Chapter 7: Sparks and Prophecy
Dawn arrived at its usual schedule, bathing the beach in its first sliver of morning light. Artemis and Percy rose from their spots in unison, knowing it was time to get back to camp. She tapped the demigod's shoulder, and the two appeared next to the empty dining table while the hunters stirred from their tents. Thalia was the only one already out and about, greeting them when they flashed in.
"Where are you two coming from?" she asked suspiciously.
Artemis beat Percy to a response.
"Perseus had been gone too long, so I retrieved him. Ready the hunters; we leave for the northeast corner of the park in ten minutes," she said authoritatively.
"Why the northeast corner?" Thalia asked, satisfied with the answer to her first question, "We're starting the monster search there?"
"No, that is where the monsters are. While tracking Perseus yesterday, I discovered their location and numbers. Their forces will be a good training exercise in preparation for the coming battles."
Thalia nodded and barked orders at the bleary-eyed girls just emerging from their tents. The group of hunters gathered quickly after that, forming ranks in front of Artemis. As she briefed them on the enemy that would be awaiting them in the park, Percy could feel a few hunters send spiteful glares in his direction.
I guess one dinner wasn't enough. Maybe breakfast after this fight can get me on the better side of their ledgers, he considered to himself.
If someone made food for him, they immediately found themselves in his good graces, so he figured the same idea could apply for the hunters.
A whistle brought him out of his thoughts. His hand moved instinctively in front of his body, fingers wrapping around an arrow that paused inches away from his chest. His eyes flicked up to find Phoebe scowling at him a dozen yards away.
"Get going, boy. Thalia is waiting for you to leave for the monsters' camp," she said rigidly, but pointed dismissively behind her.
Percy walked towards and then past her, tossing the arrow back into her quiver and not saying a word as he ducked into the forest. Quickly, he found Thalia leaning a tree tweaking her bow. She waved to him, and the two took off through the forest together. While they ran towards their destination neck and neck, Percy struck up a conversation.
"You did that on purpose didn't you? Sending Phoebe to get me," he asked through steadied breaths. Thalia smirked.
"Recon is usually her and I's assignment. But after what she pulled last night, I thought making her fetch you to do her job would set her straight," she said. Percy laughed.
"Thanks, but it also made her try to shoot me with an arrow, even if she did whistle a warning. But I actually want to get her to like me, so no more retaliation on my behalf. Deal?"
"Fine, deal."
The two ran the rest of the way in silence, settling on top of a hill in the northeast corner of the park. Peering over the hillside, they found a mess of just over a hundred monsters entrenched at the bottom of the other end. They were milling about with seemingly no care in the world. Percy noticed a batch of cyclopes either wrestling with each other or slow-cooking bears over a campfire. He looked disgusted.
"Who eats dark meat for breakfast?" he asked incredulously.
Thalia ignored his ridiculous question while she took note of the kinds of monsters that filled the camp's ranks.
"Cyclopes, dracaena, empousae, and hellhounds with no big named monsters to lead them. This may be the easiest mission yet. We could just handle this ourselves, assuming you actually pay attention if another mysterious portal appears behind you," she said teasingly.
Percy just laughed as he stretched his shoulders and back. They'd get rid of the monsters themselves. With the meeting on Olympus still fresh in his mind and his decision to remain calm no matter what the hunters threw at him, he really needed to blow off some steam. Percy excitedly donned his bronze knuckles, ready to fly off the hill and dive towards the enemy.
"Stop. Stay here, Perseus."
The demigod almost tripped over his own foot, already in motion towards the edge of the hill. He and Thalia turned to find Artemis arriving on the hilltop with the hunters in tow.
"Ah, come on. I should've been a second faster," he groaned.
Artemis craned her neck over the hillside, quickly surveying the camp herself while Thalia regurgitated what she'd told Percy. Artemis nodded.
"Good, there are a few more than there were yesterday," she said, turning to the hunters. "Girls, maximum six arrows each, and no melee weapons. None left alive," the goddess instructed.
Every huntress nodded in unison, readying their bows. Artemis nodded again, and the unit barreled down the hill towards the monster encampment. Percy moved to join them, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.
