The prophecy's true significance lies not solely in its revelation but in the profound impact it has on the hearts and minds of those who embrace it.
From the outside, it just looked like a regular cave. A large, dark, gaping hole in the middle of the hilly woods. Vivienne had asked someone, anyone to come with her, but they'd all quickly shook their heads. From the muttering's she'd heard, the Oracle was a bit of a freaky person. Vivienne didn't even know what an Oracle was. She'd briefly heard the phrase once or twice in history class, but had never bothered to learn these terms, having hated the subject.
The path to the mountain wasn't that hard to find. She'd just gone into the woods blindly, and sure enough after a few minutes of walking, she found it to her left. Walking up it was another issue. Whoever had designed the mountain clearly hadn't cared about ease of access. Most likely a god, Vivienne thought with a sigh as she climbed up another step. As she got closer to the mouth of the cave, new things started standing out to her. For example, the entrance was covered with eerie, green lanterns. Their soft glow cast an otherworldly hue on the surroundings, filling the air with a peculiar ambiance that sent shivers down her spine. Vivienne couldn't help but wonder if these lanterns held some ancient significance, a symbolic guide to those who dared venture into the cave's depths. Approaching the mouth of the cave, she noticed that what she had originally presumed to be an abyss of darkness was, in fact, a thick curtain shrouding the entrance. The cave beckoned her, its interior veiled in mystery and shadows.
"Hello?" Vivienne's voice trembled in the eerie silence that greeted her. The cave seemed to swallow her words, as if it were reluctant to acknowledge her presence. She took a tentative step forward, her heart pounding in her chest. Still met with no response, she tried again, her voice a little louder this time. Again, nothing. Summoning her courage, Vivienne cautiously pulled the curtains aside, revealing the interior of the cave and silently slipping into it.
Her immediate reaction was wow. From the outside, it looked like nothing. Honestly, she'd been half tempted to burst out laughing when she heard that their oracle was buried away in a cave isolated in the middle of the forest. However, inside, it seemed like a full house. Judging from the walls and furniture, she must've been in the main living room. It was a large, smooth, rounded room, with a gaming PC and TV on the opposite side. Next to her was a coat hanger and a shoe rack. Books, board games, clothes, and plates lay scattered around the rest of the room, creating an atmosphere of casual disarray. Vivienne couldn't help but wonder if this was intentional or a reflection of the Oracle's busy existence. The cave seemed to be a sanctuary where the Oracle's divine wisdom intertwined with the messiness of everyday life. On either side of the room, two pathways seemed to be carved out, which must've been leading to different rooms of the weird cave/house.
Vivienne walked forwards, grabbing a book from the floor and reading the title. It said, Diary. Her curiosity piqued, she brushed the dirt of it, and slowly began opening it. However, before she could delve deeper into its contents, a sudden noise pierced the silence of the cave. The distinct sound of a toilet flushing echoed through the chamber. Panic washed over Vivienne like an icy wave, and she dropped the book as if it were a scalding hot potato. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.
At first, the girl didn't even notice her. Drying her hands with a towel, she walked straight to the other side of the room, picking up a plate and turning to put it in the sink. That was when she realised she wasn't alone.
"Oh, hello," the girl said with an innocent charm, waving cheerily at Vivienne. From a first glance, she looked like she was in her early twenties, being five foot five with shoulder length, curly blonde hair. Her clothes were matching pyjamas from a show she'd never seen in her life.
"Hi," Vivienne said awkwardly.
"You're new," she said cutely, with an infectious smile that made Vivienne feel uncomfortable.
"Yes I am," she replied. The girl snorted.
"I see you're not a talkative person, are you? Not to worry, you don't need to be a talkative person to hang out with me. I spend most of my time chilling while playing video games, visiting the main camp a couple of times a week. Now tell me, what's your name?"
"Vivienne," she said quietly, causing her eyes to light up like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
"Wow, I had a friend called Vivienne!" she said excitedly. "I'm Laura by the way, a pleasure to meet you!" Vivienne shook her hand stiffly.
