Chapter 123: The end

"Let the end begin today."

(Percy POV)

"So that's the reason you should just walk away and pretend you never saw us." I finished my sentence.

The two Empousa in front of me blinked, "So we shouldn't attack you?" she asked confused. "But I have a spear."

I sighed and pointed at Katie, "See that girl? She is strong enough to kill you two within a second. Same for me and Hazel will be able to do it with a few years of training. You have literally no chance of beating us."

"Fine," The Empousai agreed and walked away from the maze entrance. Muttering something about annoying demigod logic.

"Why'd you do that?" Katie asked me when they had walked out of sight.

I shrugged, "I felt generous."

"Does this happen a lot?" Hazel asked, "I mean monsters just walking away without a fight?"

I shook my head, "Nah...most of them attack you on sight. Even when it's clear they are outgunned. I just use some soulspeak and used their desire to live."

"That's still strange." Katie said.

"And it's getting stranger," I told the two demigoddess, then I headed into the maze.

This part of the maze was different then than the other parts, instead of changing and tricky corridors it was now one straight hallway. At a certain point the hallway abruptly ended into a dark pit.

We wisely decided to jump straight into it and We dropped into a square chamber with four tunnels radiating outward, one from each wall.

The air was dry and thick. I could feel the layers of ancient magic hanging around in the air.

"Yup this is the place." I finally said.

Katie frowned, "Okay…so shouldn't the maze do something?"

I bit my lip. I knew that Apollo had used Caligula's boots before entering the maze. I had hoped it would work for me without the boots since I had no idea where Caligula was or how to break in and steal them. I had assumed it could work for me without the boots since I was a demigod and Apollo was reduced to a mortal last time. Plus the fact Sibyl wanted to find me and I was blessed by Apollo.

I hoped this would've been enough.

"Maybe we should shout?" Katie suggest, "Or talk to the maze?"

I coughed, "Yeah, hi maze. Could you please lead us to Sibyl?"

Suddenly the room lit up with a soft golden glow.

"Percy?" Katie said and pointed at the floor. On the rough cement floor, the faint gold outline of a five-foot square had appeared. If it had been a trapdoor, we would've all dropped straight through. Identical connected squares branched off down each of the corridors like the spaces of a board game. The trails were not of equal length. One extended only three spaces into the hallway. Another was five spaces long. Another was seven. Another six.

Against the chamber wall on my right, a glowing golden inscription appeared: Welcome…

"Welcome?" Hazel read out loud.

Katie raised an eyebrow, "Is the maze welcoming us?"

"No," I said, "We need to guess the words that comes after welcome."

"The dots," Katie said, then she glanced at the corridors. "See the squares in the corridors? I think this is some kind of word puzzle. I think Herophile is trying to guide us."

"Convenient." Hazel muttered.

"This is how Herophile operates," I told Hazel. "It's the only way she can help us. I believe we have to, er, fill in the correct answer in the correct number of spaces."

"So what's the word?" Hazel wondered.

"Demigods?" Katie guessed, then she shook her head. "No. That's eight letters."

"Heroes," I said, "Welcome heroes." I pointed at the corridor with six squares. "I think we should go that way. That is the only corridor that spells out heroes."

'It could be victims,' Lyssa suggested, 'there's a hallway with seven letters.'

"What if we choose wrong?" Katie asked, unknowingly helping Lyssa with my paranoia.

"The answer is heroes," I said out loud so the maze could hear me. I took a step into the corridor with six spaces. As soon as I stepped to the next square, a large capital H appeared at my feet. I took this as a good sign. I stepped again, and an E appeared. My two friends followed close behind.

At last we stepped off the sixth square, into a small chamber identical to the last. Looking back, the entire word Heroes blazed in our wake. Before us, three more corridors with golden rows of squares led onward – left, right and forward.

"Well, that was a good guess." Hazel said, letting out a sigh of relief.