"This combat is their training, Perseus. Staying up here is yours."
Though he was bummed about not fighting monsters, maybe being stuck next to Artemis wasn't so bad. He quickly brushed away the thought and retorted,
"This must be a training of my patience, master."
Artemis smirked before she switched gears.
"Where did you get those Celestial Bronze weapons?" she asked as she began tapping her thumb to her fingers in seemingly random fashion.
"Oh, these knuckles were a gift from Lady Hestia. I got really into boxing, and she gave them to me because she didn't like seeing how bruised my knuckles would get punching monsters raw. The braces are somehow padded on the inside. After I got them, she swore she'd never give me anything that promotes violence again," he said, always happy to talk about the goddess.
Percy took note of Artemis' hand movements, and what she was doing dawned on him.
"No way. Are you keeping track of all of their arrows?" he asked in awe.
"Yes, this is your training. Come do it with me," she said.
Percy moved next to her and looked out at the fray below him. Half of the monsters were already dust, the rest a disorganized mess as they tried to form ranks against the hunters. Artemis pointed to Thalia, Phoebe and two other hunters who stood further back from the rest of the force.
"None of them have fired an arrow and are about to switch into the fight; track each of their shots."
Percy acknowledged her and trained his eyes on the group of four. As if on queue, they leapt into the battle as a dozen hunters shifted out, their arrow quotas spent. Thalia broke ahead of the group, rushing straight at a pack of hellhounds with an arrow drawn back on her bow. Within melee range, the first dog jumped at her head. She slid beneath it, releasing her projectile into its stomach as she came out on the other side.
Thalia, One. To her left, one of the huntresses Percy didn't know fired four of her arrows in impossibly rapid succession, killing four dracaena that were nearing hunters that had no arrows left to fire. Super fast girl, Four. Meanwhile, Thalia's skirmish had continued. Percy had almost missed her launching back to her feet, whirling behind her with two arrows nocked. The projectiles took out a duo of hellhounds that had run into each other trying to catch her sliding form. Thalia, Three.
Unknown Huntress #2 was still standing a ways away from the fight. Percy watched her scan the battlefield before she aimed an arrow nearly straight up and released it. He followed the projectile's arc as it flew well over a hundred yards into the air before rocketing downwards directly into the head of a cyclops. She did the same five more times with a calm and collected demeanor, having no reaction to her ridiculous ability as each arrowhead found a victim. Percy stood dumbfounded. Airstrike girl, Six.
He realized how much time he'd wasted, not catching the rest of Thalia's arrows. His eyes flicked to Phoebe, who was fighting the last living trio of monsters. They were three empousae and the huntress was just toying with them, dodging in and out of their wild slashes just to agitate them further.
At least I'm not the only one she enjoys bullying, Percy thought to himself.
Phoebe got tired of playing with her food. She jumped a dozen feet in the air, flaunting her superior physical prowess, and fired three arrows with expert precision directly into their quickly-dusty hearts. Bully, Three. With the training over, Artemis turned to Percy to see how he'd done. Before she could ask, a strangely familiar roar shook the hill. Everyone's heads snapped towards the source as the creature made itself known a dozen yards from Phoebe.
The Nemean Lion roared again as it charged at the huntress. Percy looked at Artemis, who nodded, and he extended his wings, diving towards the lion at breakneck speed. The monster swiped its paw at Phoebe's head as she tried to backpedal away, releasing her remaining arrows at it. Moments before its claws reached her, Percy's shoulder crashed into the lion's head, sending the two sprawling on the ground as Phoebe stumbled back in shock.
"Weapons free!" Artemis shouted from the hilltop.
Percy scrambled away as a hailstorm of silver arrows crashed down on the Nemean Lion, the hunters no longer restricted to six. After the rain of arrows ceased, the impenetrable lion got back to its feet unfazed. Its new target was Percy, but the demigod wasn't worried. The lion charged him with its mouth half open, and the demigod flexed his hands, ready to test the new strength he'd been blessed with. He made contact, grabbing each jaw in one hand as he tried to pry the monster's mouth fully open.
