Chapter 14: Defying the Fates!

Hey guys, I wanted to thank you all for reading my fanfics. I also wanted to ask where I can find someone to draw a cover page for them since I can't draw a stick figure even if my life depended on it. Write it in the comments if you have any suggestions.

Thanks and enjoy today's chapter.

Peace!

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"Then what are you waiting for?" the Ancient One said to her student with a smirk.

Isaiah smiled and got up and looked back at the computer that still had its screen on.

'5:55 PM. I'm not late.' he thought.

"Then, I'll be going."

The woman nodded,

"There is no time to waste. Go save your friends."

Isaiah pulled out his sling ring and opened a portal. On the other side, they could see the desert of Arizona and the sunset on the horizon.

The eleven-year-old was about to step through the portal when he heard his teacher's voice.

"Wait, Isaiah."

He paused and turned around,

"Yes, teacher."

"The moment, you step through this portal, is the moment, you will be alone. I will only intervene in case of an emergency. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded,

"Good. Then I shall see you later."

He walked through the portal and turned around.

He saw his teacher on the other waving at him,

"Godspeed, Isaiah."

The boy bowed to her,

"Thank you, Teacher," he replied before closing the portal.

The first thing he felt was the cold temperature of the winter desert. He quickly applied the same heating formation to his clothes. When he finally activates it, the heat started to envelop him making him sigh. He then looked at the building and saw how run-down they were. It was like the place was abandoned for a very long time. Looking at the taco place, he walked up to it and touched the doorknob, yet, to his surprise, the door opened slightly at his touch. Raising an eyebrow, he slowly opened the door and entered the taco place. Inside, it was full of dust and sand. He didn't sense anything supernatural until he suddenly heard a familiar galloping sound. Looking outside, he saw a cloud of sand approaching in the distance. He reinforced his eyes and saw the giant boar that he had seen in his vision.

'So they've come. Then I best leave before they see me,' he thought.

He opened a portal and stepped through and into his next destination: The junkyard. Normally, he would've met up with them right from the start, but because of the vision, he didn't want to disrupt the timeline before he was certain he could save her. The visions he was shown were not complete therefore there are a lot of variables in between the two visions. The power to forge your destiny is a double-edged sword if you don't have enough information. He wanted to have the least amount of impact as possible on the future.

And so he arrived at the junkyard and immediately noticed something wrong. He felt the same energy that surrounded Camp Half-Blood all around him. It was like it was lingering in the area instead of doing anything like some sort of mist instead of acting like a barrier. He looked around and saw trash everywhere, but he could occasionally see some objects made from celestial bronze. Just like in his vision they all were either defective or incomplete. It was like this place is a junkyard of a mechanic. He noticed a silver tiara amongst the rubble and cast (Structural Grasp) on it. According to its information, it was created by Hephaestus who wanted to make a tiara to increase one's intelligence when worn. However, it instead ate away the user's mind until they became a vegetable.

'And it's just lying there?' the boy thought.

He analyzed other objects in the junkyard and saw that they either maimed, destroyed, exploded, or squashed the user. Or they are simply none functional. Yet, the one common factor between all these thrown-away trash is that they were all made by Hephaestus and they were thrown away.

'Let's just find a place where I can properly observe them.'

He looked around and saw a mound of trash high enough that he could see almost the entirety of the junkyard. He lifted his leg above the ground and a glowing circle appeared beneath him. He then put his foot down on it and pushed on it. The circle acted as a platform and lifted Isaiah in the air. Another circle made of Eldritch magic appeared a little higher and the boy stepped on it. He continued to do so until he reached the top of the pile. This technique was inspired by watching Mordo use the Vaulting Boots of Valtorr that allowed the user to leap very high and briefly allow the user to walk in the air. However, this technique was not as instantaneous as those boots. With the boots, Mordo simply had to tap into their magic while Isaiah has to form the constructs.

When he reached the top, he altered the scraps beneath him so that they won't injure him and lay down. The heating formation kept him warm on the cold metal. He saw the group taking their camping supplies out and setting their camp before making a fire. He saw the teens sit around the fire and talk. Isaiah turned around and laid on his back and started watching the stars.

Due to the lack of artificial light, he could see the shiny dots in the night sky.

"Beautiful." he couldn't help, but say seeing the stars.

To him, they were shining like diamonds in the sky. He thought back to his conversation with his teacher.

{Because when we become friends, we all give that person a piece of ourselves and receive a piece from them in a metaphorical sense. So when they die, it's like a part of ourselves dies with them.}

"Giving a piece of ourselves, huh? But what does someone give when they are empty? What can they give? What can those with broken souls give to someone whole? What can someone, who even gods pity, give?" he monologued to himself.

He then thought back to the tiny spark he felt within himself.

