Welcome back, readers. If you've gotten this far...wow, I can't express my thanks. That's a lot of chapters!

But either way, here we are, the beginning of book three. I have a lot of plans for this one and I think you all will like it. Personally, I think it will be the best yet, but you can decide that for yourself.

I won't say anymore, because it's been far too long since you heard from our group of characters, so let's get right into the chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes Of Olympus, or Trials Of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

On with the first chapter. We're back.

Book Three: Bane Of The Seas

1. A Titan Ruins My Date

Matt

"Mr. Beckett, your answer?"

My head darted upwards, my eyes blinked several times as I tried to reacclimate myself to reality. What did he just say?

"Uh...could you repeat that, sir?"

I heard a couple of snickers around me, the main one being the girl behind my seat.

Mr. Edgerton let out a soft groan of annoyance. He'd clearly called my name several times.

"I asked for your answer to question 12, for the third time."

A couple of more snickers from the other teenagers, the girl behind me gave me a little shove on the back. Okay, I was embarrassed now.

I took a quick scan of the worksheet we had been going over. What class were we in again? Oh that's right, English. Yay, my favorite.

I read as quickly as possible what the said question was. Taking a bit more time due to my dyslexia, but I managed to decipher...

How does Shakespeare use symbolism effectively in Macbeth?

Shakespeare? Huh?

You know what, let me just stop right there. You probably don't even know what's going on. Excuse my bad manners, and let me fill you in.

I'm Matt Beckett, the narrator of this...tale.

Yeah, I wish it were a tale, make believe, a simple story among millions of others. Believe me, if all of this weren't real, or at least if the bad things weren't real, I would be a lot more at peace of mind.

But it is real, and I'm the one telling it. Me, a seventeen year old kid sitting in his English classroom confused about some random question. Seems pretty normal, right?

Wrong.

See, if you've been following along, then you know all that happened before, and how insane all of it was. You'd know that I'm not just a normal kid, I'm a Greek demigod, the son of Hercules, a sort of hero of humanity, a resident of a place called Camp Half Blood, among other things.

But if you haven't been following along...then hi, I'm Matt Beckett, welcome to my weird life.

Well, it hasn't been that weird for the past few months actually. In fact, it's been oddly normal. After Scandinavia (long story) I needed to take my mind off things, so I went back to school. A little mist manipulation here and there, and I was able to make up my entirely missed sophomore year. It was stressful and sometimes mentally jarring, but I managed to make up an entire year's work within the rest of last summer, then straight to junior, which somehow, I managed to pass that too. Now, I'm a fresh senior. We're currently in October, so it's been about a month or two since school started.

Now you might be asking - Why the heck would you go to school if you're a powerful demigod? Doesn't that defeat the freedom you're given?

The answer is...yeah, it does defeat the freedom. But I made a promise to my mother a long time ago that I would complete high school, and I intend to keep that promise.

"We don't have all day, Mr. Beckett."

Mr. Edgerton was a decent enough dude. He was rather handsome for a teacher, in his mid thirties I'd say. He had short, spiky black hair and a goatee, wearing a polo shirt and khakis. So about as stereotypical as it got.

I gave a weak little shrug, "Um...Macbeth's the one where the prince kills his uncle, right?"

He rolled his eyes, signaling that I was way off the mark. "Nevermind." He looked to the seat behind mine, "Ms. Pierce, perhaps you can give us a...better response?"

I wanted to groan. Of course he'd call on Harper, my girlfriend, to make me look like even more of a doofus. For those of you that know the "story" so far, you're probably surprised to hear that Harper would even consider entering a school, let alone attending it regularly. But when I decided to go back and make up for my missed sophomore year, she decided to join in too. At first, it was to give me company and an activity to take her mind off things as well, but before long, she actually excelled at it. Shocker, but Harper's really smart. Even though she hadn't actually been to school since she was eleven, she picked it up like she had never left, getting A's in every class and making me look like a meathead.

I put my chin on my shoulder to look at her. It was a good thing she sat behind me and not in front of me, because I would be distracted all day from how insanely beautiful she was.

Since you last heard from us, she'd changed a good bit. Going from a girl to well…basically a woman. Every feature that she had seemingly enhanced and developed tenfold. Her pale skin stuck to her, but instead of being ghostly, it was smooth looking, and reminded me of moonlight, like the energy from it had been transferred into her or something. As far as clothes, she hadn't switched anything. She still wore her usual gothic getup; Black leather jacket, a t-shirt that said Kill Your Cares on it, slightly ripped jeans, and combat boots with little spikes on the tips. One look at her face, and you'd either fall in love with her or run the other direction in fear. She was naturally pretty, the only makeup she had on was black lipstick and eyeliner, and speaking of eyes, her right one was icy blue, and the other…was sort of missing.

Well, not the whole thing, just her iris and pupil. So basically her left eye was milky white, and glossed over like a miniature cloud. Only I could see it though, to the other kids, she had two blue eyes, because of the mist, which acts as a sort of magical veil for our world. Monsters can appear as animals, gods can appear as people, so on and so forth.

But that wasn't even the part that was intimidating about her. It was just her sheer stare, her aura. And I don't mean the supernatural aura that I can feel, but an aura that even mortals can feel. She didn't giggle or flip her hair like most girls, no, she normally kept a neutral face, or she scowled. And given the events she's experienced, it was understood.

But now she was as smug as a Cheshire cat, glancing at me with a look of small victory that she had yet again, gained a chance to prove she was smarter than me.

"Murder." She answered simply, "Shakespeare likes death, so he uses it in his stories to convey a message. Like the King's blood on Macbeth's hands, that represents his guilt. And the sun setting in act two symbolizes the King's death. Shakespeare liked to associate him with the sun for some reason."

I didn't really understand a word she said. We'd just started like a month ago and things were pretty simple so far. Do this worksheet, turn in this easy assignment, but now things were getting harder. We'd just started this Shakespeare unit, because the guy's like everywhere in schools for his literature. I swear, he must've been a son of Apollo.

Mr. Edgerton nodded with a smile, pleased at Harper's answer, as usual. Normally you'd expect the other kids to groan like oh look at this know it all, but honestly, most of the other kids were smart too. And even if they weren't, they knew Harper well enough by now to know that if you dare make fun of her, or even snicker in her direction for that matter...she'll get you back worse. Whether it be a brutal prank, or a deathly glare.

"Very good, Ms. Pierce. Now, let's move on to question thirteen."

The rest of the period dragged on, and Mr. Edgerton didn't call on me again, thankfully. I just wasn't in the mood for school spirit today. Something...well, okay I may have lied about things being normal recently.

See, I had a vision last week, and it's been freaking me out ever since. I've been thinking about it constantly, even though I don't want to. For the majority of the summer, I'd been coping with something that happened in Scandinavia last year, trying to forget it. But last week, this vision just brought it all back.

It had started off with me drifting off to sleep, nothing out of the way. But then…I was transported somewhere else.

My consciousness floated on a mountain edge overlooking the city of San Francisco. The day was still bright, I figured it was maybe four in the evening or something like that. I could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, thousands of cars passing through it like ants in a giant metal tunnel.

At first, I was confused, very confused as to why I was here. I hadn't had any visions for months, which is extremely odd for a demigod. Usually it's every night, and especially with this war…well, you expect a few nightmares here and there.

Everything was peaceful for a solid minute. The birds were chirping, the wind was blowing, and the distant sound of motors crossing the bridge rang through the air. I sort of looked on the skyscrapers, not even thinking about why I was here or questioning the meaning of this, and just enjoying the view. I'd never been to San Francisco.

But that all changed when a massive aura materialized next to me.

With a crack in the air, two bodies snapped into existence. I turned and saw a sight that I hadn't seen in a long time.

My friends, Malachi and Sera landed on the rocky ground. If I could've widened my eyes within this vision, I would've. I hadn't seen them since Scandinavia, when we fought Ouranos.

That's when it all came back to me, the events of last year. Battling the Sons of Thor, Ouranos possessing Malachi, kidnapping Sera, and my father's death.

I knew the Malachi next to me wasn't my friend, but his psychopathic primordial father in his body.

As soon as they appeared, Sera thrashed wildly and tried to break free. "L-Let me go! Let me go!"