The lion roared and bucked, and Percy's arms already began to burn from the tension on them. He used his wings to launch himself onto the lion's back, fighting to hold his mouth agape. Percy shouted Thalia's name, certain she'd know what to do.
"Got it!" he heard as she readied her bow.
Percy continued his bareback rodeo as he fought to keep hold. The lion eventually turned in Thalia's direction, but Percy's arms were giving out, and the monster's mouth had begun to close. Just in time, Thalia and Phoebe shot a combined dozen arrows into the shrinking slit in the lion's maw. It made a choking sound before collapsing onto its side, breathing shallowly.
The demigod rolled off of its back, grunting as he got up. He massaged feeling back into his arms while thanking the two for shooting in time. Before they could respond, the Nemean Lion roared again as it shuddered back to its feet. The hunters and Percy snapped towards it wide-eyed, finding the lion shaking its mane as it glowed with a black aura. In its open mouth, they watched snapped arrow shafts disappear harmlessly to its stomach as the wounds closed themselves.
"You can't be serious; that was its only weakness" Percy groaned.
"No, wait. It's just like the Minotaur. It's not completely invulnerable or anything now, you just need an extra umph with whatever already works," Thalia said optimistically as she drew her spear and activated her Aegis.
"Let's hope you're right," he said as he uncapped his sword, swapping off his bronze knuckles.
They charged together while Phoebe shot distracting arrows at the lion. The rest of the hunters tried to join her but couldn't do much without risking hitting Thalia or Percy. For the charging duo, it became a game of dodging the monster's massive claws while trying to rip open its mouth. But the Nemean Lion had learned from its mistake and wasn't making any more attempts to roar. The demigods slashed at its impenetrable skin, and Thalia brought down several lightning strikes against its back. As they continued to try and wear down the lion, Percy noticed one of its back legs recurrently spasm from the lightning. An idea brewed in his head.
"Thalia, be ready with your spear," he said as he switched back to his bronze knuckles.
He rushed into the lion's face, launching a right haymaker straight to the animal's jaw. Forearm vibrating from the impact against unbreakable skin, Percy gritted his teeth. The lion's eyes almost seemed to widen in surprise; nobody besides Hercules had ever been stupid enough to try and fight it with their bare hands. The lion backpedaled as it swiped at Percy's head. The demigod was still reeling from the shock behind his strike, and Thalia ducked in, blocking the sharp claws with her Aegis.
"Get your head in the game, seaweed boy! I'm trusting you trying to fistfight this thing; don't make me regret it!" she hissed.
Percy nodded and narrowed his eyes. Once again closing the distance to the monster, he released another swing into the same part of its jaw. The demigod winced again but recovered much quicker. Before him, the lion's massive jaw shifted a few inches to the side, and the monster let out a yelp. Percy's hunch was right; not only were its fleshy insides vulnerable, anything besides the impenetrable skin was. Its bones were just as breakable as anything else's. The realization sparked his adrenaline.
The monster seemed apprehensive at the pain it wasn't used to feeling. Percy looked down at his fist, and maybe it was from his lightheadedness, but he swore his hand was glowing with soft blue sparks. While he was distracted, the Nemean Lion bounded forward and sunk its teeth into his left shoulder. Switching roles, Percy was the one that roared. Blinded in pain, he channeled all of his remaining strength and unleashed his third swing into the monster's tightening jaw.
The massive impact shot an electric sensation up the demigod's arm, and a thin blue glow dispersed in every direction. In front of him, the monster's jaw shattered, forcing its mouth to hang open and release Percy's shoulder. Before the lion could react to its new permanent expression, Thalia shoved her lightning-tipped spear deep into its lolling maw, frying the animal from the inside out.
The Nemean Lion dissolved into dust as Percy sat down clutching his shoulder. Artemis appeared next to him and Thalia while the hunters celebrated another successful hunt and the finale they'd just watched. The daughter of Zeus called for the Hunt's main medic to dress Percy's wound. The healer turned out to be Airstrike girl, and Percy learned that her name was Rachel. He thanked her as she expertly cleaned the wound and wrapped a special gauze around it. The demigod made sure to mention how cool he thought her archery style was.
