23 TAINTED

"Why are you here?", Athos said, slowly inching backwards. He knew it was pointless to create distance, as Gaea was the very ground he stood upon. There was no escaping her.

"To have a talk. A proposition", Gaea replied, her sleeping face abnormally calm.

"Speak", he muttered. He had to be wary, as Mother Earth in greek Mythology wasn't the peaceful, loving type. Her machinations could flip the world upside down. Literally. Any deal he struck with her would not be in his favour.

"Very well. I want you to join me. Help me topple the rein of the Gods", she answered concisely, a soft smile gracing her face.

"Huh? What? Why would I do that?", his eye's narrowed but not because it involved fighting the Gods. He wasn't the biggest fan of the Gods in the first place. The books didn't portray them in the best light. They were cruel, idiotic and petty. A bunch of superpowered children. But their counterparts, the Titans and Gigantes were no different.

One thing that made the Gods stand apart was that they allowed humans to exist, unlike the Titans and the Gigantes. Dionysis, the God of Wine and Partying had even mentioned that if the Titans ever won, everything that made life worth living, art, music, wine, games....all of them would disappear. Athos didn't want that. He would indeed do many things for power, but destroying the entirety of human civilisation wasn't one of them. He did not want to be a king of a dead world. A world where everything he considered fun was eradicated.

"Hmmm? Don't delude yourself, tainted. I have seen your aspirations. Your goals. You wish to become immortal do you not? I can grant you that wish. But, only if you assist my children in the overthrowing of the Gods. My children, the Titans are stirring, you see. They have broken the shackles that bound them for aeons. Help them, and most importantly help me truly wake."

Athos' brain almost short-circuited. Was Gaea was planning to awaken during the Titan War? That was impossible. What about the prophecies? The prophecy of the Seven was centuries old. It was even carved into the marble floors of Camp Jupiter. If she woke up now, that entire prophecy would be scrapped. Was his presence enough to cause such momentous change? Surely Not. He hadn't done anything particularly damaging to the canon other than slaying Anteas. Moreover, why was she calling him tainted?

"Waitwaitwait, slow down. Why come to me for help? And why should I trust you? Your legends don't paint you in the best light. And why call me tainted? Is there something I'm missing here?", He said, gripping Leviathan so tight that it hurt. He was trying his best to find a way to get out of this situation and the whimpering monsters in the stands weren't helping.

Gaea tilted her head and whispered, "Ah, you do not know, do you....that you are tainted by their touch...But how? You wield a part of them."

She slowly glided toward Athos, reaching out with a sandy arm, but he immediately backed away.

"Do not run child. You can trust me...Your soul is tainted by them. Your presence was what stirred me awake after decades of slumber. I could sense it as I am the closest to them. Well, the second closest now that you are here...You have no inkling of the potential you have. ", she said trying to reach out.

"I can help you, child. I can unearth the potential you possess. Just take my hand. Join me.", she pleaded, holding her arm out at Athos who was getting more and more confused by the second.

They? Who the hell were they? Somebody greater than Gaea? Wait...it cannot be...

"Worry not Athos. Be proud. To be touched by them is an honour that only I have. You could become far stronger than you could possibly imagine. All you have to do.....is take my hand", she softly said, her soothing voice resounding in the silent arena.

Athos' thoughts were a mess, but Gaea's voice helped him calm down. He would worry about him being tainted later. He was currently being offered a choice, not unlike what Janus gave him...but this had far, far greater implications. He could join Gaea and become immortal while choosing to do away with human civilisation as he knows it. Or he could do it his own way. He could pave his own path to immortality and power. Two choices yet again. He could almost feel Janus laughing maniacally, wherever he was.

The first choice was enticing but destroying humanity left a bad taste in his mouth. He did indeed want to become a God as fast as possible, but his trust for Gaea was incredibly low, in the negatives even. After all, she despised the Gods for overthrowing the Titans, and that hate only grew stronger when they defeated the Gigantes who were also her children. It was a hate that drove her existence and something she could not let go of. She wished to stamp out anything related to Gods, and that included humans and well...demigods.

Athos took in a deep breath, calming himself, and looked at the outstretched arm of the primordial.

"No", he said. For once, he would choose the safe path. He could not trust a deity that spent an entire book series trying to eradicate his kind. He'd rather trust himself.

"Choose carefully Athos. The Gods care nothing for you", Gaea replied, her voice gaining a dangerous edge, as though warning him of the consequences of his actions.

"I have chosen. Now leave me be", he confirmed without hesitation. He had told himself that he would never regret his choices and he had taken that promise to heart.

For a few seconds, Gaea's sleeping face contorted in anger but then quickly returned to its previous serenity. She slowly lowered her arm and spoke with the same crackly voice, "A pity. If only I was truly awake, I would've shown you your place, demigod."

She then looked over to the spectator's wall, where Anteas' sandy remains lay.

"But my son's body can assist me in that", she whispered and snapped her fingers.

Immediately, the earth rumbled and Athos heard numerous popping sounds from the stands behind him. He turned around to see the monsters explode into fine golden dust one by one. Each and every one of them. It didn't matter if they begged or pleaded, they died all the same.

He watched in horror as the golden dust coagulated into a large cloud that slowly drifted toward the spectator's wall. It then separated into tendrils and integrated itself into Anteas' remains, which slowly started to raise up, forming a ginormous figure of 18 feet, far larger than the giant's previous height.

"Grnaarggghhh!!!", the abomination bellowed as its body finished forming. It looked to be made entirely of sand and large amounts of it continued spilling out, but that didn't seem to be bothering it. It was faceless, and had four arms but was terribly out of proportion. One leg was bigger than the other while the arms had a similar problem. Large sandy lumps that looked similar to cancerous growth pulsated on its body.

Gaea who was next to him tutted in disappointment, "Not perfect, but more than enough to take care of the likes of you"

She then looked at him and her perpetually closed eyes twitched in anger, "It is indeed a pity. If you had joined me, half-blood, you could have become immortal, undying and filled with power. But now you shall remain as you are, mortal. Weak and puny. Pathetic."

Athos grit his teeth and held Leviathan in front of him as the abomination jumped off the railing, into the arena, forming a far bigger crater than Anteas had.

"Farewell, half-blood. It would be sad seeing you die. Watching a powerful chess piece getting wasted does that to me", Gaea murmured, before sinking into the ground.