Update: 1st of September 2023
Happy First Day of Spring Everyone!
Chapter 2: Shadow of the Storm
The coined Shadow of the Storm didn't think of himself really as a hero no matter what his companion told him. The Shadow had survive many things that others would never be able to and he somehow always managed to come out on top. That wasn't something that The Shadow would even discuss.
That was an achievement the companion told his friend. The man he had vowed to protect at ALL costs. Which he didn't mind vowing to do so. As The Shadow had in his other life given him a chance. Yes, mistakes were made and mistakes were corrected. So, he vowed to protect his friend. He was a truer friend that any of his brothers and some of his sisters had been. His family generation wasn't really made up with many good people.
But The Shadow had saved his protector in his second trip to Tartarus. That's right he had been to Tartarus twice and had NO intention of going back for a Third go. He barely escaped with his sanity intact the first time and he told his friend that he probably left some of his sanity behind the second time. It was only because of his friend, familiars, parents and patrons that he hadn't truly loss himself.
He made everyone swear if he was a danger to anyone, he cared about they would do all in their power to kill him. As Shadow's true self couldn't stand the idea of hurting those he cared about.
Shadow had been truly hurt 100 years ago. He had a lot of friends; a girlfriend he was hoping to make his fiancée and he had parents. But everything could change in the blink of an eye. New enemies could come. Friends could turn on you. The girl you were in love with you caught having sex with a new enemy and then watching his Mother and Step-Father dying in an apartment fire. Which Shadow KNEW wasn't an accident. But had no proof at whose fault it was.
He had truly thought he lost everything that day. To four Goddesses saved him from joining his Mum and the friends that had gone before him in Elysium. They became his Mothers. After a promise that they would keep this all a secret even from his Dad. All Shadow allowed them was to give a 'last' letter from his old identity to the Gods/Zeus for approval.
But he had only a few days to know them as such before he was cruelly dragged down and down into Tartarus.
And he was tortured and humiliated in Tartarus. But as time passed, he unknown to them or even really to himself he grows stronger and again unknown to anyone he had impressed eight ancient beings.
So, when he escaped, he managed to kill several of his Captors, and then he fell into the House of Night. The House of Nyx who helped bring him back from the brink of fading. He basically had been destroyed and needed to rebuild himself piece by piece. As those evil creatures had taken half his body. His right leg, arm, eye and ear all had to be replaced with mechanical parts. And metal was fused to his side to keep him alive from a deed that was done in order to make him suffer more. The metal fused to his side protected those organs those evil creatures were trying to destroy. His left eye was blind. But with that robotic right eye he could see better then he had ever had before.
But his robotic eye and ear took its toll. Both were ten times stronger then normal and even Godlike senses. So, he had to switch them off at times just so the headaches and migraines he suffered wouldn't be helped along with them.
The out of the 8 Ancient Beings that helped him 5 became his parents and put the House of Night under a time spell for him to train and get used to his new body. And it was put in place to give his mind a chance to heal in a comalike state for what the Primordial Chronos said was 200 years inside that time dome.
Shadow did admit he felt better after being in that comalike state. But there was STILL some insanity left him and they said as long as he recognised that then he should be able to overcome it. And to help also counter it they unlocked an ancient creature born from the soul of a person. A daemon. Daemons were spirit animals. That stayed locked in ONE form. But to those special few Daemons could change into ANYTHING. The Shadow's Daemon was called Mystique. And with her he could also, when he didn't want to use his robotic eye, see through HER eyes. Which offered a unique perspective.
He trained a little bit in Tartarus finding and killing several other of his tormentors and the Primordials that had helped him, with some becoming his parents, told him he had won the powers from those he defeated and that he would be able to use them without any problem but with a lot of practice. Like he did with their powers.
When they sent him back to the surface with his protector, they sent him with familiars to help guide his way if he ever needed to not use his eye and ear in battle. He had a lot of practice with that too and found it easy after some practice to take the cues his familiars were giving him. So with them AND Mystique he was covered if his robotic parts ever failed.
As he arrived back on Earth, he learned it had been 10 years wince his 'supposed' death. Only he and his Protector would know it had been much, much, MUCH longer for him.
But when he got back in touch with the world he was tackled and scolded by his Mothers who had been worried sick. His Mothers he had been adopted by before his so-called Fated second trip to Tartarus. So, he and his Protector had to explain some of the things that had happened. To say a couple of his Mothers didn't want to let him out of their sight would be an understatement.
