Chapter 2
[4 YEARS LATER]
[The day of the winter solstice]
Percy POV
Percy woke up to the shrill sound of his alarm clock. It was just six o' clock in the morning, and the Sun had just risen above the horizon. Waking up using an alarm clock and living alone might be considered tough for an average eleven year old, today being his birthday; however Percy was anything but that. He was mature beyond his years. He was roughly 5 feet tall and had messy black hair that refused to be tamed. He had onyx black eyes with a ring of warm orange that seemed to flare when he got angry and shifted to a darker and terrifying shade when threatened. These were a part of his blessing from Hestia. The other parts of her blessing would be activated by her later in the future when Hestia deemed him safe enough and trained enough to control his additional powers. After drinking a dose of his daily potion, he got up and got ready just as he had for the past four years.
Percy lived in The Lotus Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas. It was actually the modern base of the lotus-eaters who used to, since all the way back in Ancient Greece, ensnare mortals and trap them in their base forever. Time slowed down in the hotel too, as the world went on at a seemingly accelerated rate. This was what the potion was for. It made Percy resilient to the effects of the Hotel's magic. The potion had been prepared by Hecate, not that she knew it was for him, no, she simply owed Hades a favour. His father was the one who had decided that he was to stay at the hotel. He said that it had the additional benefit of keeping him safe from 'Lord' Zeus. His father had told him all about how his brothers and he had sworn an oath on the River Styx to not have children after the 2nd World War. He said that the oath was because of some prophecy but he would not tell Percy what it was until he was older. First Zeus and then he had broken it. Only Poseidon stayed strong. However, he said that he did not regret breaking the oath for he had truly loved his mother, and only regretted the misfortune that it might bring on Percy. At first, Percy did not understand this, but then, his father told him the story of his cousin, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus. He told him how hordes of monsters found her and chased her and had almost succeeded in killing her before she was turned into a Pine Tree by her father. His father had also decided that very slowly, but steadily, they would reduce the potency of the resilience potion. This would help Percy build his magical resilience and would be very helpful in the future.
Finally ready, Percy shadow travelled to the Underworld. Shadows had always been his speciality; they seemed to call out to him; they were more receptive to him than any other son of Hades ever born. Instead of regular shadow travelling by jumping into shadows which nearly all children of Hades could do, Percy could call the shadows out to him to engulf him and then shadow travel through them. However, even he could do this only two or three times without tiring too much, even considering the fact that he had been training for nearly a year in that kind of shadow travel.
Percy had started weapons training three and a half years ago. Till then, physically, he had simply exercised, mainly run, and made his young body lean and fit for the gruelling training to come in the future. He had also started learning mythology and general subjects like maths and perfecting languages like English, Ancient Greek and Latin from the spirits of dead children of Athena. Now, he had hour and a half long sessions in sword fighting, spear fighting, long range weaponry, strategy and his other theoretical subjects every day.
On his eighth birthday, Percy received his first weapon. It was a harpe sword, the very one his namesake, the legendary Perseus, son of Zeus, had once wielded millennium ago to slay Medusa. Percy was thunderstruck and his mouth had dropped open in shock when his father told him the blade's history. Hades told him that he had blessed the blade and the blade would be swallowed by the ground wherever and whenever he dropped it. When need be, all he had to do was stretch his hand out and think about it. It would burst out of the ground into his palm. That was the only weapon he currently owned, but his father had promised him more in the future as he went on attaining mastery in them.
He stumbled out of the shadows next to the outer bank of the River Styx. It was dark and oily, its age old glory faded, under the litters left by the broken dreams and hopes of mortals as they descended into the Underworld. Within seconds, Percy sensed a spirit approach him. Knowing whose it was, Percy turned and bowed down to his mentor, not out of obligation but personal respect. Standing in front of him with a bloody heel was none other than the famed Trojan Hero Achilles. "You need not bow down to me, child." said Achilles. "I know that. However, I also know that you deserve respect." replied Percy. In return Achilles smiled. The smile slowly turned into a smirk as he told Percy to get ready for training. Percy held his hand out and a training spear popped out of the ground next to him. The spear was nearly twice the weight of a normal spear which helped Percy train as it made him nearly twice as good with a normal one than what he was with the current one. Achilles himself wielded a blood red spear.
Both got into a battle stance and charged. Percy fought as hard as he could but he could not defeat the spear master. Achilles pointed out his flaws as best as he could and within that hour itself, improvement could be seen in Percy's form.
Finally, after around an hour and a half, Percy bid farewell to his spear trainer as Achilles' spirit dissipated leaving him alone there once again.
Percy then summoned the spirit of his next mentor. It was time to learn strategy, taught to him by Odysseus. Odysseus taught him how to theorize and map infiltration plans into enemy bases. He also taught him escaping techniques and strategies. He was perhaps the most serious of all of Percy's mentors, however, on good days such as today, when they finished their portion of work earlier than usual, he would tell Percy stories of his past adventures. He would tell him about his Trojan adventures and his journey forth from there back to his homeland Ithaca. He had also told him about the beautiful Calypso and her cruel unjust punishment.
After half an hour of reminiscing after their tiring strategy study, Odysseus told Percy that it was time for his next lesson. With that, his ghost wandered away towards Elysium where it had resided for the past millennia. Percy then summoned the ghost of his swords master, Theseus, son of Poseidon.
Theseus was the most easy-going mentor Percy had, but his name was still legendary for a reason. He was brilliant in his field and probably one of the best swordsmen in the demigod history of Greece. His skill with the blade was what Percy wanted to be able to match and for this he practised. Percy, even when he was nine, was still far more proficient with the blade than most twelve year olds. Now, most would consider him to be in a league of his own. As a part of the lesson, they duelled and Theseus corrected Percy of his flaws as they cropped up during the battle. 'Whap', the flat end of Theseus's blade struck Percy on his hands. "Focus!" said Theseus. Percy gritted his teeth in concentration. Slash, duck and then parry, that was all that went through his mind as he trained. Percy followed the pattern until the sword was knocked out of his hands by a powerful stroke from Theseus. Theseus told him that that was the end of their lesson. Theseus then said," Perseus, there are good sword fighters and then there are great sword fighters. "Said Theseus, "Both are nearly equally good with their fighting technique. However, what makes the great ones better is their unpredictability and quick wit. They do not follow any pattern." he continued, "This is what makes it difficult for their foes to find holes in their style, because not having any set style is their style! This is what you have to achieve, such unpredictability, that no one, not even the gods of war themselves can predict your next move even if they wanted to." Percy solemnly nodded, pondering on Theseus's word of advice.
As he turned to leave, a major shockwave rippled throughout the underworld, one that even made him stumble. The very ground shook all the way up till the high roof as its ruler raged in a mighty fury, one such as which had never been seen in the last few centuries. Learning about Percy's mothers' fate was the only event that barely came close to it. Theseus' ghost dissipated. As he saw the chaos in the underworld, he thought," Damn! Somebody must have pissed dad off badly today." With that, with a slightly pale face, as if afraid of what lay on the other side, he jumped into a shadow, hoping to save the poor soul that might have invoked his father's godly wrath.