Authors Note: Thank you guys so much for the love and support. Reading your reviews definitely helps motivating me to write lol. A bit of a short chapter, but it won't delve into anything further. Enjoy!
Chapter 22: Perseus chooses fate number zero
"Perseus, you have to get up from your bed, sooner or later. And I would really appreciate it if you wake up now." Hestia said, as she watched Perseus twist around in his covers. "Come on, don't act like a five year old now. Zeus has also called a council meeting so you have to get up anywa-." Hestia began to say, only to be interrupted by a loud groan coming from her son. Hestia rolled her eyes as she went to the windows and drew the curtains aside, letting the early morning sunlight into the room.
Perseus groaned as he felt light hit his eyes, immediately burrowing further in his covers. Hestia sighed as she contemplated whether to set Perseus's bed on fire. But then again, he might not even react to it since he does have hellfire manipulation. Or is that different than fire? Hestia really wasn't sure as she closed her eyes.
"Fine... if you don't get up, I will not make you black currant pancakes today." Hestia warned, cracking an eye open to see the reaction. Perseus merely moved a bit and muttered a "Had them yesterday." and promptly relaxed on his bed.
"Oh, this is absurd. I'm calling Apollo or Artemis; they will definitely jump for the opportunity to drag you out of bed." Hestia said, exiting the room to make a call. One drachma through a rainbow later, Leto showed up, looking quite tired herself. "Good morning Hestia." Leto replied.
"Good morning Leto. I was wondering if Apollo or Artemis would like to come by right now, and help me wake a certain someone up from his unnecessary sleep." Hestia said.
Leto huffed. "Sorry Hestia, but those two are going to be a no show with the state they are in. Good luck trying to wake them up if you want to try."
Hestia raised an eyebrow. "They are sleeping in as well? Don't they know that their father is conducting a council meeting in a few minutes?... tell them that they can throw Perseus off the balcony if they want to."
"Let's see..." Leto said, moving out of the frame. Hestia could distinctly hear some grumbling and covers being pulled over as Leto came back, letting out a sigh.
"They seem very disinterested, which is saying something because I definitely half expected Apollo to just flash away to your place while sleeping. And Artemis mumbled something about she and the team deserving sleep. Oh, and Apollo said something about harp people.
Hestia sighed. "Looks like that's not going to work. I wonder if Hermes will help."
Leto shook her head. "About that, Maia actually called me before you did. Turns out Hermes is in a similar state as our kids as well."
Hestia blinked a couple of times and sighed again. "Our kids snuck out last night."
"Our kids snuck out last night." Leto confirmed.
Thunder then boomed overhead as a mini lightning bolt struck just next to Hestia, making her jump a bit. "Seems like Zeus has arrived to an empty throne room. Talk to you later Leto." Hestia said, swiping the message away. She then flashed on her throne in the throne room, watching as the other gods, and Hades surprisingly, also took their places as well. Except for Perseus, Artemis, Apollo and Hermes.
Zeus, who was already frowning, frowned deeper when he saw the four empty thrones. "Where in the world are those other gods." Zeus grumbled. "Hestia, where is your son?"
"He's still sleeping my lord." Hestia replied. "I checked with Leto, who checked with Maia and it seems like your children are also sleeping in as well."
Zeus frowned even deeper as his face turned slightly golden. "You keep that face up, it'll become permanent." Demeter commented.
"Iris, form a four-way call between me, Perseus, Hermes, and my twins." Zeus bellowed. A few moments later, three separate images were formed in front of Zeus, who cleared his throat, and then took a deep breath. Poseidon and Hera gestured the other gods to cover their ears, which they soon followed.
"PERSEUS! HERMES! APOLLO! ARTEMIS! IF YOU FOUR DO NOT APPEAR IN THE THRONE ROOM WITHIN THE NEXT THIRTY SECONDS, I WILL PERSONALLY COME TO WHERE YOU ALL OUR SLEEPING, AND WAKE YOU UP WITH MY MASTER BOLT!" Zeus bellowed so loud that his entire body glowed gold. And made the other gods simultaneously pop their ears and lost their hearing for a few seconds.
A few moments later, four flashes appeared on top of four empty thrones, revealing Artemis with severe bedhead, Apollo wearing Artemis's hunting dress, Perseus bundled up with a multitude of blankets and pillows, and Hermes nude. A bunch of surprised shouts, arrows zipping everywhere, Zeus was finally able to undertake his meeting.
"Now that everyone is present, and appropriately dressed." Zeus said, muttering the last part. "I just have one thing to say. When Olympus ever comes under attack, we're going to lose. Badly. Do you all want to know why?" Zeus asked, a smile present on his face. Mostly everyone gulped.
"No comment? That's a shame, but it's alright. I will give you the answer of course." Zeus said, master bolt in hand. "We will lose because for some odd reason, NONE OF YOU'LL WILL EVEN BOTHER TO RECIEVE MY COUCL SUMMONS AND WHEN IT'S TOO LATE, YOU'LL WILL WAKE UP IN TARTARUS!"