Mala- No, Ouranos threw her to the ground with a hard thud. She whimpered in pain and looked up at him in fear.

Ouranos gripped his head and winced. I could feel a weird mixture of auras battling each other within him, both his and Malachi's. The weird thing about it was, they weren't pushing against each other or clashing, but his aura was trying to escape the body and come out.

"Stupid girl." He growled.

Sera was trembling with fright. She was usually like this, but the combined horror of her boyfriend's body being taken over, and the presence of Ouranos in front of her, her demeanor was that of a shrinking child.

"What did you do to Matt's father?! What have you done with Kai?!" She said, "R-Release him!"

Ouranos gritted his teeth and stomped over to her, grabbing her by the throat, he brought her head parallel to his. "Shut up!" He yelled, and bashed his forehead to hers, knocking her unconscious.

I couldn't believe it when I saw it. This had to be right after the battle last year, because Ouranos was still in Malachi's body, and Sera had mentioned my father like it had just happened. So why was I having this vision so late? Why didn't I see it sooner?

Ouranos stumbled around and kept gripping his son's blond hair, grunting, and shouting like a mental institution patient. Soon his body started lurching, he dry heaved and coughed like crazy. I had no idea what was happening, or why he was reacting this way. How could a primordial get sick?

But it only got worse. His constant coughing caused wads of saliva to drip from his mouth, his stomach pumped in and out like some kind of pressurizer. Malachi's face was a mixture of sickly green and ghostly pale, I could see his veins popping from his body. The image was horrifying. It looked like he was about to burst from his core, the way his body was expanding, I thought he might throw up his insides.

"AGHH!" He shouted, in Ouranos's voice. Spit and bodily fluids leaked down his chin and dripped to the ground, his mouth widened to the point of impossibility. I was astounded that his cheeks hadn't already been ripped open at the muscle tissue. Heck, you could've fit a soccer ball down his throat if you wanted to.

He lowered his head three feet above the ground, his back bent in a C shape. He was clearly waiting for something to emerge. But what? What was even happening?

My question was answered a few seconds later. He coughed again, this time more powerfully, and to my complete disgust, I saw a mound of white emerge from his mouth.

More came afterwards. In a series of coughs, the unknown thing pushed more and more. Soon I identified a head, then a torso, then legs, then…nothing.

The horrible scene stopped then, the white fetus that came from Malachi lay on the ground, motionless and in a puddle of mucus. Malachi himself looked awful, the pressure decreased, and his body regained some color. But his eyes rolled back into his head, and he slumped over, passed out from the ordeal.

I remember wanting to barf then and there. What had just happened was so disgusting, and so unreal, I couldn't even process it. Malachi, my friend, had just thrown up a thing. Some kind of monstrosity.

The monstrosity in question could only be described as a fetus. It was near white, and it's head was larger than it's body, like an alien. It's arms were skinny and it's torso was frail, bony, withered. I could see it's ribs from here.

It shivered from the air, but didn't say anything. I felt that I could move around in this vision, like usual. But instead of coming any closer, I wanted to put as much distance as I could between me and that thing.

But it's aura…felt familiar. I had to look closer, so I did. I carefully willed myself to check it out, until I was floating right over it.

It's face was sunken in, with maybe a centimeter of skin holding it together. It was so disgusting; I could hardly look at it. But my intestines were the least of my problem, because I recognized this creature, from yet another vision I'd had, when I was battling Hephaestus. I remembered seeing Ouranos in the form of an E.T looking baby, taunting me and showing me flashes of my friend's deaths.

Was this…Ouranos? The auras felt very similar, almost a match. But there was something odd about it, the aura was…older, more ancient. That probably only meant even more that it was Ouranos, but I was still cautious to make assumptions, because the aura was far weaker than the one, I felt in Scandinavia. That one was Universal, and much larger than my own.

Both unfortunately, and fortunately, the vision ended right there. I remember getting up and running straight to the bathroom, puking right in my cabin toilet. After that, I sat on my bed and tried to put the pieces together.

I was still doing it. A week later, I'm sitting in a classroom, the end of the day is near, and I'm still trying to figure it out.

RING!

I looked up to see that it was three o clock. Time to go. Finally.

Mr. Edgerton sighed at the bell, being cut off from something that he was saying. Instead of continuing it, he reminded us of something we'd probably heard a thousand times. "Turn in your worksheets as you leave, and don't forget to study your notes! The end of the unit is arriving, and I don't want any excuses!"

Harper got up from her seat and stood beside me, everybody else booked it out of the room, ready to get on with their normal lives and completely ignoring the teacher. Couldn't blame them.

"You good?" She asked, a black eyebrow raised.

I rubbed my eyes and forced a nod, "I'll tell you later, when I'm awake."

"We can cancel the date if you want. It's no big deal."

I shook my head. No way were we cancelling another date. Hell no. We'd only been on like…six or seven in the last year. Yeah, it's rare to do normal things as a demigod, and romantic dates are one of them. For the first time in a while, we had a free afternoon, and I was not putting our plans on the backburner.

"We aren't cancelling. I'm fine."

She didn't seem convinced, but she nodded anyway. "Alright then. You know where to meet me when you're ready." She walked out the door, not before winking at me.

I couldn't help but grin. I was a pretty lucky dude, despite everything.

I got up and holstered my backpack. A red and black bag with a cool lion design on it, representing one of the monsters I'd killed, and one of my dad's symbols, the Nemean Lion. A monster whose fur is indestructible. From what I remember, I'd taken it out with my old spear, stabbing it in the roof of it's mouth. The good old days, back when things were somewhat manageable.

"Hold on a second, Mr. Beckett. I need to have a word with you."

I turned to Mr. Edgerton, about five steps from the doorway. He was sitting at his desk, eyeing me with a scolding look. Oh boy, here we go.

I sighed, "Yes sir?"

He held up the worksheet we'd just had, to reveal that I'd only done seven out of the twenty questions.

I cringed at it, and held up a mediating hand, "Mr. Edgerton, I know it looks bad, and I take responsibility for-"

"That's the third assignment in two weeks." He said, interrupting me.

"I know. And I'm sorry, I've just been busy with other things."

He gave me a look of sympathy, and put down the sheet of paper. "Mr. Beckett, you're not a bad student, but you're not applying yourself. Now I've been lenient, considering the passing of your father…"

My lips tightened. We had manipulated the mist, so nobody knew about Camp Half Blood, or who I truly was, but some details weren't even left out for mortals. People still knew that my father had died. They didn't know who he was, but just that he had died. And I had gotten pity, so much pity.

I hated it. I hated being weak, being treated like I'm weak, like I need to be taken care of and coddled. I don't.

"Sir." I said, trying to keep my voice polite, "I've gotten over that."

A lie, I would never get over it.

"Well, whatever it may be, you need to focus on this work." He said, "I only tell you this because I actually care about my students. I don't want you to fail."

What he said might have been genuine. I wasn't in the mood to gauge it though, anytime anyone brought up my dad, I got a sinking feeling in my gut, and my day worsened.

"Yes sir." I said, "I'll try harder in the future."

He stared at me for a second, then nodded, seemingly satisfied with my words. "Alright then. You may go."

I left the room and walked down the hall. All of my childhood, I never had many friends, mainly because I couldn't. Being a demigod, that means you have a scent, a scent that monsters can smell. The people around you get mixed in, and when a monster attacks, well, you can figure out the rest. Bad things happen.

So I isolated myself, after what happened to my old best friend Joshua and his family when I was eight, I basically became an outcast. Every now and then some nice guy would try to hang out with me, but I'd ignore their efforts, for their safety.

Now though, I was stronger than just about any monster to walk this Earth. I could one hit them, and they would crumble to dust. With the exception of a few.

This means that I had made a few mortal buddies. I actually played football last year, and fitted in right along with the jocks. They were actually pretty cool though, and not total douchebags, so it was alright. I had to control my strength though, in practices and in games especially, so I wouldn't accidentally crush the football, or I don't know, kill another player by simply tackling them.

Harper wasn't into it at first, the whole football and friends thing. She's even more introverted than I am when it comes to making friends. Don't get me wrong, if you're her friend, she'll talk to you, joke with you, and give you teasing hell, but if you're a stranger, she's not engaging with you.

