Interlude – Jason
Jason was tired. After climbing the mountain and fighting the dragon, he'd made his way to the old Titan base, where he'd been promised he'd find what he was looking for – answers to what had really happened to Saturn. That place brought back memories. As he looked around at the crumbling walls, he saw where he'd fought back to back with Reyna against the snake women. He saw where their bastille had blasted the walls apart. He saw the path that Hannibal, their war elephant, had created in a rampage. As he went deeper into the fortress, he saw where he'd sat with his friend Will, as he'd died. And as he entered the former throne room, he remembered his fight with Krios.
He'd seen the ram-headed Titan, and yelled, "Krios! Where is your master? Where is Saturn?"
Krios had turned. "Jason Grace. Your legion of romans annoys me. I suppose their spirit will be broken if I kill you."
The massive form of Atlas had called out, "Let me free, Krios. Do not attempt to fight the son of Jupiter yourself. Allow me to tear him apart!"
Speaking of Atlas, where was he? Jason looked at wear Atlas was supposed to be, and saw a small form struggling under the weight of the sky. He approached warily. When he got close, he could hear the form grunting. The voice sounded familiar. As he got closer, he saw that it was Reyna.
"Reyna," he gasped, dashing forward. "What are you doing here? Why are you holding up the sky?"
"Jason," she gasped. "I was tricked. Please, help me. I feel like I'm about to die."
He nodded. "I'll take the weight. You've got to get to Camp and organize a search party for Atlas." She nodded, too much in pain to continue to speak. "Okay," he said. "Ready? One, two… three." He grabbed the sky and positioned himself underneath, and Reyna slipped free. The weight of the sky was greater agony than Jason had ever felt. His arms trembled, his knees were driven to the ground.
She lay on the ground, heaving in deep breaths, but after about ten minutes, she began to laugh. As she stood up, she transformed into a red-haired girl with flashing purple eyes. Her clothes were still the same – the garb of a Roman praetor. "Well done, Jason. You are as gullible as I had hoped."
"Who –" Jason gasped.
"Spare your breath," she said. "You'll need as much of it as you can get. I'm Andromeda. No, not the same one from the Ancient world, my father liked the name, and it was fitting given who my mother is. Trivia, goddess of magic, in case you were wondering. Yes, imagine my surprise when I found out the truth of who my mother was… But enough from me. There are a couple of people here that are dying to see you again."
Out of the shadows stepped the massive form of Atlas, smirking. And next to him, stood (if you could say it was standing since it didn't really have two separate legs) a dark shape. The only thing making it stand out from the surrounding gloom, was that its "body" was dotted with what looked like stars. It was, impossibly, Krios.
"Grace," the Krios-form rasped, "how good to see you again. Really, an honor to be with the great praetor himself, the one who killed me. Well almost, anyway. You remember Atlas, of course. Last time you saw him, he was standing where you are now. He's ever so grateful that you've agreed to give him a break."
"What is the meaning of this?" Jason grunted. "My soldiers will come looking for me."
"Why would they," Atlas chuckled, "when you made it back from your trip safe and sound?"
At that, Andromeda changed, growing tall, her hair pulling back into her head, her shoulders broadening. Soon, an exact replica of Jason Grace was standing in her place. "I think they'll find this believable," she said, even sounding exactly like Jason.
Jason gritted his teeth as Krios, Atlas, and Andromeda laughed.