Unknown to him at the time but after that meeting, they had their own private meeting with all of those that adopted Percy as their child and all agreed that he was going to have ALL the support he would ever need from them.
But they also knew about the new Prophecy and several had grimaced realising Shadow was the target of ANOTHER Great Prophecy. They didn't look forward to telling him that. But they couldn't hide it from him. He always seemed to know if they did.
They were surprised by how well Shadow took it. He just shrugged with a wince saying this was just how his entire life was supposed to be like for the rest of his existence and he would just have to get used to it. Seeing as he seemed to be fated to be united with the Moon Goddess. He didn't think Lady Artemis would let Fate take her vow away from her and he was sure that in time they both would be able to find time around it. But for now, he was content just to protect her, the Hunters, the Camp and New Olympus. He would be happy to not be attached to anyone for the rest of his existence and he HAD to admit that his ex had left a real mark on him.
When he mulled the Prophecy over a bit, he realised that he had already had started several lines of it. Like the line 'Olympus's Salvation will need to be the guiding hand', his Mums had told him of what his changes had done for the people and he had to admit he had been the guiding hand in that.
Another line being 'Demigods need to be made immortal' and the next line of 'with legacies and allies to be given shelter'. He had already in his other life asked for his hero friends of the last two wars to be rewarded with immortality and he had also been sending Demigods and Legacies to Camp to build their numbers.
It took him a while to realise another line was being meet 'The Champion of Olympus will be blessed by many immortals'. NO matter how much he tried to deny it and fight against the title. His parents had finally knocked it into him he WAS THE Champion of Olympus. In fact, he had always had that title since he was 12-years-old and saving the world by returning a Lightning Bolt and the Helm of Darkness. His journey started there and once he was on that path he couldn't turn back.
Shadow could barely remember a time when he felt normal. And now he stood out to everyone as he gained more and more power. But his Primordial parents told him it was necessary with how much evil they would face.
The Gods and even Titans that blessed him didn't know his identity. He just gave them an oath to never abuse the blessing they gave him and then they granted it too him. The Shadow remembered the saying 'With great power comes great responsibility' and he did remain himself of that.
The one trick Shadow learnt was to hide his other blessings from the others. It was needed he reasoned at the time.
Otherwise, the Gods might think he was truly to overthrow Olympus.
But Shadows parents told him that Zeus wasn't actually concerned as he saw that Shadow was only using gifts to help them and the fact, he was tricking many with the Mist to make it look like he didn't have those powers might have helped some.
Shadow practiced with all types of weapons and made his own unique weapon inventions to work from what mortals used them on to make them work on monsters. He was quite proud of his creations. His Mothers warned him that when Hephaestus found out about his true identity and when Shadow would actually stay in one place Hephaestus planned to ambush him for the designs for his weapons to help with the war. Shadow actually was willing to give away some of his designs. Not all. As those few could only be used by him or he thought nobody else should have access too.
He wore what he wore to not only hide who he once was. But to also hide all his robotic parts and scars which he was sure would scare the children he was trying to help. And it was also because even after all this time he was still self-conscious with how he looked and sounded. Damn evil Titans and Primordials knew what they were doing when they hurt him. They hurt him physically, mentally and spiritually. Making him a broken man no matter how hard those few that new about him tried to tell him otherwise.
Only 9 of his 10 parents knew about him and he only had 3 other Primordials and his Protector knowing about him, who he was and who he used to be and some of them said about who he was going to be and they were the ones on his side. While he might count Chronos wife knowing about him. But he had never meet her. Which he was thankful for. As meeting the Mother of the Fates sounded like something that nobody wanted to do because it would maybe mean finding out their future. And Shadow wasn't sure he wanted to know what he already knew in his heart was his destiny.
But Shadow could also feel the time coming for him to show himself. Thanks to several gifts he had that sense. But was he really ready to resume his previous mantle and add the new one?
Who was he to be?
Shadow of the Storm.
The Broken Man.
The Bane of Monsters.
Stormbringer.
Maelstrom.
Cyborg.
Survivor of Tartarus.
The Hero of Olympus.
The Champion of Olympus.
The One Who Could Unite Them All.
Or…
Perseus Achillies Jackson; the son of Poseidon; the Sea God and the long thought dead salvation of Olympus…
~^*~Author's Note: What Do You Think? Please Review:)!~*^~
