It was a sober mood for the remaining day and the air was heavy with mourning. Sure, there hadn't been many casualties, less than anyone expected even, but there had been some. It had become somewhat of a custom to mourn before celebrating any victory. A final sign of respect to those that gave their life for a greater good.
The period of mourning that was announced after the end of the battle forbade any form of celebrations until the official funeral for the fallen ended. As a consequence, the entire Camp Jupiter was filled with a sense of sadness until the next morning when a large crowd, hunters and legionaries together, stood before the field of Mars, watching as Reyna gave a final speech before lighting shrouds in honor of each fallen comrade.
Just like the mood in the camp, Percy and Artemis had also not talked about what ended their battle with Perses. The power and cruelty displayed by Void had been unsettling and neither of them really wanted to contemplate what that could imply. Fortunately for them, no one asked about how the battle went either. Since Artemis had been injured when she met Perses in a direct contest of strength, she had retreated before anyone could ask her anything and Percy wasn't even lying when he said that battles of immortals in their true form were incomprehensible to him.
Maybe someone would ask them later but for now everyone who had been part of the battle just wanted to recuperate in peace, including Percy himself. He had seen it a lot before but the sight of bloodied corpses was one that burnt into his mind every time. Without even really noticing the passing of times, smoke was rising into the air from the burnt shrouds dampening the sunlight. It felt appropriate somehow, that even the gods were downcast at the loss. Even if he knew that to be make-believe.
Percy threw a quick glance to the side, spotting Artemis among her hunters. Maybe some gods cared about the loss after all, just not all of them. It wasn't long until the pillars of smoke diminished slowly, eventually becoming thinner and thinner until finally the fire burnt out. The legion would have a celebration in the evening but for the hunt the end of the funeral also marked the end of their stay in Camp Jupiter.
It was unfortunate that Percy wouldn't get to spend more time with his friends but he also knew that they had to reach Camp Half-Blood within three months and that was all the way on the other side of the country. He'd really like to avoid having to rely on travelling via sun again after his first experience with it, especially since Thalia would be there again.
By the time that preparations for the evening celebration were almost done, the entire hunt had lined up near the exit of Camp Jupiter while Percy tried to blend in with them. Keyword tried since he was way taller than all of them. A relatively large group of people were watching their departure and he could already hear the rumors form with how they eyed him. Good thing Reyna and Marcus had given him an excuse to leave right on arrival, albeit unknowingly.
To make matters worse, most of the crowd was just watching. The only ones to actually talk to them were the praetors, Frank, Hazel and Annabeth with the former two giving formal goodbyes to Artemis while the latter three said goodbye to Thalia and Percy in the meantime. Frank even tried to reassure him that no rumors would come from him leaving with the hunt but those were empty words. By now he could hear some whispers from the crowd, names he was being compared to. Achilles. Or maybe that was about the curse he bore? Aeneas. No idea where that came from. Hercules. Yeah, he's heard that before too. The names of heroes he was being compared to.
Same old story, the younger campers had done the same before, even going as far as to directly ask him if he was greater than his namesake once. By now he could ignore that so long as they didn't start gossiping about why he was with the hunt. That hope was shut down however when his ears picked up another name. Orion. His cousin was also stiffening next to him, having heard it too and clearly still remembering how she suffered at the hands of his half-brother.
He wasn't sure if he should stop that particular rumor. He didn't care much even if people slandered him or compared him to monsters but he had the feeling Thalia might attack anyone who did so, especially when it concerned Orion. To both of their relief though, Reyna also heard the name and shut the entire portion of the group down by giving them one warning look. As if taking that as a signal, Artemis turned away from the pair of praetors too, signalling for Thalia to go ahead and leave first with the remaining hunt in tow.
Percy went and joined his cousin in the lead. Even at a passing glance, he could tell that just like Thalia, the mention of Orion had soured Artemis' mood as the huntress seemed far more annoyed and grumpy than she should be after slaying a titan. Alas, her expression soon became normal again as they exited the camp and took off. At first they were taking turns to navigate the outskirts of the city but once they reached forests, Artemis took back the leading position and darted east, Naomi placed firmly on her back.
Percy struggled just a little to keep up with the goddess this time. While he had no problem with the speed they were going, he wasn't particularly comfortable with weaving through a forest at that speed. Still, he didn't end up falling behind and that was what mattered.