"Um, father?" Athena said quietly. "I was very preoccupied in designing some strategy and battle plans based on Olympus and my city. I purposely ignored your calls as I chalked your summons as a preparation of war, because of the eclipse."
Steam can now literally be seen coming out from Zeus's ears. "i am well versed in what an eclipse is daughter, but that was not the reason. I'm talking about what happened a few hours after the eclipse took place!"
Everyone looked confused at this, as most of them were indoors and resting. "I obviously couldn't have seen what was happening outside brother, I think you should elaborate a bit." Poseidon stated.
Zeus gripped his master bolt tightly as a loud clap of thunder boomed overhead. "I'm talking about the sky dammit! Red, the sky was red! As red as mortal blood, and it was everywhere! The influx of prayers I got from scared mortals, and none of you'll were even appearing for the potential threat!"
"Um...uncle?" Perseus called out, wincing slightly when Zeus's pissed off expression was directed at him. "That red colored sky may have happened because of me..."
"It did? That's actually wonderful to hear." Zeus said, deflating a bit. Only a bit. "How did something like that even occur may I ask?"
"Uhhh." Perseus trailed off. He couldn't really say that he basically went semi-nuclear in Kichyros, and from what Perseus had witnessed, Artemis, Apollo and Hermes had also slept in like him. Which also means that someone like his mom could easily connect the dots if Perseus were to say he was out. He had to act fast.
"Well?" Zeus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The red sky...is a side-effect of me being the god of eclipses. I'm sure you'll must have noticed that something like this never happened before at all. And this is the first time, not just for the red sky but the eclipse happening with me being its new god. Hence, why the sky... turned red." Perseus said, really hoping everyone would buy that.
"It's the truth!" Apollo quickly said, gaining everyone's attention. "That is, the red sky thingy. Percy is telling the truth, since I can detect truth and lies. And in case someone needed more proof." Apollo mumbled.
Zeus slowly nodded his head. "At least it wasn't an outside force. But still, regardless of what happened yesterday, whether it was a threat or not, you all still weren't able to come at a time of need. I expect every single god to be here once I, or anyone else summons you, and I don't care if you're in the middle of something. Because if you don't, I'm going to skip the wakeup call step, and go straight to blasting everyone with my master bolt!" Zeus shouted, and then took in a couple of deep breaths. "Also, Athena, I need you to work with Hephaestus on some weapon defenses for Olympus. That will be all for now." Zeus said, and disappeared off with a flash.
"Welp, Zeus sure was pissed." Hades muttered.
"He was more than just pissed." Demeter muttered. "I feel he was overreacting though."
"If he was still here, he would have thrown you off the mountain Demeter." Hera said, shaking her head.
"What I want to know is, why did you four even sleep for so long in the first place." Athena said, her question directed to her siblings/ pseudo brother.
"I was out hunting... stuff." Artemis said with a smile.
"I was shooting stuff. And trying to unsuccessfully ruin Artemis's hunt." Apollo said with a grin.
"I was delivering last minute packages to different gods. And, I was tending to my cows." Hermes replied.
"Technically my cows." Apollo grumbled.
"The eclipse kept me up all night." Perseus shrugged, and then let out a yawn. "I was quite restless as well."
"Hmmm." Athena hummed, glancing at the four of them with a critical eye.
"Last night was restless, huh Perseus." Hades said nonchalantly.
"Hmm? Oh yeah, hardly got any sleep." Perseus said with a chuckle.
"Next time you feel restless, take a run in Kichyros. Have you ever visited Kichyros during the night Perseus?' Hades asked.
"Umm." Perseus trailed off, desperately hoping the conversation was not going where he thought was going. "No uncle... I'll be sure to take in the city of Kichyros during nighttime if the opportunity arises."
Hades nodded. "That's nice to hear. Just, be careful that no one recognizes you of course. For all we know the locals might build a temple for you." Hades said with a wink, immediately slipping into the shadows and leaving a stunned Perseus behind. Perseus felt someone tap on his shoulders, and turned around to find Artemis staring at him curiously.
"What was Hades talking to you about? You looked a bit worried." Artemis asked, her eyes momentarily widening. "Don't tell me... don't tell me already knows?!" Artemis hissed.
"Possibly." Perseus muttered, getting up. "I will talk to him when we go down to see Hecate, I hope he's not mad or anything like that."
Artemis sighed. "I hope so too. Shall we go now?"
Perseus shook his head. "I need to talk to my mom first. We can leave in like an hour or two." Perseus said. After giving their farewells, Perseus jogged up to Hestia, who was just starting to do her daily check on the mortals.
"Hey mom, I have something to ask of you." Perseus said, sitting down next to Hestia.
"You seem a bit jumpy today. But anyway, what is it that you need from me?" Hestia asked.
"I was wondering if it was possible for you to give me your healing and calming powers, I guess. Like just, pass it down, something like that." Perseus said.
Hestia had a thoughtful look on her face. "I can do that, though it wouldn't be anything like my powers. You might just have minor healing and calming powers, but they will still be effective so not to worry." Hestia said, smiling slightly. "Aww, my baby s finally going to have some of my powers!"
