Chapter 3: Year 2!
It was a sunny afternoon in New York. On top of The Empire State building you could see three figures clashing with each other, they were our main characters, the one kicking was Kelli, an empousa with flaming red hair, the one trying to tackle was Bruno, a hellhound with rippling black fur and glowing crimson eyes and the one on the receiving end of these attacks was our protagonist Percy jumping over the dog using Kelli's face as a leverage and mounting it.
"Come on Kelli, are you even trying? Where is the fierce empousa that was trying to kill me seventeen months ago?" Percy taunted Kelli.
*GRRRRR*
No it was not the dog growling.
"Oh, get off it you cloyster shit, not everybody is a freak like you." Kelli shouted indignant "Even Hercules was trained before he did the twelve labours."
"What can I say, I am just built different" Percy said with a smug grin on his face.
Kzzzzt! Kzzzzt! Kzzzzt!
Before Kelli could retort, the sound of a buzzing phone drew all three combatants' attention. Percy had thoughtfully set his phone aside to avoid breaking it during their sparring session. Now, its screen lit up with a flurry of notifications.
Percy jogged over to investigate. He had two missed calls from Scylla, three from Circe, five from the forge, and a text from Joe that read: Lunch is almost ready. Hurry up.
'Hmm what to do? what to do? If Circe is calling then it must be something important buuuut on the other hand, food' Percy tried to come up with a solution to his conundrum.
Kelli seeing Percy was pondering something hard, came to see what had him so perplexed but when she saw the problem she almost laughed out loud, she went away snickering.
Hitting his fist on the palm Percy thought with a look of sudden enlightenment crossing his face 'If it was so important Circe would have come in person, so food it is. I'm so smart.'
"Kelli it's lunchtime." at the mention of lunchtime Bruno perked up *Bark**Bark*
"Oh, who's a good boy? Yes, you are!" Percy cooed, rubbing the hellhound's ears. Then, with a cheeky grin, he ran to the edge of the building.
"The winner forfeits dessert!" he shouted before leaping off the Empire State Building under the unimpressed stare from Kelli who just mounted on top of Bruno and melted into the shadows.
Halfway down Percy's form began to become a little translucent, before he could hit the ground he completely vanished in thin air.
[Joe's pov]
Joe was a very happy harpy at the moment. He was doing what he loved, cooking and he was travelling with people who he might call family, a cooky cyclope, an offbrand vampire, her too big to act cute dog and lastly an immensely powerful but equally unhinged demigod.
[Flashback]
"No Percy, you are not fighting a kraken even if it is the offspring of the original." Joe said, reducing two more karpoi to cereals with his talons.
Percy was almost offended at that statement "And why not? You think I can't take him down? Huh?" he said ducking under a blow while simultaneously launching a spear of ice impaling three karpoi.
"Yeah, Joe," Kelli chimed in, her tone mockingly sweet as she punched and kicked a group of karpoi into submission. "You don't think Percy can handle a big bad sea monster?"
Bruno was running around swiping and biting a few sphinxes.
"No I did not say that, stop adding fuel to the fire." he admonished Kelli, "I was just saying that I don't want to be hunted by the original version who by the way Poseidon hesitated to tangle with."
"What's the worst that could happen?" Percy asked, his tone far too casual for comfort.
The universe, as it often did around Percy, decided to answer.
*Boom*
A deafening roar echoed from the sea. Two more enormous Krakens erupted from the water, their tentacles slapping the surface with enough force to send tidal waves crashing against the shore.
*Roar*
They looked back to the land to see a horde of cyclopes, sphinxes, two mechanical bulls being led by a couple of manticores.
Percy chuckled "Oops?" under the deadpan gazes of his crew and Joe shaking his head.
"Wait! Before you get disappointed I can fix this." Percy proclaimed.
"Yeah, How? By snapping your fingers and returning them to dust." Kelli said in a frustrating tone.
"No" Percy grinned ear to ear, he clasped his hands "Even better, in style."
The sky started to darken, the earth began to shake, the water behind Percy began to churn with mystical green colour matching Percy's eyes. They began to form three giant figures holding swords, which then began to freeze.
Joe and Kelli froze, their jaws dropping.
"Oh… Oh, gods," Joe whispered.
