Capítulo 11: Chapter 11
POV: Perseus Heitor Jackson
4 years later:
Well, today I'm 8 years old, in these last 4 years things have unfortunately remained the same for me, a lot of training, a lot of training, in fact, apart from sleeping and eating, the only thing I can do is train, both physically, mentally, as well as my divine powers and abilities, I already control almost all my powers, including those derived from Hera, I managed to learn flaming teleportation, which was given to me by being Champion of Hestia, it was a very useful skill, as long as I had visited the place at least once, or it was in my sight, in totally unknown places it was impossible, it was also extremely difficult to use it in the middle of combat, because it took a lot of concentration to use the skill, and fighting an opponent it was very difficult to have that concentration, in short, I have almost mastered this skill. I've grown differently from an ordinary demigod, while an eight-year-old child like me would have to be on average about 125 cm and about 26 kg, I'm 140 and 50 kg, my body is developing very quickly, and I'm already very muscular, in fact I have almost no fat, and my hair is still the same, I can't manage it, but Aphrodite and the other goddesses think it's a natural charm and that I look better this way, I really don't care about my appearance. Aphrodite continues to suffer after my brother Hephaestus, Hephaestus is in full swing, if I may say so myself, his children in the camp are arriving in greater numbers than ever, at least that's what I heard Dionysus report to Zeus the other day, and to make up for it, Aphrodite's are no longer arriving, at least those dating back to four years ago, when this whole mess started, Hephaestus still wants a divorce and won't talk to her, ignoring her and treating her in the worst possible way, sometimes I get angry with him, I really hate to see people suffer, especially Aphrodite, she treats me so well, but my mother told me not to interfere, according to my mother, Aphrodite has already done worse to Hephaestus, so I'll keep to myself, although sometimes I can't stand it and get into nasty arguments with Hephaestus, even though I love my brother. Whereas Zeus and Hera? At first it was difficult, my mother was really determined not to go back on her promise, but Hera decided to give Zeus another chance, thanks to me and I have to admit that it wasn't easy to soften her up, but in the end I managed to do it and a lot of things have settled down, now they've even gone back to sleeping together sometimes, in fact a lot of the time, on those nights I go to Hestia's or Athena' palace, they're very nice to me, I really have nothing to complain about them. But as for my mother, Hera is still the same SUPER, SUPER PROTECTIVE mother, I can't be a minute late and she'll call me or send her army after me, I love her, but it annoys me sometimes, I'm not a baby, and I can actually face a god in human form, because in god form they're much stronger, I've managed to fight Ares and I've managed to hit him, but most of the time, in training, I'm already a fencing master, according to my father, and I use all kinds of weapons reasonably well, thanks to Hephaestus and my training with Ares, because I have uncommon strength, I focus all my training on speed, balance and dexterity, because I have a corpulent body and according to my grandmother, that would be my weakness, since I can't always bet on brute strength. I'm very good at archery, according to Artemis, I'm almost at the level of his huntresses, but according to Apollo, I'm already better, they kind of compete to see who will have the best disciple, although it's me against dozens of immortal girls, which seems a bit unfair to me. Zeus used to train me almost every day at first, although it wasn't because he wanted to make me stronger in his skills, it was more to please my mother, but he told me that I'm already as strong as any of his children and when he managed to get back together with my mother, he stopped training me. Lately I've wanted to leave Olympus and see the mortal world again, but Hera won't let me leave, it's certainly the thing in this world that makes me most angry and my mother, the few times she's let me leave, it was to visit my father in Atlantis, don't get me wrong, I love visiting Atlantis, seeing Rhoda and my father, he and I are closer than ever, we even look like brothers, but I can't do what I want there either, my father isn't overprotective, but if anything happened to me, Hera would kill him, so he's not careless. To give you an idea of how my mother treats me like a prisoner, since I started living on Olympus, I've only managed to get out of here once, and to do that, I had to sneak out of my mother's house with a goddess, Hecate.
Flashback
1 year ago
I was walking around Olympus, observing its natural beauty, since I was adopted by Hera, my treatment among the residents of Olympus had changed drastically, I was no longer just a demigod, although no other demigod was allowed to live here, in short, even though I was the first and only demigod to be allowed to live on Olympus, I now had a direct link with the kings of Olympus, I was treated like a real prince, I was called prince and there were even some formalities with the other residents of Olympus, after all, my mother was Hera, queen of the gods and Olympus, it wasn't as bad as when I was in Atlantis, there I was really treated like a prince, various servants, sea creatures bowing to me, it really bothered me a lot. I was walking slowly through the streets, today was one of the few days I had a break from training with the gods, after all they needed to have some time to themselves, after all I was only a demigod, they couldn't waste too much time on me. But since I couldn't leave Olympus, I had orders from my mother and Hestia, yes, that's what you read, Hestia is also my protector, and that really annoys me, these goddesses who won't let go of my foot. I was walking distractedly through the gardens when I saw Athena and Hera talking on a bench in the garden. It would be a good time to ask her to leave, maybe my grandmother would get into my mother's head.
"Mother, Grandma Athena." I said as I approached them, and they smiled at me. Athena was dressed as usual, in an ancient Greek style dress, the same green as my eyes, she was also wearing sandals. My mother, on the other hand, was dressed in more modern clothes, white jeans and a white shirt, as well as white sneakers.
"Hello, my son." My mother said sweetly. "I was talking to Athena and we agreed that you need to meet a friend of ours, and we've already called her, so she's coming to meet you and teach you a few things."
