Chapter 1
1700, The Caribbean.
Tortuga has been busy for a few weeks now. Word had spread of England's interest in nearby islands, and the pirates that thrived off of English shipments were making sure they were prepared for the influx. Business is good, the forge lives on in your name. I still dedicate myself to making every sword with the same passion and love that you did, Father.
Percy sealed the paper, throwing it into the fire before him. He sealed his pen and ink, before going back to work, pressing air into the hearth in front of him. His forge was modest, nothing grand that the English around would have any interest in, but the pirates all knew of the Jackson Forge in Tortuga, basically legendary for making the most unbreakable, deadliest swords in the Caribbean. Every time there was an influx of Englishmen in the nearby isles, Percy's business always blossomed. He'd made enough money to retire at the young age of twenty-seven, nevertheless the will his father had left him upon death, but he continued to work, for the passion, for his father. Percy removed the half-morphed blade from the hearth with his tongs, setting it upon the large anvil that was centered in the room. The heat from the hearth never got to him- Percy always thought it was watching him, to make sure he was always working.
Clang! Percy slammed his hammer down, taking a breath and raising it again. Clang! He repeated several more times, morphing the steel into the thin, razor-sharp blade that he'd mastered. Percy grabbed the blade with his tongs, submerging it in the pool of water to his right. He let it sit for minutes, before removing it. Percy instantly grabbed a nearby sword that was blade-down in a rack, and grinded the two against eachother. The sound was music to his ears, the beauty of his steel. Percy found the hilt he'd crafted, the shell above it forged with the Lion's crest, the customer's request. The hilt was a fine leather with gold tracing grooves around the circle. Percy clicked the blade into the hilt, ensuring its security, before swinging it at the air. The sword was perfectly balanced, as all blades he'd crafted were. He hung the blade off the wall, letting it sit, before going back before the hearth, kneeling and closing his eyes. He'd learnt meditating from his father, a practice he never took seriously until the elder Poseidon Jackson passed. Percy grew mournful after his father's death, despite Poseidon's final words being, "You must live on as if I am still there, because I will always be by your side, Percy."
Percy took a long breath out, the fire from the hearth beading sweat down his forehead. He didn't mind the heat anymore, instead embraced it. He was shook out of his routine by a knock at the door. Percy grabbed a knife that was sat on the side of the anvil, strapping it to his leg. Percy walked up from the pit and to the front door, taking a peek outside. The blonde-hair that met him was unmistakable.
"Jason Grace." Percy greeted the Pirate Captain, who was donning his full robe, pistol at one side, an empty sheath on the other. The captain stepped into the forge, smiling at Percy.
"I thought we were off formalities, Percy." Jason shook Percy's hand, pulling him into a hug afterwards. "Business is good?" Jason asked, pulling away.
"Of course. The English's interest in the isles has made the community needy for new swords, I can only make so much." Percy answered, leading Jason down to the pit, where he took the sword he'd just finished off of the wall.
"Crafted with the finest steel south of the native lands, Captain." Percy handed the sword hilt-first to Jason, who grabbed it, and took some swings around.
"Excellent as always. May we…?" Jason raised an eyebrow, stepping back. Percy recognized the request for a duel.
"I don't fight anymore, Jason." Percy mumbled, turning to the hearth.
"You've always denied me, Jackson. Why did you turn away from this life? You were of legend, up in the sky with the greatest pirates this world had ever known. Feng Shui feared you!" Jason exclaimed.
"My father's death made me realize there is more to life than pillaging and sailing, Jason. He asked me to take over the forge, and I granted him his last wish." Percy's voice was still relatively quiet.
"I cannot disagree that your decision was wise, Percy." Jason said, sheathing the sword, "by, have any fellows come in here talking about a comet off shore?" Jason asked.
"I can't say I've heard anything of the sort, Jace. What's the deal?" Jason looked back at the door to make sure nobody was intruding.
"Captain Ares put a fifty-thousand Rynn bounty on whoever found the rock that dropped from the skies two nights ago, that's money we could all use." Percy nodded. Fifty-thousand Rynn could buy half of Tortuga.
"I'll let you know if I hear anything, Jason."
