A/N: Another successful chapter which is quite unbelievable! I'm so happy, thanks to all of you who are reading this! (even the new readers who might read this story for the first time!)

Special thanks to Ultimatum737, Intellectually, bender268, zsouthwell, Silent Phantom gal, AlixzandraJaydePhoenix, TheBlackCatMoon, koolkimoov and DeathmatchDrunkard for following and favoring my story. You're wonderful readers!

Hazel123: Your reviews flatter me! I feel like flying while reading your comments for me! I guess I can't use any words to describe how happy and grateful I am so yeah, just thank for reading and spending time to write those fantastic reviews.

DeathmatchDrunkard: I really appreciate your honest comments. I know it's quite annoying that there are a lot of parts I supposed to explain and describe properly but I really can't and don't have time! I'm so sorry if it makes you not pleased with my story but there's nothing I can do about that. About that new girl, well, you'll find out "who" she is in a few chapters. She's a "who", not a "what". I'd like you to know one thing that reading my stories really need great patience. Guessing only made things seem… simple and a bit nasty. But your review is a special one and I respect it just like other ones.

Huy: Glad you understand and are interested in my story. Good luck with your English.

Chapter 4: Gamble

Unknown's Point of view:

We fell. It felt weird. I'd never fallen before. That hero, he was weird. He fought with me. He didn't run. He didn't try to run away from me. He listened to my words. A bunch of odd events in one day were new. This river was strange, too. My skin stung when the water touched me. He said we'd probably die. Then death wasn't so terrible. Not so painful, at all. In fact, I wasn't sure if this was death. I couldn't move properly. The water surrounded me. It tried to drown me. Huh. I maybe wasn't able to get out of it but death couldn't catch me that easily. He looked around. His eyes met mine. Weird. His eyes were… glowing? They looked like emerald. Noble soul he had. Fates surly had never treated him nicely. He concentrated on my face. His lips moved. I couldn't understand what he tried to tell me. He swam quickly towards me. I couldn't move. Useless. He actually caught my body. Strong. We reached the bank of the river. He passed out.

I started feeling abnormal. My throat forced me to gulp. A sensation passed by. I pulsed. Not just my body but also my soul. I shivered lightly. I never had been in these… states? Situations? Emotions? No way. I shook him gently.

"Get up."

Even so I knew he wouldn't for quite some time. Too many wounds. Exhaustion. But still, his aura was strong, attracting monsters from everywhere. Still in the water we were. He started to burn. Not good. He had to get out. Maybe I needed to as well.

"Don't die." – I told him, looking around two sides of the river for a clear path.

A request? An order? I didn't want him to give up. Then his body pulsed, too. Just like mine did. I punched the shore and growled. My eyes changed color. With all my strength, I dragged him out of the water and then myself. The filths pointed their weapons towards me. My and his lives they hungered for. They flinched when my eyes blocked into theirs. I saw my reflection in their hollow eyes. My golden orbs glowed. Killing mode was on. I threw the daggers which were tied around my waist by the sash at the skeletons in half a second. They responded. Bad moves. I didn't even bother using my weapons. With bare hands, I took them all. Their blades hit my skin but no cuts were seen. What? I exterminated them all the minute after. How? Not really sure. Then realization hit. I turned to the black river. It looked like I had just become a more hideous monster than I already was.

Percy's Point of View:

I hoped I made it. That kid was surly smart enough to save herself and probably me if she cared out of that place. I was paralyzed. My body didn't respond to me which was frustrating. I didn't feel pain at all which was good in this bullshit situation. The power of River Styx indeed had been activated again and the crazy thing was? I had no idea where my Achilles spot was. My concentration was on saving my mysterious partner. So that possibly leaded to her being my anchor. Maybe I should think about this later.

Right now, my surrounding was darkness. There was nothing else and I felt oddly peaceful. I wasn't sure if it was the right time to decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing but I definitely not wanted this to last any longer. The living world was in complete chaos right now and I was doing nothing. At all.

"Perseus Jackson, you want to save them that desperately? You are indeed a useful pawn of the game, Jackson."