On the wall was another clue, Despina-Winter...Persephone-Spring, Demeter-fall…

I stifled a sob. The maze was cruel, mentioning my faded sister. My heart ached a little but I managed to stay calm.

Katie noticed my silence and shot me a reassuring smile. I nodded gratefully and forced myself to focus on the riddle.

"Who are they?" Hazel asked.

"Proserpina and Ceres," Katie translated the names to Roman, "Although I have no idea what the roman equivalent of Despina is."

Hazel shuddered a bit when Katie mentioned her stepmother.

"Where's the god of the fall?" Katie said. Then her eyes lit up. "It's Notos."

I frowned and looked at all the corridors. There was one with five spaces, one with 3 and one with four squares.

"It could be fall too." Hazel said pointing at the corridor with four spaces.

They both looked expectantly at me, which was unfair because I had no idea either. Infact, I never heard of Notos before.

"Ask the arrow," Katie said when she figured out I didn't knew it either.

"I don't want-"

"The arrow," Katie said again.

I sighed and pulled the arrow of Dodona out of my backpack.

THINE BOW OF ODYSSEUS' SY VERY HANDSOME the arrow buzzed in my hand.

"I know you have a thing for my bow," I said glaring at the arrow of Dodona, "But can you please focus on what's ahead of us."

The said bow of Odysseus was strapped to my backpack with duct tape. After Athena left it refused to go back to pen form so now I was stuck with an useless bow. It refused to go inside my backpack either. I tried to throw it away in a trash bin along the way but it teleported back to me.

Also, the arrow of Dodona had a secret crush on the bow, who I found out to be a female.

METHINKS I MAKETH A CHANCE WITH THY LADY BOW. The arrow bussed ignorant.

"Crossword," I reminded the arrow.

IS THIS A CROSSWORD I SEE BEFORE ME? VERILY, I DOTH LOVE CROSSWORDS.

Katie frowned, "Whenever do you have the chance to do crosswords?"

"Ignore her," I told the arrow quickly, trying to avoid a long conversation.

The arrow angrily shuddered before turning to the puzzle, THE ANSWER, TIS EITHER NOTOR OR FALL

"We figured," I said, "But which one of them?"

70 PERCENT CHANCE SE ANSWER SHALT BE FALL

Figuring this was the best the arrow could do I quickly thanked it and put it back into my backpack.

"Okay, 70% it's fall. 30% it's Notor." I explained.

"We choose fall." Katie and Hazel both said.

I nodded and said out loud, "The answer is Fall!"

I received no response, but as we proceeded down the right-hand corridor the word Fall appeared.

In the next chamber, new corridors once again led in three directions. This time, the glowing clue on the wall was again in Ancient Greek.

A thrill went through me as I read the lines and I saw Katie smile too.

"Chained by flames, raise your sail." Katie read the inscription out loud, "Without Demeter's daughter you shall…"

The clue ended right there but Katie and I both knew the answer.

"Fail." We both said in unnision and ran into the corridor with 4 squares, leaving a confused Roman demigod behind.

Just as expected the word Fail appeared on the floor. Katie and I both grinned, remembering our first adventure together.

"What was that about?" Hazel asked after she finally caught up with us. "Running into a strange corridor without telling me?"

"Sorry," I said apologetically, "It was just the nostalgia."

"Well, luckily you two were right." Hazel said, "Imagine if you guessed wrong."

I glanced around the room and just as I guessed there was a new clue written on the wall. However this was written in old english.

There are who ask not if thine eye

Be on them; who, in love and truth,

Where no misgiving is, rely

Upon the genial sense of youth:

Glad hearts! without reproach or blot;

Who do thy work, and know it not:

O, if through confidence misplaced

They fail, thy saving arms, dread Power! around them cast.

We all just stared blankly at the text in front of us.

"Okay, what is this?" I finally said.

"A poem?" Hazel suggested.

'Chaos?' I asked hopefully, 'Do you recognize this one?'

Chaos smirked, 'Yes! I do. If I remember correctly this poem was made by William Wordsworth. A son of Apollo.'

