Chapter 5: Prophecies, Madness, and Power.
The Empousai allying with the Cyclops, the Furies running away from Hades to god knows where, even Thorne is missing. That last one worries me. Wherever he and his legion of muppets have gone he's hiding well, not even Artemis can track him down.
Poseidon's Notes, page 1.
"What in the name of Malbec were you thinking, Chiron? Do you even understand how dangerous of a gamble was to bring that boy here?" Dionysus said as he paced Chiron's office.
"I couldn't simply leave him on the streets, Dionysus, would you have abandoned a child in need?" Chiron retorted.
"That's not the point! You brought Poseidon's spawn into the halls of Olympus! By tomorrow morning, all Houses will know, and by tomorrow afternoon he will be called to the Pantheon. What do you think Zeus will do then to the boy? Welcome him with open arms? Or Triton? How do you think he's going to take it when he finds out that someone has a better claim over the Seastone chair?!" Dionysus was faintly glowing with a violet light, something that Annabeth associated with his Enlightenment.
"The rules are clear. So long as the boy remains in Olympus, he cannot be held accountable for anything outside of his control. Besides, it will require a unanimous vote from the Pantheon to even bring him there." Chiron said.
"And you think it will not be unanimous? Zeus alone controls—" Dionysus' eyes bulged. "You want me to stop them, don't you? You want me to vote against bringing him in and avoid unanimity in the council?"
"I would ask you this not only as a friend, but as someone who's trying to atone for his mistakes." Chiron bowed his head. "Perseus' life is in your hands."
"Tche." Dionysus spat, "If it were up to me, I would have thrown the boy in the sea. What were you thinking, Chiron? Not only is he the perfect tool to start a political crisis within the Hunters, his power rivals that of his father!"
"Yes…that is—"
"Don't you dare say regrettable you old coot, you and I both know you've been looking for someone like him for years." Dionysus said. Chiron at least had the decency to look down.
Dionysus sighed hard and took a seat.
"I hold no love for Poseidon, less for any boy related to any Great House. You know this, Annie Bell over there knows this. Giving preference to one boy goes against all that I am. You are asking me to go against a reputation I have spent years building. Do you understand this?" Dionysus reached for Chiron's wine, who instead passed him a diet coke. Dionysus glared.
"I do. And if you face fallout from this decision, I will take the responsibility." Chiron said.
"Fallout? I'll be dead before I can say 'Cabernet Sauvignon'." Dionysus sipped his coke and sighed, "Fine. I'll do it. But I want some questions answered first."
"I'm sure we can accommodate. Miss Chase, please take a seat. I'm sure yours and Dionysus' questions are similar?"
Annabeth didn't know what to think. On one side, she was excited to be sitting with the Dionysus, the man they called the Mad Hunter. It was not often that he left his office into Olympus itself, usually he worked through Chiron. Yet on the other hand, the circumstances that had brought her here could not be more dire.
"I do have some questions, Chiron…" Annabeth said. "What the hell happened?"
"Heh." Dionysus sipped, "It's been a while since I've had to literally invade someone's mind to stop them from killing someone. That boy…he's unstable, very unstable. I saw a few flashes in his mind, and that was enough for me to figure that he needs help. Managed to place some blocks here and there, to stop him from being assaulted by his own mind but any strong stimulus will set him back to how he was before today. Took a lot from me to stop from going mad myself while I did it however, so I must ask, what happened indeed to make the boy like that? Poseidon wasn't like this."
"He was weaker?" Annabeth asked.
"Oh no. He was stronger than the boy at his age, but again. He was trained. His aura did not feel so…chaotic if you may. Poseidon's felt like the ocean, calm but ready to strike at any moment. What I felt in that room was…it was a tempest of anger, pain and depression…"
"Percy Jackson has had a hard life." Chiron said, "He is afraid of his own power, as Annabeth has kindly explained to me some of his…episodes. He also holds deep regrets, one of them being his mother. It seems that Clarisse touched a soft spot in her taunting, something that sent young Perseus over the edge. He no longer could control his emotions nor his power, and the result was what you saw. The ocean unchained."
