comments Piper putting a strand of her hair behind her ear while looking away. "Besides... I was worried about you... I mean, you got like that after our conversation and..."
"Piper, it wasn't your fault." Guarantees Zack grabbing his hand making the girl face him. "I can guarantee you that, whatever it is it wasn't caused by you, Percy had the same thing and it wasn't with you, in fact I should be thanking you for getting me out of any kind of… possession? Illness? Whatever happened to me."
"What? But why?" Asks Piper surprise, which made Zack look away.
"Well... I only got back to normal after you talked to me, didn't I? I vaguely remember hearing you calling my name." Reveals Zack making Piper widen her eyes suddenly excited.
"Serious? This is perfect! It means if it happens again we might have a way to get you back." Exclaims the girl very close to Zack, which makes him smile at her.
"Yes, in that case I'm counting on you."
Before Piper could say anything though, she found herself pulling away from Zack to face Thalia who was staring at her with narrowed eyes, which made the daughter of Aphrodite swallow hard.
"If you will excuse us Mclean, I'd like to talk to my little brother now, so get out." Asks Thalia with her stern look, which made Piper wave weakly giving one last look at Zack and waved at him before leaving.
With that, Thalia turned to Zack before sitting in the chair formerly occupied by Piper and facing her brother with her arms crossed, studying him carefully before letting out a relieved sigh.
"Thank the gods you're fine... Don't ever scare me like that again, you hear?" Asks Thalia giving Zack a hug. "I was very worried about you little brother."
"Thalia, I…" He starts, but the girl just pulls away and gives him a look that shuts him up.
"Don't talk little brother, rest now and we'll talk later ok?" With that Thalia messes Zack's hair making his eyes widen before she leaves.
For a moment Zack was silent with wide eyes, he took his hand to his hair feeling it disheveled and he could not help but feel the tears forming in the corner of his eyes.
(Flashback.)
"Don't talk my little hero, rest now and we'll talk later ok?" Asks Zack's mother messing up his hair as a child, while he was lying in bed with a feverish flush on his cheeks.
(End of flashback.)
"…Damn it, what is happening to me? I am Dark-Zeus, the leader of the Dark-Gods, not the pathetic little Zack Hillbrey, not anymore... Not anymore..." Zack thinks through clenched teeth.