On the morning of his birthday, August 18, Percy expected to have a relaxed and peaceful day with his family in Montauk for his 19th birthday. He wanted to enjoy the time with his baby sister, his mother, and his stepfather on the beach as much as he could before he had to leave for San Francisco for college.
However, fate had other plans in store for him.
Percy was enjoying a relaxing and pleasant breakfast with his family in the cozy and spacious cabin Percy had bought for his family after the giant war to use during vacations. They were just finishing eating up when Percy's senses alerted him that someone with divine powers was approaching.
"Ugh," Percy groaned as he rubbed his hands, catching the attention of his family. "Why? Why today of all days?"
"Percy, dear, is something wrong?" His mother worriedly asked.
The son of Poseidon didn't verbally respond and motioned to the door with his hand just in time for them to hear the ring go off. His mom and stepfather were slightly surprised at seeing him know that someone would ring the bell without knowing. They knew that his senses were much better improved than theirs or any other demigod as well, but not to the point of knowing when someone was approaching without even seeing or being aware of them.
"I'll get it," Percy sighed as he got up to get the door. "Please just let it be someone congratulating me on my birthday," He knew his prayer was useless, but no one knows when an actual god is hearing and doing him a favor.
The moment he swung open the door, Percy was met with two women. The first one he knew really well from camp. She had short wavy silver-blonde hair, emerald green eyes, pale skin, and a beauty mark on her left cheek. She was wearing a tight white blouse that stretched over her breasts making it really obvious that she was blessed in the top department. She had a dark green leather jacket and black jeans along with running shoes. The woman was just his age and had known her since his days when he was in the Hermes cabin before his father claimed him. Her name was Lou Ellen Blackstone, daughter of Hecate, and the cabin leader of the Hecate cabin. She was also one of his oldest friends at camp and one of the few who knew where he was at all times if his help was needed.
The other woman was a complete stranger to him. She looked to also be around 18/19 years old with long dark red hair that she had in a high ponytail. She had fair skin and natural plumb red lips. She was wearing a dark green bomber jacket with a white blouse underneath that was very similar to Lou's. She was also wearing black jeans, which looked similar to Lou's as well as training shoes. The woman was incredibly beautiful and probably among the most beautiful women Percy had ever seen, and he had met the goddess of love. However just before he could react, his eyes locked on hers and his widened in recognition.
The unknown woman's eyes were twin orbs of pure silver. The color that perfectly reflected the moon during the night sky and very much different from gray eyes or any other variation of those colors. Hers were pure silver eyes that he had only seen on one other person and nobody else as those eyes were unnatural color; Artemis.
"Mi-milady?" Percy stuttered as he processed why the goddess of the hunt was at his vacation home's doorstep along with his friend. "Lou? What are you both doing here?"
"Sorry for the interruption, Perseus," Yes, the red-haired lady was definitely Artemis. "We come to you in request of help,"
"Yes, but we are sorry for interrupting your birthday, Percy. Happy birthday by the way," Lou intervened before Artemis could say anything else before hugging Percy. "I would've brought you a present but I know you don't like them,"
"Yeah, it's fine, Lou," Percy gave a thankful smile to the daughter of Hecate before looking at a red-faced Artemis. He could only guess that she was embarrassed for coming to him during his birthday and completely forgetting about it. After all, his birthday was very well-known since it was also the day that he ended the Second Titan War. "But why did you come to me for help? There are the others who could've helped you just as much if not better than I can,"
"This... this requires a much more physical and hands-on approach than other situations," Lou hesitantly stated, making Percy understand that they needed to warrior side of him for their missions. "But before that, Lady Artemis here has something to ask of you,"
Percy sent an inquisitive look at the goddess of the hunt before his senses noticed something unusual. Ever since he further developed his powers, he was able to sense who had divine blood in them and who didn't. Demigods and legacies did pop off his sensor but it was divine beings who skyrocketed it. Percy could only compare a demigod or some of the strongest legacies as a pond or a small creek to gods like giant lakes or the seas for the strongest gods like the big three.