"That doesn't explain how an untrained kid managed to defeat three of our strongest hunters…and he was unarmed!" Annabeth yelled.
"What is our first lesson, Miss Chase?" Chiron asked her.
"Huh?"
"The first day you stepped foot into Olympus. What was the first thing we taught you?"
"Uh…" Annabeth raked her brain for the memories. She had been young, too young. She had arrived with Thalia, Grover and Luke. Oh Luke. She banished the thoughts of the handsome boy out of her mind, focusing hard on the one memory she was looking for. "Control." She said, "You told us that our power responds to our emotions, and we must learn to flare it and dull it at will."
"Precisely." Chiron said, "Imagine the Elightened's power like a water balloon. Inside, there is raw power, and its held together by a thin emotional layer. When we draw upon that power, we stretch that layer, making that balloon slightly bigger for a certain amount of time. The problem is that the more we stretch that emotional layer, the thinner it becomes, meaning that the more we push our power, the more it pushes back." Chiron sighed, "Young Perseus' barrier did not simply stretch, it shattered completely, releasing all that raw power in an explosion. His emotions were also unbalanced, and it was impossible for him to reform this barrier."
"HA!" Dionysus laughed, "I saw more than someone who lost control there, Chiron. For a moment the boy looked like he had training. He broke through Thalia's unbreakable defence and even caught Nico mid shadowshift. When was the last time you heard someone do that, trained or not?"
"He has talent. There is no doubt. Which makes his training even more important." Chiron said.
"What are you hiding, Chiron?" Dionysus asked, surprising Annabeth. Clearly, he knew something she did not. "It's not like you to be this obsessed over a boy."
"I am simply worried about his talent going to waste." Chiron said, yet even Annabeth could see through the ruse. Chiron was straining his smile, his eyes didn't meet it. Something was off.
"Chiron…what's going on? There's more to him than being simply the son of Poseidon, isn't there?" Annabeth asked.
Chiron stared at her, and then at Dionysus who was looking at him with a familiar expression of doubt.
Chiron sighed, grabbing his long hair between his hands and leaning onto the table, his elbows holding him up.
"What do you know about the great prophecy?" Chiron said in a weak voice.
"No!" Dionysus jumped from his seat, spilling wine and coke all over the desk. "That's impossible. You've grown senile!"
Annabeth turned to the Lord Hunter, and her heart skipped a beat. Dionysus was pale, his eyes wide. He was staring at Chiron in shock, and…what that horror?
"Annabeth?" Chiron said, "I will request of you to leave. This is something that cannot be discussed openly."
Annabeth was about to comply, yet something irked within her mind.
"I am in charge of protecting and training him, aren't I, Chiron?" Annabeth said, "Don't you think that I should know if there's something going on?"
Chiron and Annabeth held gazes. Usually, Annabeth would lower her head first, respecting Chiron's seniority. Yet this time something pushed her forward. There was a mystery in Olympus, and Annabeth Chase of the House of Wisdom would never pass upon the opportunity to solve a mystery.
"Fine." Chiron said.
"Chiron…"
"She needs to know, Dionysus. Someone must keep an eye on him if what I think is true." Chiron sat a little straighter. He then turned to Annabeth.
"Do you remember what we spoke about a few days ago? About the war between Olympians and Titans?"
Annabeth nodded.
"One Enlightened on the Titans side had the unusual ability to peek into the future, and another had the ability to craft specific events so they occurred just as he had planned. Phoebe and Prometheus, two people with not very useful abilities. When combined, however, Phoebe could see an outcome and Prometheus would plan every step of the battle to ensure that outcome, Prophecy and Forethought used to predict the future.
"When they saw their defeat as imminent, Phoebe and Prometheus did one final push. They let go completely of their Enlightenment, becoming consumed by their very power. They saw not only the future, but all the futures to come, and a future where they could potentially return.