"All right, it was really boring." I said excitedly, and they smiled, but curiosity made me ask. "And who would this friend of yours be?"
"I've already given you some books about her, our friend is the Goddess Hecate." Athena replied. "We think you need to learn a bit about how to use mist and something about real magic." I smiled broadly, if Hecate was coming to teach me about Mist, then they would let me out into the mortal world, since mist is concentrated and useful in the mortal world, mist is the magical veil that hides the divine world from the ordinary. Athena, seeing my smile and excitement, came forward to say. "And no, we're bringing you here to teach you, not to let you leave Olympus, not yet."
"Of course." My mother agrees.
"DAMN..."
"PERSEUS, WATCH YOUR MOUTH." My mother shouts indignantly.
"I'm sorry." I say quickly, shrinking away from the Goddesses' reproachful gaze. It's not easy having half a dozen overprotective goddesses, yes, even Demeter is overprotective of me, and they're still fighting over me, can you believe it?
"That's right, respect young man, you can't talk dirty, especially around maidens." Says Athena seriously, it's hard to stay here.
"All right, when is Lady Hecate arriving?"
"Lady? Very good, I see that your years here with the Olympians haven't left you feeling superior." Said a voice behind me, I turned and saw a beautiful woman in front of my eyes, she was 175cm, about 20 years old, she had very white skin, straight black hair down to the middle of her back, her eyes were as black as the night, her face was beautiful, and her body athletic with many curves, she wore a black tunic. She seemed amused by the situation and I was getting irritated.
"Superior? For what? For being a prisoner? They won't let me do anything, let alone leave." I said angrily.
"Perseus, you're really starting to annoy me." Said my mother in a low voice, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. She always calls me Perseus when she's annoyed with me, I'd better get out of here quickly.
"Okay, see you later, mom, grandma." I said waving and grabbing Hecate's arm and walked away from the Goddesses, especially my mother who looked like a friend. "Excuse me for being so bold, Lady Hecate, but my mother and I have been fighting a lot lately, and the one who can do the most always wins, that is, Mrs. Hera." I said with my head down apologizing, she started laughing and I looked at her questioningly.
"I'm sorry, it's just that it was funny." She said, still laughing.
"What was funny?"
"You're scared, but you're not ashamed." She laughed, and I had to laugh too.
"And that's more or less it, Lady."
"I think we're going to get along very well." She smiled at me. "Then you can just call me Hecate, Perseus."
"I have the same impression, Hecate." I said sincerely. "And you can just call me Percy."
"Well, Percy, before we start your brief training, I need to get to know you a little better, you're what 10, 11 years old?"
"I see, but my age is actually 7."
"Really?" She asked exalted and looking at me appraisingly, I imagine trying to notice the lie, but I just nodded at her doubt. "Wow, you're very muscular, I even guessed your age because you look about 14, from your musculature, but now I remember that Poseidon isn't physically weak, so why are you so physically strong?"
"Well, I have "the blessing of Heracles", I was born with a strength similar to his, nobody knows for sure why, but I'm very strong and I also have the blessing of some of the Olympians."
"WOW, you must be really powerful, I understand why the gods kept you in Olympus, away from the eyes of the other gods, after all you are the descendant of 3 Olympians, we have never seen another like you." She said thoughtfully. I understood that, my existence wasn't known to many, since Athena had protected me since I was little, guiding and helping me and my mother as much as she could and Poseidon had never introduced me to many, trying to protect me from his many enemies. "I understand why Hera and Athena came after me." she said at last. I didn't quite understand, but she didn't give me time to question her. "Right, I'm going to teach you a bit about the mist and I see you want to go to the mortal world, don't you?"
"Yes, I want to, very much." I said, cheering myself up.
"In order for me to teach you how to manipulate the mist more easily, it would be better if we were in the mortal world, that is, outside Olympus, but Hera and Athena don't want to let you leave so easily." She said seriously, dashing my hopes of seeing the mortal world once again. "However, I don't really like being limited by the Olympians, so we're going out."
"Very nice." I said, celebrating. "It's been so long since I've seen the mortal world, in fact, I don't even remember it, even though I've read a lot of books, through them I've read about many places around the world, but it's not exactly like I know the place I'm reading about, after all, it's just words written on a sheet, I don't even know a place, other than Olympus, the island of Hephaestus here near Manhattan and the bottom of the Sea, which is basically the city of my father's kingdom."
"So today we're going to change that a bit, we're going to get to know the city of Manhattan a bit, I'm going to take you to some really cool places, but first, I'm going to teach you how to manipulate Mist right here, to give you a basic idea." Saying this, she snaps her fingers, her image begins to flicker, as if I were seeing her on a TV screen, in the blink of an eye, I wasn't seeing Hecate, in her place was myself, a perfect imitation, I'm startled, my replicant laughs, but it was Hecate's laugh, it was her voice. "What did you think?"
"Fantastic." I said, fascinated, as I circled around my replicant, there was no difference between the two of us, it was like seeing myself in a three-dimensional mirror. "What about the voice?"
"I can also change the voice." She snaps her fingers. "Now I have the voice of a child." She says with my voice, it was perfect, as if it were a recording of me.
"Ugh, it's a bit scary." I said sincerely, Hecate could do anything with this mutation of mine, she could be me and fool everyone, in my eyes, I couldn't tell her apart from me, it was a perfect transformation. "What an incredible power of transformation."
"Yes, it's incredible, but I'm not using any transformation magic."
"What do you mean?"