"It's a poem," I shared with my friends, "written by a son of Apollo."

Katie scowled, "Okay. so what now?"

"Can you tell us more about the poem?" Hazel asked, studying the letters closely.

'The name of the poem is; Ode to Duty.' Chaos said and I shared this information with my friends.

Katie peered into the hallways and counted the squares.

"Could it be duty?" Katie asked and she pointed at the left hallway, which had four squares.

"Or ode," Hazel said, "There's also a hallway with three squares."

I closed my eyes and opened my mind palace, commanding it to make find hints.

Immediately three words appeared in front of me, Heroes, fall, fail.

I frowned and tapped every single one of the words, wondering why my mind thought they were important. Immediately the words began to space and new words popped up between them. Forming a sentence.

All Heroes shall fall and fail their…duty/ode.

I opened my eyes and grimaced, "It's duty."

"How'd you know?" Katie asked cautiously.

"Because," I said, "We are not just solving random puzzles. We are putting together a word-puzzle prophecy. And so far it says All heroes shall fall and fail their duty."

Now you would probably think I would be proud of myself for figuring that out but I wasn't't. The moment we passed through the tunnel the word Duty appeared underneath us.

At the end, we arrived in a circular room, even larger and more ornate. Across the domed ceiling spread a silver-on-blue mosaic of zodiac signs. Six new tunnels radiated outward. In the middle of the floor stood an old fountain.

When we reached the new room I turned to my friends who were demanding answers.

"What do you mean we're forming a prophecy?" Katie asked, "as far as I am aware it says; Heroes fall fail duty. That's not even a sentence."

I grimaced, "You have to assume the small words. I think the message is: All heroes shall fall and fail their duty."

"What's a hero's duty?" Hazel asked, being new to all this hero business.

"Saving the world." I said darkly. I sighed and decided to face the new puzzle.

Named for Apollo's fallen love, this flower should be planted in autumn. Set the bulb in the soil with the pointy end up. Cover with soil And water thoroughly … you are transplanting.

I closed my eyes and quickly ran through a list of Apollo's love affairs who had to do something with flowers. I finally came up with three names.

"Okay, it's either Hyacinthus,Daphne or Acantha"

Katie chuckled, "No dummy. It's unless."

I frowned, "What?"

"This one has nothing to do with Apollo's myths. It's just a simple fill in the gap riddle. Unless is the answer."

"What?"

"You water hyacinths thoroughly UNLESS you are transplanting them." Katie snickered while Hazel just rolled her eyes.

We marched down the only corridor with six squares and as Katie had guessed the word Unless appeared.

I was happy to hear a conjunction, really. Now the sentence would be; All heroes shall fall and fail their duty unless…

"I hope this mean we can avoid a potential end of the word." Katie said after she had followed my train of thought. I absently nodded while following the corridor, who I noticed was getting longer instead of leading us towards the next clue.

After a few dreadful moments we reached the chamber of the Oracle.

I immediately felt the air getting hot and sweat began to roll down my face.

Sibyl's room was a rectangle the size of a basketball court. Lining the walls were half a dozen entrances – each a simple stone doorway with a small landing that overhung the pool of lava I'd seen in my dream of Herophile.

But there was something wrong with the lava, first off. I'm immune to lava and couly wield it like it was water. But this lava felt unresponsive and I had the feeling it would burn alive if stumbled into it.

We had reached the very centre of the maze – the holding tank for Helios's power. Floating on the surface of the ichor were large stone tiles, each about five feet square, making columns and rows that had no logical patterns.

'Yay,' Lyssa said, 'Another crossword.'

The annoying this was that Lyssa was right. none of the stone bridges connected with our little balcony.

I felt terrible when I saw Herophile's condition. Just as in my vision she was a young woman with braided auburn hair and pale skin. She had the same athletic build as the nymph's at Camp half-blood but her white robes were stained with smoke and spotted with cinder burns. Her wrist were covered with molten links, just as I'd seen in my dream, shackled to her wrists and ankles, anchoring her to the platform and allowing her just enough room to move from one side to the other.