"A prophecy was written, one that hailed the return of the Titans in both mind and body."
"You're telling me it's possible to revive the dead?" Annabeth said, a small glimmer of hope in her heart.
"No. The dead cannot be brought back. Or at least not completely." Chiron said, "Those gone only die when forgotten, this is an ancient oath of goodbye that we give to Hunters who had perished in duty. It originated from this very prophecy. Although the titans are gone, Saturn being killed by Jupiter all those years ago, their ideas remain, their spirit remains."
"W-what is this great prophecy?" Annabeth asked, dumbfounded yet curious.
Chiron sighed, looking incredibly old for a moment, but then he began to speak and Annabeth had to hold her fear lest it took control of her.
"Enlightened of the Three Great Houses,
a war will start to claim his prizes.
Yet thieves will steal the seaborn's ace,
Olympus falls with broken grace.
The Titan's minds again will rise,
A final battle, a final price."
Silence fell upon the room. Dionysus playing nervously with his empty can, Chiron staring at Annabeth, and Annabeth trying to swallow what she had learned.
"W-what does it mean?" Annabeth eventually asked.
"Many great minds have tried to decipher the Great Prophecy; in fact your mother earned her place as the leader of the House of Wisdom after giving the current read of the prophecy." Chiron said, "According to her, the first two lines were thought to refer to Poseidon, who as an heir to one of the Great Houses, would want to take back his place and start a civil war for both the Seastone Chair and all it brings.
"The second and third line make reference to Poseidon's ace, something that could potentially defeat Olympus as a whole. Athena thought it would be both his power and position.
"The final two lines refer to a battle, that Poseidon would cause the rise of the Titans again after he finishes with his civil war, and one side will emerge victorious over the other to claim everything."
Annabeth stared at Chiron wide eyed. Her mind had worked furiously to understand it in the few minutes that they had spoken, yet what scared her was that her reading was similar enough to her mothers that she felt she was on the right track.
"But it's not Poseidon, the person this prophecy talks about, isn't he? It's Percy. Percy is the ace, Percy will want to claim his father's place, and Percy will…start a war?"
"If that's the case I say we hand the boy over to Zeus and be done with it. He'll make quick work out of him." Dionysus said, sitting down once more.
"I believe that handing him over to Zeus would be the worst mistake we could make. Just think about it, Percy is powerful, and if anything, similar to what happened today happens when he meets Zeus he would not go down without a fight. That would be catastrophic, and sure, Zeus would win, and what happens then? What do you think Poseidon, someone who already has problems with Zeus, will do if he finds out that Zeus killed his only son?"
Dionysus said nothing.
"Even if Perseus is the inciting incident of the war, he does not strike me as the type to start it willingly. That worries me more. I've received strange missives from Hunters around the country. They have found groups of monsters working together, doing…something. Hunter Castellan informed me this morning that he tracked down two members of the Empousa guild to a Cyclops hideout."
"The Empousai have been at war with the Cyclops since…forever." Annabeth said.
"Precisely. It worries me that some of the biggest underground organizations are coming together like this. Something is happening out there, and I feel that Perseus will be at the centre of it."
"Yet thieves will steal the seaborn's ace…you think Percy has something that they're looking for?" Annabeth asked horrified.
"I don't think so. I know so…" Chiron said, and he looked towards Dionysus.
"Symbol of power…" Dionysus said in awe, "At his level?"
"The weapons that the Pantheon has?" Annabeth asked.
Chiron nodded.
"Sometimes, an Enlightened's power is so great that their bodies simply cannot hold it, so they crystalize it into something that allows their power to flow. Zeus' master bolt, Poseidon's trident, these are examples of pure solidified power. Out of the hunters within these walls, only one has ever achieved the level of power and control that it takes to create a weapon of pure power. We call that a Symbol of Power."
"Do you mean that Percy can also do something like that?" Annabeth asked.