"That's just the fog masking your perception of reality, I'm just making you see what I want you to see, hear what I want you to hear, smell what I want you to smell, you can even taste or touch what I want you to taste or touch, but I've never really changed shape." Saying this, she goes back to being the same woman she was before. "Let's see what you can do."
"I've already studied a bit about the Mist in books, and I have a brief notion of what I have to do, I have to think and make you see what I want, don't I?"
"Exactly, you've got the right idea, you can use the Mist, every demigod can, the mist is everywhere, in large quantities, it's such an ancient magic, as old as mortals themselves." Said Hecate, I briefly knew about it, Hecate created the Mist thousands and thousands of years ago, just when the first mortals were created. "As you well know, the function of the mist was to deceive mortals, to hide the gods and monsters, but the mist turned out to be much more versatile, especially in battle, since it can be used to deceive opponents, but also to protect oneself from enemies and to camouflage the Mythological world from the "real" world, so to speak. So let's start, you have to think that this, for example, this." She said, picking up a marble stone from the floor of Olympus. "Think of this as a bar of gold, Percy." I took the stone, and thought that it was Gold, made of pure, shiny gold, for a while nothing happened, no matter how much I thought it was made of gold, but then I remembered that I wasn't supposed to think it was a bar, I was supposed to visualize a bar of Gold, so I changed the strategy I was using, and I managed to make the image change before my eyes. "Congratulations Percy."
"Thank you Hecate." I smiled at her.
"Well, I think our revision is over, it's time to test it in the place that really matters, come on, let's test it in the mortal world." Saying this we went to the mortal world, it was my first visit since the death of my mortal mother, and after so many years it was surreal to be back and see everything, all the people, I have to admit it was very nice, especially to visit Central Park and we really enjoyed the day, at least I did.
Flashback end
So since that day I haven't gone out into the mortal world, today I decided I was feeling rather motivated and disobedient, I'm going to leave Olympus, even if it's hidden from everyone. Even though I had already decided to leave, I was going to try one last time to ask, so I went to talk to my mother, but as soon as I arrived, I had already realized that my attempt was going to be fruitless, because she was talking to Athena and Hestia, surely the three most protective goddesses when it came to me. It's going to be hidden, but I'll try to do the right thing. Hestia was in her ordinary clothes, she was wearing a red Chiton, which for those who have never seen it, it's just a tunic, she was barefoot as usual, and in her childish way, looking about 8 years old, I was already about 15cm taller than her, and Athena was in a white Peplo, which wasn't very different from the Chiron, with various jewels and a black Krêpis, which was basically a leather sandal, and my mother was also in a blue tunic, and sandals.
"Hi, ma'am Hestia." I smiled at her, and she smiled back. I approached her and kissed her cheek; her skin was warm, very warm. "Hello, Grandma." I said as I approached and kissed Athena on the cheek, she reciprocated with another slap on my cheek and she laughed at my grimace. "Mom." I kissed her on the cheek and she smiled broadly. "Mom, I wanted to ask you something, please let me out into the mortal world today?" Her smile immediately faded at my request.
"We've already talked about this, Percy." My mother said seriously. "You're only going out if you go to Camp Half-Blood and it's not time for you to go there yet."
"Listen to your mother, you're too young and too powerful to leave Olympus, Percy." Said Athena, agreeing with my mother.
"But mom, grandma, I want to make friends my own age, meet people, I live in Olympus with gods thousands of years old." I said sadly. "I never have any fun here, the only normal thing I do is play video games."
"And that's all you'll be able to do for now, my Champion." Hestia said sweetly, and even though her voice sounded very sweet and protective, I couldn't help but get annoyed at her refusal to let me leave. "You're too powerful to go around, your smell is too strong, you attract monsters in droves."
"See Percy, don't ask me for something you know I can't let you have, please listen to me, I'm your mother, I only want your good. " Said my mother sweetly, but that only made me angrier.
"WTHAT DO YOU MEAN MOM?" I said out loud, kind of shouting actually. "I'm the most powerful demigod that ever lived, I have a gigantic, almost indestructible dragon to protect me, I'm strong enough to fight Ares in his mortal form." I argued angrily. "But I also have goddesses who won't let me breathe outside Olympus. FUCK, why don't you just lock me up in a cell for good, it'll be easier."
"Watch your mouth, Perseus." I know her well enough to know that she had crossed the line, she was furious with me, and that's not good.
"Percy, listen, we only want your good, my grandson." Said Athena coming towards me, perhaps to hug me, but I was too angry, so I just turned on my ankles and ran off. Come on, I can't do anything, I can't go out into the world. You know what? Today I'm going to get out of here, even if it's by fighting, although I wouldn't stand a chance of getting past any of the goddesses, even if it was Aphrodite, who isn't a warrior, but I could sneak out, that was certainly my best option, I can't use my powers, especially Teleportation, they'll notice. I'll go out through the normal entrance, which demigods who visit Olympus normally use, hopefully there won't be any security guards, after all, few would dare defy the gods, even more so on Olympus itself.
