LoSP Ch.65-Pt.2: The Trap

Sunlight shimmered far above, the light of Annabeth’s timer gleaming against the dark waters around our bubble of air as Nico, Annabeth, and I crouched behind a jagged outcrop at the bottom of the lake, waiting for the timer to be started by Grover. 

Nico peered from the gap between the rocks, his leg trembling above the small ledge in the rock, while his knuckles were white against the stone. And I knew what he was looking at.

About a quarter mile ahead, the sea serpent that had been detected by my car lay coiled like a sleeping python, its massive, dragon-like head resting atop a disturbingly cube-shaped boulder. Thick bubbles rose from its snout, and the gills along its neck flared with every breath.

The serpent was enormous—easily over a hundred yards long, with the girth of a commercial airliner. Its scales gleamed like wet armor, broken by ridges of jagged spikes that jutted along its spine. The tail, shaped like a spearhead, curled up from the coils, twitching occasionally.

“Maybe an assault from underwater wasn’t the best idea.” Nico jumped down, nearly stumbling in the wet silt. “That thing out there is huge, and the two of us are useless while we are underwater.”

“Not exactly if you have the right tools and materials,” Annabeth said absently, removing a silver arrow from her quiver and spinning it between her fingers. “Specially designed to shoot targets underwater and explode. So I can do a decent bit, but nothing that’d actually kill that thing. I could get its attention if needed. Not that it’ll be. Percy, you can handle that, right?”

I shrugged. “It is a bit more dragon-ish than the sea-serpents I’ve killed before, but doesn’t seem much different. I once killed three sea serpents hell bent on turning me into monster chow, in less than a minute. This one’s asleep. So, I’ll say there’s a good chance I might kill this one before it even knows I’m there. I’ll certainly try that.”

“What’s the chance it’ll sense you approaching in its sleep?”

“This is technically a hunt. I’ve learned stealth from the Goddess of the hunt, and this is my domain.” I paused. “Not to mention, compared to that thing, I am basically the size of a fly.”

“Seeing how many flies I have swatted away, that is not reassuring,” Nico murmured.

“Once I stab it with my trident, it is just a matter of channeling Greek fire to melt its brains.” I glanced at the stream of bubbles that shot from the serpent’s snout. “And if not that, I can chuck a Greek-fire grenade up its nose. Greek fire happens to be very lethal to monsters, especially when injected into their brains. And a blast, even more so. It’s a bit tiring, but I've got practice and power to spare, especially when I’m in water.”

Nico nodded. “I suppose that’d help. My father said something similar about channeling the Death’s Touch.” As I raised an eyebrow, he sighed. “I couldn’t learn it in time, but he said that if I have an absolutely deadly intent toward my opponent or I am desperate, like really desperate, it’ll work. The ability takes a toll, though, so it is a last resort.”

“You’re still young. Demigods develop more abilities and gain more power as they age. I’m sure you will too.” I waved him off. “Your sister has used that ability before, I think. She reduced a few very deadly and tough to kill skeletons to ash with one single stab.”

“The Spartoi,” Annabeth said. “Thalia told me about them. Only Percy and Bianca could kill them, and Percy did it by crushing their skulls. Though I thought that stabbing only worked on the undead.”

“It is easiest to work on the undead. But it works on monsters and mortals too— Dad’s can work on gods too, which is scary if you think about it. The problem is that the more powerful the target is, the more tiring it gets.” 

“The greater the ability, the greater the price.” Athena’s words rolled off my tongue. “And it is always better to stick to what you can do and do it well.”

“I’ve heard that before,” Nico muttered, glancing sharply as the timer in Annabeth’s hand beeped. “So, do you need us to do anything? Or is the plan to go solo?”

“For the sea serpent? Unless things go very wrong, I’d prefer that the two of you stay back until I kill it.” I cracked my knuckles, letting my armor drape over me as my trident appeared in my hand and the warrior’s helm formed on my head. “Annabeth?”

“Twenty-five seconds.”

“Good enough,” I said before diving into the water. “Keep your distance till I kill it.”

With a push, I shot toward the serpent, willing the water to cloak me, willing myself to disappear in the waves. I swam up, careful to let my will manipulate my movements rather than my feet as I rose higher than the serpent was. 

Carefully, I positioned myself several feet above the dragonic head, hovering and letting my power trickle down the length of the Thyella Kavalaris. The tips of the trident glowed with a faint sheen of sea green as I zeroed in on my target, extending my senses as I did.

