Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series.
Story: Champion of Olympus: Child of the First One
Chapter 19: The Demon Vortex
Third Person POV
Mount Olympus
"What?" Hera asked in disbelief.
Loki's evil smile seemed to darken the throne room. "I knew you'd come here. Once Percy left to save his family, I knew you'd come to help defend Olympus. Actually, I was counting on it," Loki said.
Hestia and Hera stood side by side as the god of evil approached. "What do you want with my sister?" Hestia asked, as the flames in her eyes flared.
Loki chuckled. "I need this Age's Queen to help with the ritual," he explained.
"What ritual?" Hera asked worriedly.
Loki waved his finger. "I think Percy told you. Don't play dumb Hera," Loki scolded.
"Let my mother and grandmother go. You filthy little bastard," Hera yelled. The aura of power around her made the columns in the throne room shake.
Loki looked around the room, his eyes flashed dangerously. "Why? Are you going to stop me?" he asked.
"If I have to," Hera said, her voice filled with determination.
Hestia smiled at her sister. "I will help her," Hestia added.
"Good," Loki said. His hands began to glow until he shot forth a whip made of fire. He slashed the whip toward the two goddesses, but it was intercepted by a wall of orange flame.
"You'll have to do better than that," Hestia said as she held off the whip with the power of the hearth.
Loki's evil grin spread across his face sending a cold shiver down the spines of the two goddesses. His body began to glow and morph into different shapes until a King Cobra formed in front of them. The snake was at least thirty feet long with a head five times the size of humans. Its six inch fangs dripped with green venom. When the venom hit the marble floor it began to eat through the stone like an acid.
"Then I will ssstep up my game," Loki hissed. Hera and Hestia just stared at the creature in terror. The black eyes of the monster looked into their souls. "You have a clean ssssoul Hessstia, most commendable, but your sssisster has done terrible thingssss. I will punissssh her firssst."
Hestia stood in front of her sister protectively. "You will not hurt her," Hestia said.
"Ssssuch bravery," Loki said. He struck forward. Hestia threw a plume of fire at the monster, but the flames didn't hurt it. The snake coiled around the oldest child of Rhea. He pulled his coils tightly around the body of the goddess. Hera moved to help, but froze at the sight of the giant snake's eyes. "You will wait your turn." Loki turned back to the goddess clutched in his coils. "I won't kill you." His body began to glow. When the light faded; he was back in godly form with Hestia chained to her hearth.
"Let her go," Hera yelled.
"She is my audience now," Loki said. He snapped his fingers and celestial bronze chains spread around Hera. Her arms were secured to her sides and she couldn't move her legs. Loki snapped his fingers again and a Cyclops carried the goddess over to her mother and grandmother. "Now the fun begins."
Outside the Empire State Building
The gods were fighting the Draugr, but they were slowly being overwhelmed by the sheer number of the demons.
"Father, we won't be able to hold them back for long," Athena said.
Zeus's electric blue eyes grew darker. "I know," he said.
Suddenly, something hit the pavement sending asphalt and concrete into the air. The fighting stopped the gods on one side and the mass of Draugr on the other. The dust around the large crater settled and out stepped a familiar figure dressed in sea green armor.
"Percy," Zeus said. Percy turned toward his father and nodded. He stepped between the gods and the Draugr. He held Mjolnir in front of his chest, and then pointed it toward the Draugr. He opened his mouth and screamed in the language of the Aesir. The red eyes of the Draugr flared with anger. Zeus looked at Athena. "We need to move back."
The gods huddled around their King as they moved away from the impending conflict between the Champion of Olympus and the remaining horde of Draugr.
Percy stood strong against the undead wall of Draugr that faced him. He knew these had once been mortal inhabitants of New York, but that was before the illness and their untimely deaths. Now evil resided within their lifeless shells. Thor had taught him about the Draugr; they were a plague on the world, but never had there been so many in one place before.