As expected, there wasn't a single security guard guarding the elevator, so I was able to go down calmly, I was going down the elevator, there was a nice song playing, I see Fire, by Ed Sheeren, I particularly love it, because it talks about dragons and their fire. I arrived on the first floor, the reception was packed, lots of people coming and going, so I had no trouble sneaking in among the mortals and going unnoticed, I knew that Olympus's main receptionist is a demigod, but he was too distracted to notice me, so I finally, after so many years, managed to get out, I'm leaving through the doors of the Empire States, as soon as I set foot outside the building, it was incredible to see the amount of people coming and going, cars, motorcycles, trucks, it was a lot of noise and movement, after all, it was Manhattan, as much as I knew that when I returned, I would be in a lot of trouble, at that moment, I didn't give a damn, I was finally free. I walked around the city, it was incredible, so many new people and places, stores and places, that it was difficult for someone like me, who at the age of 8, had only seen the mortal world once, with the goddess Hecate, well, I lived my first 4 years in the mortal world, with my mother Sally, but we lived by the sea, in a remote and quiet place. I was so excited that I went out and forgot to call Festus to come with me, but I won't even need him, I'm just walking, I doubt very much that some monster will find me here so quickly, and I remember a place I've been to for a long time with Hecate, Central Park. When I got there, I was once again impressed by everything, it was incredible, all those colors, yellow, green, blue, red, pink, so many plants and flowers of different colors, all this beautiful nature in the middle of this forest of buildings that was Manhattan, the smell of nature calms me and makes me happy. I was so at ease in this place that I didn't mind getting my clothes a little dirty, so I sat on the ground and watched the children playing in a playground, they were my age, between 7 and 12, but even so, they seemed so different from me, it was a really different world from mine, I've never played with other children, I've been too busy training and locked away in Olympus, it was tempting to join them, it was tempting, but I knew that this wasn't my world, it never will be, I've fought with the goddesses for the last few years for this moment, this chance, to be able to play with children my own age, but now, with this very tangible chance in front of me, I hesitated, this life was so far away, even though I was so close physically, so I turned around and faced the forest, I'd read in a book that there are monsters in the darkness of Central Park, dangers and fights, as scary as it might seem to an ordinary person, going after monsters to face them really made more sense than playing in a playground with other children, after all I wasn't an ordinary child, I was a demigod, this really was my true world. So without turning back, I headed into the darkness of the forest, deeper into Central Park, looking for something to fight, although I didn't have much training in hunting, in following clues, so I spent hours walking around Central Park, although it was an incredibly beautiful place, I didn't find a monster, not even a trail. Finally, I got tired of searching and sat down on the ground, leaning against a small tree, I conjured up a sandwich using the powers of Hestia, and I kept eating it, because of my night vision, a power derived from Athena, I hadn't realized that it had gotten dark, I had been out of Olympus for hours, everyone must have been very worried about me, I was remedying the inevitable, in the end I knew that I would have to face the goddesses sooner or later.
"They'll probably tie me to the bed in the bedroom/cage." I said laughing to myself, I was distracted, I swear I didn't see or hear anything. Suddenly, I felt a strong blow to my head, everything spun around and it started to get dark, I tried to force myself to stay conscious, but it was too late, so I fell into darkness.
---- Break ----
Gradually I came back to my senses, a strong headache was the first reaction I had, I felt that my clothes were wet, when I opened my eyes, I could see that my clothes were bathed in blood, this was not a good sign, in addition I was tied up, I tried to burst the ropes that tied me up, but I couldn't, they were so strong, there was something strange about me, I was feeling weak and exhausted, whoever attacked me, caught me off guard and almost ripped my head from my body. My eyesight finally returned to normal, that's when I saw them, there were monsters surrounding me, I easily recognized which ones they were, after all I've read almost everything about them, but my head felt weird, maybe the beating I received, I couldn't remember things, but I could recognize them, there were some Cyclopes, at least 10 of them, but that wasn't the worst, there were some Hellhounds, I could see at least 5 of them and another 10 Dracaenaes.
"Look who's awake, the little demigod." said one of the Dracaenae in her reptilian voice.
"What do you want with me?" I asked, trying to sound confident, but there really was something wrong with me, I was seeing double, this wasn't normal, I'd taken hundreds of blows to the head before, battling my brother Ares, but I'd never felt as bad as I was feeling now, I could only think I'd been poisoned. "What did you inject into me?"
"That's right, but we also have a few tricks up our sleeves, little demigod." Dracaenae laughed. "We poisoned you, you should have a few hours to live, you'll die an extremely painful death, we wanted to eat you, you smell so good, but orders are orders."
"Have you been ordered to kill me? From whom?" I asked confused, that was very strange, very strange, I don't know anyone who wants to kill me, maybe one of my parents' enemies, they have many, really many.
"You don't need to know." She smiled with satisfaction. Hermes had informed me that the monsters were organizing themselves, and had always been moving in large numbers lately, and that they were stronger and faster than ever, and that meant that something was stirring, but I never imagined that they were so bold as to be so close to Olympus. I struggled with all the strength I could muster, fortunately they snapped, I had very little chance of escaping, but I would die fighting.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to fight very hard to devour me, after all, I am my father's son." I said trying to hide the fear in my voice, I was very dizzy, that little force I made to break the ropes made me even worse, I would surely die, I wouldn't be able to fight. But let's go into battle, I took Contracorrente from my pocket and uncapped it and a 110cm celestial bronze sword appeared in my hand, it was heavy, heavier than ever, if I used my powers to fight in this state, I think I would faint quickly, I couldn't use my powers. I didn't have much to think about, I had to fight, so I lunged at the Cyclops closest to me, and drove my sword into his thigh.