So, when his senses didn't go off at all with Artemis like usually did or with Lou, he got curious. He had only gotten nothing in his senses from a god before and that was when Apollo was turned mortal. He was unsure why the goddess of the hunt would even be turned mortal when she was, or among, Zeus' favorite.
"Okay, what is it that you wanted to ask of me, milady?" He played along, burying his suspicions until they told him or he was sure about them.
"Please, just call me Artemis, or Erza," Artemis mumbled irritably. "I am here because I have been turned a mortal and need someone to claim my services," Percy didn't need to even think about how she felt because the frustration and anger were very evident in her voice and facial expressions.
"You want me to claim your services?" Artemis or Erza as now was her mortal name, nodded. "But why me? Couldn't you have Lou or somebody else claim them who isn't a male? Because I can see that it annoys you to ask me to claim your services,"
Artemis/Erza had to nod at Percy's question. He had a point and one very big that she herself didn't even want to admit to it. However, as part of her punishment for her actions, she had to be of service to the opposite gender to help her understand the male sex and not be biased towards the female sex.
"I would, but the rules of my punishment were very clear that only someone of the opposite sex can claim my services, and who better than the only man I have ever approved of?"
That was a weird rule about Artemis' punishment in Percy's opinion. He knew that Artemis detested being at the services of males or even following their orders, so hearing that she had to be of service to a male was quite mind-blowing. He knew that Zeus was the main one who gave out punishments like this, a perfect example was Apollo's two years prior, so she must've done something really bad towards the male population or another god to be turned mortal and be of service to a man.
"Yes, I can see your point right there," Percy nodded, understanding the former goddess' reasoning. "But I don't want to get involved in any more problems," Artemis' hopeful expression was replaced by one of disappointment. "I am going back to college in September and I don't want to get in any more quests or battles. I just want to live a normal life after fighting two wars and..." He trailed off as he didn't want to continue with that dark part of his life. "I have started a new part of my life and keep doing quests and fighting battles will not let me have that new life that I want,"
The two women seemed to have expected his response, at least Lou as she gave him a sad smile in understanding.
"We understand, Percy," Lou spoke up but Percy could feel there was more. "However, we seriously need your help here,"
Percy was seriously about to just tell them to fuck off and leave him alone, but then his mind started thinking. There was no reason for Lou to still be here and continue trying to convince him if it weren't necessary. She was incredibly powerful and strong herself, not to mention skilled with a bow and dagger, but she also understood where her limits reached. If she was still trying to convince him it was because she knew that she was head over heels in this situation and needed someone stronger, which would be very few demigods, or him.
"Ah, fine," Percy opened the door and stepped to the side to let them in. "Come on in. We'll talk about this while we eat,"
"Who was it at the door, Percy?" His mother asked as he entered the dining room. "Oh," She trailed off after seeing an unknown auburn girl before noticing the familiar set of silver-blonde hair. "Oh, Lou! It's been a couple of weeks since we last saw you," She greeted the daughter of Hecate with a warm smile and hug before looking at Artemis. "And who might you be, dear?"
Percy and Lou were amused by Sally's casual way of greeting the goddess of the moon and were waiting for her reaction when Artemis would reveal her identity.
"My name is Artemis," Sally's eyes along with Paul's widened at hearing the name. "It's good to finally meet the mother of the greatest hero in history. I must commend you for raising your son in such an incredible way unlike any other man I've met in my millennia of life,"
In the background were Percy and Lou desperately trying to hold in their laughter as they saw the baffled and disbelieving expressions in Percy's parents' faces. It was unlike anything else either of them had seen before. The silence that had fallen upon them was promptly broken by Percy's sister Estelle clapping.
"Seems like she enjoyed seeing your faces," Percy grinned while containing his laugh. "Lady Artemis and Lou are here to talk about a few things they want me to help them with," Percy sighed at his mother's slightly irritated but understanding expression.