The mass of Draugr growled and moaned in anger and in their lust for destruction. They could sense the power of the being in front of them. It was a familiar, but strange power. They could smell the blood of the Aesir and this turned them into a frenzy of hunger. They surged forward to consume this new target, this new meal.
Percy held out Mjolnir; he knew the power of his weapon could easily destroy any Draugr, one on one, but now he was faced by an almost unending horde, but he knew that this was all that was left of the million strong army of Draugr. Unfortunately, there were at three quarters of a million left to fight. Percy's eyes turned a bright white color as his sea green helmet covered his head and the sides of his face. He felt the powers of the eldest Olympians within him and the power of the Aesir as well. He focused all his power as the Draugr surrounded him.
At first the demons stayed away from him. His glowing white eyes made the demons hesitate. For the first time the creatures looked afraid. One of the Draugr yelled and then the horde descended upon the last child of the Aesir. Percy's eyes flashed, and then his body began to spin like a top. Mjolnir flashed with power and magic, just like a strobe light. When the horde touched Percy they were destroyed as soon as the weapon touched them. Percy began to spin faster and faster. The air around him began to spin until a tornado formed from the movement of his body.
Some of the Draugr tried to run away from the power, but the tornado pulled them in toward their doom. The waling of the demons and the sound of the whirlwind was like an army of freight trains barreling down upon the city. More and more demons were turned to dust.
The gods watched in awe as the tornado that was the Champion of Olympus intensified. A scream emanated from the tornado. Athena recognized it as Percy's voice.
"What is that?" Zeus asked.
Athena leaned close to her father's ear. "It's Percy; he speaks in the ancient language of the Aesir," she said.
Zeus looked back at the tornado. The scream seemed to draw more and more Aesir from the shadows. "What is he saying?" Zeus asked.
"Come to me children of evil," Athena recited. The other gods just stared at her. She gave them an annoyed glare. "That's the translation."
"He's calling them in. It's some type of magic spell," Poseidon said.
"Like moths to a flame," Athena described.
Zeus smiled at the description. "He's doing it," Zeus yelled.
The mass of Draugr was beginning to thin out, but Percy was relentless. The tornado grew larger and the winds stronger. Athena's eyes widened with fear. "We need to back up," she said.
Zeus and Hades stood together. They could feel the increased pull of the vortex. "Everyone move back," Zeus yelled over the sound of the wind and the screams of his son. The gods moved further away until they could barely see the glow that emanated from the center of the vortex.
The winds picked up. Light poles fell over and were pulled along the pavement toward the tornado. Cars began to skid along the street as the pull increased.
Athena marveled at the power. "It's like a black hole," she said.
The wall cloud of the tornado grew wider and wider as more debris flowed into it, but Percy's onslaught never stopped. He was like a machine. He had one goal. Destroy the Draugr.
A silver light appeared behind the gods. Zeus held his master bolt ready to strike this intruder down. The light faded. Artemis stood before them. Her hunter's outfit was covered in golden ichor, but she looked unharmed.
"How is Aphrodite?" Zeus asked.
"She is fine. Apollo is taking care of her," Artemis explained. "What's happening here?"
Athena explained the situation to her sister. Artemis was shocked at the power Percy was wielding. "What about Olympus?"
All the color drained from Zeus's face. "We need to get up there," he said.
Athena eyed her father worriedly. "What about Percy?" she questioned.
"He can handle this," Zeus said hopefully. "We are needed on Olympus." He looked around for Hera. "Has anyone seen Hera?"
The others looked around worriedly. "Brother, I haven't seen her since the start of the battle," Poseidon said.
Zeus's face fell. "She wouldn't," he said.
"What?" Hades asked.
"She went to Olympus; to face him alone," Zeus said.
Hades pale complexion seemed to turn grey at the thought. "We have to help her," he said. The gods huddled around Zeus before disappearing into a golden light.