Jason nodded and turned, making his way out, "I wish ye luck, Percy. The itch of the seas always comes back, for all of us." He said, closing the door behind him.
—-
Captain Annabeth Chase of Athena's Heart landed in Tortuga days after she'd received the letter from Captain Reyna Arellano, calling forth a meeting of the Caribbean's End, a council of Pirate Captains who felled King Boston, a tyrant ruling over Tortuga, a half-decade earlier. Annabeth hissed at the sight of the request, knowing that she'd have to see him.
"I may have loved him, but for him to call his own out is disgraceful." Annabeth said, ripping the paper apart.
"Are we going, Captain?" Her first mate, Thalia Grace, asked.
"Aye, I think we no choice. To call forth the council implies something much more dangerous is going on, therefore it's only right." Annabeth grumbled. She walked out of her quarters, and up to the wheel overlooking Athena's Heart.
"Lower the sails, raise the colors! We sail for Tortuga!" she yelled, and her all-female crew reciprocated her call, getting to work. Annabeth mightily wielded the wheel, turning the boat's rudder eastward.
—-
The room was loud, uncontrolled, and threatening. Normal for a pirate council. Percy was the last one to arrive, the room falling silent when he opened the doors in his forgery clothes. His hands black, slightly burnt, face dominated by soot. Percy took his seat at the head of the table, with Jason at the other end. Reyna immediately stood in the middle.
"This is the first council we've called since Boston's death, and I've no better reason than what I present to you today." she started, "we all know of the English's declaration to control the Northern isles, but I've received word they're going to set port on Royale, and use it as a military base, hoping to eradicate us pirates from the seas." The room stood in uproar, everyone screaming for their own opinion, despite there only being ten of them.
"Silence!" Jason slammed the butt of his knife into the table.
"Aye, thank you, captain. The information is that they'll be sending over three dozen ships, all ship of the line, and they'll be making more once they've controlled Royale."
"Then we defend Royale from the English!" Frank, the only Eastern-born captain, said.
"No." Percy spoke up, "Land warfare has never been kind to us pirates, I say we let them take Royale, and we fight them on our seas."
"And you'll be fighting?" a female spoke up at Jason's end of the table. Percy's mind clouded at her voice- Captain Annabeth Chase. "Last I remember, you were retired, Percy Jackson. Say, why are you even here?"
"I am here because I am a founding member of this council, Annabeth Chase. Need I remind you whose vote got you permitted to this chamber?" Percy growled, and Annabeth snarled back, sitting down.
"All stories point to our kind never being served well on land. Nobody knows these seas, these coves like we do. I say we let them take Royale, and once they've seen that they cannot stand toe to toe with us at sea, they'll go back to their bread and tea in London." Percy sneered out, 'London,' and the room all rose to cheers and laughter, agreeing with Percy.
Percy hastily made his way back to his forge before the night got out of hand. The last council meeting they had, after King Boston, resulted in too much rum, even for him. He tended to the hearth, pumping the air valve and shaking the coals. He wasn't going to forge tonight, he needed rest.
"You shouldn't have left. They need you more than you know." Annabeth had followed him home. He'd recognize her voice from anywhere. "Jason isn't good at uniting that council like you are, Percy."
"What happened to hating me for buying my way out?"
"I still do, no doubt, but I'm also smart enough to recognize when you aren't where you're supposed to be." She said, closing the door behind her and walking down the stairs to the forge's pit. The hearth illuminated the space. Giving just enough light for Percy to take her in again. Her robe decorated with scars and cuts of her battles, her hat the same one he'd given her when she was just twenty. The fire caught her gorgeous features so well.
"My father wants me here, it is where I will be." Percy responded simply, packing his gloves into a shelf.
"What does it matter to you though? You always hated Tortuga when you were sailing, yet you stand to live here. Why do you live this lie? False nobleness for your father, pretending you don't want to be somewhere else."
"I realized when I was younger that there was no peaceful way out of that life, and if you saw the opportunity to get out clean, you took it." Percy said, leaning back on the anvil. "I saw my opportunity."