Just as I had anticipated, I felt power brush against it. The power of the skies and lightning, mingled with the achingly familiar power that I always felt from Artemis. As the silver-blue light shone across the lake, glinting across the scales of the serpent, I shot down like a meteor, angling my trident at the right angle, pouring my power down its shaft, and my trident’s tips lit up with Greek fire.

The creature’s eyes shot open, snake-like thin slits darting up the sea of orange iris, and it began to raise its head. Unfortunately for the sea serpent, it was too late as my trident sank through the skull as I landed, the impact slamming the draconic head onto the rock. 

“To Pan,” I whispered, unleashing the power gathered on the trident. 

An explosion of Greek fire tore through the sea serpent’s head, cracking the stone below while the water around me boiled, the force reflecting back up. Time seemed to slow down as I felt it, and let my body be dragged with it, shooting up the lake. 

At the same time, I extended my senses, checking up on Annabeth and Nico, ensuring the blast hadn’t hurt them and willing the water to shield them, so it remained that way. 

My head broke the surface of the water, and I went airborne, while water tore through the lake’s shore below, drowning hellhounds and Dracaena. I glanced around, taking in the monster-dust riddled battlefield as I slowed in mid-air. 

Several scores of monsters still lived, running away from scorched craters where silver light shone— Thalia’s work, and Artemis’ too, in a way.  Yet they were far fewer than I had expected. Out of the seven hundred, I was willing to bet there were fewer than half left. Perhaps only a third.

As I plummeted, I willed the water to rise, using it to slide down to the ground safely, before rolling to my feet.

Above me, gunfire roared, raining down on the far edge of the field. But I barely paid it heed as I strode through the field, toward where I felt the greatest power— the two Titans who stood by the forge, looking around widely.

Even from a distance, I could see them almost clearly. Astraeus was a tall man, with long raven hair and pale skin, covered in a shining armor that shimmered, almost twinkling like stars. Next to him, Asteria stood, her hair a shade of silvery-blonde that flowed, while her white eyes stared around at the destruction being wrought.

“ASTERIA. ASTRAEUS.” I bellowed, my voice thundering over the roar of gunfire and screams of monsters. “I give you one chance!” My trident turned to a sword, and I leveled the blade in their direction without breaking my stride. “Surrender or die!”

From across the field, their heads snapped toward me, one pair widening while the other narrowed. Raising his hand, Astraeus snapped his fingers, and I prepared myself as I felt a wave of power roll across the shore. 

Instead of touching me, it wove around and suddenly, as if bound, every single monster stopped dead in their tracks, snapping up in attention like a well-trained army. 

Being trained by Alexander, Athena, and Ares, I recognized what it was immediately. The War command— without the command part. Somehow, Astraeus was commanding the army of monsters like he owned them

“By the will of the Titan Lord,” Astraeus’ whisper echoed, ringing in my ears, even while the explosions rocked the battlefield. “Kill the boy.”

As one, the monsters turned and charged toward me, pulling their weapons out, unbothered by the attacks from above. 

‘What the hell? Is Astraeus a god of war too?’ I prepared myself, drawing on the water behind me, just as I felt Annabeth and Nico emerge from the lake. My heart pummeled. ‘Can’t let him hurt my friends either way. So he’ll die all the same before he can get to my friends. I won’t put them in any more danger than I have to.’

I let cold fury well in my heart and seized the waters, thrusting my sword out while drawing every bit of heat from the tide. As the water shot out, it froze into shards of ice that swept across the charging army, piercing through several monsters.

Heat welled on the edge of my blade, the power thrumming as fire from the craters and burning bushes was pulled to my sword, burning monsters in the way.

A silver arrow whizzed past me, exploding on the chest of a charging Laistrygonian Giant, reducing him to dust. In the next second, the ground rumbled and skeletal hands erupted, pulling a charging group of cyclopes— each about ten feet tall— into the ground and swallowing them with a crunch.

Which meant Nico and Annabeth had entered the field and not only had they entered, but were already on their way to kicking monster ass.

“Percy, get the Titans, we’ll watch your back and sides!” Annabeth shouted from behind, as I saw another silver arrow pierce through the heads of three Dracaena who were stepping in my way, all of whom exploded into monster dust.

‘Better monsters than Titans.’ I tapped my watch, and Coeus’ shield spiralled onto my arm. From afar, I felt power gather and zeroed in on it.  ‘Asteria seems to be doing something. I can feel the power.’

Pushing energy in my legs, I barrelled forward, toward Asteria and Astraeus to stop whatever the two were planning.

