Chapter 118

[Third Person's PoV] 

"The Paradox defying conventional wisdom;

The Monarch wielding both Shadow and Light;

The Aberrant Weaver of Fortune and Curses;

The Lord of Contradiction governing chaos and order." 

Lucian repeated his honorary name,

Thalia nodded. "So we will have your book and character centered around this," 

Thalia then turned towards Annabeth, "Did you create one as well for your book?"

Annabeth nodded, "I had Lucian help me create it. His intuition really comes in handy when choosing when something is right and when something is not. I had to go through multiple before Lucian felt that one of them was right.

'The Ruins Given Form and Breath;

The Lady of Relics, the past incarnate;

The Source of Boundless Knowledge;

The Embodiment of Eternal Wisdom.'"

Thalia once again nodded, "Alright, so let's get started from these two story points. I feel like these are good starting points."

Annabeth and Lucian both nodded in agreement.

Two months later…

Annabeth was looking at her card, examining it. "There's something I don't understand…"

"That's a first," Lucian scoffed as the pen around him rapidly moved, next to a small stack of paper.

"I'm being serious," Annabeth said with an eye roll.

"So am I, but I digress, what is it?"

"How come the gods aren't able to detect us getting stronger? I'm sure they must have felt it, right?"

"Wrong," Lucian said, shaking his head.

"Huh?"

"The gods can't feel it, like at all."

"Why?"

"Because of the card in your hand. You might not know it, but it's enchanted to stop other people from detecting it apart from those you yourself want to know. That's why I was able to detect Thalia when she came, and my intuition was able to guess where it came from. She wanted to tell us about it, so I was able to pick it up; otherwise, I wouldn't have even known."

"Seriously, not even you?"

"I appreciate the blind faith you have towards me to be able to do anything, but yes, even me. I'm not all-powerful… At least not yet"

"Wait, but how do you know this?"

"Because it's me. I'm practically the creator of it, and knowing myself, it's something I would have done."

"I see. I guess that makes sense… I think?" 

…

Later in the day…

Lucian and Thalia were seen in the camp's gym. Thalia emanated an aura that would normally send someone running, her eyes crackling with electricity.

But Lucian wasn't just anyone; they both had boxing gloves on as they circled each other. Lucian immediately went on the defensive, throwing punch after punch, while Thalia held her gloves close to her face, bobbing and weaving.

When Lucian threw a quick jab forward, Thalia weaved under it and countered with an uppercut. However, Lucian didn't seem affected and used the opening to punch Thalia across the face with enough force to send her flying back.

She wiped her mouth where spit had flown out, narrowing her eyes at him.

Lucian, shirtless and wearing boxing shorts, jumped around motioning for Thalia to get up, which irritated her even more. What further irritated her was Lucian touching the side of his cheek with a boxing glove and looking at her smugly.

Thalia stood on one knee, her eyes crackling with electricity. She surrounded herself with electric energy, disappearing into a blur. Reappearing in front of him, one hand covered her face while the other moved in for an uppercut.

Lucian sensed the danger and crossed his arms over his stomach, leaning forward. Thalia's punch lifted him off the ground and sent him flying back. Instead of crashing into the wall, he landed crouched against it, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I thought we agreed on no abilities," he said, wiping his sweat; they had been at this for hours.

"Then you shouldn't have been so irritating," Thalia scoffed.

"Fine... if we're using abilities, let's use abilities."

"Uhhh... there's no need, I just finished digesting the potion, so we don't have to continue…"

"Well, that's too darn bad," Lucian said, still crouched on the wall. Black flames escaped from the soles of his feet as he flew towards Thalia.

Thalia detected the danger and rolled out of the way. Lucian's fist passed where she had stood; he rolled in the air before landing where Thalia had rolled to, slamming his fist into the ground.

Using his flames, Lucian quickly maneuvered towards Thalia. Jumping from the side, he used his flames to propel himself towards her, his fist landing on the side of her face, forcing her head to turn.

Landing, he started swinging his fists with speed, building momentum as Thalia gathered herself and covered her face with her gloves, but Lucian's assault didn't stop until he decided it was enough.

As they changed, Thalia rubbed her cheeks. "Aren't you supposed to be gentle with a girl?"

"A girl? Where?" Lucian said, covering his eyes and looking around playfully.

Thalia gave him a playful shove. "You're so annoying."

"Just know my hands are gender-neutral," Lucian said, bringing them closer to his face and making punching noises with his mouth.

Thalia and Lucian walked back to his basement. Lucian then asked, "So, did you actually fully digest the potion?"

Thalia nodded. "It took me three months of constant practice and fighting to get it down."

"And what did you learn?" Lucian asked, always curious about what they had learned from their Acting Method. 

"Well, for one, boxing isn't about physical strength alone; you have to think smart and always be on the move."

"To always be on constant vigilance for any weakness would give you an upper hand in any situation."

"Learning to control emotions and stay focused under pressure is crucial in boxing... well, in any and all situations."

Lucian nodded. "Good..."

When they arrived, Annabeth turned towards them. "Good, you guys are here. I wanted to show you something I've been creating in secret."

Lucian looked towards her curiously as Annabeth grabbed what appeared to be a metal backpack. She securely fastened the gears to herself before flexing her shoulders.

From the backpack, two metal wings appeared.

"What!?" Both Lucian and Thalia asked, looking at the wings with their mouths agape.

"Cool, right?"

"How?" Thalia asked.

"Well, during our little scavenger hunt for the ingredients for my potion, one of the ingredients was Daedalus' blueprint."

"Daedalus? Who's that?" Thalia asked.

"Have you not been paying attention in class or something?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah... it's just names are difficult to remember, my bad."

"The man who created Icarus' wings."

"Ohhhhhh."

"Yeah, anyways, one of my ingredients for my potion was one of his blueprints. He happened to give us one for the wings he made and improved. I memorized the blueprint and created one for myself. What do you think?" Annabeth asked as she spun around, letting them see the wings.

'They remind me of Falcon's wings from Marvel…'Lucian thought to himself. "Impressive," Lucian nodded.

"Definitely. All you need is a flight test," Thalia nodded as well.

"Which I will try later on. I need to add some more things. I just wanted to show you guys the framework of it," Annabeth said before the wings folded back into the bag.

And with that they returned back to their usual planning phase of the day until it was too late into the night to continue…

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