"With enough training, yes." Chiron said, "Or someone with enough power can rip it out from him. These weapons are incredibly powerful, as you know. For one to fall onto the wrong hands would be…catastrophic."
"The boy is dangerous, Chiron…" Dionysus said.
"Only to his enemies." Chiron replied, "Let us hope he is on our side, don't you agree, Annabeth?"
Annabeth nodded. She heard Dionysus sigh next to her.
"You're playing a dangerous game, Chiron." Dionysus said, "That boy is powerful, I'll give you that. If he's half the man that his father was then there's nothing to worry about. But…"
"But?" Chiron asked, worry clear on his face. Dionysus sighed.
"I agree. He needs to be trained. He needs to be taught how to harness his power and not lose control over it, yet you must understand that today's events will cause problems, especially in the Pantheon. Ares will want his head, Athena will most likely want him executed, and Zeus…to put it bluntly, the boy has few allies. I can hold them back, but not for long. Inside these walls, the boy will be under my protection, yet the moment he steps a foot outside…"
"I understand." Chiron said, bowing his head.
"Do not think that's all, Chiron. I will have your word that if the boy proves to be too hard to control, or if he loses it like he did today, you will hand the boy over to the Pantheon. I already will have an angry Ares to deal with, I do not want to deal with another Pantheon member mad at me. You either hand him over, or I put him in a comma myself and send him babbling and spluttering to Zeus. Those are my terms."
"Very well." Chiron said.
"Good." Dionysus stood up, his large belly slightly wobbling as he walked. "Oh, one more thing."
He turned to Chiron and Annabeth, and Annabeth felt something in the air change. His eyes glowed violet, and he was staring at them with intensity.
"When I entered the boys mind, I felt a resistance. Someone in his state, so far gone into his power, should not be resistant to my power, yet he was. Its either one of two things, or the boy is more powerful than we thought, and he can unconsciously shield his mind from me, or someone else is shielding him. Whatever it is, I am not comfortable with any of those possibilities. I want to know, sooner rather than later. If it's the first one, then oh well, but if it's the second one…"
"Very well." Chiron said, a little shaken. "I will keep an eye on the boy."
"Good." Dionysus then turned his violet eyes to Annabeth, and from the corners of her mind she felt maddening memories rising. "I hope that you understand, Annabeth Chase, that all that was spoken here must remain here. I would not wish to damage you in a way that you could not string two thoughts together, however if you force my hand…"
"Y-y-you have my oath…Lord Dionysus." Annabeth said, shaking.
"Good." Dionysus' aura faded, leaving two startled people in the room. "Have a good night."
With that, he left the room towards his office. Annabeth took a deep breath and sat back down on the chair, deflating instantly.
"That's the power of an Olympian…" Annabeth said.
"Dionysus is on the lower tier." Chiron sighed, "One of the least powerful ones when it comes to strength."
"It felt like my entire body was going to explode, my mind screaming in fear." Annabeth hugged her legs.
"He is the leader of the House of Madness," Chiron said, "Only two other people share his power, young Castor and Pollux. In a way I'm happy that the power is limited, yet other times I fear what would happen if those two are unhinged…"
"What do I do, then?" Annabeth turned to Chiron.
"We must explain to Percy Jackson what has occurred, and his training must begin. He must understand his power if he is to ever use it. Now that we have officially announced him as a member of a house and an Heir, he will face challenges left right and centre.
"I'm sorry for putting all this on you, Annabeth, I know that it must be hard."
"No, it's alright." Annabeth said. If she was completely honest with herself, she would admit that it was too much. Yet Annabeth was stubborn, and she had promised herself that she would see her mission through.
"Thank you, Annabeth." Chiron said sincerely, "You are truly your mother's daughter."
Annabeth swelled with pride. She bowed to Chiron and made her way out of the room.
Yes, Annabeth Chase was stubborn. She had never failed a mission, and a boy who didn't know his own strength would certainly not be her first failure.