Now, the fastest of mortals, after years of training and world records, could run at about twenty-seven miles an hour. An average, untrained demigod of an Olympian, one without any great power, could match the same with a little desperation. And if they were the children of Hermes? They could probably run twice as fast without any training.

Me? I was neither average nor untrained. I was the son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three, and I had trained for years to push my limits. To be faster and better. 

Thus, when I sprinted, my speed was closer to that of a sports car as I ran across the ground, covering the distance between myself and the Titans in seconds as the wind shrieked past my ears. 

Asteria stood pressed against a wall, her blank, white eyes glowing as an orb of pure starlight gathered in her arms— something that made all the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.

#She’s summoning something. Stop her!#

Mid-step, I spun around and threw my shield like a frisbee, straight at her.

In the blink of an eye, Astraeus stepped in the way, knocking the shield out of the path with his spear, sending it crashing into the forge’s wall.

“You’ve interfered for far too long, boy. Not—” He stopped short as I leveled my sword at him and unleashed all the fire I had gathered in a colossal burst of flames that rocketed toward Astraeus, who didn’t even have the time to move before being swallowed by the flames.

Without missing a beat, I darted forward, bringing my sword down, ready to kill the titan. Instead, a spear blocked my sword with a ringing gong, as my sword arm trembled from the force.

Astraeus emerged unscathed, his body flickering as he sneered. “As I was saying, not today.”

With incredulous ease, he pushed me away, thrusting his spear at my abdomen, which I parried, gritting my teeth.

#I don’t remember him being remotely this good. Then again, I barely knew him.# Alexander muttered.

‘He’ll die all the same.’

I attacked, my sword meeting his spear in a flurry of slashes, all of which he parried while behind him, the orb of starlight grew and was now the size of a small boulder.

#Take Asteria down. You can kill Astraeus later. Push him away and disrupt whatever she’s doing. She’s unfocused, so just run your sword through her.#

I gave him a mental nod and moved forward like water flowing between rocks, channeling as much power as I could into my fist— my earthquake powers. 

In Ares’ words, if a bastard made your job hard, you better ensure you make his life equally hard.

And a punch with the power to shake cities to the chest would do that. It had, in Ares’ case and landed him in Apollo’s care for two straight weeks when I had tried it on him during our spars.

I caught Astraeus’ spear in a deadlock and jabbed my fist at his chest, ready to be done with him.

Instead, he caught my fist with his free hand, causing a sound like a large thunderclap to echo through the shore, the shockwaves sending monsters sprawling.

Astraeus didn’t even wince.

“That’s impossible,” I whispered.

Astraeus smiled. “For Astraeus, yes. For me?”

The body changed, the hand around my fist growing in size as the whitish-blue eyes turned to a cruel, cold obsidian. The long hair faded into a crisp, military cut as the man became larger, grinning savagely in satisfaction as I felt my heart plummet.

“We meet again, son of Poseidon,” Atlas rumbled. “And this time, there’s no moon goddess to save you.”

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AND… DONE! Hope you all liked the chapter!

Cliffy, cliffy, cliffy! 

Yes, it is Atlas. The General of the Titans. The Titan of strength and endurance. Percy's titanic counterpart, who gives everyone nightmares. Not to mention, the only Titan whom Percy had to run from (and hand the fight to Artemis).

And he is back and out for blood!

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So, if you’re on Discord, you’ll know that I was contemplating adding a scene at the end of Ch.65 mere hours before it was to be published. Everyone said no there, so I initially didn’t. But then, I kind of got to thinking and decided that this might be good to have in there.

Also, it would enable me to better pace this story and appeal to the readers who crave the action-packed stuff rather than the plot buildup and character building (Which was what the last four chapters were). And I recognize that many want longer chapter lengths, which too would be accomplished in a roundabout way.

This is a solid 2500-word scene, which would be added to the previous chapter, while a scene from it will be shifted to the older chapters.

There won’t be new content, just some reshuffling and polishing to make the previous four chapters slightly longer and bring the action in earlier for those who want it. (Or else they tend to call it filler, which, while yes, in a faint sense they are, but a story cannot be jumping from one crisis to the next.) 

This is a one-off deal as I realized I was, in fact, stretching the arc a bit too much, and I did want to leave this cliffhanger.

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A huge thank you to Mughil and Zaby for betaing this chapter!

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Stay Happy! Stay Safe! Keep Smiling! Keep Reading!

HPfanfictioner66