My mind was filled with that sleepy tone of a woman again. Gaea. I was expecting her and here she came. I guess establishing an "appointment" with her wasn't so difficult.

"Oh, I recall that you did mention that before. A few times to be exact, Great Granny." – I replied sarcastically.

I heard a snarl coming from underneath. Huh, it was a gift then. Provoking people was one of my hobbies. It was easy like eating a piece of cake to piss an old, composed person to me.

"Or you might prefer Great Gramps?" – I chuckled under my breath. – "And to your desire, no, I wouldn't satisfy it. I'd like to play another game in this game really. Are you interested?"

"What are you up to now, son of Poseidon? Whatever it is, it won't save your precious camp and those foolish Olympians. My plan is going well. And you shall watch the world crumble." – Mother Earth smirked arrogantly and it sent pure rage to my system.

"Yeah yeah, I know that. Sounds like a great scene of a well-organized play but no thank you; I don't want the ticket for that. Too dramatic. I'd prefer something more… simple and intriguing than running around and finding allies, then end up finding out they're traitors." – My use of words were really poor but I hoped I was good just enough to make her agree with this.

"You mean this?" – asked the Goddess boringly.

Suddenly, I was standing in the middle of Camp Half-blood. Chaos wasn't the exact word to describe it right now. It was beyond that, an insane and full of despair battlefield. The Romans and Greeks were face-to-face with each other and throwing weapons. Nico was trying in vain to prevent two sides from destroying each other. Annabeth and Clarisse were combat-fighting along with mouth-fighting with Minerva and Bellona's children from Camp Jupiter. Hazel and Frank forced to choose Roman because that was where they belonged. It looked worse than Troy in its last days.

"Your leader is a coward! He ran away, see? Where is that idiot, show us!" – snarled Jason in mad victory and fury. He was truly the pawn of Zeus.

"None of your business, brat! He'll be back! He just has a friend to save at the moment, not like you!" – Thalia paid back. Her Hunters had united with Camp Half-blood.

"You stole the prophecies from our ancient book, mortal!" – cried Octavian.

"Ask Lord Apollo and he'll tell you the truth, you son of a b*tch!" – Rachel's green eyes were glowing dangerously.

"Enough. I already foresaw this since Juno revealed her plan. That's why I'd prefer two people playing chess over the idea that a bunch of losers struggling for the board game, Lady." – I cut off the image in my head, not wanting to see more of that.

I tried to secretly-but-not-so-secretly humiliate my friends in front of Gaea. She seemed to catch that detail.

"Alright son of Poseidon, you caught my interest. What's your game?" – Her voice was full of doubts but interest at the same time. No-one had ever dared challenging her to a game before.

"Well, I don't want anyone to get involved with this after I speak it out to you, so I want what happens here stays between two of us, and two of us only." – I emphasized the word only.

"Huh, no-one really gets involved in my private business before, sea pawn. Just shoot it, I swear on the River of Styx I wouldn't tell anyone about whatever you're talking about."

That was easier than I expected. Was I being lured to a trap myself? Or maybe I had succeeded attracting her attention towards me? I wasn't sure, but I decided to go for it.

"Alright, as we both know, you don't want your… kids to get hurt right?"

"Apparently, Jackson. And you had slain lots of them." – She growled murderously.

"Yeah well, it's you who lets them go on battles. I never want to fight." – I admitted truthfully.

"I don't CARE! Just get straight to the point." – She was getting impatient.

"Wa, you're actually paying attention, Granny? I thought you're scared of playing games!" – I decided to strike for a risk.

"Never in my life have I, the Goddess of Earth, been scared of playing games with the mutts. Spit out the rules, seas spawn! You'll lose anyway; even it's your game!" – Confidence was clear as crystal in her voice. – "I've had all the advantages in the current battles and despite the fact that you're trying to create a new one, I'll still hold victory!"

"Yeah yeah, are you listening to the rules or boasting about your glorious achievements?"

Silence. I decided to take the final step.

"As I said, I want a battle between two of us only. I'd like to have a little bet."