"AAAhhhh...." He screamed in pain, I jumped aside so as not to be crushed by the giant club he was carrying, he slammed it into the ground, making it shake, without missing a beat, I jumped on his club and he threw me up, to his misfortune, I came up perfectly towards him, I fell on top of him, I stuck Counter-Current between his neck and his left shoulder, the sword went all the way through, a mortal wound, he crumbled into golden dust, without even screaming. I fell to the ground, then a black figure slammed into my body and knocked me to the ground, my reflexes were failing, I didn't see him coming, the next thing I knew, a huge black Mastin was standing over me, he was huge, I think he weighed at least 300kg, he held all this weight on my chest, his claws were embedded in my stomach, but luckily my hands were free, and my sword in hand, so I pierced him with it, between the body and the head, he disintegrated with a grunt of pain, I got to my feet with difficulty.
"Well done, kid, you've killed 2, 23 more to go" Said Dracaenae, she was blonde like the other one who had been talking to me.
"Yes, you ugly beast." She hissed like a snake at my offense. "Come on, you'll be the third." I incited her, I barely closed my mouth and she attacked me, lucky for me they were coming one at a time, she came with her spear and shield, and invested in a side thrust, I dodged and stuck the sword between her face and body, going through her throat she couldn't scream, she just disintegrated into golden dust. I was miraculously still alive, but I was already exhausted, my whole body ached, I could almost say I felt the poison taking over my body. But they had no pity for my weakened state, they came 3 at once, 2 dogs and 1 Cyclops, the Cyclops was small, only 250cm, and so were the dogs, a little smaller than the first one that attacked me, but they were very fast, one came from the front, and I hit Counter-Current between his eyes, he crumbled into gold dust, but the other bit the back of my thigh, I kicked him with my other leg, knocking him away, he hit an iron and crumbled into gold dust, now that I noticed I was in some kind of abandoned power station, a shed, I could see the Cyclops and the other monsters laughing at me, I got distracted and remembered the Cyclops too late, but he just tried to grab me from behind, he gave it a squeeze that must have broken several ribs, I could even hear the bones breaking, but he left my two arms free, I thrust my sword into his chest, knocking him backwards, he disintegrated into gold dust, by my count there were 8 Cyclops, 9 Dracaenaes and 2 Hellhounds missing. They were standing still and their smiles had diminished, but they were there, then the biggest Cyclops stepped forward, he was in shabby clothes, he was one of the big ones, over 4 meters, this one would be difficult to kill.
"Well, enough fooling around, you and you, come with me." He said, pointing at two Dracaenaes. "Let's finish him off."
"I'm so fucked." I barely closed my mouth, and jumped to the side to dodge the spear thrown by the first Dracaenae, she was unarmed, this was my moment to attack, I went for her and jumped making a horizontal cut from right to left, and saw her head, flying, her body crumbling into golden dust. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another attack coming towards me, I dodged the spear that came towards me, at the level of my stomach, I locked the spear between my left arm and my torso, and plunged the sword into Dracaenae's chest, which crumbled into gold dust, thanks to my ADHD and dyslexia, in short, my reflexes, I could see out of the corner of my eye the huge Cyclops coming to get me from behind, and behind him an open door that would lead into the forest. And I hatched a plan, I grabbed the spear and attacked, hitting him right in the eye, the Cyclops disintegrated into golden dust, I ran out the door, into an unknown forest, I was already exhausted, but I was already acting on pure adrenaline, I was going crazy, I ran out between the trees, listening to the monsters behind me, the poison was taking its toll, I was seeing double, triple, I bumped into trees several times that I swore were half a meter away, until I came to a clearing, heard the bark of one of the dogs and felt his paw on my leg, only to unbalance and stumble. "Fuck... OW" I felt the bite of the hellhound on my right shoulder, I felt the bonds of it breaking with the bite, the sword fell, I was fighting well with my other arm, I took my sword and stabbed it in the side of its head, it crumbled into golden dust. I stood up, only to see the other hellhound coming towards me, in mid leap, I crouched down and raised my sword, attacking from above, splitting it in half, gold dust flew in my face, dirtying me, it was extremely disgusting. I saw one of the Dracaenae running towards me, or rather, crawling towards me quickly, she jumped up and lunged towards my face, I dodged, but the spear grazed my ear, I cut her in the waist, splitting her in half. I tried to keep running, it was my best option, but now I really couldn't run, I could barely walk, and by my count, there were still 7 Cyclopes and 7 Dracaenaes to go, I took a few painful, slow steps, but unfortunately, soon all the monsters caught up with me and surrounded me, in the forest, my small body gave me an advantage, but in a straight line, in this clearing, I had no advantage. Soon they made a circle around me, preventing me from going either way. One of the Dracaenaes, who seemed to be their leader, walked forward on her tail.
"Look, you really are very strong, but you're almost dead, stop fighting, I promise to kill you quickly." Said the blonde dragon woman.
"Look, I'm not going to give up, I can't, if I do, the goddesses will bring me back just to punish me." I said, remembering that I was screwed with my mother and the others.
"Then so be it, go and finish him off." She said, my body was numb, I couldn't feel some parts of my body, the pain was too much to feel answers. Two Cyclops came running towards me, one from the front and the other from behind, I didn't have much to do, I started running, or at least trying to, towards what was in front of me, my right arm was immobilized, and my legs no longer responded properly, I ran and jumped using some of Zeus' power and flew at the Cyclops, who surprised did nothing, just saw his head flying, and his body crumbled into gold dust, I jumped on the other one hitting him in the chest with my sword, he crumbled into gold dust, I fell to the ground rolling between the legs of another one, and hitting him where the sun doesn't shine, he roared in pain, and fell to his knees I jumped and stuck my sword in his back, he crumbled into gold dust, they all had an average of 3 meters, now there were only 4 Cyclops left. One of the Dracaenae advanced towards me, she lunged with her spear, I used the same move as before, just stepping to the side, and held her spear between my body and my arm, but now I only had one arm, so I forced my body to the side, making the spear slip out of her hands, then I thrust my sword into her chest, dropped my sword to the ground and picked up the spear and threw it at another dragon woman, who crumbled into gold dust. But when I bent down to pick up my sword, that's when it all went wrong, the blonde Dracaenae who was the leader, threw her spear at me, I tried to dodge it, but it grazed me on the shoulder of my good arm, I lost strength in it, the sword weighed three times as much.
