Chiron's POV
We had been searching for hours with no sign of Percy. After the first hour, Poseidon flashed away to Olympus to alert the other gods of the situation. I of course, was worried for my student but did not underestimate him. Normally demigods would perish within a day in the normal world without a weapon, but this was the greatest hero alive. Every monster was afraid of him.
Everyone was guilty including me.
How could I have been such a fool?
He was the greatest hero alive, he wouldn't die so easily on a quest. Hades or Nico would have told us at least if he died.
"Heroes, it's getting to late, we shall continue the search tommorow," I shouted, my voice echoing through the forest.
"But Chiron, we have to keep looking, I-we need to apologize to him," cried Annabeth.
I looked at my student with sympathy. She was the closest thing I had to a daughter and I cared about her very much. "It is much too late for us to find him, we will continue the search at first light, I promise," I told her.
Orion slung his arm around her and directed her towards her cabin. I called out to the remaining searchers to bring them in.
As we were walking back into camp, I turned and looked back into the depths of the forest.
"Please be safe Percy," I whisper before turning and galloping back into camp.
Poseidon's POV
I flashed on to Olympus, still shocked from what had happened. I didn't know whether to be happy my son is alive or ashamed on giving up on him so easily.
I sat down at my throne and banged my trident against the hard, marble floor calling the council of the gods.
Fourteen gods flashed in. "Poseidon, what is the meaning of this meeting?" Hades asked.
"I just learned tha- where is Aphrodite? She is suppose to be here, Hermes, can you please get her?"
Hermes nodded and flashed out.
"I just learned that my son is alive," I start to say when Zeus stood up furiously and yelled,"Then why call a meeting? We have more important things to do," he glared at me.
"You didn't let me finish, my son is alive and found out Annabeth is engaged to marry his brother.
At this point, Athena stood up furious. "What! I sent Perseus on a quest to gain my permission to marry my daughter and she-she does this!"
Artemis stood up as well,"I agree, Perseus is a great man and did not deserve this,"
"Wait, you sent him on a quest without telling me! I thought he was dead," I murmured the last part. I could feel the storms raging the Earth but I could care less.
I had abandoned my favorite son for a lesser one. I could see why he hates me now, I thought sullenly.
That was when Hermes flashed in carrying someone.
It was Aphrodite.
"What did you do to my wife!" thundered Hephaestus getting up from his throne lunging at Hermes.
"I didn't do anything, I found her on the ground and sobbing her eyes out," He quickly said while handing her to her husband. Hephaestus held her for a moment then gently placed her in her throne.
I had to smile at that. After the Giant War, Percy managed to convince the council to act more like a family, something Hera enjoyed immensely.
Wait, Percy.
"Wake her up!" roared Zeus which was sufficient in waking her up.
Aphrodite sat up suddenly and stared at the rest of the Olympians assembled.
Then she burst out crying.
Her sobbing shocked the assembled gods.
"Aphrodite, what happened? Are you okay?" asked Athena hesitantly.
"Did you not feel th-that?" Aphrodite stuttered
"Feel what?"
"That wave of power just a few minutes ago" Aphrodite's voice became strong and she turned to stare at me.
"I know what exactly what it was, Poseidon, would you like to explain what transpired at Camp Half-Blood?" her voice uncharacteristically serious.
At this I stuttered. "I have no idea what could have ca-caused this,"
She raised an eyebrow,"Really,or would you like me to tell the other gods?"
Everyone else was watching in a stunned silence at the one-sided conversation and how different Aphrodite was acting.
"Fine, Percy appeared at camp right when his brother proposed to Annabeth. He saw the entire thing and threw the ring he made into the campfire. Then he ran off," I growled out annoyed at the disrespect she was showing me.
"And when did you feel the wave of power," she questioned.
"When-when Percy threw the ring into the fire," my eyes widening as I realized the source of power.
"Well, I don't understand what's going on," snarled Ares.
"Wait," Athena started," Do you mean..." She stared at Aphrodite questioningly.
"Will someone tell me what is going on? I assume we all felt the power surge, NOW EXPLAIN!" roared Zeus.
"The power came from Perseus or more specifically the ring," replied Aphodite still glaring daggers at me.
"How could a ring do something like that?" asked Apollo.
"Because it forged from a promise, from love. It was created from love which is why it affected my domain, and in turn, me," Aphrodite said.
"When did you get so smart?" asked Hermes who was awestruck
She, of course, ignored this.
"But why would this affect us? We are not all gods and goddesses of love," Athena pointed out.
"Because it was pure love. love that is the hardest to find. I haven't felt love like this in centuries."
"And because his heart was broken, he discarded the ring, destroying his ability to love again,"
"Why would that stop him from loving?" I pointed out
"Because he put all his love into making the ring, he literally sacrificed his ablitity to love, to us," Aphrodite stated, throwing her hands up. "How am I the only one to know these things?" she said exasperated.
