Chapter 25:
Deathless Snow Goddess
Percy felt her presence before he saw her. As if she was a bad omen, he just knew nothing good was ahead.
Nico and Percy strolled through the city, passing unlived apartments and unmade memories. The sun shined like it was a fluorescent light, constantly blasting and humming the same lifeless frequency. The sounds of their footsteps must have echoed for miles, only to be heard by absolutely no one.
Percy recalled Nico mentioning a partner of his, with whom he traveled across the United States. He had been tight lipped about him, refusing to discuss the subject and suggesting Percy to see for himself.
He didn't mind. His mind, still feeling like it had only just released from the numbness of death, was slowly turning the gears, greasing it with his new found knowledge.
His mind went to all the people who perished, both from before that day, and after. He had never had the pleasure of knowing their Fates in great detail, he assumed they were happy in the great after life. He rather did not know these kinds of things, they were after all not meant to be understood by mortals, and although his demigod mind was rather flexible, he rather keep the mechanics and methods of the afterlife a mystery to him.
But he understood one thing. Death was sacred. It was something that even the gods dreaded to mess with, less it spreads out to others.
Hades lost his wife and daughter to it and not once did he reverse it. So what could make Olympus willing to risk that step? Why would they bother erasing the souls of those who had already died?
It made no sense to Percy. Even if he assumed the primordial of the night had been behind it, there was nothing to gain for her.
Maybe the true purpose of the war against humanity wà̴̮͇̝̦͛̀̈́̂͌s̶̡̪͈͚͈̰͚̎̚n̵̡̯͙̖͖͕͚̲͒͘'t to kill hum̴̨̙̥̓͗͊̇͝ans b̵̛͖̞̟͒͒̈́̈̄͂̀̓̐͗̈́̚u̸̺̙͓̮͎͓̖͖͕̻̘̰̞̣͓̣͔̳͔̪͔̭̦̥͊̾͒̀̂́͒̍̂͒̕ͅẗ̵̡̨̪̺̞͍̖̬́͊́̀̆̉͆̾͒̋̇ ̸̧̫̹̜͍̬̩̠̳̣̮̎͊̈̋̊̇̿̉̄͘͜͜͝ͅt̴̡͉̬̺̜̗̭͙̺̘̼̱̯͙̂͑͗͛̈́̋̋́̇̇̈́̄̚ǫ̶͉͖̻̩̅̈́͗̈́͑̾́̏̔̌͐̈́͝͝—
Without too much time wasted the pair of demigods found the two monsters that had been waiting for them to catch up with the disasters of the world.
When they returned they found Kampe resting on the top of an RV, her long tail curled around the vehicle. Claw and burn marks ran across the back and the windows had been smashed in, a violent rebellion against the monotony of this city, and marking this RV hers.
Besides the signs of destruction, the vehicle itself looked as lifeless as the rest of the street. Everything looked like plastic to Percy. There were no scratches or signs of use on the other cars, nor were their scratches or dents in the asphalt. The houses looked like play models. Perfect cut grass, and perfectly painted walls. Even the sky above this cursed place was perfectly blue.
And everything was so utterly lacking in life, memory, or any sign of meaning. It was all as if an alien mind had built a city block from memory and then replicated it into infinity, losing meaning and sense every iteration.
It was hard for Percy to comprehend he was walking on the corpse of a Hydra. But he was sure he'd manage to give it a place soon enough. Just like everything in this new world.
He lowered his eyes from Kampe to the girl who was leaning against the front of the truck.
Ice had spread outwards from the girl, a thin layer of frost covered the monotone road and the side of the van. A mini winter wonderland in the middle of a copied city.
As Percy got closer he felt the temperature dropping. The skin on his hair stood straight as divine energy charged the air.
Locking eyes with the girl, Percy's heart immediately screamed and raged.
Percy let out a low laugh. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again he found himself standing in front of the girl. He gripped Riptide.
He closed his eyes again.