Despite that, she caught on in time. Making friends of her own, and even coming to some of my games, even if she didn't like sports or socializing, she did it for me. She was awesome.

I walked down the hallway, noting all of the Halloween decorations on the walls and lockers. Nobody used lockers these days, we just carried our stuff in our backpacks, and hauled them everywhere we went, laying them down next to our seats in class. So most schools just use lockers as their own personal advertising space. This time, it was cutouts of pumpkins, witches, zombies, and other pop culture Halloween stuff.

Kids bustled and walked next to me, about eight hundred to a thousand in total attended this place, and they were all ready to go home. Eight hours of mind numbing "learning" you'd better believe it was crowded.

I managed to weave my way through though, and exit through the main doors to face the parking lot. Freshmen couldn't drive on their own yet obviously, so they still had parents or guardians pick them up. Most sophomores drove, while all juniors and seniors that didn't ride the bus, definitely had a vehicle of some sort.

But not me.

See, why would you have a car, that can only go like a hundred and twenty miles an hour, when you have a giant eagle that can go faster than the speed of sound?

I found Harper waiting for me, leaning on a brick pillar with her arms crossed. She looked even better in full view and not sitting behind me. The fall weather forced her to wear a leather jacket, but usually at Camp, she either wears a black Camp shirt, or a plain red v- neck, always accompanied with tight jeans. Rarely would you ever see skin on her lower body, unless it was summer, and even then, I had only seen it like twice.

"Took you long enough." She said, and we started walking side by side. "He give you hell about not answering the question right?"

I kept my face forward, "Nah, but he did say that I needed to get my crap together basically."

She stopped walking and grabbed my shoulder, "What? He did?" She glared at the direction of the school, "Oh I am so going to ruin his day."

I stopped her before she could do anything drastic, "Calm down, he was nice about it. Besides, we don't need to blow our cover, especially by you beating up a grown man."

She huffed, "Whatever. I'll just give you the answers to the unit test anyway, don't worry about it."

I shook my head, and we started walking again, "No, Harper. He was right, I do need to get my crap together. I've been moping long enough about…you know. And yeah, things have been crazy, but that doesn't mean I should slack off in school." I chuckled halfheartedly, "Hell, I figured our roles would've been reversed. I never imagined you'd be the smart girl."

She saw past my attempt to joke around, and kept a concerned look on her face. "Matt, it's okay to grieve, for as long it takes. What happened, what we saw there…it's gonna leave a mark, and it probably won't go away. We shouldn't run from it."

I didn't want to go down this road right now. Believe me, Harper and I had talked plenty about the tragedy that was Scandinavia. We'd cried about several things, and stayed up all night long some days, just talking. It felt good, and it really helped, but it didn't permanently fix things. The hole in my heart would never be mended, and I didn't want to get into it right now, especially not with all these people near us.

"Let's not talk about it right now, okay?" I pleaded softly, "Let's just go and have some fun. I've been looking forward to this for weeks."

She studied me for a moment, probably debating whether or not she should push this conversation. She was good at getting me to talk, and I silently hoped she wouldn't press.

Finally she sighed, and I knew she wouldn't. Thank Olympus.

"Okay, Okay." She said, and took my hand, "Let's go get Kyros."

We walked past the parking lot, making sure that no one saw us, like every other day of the week, we did this. You see, like I said before, I have a different way of transportation.

"There you are buddy."

Kyros was in the small stretch of woods in front of our school, laying in the leaves and picking at his feathers with his beak. He brightened up when he saw me, and let out a low caw.

See, Kyros was my dad's pet for hundreds of years. When he became a god, Zeus gave him to my dad as a companion, and since he died, he's now mine. I take care of him, pet him, feed him, and the like. It's kind of like having an elephant sized dog.

I patted him on the head, "Ready to go, bud?"

I could feel in his emotions that he was saying - Treat first?

I chuckled, "Harper, you got the treats?"

She groaned, "He wants another one? Jeez, why does he get so hungry all the time?" She reached in her black backpack and pulled out two hydra shaped eagle biscuits, both of them as big as my hand.

I took them and threw them in the air. Kyros caught them in his beak and gulped them down in one swoop.

I laughed, "It's payment, for flying us around. Right, Kyros?"

He cawed in agreement, and got up, signaling that he was ready to go. He'd probably been out here for a couple of hours anyway. Usually after he drops us off, I just tell him to go do whatever he wants, as long as he's back by three. And surprisingly, he's only been late once, and the reason why is a long story, but we'll not get into that.

We both hopped on the saddle, throwing our backpacks in a large pouch behind his neck. The weight was nothing to him, he could carry an army and still fly at full speed, so two teenagers were easy to him.

He strutted around the leaves for a minute, finding a comfortable position to take off in, and he did.

We instantly shot up from the trees and into the sky, a few hundred feet in the air. I knew nobody saw us, due to the mist, but even if it weren't in place, Kyros had launched fast enough that nobody would've been able to notice, unless my classmates were superhuman somehow.

We glided in the air, overlooking the countryside road, and in front of us…the city.

I don't care who you are, even if you live in New York, there's nothing like seeing the city from far away. Dozens of skyscrapers standing tall, bridges and water surrounding it, the sight really knew how to make you feel small.

Harper and I just watched on for the entire flight, not even talking to each other. We didn't have to though, we'd been together for an entire year now, and conversations came easily. Even when we weren't talking, we had comfortable silence. Nothing needed to be filled and besides, we'd have plenty of time on our date.

The restaurant itself was nothing crazy, like not fancy enough that we'd be obligated to dress up, but low key enough that we needed to behave in here. No monsters, no demigod mumbo jumbo, just two teens on the town.

Kyros swooped near the Manhattan Beach. The sight was very familiar to me, I used to come out here as a little kid with my mom. We'd drive from our apartment so I could swim and watch the sunset, a thing that I kept with me through my whole life. Sunsets, I loved them. This was also the place where I first killed a monster, and discovered my powers. So in a way I had a love hate relationship with the beach.

Either way, I couldn't deny that the water was pretty rough, unusually for this time of day. It was high tide, and the waves were wild. Each one constantly crashed against the shore, not letting up and creating white caps of foam with each overlap. Weird, but not impossible.

Harper noticed it too as Kyros trotted to a stop on the sand. There were next to no people out here, it being October, and the water being so dangerous. Even if there were, Kyros would probably be disguised as a horse or something through the mist.

"What's with the waves?" She asked, using her hand as a visor over her eyes, "Shouldn't be this crazy, right? I mean, it's only three thirty."

I shrugged. I couldn't sense any threatening auras anywhere, so the coast seemed clear. "Probably just a freak weather thing. I don't sense any auras that we need to worry about."

We both jumped off Kyros's saddle. Harper snorted, "Yeah, like that random Scythian Dracanae last time? That was so embarrassing."

"Let's not jinx ourselves." I said, "We're here to have fun. Not worry about monsters that are fodder to us anyway."

We walked up past the dunes and down the block. It wasn't that far away, and I suppose we could've put Kyros somewhere else, but anything to keep the attention away from us, the better.

By the time we had sat down, probably ten to fifteen minutes had passed. I'd already had a reservation, so we basically steamrolled through the long lines.

I took a sip of my Dr. Pepper (Yes, I love Dr. Pepper, who doesn't?) and looked out the open view to the side. There was a sort of window line on the walls, allowing everyone to see the beach.

"So" I said, "How did the teams end up for Capture the Flag?" They were supposed to play the game at Camp today. Sadly we missed it, but I probably wouldn't have participated anyway, since that was a massive disadvantage for the other team.

Harper sighed. Sitting across from me in the sunlight, I could see that she had a couple of hair strands in her face, and I could almost count the number of eyelashes she had at this distance.

"I think as far as big cabins, Apollo and Athena allied together, and the other was Ares and Hephaestus."

"What about Aiden?" I asked, referring to Harper's younger half-brother. I had…a bit of a history with the kid, and I say kid because he's a couple of years younger than me. When we first met, I was a new camper, and he sort of looked up to me, always enthusiastic and in awe whenever we talked. I liked him, and admired his bravery. It was clear he wanted to be a good hero.