Perseus sighed, but nonetheless smiled fondly. "I had to get something since I'm your son and all, and those are your words."
"Don't patronize me young man." Hestia said, swatting Perseus's shoulder. "Come, let us begin the blessings then." Hestia then stretched her arms ahead into the fire of the hearth. The moment her hands touched the fire, the fire began to grow much bigger, the orange flames becoming much brighter as well.
"Well come on, you have to hold my hands for this." Hestia said. Perseus glanced at his mother and then eyed the flames warily. "My hands would not get singed...right?" he asked.
Hestia shrugged. "Well...seeing that you're a 'fire' user, I figured that normal fire flames won't affect you. Especially flames that are already being semi-blessed by me."
Perseus slowly extended his arms and took hold of Hestia's within the flames. A warm tingling sensation flowed through Perseus, as his body began to glow slightly orange. Perseus then felt another sensation pass through him, as he felt something inside him loosen.
"Well, your hands didn't get singed and it seems like you're not going to potentially faint..." Hestia said, trailing off at the last part. She then smiled brightly. "I think that was a success. Can you try using them now? I would hate to see you find trouble in this."
"I really hope not." Perseus muttered, as e flexed his fingers. He felt the hellfire within him trying to make an appearance, but Perseus pushed that down and focused on the new sensation he was feeling within his fingertips. Perseus's wrist then glowed a light blue in color, making him grin as he waved his hand around. "Is this it?" he asked Hestia.
Hestia smiled as she showed of her orange glowing wrist as well, waving it around. "Well, something you managed to master without any trouble at all. Keep this up and soon you will master every single power a god will bless you with in due time." Hestia teased.
"Oh come on mom, stop that." Perseus said with a laugh. "I have enough cool powers as it is, I definitely do not need more otherwise uncle Zeus will have to be admitted in a ward, then chuck me out of Olympus, and then again get admitted in a ward because of you."
"You are absolutely right; I will send him to a ward if he dares get the thought of throwing you out of my sight." Hestia replied. "What will you be doing now?"
Perseus shrugged. "I was thinking of maybe going down to Hecate's with the gang. You know, do some introductions and what not."
"The gang huh? Do the citizens of Olympus need some prior warning from you batch of trouble makers?" Hestia asked.
Perseus grinned. "Only if they mess with us first. See you later mom." Perseus said giving Hestia a hug and then flashing into his room. Perseus sighed as he took out a change of clothes, letting go of his armor for today. Perseus removed his chiton, only to find something he didn't notice as he was too tired, not to mention dark when he came back.
On his chest, just below his heart was a jagged white mark, with a bit of blue seen on the edges as well. Perseus traced the mark, realizing with a start that this was the same location where Mados had pierced him with the ether frost blade. Perseus didn't realize that the wound left a scar. But then again, he wasn't sure how the wound even healed as the time between his vision clouding and him noticing himself flying in the air was mostly a blur. And speaking of ether frost...
Perseus removed his cloak from a hook, and dug around one it's pockets to find a familiar glass like wand. The wand immediately felt warm in Perseus's hand as he inspected it. It was nothing special, just a glass wand with intricate patterns. Perseus gently waved it around as he watched tufts of snow puff out, falling gently to the ground.
"Can't believe this is an actual prime resource. It looks so...basic." Perseus muttered, knowing fully well about the destructive capabilities possible with just one wave. Perseus then pocketed the wand again, contemplating whether he should tell Hecate about the wand or no when Perseus felt himself falling in place. Perseus blinked, and suddenly, he was lying face first on the ground. Perseus quickly scrambled up as he took in his surroundings. It looked like he was in a cave, a rather nice-looking cave, with furniture and an absurd amount of white yarn tucked in a corner. Perseus continued to stare at the pile of yarn, which looked like to be almost touching the ceiling.
"Fascinating, isn't it? How many lives have passed through in order to accumulate the amount of string you are seeing now. But of course, that's nothing compared to the new batch of string we have stored elsewhere." A voice spoke up.
Perseus whirled around to find the three Fates, all three of them sitting by a now lit fireplace and knitting a piece of string into their machine. All three of them glanced at the staring Perseus and gave a toothy smile.
"You should feel honored Olympian, for you are the first ever being aside from us to enter our humble abode. And you will definitely live long enough to tell the tale." Lachesis said.
"Unless." Atropos said, holding out a pair of scissors. "We, have something to say about this."
"Hmm, how long do you want this person to live for?" Clotho spoke up, holding out a measuring system. "I'm thinking sixty-nine."
"Four hundred and twenty!" Lachesis cried.
Atropos shrugged. "I'll say...twelve. What?" Atropos asked when she noticed her sisters slightly glaring at her. "Lachesis threw in a three-digit number, I can't put something like twelve?"
"Lachesis has been throwing that number since we first started allocating strings." Clotho replied. The three then glanced at Perseus, tilting their heads to the side. Perseus had an inkling as to where this was going.