"Because your the Goddess of Love," pointed out Hermes, hi-fiving Apollo.
"I believe we need to find Perseus, he is too powerful and we need to know if he is still loyal to Olympus. Will the Hunters search for him?" said Zeus, looking at Artemis.
"Of course father," Artemis then proceeded to flash away.
"Meeting adjourned," and with that, Zeus disappeared in a massive bolt of lightning.
Everyone else flashed out except for me, Aphrodite and Athena. Athena finally sighed after an uncomfortable silence."Look Lord Poseidon, Percy's disappearance is not your fault-"
"Yes it is," hissed Aphrodite, "It is his fault along with your daughter and the rest of camp. You abandoned him for another son, treating him like a tool, you used him until he was not needed anymore. You used him to get yourself attention and when he no longer provided it, you turned to your next son. It is most definitely your fault,"
"And now it's up to you to fix it," she glared at me one more time before disappearing in cloud of perfume.
Athena looked at me sadly, before flashing away.
I was alone.
"What have I done?"
Artemis was not having a good day.
Actually, that would have been an understatement.
It has been three weeks since the Hunt had been ordered to find Percy Jackson.
And it seemed that he had vanished off the face of the Earth.
For the first time, it seemed the hunters would fail.
That did not sit well with the hunters.
Even worse, was the lack of monsters.
All along the east coast, nature spirits were reporting a frustrating and worrying declining amount of monsters.
The hunters were suppose to hunt, but how could they hunt if they had no prey?
The Hunt was currently camped in Colorado, investigating the monster disappearances that seemed to move west.
The hunters were just sitting down to eat when there was scream from the forest. Immediately, every hunter had their bows ready.
There was a loud crash from the bushes just outside their clearing and surprisingly, a dracaena slithered out.
Okay, slithered out would be exaggerating, mused Artemis. The creature was cut all over its body, and could barely crawl.
It looked up and saw the hunters pointing their bows at it.
The monster froze, then looked behind it and continued to limp towards us with a terrified expression.
"Stop!" called out Thalia stepping out towards the beast, with her bow still pointed at the dracaena. The creature fell to its knees, or where it's knees would be if it had legs instead of snake tails.
"Pleasesss help me," she cried out. "Why would you ask the hunters for help?" Phoebe asked.
"Because h-he is here," It managed to stutter out. "Who is here beast" demanded Artemis who walked up to Thalia.
"The Hooded One,"
"Who the hades is the Hooded One?" Thalia demanded.
"H-he is The Destroyer," she whimpered. "Well that helps a lot thanks," Atlanta, one of the senior hunters called out.
The dracaena's head snapped around to stare at the bushes she had climbed out. "He'sss here!" she started to sob.
Out of the bushes stepped out a man, wearing black jeans and a black hoodie.
Every hunter pointed their bows at the new threat. "Who are you?" asked Artemis. He just cocked his head to the side and continued to stare at the dracaena while it sobbed.
"Answer the question boy!" snarled Phoebe.
The dracaenae shrieked suddenly and disintegrated.
"What did you do!" demanded a furious and also slighty scared Goddess of the Hunt. Monsters can only disintegrate like that when faced with a god's true form.
The man did not respond and just watched the hunters with a slight smirk on his face.
And suddenly, one of the hunters shot an arrow at him. He just grinned widely and thrust his hand up.
Stopping the arrow an inch from his heart.
The man's demeanor changed immediately. He grabbed the arrow and snapped it, letting the fragments fall to the ground.
"That wasn't smart dear hunter," the man's voice echoed eerily around the clearing.
"Wh-who are you?" Thalia's voice shakily asked. She hated how she was feeling. She was suppose to be strong, not frightened.
"I believe your mistress already knows that answer," was his simple reply.
And Artemis did know the answer and she was scared of it. If someone was capable of scaring a monster to asking the hunters for help, it was truly a being to be feared.
"Are you The Destroyer?" she asked warily.
"Yes,"
The man seemed to change his attitude immediately.
Almost menacingly.
"I am the Destroyer, the fear of monsters,"
The man dropped his voice to a low whisper that the hunters had to strain their ears to hear.
"Do not dare try to find me or everything you know will be razed to the ground,"
And the man disappeared without a trace.
Ok, first things first. Thank you guys so much for the great comments yelling at me to guys rock!
Also now we get serious.
HOW DID NO ONE GET MY REFERENCE IN THE FIRST CHAPTER! For those that did not catch it, it is Not once looking back. This sentence is the same as the last sentence in the Last Olympian.
In the Last Olympian, it symbolizes his life was perfect, he did not need to look at the past or look to the future. He could just live in the moment. It was when he wad happy.
Obviously, in my book, this does not mean the same thing:D
Thanks for reading and remember,
Follow and review!
-PixelUp