Joe and Kelli looked gobsmacked at the three giant sixty feet constructs holding ice swords, Bruno whimpered his head down under his paws in fear.
The horde of monsters began to slow down seeing giant water warriors appear but the krakens attacked them.
"Oh Yeah! This is where the fun begins." Percy smiled, but the smile was strained indicating to Kelli and Joe that this was no easy task for Percy, they sprinted towards the monsters while the giant water constructs fought krakens.
The water warriors charged the Krakens, engaging them in a brutal battle. Tentacles were severed only to regenerate moments later.
Kelli using her abilities conjured dozens of mirror images which stunned the oncoming horde, confusing them, Joe took this opportunity to gouge out eyes of two cyclopes, Bruno tackled a sphinx to the ground while swiping his claws at the rest, turning it into a dogfight.
Joe and Kelli would occasionally glance back at Percy and him battling the krakens, the giant swords would cut off the tentacles but they would regenerate and take a limb in retaliation, Multiple tentacle would hold them and tear them apart but they would reform. It was a battle of attrition and it looked like Percy would lose first as he was down on one knee with a tense face of concentration.
Joe and Kelli hurried to end the battle, in hurry Joe made a misstep which resulted in getting swiped by a manticore midair towards the really pointy horn of the bull. Kelli jumped to save Joe but was a second too late, just then the ground shook under the bull which made it fall and Joe crashed into the side of the bull. Joe immediately slashed at the core of the bull disintegrating it and looked over his shoulder to see Percy giving him a wink.
That single moment was all it took for one of the krakens to tear apart one of the giants, the strain was immediately visible in Percy's posture. The kraken were relentless, identifying Percy as the main source of their nuisance, two of them immediately attacked Percy, the giants stopped battling the third one to block the attacks from the other two. But Percy shouldered on, with heavy breaths he took steps towards the sea.
Once submerged in the sea, the world began to shake, the clouds thundered, winds howled, hurricanes began to form connecting the sky to the sea, the sea began to glow with faint mystical green and from the sea rose six enormous water warriors formed from the churning mass of water, double the size of previous water giants with frozen swords which seemed to encase their whole hand.
And from under the sea rose Percy, hovering midair surrounded by a vortex of spinning water and crackling electricity. His power was awe-inspiring, almost divine, spinning around him like a protective barrier, a few arcs of lightning flashed around Percy.
Kelli killed the last manticore and they were at the beach waiting for Percy to finish. One giant blocked two tentacles with his sword and caught three in his hand, the other one dashed towards unbefitting of its size and buried the sword deep within it's head, at the same time three of the giants held all the the limbs of the other kraken and the other one cut all his limbs before splitting the kraken right down the middle. The last one was handled by Percy personally, Percy controlled the water seizing all the limbs of the kraken, he raised his hand and a geyser half the size of the kraken shot right through the kraken.
It was raining black blood and organs with Percy hovering midair, eyes glowing, his power commanding the world around him just like...like a GOD, it was a sight the rest of them would never forget.
[Flashback End]
Percy was growing fast, he was also improving his swordplay at an alarming rate and seemingly on his own 'It's not like it's a bad thing.' Joe thought as he set plates for Kelli and Shell. He grabbed the food Bruno "Bruno sit." He commanded the dog to sit infront of his bowl before he could devour it in its entirety, he bent down to pour Bruno's food in his massive bowl.
"What did you make?" he was startled, he unleashed a kick on instinct but it was blocked by the forearm of the all too familiar demigod who had just appeared behind him out of thin air.
"Don't do that!" he said furious but still leaking hints of exasperation "Didn't love it the first time, don't like it now."
Percy with a cheeky smile turned around and sat at the dining table "Never!"
With an exasperated smile Joe prepared a plate for the troublemaker.
Kelli turned towards him and said to him in a smug tone "You owe me your dessert."
"Do I?" Percy struck his thinking pose "Cause I seem to recall I specifically said "Winner forfeits the dessert" and the last I checked shadowtravel is much faster than my mist traveling." his tone seemed smug by the end.
'Hmph' Kelli turned away from the infuriating godling and focused on their food.
The lunch ensued, it was filled with lighthearted banter and laughter.
