Chapter 21

Percy's POV

I stared at Gaea's amused face.

" Percy, I gave you the easiest test. It shouldn't take you this long to decide." Gaea purred.

" Shut up." I hissed.

" Come on Percy, choose. Only one can live, will you chose the sacrifice your girlfriend, or this girl you barley know?"

" This goes against our agreement!" I yelled.

" No it doesn't. I haven't killed anyone yet. I'll only kill one person, and then let you all go since I broke it. If you keep stalling, 24 hours would fly by. Then I'd just kill them both."

That's not fair. I gritted my teeth. I walked in here prepared to fight monster, face phycological pain, but this I couldn't do.

" Does someone have to die today?"

Gaea smirked, understanding what I meant."Percy Jackson, I really do prefer you try to save one of the girls' lives by sacrificing yourself. However, my master cannot have a dead representative on his plate."

I battled with myself. I could possibly attack Gaea, but there would be no way I could win. Not alone anyway.

" If it makes the choice easier, I'll tell you a little secret." Gaea lowered her voice into a dark, heavy whisper.

I inclined my head, showing that I didn't care because I really didn't. Murder could not be justified.

Gaea rumbled and told me anyway."You know, this Merope person. She's not who you think she is." Gaea warned." Even I would prefer you pick Annabeth over this girl."

" Why would you be afraid of a hunter." I said, I needed to keep her occupied and thinking so I could make a decision.

" It's not that I'm afraid of her. I don't want this mockery to us immortals like her in the world. Walking all around me." Gaea scrunched up her face in anger,"She is a monster."

Looking at Merope's frail face, I couldn't what Gaea was talking about. Merope was fun and strict. She was the girl who could anger Nico by just saying one word, she was the girl that helped us not get fat by cooking for us. What could she have ever done to make Gaea so mad?

" Oh it's not just me." Gaea said." All the gods hate her. Yes even your father." She said the last part as I was about to protest that my father would never hate such a sweet girl.

" What did she do?" I asked.

" Percy, I'm not in the mood for explaining history to you. I'm here to help you fail this test."

I scowled. Gaea really didn't have any intention of helping me.

" I'm changing the time limit. You, and only you have thirty seconds to choose."

" NO!"

But Gaea was already counting backwards.

" 26." She took two sharpened stone spears that she created from the earth(or would that be herself?) and readied to kill.

I panicked. Annabeth or Merope?

The answers obvious. That habitual voice said inside me. You would sacrifice your girlfriend, your Annabeth, for a strange girl not even your father trusts?

" 2."

" I choose both!" I forced out before Gaea could touch Annabeth's flesh.

She glared at me with her abnormal crimson eyes." Did you just say you chose to kill both, or let both live?"

I gulped." Let both live." I quivered. Gaea's massive murderous aura creeped under my skin. I hadn't felt this scared since, well, I last saw Gaea.

Surprisingly, she smiled." Congratulations Percy, you pass."

I stood frozen for a bit, then took in her words. I cheered, overwhelmed with relief. The moment didn't last.

" However, I'm still going to kill Merope." Her grin faded. So did my attitude.

" WHAT?" I yelled." You just said I passed the test!"

" That's right, and now I'm free to do whatever I want to do. I did what he told me to. In exchange, I get to be free."

She held the spear over Merope. I sprinted towards them, desperate. With a flick of her wrist, the ground formed a cage around me. I pulled out Riptide, but the bars were thick. I wouldn't make it in time.

" GAEA! STOP IT!" I continued to scream in protest. I frantically slashed the bars, but they wouldn't give in.

Suddenly, the world stopped. Like, literally stopped. I saw Gaea freeze in mid motion, just about to tear Merope's heart out. I took the opportunity to finally break from the earth cage.

I kneeled down beside Merope, she was breathing, but faintly. I leaned down to hear her heartbeat, but it was very distracting when the mother of titans and giants looked at you with bloody lust and a mouth half open holding a spear.

" Hey don't touch her."

I immediately jerked up. A little boy, around maybe Nico's age stared at me with intensive golden eyes, which brought back too many unnecessary memories of a certain time lord. He was awfully monotone. I mean, this guy was a moody teen. He wore baggy black sweatpants and a white shirt that said The One Thing That Doesn't Affect Me Is Time. He had dark hair that looked slightly violet, but maybe it was under the sun. His face was fair and angular. I wash't a girl or anything, but I could tell he was handsome.

" Uh, hey. Do you know her?"

He disappeared."Of course I do, she's my friend."

I jumped back. Instinctivley going defensive. The kid appeared behind me without giving away his presence and very quickly too. I didn't even see him sneak behind me. The young boy now had a playful grin on his face.

" You're Percy Jackson right?" The boy said.

I slowly nodded.

" My name's Regele. Nice to meet you!" He innocently smiled.

