❝ More To The Story ❞

"Hey Annabeth, why Dan isn't here?" I wiped the sweat on my face with my camp t-shirt sleeve. I hadn't realized that Dan was nowhere to be found. He usually stayed here in the summer.

"Well," she shifted on her feet. "Dan's mother died in a fire, so he went to his relatives' place for her funeral." She said quietly.

I stared at her, unable to process what she had said. He lost his mother, and he never bothered to inform me. But I could understand him, he didn't have to think about anything else.

Dan always spoke about his mother, he said she was the best in everything, the best mortal, the best mother and so much more, his mother was very dear to him, her death must've been very hard on him.

"How did that happen?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know, the neighbors say that it was an electrical issue, they say it might be the cause of her demise."

"I sense a but coming there."

"That's right...Dan blames Zeus for her death," she confirmed. "I don't think Dan will return anytime soon, he left a day before you came,"

That meant I wouldn't be seeing him until next year, I had to go. I wished I could comfort him, but he wasn't there.

"I understand," I said. "Anyway, I'm going to Astrelaia tonight, so-"

"So soon?" She asked.

I sighed. "Yeah, I'm leaving."

"Okay," she hugged me. "But remember to ires message me."

"Of course," I promised.

Later that day I was at the canoe Lake, thinking about all the events that happened in the past, Krios and Kronos, two major Titans actively entering people's minds and confusing them to do bad things.

What could this mean? One thing I knew was that something worse was planned for the future.

"Aqua! I heard you are leaving." Percy said, appearing behind me.

"Yes, so what?"

"I came to say good riddance." He sat at the edge of the lake.

"Same to you, now leave."

"Do you always have to be this pricky?" he asked.

"Wasn't it you who came to say good riddance?'

"Learn to take a joke, Aqua," he dipped his feet in the water, glancing at me.

"Well, I didn't laugh, bad joke,"

"Why are you leaving?"

"Because I can?"

"That's not the answer I wanted." He muttered.

"Fantastic! I don't answer according to your needs."

He was silent for a long time, playing with the water. I sighed.

"Sorry, I'll ask again, what do you want?"

"You aren't going to answer anyway." He said.

"I will if your question makes any sense."

"Why are you leaving?"

I gave him a 'Seriously?' look

"I'm going to visit my father and siblings."

"Wait what?!" his jaw hit the ground. "You can visit your godly parent just like that?"

"I guess," I smiled.

"That's so unfair," He frowned. "Why can't I do that?"

"You have no idea what's unfair, kelphead,"

He opened his mouth to say something but decided to shut up.

"Okay, but you can always visit him, right? Why this soon?"

"I have to go to Hogwarts, I won't have much time."

"Hogwarts?"

"Yes, Hogwarts." And then I realized that I never told Percy I was a witch.

"Okay, I'll tell you something, but if you ask any stupid questions, I'll be sure to rip your throat."

"Go ahead."

"I'm a witch," I said. He opened his mouth.

"No," I cut him off. "Not the one you imagined in that brainless head of yours."

"How?"

"Some are born as wizards, while some develop wizard's characteristics as they grow up."

"What about you?"

"By birth."

"I guess your mother is a witch," he said. "I mean, by birth means one of your parents must be a wizard or witch, right?"

"Yes, she is," I confirmed.

"Maybe I'm a wizard by any chance?"

I laughed. "No, Percy, if you were one, your letter must've arrived last year."

"What? A letter like 'Hurray, you are a wizard, Percy'?"

I laughed even louder. "The acceptance letter of the magical school you will attend."

"So I'm not a wizard?"

"Nope."

"When did you get your letter?" He asked.

"Last year," I said. "Enough of this, it's time for dinner."

"You said you are leaving!"

"I'm leaving after dinner!"

True to my word, I left as soon as eating. Night travel can be fun, until you get lost somewhere.

It was dark, darkness was all I could perceive, not a single ray of light, no movement. Where was I? Why my night vision wasn't working?

I took a step forward, nothing seemed to be in my way. I continued walking until my feet hurt, there were trees, I wouldn't be able to fly without bumping into them. I doubted if I was even alive, after wandering a few miles-at least I presumed it was a few miles, I found something grey, like smoke, or dull light. curiosity got the better of me and I went there. It was indeed fog and suddenly the atmosphere got colder than ever, and the smoke morphed into a figure.

Krios.

I stood there in fear, the ruthless Titan I saw in my nightmare, now stood before me-very much alive, was I in Tartaturs?

"It's already too late," He growled. "But still, you have one last chance to join us, it's only fair you do justice to your kind, girl."