"Alright, Percy," She then turned back to the mortalized goddess. "I'm sorry for not properly addressing you, milady,"
"No worries, Mrs. Blofis," Artemis waved her off. "You deserved the same respect as your son does. You raised him to be the hero he is today and without him, none of us would be standing here alive today. Forgoing such tribal addressing is the least I could do for the mother of the Hero of Olympus,"
Artemis' words caused the entire room to go down in silence at the reminder of how close humanity and the gods were about to be killed by the Titans and the Gigantes if it weren't for Percy and his friends. It was the cold and harsh truth, but one that didn't need to be forgotten or things would just repeat themselves all over again.
"Anyways," Percy broke the silence with a cough. "We will be talking in the kitchen as they get something to eat since I'm sure that they haven't got breakfast at camp?" He sent a look at Lou with the demigoddess shaking her head. "Okay, we have pancakes and eggs. Come on,"
It took a few minutes before Percy started another batch of pancakes and eggs as the two young adult women sat on the table. His parents had taken out Estelle for a stroll through the beach to enjoy the morning breeze and the sunrise.
"So, what is this about you needing my help, Lou?" Percy asked as he flipped a pancake. "Cause if I remember correctly, I expressively said in my speech to camp before leaving for college that I was done with quests,"
Lou winced at his words but nodded as she had been among the demigods hearing his speech at the end of the summer before he left to start college.
"I know, but this is way above our heads and we need the best so we can do this," Lou sent a look at the mortalized goddess which she returned with a nod. "And as you know, Artemis has been turned mortal and needs to do this quest in order to regain her immortality and powers,"
Percy sighed as he looked at the pancakes slowly cooking. He knew from Apollo's case that Artemis would need to do some quest or fix something in order to gain her godhood back so there was no surprise there. However, it didn't mean that they were annoyed with the fact that he was the first person they went to whenever a problem too big for them happened. They had relied too much on him and they were becoming weak and inexperienced. They needed to solve their own problems in order to grow, just the same way he did with his during his years growing up and during the wars.
"What is this quest?"
"It is a bit too complicated but the most basic way to explain it is that we are going to another world," Percy coughed as he almost choked on his own spit before looking back at Artemis and Lou with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"What did you say?"
"I know it's hard to believe, Perseus- I mean, Percy," Artemis said after noticing his slightly annoyed expression at calling him his full first name. "But I need to explain a few things before we get into the entire quest thing,"
Percy seemed like he wanted to argue but eventually decided to at least hear them out. He knew that this was on a whole other level than regular quests and needed to pay attention if he wanted to understand how the mission actually was.
"Alright," Percy took out the last pancake from the stove and placed the plate in the center of the table. "Explain it to me, please,"
"You know how there is time and how one decision could change the entire course of that future?" Artemis asked as she took a pancake and placed it in her place. Percy nodded at her as he had been given a small talk in theory about time traveling and all of its issues from Annabeth during one of their afternoons at camp. "Well, this world is just like ours, but instead of the gods and goddesses' influence in the world, they decided to fade and leave humanity be as it was after seeing that they were capable of progressing by themselves,"
"But wait, wouldn't you gods and goddesses fading mean that your domains would go haywire without you there to control them?"
"Normally, yes," Artemis nodded as she took a bit of her extremely delicious pancake. "But if there aren't other divine beings to influence the natural order, then there is no risk of domains getting out of control," Percy nodded as that did make some kind of sense, not much, but at least some. "However, when the gods and goddesses left that real, they left behind all of their divine energy in nature. As time went by, humans discovered that there was a certain fraction of them who were capable of manipulating the remaining divine energy in the world and did feats that no one would've been able to imagine. They would eventually come to call it magic,"
"Magic? As in pulling a rabbit out of a hat? Or making someone disappear and appear somewhere else?"