The vortex increased in strength. The few remaining Draugr tried to hide, but the pull of the vortex was too strong. The last Draugr plunged toward the center of the vortex and turned to ash with a simple touch of Mjolnir.
The vortex began to slow and the tornado and winds died down to a soft and gentle breeze. Percy stood still; he hung his head in shame at the destruction that he caused upon the city that he loved. He looked up to the top of the Empire State Building; dark clouds circled the antenna. A strange sensation flooded his senses and the blood within his veins ran cold.
"Loki," he said. The name sent a shiver down his spine, but that feeling was soon replaced with anger and hatred. Loki was the evil that destroyed his city; the creature that caused so many deaths. Percy's blood boiled with rage. Even though he was tired from the amount of energy he had used to destroy the Draugr; he knew that the battle was far from over. The sea green armor around his body began to glow before he flew into the air toward Mount Olympus.
Mount Olympus
The elevator doors opened. Annabeth stepped out of the elevator with Jason, Reyna, Thalia and Nico at her side. Malcolm stayed with Bianca to help guard Ethan. Luke stayed with Clarisse who was still unconscious from her injuries. Grover had been severely hurt in the battle and two Apollo kids were tending to him.
"We need to get to the throne room," Annabeth urged. Her friends followed her as she ran to the throne room. The demigods pushed open the doors to reveal the interior of the throne room. They stepped forward, but stopped at the sight before them. Three goddesses were on their knees before the thrones to the gods. A Cyclops stood on either side of the goddesses. A girl about eight years old in a brown dress was chained to the hearth. "Hestia" The other demigods nodded. They all turned to the center of the throne room. A man in golden armor paced back in forth in front of the three goddesses chained before him. "Loki" Annabeth and her friends froze at the sight of the Norse god. They walked toward the throne room. They walked quietly hoping to sneak up on their enemy. They reached the area of the throne room just passed the visitor section. Suddenly, Annabeth and Thalia struck an energy barrier. They jumped back in pain as the energy field burned their skin.
Loki turned around with a devious look in his eyes. "More guests," he said. He looked around and frowned. "Where are your parents?"
"Leave them alone," Hera yelled, her eyes were red and it looked like she was about to cry. Thalia stared at the woman that had been her adoptive mother. The woman she had loved as well as the woman she hated for the past year.
"Why do you care? They're demigods, not worth your time, remember?" Loki mocked.
Hera glared at Loki. "I care for them," she replied.
Loki laughed. "The Champion made you soft, like the others," Loki said sarcastically.
Hera spat at the god of evil. "You won't win; my family will defeat you," Hera said hopefully.
"Don't worry Hera; you'll get to see your family. They will watch you die, but don't despair, they'll join you soon enough," Loki said.
"Leave her alone," Thalia yelled. She may have had her problems with Hera, but she didn't want her to die.
Several lights appear behind the demigods. When the lights faded the gods of Olympus stood behind the demigods. Zeus and the other gods rushed toward Annabeth and her friends. Thalia and Jason hugged their father when he reached them.
"Dad, he has Hera," Thalia said.
Zeus looked at the thrones and his eyes narrowed at the sight of Hera and the others chained to the thrones. When he saw Loki's smug face, he growled with anger. 'Loki, I order you to release them," Zeus yelled.
Loki's fiendish grin spread across his face. "I don't follow orders," he said.
Zeus's master bolt appeared in his hand. He threw the weapon at the force field, but nothing happened.
Loki laughed at the attempt. "You're puny Olympian weapons cannot harm my power," Loki explained.
Suddenly, the sky light over the thrones exploded and a sea green blur hit the force field. The blur passed through the force field and landed on the marble floor with a loud crash. The demigods gasped at the sight. Percy stood before Loki with Mjolnir glowing in his hand.
"It is time Loki," Percy said with a dangerous glint in his glowing white eyes.
Loki growled. "Time for what?" Loki asked angrily.
"Time for our final battle," Percy replied.
AN: The Draugr are no more, but the final battle with Loki has just begun.