Then of course, after the first quest, I left with my father to train and become stronger. It was to this day, the hardest decision I've had to make. In order to become more powerful, I had to leave Harper and the rest of my friends, without a trace. It was stupid not to notify them, and they were understandably angry, Aiden included. When I returned a year later, he kicked the crap out of me, but at the same time, basically admitted his crush on me when he tried to make the moves in his cabin.

I don't discriminate at all, but I'm personally not attracted to guys. Aiden…liked me though, and I had to turn him down. It was honestly awkward for a while, but we ended up getting back in the swing of things, ever since he started dating Nico. The poor Son of Hades had just lost his boyfriend, and Harper was worried that the relationship wouldn't last, and that it was just built on a need for comfort. But a year later, they're still together and going strong. So hey, good for them.

Harper blew the hair from her face and answered my question, "I think Aiden's with the Apollo alliance. I'm not sure. I think Percy and Annabeth will be there though, so that should be cool."

I nodded happily, glad to hear the news. Another bit of information, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were two of my closest friends, and the most accomplished demigods of the new generation. Heck, probably of all time at this point. They'd been on a series of quests over the years, and were out of the frying pan for a while, going to college in New Rome and even thinking about settling down. Then of course my dumbass came bumbling along, wrapped up in the quest to free Hera and stop Ouranos. Inciting yet another war, Percy and Annabeth were drug back into the fray, and they went on that first quest with me. Last year, on the second quest, a serious tragedy befell Camp. Ouranos's top minions, the Big Four, attacked it and nearly destroyed it altogether. In the attack, our former camp director and teacher, Chiron, was killed.

The event utterly destroyed Percy and Annabeth emotionally. They'd already lost one friend named Jason Grace not one year before that, and hadn't recovered. Then this happened. You could see the difference right away, the two weren't as social, they looked tired and depressed all the time, and worst of all, they had to take over the Camp and be in charge.

See, Dionysus is supposedly second in command at Camp, but with the whole Ouranos trying to destroy the world going on, he couldn't help out too much. So Percy and Annabeth were left with the entire weight last year. I'm glad to say that they got a little relief this year, because Dionysus is back, and he's sort of helping out, in his own way. From what I'd heard, he's usually lazy and unlikeable, but he respected Chiron, and took his death seriously. We'd rebuilt Camp the best we could, and got it back to mostly normal. The thing that couldn't be repaired though, were our hearts and our minds. We'd all seen so much last year, it was insane.

Harper could tell that I was off my game right now. I hated to be so wrapped up in all this, and be a hypocrite, but I couldn't help it.

"Matt, are you okay?"

I looked at Harper. She was leaning forward a little and gauging my expression, her eyebrows were tilted down in concern. I hated seeing her worry for me. She'd already been through enough, I didn't want to drag her down in my cesspool of sorrow.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just-"

I was interrupted by the waiter walking over directly next to us, a little black pad and pen in his hand. "All right, are we ready to order?"

I hadn't even thought about what I wanted, so I just decided to get the same as Harper. Shrimp. Sounds good to me, I like seafood just fine.

The dude walked away, taking our menus. Harper gave an annoyed grunt at the interruption. "What were you going to say? It's just what?"

"Oh nothing. I was going to ask about Talon. Is he…the same? Or better?"

Her face darkened a little, and her lips tightened. Touchy subject for both of us. It had been hard seeing our friend spiral down the way he had.

Talon was…a complicated guy. You all know the events that happened, so I don't need to explain anything. And if I do, then I'll keep it short. He was a hitman we hired to track the monsters we needed to free on our first quest. We didn't like him at first, due to his rather blunt and aggressive personality, but as we got to know him, we grew to love him, and he changed as well. He stopped the assassin thing, and now stays at Camp.

But since the capture of his best friends, Malachi and Sera, he hasn't been doing too good. For a solid three weeks after the tragedy, he was fine. Like it hadn't even happened, and every time you'd bring it up, he'd just wave a dismissive hand and say "Ah, we'll find a way to get em' back. They're tough anyways, no need to worry."

But as time went on, he must've really started to think about our awful situation. We didn't have the first idea of where Ouranos had taken them. Believe me, we tried to look, I even contacted my friend Sigurd to find them with his power of sight, but even he was unsuccessful, saying that Ouranos must've put a veil around him to hide his aura. We had no location, and therefore, we couldn't go on a quest to rescue them, no matter how bad we wanted.

Talon knew this, and became a shell of his old self. Once full of personality and humor, he now mostly stays in the Zeus cabin and drinks the entire day, or he sits by the beach in front of Camp and…well, drinks the entire day. Percy tried to help him, we all did, and attempted to get rid of the bottle in his hand, but it was no use. We were all broken inside, we knew it. Why fix someone else when you can't fix yourself?

Harper shook her head sadly, "The same, you know that. There's a pile of beer cans and bottles in the Zeus cabin, and he's either laid out on the floor or bed." She pushed against the inside of her mouth with her tongue, "It's disgusting."

I could see through her front. She was concerned about him, and really hated seeing Talon this way. Despite the two being more frenemies and rivals than friends, they cared for each other. I told Harper one time that they were like siblings, which earned me a glare from the pair of them. But it was true, they dressed similar, and they acted similar.

I exhaled, "You know all of us would be the same way if we'd drunk before. It's an escape mechanism, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I know." She said, her shoulders slumping, "It's just a never-ending tornado of crap."

I turned my gaze outside the window, "You know, I still think about it. All the time, really."

A look of confusion passed over her face for a moment, then she caught on to what I meant. The sadness came next.

"You mean…that?"

I nodded. "Yeah. To this day, Harper, a year later, and it still occupies my thoughts. Pretty much every night, I can still see him taking the blow for me, sacrificing himself…for me, a kid that hated him most of his life."

She tried to reach for my hand, but the table was too long, so it came as a failed attempt. "You can't blame yourself for that. He knew you loved him."

I shook my head, "I could've done so much more, I could've tried harder, but I didn't. I failed."

"You didn't fail."

"Yes I did!" I snapped, keeping my voice low to not gain any unwanted attention. It was an angry snap, but not at her, at myself really. "I was the leader of our quest, no one else. The invasion was supposed to be a success, but it wasn't. If I had been thinking, I could've done something to stop Ouranos from recollecting his aura from the Sons of Thor. There were so many things I could've done, but I was too stupid and big headed. It's all my fault."

"I didn't know you still felt like this" She said, "Matt, if you don't stop blaming yourself, you'll never move on from this."

"I'll never move on from it anyway. But I should, I know I should." I looked at her and gave a helpless shrug, "Why does it still get to me? Why does it still haunt me? Am I that weak?"

She looked like she wanted to slap me to snap me out of it, but she settled for a scolding tone. "You're not weak. Don't say that. You know I hate it when you say that."

"I can't help it. That's how I feel. I feel like I failed him, and all the promises he made, the plans we made. He'll never get to see my mom again, he'll never get to see Kyros again, or do any of the things we talked about, all because I was a helpless kid that needed saving."

The memory flashed in my mind. I was on the ground, bracing myself for erasure. Ouranos thrusted the Heavenly Diamond spear in my direction, with enough power to assure that I would cease to exist. He was too strong, and I was as good as dead. But at the last second, my dad jumped in the way and got stabbed instead of me. Taking away his immortality, and killing him, never to return to the mortal world.

Harper was thunderstruck. We'd talked about all of this before, sure, but the last time may have been a few months ago, at least. I'd kept these emotions bottled up for a long time, because everyone else has problems of their own, her especially. She's been extremely conflicted about her brother, Levi, and his true loyalties. It's been eating her alive, and I'm sure she's keeping that bottled up too.

She was trying hard to come up with something, I could tell. I wasn't begging for it though, nothing would really make me feel better, even if the words came from her.

"I'm gonna be honest, I don't know what to say." She said, "I don't think I'm in any position to give advice, because if I do…it'll probably suck."

"No it won't. You're good to talk too, I'm just stubborn." I took another sip of my drink, wanting to change the topic away from me. "Enough about me. How's it with you? Have you…had any visions?"