When Artemis finally slowed down, they found themselves in a clearing in the middle of nowhere. Percy honestly didn't even know which state they were in at this point. He did however know why they were here.
Until Artemis had to join him in his father's domain, they would slowly make their way east to Camp Half-Blood and on the way they would make sure to kill as many monsters as possible. Given how the threat of monsters was rising again, Artemis had planned a packed schedule for them and had put aside many of the more relaxing and joyful activities they normally did in favour of hunting.
From what Percy had heard, that involved staying a few days in every location and then moving again to get further east. From the little bits that he picked up from Artemis and Thalia, there weren't any awfully concerning threats on their path, nothing that was comparable to a titan at least, but they would have their work cut out for them.
To Percy's surprise however, their arrival was paired with a few good things happening in relatively quick succession. First came an apology from the twins Hanna and Clara who had previously accused him of attacking camp. They did just jump him with that out of the blue and Thalia watching everything from a distance made him think that it wasn't all that voluntary either, but their abashed look seemed genuine enough to make him a little more hopeful.
They weren't the only ones to become more friendly to him either. Many of the younger hunters were far more welcoming to him now than they were before. He couldn't really figure out why exactly since all that had happened in the meantime was a single battle but that had seemingly been enough to make a difference. Even the two older huntresses had stopped showing him signs of hostility.
After that, he got to help Naomi during a small hunt together with Thalia and another huntress. Was it Persephone? Penelope? He wasn't good with names but she was one of the older huntresses. While his first experience as a teacher ended catastrophically in Camp Half-Blood, he truly enjoyed seeing his pupils learn and improve so seeing Naomi hunt down a Dracaena on her own with virtually no assistance from her three companions made him inexplicably proud.
Since this was the first time the young daughter of Athena had actually slain a monster, Artemis somehow got an entire feast prepared to celebrate her growth which made the entire day one of the most enjoyable ones he's had with the hunt. As such it wasn't much of a surprise that the day also ended way too soon and night fell before he could really register it.
As it would seem though, that wasn't the end of his day. Just when he was about to enter his tent, he felt the air shift behind him and turned around to find himself face to face with Artemis, surprising them both by detecting her presence. Artemis didn't hold onto that surprise for long however as she quickly went back to her reason for approaching him. "Percy, I'll need to have a word with you in my tent."
Well, that was oddly secretive. Though they had a few things where secrecy would be quite valuable and if she wanted to talk about any of that it made sense to do so in a more private location. As such Percy found himself following the goddess into her tent and unlike what he expected, he wasn't alone there. Waiting for them both was Void himself, sitting in a chair so unfitting that Percy was sure the primordial had just summoned it. Without being able to stop himself, a shudder went through Percy as he recalled yesterday's events involuntarily.
Next to him Artemis moved past the two of them, taking her normal seat while Percy composed himself now too and pulled a chair towards himself to sit down. After doing so, Void didn't waste any time, perfectly identifying Percy's current aversion of the god. "You fear me, don't you, Percy? Think of me as cruel for what I did to Perses?"
Instead of an answer, all Percy did was nod. He was suddenly very conscious of even minute things and he didn't trust his voice or himself to find the right words beyond just 'yes'. "You know, the reason why Perses was known as the titan of destruction despite never wielding the actual domain was because of his impact in battle. He governs bloodlust and brutality and he was given the nickname 'Destroyer' because of his devastating effect on any battlefield and when the old titans disappeared, he just went with it and let himself be known as the titan of destruction. Because of that the oath you made him take wasn't on his actual domain and he wasn't afraid to break it either. When I intervened and also how I did so was simply my way of punishing him for millennia of using my name for his gain. You know my position, don't you?"
Again, Percy only nodded. He knew well enough at least. "It doesn't matter who it is, I will await them when their existence ends. What I told Perses was no threat, I have no intention of seeing him again until his time comes and what I gave him was merely a self-fulfilling prophecy. I won't torment him actively and neither will his end be any different than that of other immortals, he will just not show his face for a while because he doesn't know that. Don't think of me as more of a monster than I actually am."