"You're dead, Little Hero." She said laughing, there was nothing more I could do but agree with my bad luck, I didn't have the strength to finish off the rest of the monsters. It was at that moment that I was about to give up, a hail of arrows started flying from my back, and they started hitting the monsters, which were crumbling into golden dust, they were perfect shots, they all found the monsters' vital points, usually in the monsters' heads, the ones that weren't killed started retreating into the forest, trying to escape the shots, but at least 5 more monsters were killed. My breathing was weak, my whole body ached, I was on the verge of fainting, I felt like I was burning up with a high fever, the poison was really very powerful. I saw Artemis and some girls approaching me, it was the Huntresses, they were dressed similarly, with dark jeans and silver-colored cold coats, all of them. I could hear the monsters retreating as they ran away from them, which was very sensible. Someone stopped in front of me, I couldn't see who it was, I didn't have the strength to lift my face, I was making every effort in the world not to faint.
"Madam, permission to kill?" Said a girl's voice, from what little I know of Artemis' hunt, perhaps it was her lieutenant, and it looked like I was going to be killed by her, which was not good. I had a brief glimpse of her, I was right, she was Artemis' lieutenant, the first in command among the huntresses, that tiara in her hair confirmed her rank, she was a little over 150cm, small and slim, without many curves, she looked 13 or 14, she had reddish brown hair, tied up in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon, but she had a beautiful face, breathtaking, but she had a ruthless and dangerous expression. Artemis walked up to me.
"Wait Zoë, he's the son of one of the gods, he has the smell of the sea in his veins, maybe he's the son of Poseidon, but there's something else." Artemis said seriously, which made me relax, she would realize it was me. "Let me see him." She grabbed my face and lifted it, I looked into those silver eyes that showed disgust, but when she recognized me, her eyes widened and her face became extremely serious. "OOOOO GODS, PERSEUS, YOU IDIOT, I DIDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE YOU WITH ALL THAT BLOOD " She stood up and hugged me, the other huntresses gasped in surprise, now I don't know if it was because of the hug or because she knew me. "Hera's going to kill you, you idiot."
"Madam, do you know this boy?" Zoë asked, there were about 20 huntresses around me, all with their backs to the forest and looking at me.
"Yes, he's that Percy I told you about." Said Artemis looking at the huntresses, who gasped in surprise again, well I guess they know who I am now, so I guess I'm finally out of danger.
"Even so, I still don't trust him, he's too young and he's sure to make some maiden suffer..." Said the girl called Zoë, but she didn't continue, I saw from the forest that blonde Dracaenae appear in the clearing, sneakily, I tried to warn the girls, but my voice didn't come out, the Dracaenae threw one of those throwing knives towards us, directly at Zoë's back, I didn't think, I just acted, my feathers miraculously responded, so I managed to run to Zoë, who opened her eyes wide, I hugged her and turned her around, that's when I felt a sharp pain in my back and everything went dark.
POV: Zoë Nightshade
We were around the campfire with our lady, in a forest camp, we were a few kilometers from the Empire States, everything was quiet as usual, I had no idea, that in a few minutes, my life would change drastically, all because I had met that idiot with the sea green eyes. We were among the girls as usual, having supper around a campfire, suddenly, we heard the screams of some monsters, they were nearby, they seemed quite excited, Artemis ordered us to go and check, we quickly got ready and went to have a look, when we got there we saw a boy all bloodied, he was probably about 13, maybe more, he was muscular, and he was on his knees, there were 4 medium cyclops, having an average of 3 meters by each other and 5 Dracaenae, but there was monster dust on the ground, the boy must have fought, with a wave of my hand, I ordered the huntresses to shoot the monsters, we killed some and some ran away, that's when I jumped out of the tree and went towards the boy on the ground, stopping in front of him, for sure a demigod, I was in a bad mood today and I already asked.
"My lady, permission to kill?" I said impatiently, Artemis almost gave in to my request, but she stopped and thought for a moment.
"Wait Zoë, he's the son of one of the gods, he has the smell of the sea in his veins, maybe he's the son of Poseidon, but there's something else." said Artemis seriously. "Let me see him." She grabbed his face and lifted it up, but as soon as she saw the boy's bloodied face, her eyes went wide. " OOOOO GODS, PERSEUS, YOU IDIOT, I DIDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE YOU WITH ALL THAT BLOOD." She stood up and hugged the bloodied boy, we all gasped, I'd heard that name before, but I was too surprised to see that scene, in the thousands of years I've been with Artemis, I've never seen her hug a man, even if it was just a young boy. "Hera's going to kill you, you idiot."
"Madam, do you know this boy?" I asked extremely surprised and even incredulous, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it from someone else's mouth, even Artemis herself. There were about 20 huntresses around me, all of them with their backs to the forest and looking at me.
"Yes, he's that Percy I told you about." Said Artemis seriously looking at us, now that she was going to say his last name, I remembered, he was the demigod who was currently living on Olympus, the demigod boy descended from Poseidon and Athena who was adopted by Hera, another thing I could never quite believe, apart from being the son of Poseidon, being adopted by Queen Hera, the goddess most famous for hating demigods.