I was too stunned to speak anything. I blinked trying to believe it was just a dream, maybe I'll wake up, but to no avail it was reality. A couple of minutes passed and,

"SPEAK UP!" Krios bellowed. I flinched, realizing that I can't escape, I finally replied,

"My answer is no, and that's final!"

I could see his eyes narrowing behind the rim of his helmet, the cold cruel look, I was scared, but I needed to brave my fear.

"Foolish child," he finally said. "If that's it, then you are no use to me!"

He unsheathed his long sword, and suddenly a hand grabbed my arm and dragged me, I yelled and kicked, but no use. After reaching far away from that smoke, the hand let me go.

I didn't know what had happened, I just hoped to wake up.

A faint blue light glowed behind me, I turned and I saw someone holding the flare in their bare palms.

"Deimos!"

He laughed uncontrollably, "You were scared, weren't you?"

"You!" Anger boiled in my veins. "Stop laughing! Do you think it's funny to almost give me a heart attack?"

"Hahahaha! Calm down," he said between laughers.

"What the heck is this place?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "You really don't know?"

"Of course not, what makes you think I know what this place is?"

"The dark forest." He said.

I let out a sigh of relief, but then,

"The dark forest you say?!"

"Jeez, don't scream. Yes, the very same." He said. My voice echoed horribly, maybe keeping my tone low will help prevent insanity.

"But we cannot get out!"

"We can."

"How?"

"Do you seriously think the dark forest will not let us, the residents of Astrelaia out?" he said. "It's just a rumor about it, the dark forest does have a way out, it just works in different ways."

"No one ever told me about that," I stated.

Deimos scoffed. "What you would have done if you knew there's a way in and out?"

"I would've gone inside for some exploring," I said quietly.

"Exactly!"

"But-"

He cut me off. "Don't argue, solely because you can find a way out of the dark forest, doesn't make it any less dangerous, and you couldn't have possibly found the way out by yourself."

"Are you underestimating me?"

"I'm telling the obvious, you could have easily night traveled again and gotten out of here, or lit up a flare and found the way," he pointed out. "But you did neither."

I felt stupid, I had many possibilities of doing it on my own, but my mind was just panicking, I was such a fool.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"It's alright, we'll be out of here in no time."

"What are you doing in here, anyway?" I asked him.

"You're in luck, kiddo, I was hanging out with my friend,"

"Hanging out in the dark forest?" I scoffed.

"Yes, I don't know what you're seeing but we both are definitely not seeing the same thing. This place is pretty awesome," He grinned.

"Your friend sees the same thing as you?"

"Nah, but she would've not seen what you did,"

"So it's a she, huh?" I wiggled my eyebrows.

He looked at me over his shoulder. "Yes, so what?"

"Seems like she friend-zoned you,"

Deimos stopped in his tracks. "We're friends, yes, but we don't do friendly things," he smirked and I didn't understand him.

After some time, I saw a faint light in the distance, the end of the forest. We got out finally and Deimos led me to the palace of dusk.

"Hope you can find the way to Father's chambers?" He asked mockingly.

"Of course," I rolled my eyes. "I don't need your help anymore."

"That's rude."

"It was meant to be."

"Whatever." He muttered and left.

Catching up with Dad wasn't hard and he explained that the smoke in the dark forest was just an illustration, apparently, that place was made for the purpose of confusing people who try to enter Astrelaia, but Dad suggested that might be Krios himself, I realized it would be better if I just take some rest.

"So the dark forest is harmless?" I asked him.

"No, it is dangerous."

"How could someone even enter?"

Dad sighed, his intense blue eyes looked tired. "Do you think Titans are free now?"

The question caught me off guard.

"That's off-topic."

He shook his head, "Answer me."

I thought about that, "No, most of them are still suffering their punishments."

"Most of them?" He asked incredulously.

"Dad, if you are trying to say something, then do."

"No Titan who participated in the war is truly free or without any punishment."

"I don't quite understand."

"Til this day, everyone who stood against the Olympians is still suffering from their punishments."

"Like Calypso and Atlas?" I guessed.

"Are they the only ones?"

"No..." I said.

Dad smiled sadly. "Do you know what is mine?" He asked.

I slowly shook my head. Though I knew he participated in the Titan war, I never bothered to learn about his punishment, but why didn't this occur to me before?

"I didn't actively fight them," he got up, his eyes gazing into the starry sky. "The golden age was coming to an end and I knew it. The stars warned me, they always have. But I couldn't turn my back on my family, my brothers were determined to fight and my father was bloodthirsty for a victory that would never occur. I had to be wise, I should support the Titans and at the same time I must not involve myself directly."

"I helped the Titans by sending them a huge army of my warriors armed in high-quality Astrean silver. I supplied weapons. Manipulated gravity and time and weather to a certain extent. But I knew they were helpless against the Olympians."