"Lykofós Perseus, how many years should this mortal live for?" Clotho asked, ignoring the horrified looks Atropos and Perseus were giving her.
"I-I-I-I don't want to decide the fate of a person!" Perseus yelled.
"Clotho sighed. "You're just giving an age, it's not like you're writing down the technicalities of its death. Just pick a random number between one and ninety. Nothing above as I don't want to invest so many years on it."
Perseus gulped. "Um...I guess...eighty-four?"
"Eighty-four it is, that's a nice and long number. And will you look at that, this person is going to be the oldest person alive once he crosses seventy-seven." Clotho said, measuring the string.
"This is only a one-time thing so don't expect this to be a full-time job." Atropos said through gritted teeth, not noticing the sigh of relief coming from Perseus as she was too busy glaring at her sister. "I wonder if this mortal will even live to be eighty-four if it's a- oops." Atropos said, snapping her fingers. The thread glowed golden, making Lachesis and Clotho groan while Atropos smirked triumphantly. "A demigod!" she announced.
"Sister, the age is already measured. The mortal, now demigod, will live to be eighty-four no matter what." Clotho said with a sigh. "Oh look, it's a male."
"What is it's parentage?" Lachesis asked excitedly. "Is it Zeus, wait too obvious. Maybe Poseidon. Or wait even better." Lachesis said, eyeing up Perseus. "A wild card itself, the god of eclipse!"
Perseus blinked once and immediately started flailing around. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, now hold up a second. Don't you dare make him a kid of mine, I'm not ready to be a dad yet!" Perseus cried.
"You anyways will have to leave your child and mortal lover behind so it's no problem on being a father. Ancient laws decreed it so." Atropos said dismissively.
"That's even worse!" Perseus shouted.
"Oh relax, we're not going to make him your child. You think we will do something like that with you around? Plus, you already have your sights set on someone else, with no worries of cheating and what not ever bound to happen of course. It's in your nature." Clotho replied.
Perseus looked a bit confused. "I... already have my sights on someone? Like now... or in the future?"
"It's confidential." Atropos said, whacking Clotho behind the head. "This is why I didn't want to bring him here, you two will tease him with his future, and then reveal something no one should even know!"
"Relax sister, that's not going to happen at all." Lachesis muttered. "But we do have some business we need to attend with you." she said, summoning a piece of paper. "The first step is, we need your symbols right now so we can pass the information to the mortals."
Perseus blinked. "Uh...I haven't yet decided on all that stuff-"
"Well you have to now!" Atropos barked. "Give us a flower."
"Can I at least take a min-"
"FLOWER NOW!"
"Yeesh, why is everyone so ticked off today." Perseus muttered. "Okay, I can go with nightshade."
"Nightshade. Color does match with your lunar eclipse aura." Lachesis muttered. "What's next?" she asked.
"Weapon." Clotho replied.
"Hmm, I don't know about weapon really. I'm pretty good with all those available." Perseus muttered.
Atropos groaned. "Just choose a goddamn weapon!"
"Uh...sword! I guess...are my attached blades possib-"
"Let's go with the latter, sword is too generic. Alright, what's your animal symbol?" Clotho asked
"Can we please skip that for now? I still haven't figured out which animal I want." Perseus said, wincing a bit when he saw the Fates bite their lips in frustration. "Okay fine, I'll go with... dogs. Yeah, dogs are nice."
"Dogs, it's perfect. Great in hunting, not to mention loyal just like you. Of course, trust has to be gained first in order to gain their loyalty." Lachesis muttered
"Next is... a food product that can be sacrificed to you for prayers and such. What's your favorite food Perseus?" Atropos asked.
Perseus groaned. "I have to give food now. I mean...i don't know? I like brownies, and chicken roast, black currant pancakes-"
"I'm going to stop you right there, you like black currant pancakes, right?" Clotho asked. On receiving a nod from Perseus, she grabbed the paper from Lachesis, scribbled something on it, and handed it back to her. "We have put black currant as a food item that can be sacrificed to you. Is that fine?"
Perseus sighed. "I guess so. But I do adore venison-"
"One more cheeky sentence, and we'll tell the mortals do decorate your statues and temples with snakes." All three Fates said together, effectively keeping Perseus quiet.
"Let's see, other symbols include eclipse, hellfire, a-ha, and now the last one. Your symbol of power." Lachesis said gleefully.
Perseus tilted his head to the side as he stared at the Fates. He then showed of his vambraces, waving them around for a bit. "I thought it was obvious, seeing that you see everything and all."
Lachesis laughed loudly, while Clotho and Atropos sighed, and then cursed. "I thought it would be your bow, first weapon and all." Clotho muttered, handing a couple of drachmas to Lachesis.
"And here I am thinking he was going to say shadow tendrils." Atropos muttered, also handing a couple of drachmas to her sister.
"Shadow tendrils literally makes no sense to be a symbol of power." Lachesis said, writing something down.
"Well...I can take this as my symbol of power if you guys want" Perseus said, removing the wand from his cloak. The Fates heads immediately snapped at the wand, their eyes slowly narrowing.
