Chương 24: I fight a Giant

{1 month later}

{Alaska, October 12th 1999}

I was twiddling a golden drachma through my fingers while I formed a shadowy rainbow with the Mist in front of the backseat of the bus I was in for my next destination, Denali National Park.

I threw the drachma into the rainbow I had formed and as it sunk in I began reciting in ancient greek "Ω Ἶρις, θεά τοῦ Ἰριδος, παραδέξου τὴν προσφοράν μου. (Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering.)"

I thought of Thalia and soon a picture of the daughter of Zeus appeared in front of me as she seemed to accept my call. "Hey Thalia." I said while slightly raising my hand to her.

"Hey, Ozzy, how are you?" Thalia asked me with a small smile on her face, "Pretty good, I am going to Denali now, how about you?" I replied and asked the girl who I hadn't seen in more of a month.

"Well, one week after you left, I got a quest of mine and got this little awesome lady." She said excitedly as she walked around and showed me a slightly bigger goat than usual. "It's Amalthea the quest said she's my guide, she came to camp for me." She said excitedly while pointing and hugging the goat's fluff.

"Wait, the goat that gave milk to Zeus, that thing is still alive?" I couldn't help but ask as a somewhat envious look overcame my face since I wanted to touch the legendary goat too.

"Yeah, she still is." Thalia said, while Amalthea bleated approvingly.

"So aside from getting a legendary goat mom, who did you choose for your quest partners?" I asked Thalia somewhat weirded out since I hadn't seen head or tails of her questmates.

"According to my prophecy, I am going to meet both of them on my quest." Thalia replied. "I wonder who they'll be?" Thalia continued.

"I am sure that when you meet them you will know, though let's make a bet I bet that one of the kids will be a child of Hermes." I smirkingly said towards the image of Thalia.

"Okay, I bet that one of them will be a child of Athena." Thalia said smirkingly. "Fine, whoever wins the bet gets a free Mist manipulation on the other." I said to Thalia. "Sure." She replied as the rainbow call started dimming and then shut off.

Just as I was about to get some shut eye, since I was still a few hours away from Denali, a sudden snowstorm appeared around the bus and at the edge of the sight a dark silhouette of a 40 foot men with a pulsing red aura surrounding it appeared.

The snow intensified and the bus was suddenly sent swirling across, the road.

SKRRRRR—CRASSSHHHH!!

The screams of the mortals around the bus, the screeching of the tires and the swirling of the storm created a cacophony of sounds that seemed to intensify as the silhouette at the edge of my sight started walking closer towards me. I quickly pulled my arm backwards and broke the window next to me leaping out of the crashed bus.

The snow started dying down, and my 'sight' focused onto the giant silhouette, a man over 40 feet tall with dragon looking legs, long braided hair, an armor that seemed to be chained through links and in his right hand a huge metallic staff that seemed to have a lot of precious stones around it.

"What the hell is that?" I couldn't help but question as I looked upon the enormous figure standing only a few meters before me. "Why hello, cousin, nice to finally meet you after all the disturbances you have caused in my territory." The giant figure said.

"What are you!?" I yelled towards the giant, "Oh that is disappointing, how could a cousin of mine not recognize me, I am the great Alcyoneus the bane of Hades and Pluto." The giant now identified as Alcyoneus said.

"Wait Alcyoneus as in the giant from the Gigantomachy how the hell are you here, also what was that about Pluto." I couldn't help but question to the giant.

"You don't need to know that, since sadly mother wants you dead." Alcyoneus said.

The giant then started gathering a snowstorm once again and we disappeared from the spot we were previously on, we then appeared in a new place, a glacier. "Welcome to my fortress Hubbard Glacier, which will for you will also be your doom." Alcyoneus said as he raised his staff towards me.

As Alcyoneus's voice boomed across the icy expanse, I steadied my breath, and summoned the spear from my tatoo on my right hand.The cold shaft of the spear filling my grip perfectly as seven huge shadowy tendrils materialized from my own shadow.

"We will see who's doom this place shall be," I retorted, my voice a stark contrast to the giant's thunderous declarations.

The snowstorm swirled around us, a tempest conjured by Alcyoneus's will, as all around us shadowy shades, clad in armor and weapons of different that didn't seem greek with weirdly no aura at all started appearing.

"Let's see how you deal with the warriors which I killed in the past." Alcyoneus said with a huge evil grin.

I wasted no time. With a fierce cry, I lunged forward, the spear cutting through the icy air. The first of the shadowy soldiers met its end upon my weapon's tip, dissipating into a cloud of dark mist. The tendrils followed suit, striking with precision and grace, each movement a dance of death for the shades that dared to approach.

Alcyoneus watched, his eyes narrowing as he observed the ease with which I dispatched his warriors. With a growl of frustration, he joined the fray, his staff a blur of motion as he sought to overwhelm me with sheer force.

But I was not so easily bested, after all I had been trained since birth. Each strike from the giant was met with a defensive maneuver from my tendrils cracking the glacier beneath us since I wouldn't have the strength to block the giants attacks on my own.

The battle raged on, the clash of our weapons a symphony amidst the howling winds.

As the fight continued, I could feel the cold seeping into my bones, the relentless chill of the glacier threatening to slow my movements. But within me, a fire burned fire fueled by determination and the will to survive.

In a moment of clarity, I saw an opening. Alcyoneus, overconfident in his strength and numbers, had left himself vulnerable. With a shout that echoed off the walls of ice, I thrust my spear forward with all the might I could muster.

The weapon found its mark, piercing through metal links in the giant's armor and into the flesh beneath.

Alcyoneus roared in pain and anger, his staff swinging wildly in an attempt to retaliate. But it was too late for him.

My tendrils wrapped around his form, binding his extremities and leaving him immobile, which weirdly left all other the shade warriors immobilized as well.

With a final effort, I pushed the spear deeper, thick blood which smelt like oil gushing out of the giant's wound like a waterfall and onto my child body. I pushed the spear even deeper and with a pop his heart was destroyed, the giant falling onto the glacier beneath us, with the shade warriors dissipating.

"Huh, that was easier than I thought it would be." I huffed as I leaned onto my spear while I looked at the giant's body which didn't seem to be disintegrating.

I kept looking at the body at the giant, when suddenly I noticed something the giant wasn't dead, the wound which I had formed quickly closed and I slowly walked backwards as Alcyoneus began to rise once again.

"Ready for round two cousin?" Alcyoneus said as he cracked his neck and the shade warriors appeared around us once again.