Chapter 8

Onyx black eyes stared straight into the orange and red flames that flickered to life before him, the light of the flames casting an eerie glow onto the face of the son of Atlas, making it look as if he was evil. His dark eyes glowing with the flames, he rose silently, the shadows flickering over his face and body as he took a few steps toward the pit. Perseus dropped something in the flames, watching as it burned away before closing his eyes.

"To Lady Hestia." He whispered quietly.

He took a few steps backwards and watched as the campfire roared to life, spiraling into the night sky. Out of the fire stepped a young woman, most likely about eighteen years in age. Stunning and beautiful, pale creamy white skin with warm brown eyes and light brown hair falling down her back. A beautiful smile adorned her face, her white teeth bright and shining as her eyes gazed lovingly at the son of Atlas. She took a few steps forward and wrapped her arms around Perseus.

The son of Atlas eagerly wrapped his arms around her in return. "Lady Hestia, beautiful as always." He said with a small smile, the goddesses face turned slightly red in color but otherwise didn't comment. He gave her a peck on the cheek. Before pulling away from the oldest child of Kronos and Rhea.

"How are you Perseus? We haven't spoken in quite a while, I am actually surprised you gave me an offering." The goddess raised her eyebrows curiously at him.

Perseus chuckled in response. "You are the only goddess I would sacrifice to. Or God." He added as an afterthought. "You know I'm not high on sacrificing stuff for anyone." At those words Hestia nodded her head. "But I am doing well," He pushed his midnight dark hair out of his eyes and a smile brightened his features. "I had just slain a Titan and was enjoying a dinner that I sacrificed to the only goddess I respect." He said before tipping his head in respect for her.

"You know I hate when you do that right? Nor do I need for you to call me Lady."

The smile never fell from the son of Atlas' as he chuckled. "Which is why you deserve my respect."

Her face suddenly turned serious, a frown marring her perfect face. "Olympus is in an uproar." He just merely raised an eyebrow in response. "My brother," She said with a slight twinge of venom in her voice. "Is wondering who could be so powerful to easily destroy a Titan. He wants you found and killed." Her eyes were shining with anger and hate towards the King of Olympus.

"That is not so surprising, for your brother is overly paranoid. Does he not realize that I destroyed an enemy of Olympus and saved a quest in the process to find his daughter?" He rolled his eyes as the goddess of the Hearth shrugged in response. "I do not wish to ever meet the lord of the skies. It'll all be over soon." He whispered.

Hestia' eyebrows furrowed in thought and her frown deepened. "What do you mean?" She asked him with a hint of concern.

Perseus shook his head in response. "Nothing my Lady. Nothing." He told her, though his eyes betrayed his words. Showing a tiredness and weariness only she could see through his strong shield and facade that he often put up. It was actually quite surprising and pleasing to see him smile and chuckle as much as he had done so far.

"What exactly are you doing on the quest?" She asked curiously.

"I am saving my sister, I love her dearly despite it all. I wish to make amends but it must be this way, for her sake." Hestia couldn't fathom through his words. Having no idea what was actually happening or what he was doing. He was being impossible to read.

"It was good to speak to you my Lady, but I must be off to help the questers. They always seem to run into a lot of trouble when I am not around. They are nearing Mount Orthrys and they are going to need my help."

"Perseus why do you help them?" She asked. "You hate the gods and many of their children, but you do not hate the Titans. You once fought against the gods for them." Seeing his look of indifference or possibly anger, she could not tell she stopped abruptly. "I'm just curious is all."

"I never fought for them, but I knew the gods would not be that much better than the Titans. Your brother is the spitting image of his father, the rest of the gods are just as unjust. Artemis is man hater who kills for pleasure and the rest seduce mortals to have children that they abandon and leave helpless to the world. If I did not believe that the Titans would ruin the world, if I did not believe that this time they would destroy it. Then I would be fighting on their side. I hope that does not make you think any less of me."

Hestia shook her head. "Not at all Perseus." She told him. "The Olympians are unjust, the Titans aren't any better but they are your family. The Olympians are still my family and no matter what I will side with them. I will not fight for them but I will side with them. I understand." She told him sincerely.

"Goodbye my Lady and again, thank you."

She smiled brightly at Perseus, one of the only to speak to her in the longest of times. "Goodbye Perseus. Do call again, I enjoy speaking with you."

Perseus flashed her a smile as she disappeared in a cyclone of flames.

"Goodbye my Lady." He whispered as the smile slipped from his face. A lone tear slipped down his face.

Perseus pulled his scythes from nowhere before swiping them across in front of him in an x formation. A dark black light glowed in the formation as his weapons vanished from sight. He reached his arms out forwards and touched the center, the darkness covering his hands and spreading across his body as he was absorbed into the shadows. The light of the flames were sucked out of his vision and everything went completely dark and completely black.