She was intently watching an entrance on the wall to her left, so she didn't seem to notice us.

"Herophile!" I cried out.

She jumped up, startled, and turned around. Her eyes met mine and within a second I read her emotions. Obviously she was relieved and overjoyed to see us.

"Percy," She cried out, "you came."

"Herophile?" Hazel asked with awe, seeing her first divine being in her live. Except her father and the earthmother.

I grinned, "Yes! I am here. Let me form an ice bridge and I can come."

"Don't!" She cried out, "The lava is enchanted by Circe. Whatever shortcut you plan to take it won't..."

Her voice seized up. She grimaced with concentration, then blurted out, "Four letters, starts with a w."

"Work?" Hazel said.

Across the surface of the lake, stone tiles ground and shifted formation. One block wedged itself against our little platform. three more stacked up beyond it, making a four-tile bridge extending into the room. Glowing golden letters appeared along the tiles, starting with a K at our feet: Work.

Herophile smiled at us, "Yes! Good one! Come quickly."

My friends and I grimaced and made our way across the crossword bridge, "Did Circe enchanted the Lava?" I asked the Sibyl.

She nodded and I silently cursed. I knew that Circe had teamed up with Kronos and Triumvirate after my adventures on the sea of monsters. I had hoped I could recruit Medea or Lamia to counter her magic but both were either dead or missing. I had a certain spider looking out for them. Until then I had still to deal with Circe, although I had the idea my new friend Scylla would be overjoyed to kill her.

"So are you sure I can not shoot a webline and swing my way towards you? Spiderman style?" I asked.

Herophile shot me a sad smile and shook her head, "No. the only way is solving the puzzles. The tiles will form a path…"

She choked and spurted out, "Eight letters, second letter is an O."

"Towards you?" I suggested, then I counted the letters and shook my head. "To long."

"Together!" Katie suddenly said.

Herophile clapped her hands excitedly, "Yes!"

I quickly ran through the prophecy in my mind. All heroes shall fall and fail their duty unless work together.

Unless they work together. I frowned, I thought it was kind of obvious that the seven had to come together to stop Gaia. Still, it made me feel unnerving.

The tiles rewarded us by forming a second bridge – eight across, Together, connecting to the first bridge by the G.

We made our way across the new formed bridge, getting closer to Herophile.

"Herophile," Hazel said, "Could you please do easy words? That way it will be easier for all of us."

Herophile shot Hazel a sad smile, "I'll try Hazel Levesque, but once I start talking I can not…"

Herophile turned pale again and she gasped, "Four letters, end with P."

"Stop." All three of us guessed in unison.

"Yes, it's stop." Herophile said proudly. "You three are so good at this."

In front of us a new bridge connected with the E from together and led us across the lava lake. At this point we were al crowded onto the P tile. Only three feet away from where Sibyl's platform.

"We almost made it," I said, "Could you please give us one small word?"

Herophile looked thoughtfully, before saying; "Dethroned wolf, what do all stories have in common?"

"What?" I asked flabbergasted, "wait, you're supposed to give me riddles with letters."

Herophile shook her head vigorously, then I realized she was choking.

"Herophile," Hazel cried out but she was unable to do something.

"The riddle," Katie said, "We need to solve it."

Herophile was nodding, she was beginning to look blue and I saw she was in great pain. "What do all stories have in common?"

"They feature chapters?"

"They have a plot twist."

"No!" I said, "She said all stories. Remember there are a lot of bad stories out there. Hell, even a diary could count as a story.

"They feature characters?" Katie guessed quickly while Sibyl was janking at her chains in despair.

"No, poems don't necessarily feature characters."

"Words?" I hopefully yelled at Herophile.

'Music and paint can tell a story too.' Chaos said.

I closed my eyes and a memory popped up, a line I hadn't thought about for a long time.

Play with me your story ends.