"And now comes the second step. That ether frost weapon." Clotho said with a frown. "We already have two foreign prime resources roaming this realm, another one is going to be really problematic."
"You're taking away the wand?" Perseus asked, making Clotho and Atropos sigh, only to open their eyes in surprise when they saw the wand in front of them. "Good, because I really don't want to handle or even see that thing ever again." Perseus said shortly after.
Lachesis immediately started cackling as she stretched her hand out to her sisters. "Pay up now, oh this is too easy." The other two sighed as they once again began giving money to Lachesis.
"...Are you three placing bets on me?!" Perseus incredulously asked, only to receive three shrugs in return. "That- this is absurd!"
"It's funny, especially with you because you are all full of surprises." Lachesis said with a grin.
Perseus gritted his teeth, and then sighed. "You three owe me then, I want a full crash course on prime resources. Uses, where they are found, everything."
Atropos glared at him. "You really think you can demand all that from us?! I would really watch that tone and atti-"
"Well, as you probably already know from Hecate, Chaos has gifted each primordial with a realm a special substance that is supposed to be shared with the realms living be-"
WHAM
"Forgive my sister, she has a bit of a loose tongue." Atropos muttered, putting her club aside. "As for why we will not reveal anything to you, too much information is quite dangerous. There is a reason this has remained a secret for so long, only known by primordials and select people like you and Hecate. Why do you think the Olympians call your umbra ore made weapons nexus platinum? We basically had to spin a lie in order to cover its true origins."
Perseus frowned. "But you should let the Olympians know about all this stuff. You never know if some lunatic comes by and starts attacking us or mortals with any of these prime resources. I almost died, or maybe even outright faded by Mados, the guy with the ether frost. And only because I was blind of its capabilities. Others will definitely not be so lucky as they don't have the added advantage of having a prime resource like me to help in their battles.
Atropos had a thoughtful look on her face, but then immediately replaced it with a frown. "That is up to Chaos itself, whether it wants to reveal all this information or not. Keep in mind, there are other beings who are living ignorant of the fact that the everyday tools they use are actually weapons of mass destruction. It's capabilities, they will never see it coming."
"What are you going to do with the wand anyways, give it back to Ouranos?" Perseus asked.
"Of course not, that's up to Chaos to decide. We'll just throw it in the abyss and see if it notices it." Clotho replied.
"Okay...but speaking of prime resources, what does celestial bronze even do anyways." Perseus asked. "So far, I haven't seen any wow factor for it."
Clotho raised an eyebrow at this. "The fact that it is lethal to ninety percent of all monsters is not enough for you?!"
"Don't forget, its non-magnetic as well." Lachesis chimed in.
"And hoarded mostly by the Olympians of course. But then again, Gaia did the same thing." Clotho muttered.
"Chaos would have probably taken it away if it weren't for that whole debacle with Aether. And if it makes you feel any better, Pontus's Ailment stone is the most useless resource out there. Just don't tell him we said that." Lachesis replied.
Perseus nodded slowly, and the immediately stumbled back when he heard Lachesis's last sentence. "Wait a minute, you know I have been in touch with Pontus?!"
The fates just stared blankly at Perseus as they snapped their fingers. A black colored string with a bit of dark blue intertwined with it appeared on the spindle. As soon as Perseus glanced at the string, he immediately felt dread pool inside him as he felt his legs shake a bit.
"You're actually asking us Fates if we know that you have been in touch with a primordial? Perseus, we see and know everything. There's nothing you can actually hide from us. We have already laid the groundwork of your life for the next seven decades, with more to come." the Fates said together, making Perseus gulp.
"Is there any way I can have my own freewill." Perseus muttered.
"No, unless Chaos stupidly favors you or some reason. But don't worry, you won't remember this part of the conversation soon enough." Atropos said nonchalantly.
"...Oh. wait...how?" Perseus asked.
"Alright, enough morbid talk. Perseus, you are the god of mountains, right?" Lachesis asked. "I was thinking, you should pay a visit to some of the Ourae out there. Make some goodwill and what not."
"The Ourae? You mean the mountain gods?" Perseus asked, as he thought about it. "Yeah you're right, I should maybe do that since I'm technically their god and all. Though they are children of Gaia so... not sure how well that might go."
Clotho sniffed. "You don't worry about Gaia and all, just go and meet the Ourae. They might be even expecting you."
"Alright...but I do have a question. Which I'm not sure if you guys can give an answer but I'm going to try anyways. Why...can't I use my hellfire like how other fire user like Hephaestus can? Or is that something I can't do with hellfire?" Perseus asked.
Atropos raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You stop feeling so afraid of it, and then maybe you'll be fine with controlling it."
"A god who is afraid of his own element, who would have thought." Lachesis said, also smirking.
Perseus frowned. "I'm not scared of hellfire, like, why would I be scared of hellfire?!"
"I don't know, ask yourself that!" Clotho said indignantly. "Like my sister said, which god is scared of his own powers? Embrace it, let it go for crying out loud."