"It's like I̶̠̗̦̱̒ ̷͔̯̆̇̑͝a̴̢̯̪͍̽̅m̵̗̤̃̑͋ ̴͍̳̼̘͔̍̃N̴̖̾̈͑̌̂ŏ̸͉̯͚̰̏͆͝t̸͓́̋̈́̚h̸̫̗̬̀̈̀͘ͅȋ̵̩̋̾ǹ̶̝g̴̝̣̘͓̻̊͛͠,"

He suddenly flinched as the word left his mouth. Something was different with these words. They felt intimate. They resonated within his very self. Unknown to him, as soon as the words left his mouth, his soul started to change. It was so tiny, but it was significant. The spark that appeared had set things in motion in his soul.

Before he could investigate what happened, he felt two huge wells of power fast approaching his friends. Quickly laying on his stomach, he reinforced his eyes to see better and saw a blinding white limousine stopping in front of the group who had quickly packed their stuff. Percy approached the door, a sword was pointed at his throat as soon as the door opened making the demigod slowly walk back with one of the passengers of the car getting out at the same time. It was also the same person who was holding Percy at swordpoint. The one who got out was a huge person with a black leather jacket over a white shirt with black pants and combat boots. He was also wearing black sunglasses. Isaiah could feel the raw power emanating from him.

The rest of the group had drawn their weapons, but the guy snapped his finger and all their weapons fell to the ground. The man talked to Percy and gestured towards the car. He then snapped his finger and the taco place's lights turned on with the sign having the side written OPEN facing out. Percy went in the car while the rest went to the taco place and served themselves food. The second well of power also felt foreign to him. Nonetheless, he could feel that they were gods however, the man reminded him of that spark he felt in his void while the other was unknown to him.

After ten minutes, Percy got out of the car looking a little dazed,

'I wonder what the other god or goddess wanted to do with him?'

The rough-looking god spoke to Percy and Isaiah could see the tension between them. The man snapped his finger and Percy disappeared along with the group inside the taco place. He then it in the car before the vehicle drove away and disappear on the horizon. He soon felt five presence close to him and turned towards the source. About 25 meters from him, Percy, Bianca, Zoe, Thalia and Grover we're on the floors a little disoriented by the forceful teleportation.

Soon they got up from the ground and started walking, in a direction. Isaiah followed them without them noticing, he had to wait until the giant awakened.

That's when he would strike.

He heard some snippets of their conversation and finally figured out the identity of the gods: Ares and Aphrodite.

'Why would they be here though?'

Isaiah continued to follow them.

"Woah. Some of this looks... like real gold," admired Bianca seeing at the mountain of junk.

"It is. This is the junkyard of gods so be careful to not steal anything." Thalia warned.

'So, that's why.'

They continued to walk by following the Ursa Major constellation in the sky. Many times, Isaiah some them picking some stuff up and admiring it.

'I don't understand. Why do you pick stuff up when you were warned to do the exact opposite?' thought Isaiah looking at them.

Hell, he even saw Grover eat some of them!

Isaiah could see the edge of the junkyard approaching when they suddenly arrived in front of a large hill.

"Are those toes? asked Bianca looking at one end of the hill and seeing ten thick columns at the end of the hills.

'So we have arrived in front of the giant. It's huge.' thought Isaiah as he tried to see the body of the automaton.

He then noticed The group had already started walking again as they went around the toes. They continued for several minutes until they finally reached the end of the junkyard and the highway.

They all sighed in relief.

'Is the robot not going to awaken?' Isaiah was confused.

He had seen in his vision that the robot would attack them

"Thank the gods!" said Zoe

Suddenly, loud grinding and crashing noises were heard. All of them, including Isaiah, whipped their heads towards the source and saw the giant automaton waking up.

"What the Hades is going on!" shouted Thalia.

"Talos!" shouted Zoe in reply.

"Who's Talos!?" asked Percy.

"One of Hephaestus inventions. But this is not that. It looks smaller and defective."

Apparently, the robot didn't like the word "defective", because it started drawing its sword.

" Someone took something? Who took it!?" demanded Zoe.

Isaiah saw Percy looking accusingly at Bianca who had a guilty look.

'I see. So that's how it started. Bianca took something and that robot detected it. Its job is to now eliminate the thieves.' Isaiah nodded.

The giant stomped its foot forcing the group to separate and avoid it. Thalia shot lighting at it, but it didn't do much.

'Alright. I have enough information. It's time to go. I better destroy it quickly and I just know the quickest way.' he thought before taking his glasses off.

As soon as he did, the world cracked and red lines appeared all over the robot that Isaiah could easily trace with a knife. However, there was one tiny problem.

They were too long.

The shortest and the closest one he could see was on top of its foot and it was about three meters long.

'It won't be a problem though because it's so slow.'

He suddenly had an idea. He cast (Reinforcement) on his body which increased everything about it. He then filled his body with Universal energy to push it past its limit and make it even stronger. Power burst through him as the strength filled his body. And because his body's limit was surpassed, (Reinforcement) made it even more effective. It was a cycle between the two spells. However, there was only so much his body could take otherwise he would explode. It was also very mentally exhausting to micromanage Reinforcement.