"You did well, boy," she replied as she finished up and returned to her sisters.
As far as Percy was concerned, her level of kindness was a massive win for him. His internal victory was cut short as he looked up to find the glowering eyes of both Artemis and Thalia.
"Dude, what is your problem? That entire fight was so reckless that you looked like you were trying to get yourself killed!" Thalia berated him.
Artemis had nothing to add because her Lieutenant had covered all the bases. Percy looked at the ground, knowing she was right.
"Yeah, I got ahead of myself. It's just that with this new power, I guess I thought I'd be a lot stronger than anything we came across for a while, considering where the blessing came from," he said.
"Blind arrogance does not fit someone like you, Perseus," Artemis replied, "In your fight, you used brute strength to hold open and even break the jaws of an impenetrable creature that was endowed by Darkness. On Olympus, every member of the council could feel your heightened power. But do not forget our enemy. The Primordial of Darkness has also been blessing his followers, and he is not bound to oath like Chaos. She did not give you these gifts to single-handedly win the war; they are to give us a fighting chance. Do not be tempted by hubris again. It is not your flaw to bear."
"I'm sorry. To both of you," Percy said, "It won't happen again."
Pulling himself to his feet, the demigod dwelled on what Artemis had said. In just one day, she'd stunned him multiple times with her insights. Internalizing the lesson, he turned to her to address the more important matter at hand.
"Now that that's handled, what would you like for breakfast, Milady?"
(Line Break)
Percy sat on the far side of the dining table nibbling on some ambrosia to more quickly heal his shoulder. The hunters around the table chattered about the morning's events while tearing into the huge batch of scrambled eggs Percy had made. Artemis ate alongside her hunters, relishing the food while she discussed the coming schedules with Thalia. The goddess shot a glance in Percy's direction and found Anna, her youngest huntress, approaching him.
"Um. Percy," Anna said timidly.
She wasn't shy around her sisters, but meeting a new man for the first time in a very long time had her a little nervous. He turned in his chair and smiled at her.
"Hi!" he said.
"Uh, hi. Percy, I'm vegetarian–" she started.
The demigod forgot about his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his seat towards the makeshift 'kitchen'.
"Oh shoot, you can't eat eggs? I'll make you something else. Is there anything specific you want?" he asked earnestly.
She laughed and shook her head. His kind reaction made her feel much more comfortable talking to him.
"No, I can eat eggs. Vegetarians just don't eat meat, not all animal things; those are vegans. Eggs are good, I like eggs. I just came to say thank you for the veggie burgers you made yesterday, I liked them so much."
Percy laughed awkwardly, a little embarrassed that he was being educated on diet types by someone who couldn't have been any older than seven or eight.
"I'm really glad you liked them. What's your name?"
"I'm Anna."
For less than a moment, Percy felt a soft pang at the similarity of her name to Annabeth's, but it left as quickly as it came. He smiled as he exaggeratedly shook her hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Anna. Hey, since you're so nice to me, anytime you want to eat something other than what gets made, come let me know and I'll cook it for you. Just don't tell any other hunters, deal?" he said, smirking and holding a finger to his lips.
"Deal. It's nice to meet you too, Percy," she said as she ran back to her sisters.
Artemis couldn't help but smile at the interaction between the two newest members of the Hunt.
(Like Break)
Over the next weeks, Percy's place as the outside male of the Hunt began to change, mainly because of Anna. The two had become almost immediately inseparable. When traveling between missions, they started off just walking together, but it had become commonplace to find Anna sleeping on his shoulders with her arms wrapped around his forehead. It was natural for a group like the hunters to feel particularly protective of their youngest member, so watching the two grow close had elevated Percy's standing in many of their eyes as well.
Anna had started referring to Percy as her 'brother', much to Thalia's delight. The rest of the hunters were by no means done giving him a hard time, but it had become more akin to a teasing way. Of course, "teasing" to them meant shooting blunt-tipped arrows at him all hours of the day or setting up pit traps for him to fall into.