"Try singing if you want, it helps." Lachesis said, clearing her throat. "Let it go, let it go! Can't hold back anymoooore! The hellfire never bothered me anyway."
"That was horrible." Perseus said bluntly, as he stared at his hands. "But my mother mentioned something similar...I think it was my mother. Talking about Nyx."
"Well, now you have more proof that you're afraid of it. If Nyx herself had to come in your head and berate you about not using hellfire to its full potential, then why are you even its god in the first place?" Clotho asked, though it felt more like a statement.
"I don't know." Perseus muttered, closing his eyes. "i don't know why I'm the god of a fucking prime resource, something that shouldn't be tampered with lightly, something that only primordials can wield to its full potential. Heck, Tartarus wasn't able to properly control this, his own prime resource. Why, why is it me. What is my connection to it?"
The Fates stared at Perseus with a mixture of wonder, and fear, as they slowly backed behind. "Go on a journey of self-discovery if you want to, I heard that the southern islands are quite nice during this time of the year." Lachesis said, a bit fearfully.
"Also, can you tone down your slight outburst?" Atropos asked.
Perseus opened his eyes to find himself coated with hellfire. He then launched a fireball at some curtains, which immediately started to spread everywhere. The three Fates shrieked as Perseus absorbed the flames back, smirking internally.
"Cheeky little bugger, I'll see to it that...that...uh..." Lachesis mumbled, shaking her head. "You'll do something embarrassing, it's just a matter of time!"
"I have all the time in the world. I am mortal of course." Perseus said, extinguishing the flames. "That's actually all I can do till now, I still can't do all the cool, but tedious stuff."
"Whatever, can we hurry up with this conversation already." Clotho muttered.
"Wait, I actually want to know about that form I took last night. Did it have something to do with the eclipse, or can I do it now as well."
"Oh that? That is a form you can take when an eclipse happens, so no, it's not an everyday occurrence. The form you took yesterday may vary during a solar eclipse though." Atropos replied.
Perseus grumbled. "Great, I have two forms now that might as well make me over powered. Thank the Fates...i mean you guys."
"The variations are just minor changes in looks, nothing will affect your overall power. And seeing this reaction, I'm wondering if you being humble and modest is in your nature, or if it's an act so that Zeus won't give you a one-way ticket to the abyss." Lachesis replied.
"If it was an act, I would already be in the abyss. Sent by my mother, Hestia herself. ...Am I actually having a casual conversation with the literal personification of fate right now?"
The three Fates sighed. "Don't get used to it." they mumbled.
"Wait, I actually have a request if possible." Perseus said, taking out his vambraces. He then handed them to the Fates, who looked at him curiously.
"I was wondering if you can take this back to Nyx's real, and ask her to try and see if she can coat the weapons with this." Perseus said, producing a pouch from his pocket, and also handing it to the Fates. They opened it to find a silver gray colored ash in it.
"Hellfire ash. Very difficult to produce as it's quite uncommon for that fire to produce ash. Usually found as residue from mythological items." Atropos said, staring at Perseus. "Good job on collecting it. We'll make sure of delivering it, I think that's the least we can do."
"Thank you." Perseus replied, his arms immediately feeling naked without his braces.
"Okay, moving on to other stuff! Perseus, if I'm not mistaken, you just received healing powers from Hestia. Can I see your hands?" Clotho asked, bringing out her hands.
Perseus eyed her warily, but nonetheless complied. Clotho then closed her eyes as a grayish glow surrounded her. It remained for some time until Clotho opened her eyes again, worry evident in her eyes.
"I may be mistaken, but I would never make a mistake like this." she muttered, holding Perseus's hands once again, closing her eyes as well. The gray glow once again enveloped her and remained for a few minutes, leaving a very confused Clotho.
"Sisters, I need you to sense his godly aura please." Clotho replied, gaining confused looks from everyone in the room. Lachesis and Atropos soon followed suite, doing the same thing as what Clotho did, and getting the same reaction as her before.
"How in the world..." Atropos muttered. "Perseus, are you sure you got new minor powers from Hestia?"
"Yeah... oh please don't tell me I got some jacked up version of-"
"Group huddle!" Lachesis yelled, dragging her sisters across the room, as they started talking about this new development.
"I thought there was no trace of it when we scanned him in the first place." Atropos hissed. "To think, all these months, it was actually-"
"And here I was thinking his father was actually Chaos itself." Clotho said, her head in her hands. "Zeus is not going to be pleased."
"I think he'll see this as a win you know. Having the child of two ancient deities as his ally will surely give him a reason to keep Perseus around, right?" Lachesis asked.
"Among other things, sure."
"Um...what are you guys talking about exactly?!" Perseus called out from the other side of the room. The three fates ignored him as they talked some more, and a few head bashes later, they came back to Perseus.
"We may have an inkling as to who your father might be. But take this with a grain of salt, we may be ultimately false. Though...it might not be." Lachesis said with a smile.
Perseus's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of its sockets there and there only. "WHAT?! Y-Y-You k-k-know...no, no I...what?"