"Even so, I still don't trust him, he's too young and he's sure to make some maiden suffer..." I said with contempt, I will never trust another man in my life. I was about to send the huntresses after the escaped monsters. But suddenly, the boy came running towards me, surprising me, for a moment I was motionless, he hugged me and spun me around, his face was beautiful and very close to mine, but he opened his eyes wide and spat blood on my clothes and my face, and fainted in my arms, everything happened so fast that I couldn't understand anything. That's when I saw what it was all about: there was a knife embedded deep in his back. That boy came in front of me to get stabbed? The huntresses ran after where the knife had come from and Artemis threw herself down beside us, she was extremely desperate, seeing Percy unconscious, she had tears as silver as liquid mercury running down her beautiful face, I'd never seen her cry either, it was the first time.
"You idiot, why do you insist on disobeying us?" She said, taking the knife from his back. "PERSEUS HEITOR JACKSON." The goddess cried out. "You idiot, WAKE UP NOW." Seeing that he had fallen into a very deep sleep, she looked at me and said. "Zoë go and take Phoebe to heal him, take her to my tent in the camp."
"Yes, ma'am." I ran after Phoebe, fortunately it didn't take me long to find her. "Come with me now" I said taking her by the hand and running back, Phoebe hadn't come to help us with the hunt, after all she is our main healer. I ran and took her into the tent, Artemis was with the boy, he was shirtless and had many wounds on his body, Phoebe's eyes widened at the sight of the boy's condition.
"Gods, what have you heard about this boy?" She asked in surprise.
"We don't know, but please heal him Phoebe, he saved my life." I said, my eyes were watering, I hadn't cried for millennia, not since that filthy pig... since that filthy pig, but I couldn't help myself, I treated him so badly, I wanted to kill him right away, I talked so much nonsense, but he saved my life, without a moment's hesitation, even though he was already wounded and almost dead, and I had treated him so badly, it only made my troubled feelings worse, if even my mistress likes him so much, he really was special. "Why did that damn boy have to take that stab wound for me?" I said looking at Artemis, she looked at me and gave me a hug in response, she was crying too, only she didn't care to show that she was crying over a man, which I never really thought I'd see during all my immortality.
"He's like that, an idiot, always hurting himself instead of others, but why was he so hurt, he's very strong even though he's only 8 years old."
"He's only 8?" I asked indignantly, and she just nodded sadly, trying to control her tears.
"Madam, I'm not able to cure him, my healing powers aren't working, his face is turning green, I think he's been poisoned, I think you have to call my father, or he won't resist." My mistress nodded, although she was in tears, her eyes kept leaking tears the color of molten mercury, she took out a cell phone and dialed a number, her hand was shaking, she had trouble dialing.
"Apollo... no jokes, this is a very serious matter... Yes, I know and I've got him here, he's been attacked and he's extremely injured... yes... bring Hera and Athena, yes Phoebe herself couldn't do anything... He's here, come on." She said nervously and then hung up her cell phone. "He's coming." I stared at Percy's body while Phoebe tried to give first aid to his inert body. Looking at him from here, I could have thought he was dead, but his chest was moving slightly, his breathing was weak and too long. We were silent, only Artemis' sobs breaking the total silence in that tent, until 4 lights shone, and 4 Gods entered the tent. I had seen Queen Hera a few times at banquets on Olympus, when Artemis took us along, she stepped forward and looked at her son, she paled, I didn't even know that gods could paled, but she began to cry, Apollo ran to the boy and began to examine him.
"Leave all of you, just you my child." I've never seen Apollo look so serious, I've seen him tens of thousands of times.
"He's my son, Apollo." Said Lady Hera exalted.
"I know that, Hera, that's why I know you won't like to see what I have to do, now get out." Apollo said seriously. Hera hesitated at Apollo's tone of voice. Athena, who was also crying, took the queen of the gods by the shoulders, looked deep into her eyes and hugged her, surprising me a little to see them like this.
"Let's go outside, Hera, you know that Apollo will do everything to heal you and make our Percy better." She said, trying to force a smile, even though she was still crying. For a moment the queen just stared at her, but then she nodded, and we all went outside crying. Lady Hestia was also crying, I think Percy is very dear to everyone on Olympus, because Apollo was a little shaken and I could swear I saw his eyes were half red. I sat down a little away from the Goddesses, near the other huntresses. Lady Athena was calmer after a while, and so was Lady Hera, Athena came walking towards me.
"Zoë, would you please accompany me?" The goddess asked seriously.
"Of course, Lady Athena." We walked to where the other goddesses were, they had tears in their eyes waiting to hear from Percy, who was still inside the tent. "What do the Ladys want with me?" I asked, bowing in respect.
"Nothing much Zoë, we just want you to be here with us." Said Lady Hestia, her eyes red and tears like molten lava streaming down her childish face. "I'm sure that when Percy wakes up, he'll want to see you."
"Of course, Lady." I said, sitting down next to the Goddesses, waiting to hear from Apollo. Long, torturous minutes passed, then finally I couldn't stand it any longer. "I have a question for you goddesses, if it's not too much trouble of course."
"You may." Said Athena seriously, staring into the gray immensity of her eyes was extremely intimidating.
"I'd like to know a bit about Percy, you know, he almost died for me, I'd like to know a bit about him, if that's not too much to ask.