"Come, let's get comfy shall we?" Laura led Vivienne to a plush sofa opposite her TV. Hastily, the Oracle cleared some ancient snacks and board games from the sofa, creating a small space for Vivienne to sit. As she settled onto the worn cushions, she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.
"Okay, so tell me Vivienne, what brings you here?" She shrugged, causing the Oracle to tut her teeth. "Now, now, there must be some reason. Come on, tell me. I can't help you if you won't tell me what's going on." Vivienne sighed, taking a deep breath.
"Well," she began nervously. "I don't really know what happened. One second, I'm playing Capture the Flag, and the next thing I know, Thalia's suddenly whispering with Lady Artemis about me being something." The words tumbled out, a jumbled mess of confusion and anxiety. Laura leaned closer to her, interested as soon as she mentioned Lady Artemis.
"And what did they call you?"
"I… I don't know," Vivienne admitted, feeling a lump form in her throat. "It was a person who plays with light and dances with darkness… or something similar." Laura's frown deepened, and then unexpectedly, she burst into laughter.
"Oh, are you talking about Apollo's prophecy? The one about The Seeker? They fight with dark and speak with light?" Vivienne nodded her head.
"Well, it's been four hundred and fifty years since that was first introduced, and this isn't the first time someone's come here pretending to be The Seeker-"
"-I'm not pretending!" she said hotly. Laura simply shrugged, her smile fading into a more sombre expression.
"Well you'll definitely wish you were then," she sighed. "Supposedly, The Seeker will find Percy Jackson and bring him back."
"Have you ever seen him?" Vivienne asked. "Percy Jackson?" Laura shook her head.
"I've only been an Oracle for seven years, and he was here long before m3," she admitted. "Here, you can see a list of all the Oracles that have lived in this cave." Vivienne's eyes followed Laura's gesture, and she found herself drawn to the names etched into the ancient stone.
"Rachel Elizabeth Dare?" she said, reading the top name.
"Yep," Laura nodded. "She was the first Oracle to live in this cave, during Percy's time I'm pretty sure. She's the one who gave the great prophecy."
"The great prophecy?"
"It's a big thing in the Greek world. Usually, it foretells a life-threatening event that causes chaos, destruction, and a bunch of other stuff. The previous great prophecy was about Percy taking part in the second Gigantomachy, along with Leo, Jason, and all of them."
"So what's the current great prophecy then?" Vivienne asked, curiously tilting her head. Laura frowned, pursing her lips.
"That's for another time," she replied cryptically. "For now, I presume someone sent you here? Thalia or Artemis?"
"It was Thalia's idea," Vivienne explained, "but Lady Artemis was the one who sent me here." Laura nodded.
"Very well then. Normally, I'm meant to do a dramatic eerie talk about how 'I'm the speaker of the great Phoebus Apollo,' but I can't be asked today, so just ask me whatever you wanna ask." Vivienne shifted uneasily on her feet.
"Just-just like that?" she stuttered, trying to comprehend the simplicity of the situation.
"Yep!" Laura grinned, popping the 'p.' "It's easy, just ask me whatever you've been told to ask."
She took a deep breath, summoning her courage to ask the question that had brought her to this moment.
"Tell me, Oracle, what must I do as The Seeker, if I really am it?" She expected something, anything to happen, but no. Laura just kept looking at her with an annoying grin.
"Don't worry," she assured, although Vivienne could feel a flicker of impatience coming from her. "It takes a few minutes to kick in sometimes."
"I see," Vivienne mumbled, staring into nothingness. Then, without warning, the atmosphere shifted. Laura's body suddenly jolted, her eyes glazing over with an eerie, greenish hue, mirroring the torches outside the cave. Vivienne's breath caught in her throat as she witnessed the transformation. The Oracle's voice became raspy and distorted, as if multiple voices were speaking in unison, echoing through the cave.
You, along the silver arrows, glistening bright,
Run south together from the ménage fight.
You are the key, and you have the key, and the key is in the key,
For the soul adrift, it's heart's lament decree.