Artemis rolled her eyes while Lou giggled at his response. Leave it to Percy to compare one of the most powerful forces to a kids' show. She herself had also believed somewhat similar to Percy's response when she first learned she was a daughter of the Titaness of Magic, but not that innocent or childish.
"No, well, they could do things like that but those are extremely easy compared to what they could do," Artemis had to forcibly agree in that regard. "They could turn animals into objects, create potions capable of curing diseases that humans still hadn't found a cure for, spells capable of summoning lightning, and so many more things that would make even the children of Hecate look like beginners compared against those studying magic,"
"So they are stronger than demigods?" Percy was slightly confused and nervous about a race of humans stronger than demigods. After all, being at the top of the food chain just underneath immortals for so long made him not fear mortals at all.
"In some way, but you take away the way to perform magic and they are your average mortal around the world," Artemis took a moment to swallow her food before resuming. "They use wands to perform magic and once you take away the wand,"
"You take away the danger/threat they possess," Lou finished as she used her powers to concentrate swirls of green energy around her fingers. "We children of Hecate, while weaker than them because we don't use wands, are still stronger than them when we use magic channelers since we are actual children of magic, unlike them who just manipulate the magic around their world,"
It did make sense that she and her siblings would still be more powerful as they were children of the Titaness of Magic. Percy had Lou perform transformations on people to animals or animals to things using objects that she had infused with magic and had earned his respect for how resourceful and smart she was using her powers. There was a reason why she was the councilor of her cabin as well as the strongest among her siblings.
"If they were to use something similar to my own powers, are they stronger than mine?"
"It's difficult to answer since I don't have access to my perfect memory as a goddess," Artemis looked apologetic for that but Percy waved her off. "But from what I can remember you would still be stronger," That answer made Percy feel a little bit better. "You are the direct son of the god of the seas. They are yours to command and are the strongest of his children in history as well as the strongest demigod. Your powers could easily surpass their magic. While capable of controlling magic, they aren't able to cause natural disasters nor the amount of water that you can control when you get serious,"
It did make sense once he thought about it. The fact that he was directly related to the god of the seas gave him superiority over those wizards or mages or whatever they called themselves. It would be illogical for them to have greater power over the element he was literally the son of.
"How much time would this quest take?"
"That's the tricky part," Lou responded making Percy mentally sigh at another thing that was rare about the quest. "Since this quest will be on another world, time will be different from us to how much time would pass here on our planet. Thankfully, Lady Athena did the math and she told us that for a year that we would be there, about 5-6 days would have passed here,"
The fact that the time conversation was so big didn't sit well with Percy but held his doubts for the moment. Maybe it was just the preferred way that the goddess of wisdom decided to calculate the time since saying that about 70-something days would pass in that world for every day in their own world was a bit more difficult to make calculations.
"Okay, about how long is it expected for us to come back here?" Percy then noticed the apprehensive looks on both women with him and sighed in defeat. "Just tell me now,"
"About 3 or so years," Lou winced when his eyes widened at her response. "The good thing about it is that about 15 to 18 days should've passed here and shouldn't interfere with your life at college,"
Percy did have to grant them that he would be back just in time to miss the first and maybe the second week of classes, but those were mostly introductions to the class and nothing too serious that he could make up later. However, he didn't like the idea of spending 3 or so years in a foreign world with no backup other than him, Artemis, and maybe Lou or somebody else.
He had already been apart from his family for almost a year back when Hera kidnapped him and sent him across the nation without any memory of himself. Now, he felt even more hesitant to leave his family for three years even if it would be at most 3 weeks for them. Ever since Estelle was born he had been more preoccupied with his family because they were even more vulnerable. But he knew that being present only attracted the attention of monsters because of his scent.
Leaving his family was hard but the more he thought about it, the more he was persuaded to accept the quest. Leaving to save another world from a threat he still didn't know was very interesting and worrying. It would be completely uncharted territory for him but this was the opportunity of a lifetime that he was struggling to deny.