[Kelli's pov]
If someone had told Kelli she would be travelling with a demigod of her own free will, she would have laughed to her death even before the whole extinction event but there was something interesting happening here and she liked interesting things.
She met Percy, weeeeeell 'met' is a strong word, she stalked him and attacked when he called her out. Spoilers, she died but the good thing was that she was not under the compulsion anymore, yes they were all under a strong compulsion which did nothing more than turn their drive to harm the godlings and destruction upto eleven, quite powerful magic was used for that simple directive. She may use her fist more but she was still one of Hecate's servants.
She wanted to know what happened that day? The day that eradicated humanity only leaving those connected with the divine world, the day almost all the demigod's were weakened and killed off, the day when the world stood still.
Speaking of that, she could still feel her connection to Hecate but it felt distant, so she followed Percy to pass some time and watch a seemingly normal demigod turn the world upside down, cause that is how demigods are.
In every era there would be one demigod that didn't give a damn if olympians wanted them dead, they would carve their story, either in pages of history or with blood spilled on those pages, more often than not it was the second option.
And with Percy it was straight out of fiction, a demigod appearing in a world without his patron gods, filled with monsters and enemies of gods, worse bit that was not the worst of it.
Cursed beings, foes more powerful than the gods and here he was gulping down the pasta like it was the last bit of food he will ever receive, which to be fair if Nyx took notice of him might as well be true.
Speaking of pasta, "Could you pass me-"
*Knock**Knock**Knock*
[3rd person pov]
Three sharp knocks interrupted their thoughts, snapping everyone's attention to the door.
They didn't get a lot of visitors, but the ones they did get were not the friendly kind and they did not have the courtesy to knock, so giving it a chance Joe went to look through the peephole.
Seeing who it was Joe sighed in relief "Oh! Percy you better watch out." Percy looked at him confused.
Joe opened the door to reveal Circe herself standing outside and she looked pissed, Percy immediately tried to dissipate but with a raise of her hand Circe stopped him.
"Uh-Uh-Uh My magic may not work on you brat but your surroundings, that's fair game" Circe said with an edge to her voice, Percy immediately reformed and found two knuckles rubbing his head.
"Ow Ow Ow"
"Oh, lay off it you clam, I know for certain it isn't hurting you." Circe exasperatedly said.
"Hehehe"
Seeing the act everyone couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Shaking his Joe asked "Well it's fun and all but what are you doing Circe?"
Circe's face contorted into one of mild irritation "Why don't you ask the mister busy with stuffing food into his mouth over there?" she pointed at Percy who was looking at them with food stuffed in his mouth, like a hamster.
"Percy, the point of giving you a working phone was to be able to connect to you in an instant not you taking videos of yourself racing and performing tricks in your car." Circe grumbled, Percy gave a sheepish grin not at all guilty.
"Haaah" Circe sighed, shaking her head "What am I going to do with you?"
Kelli, Shell and Joe exchanged glances, seeing Circe acting like some figurative grandmother for the boy was still weird for them, the same Circe who was mentioned alongside Artemis for hating men no matter the age, she was here asking Percy how his day has been.
Joe shook his head. "What are you doing here, Circe?"
Circe's face turned serious. "I found it."
The laughter stopped immediately. All eyes were on Circe as the room fell silent.
"Found what?" Percy asked, leaning forward.
Circe sighed, as if the weight of the answer had finally caught up with her. "The reason the world is the way it is now. Well, part of it, at least."
Circe's announcement hung heavy in the air, silencing the room. Even Bruno stopped gnawing at his food, as if sensing the weight of her words.
"I've tracked down remnants of the force that disrupted the divine balance, caused humanity's extinction, and severed the gods' direct influence on this world."
Kelli leaned forward, her golden eyes narrowing. "Remnants? You're saying it's still... active?"
"Not active in the traditional sense," Circe replied, her voice measured. "But the energy that triggered the event—it left traces, and those traces lead to something." She hesitated, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her face. "But first you must understand, this is not the first time this has happened."
This produced a bigger shock than hearing something is keeping the world in this state, Joe in a grave tone asked "What do you mean this is not the first time this has happened?"
Circe gave a depreciating laugh, "This happens every so often, the world is destroyed around this era or a few hundred years in the future, and resets starting again from the past. This half-destroyed-half-functioning dystopia is merely the transitioning period where it recalibrates. Just this time it is taking a long time."
