Disclaimer: There is an extremely high probability that I am Rick Riordan in an alternate universe...and there I own everything related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians. However, the law of this dimension requires me to state that in fact, I don't own anything related to PJO. On with the story...
Chapter 13: The Quest for Swarnamani
"You have it right there. Jump, jump, calculate and jump again...child's play." Percy explained to his companion, not unlike a teacher. "The pattern is pretty well defined...it's GYRRB, favoured colour of most Indian supernatural beings for their symbols and runes."
"Right, Percy...and what happens if you misjudge?" Artemis asked him.
"If I were to guess...just this." Percy tossed a medium-sized rock into the lake and in a matter of seconds, two crustaceans, highly resembling crabs, were onto it. After another fraction of second, they were gone...so was the rock piece, but the mechanical 'clink' of the golden pincers were clearly heard by everyone assembled there.
"Well, I do hope you don't misjudge then." Artemis quipped, sincerely, and stepped back to allow Percy to take the first step.
"Me too, Arty." With a deep breath, Percy took his first jump into the multi-coloured tiles and let his mind wander about just what had led to this turn of events...
His recovery was dulled by the knowledge that the giants, via Mahishasura now had access to Bessie. Zeus, and indeed all the gods had immediately engaged all their resources in trying to find out any information about it's location, but they really had no hope of succeeding as they couldn't track Mahishasura's energy. It was then Percy who had come up with an unique, but highly dangerous plan.
"We need to find the Swarnamani", he explained. "Legend has it that it is housed in a temple which is perfectly aligned with both Taurus and Aquarius, and is also the navel of the earth. It was constructed by both the Indian gods and the Asuras before they had diverged from each other. Inside that temple, neither any godly powers work, nor are the abilities of Asuras effective. The Swarnamani is responsible for powering the spell which makes the temple a perfectly neutral ground and if we can find it, we will be able to neutralize Mahishasura once and for all."
"Why haven't you told us about this earlier, then?" Athena had challenged Percy.
"Two reasons: first, it was impossible to do so without disclosing my past and the reasons behind my newfound abilities, and second; no one has returned alive from this quest. NO ONE. I think you would agree with my reasons now."
The gods were highly reluctant to follow through this plan, but the time was running out; soon, Bessie would be ready to be sacrificed. Finally, Percy was given permission to carry on this quest. He was highly surprised, however when Artemis decided to follow him during this quest. In her words, "I can't allow the first man I have fallen for in thousands of years die within a day I started dating him."
Percy was brought back to present as his feet touched the ground on the other shore. The lake had frozen up, allowing Artemis to glide over it and reach Percy. Both of them soundlessly looked up at the imposing building that had now shimmered into existence. There was a golden spire on top and intricate spirals flanked the walls. The polish was impeccable and it was hardly believable that this temple was millennia old.
They looked at each other and nodded before marching in. If one was to look closely, he would have found Percy squeezing Artemis' hands, gently reassuring her.
The same person would also have observed a pair of glowing eyes shadowing their every move.
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"Drats!" Percy cursed as he was once again forced into his back as unexpectedly, a wind tunnel materialised from one of the pathways and tried to separate him and Artemis. As he managed to shrug off that in-built defence mechanism (which were turning out to be highly offensive for he duo), he asked Artemis, "We are in what number now?"
"Thirteenth." She replied coolly, and mentally went over their barriers so far...
A room filled with poisonous acid which kept on increasing.
Seemingly harmless plants which sprouted poison needles.
A room full of mechanical spiders.
A room which was freezing from inside out.
An aquatic room with incredibly high hydrostatic pressure, and lots more. Not to mention the white guards which seemingly appeared at random and without the use of their powers, were incredibly hard to kill.
What was worse still, Artemis mused, they appeared to be going in circles. The rooms seemingly kept on changing their position, and she could swear that she had visited this room before. Her suspicions were proved correct a little later as they found Percy's worn-out sneaker's in a hallway completely opposite to the room they had left it in.
"Drats!" Percy cursed again, he quite liked the word. "Well, I think I now know why no one has ever left this temple." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah right." Artemis spoke distractedly, "There is a proverbial death trap in every room, we are inside an unsolvable maze and there are those guards..."
Suddenly, Percy stood up bolt upright. "Wait a minute...the guards, the guards! That's the answer. Thanks, Artemis, you're a lifesaver." He took this occasion to place another quick peck on the goddess' lips.
"Well, care to share your findings?" She asked, while blushing a bit. Who could blame her...she was new to this whole thing and Percy kissed really, really well...
"Think logically; the doors are always open for us, any room we try to enter. Why then guards appear at all, when every room is booby-trapped? Or for that matter, why don't they appear in every room?"
Artemis understood immediately, "They appear only when we are heading in the correct direction...to try and deter us!"
"Exactly. So now, we will choose only the rooms which have guards and singularly ignore all the others."
And so they proceeded...it wasn't without adventure and roadblocks, especially the room where gravity inverted itself, but finally they reached the centre of the temple, only to meet with the worst sight possible.
A man with the head of a buffalo was holding the powerful jewel, Swarnamani, in his hands. The powerful red aura of that jewel was clearly visible, and made him look all the more sinister.