"Aquila, The Titans were never weaker than the Olympians, never. Fate, you see, will get things done no matter how impossible. When I looked at the stars and predicted the downfall of the golden age, it sounded almost funny because small little Olympians defeating the mighty Titans couldn't happen. But fates written in the stars are never wrong, they will happen."

"I warned my brother, Pallas because he was the only one I cared about. He laughed at me, saying I was a coward, but his wife and children took me seriously and sided with Zeus. Look at his fate now, he was killed by Athena, I'd captured his essence and made him a river."

My jaw dropped. "That's literally Pallas? I thought you just named it after him."

He chuckled. "Of course, he's not just a river, Pallas is physically present in Tartarus, but his essence, sort of like a consciousness is what the river is. Your sword was cooled in River Pallas, the titan of Warcraft, you have his blessing."

"That's nice to know," I said.

"Zeus somehow found out I'd supplied weapons but since that hardly ever made a change, I wasn't sent to Tartarus. Besides Krios, I was the only cosmic deity, they needed me. I was to be trapped in an abyss, can you guess?"

"Astrelaia," I said quietly.

"Yes, Astrelaia was once nothing but a dark Abyss. I turned it into a kingdom, my once mighty warriors and their families and the star nymphs, followed me in here. I thought this wasn't bad at all but Zeus had others plan."

The temperature dropped several degrees and I involuntarily shuddered.

"He took something from me, something so valuable." He grimaced.

"What is it?"

"The cosmic orb," he said. "I traveled all across the universe for thousands of years to collect the rarest of crystals, and metals, it was very precious and dear to me. I made an orb out of all the materials I collected, it was a source of my power and a dear artifact."

"After the Titan war, Zeus destroyed the crystal orb! He damn destroyed it!" I've never seen him even speak a little loud. Normally he spoke so calmly that I thought he was incapable of frustration, but now I could see his anger. It scared me.

After a long tense silence, he spoke,

"I wouldn't have minded if he'd used it for something, or kept it somewhere hidden, but he destroyed it like it was nothing!"

"Thousand years of hard work and dedication, like it meant nothing," He stated. "He didn't understand the worth of the orb, no one can ever find a beautiful thing like that. No one. Not in forever."

"He also made sure I wouldn't leave earth. He hid away my chariot so that I couldn't travel the universe."

"But why?"

"He was afraid, he couldn't leave me just like that after he knew I wasn't neutral or on his side. Without my chariot and the orb, I was weakened in power. But now, the only thing I can't do is travel out of the Earth, which is the only thing that eats me alive."

"I'm sorry, Dad, you don't deserve this," I hugged him.

"Stellula, I very much regret losing my chariot and orb but over time, I've made peace with it. It doesn't bother me as much as it used to and I know, for one, that Zeus will meet his downfall one day or another. That's how fate works. Everything is temporary"

He clicked his tongue. "Moral of the story, don't go into the dark forest and keep your belongings safe or some Gorgon will destroy it."

We both laughed. "True." I agreed.

Days passed in a blur, the usual routine, until that day.

"I'm not wearing that!"

"Oh come on, it looks beautiful!" Vega suggested.

"Ugh, do you always have to be a living wardrobe?" I expressed.

"I just want to see you in this dress."

"That won't happen in forever."

A star nymph entered my room, with two letters in her hand,

"Miss Aquila," she handed me them, one was from Hogwarts, the other from Annabeth?

"Thank you." The nymph nodded and made her way to the door.

"Is that Athena's daughter Annabeth?" Vega asked.

"Yeah, how many Annabeths do you think I know?"

She ignored my reply and asked, "What is the letter for?"

"I don't know, yet."

"Then go ahead, read it."

I opened the envelope and recognized her handwriting, it read;

Hello Aquila,

How are you doing? I don't really know how to write letters, so let me come to the point. Luke betrayed us, he was working with Kronos and he tried to kill Percy with a pit Scorpion, I guess Luke stole the master bolt and the helm of darkness and wanted to give it to Kronos, but Ares stopped him and...you know what happened.

Be careful,
Annabeth.

I was still processing the information, the words of Oracle,

You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.

I never expected it would be Luke.

"What's the matter?" Vega asked.

"The prophecy came true..." I muttered.

"What?"

"I'll explain everything later."

"Okay, at least try on this dress!" She whined.

"Now's not the time, Vega."

She mumbled something about how much tasteless I was and left the room.

I was alone, with all the shocking truths, it must've been hard on Annabeth, she always admired Luke, I'm not sure in which way though.

An unsettling feeling embraced me, I was wondering if anyone on earth could be trusted, why would he do that?

Why?

The question never left my mind.