"No-one would give you blessing this time, Jackson. Watch your tongue. Even you've dipped in that River of Styx again, you're not invincible."

"Thanks for the warning, I feel the love." – I smirked sarcastically. – "That's the point. We'll be on our own. I won't ask blessings from any gods or goddesses, I'll play this game myself. And you won't send anything to attack my friends and Olympus during this battle. That would lower both sides' deaths. You won't see your precious sons and daughters get slain and my friends wouldn't have to be the heartless killers who would touch your children! We would… like they say… represent for our side to… reach the final goal, the final stand."

Neither of us spoke after my explanation. The Goddess was considering hard.

"Sounds like a bright daring idea from a sea pawn like you, Jackson. There must be a reason behind this suicidal strategy but I'll accept your challenge. So only one versus one, is that what you want? No armies no big violence. Simple and quiet."

"Well, you are truly the mother of everything on this planet." – I smiled bitterly. – "So how long would you want this thing to take?"

"It would be a big entertainment show before I rule this tainted world so I guess, six months? I want to see those rats live their last half of the year." – She laughed evilly, admired her own sick scheme.

"Alright, six months, I guess that's like a blink of eye to you huh? So what do you want to bet on? I have an idea of my own right now." – I said smugly. My idea was beyond insane, but it might help me achieve many goals in one row if I made it. Its chance of succeeding was like zero, but I had hope. I trusted in my stubbornness and determination.

"And I'm really fascinated to hear your golden thoughts, Jackson."

"Fine then. It's obvious that you want me to suffer and you want it to be tough. Let's see. We both know that you'll let your son, Kronos rule after you win this. In order to regain his real form, he needs… a host. He needed someone to break Tartarus and do those kinds of stuff for him. I volunteer to be his host if I lose this game. But, he has to prove that he's good enough to have me as his host. I'll bear him in my head for six months so that he could look around. If I couldn't get him under control after six months, you win. If he couldn't stand being in me for six months, you would go back to your slumber and never rise again. How's that?"

A laugh rang madly in my ears. She was seeing obvious victory in her palm.

"Jackson, I remember that your mind is quite sane enough to see what's right and what's wrong, but I guess I was wrong. My son is going to turn you into dirt! Right then, I accept your challenge. Prepare yourself, sea pawn!"

"We'll see about that, Gaea. You have to swear on the River of Styx not to attack, or hurt, or do anything to anybody during our game, not to send or order anyone to do those dirty things for you, to leave everything in peace while the game happened or you'll vaporize forever."

"If you swear you won't inform no-one, not even your best friends and your old man about this, also not to attack me during the game and then we'll have a deal." – She stated sharply.

"Together then, Mother Earth." – I sighed at this. Here we go.

"I, Perseus Jackson, swear on the River of Styx…"

"I swear on the River of Styx…"

"…during the game between me and Goddess Gaea…"

"…while I and Percy Jackson, the Seas Spawn have this bet…"

"I will not tell or ask for anyone's help…"

"…no-one, the giants, the titans, all of my allies except Kronos would know about the game…"

"…or cause any damage to Goddess Gaea during the bet…"

"…and I shall leave everything in peace in those six months…"

"…or I would give myself to the Lord of Time."

"…or my existence will be erased from this universe."

Thunder boomed loudly from somewhere far away, tearing everything apart. It was the beginning of the end.

Third's Person Point of View:

Sea green eyes slowly opened. Percy blinked his eyes rapidly in one second before took in his surrounding again. Good news was he wasn't in the Underworld anymore. He was lying on the grass of somewhere and above him was the night sky. Cool breeze caressed his face soothingly, brought the sweat on his forehead away. The son of Poseidon sat up while running his hand through his messy hair. Then a voice caught his attention:

"My creator's in your head, hero. Or should I say, Perseus?"

A/N: What do you think? It's really late at night in my place right now and my head isn't so clear. There might be some spelling or grammar mistakes somewhere in this chapter so please forgive me if there are any. I know my idea of this story is kind of impossible and quite unacceptable, but it comes from my imagination so things don't have to make sense at all. Give me some reviews. Thanks for your time, dear readers!