Kelli in a quiet voice asked, "How-how did you reach this conclusion?"
This time Circe gave a full blown laughter, "Girl, have you not noticed the strangeness of the world, the world is functioning despite the disasters, Some Monsters are behaving civilized, Those are not attacking the demigod after being killed because getting killed breaks the compulsion and I have not yet turned Percy into a hamster despite hating men because some memories and experiences have bled into my soul."
Percy scrunched his, like he had just imagined himself as a hamster, "That's all well and good but it has nothing to do with the matter."
"Well I was just saying", Circe bristled "Remember the device you brought to me from Olympus."
"Yes," Percy said, his voice quieter now as the memory surfaced. When they had first arrived in New York, Olympus had been their first destination. They'd hoped—maybe foolishly—that someone, anyone, might still be there. But the great home of the gods had been eerily silent, its once-magnificent halls reduced to rubble and decay. The golden glow that used to bathe the place was gone, replaced by shadows and the faint hum of unnatural energy.
It was in the throne room, where the twelve Olympian thrones once stood proudly, that Percy had found it.
The pocket watch had been lying on the marble floor, surrounded by cracks that spidered out like veins. Unlike the broken grandeur around it, the watch was pristine, its surface smooth and reflective, as if untouched by time or destruction. But as Percy had approached, a chill had seeped into his bones.
The closer he got, the more the feeling grew—a deep, gnawing dread, like standing on the edge of an abyss that might swallow him whole. His gut screamed that the watch was important, connected somehow to the desolation around him. He'd picked it up, though his hand had trembled, and the air had seemed to hum with dark energy as he did.
"What is that?" Kelli had asked, her voice shaking. She, Joe, and Shell had stayed back, their faces pale.
"I... I don't know," Percy had said, his own voice uncertain.
But when the others had retreated further, visibly unnerved, Percy knew the watch wasn't ordinary. Kelli had muttered something about the darkness "consuming her" if she got too close, and Joe and Shell had refused to approach it altogether.
Percy had pocketed the watch anyway, hoping to have it analyzed by someone who might understand. He hadn't had high hopes at the time; he'd just clung to the faint possibility that the watch held answers about what had happened to the gods, to the world.
And now, staring at Circe, Percy realized his instincts had been right. The watch wasn't just important—it might be the key to everything.
Percy leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Okay, spill. What are we dealing with?"
Circe hesitated "That device, Perseus, is no ordinary trinket. It's a Chronos Shard—a fragment of primordial energy tied directly to the concept of time itself. This one is straight out of the harpe. Such artifacts are not supposed to exist, let alone be lying around the throne room of the gods."
"A Chronos Shard?" Kelli repeated, her voice tinged with disbelief. "I've never heard of that. And I've been around for centuries."
"Few have," Circe admitted. "It's forbidden knowledge. The Titans may have understood it in fragments, but even they feared its implications."
"So, Chronos himself used this to reset the world?" Percy asked.
She hesitated further, and that alone unsettled everyone. Circe was not someone who doubted herself. "Not Chronos, No he is still imprisoned in tartarus in pieces, in the first place a Chronos Shard is a remnant of an ancient cycle, a 'marker' of sorts, left behind when the world resets. But the most important bit is the power used. It's something older than the Titans but not as ancient as Chaos. You must have felt the darkness."
"Nyx." The name alone darkened the room, the shadows seemed much more sinister, the temperature in the room dropped.
"But why? And why is it still like this?" Joe asked a little fearfully.
Circe sighed, "I don't know."
Silence descended in the room, allowing the inhabitants to contemplate the revelations.
Percy glanced up at Circe, "Theoretically, someone of that age should know about it, shouldn't they?"
Circe, confused, answered, "Yes?"
With a big grin, Percy proclaimed, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I know who to ask?"
"Percy, there is no one who would answer your questions without attacking you first." Circe explained "Even if they don't attack you why would they answer you."
Percy's smile didn't falter, "There is one. Atlas."
Bewildered, Kelli asked, "And why would he answer you?"
"Don't know. But it can't hurt to try."
Seeing Percy's enthusiasm, the matter was put to rest and the lunch continued, this time a new plate was prepared for Circe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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