I was referring to Levi. Last time she saw her brother, it had been in Scandinavia, where everyone's problems seemed to come from. Her, Talon, and Sera had fought the Big Four, and at the end of it, Levi nearly killed one of their own, Grayson, the Son of Athena. It was a truly shocking moment, and I wouldn't have believed it if I couldn't tell truth from lie based on heartbeats. When Harper told me what happened, and how for a split second, Levi seemed to change sides, I was very suspicious.

I don't like the guy, to say the least. He killed Chiron, first of all, a sin that stands at the top of everyone's list, Will Solace, Nico's boyfriend and probably the nicest, most genuine guy at Camp, among a whole legion of old campers as well. I've heard the talk from people back there, and it's safe to say that ninety nine percent of the campers remaining want Levi dead, the other one percent being newcomers that have no idea who he even is.

If that's not enough, he tried to kill Harper on several occasions, and emotionally manipulated her for years, making her believe that he was captured and needing help, when really, he was the man she'd hunted for all her life. See, Harper had this revenge quest, for years, against her father's killer. Well, that turned out to be Levi. Apparently, their dad was abusive for most of their childhood, and Levi had always hated him, so when he grew up…I guess he'd had enough. But Harper saw her dad change, that's why she held hatred for the murderer.

Yeah, if you thought I had problems, take a look at Harper. Jeez.

She sighed, "No visions. Not even a trace of where he could be, or what he's doing. It's like the gods are literally blocking off anything from him."

"You don't think he…" I said, leaving the last part hanging in the air.

She knew what I implied, and she shook her head, "I doubt it. Levi's tough, I'm sure he survived this long."

I wasn't so sure. "But didn't he betray Ouranos when he attacked Grayson? If he found Levi, I don't think he'd be so forgiving."

"I know, but is Ouranos in any shape to find him? I mean, what about your vision? Isn't he some weird alien baby now?"

I had told her about the vision the morning after I saw it, and she was right. Ouranos was weaker in that form, a lot weaker. So I don't know how he'd be able to track Levi, unless he got someone else to do it. I tried to think of remaining minions that Ouranos had in his possession. The Big Four were mostly gone, Cherry died in Scandinavia, Grayson died at camp last year, when a Son of Zeus from an alternate universe came and helped us- okay, that's a long story. Best not get into that. Point is, two of them are dead.

That leaves Axel, and maybe an army of storm spirits. Axel is a Son of Hephaestus that can control lava, and he's the strongest of the Big Four, raw power wise. In a fight though, I'd see Levi taking the win, due to his intellect, speed, and skill with a sword. Ouranos knows this, so I doubt he'd send him after Levi. Then there's storm spirits, which one on one, their nothing to beat, fodder at best. But a group of them…that's trouble. I wasn't sure if many were left thought, since we battled an Army in Scandinavia and wiped them out. But then again, we discovered that Ouranos creates them from his energy, so maybe he spawned some more.

Either way, he's low on henchmen, and he's weak in power. That raised the hope that maybe Malachi and Sera could escape, and overpower him. But if they had, wouldn't they be back by now? Or maybe they needed to lay low for a while?

It was so frustrating, hearing nothing from any of these people, for a solid year. Going to school too, taking up time from our Camp activities, the only fun things I get to experience anymore. Honestly, I was hoping for a fun year at Camp for a change, since I only spent really a few days in my first year, and barely any in the second, so I had high hopes.

Sadly, it wasn't like that. Two of my best friends are captured, one of them is drunk all the time, two of them are busy and stressed all the time, and Harper has her own problems. It's just, well, like she said, a never-ending tornado of crap.

"Yeah" I said, responding to her question. "Yeah, he is."

She could see that I had an entire train of thought running through my head, and she let any words go that she had on her tongue.

"You know what, just forget Ouranos. Right now, he's not worthy of our attention. Let's just sit here, and enjoy the fact that we're not getting attacked right now."

I nodded, "Agree to that."

We picked up our glasses and clanked them together, the gesture was fancy, but we weren't fancy people. The irony of it made us both snicker, probably turning some uptight heads, but we didn't care.

We both sipped some more of our drinks, and I focused on the waves in the distance. I needed some calm right now, no more thinking about the negatives, just the few positives. I had a girlfriend, still alive, and in front of me. If there was anything to be grateful for, it was that. She was right too, I needed to stop digging my hole of sadness deeper and deeper. If I didn't, I would never get out.

As I listened to the waves though, I felt a weird sensation on the back of my neck. It…hurt, like a bee sting piercing the skin on my soft spot, the tingle spread out all the way to my ears and head. I was sensing an aura, and it was enough to actually make my neck hurt. That meant it was extremely powerful.

I reached behind me and pressed my palm to my neck, wincing.

"What's wrong?" She asked, noticing.

I looked around the restaurant, not spotting anything suspicious. No monsters in sight. What was it that was causing this?

I reached out again and felt for it, but to my surprise, it was gone this time.

My eyes darted side to side, seeing nothing. I looked back at her, "I-I don't know. I just had this weird feeling that-"

CRASH!

My sentence was interrupted by something grazing me on the side of my stomach. The aura flared just in time for me to attempt to move out of the way. But whatever it was, it was very fast. It caught me in my kidney area, and I went flying. I tumbled on the ground, hitting tables and walls with my body, and eventually soaring out of the restaurant altogether and on the dunes of the beach.

I laid on my side, groaning from the intense pain that riddled me right now. That actually hurt, a lot. What the hell attacked me?

I had no time to ponder, because I saw a piles of wood and cloth fly from the now ruined building that was the restaurant. Mortal's bodies popped out left and right, whatever it was swatted them like flies and send them flying in all directions. I could count a dozen or so bodies going left and right, all of them screaming.

The final body that came from the building was Harper. Fear rose in my chest and I jumped to catch her, ignoring the pain in my side, I bent down and jumped about five feet in the air to catch her fall. She was okay, and didn't seem hurt.

I set her down, "You alright?"

She was breathing heavily, "Yeah, I think so. What the hell is that thing?!"

More debris burst from the building, like an explosion going off in the center. A hole now occupied the side of it, shaped like a big circle, giving way to the entrance of the destructor.

I squinted my eyes and saw a figure standing there, for a single moment, then it was gone. It blurred upwards, and for what felt like minutes, I didn't see it again. That is, until it crashed right in front of me.

Harper and I jumped backwards as a tremendous force hit the sand fifteen feet in front of us. I clenched my fists and Harper pulled out her knives, hidden in her jacket.

The figure could be seen clearly now. It was a person, or at least, it looked like a person. I say that, because if he's human, he's the biggest, most intimidating one I've ever seen.

He rose up from the ground, standing upright at what I'd guess to be eight feet tall. He was absolutely monstrous in frame, bigger than even my dad. He had tan skin, hands that looked like they could break the Washington Monument in half, and muscles as big as me, every one of them bulging, defined, and perfectly in proportion, no limb or muscle looked out of place, they were all the size they should be it seemed, for him at least.

He wore a tight sleeveless material, black and spandex like, it covered his torso but revealed a faded outline of his muscles underneath. On his lower half, he had on camo military fatigues and large black combat boots, kind of like what my dad used to wear.

As far as armor, he was very light in it, the only being on his wrists. Metal gauntlets that went from just below his elbow to stopping at his hands.

I looked up to see his face, and I got even more frightened. Imagine the toughest, most hardened biker or old war veteran you've ever seen, and this guy beats that look, by ten million. He appeared old, maybe in his late fifties. He had somewhat wrinkled skin and gray hair, short cut like a soldier and receding in the front a little bit, showing off a few inches of his forehead. He had a thick gray mustache under his nose and on his lip, the kind that you'd see on a drill sergeant or something, with no hair on his chin or sideburns just the mustache.

The most grizzled thing about his appearance though, was a deep scar that came down his right eye. It was long, starting from his forehead and trailing down to his jaw. It looked to be relatively new, still pink, and painful. It looked like it had blinded him in that eye, but it didn't seem to matter in a fight with him, he'd still overpower you like it was nothing.

Right now, I really, really wished he'd found the wrong guy. Comparing our auras was laughable, because his dwarfed mine, even at my full power, Red Aura and all. The only chance I'd have of even wounding this beast would be the Red Beam Cannon, and even then, I knew I'd have to charge it, and I could sense this guy was faster than I could even comprehend, so that might as well be thrown out the window.