When he opened them he had his blade pressed against her throat, the bronze blade softly digging into her immortal flesh.
"You!" Percy hissed, his heart was throbbing in his chest, he felt blood rush through him, preparing for a confrontation.
"Perc-" Nico protested but from atop the van, Kampe's tail blocked the son of Hades from moving further. The jailer shook her head, warning the son of Hades not to interfere.
"I know what you did," Percy said, his voice low and dripping with venom. It took strength to not shove the sword straight through her body.
"Then you know what I can do." The girl answered with an easy smile, unfazed by the blade.
A liquid that felt like liquified frostbite spread through the demigod. Percy felt the blood in his veins start to slow, the skin on his face pulled tightly around his bones.
Percy exhaled but found only cold air released from his lungs.
The bite of the frost hurt, but after experiencing a brief moment in Tartarus, it was nothing. The cold barely registered to him.
Determined to make a point, and because a small part of him found great pleasure in it, he pressed the blade of Riptide deeper into her immortal flesh.
The tip of the blade broke through the skin without any resistance. Celestial bronze cut through the divine flesh for only an inch. Immediately, gold ichor began to spill from the wound, escaping from her vessel and running down her neck and soaking her snow white dress, coating it in a disgusting mono-yellow color.
Percy looked at it and felt vomit crawling up his windpipe.
Khione's Ichor had a disturbing color and texture that Percy hadn't seen before. It was so alien to look at that he halted in his attack and froze up.
The snow goddess took this opening and leaned out of the way. She gently rubbed her neck, stroking the part where the blade cut her. A thin layer of ice crystals covered it like a bandage. The bleeding stopped and the goddess released a sigh.
"What was that?" Percy asked, staring at the goddess.
Although her gaping wound had been healed, or patched up at least, the blood that stained her remained, contrasting the disturbing yellow against the white of her dress. But the color of it was wrong, Percy had seen Ichor before. It had been gold colored, a divine substance that one couldn't mistake for anything but for the blood of the immortals.
Khione's blood had a sickly yellow color that was mixed with red, it had a thick pus like substance that felt like it belonged to the deceased, instead of a god. But the gooey substance that coated Khione remained, both a reminder to his own aggression and the realization that something with Khione was wrong.
"That's my reason for switching sides," Khione scoffed, trying to remain calm while she was rubbing the sore spot on her neck, the smug look had clearly faded like snow on a sunny day.
"How?" Percy asked, taking a step back and lowering his blade. He gave the goddess a disgusted look. But despite this all, she was still a goddess, a valuable source of information.
"We are growing weaker, I remain deathless but…" Khione said, her expression a mix of annoyance and anger. "Western Civilization is falling, that's weakening Olympus. And Olympus is dragging all of us down with it." The tone of voice made it sound as if she was trying to sound uninterested, but hatred and disgust seeped through.
"You are a snow goddess," Kampe said from atop her van. She sounded amused, she bared her fangs, forming something of a smile. "As far as I recall, your domain has very little to do with human civilization. You should be unaffected."
Khione nodded respectfully. "That's the funny bit."
"Funny?" Percy spat.
"My life force is not directly tied to humanity, not like the others. But, well embarrassing as it is, I am in some sort of way, still linked to humanity. Just not Western Civilization."
"Almost all of the Gods are," Nico added. "Aphrodite is linked to love. Without humans to love each other, well. She wouldn't be as powerful as she is. Your father, the god of the sea, is less dependent on mortals, but still, sailors, poets and people who live near the sea still interact with his domain."
He had been so quiet, Percy had almost forgotten he had been there.
"But you are a snow goddess," Kampe said. "As far as I know, you are barely part of our world. Nobody really cares about you or your winters, mortals just dislike you."
"That's why I agreed to join Olympus' war on humanity," Khione shamelessly admitted.
"Then why are you like this?" Percy demanded, swinging his sword and pointing it at her disgusting blood splatters. .