"Let me tell her." Said Hera surprising me, she seemed the least able to talk at the moment, but she smiled a little at the memories and told me. "Well, he's a son of Poseidon, although I'm his mother too, I didn't cheat on Zeus with my brother Poseidon, I don't know if you know, but he's a son of Poseidon with a demigod called Sally daughter of Athena, the most powerful to date." I knew a bit of the story, but I really didn't want to interrupt her now, she seemed a bit unstable, of course, her son was on the verge of death. "Sally was an incredible demigod, she protected him several times, even from gods like Amphitrite, but one day they were attacked by a hellhound and a Minotaur, she told Percy to run, he didn't want to, but finally he obeyed her, he was only 4 years old, it was his birthday actually, but she kept fighting the Minotaur, so that Percy could get away, and it was at that moment that Percy was attacked by an infernal dog, which bit his shoulder making it impossible, he screamed, Sally went to the dog and killed it, but she was distracted by her son's wound, she was an admirable mother." Hera smiled, but it didn't last and she fell apart. "Unfortunately, the Minotaur hit her in the back with his horn, it went right through her, she couldn't resist that wound and died, but Percy saw everything, he saw his mother in her last moments." She felt sorry for him, seeing his mother die in front of him was too surreal for anyone. "He got angry and took his mother's spear, and went after the Minotaur, in short, with his bare hands, he jumped on the Minotaur's head and broke its horn, yes he has the "blessing of Heracles" so to speak, he is very strong." I felt a little angry at that name, but Percy was different, he was there dying because of me, my carelessness, he's different from that scumbag man. "He broke the Minotaur's horn and pierced it, killing that horrible monster, after that, he cried over his dead mother's body until he passed out, I Poseidon, damn it Poseidon, he can help, call him Athena." She nodded and walked away.
"How did I not think of that before? What kind of goddess of wisdom am I? Crap." Said Athena angrily.
"We took him to Olympus, he" She laughed, remembering something in her memories about Percy. "He threw a liter of water in Zeus' face at the meeting, in front of all the gods." I had to laugh at that, it was too surreal to think that a four-year-old boy had enough courage to mock Zeus in the hall of the gods. "Yeah, he's great, but he apologized to Zeus, and asked to be punished for his outrage, he said that even though Zeus had cursed his mother, he had no right to do that, Zeus blessed him instead of punishing him. "WOW, he really is incredible, not just for being the son of who he is and still being blessed by Zeus, but for having such noble thoughts at such a young age." He became friends with every god and goddess on Olympus, including Artemis, he received Hephaestus' blessing and many other gifts, and about three years ago, Zeus betrayed me again and I was devastated, so he asked me to adopt him and he said exactly that sentence, which I have kept ever since with the sweetest affection and love that can exist." She smiled and I smiled back. " 'Look Hera, you're already my mother, I consider you my mother, I want you to really be my mother, and I know you'd be very happy, and I'll do anything to put a smile back on your face.' " She said, wiping a few more tears from her eyes, I got emotional too, he was an incredible man, perhaps the only one who was any good. "He made me so happy, and when we told Zeus, he stood up ready to strike Percy dead, because I wanted a divorce too, but Percy didn't even know I was going to do that, I stood up ready to kill Zeus, I wouldn't let him hurt my youngest son, but Percy got in front of me and said he didn't want anyone else to die because of him." That was a slap in the face, now I understood perfectly why he had come in front of me and taken that stab for me, I could understand him, he had seen his own mother die right in front of him, how his mind was disturbed by seeing that, he really couldn't see someone else dying "because of him", although if he had died there, it would have been because of my carelessness, not because of him. "And instead of getting in the way of our relationship, he made Zeus and I right for good, and we are now better than ever, better than I ever imagined we could be again, Percy is a sweetheart, my little prince and my love." She said crying, perhaps on impulse, not quite measuring my attitude, I went forward and hugged Hera, and she immediately returned the hug. "It's my fault Zoë, that he ran off like that, he just wanted to have friends his own age."
"Calm down Lady Hera, he'll be fine." I said crying too, I no longer cared about shedding my tears for everyone to see. "He has to be fine." Just then, Poseidon arrived, looked at Lady Hera and she pointed to the tent, he nodded and went inside, he also had tears in his eyes, Hera and I were hugging, Athena hugged Hera on the other side also crying, we were all crying like useless girls, until Apollo and Poseidon came out of Artemis' tent, they were serious, their appearances looked haggard, they looked at each other and as if they had already agreed on something, Apollo nodded to Poseidon.
"Well, the injuries were very serious, we tried everything to help, but we weren't very successful and now it's up to him," said Apollo seriously, with tears like liquid gold streaming down his face. Athena began to cry a lot, and Poseidon put his hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure the goddess. Athena looked at him and stood up, giving Poseidon a tight hug, who reciprocated, Hera began to cry louder, and I couldn't control myself either. Hestia was crying a lot, hugging her knees. Phoebe came out of the tent and walked over to me, hugging me too. "He was poisoned, if I had put my hands on him first, I might have been able to save him, but the poison stayed in his bloodstream for a long time, damaging his internal organs, especially his heart, without it, the advances with the water, Nectar, Ambrosia, with my healing magic, fortunately, we managed to stabilize him, at least for the moment, it's up to him now, it could take a minute or years, I can't tell, and we can't even heal him because it wasn't one of us who hurt him, unfortunately he could die from the damage of the poison, the poison and the Serpents of Tartarus." said Apollo trying to explain, but no one was paying attention to him anymore, we were too busy crying. We stayed for a few minutes without anyone saying a word, just the sound of crying echoing among those present.
"Who died?
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