I opened my eyes, "The end! They all end."

In front of my eyes three more tiles clicked into place, forming the word end.

Herophile let out a sigh of relief and caught her breath, she gave me a grateful look.

We ran across, and Herophile clapped and wept for joy. She held out her arms to hug me. I hugged her too while at the same time tried to check if she was alright.

She seemed to be alive but her wrist were badly hurt by the blazing hot chain. Though it was nothing a demigod blessed by Apollo could heal.

Hazel turned around and studied the path we made, "Work together stop end? What kind of sentence is that?"

"Let's assume some small words again," I ventured. "If we combine the first part of the maze, we have: All Heroes shall fall unless…"

I glanced at Herophile, who nodded encouragement.

"Unless they work together to stop the end."

I frowned, "I don't get it. We already work together? Or do you mean the Romans and Greeks? Because I already knew that."

I turned to Herophile, "Am I right? Do the heroes need to work together?"

Herophile tried to say something but I saw her curse prevented from saying anything.

"There's more to it. Am I right? The prophecy is not finished." Katie asked.

Herophile nodded, "Yes."

"It depends," A voice behind us said.

On the edge of the platform stood a white stallion with golden hoofs, sitting on the horse was a young man wearing casual clothes and written on his face was a twisted smile.

I immediately recognized them, Caligula. The Roman Emperor of the west.

I didn't immediately recognized the horse but now I knew the identity of his rider I almost facepalmed at my ignorance. Incitatus, the speaking horse.

I never met Incitatus myself but from what I've heard it was a talking horse who wanted to rule the entire world and start a government by the horses for the horses.

But Caligula was not alone, standing to his left was a familiar giant dressed in black, holding a giant compound bow.

I cursed, "Orion."

Katie and Hazel recognized him as well and drew their weapons, I tried to summon Riptide but for some stupid reason the bow of Odysseus appeared in my hand. Like it felt this was the worse time to be used.

"Perseus Jackson," Caligula said, "I thought Commodus finished you off for good." he shrugged, "I never liked him anyway."

"I tossed Odysseus' bow away and summoned Frostsilver and commanded the Shield of Winter to appear in its full glory.

"You'll never finish that prophecy," Incitatus, the horse, said. "Your story ends here. You're going to die."

I raised an eyebrow, "If I remember correct you tried and failed."

In one swift movement Frostsilver slashed through the chains that bound the Sibyl and I smirked triumphantly at Caligula and Orion,

The shackles fell from Herophile's wrists and ankles, immediately she gave me a horrified look. "You shouldn't have done that, it was a…" she gasped and spurted, "four letter word, starts with T."

"Trap!" I said proudly, then I immediately paled. This was one of the few times I wanted to be wrong. Maybe the answer could've been, Thea or Thin.

The chains slithered towards me and before I could react they lashed themselves around my wrists and ankles. I felt a burning sensation crash through my nerve system and I had the urge to pass out. But I couldn't. My friends were still in danger.

I tried to freeze the chains but I couldn't. They were just too hot to be frozen, I tried to use my enhanced strength but that didn't work either.

Hazel brought down her sword on the shackles but it just deflected of them.

I tried to contact Chaos or Lyssa but the pain was making it hard for me to focus, somewhere I knew that Chaos was experiencing the same pain.

The chains pulled me down and I screamed, I accidently let out a sonic scream and a sound wave echoëd through the chamber. Throwing everyone of their feet.

Being stuck in the chains made me feel horrible, besides the fact they were blazing hot I also felt claustrophobic, I hated being restrained, unable to do anything.

I turned to Katie, "Katie teleport out of here with Herophile and Hazel!"

But before they could do anything Orion had nocked an arrow and aimed it at Herophile. "One move and the Oracle dies right on the spot."

I tried to do something, summon water, let out another scream but the chains kept my powers restrained. After my slip up with the sonic scream the chains only got tighter and more restrictive. Effectively blocking out all of my powers.