I must've looked pretty worried, because Harper commented.

"He's strong, isn't he?" She asked, "Do you feel his aura?"

I stayed quiet, and felt it again. Looking past it's insane size, I felt a sense that it was ancient, thousands of years old, and immortal. This guy was either a god, a titan, a primordial, or an unheard-of type of monster. Maybe Typhon's brother.

I willed myself to find out. I forced a brave look and stood tall, even though I was shivering with fear on the inside. The last thing I wanted to do was stand and fight this guy, I wanted to run.

But I asked anyway. "Who are you? Why did you attack us?"

The immortal smirked and stared daggers at me. With a deep, gruff voice, he said, "I am the Titan of Strength and Endurance, I am the Right Hand of Kronos, the One Who Holds the Sky. I am Atlas. Or better yet…the cause of your death, little demigod."

"A-Atlas?" I said in a shaky voice.

Atlas laughed and mocked me, "A-Atlas? Yes boy, and you are Matthias, right?"

I nodded.

His mouth upturned in an evil smirk through his mustache and he popped his knuckles, "Good. Ouranos told me you wouldn't be too hard to find."

My eyes widened, Harper and I exchanged a horrified look. "Ouranos, he sent you?"

Atlas scowled, causing his old skin to wrinkle and his scar to curve. "I don't get sent to anything, unless the orders are from Lord Kronos. However, I owe the bastard a favor, so I took him up on a request." He pointed a beefy, calloused finger straight at me, "To kill you."

To…kill me? Of course, this is just what I needed. Whether it be his own son, or demigods from another pantheon, Ouranos is always getting someone to hunt me down. The thing is though, those guys I could take, this guy…was one of the strongest things in the universe. I wouldn't win, at least not alone. And if I wasn't alone, I'd need an army.

I racked my brain in a panic. Anything to keep this guy from attacking me, anything. I needed to come up with some kind of escape plan. Maybe I could tell Kyros to go back to Camp and get help.

Yeah, and who would that be, genius? The only one that I could remotely think of was Talon, but he might as well not exist right now. It was the sad truth, but the guy was really down in the dirt. He's formidable on his own, yeah, but it's his golden aura, or the Nikandreos form, that really gives him some power. He accesses his father's energy for a temporary amount of time, giving him impossible strength. He's only used it twice, and both times due to the situation being life or death.

Well now, it was life or death. I needed help.

I tried to stall time. "What favor do you owe him?"

Atlas raised a grey eyebrow, "Don't start stalling with me, worm. I know what you're doing. I've been in thousands of battles, with beings much smarter and stronger than you."

"Matt, I don't think reason's gonna work here." Harper said lowly next to me, "All this guy knows is fighting, I can see it in his eyes." She snorted, "Never would've thought, the guy that's held the sky for a million years."

Atlas's eye twitched, "I heard that, you bitch. And it would appear you don't know as much as you think you do about me. Tsk, that's the usual. Well I'll go ahead and let you know; I do a lot more than just carry a cursed burden." He held up his hand, all fingers spread out, like he was showing us the count of five.

"There are only five others in the Universe that have a chance of besting me in single combat. And you two aren't among them."

Five others? Well, if I thought about it, it made sense. Kronos was his master, so he's obviously stronger, Zeus is definitely on the list, probably at the top, Poseidon…well, I don't think I've met him, maybe once or twice, but I never felt his aura. Safe to say he'd be on there too though; lord of the sea is no joke.

But who else could he be talking about? Hades? No, I've felt Hades before, and while insanely powerful, it's not quite as much as Atlas. Hyperion, no, not even at full strength is Hyperion a match. So who else?

None of this mattered, it was just a stupid claim. But I needed to buy some time here, so I decided to elaborate on it. If there was anything the people we fight have in common, it's their ego. They'll debate their prowess all day.

I straightened my posture a bit, "So, Ouranos is on that list?"

The ploy worked, and Atlas cocked his head in thought, considering the possibility. "Perhaps, if this were the beginning of time. But currently, no."

"Okay then, who? Zeus, obviously. But what about Hades? Hyperion?"

Atlas gritted his teeth, "Enough games. I've come to kill you, and I plan on doing just that. Prepare yourself."

I knew he was serious, as his aura flared in the slightest bit, exceeding my own by a lot. I couldn't stall any longer. Help wasn't coming.

"Harper, get the mortals out of here." I said, my tone extremely serious now. "Make sure no innocents get caught up in this."

She looked at me like I was crazy, which I probably was. But what choice did I have?

"I'm not leaving you!" She shouted shrilly, "Are you stupid?!"

Atlas walked toward me casually, his eyes bearing into mine. If I were off my game in even the slightest, or any weaker than I was, I'd probably be atomized by just his stare.

"Harper, this isn't a fight we can win. Please, get the mortals out of here, and I'll…try to figure out a way to escape."

Her eyes widened. She knew that if I was talking about escaping, then the opponent was exceedingly overwhelming.

"Neither of us stand a chance." I said, "I can't let you get hurt. Now go, please."

She stood a second too long, and Atlas pounced. I didn't even focus on trying to block his attack, because that wasn't happening in this fight. Trying to tank a hit from this guy would be suicidal.

I jumped and pushed Harper to the side lightly, but with enough strength to send her tumbling several yards in the sand.

Atlas's fist appeared above my face, coming down on my like a condensed asteroid. Time seemed to slow down, but I couldn't move, or do anything for that matter, I just stood there. My assumption was right, he was way faster than me.

I quickly brought up my forearms, in an attempt to block whatever was coming. They'd no doubt be broken, or even worse. But maybe I wouldn't die.

But just as quick as it came, it stopped. The blow never followed through. I lowered my arms and peeked out through them.

Atlas had stopped his fist three inches from me, a delayed reaction occurred, and the force of the blow caused the wind to go crazy. The pressure behind him came forward, wind blew truckloads of sand into the sky, the very ocean behind me seemed to be pushed back several feet.

When the miniature storm subsided, I looked up at Atlas's face, to see him smirking and hear him chuckling.

"So weak. That punch alone would've killed you." He loosened his tight grip, and tucked his thumb under the rest of his fingers, in a flicking position. He put his hand to my stomach.

"I'm not one to kill a rabbit with a cannon. So let's start small, huh?"

After he said that, I couldn't even react. I felt a bone crushing force against my gut, like the entire galaxy had mule kicked me. My body caved in, blood flew from my mouth, and I went tumbling backwards into the ocean. The last image I saw before, was Atlas's thumb outstretched.

I felt my body get wet and become near weightless. A world of dark blue surrounded me, particles floating everywhere as I sunk deeper and deeper.

My stomach throbbed intensely, and the rest of my body tingled with soreness. Through my blurry vision, I could see a trail of blood following my nose and mouth.

I didn't even register the fact that I'd been beaten so easily, I was just trying to survive. I kept telling myself that I wouldn't die here, because I wouldn't. I can't afford to. Harper's still out there, innocent people are still out there.

With this in mind, I gave myself an invisible dose of adrenaline and ignored the searing pain. I let my anger take over and my aura burst. Water erupted around me, a red glow enveloped my body. Pretty soon, I found myself standing on flat, damp sand.

Atlas had turned around, planning on leaving, or maybe finishing off the mortals. But at the sight of me alive, and no doubt sensing my rise in power, he stopped and looked over his shoulder at me.

I panted heavily, my fingers trembling as I took off Viribus from my neck. I managed to squeeze the lion head at the end of the thin rope, and my weapon, Viribus, elongated into a three foot long club, made from the Adam Tree, a sort of white, ancient looking material. I touched the wood to my body, feeling the regenerative properties wash over me, I felt my wounds heal and mend, my energy returning.

Atlas smiled with excitement, "Not dead then? Hmm, tougher than I thought." His eyebrow raised at Viribus, and he fully turned to me. "That Zeus's aura in that thing?"

I cleared my throat and spat out the remaining blood in my throat. "Yeah. I got a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Heh, you may be weak, but I can't say you're boring."

I growled and engaged at him, deciding to return the favor. I leapt off the sand like a launchpad and reappeared in front of him, Viribus outstretched over my head, my face probably looking like that of a crazed animal.