It's heart's lament decree…
By the time Vivienne came back, Jason had no way of controlling the Big House. It was an absolute mess. Leo, with his characteristic boundless energy, was bouncing around like a kid on a sugar rush, adding to the mayhem. Piper, usually calm and composed, was engaged in a heated argument with some other camp leaders. She seemed intent on making her point known, her voice rising above the rest. Artemis and Thalia were huddled together, exchanging excited whispers, leaving Jason to wonder about the content of their conversation. Jason attempted to assert his authority, calling for order and silence, but his words fell on deaf ears. News of Vivienne and the possibility of Percy Jackson's return had captivated everyone's attention. While Jason couldn't deny his own excitement, he also couldn't shake the doubts that lingered within him. He recalled past instances when Thalia had wrongly predicted The Seeker, leading them on wild goose chases to the Oracle. Each time, they returned with hope deflated, disappointment etched across their faces. The first time it happened, he vividly remembered the light leaving Piper's eyes, breaking his heart in ways he couldn't express. Over time, however, they had learned to manage their expectations, growing accustomed to the uncertainties that came with prophecy. Artemis, on the other hand, remained steadfast in her belief, her hope undeterred by past disappointments. To her, the return of Percy Jackson held immeasurable significance for the fate of the Greek world. She saw the prophecy as a beacon of light amidst the shadows, an opportunity to rewrite history and secure the future.
When Vivienne entered the room, the entire atmosphere shifted. All of a sudden, everyone hushed, the very thing he'd been trying to get them to do for the past half an hour. She seemed shaken up and slightly scared as she stood there, unsure of what to do.
"What's the news then, sis?" Leo blurted out, trying and failing to keep the excitement from his eyes. "Are thou The Seeker or not?" Jason watched as she took a big breath, her eyes flickering with uncertainty, before admitting, "The Oracle in the mountains has given me a prophecy. I am The Seeker."
Immediately, the entire room burst into joy. Jason wanted to control it, but he found himself grinning wildly, thumping Leo on the back. Percy Jackson hadn't been seen in a very, very long time, so long that Jason struggled to remember his friend's face, blurred by the passage of time. Now, here he was, being told that for the first time in five hundred years, they might actually be able to find and bring him back.
"Everyone, settle down!" Jason roared over the crowds. "We still need to hear the prophecy and figure out who's going, so chill out!" It took several minutes of begging, demanding and threatening before the Big House was quiet enough to hear Vivienne's timid voice.
"Vivienne, the prophecy," Jason urged. She nodded.
"Well, it was a pretty confusing prophecy, and I don't really understand what it meant."
"Just say it to us," he told her confidently. "We'll help with the rest." She looked down at the floor, but indeed her head.
"The first line is, You, along the silver arrows, glistening bright," she said. "Then it's, Run south together from the ménage fight." Jason was already confused. Prophecies tended to be cryptic, but ménage fight? Come on, this isn't guess the word's meaning.
"The third line…" Vivienne hesitated. "I seriously have no idea how or what this means, but You are the key, and you have the key, and the key is in the key. And then the final line is, For the soul adrift, it's heart's lament decree." If he wasn't convinced before, now he definitely was. It's heart's lament decree was talking about Percy for sure. There was no one else that fitted the description. Now if only they could figure out the rest of it…
"I'm going," Artemis said, standing up confidently and brandishing her knives as if to say, 'try stopping me.'
"Artemis, sit down please," he said as nicely as he could. "We don't even know where he is-"
"You heard the Oracle, he's south," Thalia interjected, her eyes narrowing. Jason paused, trying to reign in his frustration.
"Be that as it may, the south is a pretty big zone. We need more clues to narrow it down, and Vivienne has the key, so we need to find out what that is first."
"We'll find out on the run," Artemis decided, still standing. "I've waited five hundred years-"
"-Which means you're perfectly capable of waiting a few more minutes," he snapped. Jason didn't like losing his cool, especially with Artemis, but right now she was thinking 100% action, 0% logic. What does she expect to happen when they get to the south? For them to magically figure out what the key was? And there was no mention of how south they even needed to go. For all they knew, it could be all the way to Antarctica, or it could be just next door, down to New Jersey.