But they'd taken a liking to him, as well. The girls would watch Percy train with Anna, a daughter of Demeter, as he helped her start developing her powers. The hunters received a firsthand account of how kind and considerate specifically one man could be, and deliberately ignoring his character would only be stubborn dissonance.
The only one not happy about the slow change was Phoebe. She still didn't trust him and didn't believe he belonged with the hunters. The huntress would encourage more and more harmful "pranks" on him, like using regular instead of blunt-tipped arrows or putting fire in the bottom of the traps. None of the other girls enabled her ideas, but they weren't going to try and stop the oldest member of the Hunt. Regardless, Percy was still intent on breaking through her barrier himself without ever giving her the satisfaction of making him angry. And inadvertently, Phoebe's divisive maneuvers had led to him becoming closer with Artemis.
If Phoebe did something that went too far, whether it was snide remarks about Annabeth or almost seriously injuring him in some way, Percy would find his way back to Alcatraz Island to be alone. Not long after, Artemis would show up to check in with him. He would already have asked the goddess not to reprimand Phoebe since he wanted to fix it himself, so she would just sit next to him. They'd talk for hours on end about everything from Artemis' earliest days with the Hunt to Percy's final days at camp. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he knew he'd developed some feelings for Artemis over the past weeks, even if he could never act on them.
At the moment, the Hunt was camped in the outskirts of Seattle after successfully defeating the Erebus-blessed Sphinx and the army she'd been amassing. Percy hadn't been a part of the fight, instead progressing his battlefield awareness by counting arrows. He made his way to Artemis' tent to report his final numbers.
"... and Thalia, thirty-one," he finished, rattling off every huntress' total arrows.
"Not bad," the goddess said, "you were only off by a total of twenty-five this time,"
Percy softly fist pumped, proud of the progress he'd made so far, before he cleared his throat.
"Artemis, I think I'm going to head to the beach again. Since you always end up there anyways, would you like to just come with me? I already took care of dinner for the girls, so there's nothing else to worry about today," he said, his heart beating a little faster as he awaited a response.
"I would."
Relief washed over Percy as the goddess stood up. She walked over to him and tapped his shoulder, the two appearing seated in their usual spots in the sand of Alcatraz Island. They sat in silence for a few minutes, just breathing in the moonlit sea in front of them, before Percy spoke.
"I miss my dad more than usual today."
Artemis looked at the demigod sympathetically.
"We will find him soon, Perseus. He loves you very much, and I believe he misses you just as well," she said.
"I don't know about 'very much.' He's an Olympian, so we didn't ever have the closest relationship."
The goddess scoffed.
"You were all he talked about during council meetings. Poseidon took any chance he found to rave about the most recent quest you had gone on and the kind of man you were growing up to be. It was through him that I first learned much of what I know about your character, and it played a large part in why I allowed you into the Hunt."
Percy rubbed the back of his neck, blushing at the praise he had no idea his dad had been giving him.
"I'll have to thank him for that then. I'm really grateful to have a place here, and I think I'm growing on them too," he said.
"I am grateful you are here, as well. It is new for me to have someone in my Hunt that I see as a friend as opposed to a more formal distinction. Especially since you stopped only addressing me as 'My Lady,'"
"Now you have to stop calling me Perseus, or I'll have to come up with some worse names to call you," he said jokingly.
"You may try your worst, Perseus," she emphasized.
"Don't test me, Moonlight. Nicknames are the only forte that not even a goddess can step to me in," he said proudly.
Artemis quietly looked away to hide the reddened face and smile the name had given her. Moonlight. She turned back and cleared her throat softly as Percy continued to talk.
"...and the hunters. I think the food I'm making has finally worked in getting them to like me some more."
Artemis laughed out loud before she realized he wasn't joking. The goddess looked at him incredulously.
"Perseus– Percy. Where did you discover the notion that they enjoy your company because you make them dinner? They like you because you have shown them that you are nothing similar to what they believed a man to be. Give yourself more credit," she lectured.
"Oh. That also makes sense. Anna has played a huge part in that then. She makes it so much easier for me to talk to the other hunters."
Artemis rolled her eyes; getting him to accept any praise was hopeless at times. Instead, she decided to ask him the burning question she'd been holding onto since he'd joined the Hunt.