"Oh great, he's in shock." Atropos drawled, snapping her fingers. Perseus's eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground, fast asleep.
"Drop some Lethe water on him, but not too much of course. We only need to erase his fate conversation, and now this one as well." Atropos said, sinking back on her rocking chair. "I wonder about his future, since I can't really make it out more or less after that event. But whatever it is...it's going to be a hell of a ride."
"Perseus."
"Percyyyy"
"Perce."
"Honey bun- OW! Artemis!"
"Ughh, can you guys shut up." Perseus muttered, cracking an eye open. Artemis, Apollo and Hermes were all clamoring on an iris message, staring at him. "Where are you guys anyway." Perseus muttered.
"Hecate's place. You were supposed to come in like an hour or two but it has been more than that. Are you that tired after last night?" Artemis asked, worry evident in her eyes."
"I'm not tired, I...I think the Fates drugged me." Perseus said with a frown.
"WHAT!"
"I'll tell you guys later; I'm coming in five minutes." Perseus said, swiping the message away. Perseus sighed as he got ready, flashing just outside of Hades's palace. The dead skeleton guards outside bowed down to him as they let him through and soon enough, Perseus was in Hades's throne room, as the god of the dead stared at his nephew intently.
"I think you know why I'm here uncle." Perseus began.
Hades gave a slight nod. "Are you wondering how I came to know about your night stroll in my city?" he asked.
Perseus winced. "Well, you are the patron of Kichyros. You would obviously know what's going to happen in your city."
Hades shrugged. "That is true, but I wouldn't have sensed you in my city if that's what you're wondering. Or if I heard it from the locals. In fact, I got to know about you because of you actually. Indirectly of course."
Perseus frowned. "I don't follow..."
Hades chuckled. "Imagine my surprise when I got an alert stating that eighty souls have been sent to my realm, all in one night and all from one common location. My very own city. So of course, I went up to see what was going on, and lo and behold, my temple was partially ruined."
"Really sorry about that uncle." Perseus said.
"Oh I'm not worried about that." Hades said dismissively. "What really caught my attention was the locals celebrating the fall of a tyrant, and the rise of a protector. The Twilight Avenger. Lykofós Perseus. You." Hades said, leaning forward on his throne. "What happened up there, if you don't mind me asking."
So Perseus relayed last night's entire events, leaving Hades with various emotions of pride, shoch, horror and surprise.
"An immortal from my grandfather's realm? I've heard stories about the ángelos, but just stories. Stories that might not be true. But to think you actually met one last night..."
"Yeah, it really was something. Uncle...I hope you're not too mad about me coming in-"
"Let me stop you there Perseus. While I must say it's a bit embarrassing that someone else had to clean up a mess in my city, I wouldn't have asked anyone but you. Plus, it's in your job description to do stuff like this so I can't exactly complain. And you did an amazing feat, quite something for a first time." Hades said with a smile. "Though I do wonder if you had some outside help or not..."
"Uh no, all by myself. Though my friends will be mad once they hear I did this solo." Perseus said with a laugh.
"Hmm." Hades hummed, still staring at Perseus intently.
"Apollo did say he was trying to ruin Artemis's hunt." Perseus pointed out. "And he can't lie at all."
Hades blinked, and then shrugged. "I believe you Perseus, don't worry about that. And whether your friends helped you or not is none of my business. You can expect me to not care at all." Hades said with a wink. "I'm sure you are here to see Hecate. Which means I'm not going to be the reason to visit the underworld anymore." Hades muttered.
"Don't worry uncle, I'll be sure to come by and give you company if you're bored. You can always hang out with Persephone though."
"I can't now." Hades said glumly. "Demeter caught me last week and now she's hired some rock nymphs or something like that in order to keep an eye out on me. That woman, just loves to mess with me."
"Ah okay. Well, see you later uncle." Perseus said, walking out of the throne room. He then made his way downstairs, distinctly hearing some noises floating outside. Perseus knocked on the door, which swung open to reveal everyone in the room floating everywhere inside separate bubbles.
"What the-"
"Heyo Perce! I'm inside a bubble!" Hermes cried, floating upside down.
"I could see that." Perseus said, letting out a laugh.
"Alright, play time is over kiddos. We need to have our talk." a redheaded woman said, clapping her hands. The bubbles gently landed on the ground, bursting on contact.
"I remember this form." Perseus said with a grin. "Morning form I presume."
"Yep, and here's your freebie." Hecate said, handing Perseus a bag. "That's your tea, you can thank me later. Because I want to know everything that happened when you were underground."
Perseus then recounted his tale once again, also including his meeting with the Fates which took everyone by surprise, understandably.
"I always hated them, especially Atropos. To broody for my liking." Hecate said, taking a sip from her cup.
"Worst part is, I'm getting these blanks in my memory when I try to remember everything from that meeting. I have a feeling they erased my memory at one point." Perseus said bitterly, gaining fearful looks from everyone.
"You must have heard some really confidential stuff to warrant that Perseus." Hecate said, touching Perseus's forehead. "Lethe water, just as I expected."