"RAGHH!" I yelled, sounding more like a child than a warrior. Atlas noticed, and his smirk deepened. I swung Viribus down at his head, to which he dodged this time, sidestepping to the right with casual movement. I landed on my feet and swung again instantly, unleashing a flurry of stabs, swipes and swings at the Titan, him dodging all of them.

"You got tenacity, kid." He caught my wrist and held it firmly, disabling my movement.

But not in my other arm. I saw an opening and sucker punched him square in the cheek, where the scar was. I put all of my weight and power behind it, and my red aura covered any impact that could've been seen. When my fist connected though, I only felt him barely budge, maybe half an inch, and no decrease in his power.

Not even his smirk wavered. He grabbed my other wrist and lifted me off the ground, increasing the pressure on my skeleton.

I groaned in pain, my hands eventually became numb. I saw Viribus fall out of my hand, the Red Aura starting to fade from my fingertips down to my elbows. The sensation was horrible, I couldn't even process how long I was in this position, each second felt like torture. I needed to escape now or my limbs would be gone for good, not coming back.

My bones cracked audibly, I felt them lose feeling altogether. Atlas laughed at my pain.

"Got legs, don't you? Come on, kid, make this fun for me!"

I tried to give a retort, but it only came out as a yell of pain. I heard a cry from Kyros down the beach, and saw his brown figure in the sky, swooping down with his wings tucked in.

My eyes widened, I mentally yelled at the bird - NO! KYROS, STAY BACK!

He wavered in his flight, but only for a moment. He resumed his mach speed attack, a fast speed by human standards, and even demigod standards, but nothing on Atlas standards.

His eye twitched, sensing Kyros come at him. He quickly let go of my wrists and changed positions, grabbing me by the neck instead, each finger reached to the back of my neck, all five like iron.

"Stay out of this." He simply said, and flicked his hand at Kyros's direction. The wind surge hit my pet and knocked him out of the air, I heard a pained caw come from him, and he fell silent. I watched on in terror as his figure spiraled out of the air and into the water.

"K-Kyros..." I croaked, trying to somehow pry Atlas's grip from my windpipe, but I couldn't. Even with all of my strength, the strongest I'd ever been, I couldn't hurt him. It was impossible. I didn't want to give up, but my options were starting to dwindle here, the big one being death.

Atlas's one good eye was hollow with no remorse, only excitement and bloodlust. I practically saw red in them, even though they were light gray.

"Demigod, this is where you meet your end. Didn't think It'd be this easy, but oh well, victory isn't exciting when you're- AGH!"

He shouted in more shock than pain at the sudden attack. All I knew was that he had let go of my neck, and something hit his hand, allowing me to escape.

I landed on my rear, choking and gasping desperately for air. Through my blurriness, I managed to see a bronze knife surrounded by pure white aura leaving Atlas's hand and returning to it's owner.

"Forgot about me, asshole?" Said the attacker. I turned and blinked, making out Harper standing about twenty feet away, the knife in her hand.

I lazily smiled, "That's my girl."

She grabbed Viribus for me and closed the distance, helping me up off the sand.

"Gods Matt, your arms..." She said in a whisper, looking at my newly bruised and broken wrists.

I gently pushed her away and stumbled, "I'll be fine. Are the mortals safe?"

She glanced nervously at the ruined restaurant, "Yeah, the ones that lived, I got them out."

I put an arm in front of her, "Good. Now take Kyros and get out of here."

"NO! I'm not leaving you, so stop telling me to!"

I watched Atlas shake his hand limply, as if getting rid of the pain, but I knew he hadn't been hurt by her attack, just shocked. He looked down at it, then at Harper, and smiled.

"An aura infused blade? Quite a technique for a frail little bird like yourself."

Harper glared at him and pulled out the other one, "Come here and see what this frail bird can do, Titan."

Atlas's eye widened and his gnarled, chipped teeth shown widely under his mustache. "Okay." He said, and in an instant, he was in front of us, his leg raised in the air, above our heads. I could count the lines under his combat boots, make out the soles and grips of them they were so close.

"ROLL!" I said, and thank Olympus she heard me in time. Both of us barrel rolled out of the way. Immediately after I heard the loud impact on the sand, the shockwave nearly sent me into the sea again, but I managed to stay on balance.

Both Harper and I raised our heads and charged at him, a stupid thing, definitely, but we didn't have another choice right now. We were on our own.

Harper had gotten a lot stronger over the course of time, since you last heard from us. During the second quest, her and my other friends fought various strong opponents, but it was her loss to her brother that really sent her over the edge. At camp in the aftermath, when she wasn't with me, she was training. Rigorously training day in and day out, strengthening her strategy and aura. About a month ago, she'd perfected something that took most people years to master. The ability to infuse her aura in her weapons.

It was strong, but it wouldn't be enough, not against this guy.

We tried anyway. In unison, we attacked relentlessly with our weapons, Viribus appeared in afterimages all over the place, along with Harper's knives. She moved like a black cat, agile and precise, and I moved like a lion, strong and upfront.

If we were those animals, Atlas was a cosmic beast. Harper and I had trained together for a long time, but even our combined attacks were nothing but petty attempts. Atlas dodged, blocked our strikes with his bare hands even, letting our weapons bounce off of him like ricocheting bullets. At one point, we saw an opening, and I dug Viribus in his gut, stabbing the tip of it just below his sternum. He gave a small grunt, and Harper followed up with a double slash to his face. The knives simply clanged off of his skin, and his head recoiled a little. Other than that, he was undamaged.

He lightly swatted Harper aside, knocking her out of my view. I had no chance to save her, because just as fast, his fist rushed in front of me. I brought up Viribus in front of me and pressed my other hand to it's tip, using it as a shield.

Atlas's punch hit the center of the club, and I was forced back, the air around me suddenly felt like heavenly diamond glass, cutting into my skin and tearing away at my flesh.

I tumbled on my back and eventually stopping on my side. Viribus had rolled out of my hand, and lay inches away from me. I saw my arms cut up in multiple places, like some sort of animal had a field day on them.

I felt Atlas approach me, each step pounding on the sand. I could practically sense the death looming over me as his shadow cast ten feet apart, covering me completely.

"Hmph, like father like son I suppose." He said, disappointed. "Heard Ouranos killed him, the mighty Heracles. Heh, if he's so mighty, how did he breed such pathetic offspring?"

Rage filled my core at the mention of my dad, under the breath of this psycho. How dare he talk about him.

"Don't say his name." I growled, "You aren't worthy of it!"

He let out a cackle, "That puny god's name? HAH! You crack me up, boy. That man wished he had strength like mine. He would cower before me, had we met." He gestured to me, "Well, I suppose his son's making up for it, and not doing a very good job. Tell me, you think your father's proud of you?"

I couldn't stand anymore, my anger reached its limit. I roared and swung my fist at him, to no avail. Even enraged I was no match. Atlas caught my fist and grabbed my head with one hand, the entirety of it encompassing my skull like a beer can that needed to be squashed.

He looked down at me in the eye, a dangerous glare in his. "I'm not going to kill you quickly, worm. I don't care what Ouranos says, I've been under that damn burden for far too long to waste this opportunity." He licked his lips and smirked, like a devil. "No, I want to see more blood, I want to witness the light leave your eyes. If I can't have a fun battle, then I might as well take my time killing you."

My eyes widened at his intimidating claim. I kicked him in the chest and pushed as hard as I could against it, trying to break free. He simply grabbed one of my legs and lifted me above his head, my head in the other hand, it look like he was holding some sort of barbell.

I remained suspended above him, eleven feet in the air probably, completely helpless. I struggled, bit, and bashed at him, but nothing worked. I could only witness my own demise, and feel the pain of it.

He gripped my leg and head tighter, "I've broken your spirit, and now...I will break your back."

Without hesitation, he slammed my body over his kneecap, the middle of my spine making direct impact. I heard a loud SNAP! Crunch through the air, the sound impossibly loud, but very real.

I felt burning pain shoot up my entire nervous system, a yelp, or maybe a cry of agony built up in my chest, and escaped my throat. To me, it sounded like that of a wounded animal in the woods. It was guttural and long, saliva flew from my mouth as I screamed and screamed in pain. It was unreal, the amount of throbbing that one person could endure. He'd broken my spine completely, snapping it in half.