"Perseus, why did you take that oath? The one that binds your soul to the infinite void. We did not know each other, and you put your existence on the line to invoke that name."
The demigod thought for a moment before he responded.
"I don't know, Arty. I guess it was because it meant nothing to me but everything to you. I'd already decided I was going to be loyal to you, which is a promise I would never break. But, like you said, you didn't know me so I had to prove it through your eyes. I've got no problem risking an eternity of nothingness, because that vow is still insignificant compared to how I'd feel betraying who I already am by breaking my own promise."
"You always have something to say, don't you Percy," Artemis whispered, taking note of his new name for her.
"Thank you," she said more audibly, "And I am sorry to already be testing your loyalty with something you do not want to do, but we must return to Camp Half-Blood."
The demigod opened his mouth to protest, but Artemis held up her hand seriously.
"A new prophecy has been issued, and I believe it has to do with your father as well as you."
A/N: Thought about revealing the prophecy here but I remembered I gave you guys a cliffhanger-free chapter last week so not this time heh. Anyways, let me know what you guys thought! I wanted to focus on fleshing out some relationships and characterization before a lot of the plot starts MOVING, so sorry if the chapter seemed a bit slow, but get excited for it to speed up.
Ser Wathie: To preface this, I'm really liking the story so far, however I've always had a bit of a problem with chaos existing as a character, like, at all. Chaos is literally God. Creator of everything. Why the fuck would it care about an oath sworn to it? The only reason why the Styxs work as an oath is because that's its's job, it's literally the river created for that purpose. Why in the world would a being who sees thousands of years as seconds ever care about this one itty bitty little mortal? It probably wouldn't even give that much of a shit about the gods. It always seems as just such a huge cop out because for all logical reasons, it shouldn't care. Even the idea that a being like Chaos would ever do things like that out of boredom is laughable. It's an entity that existed for an insane amount of time. Its not a human that was given immortality, it's not even a Greek type God, the closest thing to it is fucking Azathoth or Cthulu, they don't do shit out of boredom, especially when it concerns tiny little mortals that live and die in the equivalent of nano seconds.
It also makes the whole swear an oath thing pointless if you literally can't break it. It's similar to the idea of "a good man is not a weak man, but is in fact a strong man as they have the choice to be good or bad." Doesn't Percy undertaking an oath tied to a being that makes it literally impossible to break underscore the choice aspect of being faithful to a cause? It makes any doubts or internal struggle worthless because he can't break it or find a way around it. He's just a slave at that point with an unbreakable collar. Would it not be better for him to live life as the Guardian by his own will? Being faithful has no meaning if there is no other option. It makes the whole basis of the real between Percy and Artemis meaningless if she has all of the power in the relationship. However if this is the direction you want your story to go in, be my guest. Plus why the hell did she give him powers? I mean, he's Percy fucking Jackson, his cunning to solve problems in situations that would seem impossible is half of his charm.
This is a very important review I wanted to make a point to address incase anyone else felt the same way. For all intents and purposes, Chaos isn't omnipotent like most real life perceptions of God is. She has a "finite" amount of power, even in mythology, it just seems infinite to mortals and even lesser gods. Regarding your very reasonable take on Chaos' long life meaning she wouldn't care about mortals/gods, I tried to address that in two ways. First, I characterized Chaos as someone with "human" emotions. She is a benevolent, loving Creator and would still care deeply about her creations regardless of how comparatively "meaningless" they are. Second, Erebus is threatening the existence of the universe itself and I essentially sterilized Chaos from intervening herself, regardless of how severe the matter is. So her only choice would be to get involved with human/Olympian affairs to protect her creation. As for the vow, I deliberately addressed it in the chapter after reading your review in case I didn't make it clear enough when Percy made the vow. The vow itself isn't unbreakable at all, it's actually a testament to how strong-willed Percy is because he holds his own principles at a level even higher than putting his soul on the line against the creator of the universe.
Thank you all for the reviews, and sorry my review response seemed to get a bit philosophical haha. Anyways, it just goes to show how much I love reading them and interacting with you guys so please leave more. Until next time.