Except one…

The room suddenly got colder and I heard screams coming from the walls. I grimaced as the shadows in the room began to solidify into zombies.

The zombies were not to be proud off, they looked like regular zombies except they were a little bit more black, like burned charcoal.

I managed to summon ten of those zombies, they waited on their spot. They were not moaning like regular zombies, they were dead silent.

"Attack!" I cried out and suddenly they lunged at Caligula and Orion.

Unlike regular zombies they were fast and agile. They jumped towards Orion. They slashed at him with their claws but Orion was at least three foot taller than them and he pushed them away with his bow while trying to get a clear shot on my friends. One of the zombies had managed to drag Caligula of his horse and was about to throw him into the lava when a white blur slammed into the zombie and saved his master's ass.

I tried to keep summoning zombies but it was almost impossible with the horrible pain I went through. I couldn't even kill Caligula and Orion because they were immortals!

"How do I get free?" I asked Herophile with a croaky voice.

"The Prophecy," Herophile said with sadness, "You need to fulfill the prophecy, that's the only way."

Suddenly an arrow flew towards Katie, she only managed to dodge it by an inch. She turned around and jumped towards Orion.

"I can't." I spat out, "I'm not Apollo! How do I cut the chains?"

"You can finish the prophecy!" Herophile yelled encouraging, "You are the champion of Apollo and Chaos."

I didn't question how she knew about Chaos, I couldn't think about it because the pain was eating me away.

Herophile spoke in my ear, "Hold on! Help will arrive!"

Nyx? I really hoped Nyx would come, would she come?

"You are now the oracle!" Herophile said, she sounded desperate, "You took my place. Use it."

I groaned angrily, even without talking in riddles she was annoyingly cryptic. Besides, why didn't she finish the prophecy herself? Who was going to finish it now?

I'm not Apollo. I'm not even an Oracle.

How could I…

In front of me Hazel slammed against the wall, Orion followed with a knife in his hands.

Katie was trying to fight Caligula but the Emperor was surprisingly good at sword fighting. Everytime an undead tried to reach them, Incaticus charged at them and threw them into the lava.

Suddenly Orion was thrown against the wall, covered with webbing.

I closed my eyes and felt my heart struggling to beat, the constant heat of the chains drained me from my power.

I was not an Oracle, I was just Percy Jackson.

No, I was not just Percy Jackson. I am Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. King of the Death and the King of spiders. Champion of Hestia and Demeter. I was blessed by Athena and Aphrodite. I was the champion of Apollo, the sun god.

I am Chaos.

I could rewrite destiny, I could be an Oracle if I wanted too.

I intensely stared at the tiles in front of me. "Hero's final hour known to rise."

The stone tiles shifted, forming a row of three tiles in the far upper left

corner of the room, one word per square: HERO'S FINAL HOUR KNOWN TO RISE.

"Yes!" the Sibyl said. "Yes, exactly! Keep going!"

Images flashed through my mind as I was puzzling together the prophecy, I heard and saw flashes of things in the past, present and future.

But I ignored everything I saw, I had to finish the prophecy.

(Third POV)

"Sometimes I have this dream. You can call it a nightmare, every night the nightmare repeats itself."

"Order or Chaos in the end." Percy spurted out.

"There's a war coming. A terrible war."

"I already know Gaia is waking up." Percy grimaced.

"No!" He raised his hands as he stumbled backwards towards the end of the pier. "She's just the beginning."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked while pointing the sword at his throat.

"I can see it!" he cried out, "I can see what's going to happen. Blood will cover the earth. Olympus will be torn apart in a civil war-

"Promises to keep, tears from lies." Percy cried out in pain.

"Give me your fear New york. And learn this valuable lesson. Hope is a lie."

"It is not," Percy said as he stepped out of the crowd, "There's always hope."

"Escape by suicide, Evil's your friend." The effort was horrible. The chains burned Percu, dragging him down. Yet Percy kept spurting more lines of the prophecy.