"Jason," Artemis said as calmly as she could, although her voice was quivering with emotion. "I-I don't think you understand just how much this means to me. For centuries, I've been waiting for this dumb prophecy to come true, and now that it has you're telling me to keep waiting." Jason's heart ached as he saw the conflict within Artemis. He knew how much finding Percy meant to her, how deeply she cared for her hunters and campers. But he also understood the ancient laws that bound them, the rules that governed the interactions of gods and mortals.
"Artemis," he began gently, choosing his words carefully. "It really pains me to say it, but I don't think either of us are allowed to go on this quest." Artemis's brow furrowed, confusion and anger mingling on her face.
"I can, and I will," she declared defiantly.
"Artemis, there's a reason the prophecy was given to Vivienne," Jason explained. "The same reason why Apollo couldn't help you when you were holding the sky. The ancient laws forbid our direct involvement. Zeus is strict about this, and you know what happened the last time we crossed those boundaries." The goddess glared at him, before turning on her heels and angrily storming out of the Big House. Jason felt a bit bad, but he knew it was necessary to only send heroes in this quest. Otherwise, regardless of what happened, the Fates definitely wouldn't approve.
"Okay, so who's going?" Jason's voice cut through the silence. "We need hunters, and three is the magic number as we say. Vivienne has to go. Who's going to accompany her?" Thalia's hand was the first to shoot up.
"I'm going," she said, glaring at anyone to challenge her. "And Phoebe will come with us. She's still the best tracker by far." Thalis paused, as if debating whether or not to say anything.
"What is it?" Jason frowned.
"It's just… Look, I need Atalanta as well," she said, her tone low and serious. Jason's frown only deepened, concern etching his features.
"Thalia, four is not a good number for a quest.
"Percy and Annabeth did it-" she began to argue.
"You're not Percy," he said with an exasperated sigh. She glared at her brother.
"Fine, I'll make it five," Thalia relented. "Who else wants to come and get Percy?"
Honestly, Jason was expecting another hunter, maybe an ex-hunter. The last thing he'd been thinking was for an unexpected figure to storm into the room, surrounded by a group of curious campers. With her black-piercing eyes and an air of determination, the girl exuded an aura of challenge that commanded attention. Long, dark black hair cascaded down her shoulders, and her gaze held a fiery intensity that sent shivers down Jason's spine.
"I'm coming," she said confidently, eyeing all the other campers. "What, you think just because I'm roman I can't find out what's happening at this camp?" She scoffed.
"Reyna, nice to see you," Jason managed to say, his mouth still gaping in shock. "But the prophecy says-" Wordlessly, she dropped a quiver in front of him. Jason didn't need to look into it to know it had silver arrows, from her time training with the hunt that one time.
"Percy was my friend too, and if Thalia's going and this girl who's never seen Percy is going, so am I." Jason wanted to protest, to convince them that five was not a favourable number for a quest, but he knew it would be futile. Like Thalia, Reyna possessed an unyielding stubbornness that made her decisions final, even if he wasn't sure whether it was for the better.
"Is there really nothing I can do to change your minds?" he asked weakly, already anticipating their responses.
"Nope," Reyna confirmed, her voice resolute.
"You wish," Thalia chimed in with a smirk. "Oh the irony. When Artemis was captured, we sent a group of five, and now to find Percy, we're also sending a group of five." Jason sighed. He didn't want to scare anyone, but Percy hadn't been found in five hundred years. If Vivienne had even the smallest chance of finding him, it certainly wouldn't be easy.
"You leave at sunrise tomorrow," he declared. "I suggest you pack your stuff now. After all, we don't want to keep Percy waiting any longer now, do we?"
Hope this chapter was fun to read! Got Reyna involved (hope it wasn't rushed,) and the whole quest squad ready. Next chapter is going to have two new POVs we haven't seen yet, so look forward to that! As always, please do read and review if you're enjoying this!