Atlas threw me to the ground, and I landed in an uncomfortable curved position, paralyzed from the attack. My lower half was thrust into the air, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"NO!" I heard behind me, and felt Harper's aura flare in rage. I could practically feel her glaring daggers at the Titan.

I coughed up a pint of blood, it fell over my cheeks and neck, but I ignored that. "R-RUN!" I managed to yell at her, but it fell on deaf ears, if she could even hear me. After I used my energy to shout, I began to hypervenilate. Short, ragged breaths pumped through my now blood filled lungs, gasping for air.

I could feel my energy draining rapidly, my red aura was now long gone, and I was close to death here. He'd basically split me like a log.

Harper tried to stab Atlas in the side, but the Titan was prepared. He blocked her shot with his index finger and grabbed her by the neck, immobilizing her and forcing her to look at me, as she beat uselessly against his hand.

"Look at him, girl. Look at this so called hero." He said, and chuckled. I put all that I could into my leg and pushed myself on my stomach, using whatever feeling I had left in my arms to attempt to crawl to Viribus.

He's standing right there, I thought. But I didn't care. I wouldn't die without trying, I would put up a fight until the end. I wouldn't heel over and accept death to Atlas. I wouldn't.

Blood leaked from my mouth constantly like a faucet now, leaving behind a long, thick trail in my wake. I crawled slowly, inch by inch, Viribus in my sights. I was so close...

Harper was whimpering above me and still trying to escape Atlas's grip, but she might as well have been punching a titanium wall. The monstrous immortal probably compared her kicks and punches to that of a mosquito bite.

"You think this is what strength looks like?" He asked her rhetorically as he gestured to me, pathetically crawling to something that I knew he wouldn't let me get. "If you do, then you really are clueless." He laughed and kicked me in the ribs, breaking two of them.

"NO!" Harper cried, "DON'T HURT HIM!"

My vision was now like a kaleidoscope. I could make out Viribus, a few feet away, and the sky above me. That was it, everything else was either blood red, or hazy fog. Death was at my door.

I growled in effort and slammed my hand on the sand once again, pulling myself a few inches closer to Viribus.

Atlas continued, "You two are big fish in a small pond. You have no idea the kind of power that's out there. Fighting mere Norse demigods and monsters is child's play, of course you feel strong after such frivolity. But once you stand face to face with a real threat like me...you crumble."

I cleared my throat, which came out as more of a gargle, but I still had my voice. "Small pond, huh? That why Percy Jackson and the Camp beat your buddy Kronos a few years back?"

I felt his anger spike a bit, and his boot plant itself in my ribs once again, more crunching ensued.

"AGH! Damn it!" I shouted, the pain nigh unbearable now. I stopped crawling, because I couldn't anymore.

"STOP IT!" Harper yelled, "Stop it, you son of a bitch!"

"SHUT UP!" Atlas roared, right in her face. It shut her up, his voice boomed like ten thousand thunderstorms, the shockwaves alone from it could send an island sinking into the ocean.

He threw her aside, and she landed in the sand, looking at me with concern. Atlas didn't care about her, it was clear that he had no intentions of killing her, only me. But if she kept getting in his way...

"I'll pop her fucking head like a strawberry if she attacks me one more time, boy."

"Harper...stay back, please..."

She growled and quickly got up off the sand, but still crouched in a fighting position. "No! As long as we're both still alive, I'll never stay back! I'll never let you handle anything alone again! Do you hear me, dammit?!"

I grimaced, "Get the hell out of here...he only wants me."

"Shut up!"

Atlas chuckled at the scene, I looked up and saw his hand turn a dark purple. He was condensing his aura into his fingertips, forming a glowing blade like substance. I didn't even have time to register that his aura was purple, something I completely didn't expect.

"Die." Was all he said, and he raised his hand beside him, ready to deliver the killing blow. This one was aimed for my head. Decapitation. Not even Viribus could bring me back from that, I'd be dead for good.

Harper couldn't even process it. She was still yelling her next insult at the titan when time slowed, the speed of Atlas's strike far to quick to comprehend for her, and almost for me. But somehow, whether it be my adrenaline, or some freak thing, I saw it.

Then I felt something. Something else in the water.

Time sped up again, and in normal speed, the ocean funneled and collected together in one massive wave. In that wave, riding on it like a dolphin, was Kyros. He was surrounded by a weird glow, a sea green glow...

But that wasn't the magnificent part. The magnificent part were his allies. On both sides of him, were two dozen pegasi, a lot of them black and white, some of them brown colored and even spotted. They were all strong, and all surrounded by the same glow. A combined might of something down in the depths. What it could be, I had no idea.

Atlas glanced at the oncoming army of animals, and his eyebrow raised. Before he could act though, Kyros and the pegasi all came together and crashed into him, butting their heads and pushing him back several feet, dissipating his purple aura attack.

He grunted, "What is this? What did you do, boy?"

I was just as confused as he was. I looked around in my fetal position, trying to spot some kind of source to my saving. But all I could see were the pegasi, my eagle, and the ocean looking much larger and more dangerous than ever.

I reached out with my mind to Kyros. B-Buddy, what is all this? How did you-

His emotions came back to me, they were rushing and urgent. No time! We must go now!

With that, he broke away from the group of pegasi, and scooped up Harper on his back, who tried to join in the fray. Next he came over to me, throwing Viribus to Harper with his beak, and grabbing me by the back of my wet shirt in his mouth.

He threw me on to the back, my bones ached and seared pain from the landing, but he couldn't help it. We obviously had to dip, now.

Atlas was enraged below, "NO! YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME!"

As we took off, I turned my head to look back on him. He regained his senses, and with one punch, he hit a pegasi and caused a chain reaction of obliteration. All of the winged horses exploded in piles of gore and blood. The glows faded immediately, and they all died, saving me.

If it couldn't get any worse, it might've been for nothing. Atlas turned around and spotted us. A sneer marked his face as he licked the pegasi blood off his fists. I reared my head back in disgust at his actions. I urged Kyros to go faster.

"Kyros, we need to go!"

Atlas bent down to jump at us, but by some miracle, the water wasn't done yet. Two whips of water erupted from the ocean and wrapped around Atlas's legs, keeping him grounded. He snarled in anger and beat at them, but wherever he struck, they would disappear and wrap around something else. His arms, his chest, his legs again, his neck. You name it, the two cylinders of water were like snakes around him.

Kyros pushed all his weight into boosting speed, and we hit multiple times mach within seconds, leaving the image of Atlas behind. The last feeling I got from him, was his aura spiking and the sound of roaring coming from his direction.

I was on my back, not relieved, but only more terrified. Atlas was still alive, my back was broken in half, and we were in serious trouble.

Ouranos...

Malachi...

A legion of horrible assumptions crossed my mind, but I dismissed them as soon as the second wave of pain washed over me. I screamed in agony, and Harper quickly grabbed Viribus and pressed it to my chest.

I sighed in utter relief. The pain was slower in going away this time, being that my back had literally been broken, along with one side of my ribs and probably my wrists. I'd been beaten, plain and simple.

She tried to take it away, but I grabbed her hand and forced Viribus back on me.

"A little longer." I said, "He...he really did one on me."

She sniffed, and looked back to the beach, now an ant in the distance.

"What the hell was that, Matt?" She asked silently, "I mean really, what just happened? Did the Titan Atlas, who's supposed to be under the burden, really just almost kill you, or am I in another nightmare?" She pinched her arm, but nothing happened.

"I think this is real." I said, wincing at another bone mending together, "The pain's too much to be fake. And as for what happened...I have no idea either. But there's one thing I'm for sure of."

"What's that?"

I looked up at the gray clouds passing by, and with a grim tone, I said, "Ouranos is on the offensive again, and something tells me things are about to get a lot more complicated..."

(000)

Yes, a year has passed, and things haven't changed for the better. Other than the Camp being reconstructed, everyone's spirits are still broken after the events of Book Two. Atlas nearly killed Matt, Levi's whereabouts are unknown, Malachi and Sera's status is in the air, and general chaos is just stirring everywhere. I can't wait to keep writing this one, I'm really excited about this!

Anyway, feel free to leave a review and let me know what you thought.

Until Next Time.