Chapter 14

 Percy

“I wish to give Perseus Jackson my blessing.” A man’s voice echoed through the giant throne room. The voice was kind and deep yet it had an edge of strictness.

Then, a man appeared. He looked to be in his thirties. He had a powerful and timeless look and gave off a powerful aura. Immediately, I knew that this person was way more powerful than anything that I had ever met before. The mysterious figure wore black and when I say black, I mean all his clothes were black; his shoes, his cloak, his pants.

“This man must be pretty fond of that color.” I thought and the man smiled.

“Yes. In fact, it is my favorite color.” He responded to my thoughts. “I am Chaos. You have taught me, Perseus Jackson. You have taught me that not all mankind is bad. Perhaps I shall let them live. I would like to give you my blessing for what you have done for the world. I am truly grateful that you are here.” He conjured a ball of black energy into his hands. The black mass in his hands seemed to be sucking in all the light around it. After a slight pause, he shot it at me. First, I felt a burning, searing pain. I wanted to scream. It felt like I was swimming in the Styx again but worse and trust me; it is something that you do not want to do. It felt like fire was burning me from the inside out. Let’s just say that it wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world.

After the pain passed, I found Chaos staring at me. I could feel power and energy flowing through my veins. Wait…was I taller? And I had-wings?! The other gods and goddesses were staring at me. I looked at Chaos in confusion and he summoned a mirror. My wings had pure black feathers and my wing span was about 12 feet. I was now wearing a sea green T-shirt and a black sweatshirt with a hood over it. I blushed, feeling self conscious. Without thinking, I reached out and touched my wings. The feathers were surprisingly soft and fuzzy. They would be good to keep me warm in cold weather.

“Ah, yes. Those will be quite helpful in your future. They can block arrows, and knives. You can retract them into your back too.” Chaos told me. I tried to retract them into my back and true to his word, they gently slid in. I also had various weapons which included at least six throwing knives, darts, poison vials, my old sword Riptide, and two curved swords made out of some sort of black swirling metal. The two swords were strapped to my back while my other weapons except Riptide were on a belt at my waist. Riptide, as always, was in my pocket.

“Those two blades are made out of Chaos metal, Essence Silver, Imperial Gold, and Celestial Bronze, making them unbreakable.” Chaos informed me as I pulled them out of their sheaths. They were about 122 centimeters (or 48 inches) long. Their hilts were made out of a mixture of metal and leather. They fit my hand perfectly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hephaestus staring at my weapons in awe. “Your knives, darts, and poisons will replenish themselves every hour.” He informed me. “You will also be able to control darkness and time.” He said. “With practice of course” He added after.

“Thank you, Lord Chaos.” I said while bowing.                              

“There is no need to thank me Perseus. You have earned these by helping the world and making it a better place.” Chaos told me. “You can also hide your weapons if you wish. It is sort of like the way the Hunters of Artemis store their weapons. Oh, and before I forget, you can use a bow and arrow now. I am not saying that you won’t be bad at it anymore. You will still need practice but at least now, the arrow won’t go in the opposite direction that you shoot it.” He chuckled a bit and I nodded in thanks. “I believe in the future that we will meet again.” Chaos then faded into mist.

“We have just met the most powerful being in the universe,” Athena whispered in awe. “And he gave you his blessing.”

Zeus seemed at a loss for words. He stared at me as if he couldn’t believe that the creator of the Universe had given me his blessing.

I don’t know what it was, but I felt happier. I felt lighter, as if some of my guilt of my bad deeds had gone away.

After a few moments, Zeus dismissed the council. Before teleporting back to Atlantis, my father approached me. He seemed wary though. Slowly, he put a hand on my shoulder.

“Stay safe, Percy.” My dad said and then disappeared into sea green mist.

“We will meet you in Central Park tomorrow.” Artemis informed me. I nodded and she vanished in silver light.

I glanced at the watch that was actually my shield. It still told time though. It was currently 4:48 AM. There were only a few more hours until sunrise. I needed to get back to Camp Half-Blood to gather my things and tell Chiron that I was leaving.

I closed my eyes, concentration on turning myself to water vapor. I felt myself becoming water vapor and I water teleported to Camp Half-Blood. It was a nice power. I learned how to do it in Atlantis.

I appeared in front of the Big House. I knocked on the door of the Big House and soon enough, Chiron appeared in the doorway with curlers in his tail.

“Percy, my boy, what is the matter?” Chiron seemed alarmed that I was up this early.

“Chiron, I’m leaving.” I stated.

“What? Why?” Chiron asked.

“I am going to be staying with Artemis and her hunters to improve on archery.” I told him but I knew that wasn’t the only reason I was staying with them.

“Okay, my boy. Come to visit sometime.” Chiron said. I hugged my old mentor. Chiron seemed surprised that I hugged him but he embraced me back.