"Mahishasura". Percy and Artemis whispered in unison.
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"I was asked to come here...by a dream." Jason spoke, unsure of himself, as if he wasn't the right person to state that, but in that small sentence, he spoke for all the other five assembled demigods there: Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Reyna Millan, Leo Valdez and Piper Mclean.
"Were you told to go to Rome to find the Athena Parthenos?" Hazel spoke up, and found a general agreement from amongst the gathering.
"I have brought the ride." Their eyes swivelled to Leo, who started, "Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus and the proud builder of Argo II. I am the world's number one pyromaniac, and I don't like to think much...it interferes with being nuts." He finished and struck a pose worthy of a conqueror.
The statement was totally out of place...and it was just so not the correct place or time.
Maybe that's why it managed to crack a smile from both Piper and Hazel. Pretty soon, the other four joined in, and they were laughing hysterically. It signified a release from the surmounting pressure on all of them. It was also the first bonding of a team that would go down in history.
All of them had a mission to complete. Both Jason and Reyna remembered the Prophecy Percy had told them about, as well as the Prophecy of Seven inscribed in the Temple of Jupiter. The planned convergence had occurred successfully; Jason was now as much of a leader to the Greeks as Percy was to the Roman legionnaires, and both of them had unparalled respect in their own soil. Now, the two Camps could finally be brought together, and they were supposed to start their perilous journey, dictated by a prophecy. All of them had had the same dream: Apollo commanding them to find the Athena Parthenos.
And so they set sail, with the knowledge that their seventh member would join them as soon as possible.
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"Welcome, Percy Jackson." Mahishasura's voice boomed in the empty courtyard, "I have wanted this meeting for a long time."
"I couldn't say the same for you...hope you don't mind." Percy fired back.
He laughed heartily, "Such spirit in you...how do you still maintain your courage, when your last ditch ploy has also failed? By the way, I should thank you for disabling all the traps on the way in. Now, I hold power greater than anyone else in the world. This shall fulfil all my dreams." Saying, he lifted the Swarnamani high up.
"Oh, that?" Percy's voice suddenly had a mocking tone under-laying it and as he waved his hand; a gesture reciprocated by Artemis, when something rather...unexpected happened.
The jewel suddenly seemed to brighten hundredfold and it's colour changed from red to pure golden. Within an instant, it changed into a tangled mass of ropes which completely encased the demon.
It was the golden net; the same one which had trapped Zeus, as well as caught Ares and Aphrodite together. Not even a god could free himself from it.
Percy smirked at the speechless expression on Mahishasura's face, "Honestly, how much of a fool do you think we are? Will we be conducting a meeting to discuss such a contingency plan in the Throne Room, when it has been proved that you could already listen in to our plans? Granted, we freed Annabeth, but Lady Athena was pretty sure you had other sources."
He hissed, "You wanted me to listen in."
"Quite right." Percy continued, "We lured you in...just as you have lured us so far, controlling and manipulating us from the shadows. Lord Hephaestus really came through for us...all of this was constructed by him in a span of seconds. The power of suggestion is great...you have heard the myth of Swarnamani just like me, and never tried to use your abilities to check if they were working. It was quite easy to conceal the net as a bright jewel. You fell for it, hook, line and sinker." He paused, "Now for the essential part...why don't you tell us where Bessie is?"
"If you really think I would...Agggh!" Mahishasura's agonised scream lit up the whole room as Percy let the Vasikaranastra fly and impact straight on his head.
It was an extremely powerful weapon, used to impose the will of one person on another. However, Percy had no intention of trying it to control Mahishasura...he knew he wasn't THAT powerful.
His intention was only to weaken the mental shields of Mahishasura...just so that he could glimpse inside his head, using his gifts from Lady Hera, and locate Bessie.
He dove in...yes, it was right there. That was Percy's last coherent thought as his world suddenly exploded in pain.
He had bitten off a bit more than he could chew. As he was forcefully ejected from Mahishasura's mind, he found himself in front of a hulking figure. The supposedly unbreakable noose lay in tatters in front of Mahishasura. He now looked every bit like the menace he was meant to be. He was more chiselled and appeared stronger than any god, Titan or giant Percy had ever seen. With every step he took, the temple thundered, and looking into his eyes eerily resembled gazing into death.
"PERCY JACKSON!" He bellowed as a fireball materialized into his hands, "This ends today." The ball raced towards Percy and at the last moment, he raised Riptide to block it. From the briefest contact Riptide had with the nefarious flames, it had turned incredibly hot, letting Percy know just what he was getting into.
A/N: What can I say, been busy. A really short chapter, but as you can note, Arc 1 has been completed, so I decided to go over the entire story again and found out I have made a stupid mistake in one of the chapters...it took quite a bit of brainstorming to find a solution to that. You'll see...
The prophecy has began guys! I hope you also appreciated the plan Percy and the gods came up with. Now, Percy has a bit of problems, hasn't he? What the hell will happen to him? Can he be a match for Mahishasura? Find out later...it would be a battle to behold...or guess by reviewing. It's good for health, I swear!