The corner of my lip twitched upwards. Something about this boy was not right. But he seemed friendly enough.

" Nice to meet you too." I said." So, what are you doing here? Are you the one that's causing this?" I pointed at Gaea.

He nodded." She was about to kill Merope, and you weren't strong enough yet to obviously I had to step in."

My blood pounded as he said you weren't strong enough yet. Did Regele think he was stronger than me? I looked at Gaea again. If he had the power to stop a primordial goddess in mid motion, he was definitely out of my current league.

'Merope is a mockery.' Gaea's words found me again.

" Hey." I said to Regele. He turned around.

" Do the gods hate Merope?" I didn't really know why I asked that question. But if he cared enough for Merope to come to this god forsaken land, he must know more about Merope than even Thalia does.

Regele pondered that question for a moment. His golden eyes gleaming with what almost seemed to be mischief.

" They don't hate Merope." He said casually. I exhaled. So Gaea was lying after all, Merope had done nothing wrong and my father doesn't hate her or anything.

" But." Regele continued." They do hate what she's representing."

" Like?" I felt stupid. I was asking some thirteen year old questions when I was 16.

" Don't you know about them? They were pretty famous back in the day. Merope was part of a group that hated the gods, the Five Cheaters of Death."

" Cheaters of Death…" Images rolled around me. I remembered Chiron had once given us a brief lecture on the Cheaters of Death. They were five ruthless demigods who blamed the gods for everything bad that happened to them. Apparently most of them found a way to escape death, which is why they were called the Cheaters of Death. One of them is now in the Fields of Punishment. If both Merope and this kid were part of the original Five, how old were they now?

" Exactly." Regele said." The Five were awesome and powerful too. The gods hated them because they achieved immortality without, well, being a monster or god. It irritates them just to hear the name because even the combined forces of the Olympians and the primordial gods couldn't stop them. They failed to kill five miserable children."

Regele laughed. I stood in shock, he read my mind, and that was something only the gods could do. But this kid wasn't a god, he had the presence of a demigod.

"So then, Merope was part of the Five?" I said, not wanting to believe my ears. Merope was pretty powerful, but not enough to be able to take down multiple gods. To my dismay, Regele nodded." I'm also assuming you're one of the five as well?"

" I'm not part of the Five, they no longer exist. Now, I'm just Regele Interculluni."

The Five, The three, and the Fifteen gather...

It made sense now. The Five were the Cheaters, the Three were me Nico, and Thalia, and the Fifteen were still unknown.

" I think you're part of the New Great Prophecy." I said." There was a line that said, The Five, The three, and the Fifteen gather… The Five must've referred to you. The Cheaters will gather again if we want to…beat whatever we're supposed to beat."

Regele tilted his head." There's another prophecy? Three in one century, that's definitely weird." He smiled." Or special."

I couldn't tell if he was trying to flatter me or trying to freak me out.

" Regele, come with us. You're part of the prophecy whether you like it or not. We should all stay together." I said, extending my hand." Nico and Thalia would be happy to see someone from the legends."

Regele knit his brows when I said Nico. Did they know each other? Was Nico once trying to kill them or something? He had acted like a fury before.

" I'm sorry Percy Jackson, but its not time for me to get involved." He then smirked wickedly." Besides, you don't even know the true horrors of the Five Cheaters of Death. I could kill you right now and you wouldn't even realize you were dead until you looked at Hades. So don't think for a moment that I am nice."

Shivers crawled throughout my body. He completely went from the innocent little kid to a devious murderer.

Regele picked Merope up the bridal way.

" Congrats on passing the test, although it was fairly easy. Tell Nico I said hi. I'll see you later." He disappeared along with Merope.

Gaea crashed her spear agains the damp, cavern floor. She looked around, confused.

" Percy Jackson," She rumbled."What happened? How did you get out of my cage and where is that damn Merope?"

I looked at Gaea, after meeting Regele, she no longer seemed so imitating.

" The Five protected each other." I simply put.

Well, you can imagine what happened after that. Gaea roared. The entire earth shook, and I could tell the next headline on CNN would be: massive unexpected earthquake in Mesopotamia.

I picked Annabeth up. She was still sleeping, and breathing faintly. But I knew she would be okay.

A simple door appeared before me, and while Gaea was having a fit, I sneaked out.

Hey, I know its short and Percy's trial sucked, but I was trying to base the trials on their fatal flaw. Percy's fatal flaw was he wanted to save everyone so, there you go.

So! How did you like Regele? If you remember correctly, he one of the people the man in black visited in the prologue. His eyes are a hint to who his godly parent is(hint hint).

Also, i was thinking of making a prequel to the New Prophecy with a story about the Five Cheaters of Death and their origins. Tell me if you like that idea and I'll inform you when I'll publish it in a later chapter.

I don't know what happened but my views skyrocketed. More reviews = more chapters so pls review!

Chapter 21 end.