Khione gave a light hearted chuckle. "See, that's the funny part. I am not tied to Western Civilization, I could even subside on the fear and the disaster I spread through my snow storms. But although I am not linked to civilization, I am linked to humanity. And well, the embarrassing part is," Khione almost sounded like a child to Percy. A child that had finished playing with her toys, and demanded something new.
Khione smiled at Percy. "There are just not enough humans left."
The words hit Percy like a punch in the stomach.
"She came to us," Nico explained. "Wanted to switch sides. Well, with how things are, we don't exactly have a lot of options." The way he said it made it sound like he was aware how horrible this partnership sounded.
"You are talking about Khione," Percy said. "Don't you reme—"
"I do," Nico cut him off. "But again, we have no options. You don't realize how close we are to complete extermination Percy. The majority of Asia is being flattened by Typhon and Scylla, Europe has been reduced to ashes by Apollo's sun chariot and who the fuck knows what's happening in Boston? Everyday the gods push us closer to defeat, we have no choice. Besides, you are the one traveling with her of all monsters."
Kampe didn't seem to be bothered by that statement, the dragon head located at her middle burst out of the flesh to shoot Nico a grin, before being swallowed by the dragon scales again.
"That's different," Percy refuted, though he failed to bring forth any meaningful arguments. Any and all arguments came down to both being stuck in the same horrible situation and friendship.
"She's my friend."
Nico let out a coughing laugh. "You lost it."
Percy had nothing to say to that.
"So, is the Legendary Percy Jackson accepting me as part of his merry band of heroes?" Khione asked, fake admiration drowning her words. "You saved the world twice for your stupid camp. Do it for all of us this time."
Percy shook his head. He felt like he would be betraying his friends in a way. Leo had described her actions in his diary.
He looked at Khione, at her frost like marbles that held little warmth for the world.
"You were there on that day. What happened?"
Khione frowned.
"He slept through the first phase of the war," Nico explained to her.
"Ah," Khione said, giving Percy an apologetic smile. "Truly, the first days were glorious. We had an agreement: I would unleash a hellish snow storm on Canada, Zephyros would fan the flames of war in Europe, Eurus would unleash a desert storm in Egypt that would shred every person to nothing but dry bones."
Nico shook his head. "You're doing the thing again."
"Come on," Kampe spoke. "We are all monsters here." She gave the son of Hades a dark look. "No need to judge."
Khione coughed, slightly red. "Anyway. Things didn't go as planned. Despina and Notus rebelled against Olympus. And when they were disposed of, the Council just told us to keep doing our thing. We would get to keep any territory we claimed. So I did, but when I tried to ask them what exactly their overarching plan was they kept silent. It's then that I realized,"
Khione grimaced. "They don't have a plan. They keep killing, doing everything they can, regardless if it kills them all. Or us. I do not know why they want you mortals and demigods dead, but they are willing to sacrifice anything for it. They are fighting for a cause, but I do not know it, nor do I believe in it."
Khione grinned at Percy with a gruesome smile that belonged to a true monster. She extended her hand out to him. "So, monster to monster. Let's promise to fight and die for a world without Olympus. I swear on the Styx to help you save the world."
Ominous thunder boomed over the copied city.
Still covered by her own Ichor, Khione smiled while her frozen eyes glistened.
A/N Chapter update. It is time for Percy's daily dose of despair. Good job on 00031267 and goHaki for guessing it was Khione.
Keep reviewing and stuff. I enjoy reading those.
-CaptainMoonShine-
8MexicanJaeger:
So Hestia faded and Artemis got blown the fuck up but the rest of the gods are still out there along with whoever is pulling a 'perfect dictatorship' reference. How the fuck is a malnourished Percy going to beat them?
A: Excuse me sir. But a malnourished Percy Jackson and his merry band of monsters.
Alice Fairchild, thank you for your comment.
00031267
Capital9810, that is an interesting view. Maybe this chapter proves you are right? Or maybe it is but a red herring?