His body felt cold, dark and shivers ran up his spine as he traveled. When he felt his body warm and he felt the the light against his eyelids. He opened his dark onyx eyes and leg wobbled as he took a step forward. He never quite knew how exactly he could control the shadows and the darkness himself. He had just suddenly been able to many years ago when he felt a strange pull in his gut as the shadows followed his will without him even knowing it.

When he finally became aware of the situation, he realized he was in a desert. One that he recognized and one that he was not exactly happy about being at. The junkyard of the Gods, mostly the forge god Hephaestus. The crippled son of Zeus and Hera. If he touched or took anything, then there would be a problem he was sure of it. He realized that this was a and that did not have rain, magical enchantments placed onto this place by Hephaestus himself.

The prophecy was very clear, this would be where one of the questers will die. He briefly wondered if there was any possibility that he could stop this from occurring. But Fate was bound to happen one way or another. He heard the sounds of struggle and pulled his blood red bow from nowhere. He reached over the crest of the hill towards the sound of battle, his eyes flashing darkly as he gazed at the scene before him. The five questers were struggling for their life as he eyed them.

His sister and the huntress accompanying her, Bianca Di Angelo. The daughter of Hades as he and apparently only he knew, were standing far away firing their silver arrows with seemingly no effect on the smaller scale version of Talos. Whose wicked and dull bronze blade swept back and forth trying to hit the son of Poseidon and daughter of Zeus who were distracting it. The Satyr was playing his reed pipes, bringing the trash, the wires to life to attack the giant but nothing seemed to be harming the giant automaton. The end of the junkyard was just across the road, the questers had gotten so close.

He pulled an arrow from his quiver that had also appeared on his back and took aim at the smaller version of Talos. His strength and accuracy with a bow much better than any of the hunters of Artemis, meaning his arrow would most likely cause irritation instead of just annoyance as the silver arrows of his sister and her companion did nothing.

Taking a breathe he aimed for the wrist, he let the arrow fly. He released the breathe as he watched the arrow pierce easily through the bronze of Talos and rip right into the center of his bronze arm. Talos made a screeching sound and turned towards where the arrow had come from. Momentarily forgetting about the questers.

Perseus smiled as an explosion sounded, the arrow tip exploded at the center of the connection from his wrist and too his hand. Severing the bronze piece from his body and watching as the long dull bronze blade clattered uselessly to the ground.

The questers distracted as well turned to where the arrow had come from, the dark figure standing atop a pile of scrapes. Only the daughter of Zeus was aware enough to strike the moment Talos was distracted, driving a blade into the back of Talos' Achilles since the Titan Perses had snapped her spear in half and rendered it useless.

The giant bronze automaton roared and collapsed to the ground in a heap, the daughter of Zeus nimbly rolling out of the way to avoid being crushed. Perseus saw his opening and fired three more arrows within the span of a second. One hitting his arm and exploding as it had done before. The other two hitting the giants face, which was either thicker and stronger bronze, or there were magical enchantments upon the automaton as the arrows deflected of the bronze.

"Shit." He muttered, while both the hands were gone, he could still kill any of them easily as Talos rose from the ground and began trying to step on the daughter of Zeus and the son of Poseidon. Before he could fire anymore arrows the daughter of Hades had jumped under the next step. 'What was the girl thinking?' He wondered. 'Did she want to die?' As Talos stepped down and presumably crushed her under its foot.

But suddenly, the automaton began to walk funny, trying to punch itself in the face with its stubs for hands and wondered what was happening when he heard the son of Poseidon cry out. "Go Bianca."

So the daughter of Hades was inside controlling the Automaton.

He fired another arrow this one exploding the knee and forcing Talos to the ground and become immobilized. Wires from the ground came up and wrapped around Talos' leg sending wave after wave of electricity into the giant bronze monster.

The daughter of Hades was going to die and there would be nothing he could do or any of them could do as the daughter of Hades perished. Suddenly the bronze figure exploded outwards and the debris exploded into the air, his sister cried out in terror as the daughter of Hades seemingly exploded with the automaton.

Perseus walked towards the questers, his weapons gone.

What he was met with was a bronze blade and a silver one. Both the daughter of Zeus and the son of Poseidon held their weapons towards him, prepared to strike. The Satyr was staring at him warily with his reed pipes close to his lips. As if preparing for a fight and his sister, oh my.

She was sobbing, her eyes bloodshot. Zoe was on her knees, her bow gone from her hands.

"Enough daughter of Zeus, son of Poseidon." He told them sternly before looking at his sister, who had turned towards him at the sound of his voice.

"Percy." She sobbed in a broken and shattered voice