"An opportunity that left me at threat of mutiny." Annabeth hissed, a tear brewing in her eye. "Your crew trust me no more than they trusted the English, yet you leave me to them." Percy sighed, he remembered that day vividly. He'd taken the last rowboat to Tortuga's shore, leaving Annabeth in control of Athena's Heart. Percy heard rumors that they'd tried to mutiny her, but at that point she'd garnered enough trust and followers to survive it.
"You didn't, though. And you seem like you've bounced back nice, all-female crew, becoming legend around here." Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Because your pitiful kind cannot fathom a woman being good at something other than putting one's jewels in her mouth." Percy laughed.
"I always knew you were special, Annabeth. And maybe you're right, maybe my calling is at the sea, but right now I'm the owner of this forge." he said, pulling a sword off the tray to his right, flicking it to her throat, "and you must leave. Athena awaits you, as does your crew."
"What is wrong with you?" she hissed, "I come here, void of my own pride, and you still have your walls up, turning me away." She drew her sword swiftly, smacking his own out of the way.
"If you were any other man, I would have you by the balls begging for mercy." she stepped towards him, her front leg between his own, her lips on his ear. "You are lucky I love you, Captain Perseus." she bit his lip, turning on a heel, walking up the stairs. Percy said no words, just stared as the love of his life walked out of his forge.
—-
She was right. Percy quickly found himself at his sloop, untying it and lowering the sails, in the dead of the night. His forge locked, he set out to sea, northeast of Tortuga. He didn't know what he was looking for, or if it existed at all, but he had to try. He had to be at sea. He noticed the Athena's Heart, fully lit off to his west, sailing further westward. Percy didn't lie to her, rumor spread across Tortuga of an all-female crew, captaining the legendary Athena. Once the ship of Percy Jackson, the females that manned it now showed no mercy, not hesitating to slaughter any of the survivors of their pillage. Percy hummed through his thoughts, standing at the front of the sloop, looking into the water. Jason didn't clarify if it'd landed in the water or on land, but he knew he was on the right path when his ship lurched forward, despite there being no gust. Percy looked to the sky and thanked his father for the boost. He noticed something blindingly bright through the water to his left, sprinting back to the wheel and turning the sloop. Percy aimed it so the boat was right over the light, before raising the sails and setting anchor. He took his old captain's robe off, just in a button-up loose shirt, his pants and boots, before he jumped into the warm water. He swam downwards, before reaching the light. It was covered by something- a ton of sand. Percy quickly clawed his way through the sand, before revealing the all-blue glowing rock that had fallen from the sky. Percy thought it was metal, reaching out to touch it, but when he made contact, his world went blank.
—-
"Sloop!" someone on deck called, and Captain Leo Valdez of the Festus's Flame looked over the railing, spotting a small sloop just off the coast of Tortuga. They were planning to sail North to Royale, and pillage anything before the English showed up, but Leo could make a detour.
"Aye! Lower the rowboats, prepare to sail to that sloop!" the men on his deck got to work, lowering the four rowboats off the side of the railing.
—-
"I told you he'd find it." a voice spoke, a manly voice that made Percy's mind flash images of battlefields and burning buildings.
"I was beginning to doubt if he'd ever step foot on a boat again." another said back. Percy opened his eyes, his surroundings black. He held his hands in front of him and could see them perfectly, but the world around him was nothingness.
"Where am I?" Percy's voice was demanding.
"You are nowhere right now, Perseus Jackson." the first voice he'd heard spoke. "Your body is in our realm now, you are safe."
"Who are you?"
"I am Tartarus, the Ancient God of Death and Destruction." the voice said back, "You are the only mortal that's ever been capable of standing in this space with us, Perseus."
"The Ancient gods are a myth." Percy spat back.
"But we are not, Perseus." the second one spoke, Percy growing tired with every word. "Simply my speaking has an impact on you, Perseus." Percy turns around. He realizes he can feel them all- Six of them, to be exact, all staring down at him.
"Yes, you can feel us. Our aura rolls off us like waves, even a non-godly mortal can feel our power." Tartarus spoke again.
"All of you are here?" his voice was weak now.
"Yes, Perseus." a new one spoke, more feminine than the other two. "I am Gaia, god of Land and Production."
"Eros, of Love and Creation." a new one, deep and husky.
"Erebus, Darkness and Misery." Erebus's voice made Percy fall to his knees, clutching his head in pain.