“I’ll visit sometime. Thank you for teaching me so well.” With that, I headed to the Poseidon cabin to gather my belongings. As soon as the sun rose, I headed out with only a backpack mostly filled with pictures of friends and family and a few clothes. I took off my backpack, deciding to try out my new wings. Before taking off, I reached into my backpack to put on a sweatshirt. I assumed it would be cold high in the sky.

After extending my wings outwards, I shot up into the sky with my backpack in my hand. It was cold up here as I predicted. I pulled my hood up. Chaos was nicer than he let on. All of my clothes had slits in them for my wings now.

In a few minutes, I was in Central Park. I extended my senses and found a huge amount of power radiating from an area near a lake. I quietly landed in a tree and retracted my wings into my back as I listened to the hunters.

“My lady, why are we here?” I heard my cousin ask Artemis.

“We are here to meet a friend.” Artemis answered curtly. A friend? I was considered a friend to Artemis?

“Who?” Thalia asked again.

“You will find out soon.” The moon goddess answered and then sat down on the ground.

After a few minutes of waiting, Artemis stood up.

“What is it, my lady?” Thalia spoke.

“I sense that we are being watched.” She stated with her eyes narrowed. That must be me. I jumped out of the tree that I was hiding in. Thalia and the other hunters had their bows out and loaded in less than a second. I saw that Artemis was completely relaxed. She knew who I was.

“Took you long enough.” Artemis stated.

“Sorry.” I apologized even though I wasn’t really late.

“Who are you?” Thalia asked.

“You don’t remember your own cousin?” I asked playfully and I held my hand to my heart as if I was hurt.

“Percy?” My cousin questioned.

“Yeah.” Then I realized that I had my hood on. “Oh…sorry.” I quickly took my hood down.

Thalia laughed. “Still the same old Seaweed Brain I know.”

“I haven’t heard that name in a while.” I sighed.

“It’s good to see you, Perce.” Thalia went to hug me. I hugged her. When we separated, I saw the other hunters glaring at me. Oh yeah…I was a boy…I wasn’t allowed near their lieutenant.

“Well, girls, introduce yourselves.” Artemis encouraged. The girls didn’t look happy about it, but they obliged.

“My name’s Nicole. I’m a daughter of Athena.” The first hunter said. She looked young, about eight or nine years old but I didn’t know since they were immortal. For all I could know she could be a million years old. She had grey eyes and black hair.

The next girl’s name was Daisy. She was a daughter of Hecate. She looked the same age as Nicole and had purple eyes and brown hair. The rest of the girls introduced themselves, the last being Phoebe. She gave me a hateful look first. She seemed to hate me more than the other girls did. What did I do to her?

“Okay. It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Percy.” I introduced myself.

“Now, we are going to Yellowstone National Park. My father wants us to see I there are any disturbances there with monsters.” Artemis told us.

With that, we started jogging. I stayed in the back of the group, seeing as most of the girls didn’t want to get close to me. I was surprised when we got the Yellowstone National Park the next night. Apparently the hunters traveled fast.

After we found a place to settle down, the hunters set up their tents and went to bed. Not really tired, I wondered around camp for a while. At the edge of camp, I saw a black tent with a symbol of eight arrows pointing outward from the same point. It was the symbol of Chaos.

I stood there pondering why there was a tent with the symbol of Chaos on in the hunters’ camp when I realized it was for me.

Thank you, Lord Chaos.

I heard laughter. Took you long enough to figure it out and you’re welcome, my boy.

I entered my tent and gasped at the amount of space I had. On the outside, it looked quite small but on the inside it was huge. There was a queen sized bed, a desk, and a drawer. I also found a bathroom with a shower in the corner or the tent. I didn’t know how that was possible but I set down my backpack on the bed as I sat down, deciding that it didn’t really matter how it was there. It just was.

After opening my backpack, I unpacked, looking at all the pictures I had stuffed into my bag. Chiron gave me most of them. I don’t know how he got all these photos but I was happy for the memories. I was currently looking at one that was taken right before I went on the quest to find the Master Bolt. Grover, Annabeth, and my face were turned away from the camera as we were walking toward the van. The second was after the quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. In the third, Zoe had an angry expression on her face and was yelling at Phoebe while Thalia, Gover, and Bianca were standing on the side.

A lone tear slipped out of my eye, remembering that quest.

‘One lost in the land without rain.’

‘And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.’    (From the Titan’s Curse prophecy.)

I was the one that should have died…I could have gone instead of Bianca. I had no purpose except to fulfill the prophecy and be the gods’ pawn. Bianca had a purpose though. She was Nico’s older sister. He missed her…I think he would rather have her here instead. I could have done something but I just let her die right in front of me.

More tears were falling now. I placed the photos on the drawer, the feeling of guilt coming back. I wanted to bring them back…all my friends. I knew it wasn’t possible though. Nico already attempted to bring back Bianca. If the King of Ghosts failed, what chance would I have? I would have none…