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Jason
(A/N: Yes, I know. You probably all are wondering. I'm just going to confirm that yes, if I want to complete my story by the time BoO comes out, I'm going to have to do daily updates. So yeah. I sense a wild month up ahead. Anyways, be sure to read and review! Enjoy.)
The wind whistled past Jason's ears as he rocketed into the atmosphere, carrying Leo with him. He'd expected it to be harder to control the winds, with the whole deal about Uranus and such. But it was surprisingly easy. Then it hit him that Uranus was trying to help. Then again, he'd been castrated by his sons (who Gaia happened to favor) and had his balls thrown into the sea.
Jason slowly got nearer and nearer to the top. Leo yelled over the wind, "What are we gonna do when we get to the top?"
Jason didn't know. "Destroy it, of course." He yelled back.
"Yeah, but how?"
Jason stayed silent. If it hadn't been possible down there, it might be easier at the top. But cutting off the top wouldn't work- it would just keep growing. He needed to cut it off so that it wouldn't impale Mount Olympus before the end of the world. After that… well, it wouldn't really matter after that.
About a hundred meters from the top, Jason stopped.
"Here?" Leo asked. They were way above most low-lying clouds by now, still pretty far from the next level of altocumulus. Only tens of meters above the peak of the spire, Mount Olympus stood proud and tall.
"Yep." Jason solidified the air beneath them, forming a platform where Leo could stand on.
Mount Olympus. Even from that distance, Jason could see it in all of its glory. Nearly a perfect circle, with a diameter that easily exceeded a kilometer, the floating island had on top of it a whole bunch of houses, most likely made entirely of marble. He could see designs from many, many time periods, ranging from Egyptian pyramids and Coliseums to apartment buildings and football stadiums. But all made of marble. This was why Gaia had chosen to impale this particular place, Jason realized- it was a collective imprint of the modern world. Destroying all that meant taking all that information from humans and dropping them back to the era of hunter-gatherers.
As Leo stepped off tentatively, legs wobbling, he asked, shivering, "Are you s-sure this is going t-to hold me?"
"Yes, it is." Jason replied. "Alright," he said as soon as Leo stood up straight, "Okay, charge up! It's going to take a huge amount of energy to blast this spire open!"
He focused, and the clouds above him started to spark with lightning. Leo was also charging up for a blast of fire. His hands were glowing white-hot. Pretty soon, Jason was ready to deliver a huge blast. He could still barely hear the sounds of battle coming from below.
He shook himself awake. "Leo," he yelled over the steadily growing wind, "Are you done?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, then. In three, two, one, FIRE!"
At that moment, Jason heard a loud, ear-splitting crack, and a bolt of thunder came down straight onto the spire the exact same instant Leo sent a giant blast of fire directly at the pillar. It was so hot, Jason was already drenched in sweat in under a second. His face felt like it was peeling off, it was so hot.
The air was so electrically charged that Jason had to create a barrier between them and it because otherwise, Leo would have been killed from the voltage. As the spire rose, they angled their fire so that it would stay on the same spot constantly.
But despite a full minute of that, the spire still didn't seem to be going anywhere.
They both stopped their fire. And stared at how little they had done. A tiny crack, a millimeter wide, now ran from the top of the spire down to their level. They could barely see even a slight difference in the spire. About a centimeter of rock had been trimmed off the edges.
"I can't do this forever!" Leo groaned. "That was about as powerful a fire as I could get!"
Jason felt the same way. He'd used up all of his power reserves in that single blast of electricity. He could feel it- his reserves were completely depleted.
"What do we do?" Leo asked. "Sure, I could unleash a few more blasts of flame, but I can't keep it up long enough to destroy it! What do we do now? Are we dead?"
"No." Jason realized. "There is another way. We're going to have to move Mount Olympus."
Leo stared at him for a second. Then, he started to laugh so, so hard. "This isn't funny!" Jason yelled, exasperated. "I'm serious! Look, unless you're up to moving this entire spire, this is our only option."
Leo immediately stopped. Because moving Mount Olympus wasn't something you could just do. It was way up there in the "Impossible" list of things, right alongside "I'm going to survive a hundred-mile fall as a mortal", "I'm going to stick my shoe in Zeus' mouth," and "Octavian will become a nice person." Things like that didn't just happen. It required immense power, infinitely more than what Jason and Leo had to offer at the moment.
But Jason knew that trying to destroy the spire was a lost cause. There was absolutely no hope destroying it. It was too strong.
"Okay, just hold on tight." Jason grabbed Leo by the waist and soared up to the level where Mount Olympus was. As he kept going higher, his heart kept going lower. He realized just how big the island was, and he knew that this was going to be downright impossible. A mile in diameter was just too immense. But as he kept going higher and higher, he also realized that he didn't feel as cold as he did last time.
The density of the buildings on Mount Olympus was ridiculously high. Buildings were crammed right next to other buildings. Mayan pyramids were right next to Olympic stadiums, the slanted roofs of the latter fitting with the sides of the pyramids like jigsaw puzzle pieces. And at the very center of it all, a giant hill rose above the city, and on its peak was a giant temple.
Jason snapped back to reality. They were right next to it now, and it didn't seem like they were going to make it. Jason looked down- and nearly reeled.
The spire was just ten meters away from the bottom.
"Leo!" Jason yelled. "NOW-"
Suddenly, the wind picked up- and started to speak.
I know you have tried. I feel your hopelessness. It happened to me too, when my sons took them and threw them into the ocean.
"Uranus?" Jason asked. Leo stifled a laugh at the hilarity of the situation. Jason silenced him with a glare.
But then Aphrodite came out of the sea foam. Even when it seems hopeless, every cloud has a silver lining. And this time, I will help you. My wife cannot be allowed to take over the world. If she does so, I will be done for. So while I cannot agree with what has become of humans, I must help you nonetheless.
"Erm, thanks… then." Jason replied.
Very well. I will help you, then.
A powerful gust of wind blew against Jason and Leo, blowing them backwards and flattening them against the rocks. Jason's face really felt like it was blowing off. And slowly but surely, the island started to move. Sure, it was moving slowly, but as least it was moving.
The island drifted at a lazy pace across the spire. Come on, come on… yes! Jason pumped a fist in his mind as they passed over the spire just as it was about to touch the island.
Once the entire island was clear, the wind died down. Jason and Leo shared a glance.
"Well, that was unexpected." Leo muttered.
"You don't say." Jason replied. "Now come on, we need to get back down there to help them."
He grabbed Leo's waist, and they flew back down.
(I seriously hope that I can get the next chapter up by tomorrow. Gonna relieve a lot of stress. Anyways, just a final thought. I won't be expanding the Nico arc to the end of the book. I might stop after 4 or 5 more chapters, really depends on what can still be fleshed out.)