"Nyx, Night and Fear." the second voice he heard spoke.
"Pontus, Sea and Travel. I have followed you closely through your life, Perseus."
"All six of you are here?" Percy mumbled.
"Don't forget mother." he recognized as Gaia spoke. In an instant- the space grew cold, harder to breath, and a flash of light emanated across the room, revealing all six beings- hundred-foot embodiments of darkness, staring down at him.
"We've brought you here with reason, Perseus." the new voice numbed his mind with every word. Percy was incapable of thinking in her presence. "Us Ancient gods, we cannot form in any way in the mortal realm, therefore we control our domains from the void, where we find ourselves now. We've decided that we need someone to make our impact known for us, and that is to be you." Percy regained control of himself when she stopped talking.
"What does that mean I'm to do?"
"We ask you to sail the seas once more as the Perseus Jackson that grew legendary, of course at your own free will, but also serving us." Percy nodded.
"I understand, but you're going to give me something in return, aren't you?" The woman laughed.
"You'll receive the blessing of the Ancient gods, an immortality that cannot be mirrored anywhere else."
"I cannot die?" he asked.
"You'll be able to die, but killing you will be near impossible." The woman spoke.
"What of those I love? Do I stand by as their souls fade away, me never so?"
"If you prove yourself worthy of such, we will be willing to grant similar immortality upon those… certain people, Perseus." Nyx spoke up.
"What do I have to do?" He asked, and he felt the room shake. It became dimly lit, and Percy could see the outline of the now seven beings in front of him, all hundred-feet tall, each with devastating eyes. Percy tried to look into Tartarus's eyes, but couldn't look above his neck without blinding himself. A hand from the woman at the center reached down, laying itself flat on the platform he was standing on. The hand opened up, and in the palm sat a chest and a knife.
"You cannot be bestowed these blessings as a mortal, Perseus. You must cut your own heart out in order to be able to receive the power without disintegrating."
"I'll die, won't I?" the woman laughed again.
"I will keep your soul attached to your body, so you cannot die, but you will feel every inch of pain, Perseus. Simply proving to us, once and for all, that you are the man to serve as the sword of the Ancient Gods." Percy steeled his nerves, and walked into the hand.
"Don't crush me now…" he mumbled, picking the knife up. It was wicked long, curving slightly, pitch-black with a metal he'd never seen before. Percy looked up to the woman's chest, as his eyes could not go any further.
"Why did you pick me?" he asked, and heard some chuckles around the room.
"You are the only mortal able to stand in this room with us, as we've said, Perseus. I think the other part, Eros can explain."
"In order for one to accept our blessing, they must be bound to the mortal realm by something stronger than life itself."
"Love." Percy said, remembering Eros. Love and Creation.
"Yes, young Perseus. Your love has bound you so tightly that you cannot descend into madness upon receiving our power."
"How do I know you're not playing me for a fool?" Percy felt his chin being dragged up by something out of his control, and he was forced to bear the woman's eyes, an ethereal swirl of colors. Percy screamed in madness, before being released. He dropped to a knee, the knife clattering on the palm next to him. His breathing heavy, he blinked several times, but every time he closed his eyes, he saw her eyes.
"Now, Perseus. Every time you close your eyes, you will see what you've just seen, and the pain will always return, but I can make it subside." she spoke.
"Please… how?" he begged. The knife next to him glowed, and Percy's eyes widened. He grabbed the knife, and stood. He swallowed his nerves, placed the knife just above his heart, held the knife with his right, and his left on the butt of the hilt, and he forced the knife into his chest.
—-
"The sloop is empty, sir!" Leo was on the deck of the small ship, twenty men with him, searching it. "There's no cargo, just this cloak…" he said, holding up the cloak, and Leo instantly recognized it, grabbing it. He rubbed his hands over the holes, open and stitched. He checked the inside pocket- empty.
"We…" he was at a loss for words. "We must call the council again." he whispered. "Row back to the ship! We must go back to Tortuga!"
I'm going to try and post a new chapter to this every week from here until finish & i plan on this being part 1/2
let me know what you think (PM or review!) - this first chapter is fast, i promise it slows down as we continue!