"What would be the quest exactly about? Since you told me about these magicians, I'm guessing that this quest will involve them?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow and was satisfied to know that his guess was right when Lou nodded.
"Yes, we won't be doing much other than helping out a teenage wizard grow from his very naive view of the world and train him to become their champion," Artemis explained and continued once Percy nodded for her to continue. "There is a dark wizard that wants to take over Britain and then over the entire world. His grip on Britain is so vast that he could take over the government once he desires to. This kid is the child of a prophecy that dictates that either he or this dark wizard must die at the hands of the other,"
"Fucking prophecies," Percy whispered and didn't even flinch when the atmosphere suddenly turned cold, a clear sign from the Fates that they didn't like his words. "So we just need to train this kid and then we will be done?" Lou nodded but Percy didn't believe it was that simple, it never was. "I don't believe it for a single moment that this quest is that simple,"
Lou winced while Artemis sighed in defeat and nodded. Percy didn't know if he should feel happy that he was right or tired that it was the same shit every single time. Well, he had learned to accept that the life of a demigod was never easy and this was just like any other summer, so what was there to even wine about?
"So, what is this really about?"
"Apparently there are a few threats in that world that require the assistance of someone as powerful as yourself," Artemis responded with a defeated sigh. "I wouldn't be asking you to accompany us in this quest if I didn't know we are out of our depths,"
The former goddess' response momentarily took Percy aback. What could possibly be so powerful or difficult to beat that a former goddess with millennia of experience and the strongest child of Hecate couldn't beat? There weren't many options other than immortals but as she had mentioned before, there were no gods or any other immortal beings in that world left. So what options were left? The only possible answers were monsters.
"What is it that you can't take care of?" Percy asked and took notice of the slightly irritated expression that settled on Artemis' face while Lou just sighed in defeat.
"From what my mother told me, there are dragons, giants, and other magical creatures in that world that we couldn't possibly defeat, not without proper training and the tools,"
"But I can?"
"Yes, you can Percy," Surprisingly, it was Artemis who responded this time. "You are the strongest demigod to ever exist and have the powers to control the water even from the air. You can defeat such beasts without much problem if you set yourself to it. I'll teach you how to beat and kill such beasts. You have the power, Lou has the magical knowledge to be your right hand, and I have the knowledge to defeat any type of creature that exists. Together we can defeat such beasts without much problem. But only Lou, myself, and any other demigod can not. We simply do not have the power and strength that we need in order to defeat such creatures,"
It sounded like Artemis wanted to appeal to his ego, but he was sure she wouldn't do it without reason or because she knew it was true. Artemis was among the most strong-headed goddesses at Olympus, but she was also very realistic and understood when things were too much for her. The fact that she had initially come to him to ask him to accept her services said enough about how much she trusted him. But also the fact that she admitted that she had the power and strength she lacked, which she normally wouldn't due to her status as a goddess, made him cement his doubts about this entire situation.
Even if he still had doubts and was unsure about accepting the quest, he knew that he was the one to do such a quest like this one. No one had ever traveled to another world and he would be among the first to do it. They were asking for his help because he was the most secure person to achieve such a dangerous and important mission. There was also the fact that he wouldn't leave those innocent people to fend for themselves at the hands of a dark wizard if he could do anything about it.
"Alright, if you explain more to me about this world and how it works, I'll accept the quest," Lou's eyes widened in disbelief before it was replaced by an expression of relief and joy. Meanwhile, Artemis breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "However, if we are going to do this, we must trust in each other one hundred percent. I won't be going into this quest on a strange world with people who do not have my back," He sent both demigoddesses a serious look which was returned with nods. "Good. Now, please start explaining more in-depth what this magic works like,"
Lou grinned widely before snapping her fingers and a thick and heavy old leather-covered book appeared in the middle of the table. He looked at the portrait but there was no title nor anything that indicated what this book was about even if he could guess that it was about the magic of this new world.
"Alright, where should I start?"