"I believe you can controll it. I believe in you." Percy said as he hugged her.

With tears in her eyes she stared into his. "What if I can't? What if I fail and lose control."

"I know you can," Percy said.

"How?"

Percy stayed silent.

"So what?" Nyx cried out, "Chaos lied. It's not the end of the world."

"It's the end of my life!" Percy yelled back.

"First words every, Spoken once again." Percy stammered. A fourth row of three tiles moved into position under the first, blazing with the words Percy had just spoken.

"We're not gonna make it!" Percy yelled back. "We need to be faster!"

There were 12 seats in the room. All lined up to the sides of the table. It was a conference room, but who had set up this meeting? Who was number 13?

"As night falls, underworlds in war." Percy yelled out in pain.

"Hereby," The king of the gods said. "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, is marked a traitor."

Percy's friends gasped but he just glared at the King of the gods.

"You are banished from our territories and to be killed on sight."

...

"This is not a war for Olympus. Everyone wants to rule the world but this time…it's not about world domination. It's a war for existence itself."

"Lasting rope binds, missing spear finds." Percy screamed, what did it mean? He had no idea.

A pillar of fire and lava rose from the middle of Manhattan, buildings were pulled away and began to float upwards into the spiral. Everything and everyone was caught by this death beam. Pedestrians, cars and entire city pieces of land began to float upwards.

Waves of flames erupted from the fire tornado. Entire city blocks were being burned out. But this was not the horrible thing. In the middle of this Fire Tornado stood Percy's friend.

"Calling for help, Monsters answer call."

"What happens when you take away all hope?" The figure asked.

She was hidden in the shadows, Percy couldn't sense her. Not her powers, not her presence. It was like he was staring into the void.

"When you erase all hope. The only thing that remains is despair. Pure despair."

Nero smirked as he sat on his throne.

He carefully picked up the phone and said:

"Release the Kraken."

"Only survive when every memory falls." Percy was shaking, his wrist were bleeding and he was coughing up blood.

"Is there anything we can do?" Katie asked Herophile.

"No," She answered. "He has to finish the prophecy."

Percy's heart stalled, waves of pain roared through his chest. But at the same time he felt peaceful. He knew this was it. The blade was sticking out of his back, it may have missed his heart but he knew he was dying. Every muscle in his body knew it. He couldn't move, he was pierced by his own blade.

He looked up at the soft yellow sky. The mad titan towering over him was not grinning. He gave Percy a sympathetic look. "You have my respect Perseus."

He pushed the blade deeper into Percy's chest, "The world who turned its back on you, yet you still fight for them. When I'm done half of humanity will be still alive."

He stepped away from Percy and sighed, "I hope they remember you."

….

Three corpses were lying in the middle of the council room.

The gods all gasped and stared in horror.

An Iris message opened above their heads.

"Welcome Percy Jackson, I am…(ERROR) and welcome to the final problem."

"Nightmare becomes reality, Reality burns away."

"And one day I wake up. And I realize it was never a dream. It was reality."

Percy could feel the prophecy's completion, as welcome as a breath of air after

a long underwater swim.

The last stone tiles shifted into place, completing the second column of lines from the far side of the room to the edge of our platform.

Percy passed out a second later.

==========================

So incase you don't understand what the prophecy is, this is it.

All heroes shall fall and fail their duty unless they work together to stop the end

Hero's final hour, known to rise,

Order or Chaos in the end,

Promises to keep, tears from lies,

Escape by suicide, evil's your friend,

First words ever, spoken once again,

As night falls, underworld in war,

Lasting rope binds, missing spear finds,

Calling for help, monsters answer call,

Only survive when, every memorie falls,

Nightmare becomes reality, reality burns away.

So that's the prophecy, yay.

Also, in case you wonder, this prophecy does work with the other prophecy and they overlap at some points.

Also, I hope I did the old english for the Arrow of Dodona correct, I have no idea, I just googled a lot.

I hope you guys and girls can find a few clues in the visions Percy had.

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