Chapter 75: Knowledge got me killed

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♥︎◆♣︎♠︎ || Book 6: Still Alive || ♥︎◆♣︎♠︎

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Chapter 75: Knowledge got me killed

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(Percy POV)

Dying was the worst choice I ever have made in my life, both my lives.

Which is a contradiction.

First I was like, well. This should be fun but it wasn't. Not at all.

The scrap metal in my stomach was still burning hot, burning away my guts.

Die a painful dead in water Styx whispered cruelly.

As I was descending deeper into the water I saw a light source above my head, but it was impossible to see something except that it was blinding me.

I tried to say something before it was too late but only bubbles spurted out of my mouth and I silently cursed, if this went wrong...well, I was already dying.

I concentrated, using up everything I had left in me I managed to mutter three words before dying at the bottom of the ocean.

...

My mind swirled around in circles, memory popped up and faded.

Martha opened her mouth and coughed up a white letter.

Hermes caught it with ease and handed it to me.

I frowned, this was important right? I suddenly felt a jerk in my gut but before I could wonder what was happening I was dragged back into the memory.

Playtime's over, prepare to die.

I have received a lot of death threats in my life, mostly I put them in the spam folder but there was something important about it.

Then it struck me. This letter could not be traced by Chaos.

Normally I would ignore it and move on with my life but in my years as a demigod I learned not to ignore those things, they mostly get you killed; which in my case is kind of what happened.

Here I was, with a death threat that couldn't be traced by Chaos.

My first decision was to assume this was not a joke or a loose threat or maybe avoid dying. Something was going on with my second life, the prophecies and the oracles always acted weird around me, I had strange anomalies which did not made sense.

I was going to die.

Instead of trying to prevent it, trying to work around it I decided to have peace with it. If this really was something from an oracle or whatever trying to defy it would do no good.

Defying a prophecy is like building your own trap and then step in it; in the end it always got you.

Of course, I could decide to die but if I die the prophecy would pass on to Nico, Luke would be stuck with Kronos and a lot of innocents would die.

I couldn't let that happen.

Another jerk, my body shook, and I was pulled out of my memory and thrown into another one.

I flipped the note and began to write on the back.

It was hard to choose the best words without looking crazy or pathetic but ultimately I wrote down the words: Hey, if you're reading this. I am dead. Sorry for all the commotion. However, I want you all to wait a month after I died with all the planning and crying. I might have found a loophole. If I'm not back after a month, I probably failed. In that case more instructions should magically appear on this note.

Greetings Percy Jackson.

I put it back in the envelope.

My body began to dry itself, then I realized I was actually wet; which shouldn't be possible since I was a son of Poseidon, then again. I just died in the sea.

"Choosing death? Both of you? An interesting choice." A male voice suddenly said, startling me but before I could trace the voice I was dragged back in another memory.

How to escape death? I wondered, I knew a few people who had escaped death, Sisyphos, Hazel, Houdini and Leo.

Maybe I could pull a Leo and use the Physician's Cure, however I didn't have a metal dragon to revive me after I'm dead. Maybe Nyx could do it for me but what if I died in flames and my body would be burned away? Or what if I died alone?

Now the Physician's Cure was not an option.

What about escaping Hades? Maybe they would send me back, unlike Hazel I was not a child of Pluto, besides, escaping Hades was hard. Maybe it would be possible, but it would be a long shot. However, I knew it was almost impossible to do it, and if I succeeded. Well, who knows what the Gods might do.

No Hades was not the answer.

Suddenly my eyes flew open, I gasped for air and try to see where I was but the only thing I saw was gray mist swirling underneath me, it was so thick kit made me dizzy, and I was dragged in yet another memory.

Katie, she was dead. In shock, I stared at Nótt, "You're joking right?"

"Nope." she said casually.

'Percy, there might be a way to get Katie back.' Hemera said which made Nótt flinch.

"No." She is dead Nótt said.

'But she died in Jötunheimr which means her soul won't go to Hades.' Hemera had answered.

Helheim.

Her soul did not go to Hades but to Helheim because she died on Norse territories.

Then I realized it, there were multiple afterlives and it was possible to manipulate to which one you go.

"STOP Struggling!" someone yelled from above me, I frowned. "Huh?" I asked smartly, still feeling fuzzy in my head.

"Do you want to fall in the Ginnungagap?" she yelled, it was definitely a she.

I had no idea what a Ginnungagap was, but falling in a place I could not pronounce did not sound good for my health.

Ginungap, Ginniegaagap?

No, I could not pronounce it.

I decided it was better to cooperate with the voice.

There were like 42 guys in the Egyptian afterlife I was supposed to know by name, I remembered that fact suddenly.

'Why was that important?' I wondered, then I remembered it.

I had been researching the afterlives, trying to figure out an effective way to cheat death, so I could continue on with my mission.

But the Egyptian afterlife was not an option, I knew nothing about them and after researching it; it made me even more afraid of dying.

Besides, I've only heard one story of someone returning to earth, and that was even illegal.

Setne.

But I couldn't do such a thing.

Then I remembered something; someone who died and came back to hang out on earth.

Chase.

Magnus Chase.

Going to Valhalla, Magnus did it, and I knew that it was possible for a Greek to get to another Pantheon's afterlife thanks to Katie.