His expression was cold and emotionless while saying that but even so Percy could hear an undertone in Void's voice that seemed decently close to pleading. For a moment silence filled the tent. Not just Percy but also Artemis, both of them were thinking about what they had just been told. That silence was only broken when Artemis decided she was done contemplating. "Is that the only reason you came here today?"
This time Void's expression changed, a small smile tugging his lips. "Not at all. I wanted to give you a heads up. Or rather advice? The next time the two of you meet with your brother, he will deliver a prophecy to you. If you can maneuver it so that you meet around other gods then you can use that prophecy to legitimize your fight against the pit. There are some additional things too, but they can wait until you enter Poseidon's realm since you need his help for them anyways…well, Artemis, you don't know about the fallout of Tartarus' death, right?"
He was looking at the goddess now and Percy knew this would be bad news. He had also struggled to accept that particular twist of fate but Artemis was an Olympian so it would probably be worse for her. And he hadn't told her anything about it which might backfire now. As expected, the goddess shook her head and Void went ahead to explain what awaited them. "Alright, hear me out until the end, okay? When Tartarus dies, his power will explode outwards and a blast of that magnitude will be enough to awaken anything weaker than him so once he is gone, the titans and giants will have risen again, together with almost the entire second generation of primordials. Because of that I already told Percy that Olympus will have fallen by the end of this war no matter what as it simply has too many enemies and claims sovereignty over the world despite being terribly weak in comparison to the forces that live within it."
Following that was another moment of silence, this one lasting longer and eventually turning quite heavy. At least Percy felt that it did, Void seemed completely unbothered while Artemis seemed somewhat absent and stuck in her thoughts. It took a while before she caught herself and focused back on Void. Just when she opened her mouth to speak, she paused again, contemplating her words again. "Are you certain that we cannot prevent that? Even if the titans and giants are powerful, we beat them before. Who's to say we can't do it again?"
The question seemed more hopeful than confident but Percy had been the same. He had also tried to cling onto hope in a situation where it was lost. And just like with him, Void continued to calmly explain things. "But you've never faced Ouranos. You've never faced Thalassa. And you've never faced all of them simultaneously. Olympus is simply too weak to hold onto its position as the worlds' ruler. You could of course find individual solutions that avoid getting defeated or killed, but you should also be aware that your father in particular won't give up his throne, no matter what."
At that Artemis could only nod. Anyone who had even just heard of the Greek pantheon knew that Zeus valued his power and his throne above all else and not even the threat of multiple primordials would change that. Percy could see in her facial expressions that Artemis was trying to reason to herself that Zeus would see reason this time but he at the same time there was already resignation in her eyes. Deep down she knew that her hopes were in vain.
This didn't go unnoticed by Void either who after taking a long look at the two of them got up from his chair. Having the piece of furniture disappear underneath him, he visibly prepared to leave. "I'll go for today and I'll be seeing you again around the time you reach Camp Half-Blood. See ya!"
And with that Void dematerialized himself, not leaving a trace of his presence behind. At his departure, Artemis drew her gaze onto Percy. "You knew of this before already, didn't you?"
Even though she phrased it as a question, it wasn't meant as one. It was just a statement but Percy answered regardless of that. "Yeah, he told me a while back but he never told me any more than what he told you today, I promise!"
Percy raised his hands in defense, trying to appease the goddess despite the lack of aggression or anger on her features. Well, there was a tinge of annoyance in them now. "Just don't keep me in the dark anymore. I understand not sharing secrets with me before but I've already colluded with you to break my oath and we're also stuck with each other…"
Now Percy felt bad for not trusting Artemis despite the fact that she had trusted him enough to summon Nyx and not rat him out after discovering his ties with the primordials. He had been a terrible ally to her and frankly, he had no excuse either. All he could muster up was a quiet 'sorry'.
Artemis on the other hand seemed to be rather content with that though, despite how vulnerable she had appeared just now. "That's fine then…I will be calling it a night now, there is a lot I must digest after this so…"
She didn't have to end her sentence for Percy to get the hint and he could sympathise with her too. Olympus had been there all her life and she was just told it'd disappear soon. If she needed time right now, he'd give it to her and because of that he quickly left the tent to return to his own, immediately dropping into his bed to get as much sleep as he could.
And that's another chapter done. Next chapter will probably be along the lines of a time skip to progress the story. I hope this was a decent chapter and feel free to leave feedback if you have any. See you next week!
-M