"Is that why we found you sleeping on your bed when we iris messaged you?" Apollo asked.
"Is memory loss caused by Lethe curable?" Artemis asked Hecate.
"I don't have a proper answer for that, sorry. I have yet to find a person who has gained memories without any outside influence, or some spell or potion that will return those memories." Hecate replied.
"So, how surprised was everyone when they saw you in this form?" Perseus asked Hecate, a shit eating groan on her face. Hecate laughed while Artemis groaned and Apollo and Hermes had embarrassed looks on their faces.
"They all thought I was my own mother. The boys promptly started to flirt with me again while Artemis berated them again. That is when she realized that if I was Hecate's mother, I would then be Nyx. Oh, you should have seen their reactions as they scrambled to kneel, while Apollo and Hermes kept begging me to not smite them."
Perseus laughed out loud, almost falling to the ground as he leaned back. "No way, you should have secretly iris messaged me or something so I could have seen it."
"True, but you were anyways asleep so it wouldn't have made a difference. But what I want to know, among something else, is your...eclipse form." Hecate said.
"Mhm, that's right-" "Is it the one with those hellfire wings-" "And the purple flaring aura-" "And the-"
"Guys, guys, guys chill. I can't answer all your questions at once." Perseus said hurriedly.
"Can you do the form all the time?"
"No, only during eclipses."
"Are the wings attached."
"Nope, it's like I can feel them, but they are not attached."
"Can you turn into a demon from hell?"
"Uh...no..."
"Alright, first question done. Now, I want to know everything about this Mados, cause I'm pretty sure I saw him fly." Artemis said.
"Yeah, he did fly. He came from Ouranos's realm actually." Perseus replied.
Hecate's eyes widened. "You met an actual ángelos?! And a fallen one, tha's very rare."
"Rare? Do they fall down here often?" Perseus asked.
"What do you mean by fall?" Apollo asked.
"Okay so...long story short, Ouranos's real has these people called ángelos. They basically look like us, but with wings. Now, if an ángelos like commits a crime or something, then their wings turn black. Because they are supposed to be a 'pure' race of people. But if an ángelos commits a very bad crime, like say...eat children, then they are casted down to earth. With a wing removed. That's what you will call a one-winged angel. Which according to Perseus's description, is what Mados was. Apollo actually encountered them if I'm not mistaken, winged people carrying harps? That definitely sounds like a common ángelos, they are big on music, especially with the harp."
Hermes whistled lowly. "Sounds badass. One-winged Angel. But not Percy level badass, you cousin or on a whole another level."
"Thanks Hermes. Too bad, Mados was instead a piece of rotting shit under my sandal. Glad I don't have to deal with him ever again." Perseus muttered.
"The sky dwellers had quite a good relationship with the immortals down on earth, until Ouranos was severed into pieces. That basically ruined the entire history between the two and ever since then, the ángelos have hated the descendants of the Titans."
"No wonder they seemed pissed when I entered their realm." Apollo muttered.
"I actually want to know more about the weapon Mados used against you Perseus, it sounds quite powerful. Do you have it with you now?" Artemis asked Perseus, who shook his head.
"Nah, the Fates took it from me for 'safekeeping'. Probably for the best, don't want to give Zeus any ideas." Perseus said, catching Hecate's eyes as she discretely shook her head. Seems like, they had to still keep it in the dark.
"Will Zeus really do something that bad? I mean, he's not that inconsiderate right?" Hecate asked, receiving a multitude of snickers that turned to chuckles and then turned to full blown laughter.
"Zeus do something ni- BWAHAHAHA." Hermes cried.
"I never took you as a joker Hecate." Artemis said.
"Hmphf, you guys are mean." Hecate huffed, clapping her hands.
Hades was reclining on his throne when he heard loud voices coming from downstairs. He poked his head out, only to almost get smacked upside down by a flying Hermes who was throwing smoke bombs everywhere. Artemis and Perseus soon appeared, the two of them armed with shock arrows while Apollo entered the room, screaming like a donkey. Which was partly true, due to the donkey ears and lower half of the body being that of a donkey. Hecate then appeared, standing on a grey cloud with her hair pulled up and wearing clothes with thunderbolt patterns as she launched rubber lightning bolts everywhere.
"I am Thunder Man! Fell my mercy you immortal peasants!" She shouted, as she chased the four gods out of the room, Hades stayed very still as he got up to make a call. Because he definitely did not pay for babysitting duties, and because someone else needed to know about the merciful lord Thunder Man he had just witnessed.
Ending was a bit...rushed for my liking. Maybe I'll change it later...unless you guys liked it *shrugs* But it was either leave this chapter in a cliffhanger, or end it here and then only. And I had already promised not to do any cliffhangers for the next five chapters so...my hands are tied. Chapter was quite dialogue heavy and filler type, a nice break I feel after the previous two action packed chapters. But from next chapter onwards, things will start to move quite fast. Maybe we'll see some time skips, maybe some development in a certain couple ; ), so there will definitely be a lot to look forward to. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you'll in the next update. Bye!...\/