What were the terms for Valhalla? I had spent hours in the library, trying to find out as much as I could. Turns out, getting in Valhalla was not as hard as getting into the Egyptian afterlife.

The only things I had to do was: Have a connection with the Norse gods, die with a weapon in my hand and die a heroic death; preferably a sacrifice.

I had a connection with the Norse Gods, my best friend being one, or at least one of her aspects. I met Loki, Thor and Hel so connections with the Norse Gods was good.

Die with a weapon in my hand. I could manage and the same for a Heroic death. Being a demigod gives you a lot of opportunities for a heroic death.

But would it work?

I wasn't sure.

Until Halloween.

Oh, that was so much fun. Getting to a spooky church in Brooklyn and returning the Helmet of Darkness for a third time, thinking about it caused me to have another flashback.

Hades's expression turned to happiness, "Well demigods, you did a great job."

"What was Melinoe talking about when she said fear will raze through the streets?" Annabeth asked. Hades shrugged, "I think it was a loose threat. Don't worry." "So the quest is over? Can we go home now?" Thalia asked.

Hades shrugged, "I think it was a loose threat. Don't worry."

"So the quest is over? Can we go home now?" Thalia asked.

"Yes, you can return to whatever you were doing." he said, and he waved his hand, shadows engulfed our bodies but before my vision darkened Hades said one thing, "And Percy, the answer you're looking for lies not in Olympus."

The answer you're looking for lies not in Olympus.

Not in Olympus.

Like, not in the Greek Pantheon?

Did Hades just told me the plan could work?

Or was it just some mis interpreting from my part?

I needed a second opinion.

"Your plan is complete madness!" Lyssa had told me. "I like it!"

This didn't mean anything since she was the Goddess of Madness.

Suddenly I was forcefully pulled out of my memory and dropped into another memory, except it wasn't a memory.

It was a vision; or at least I must have been because I didn't remember anything.

I stood on a stone platform, at the edge of what looked like an indoor swimming pool filled with lava. The air shimmered with heat. Ashes stung my eyes.

I stood next to a woman, she looked around 18-20 years old.

She had long auburn hair gathered up in a doughnut braid and wore a gray sleeveless dress.

She had eyes black as pearls, filled with bitterness and sadness; like she witnesses the fall of the world and was forced to see it again.

"Tell Percy," she said, which made me wonder if she was aware of me, "It's time to strike back and dethrone the emperors. Free me, use fire against fire. Use the…"

She choked and it sounded so bad I flinched, "Are you alright?" I asked, but she didn't hear me.

She was choking like she was throwing up glass shards, finally she said. "Seven letter word. Stars with M ends with S."

"What?" I asked the vision was already fading away, instead I was falling of the Liberty statue again.

I landed in the water and muttered my final words. "I claim Valhalla."

Words ran through my mind, a female voice. The same voice that had told me not to struggle.

"Don't make me regret this," she had said.

My consciousness faded.

...

I woke up gasping for air, expecting to feel pain.

I was sitting on the floor. I quickly got up and looked at my guts. The gaping hole was gone.

My clothes were not burned away by Greek fire, my camp-halfblood shirt was not torn apart by scrap metal, I was completely fine.

My head swirled as one thought ran through my head, 'I made it!'

'Oh my Gods, we made it!' Chaos cried out, 'We made it!'

After the excitement of being alive died down Chaos said. 'Of course we would make it.'

I took a look around.

I was standing in the entry courtyard of an opulent town house. Eight storeys of imposing white limestone and grey marble jutting into the winter sky. The double front doors were dark heavy wood bound with iron. In the center of each was a life-size wolf's-head door knocker.

There was no exit. Only fifteen-foot-tall white limestone wall surrounding the courtyard, not even a front gate.

Over the walls I could see a few skyscrapers and surrounding buildings, which meant I was still in the mortal world.

On the wall hung a bronze sign, saying: WELCOME TO THE GROVE OF GLASIR. NO SOLICITING. NO LOITERING. HOTEL DELIVERIES: PLEASE USE THE NIFLHEIM ENTRANCE.

Suddenly I heard a sound coming from behind me, I turned around and saw someone sitting on the floor.

I probably overlooked him in my excitement.

He gasped for air, and his hands went to his stomach, touching it like he expected it to disappear any moment.

He got to his feet, not having me has noticed yet, and studied himself with surprise.

He was around one or two years older than me and had a pale skin.

He had storm grey eyes, like Annabeth's, his hair parted in the middle, hanging to his jawline in a curtain of tangled dirty blond.

He reminded me of that guy from Nirvana, what was his name again? Kurt Cobain.

I smiled, I knew this guy.

"Hey!" I called out, startling him. It was clear he hadn't noticed me.

"Who are you?" he asked when his gaze fixed on me, "Where are we?"

I decided to pretend I didn't know him. Otherwise, things might get messy.

"I'm Percy Jackson, who are you?" I said ignoring the second question.

He frowned, "Where are we?"

"What's your name?" I asked again.

He studied me, finally said, "My name is Magnus, Magnus Chase."

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Boom, big reveal! Who expected this?

The crossover officially started, also, for the people who haven't read Magnus Chase yet. I encourage you to stick around. I will write from the idea the protagonist don't know anything about the Norse Gods. So if you don't know it either, you can learn it now!]

Also, this will have some minor changes to the cannon storyline, changes that affect the main story line.