'This went better than I thought. It better keep this as a trump card,' thought Isaiah with a grin.

He looked at the spot where the line he was aiming is and his urge to trace it came back in full force. He just had to cut it.

Isaiah projected a short sword that he saw at Kamar-Taj and tensed. His body was bursting with power that was soon becoming too much for him. This was an idea he thought of now. The robot was about to swing his sword when the ground beneath Isaiah cracked forming a small crater and his form disappeared.

Percy who was trying to think of a plan for the giant murder robot was suddenly hit by a déjà-vu when something blurred in front of him and on the giant's foot.

"What?" let out Bianca beside him.

She also had a case of déjà-vu seeing the blue blur pass in front of her.

Suddenly, the robot froze and before, anyone could react, it started to break apart into multiple pieces.

"EVERYONE, HIT THE DECK!" shouted Percy.

Everyone tried to move, but they were suddenly overtaken by an invisible force.

Cries of alarm were heard as everyone started floating in the sky.

"W-What is going on!" shouted Grover.

"I don't know! Something just passed in front of us and now we started floating!" replied Thalia.

"I... can't move," Zoe struggled to move, but the force was too strong.

Suddenly, the same invisible force made them fly outside of the junkyard and to the highway. where they landed on the ground. They saw the robot finally fall apart into pieces and "die"

They watched it all in muted shock not understanding a single thing.

"Did... anyone have a déjà-vu when they saw the blur?" asked Grover.

Everyone agreed.

"Someone saved us. Who?" asked Bianca.

"That would be me." a voice answered.

They all swirled towards the voice and saw Isaiah standing behind them with his usual smile.

"ISAIAH!" shouted the campers.

"Hi, there." he waved his hand.

"You saved us? How?" Zoe asked.

"By destroying the robot as you saw." the boy replied.

"What? But how? That automaton was huge!" Thalia asked.

"Have you never heard of the saying? A magician never reveals his tricks." the boy cheekily replied.

"Well, it doesn't matter how he saved us," Percy said as he got up from the floor and walked to the boy, "The important thing is that he saved us. Thank you, Isaiah. You really saved our butts over there," he said.

"You're right. Thanks, man," said Grover.

"I thank you for helping us," said Zoe.

"Thank you, Isaiah."

"No problem. Someone told me that we are always supposed to help friends" replied Isaiah.

He then looked at Bianca who was looking down.

Percy also turned towards her,

"You took something, didn't you?" he said.

The girl flinched at the eyes on her. She continued to look down unable to look at them as tears brimmed her eyes.

"You were the one who took something?" Zoe demanded anger apparent on her face.

The girl didn't reply.

"Well come on. Spit it out, what did you take?" Thalia said.

Wordlessly, Bianca put a hand in her pocket and slowly brought it out. Isaiah saw a figurine in her hand.

"I... I saw it in the t-trash. It was the only s-statue Nico didn't have."

"How can you think of Mythomagic at this time!?" Percy demanded.

The girl wanted to cower under their glares.

"How foolish," said Zoe.

"You could have killed us all, you know," Grover added.

"Yeah, it's not like you didn't eat any of it." Thalia rebuked.

Grover flinched at her remark.

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's a mistake. A dangerous mistake that almost cost our lives, but a mistake nonetheless." Percy said.

He looked at Bianca,

"Bianca, can I trust you to not do anything like this anymore?"

The girl let the statue fall to the ground and quietly nodded as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Good,"

"You were about to die." Isaiah suddenly said.

"Well, yeah. It's not like we just had a giant robot about to kill us." Thalia sarcastically replied.

Isaiah shook his head.

"That's not what I meant. Had I not come, Percy and Bianca would have found the trapdoor under its foot. Bianca would then place herself under its foot and infiltrate the robot while you all distracted it. She would then sabotage the robot. Seeing that, the robot started to run away, but it would entangle itself in the electrical lines. They would break and would unleash massive amounts of electricity in the robot destroying the robot and killing Bianca." Isaiah said with no expression. He then turned to Bianca, "So yes. You were about to die Bianca. Just like the prophecy said, 'One shall be lost in the land without rain'," Isaiah finished.

"How do you know?" asked Grover.

"I'm a sorcerer. I can do magic."

The others were too stunned at the revelation.

"Wait, this doesn't make sense! You say that the prophecy dictated that Bianca died here then why didn't she?" Thalia asked.

"Because I saved her."

"But you can't go around a prophecy. It always happens no matter what. And you say that you changed that? That's impossible!" said Zoe, perplexed.

"We can worry about whatever he did later. Let's get out of here, first. I don't want to stay here a second longer." said Percy as he picked up their stuff.

"Then can I come with you?" Isaiah asked.

"Sure. We could use some help." Percy said.

"What, no! The prophecy states that it is only five of us who go. And he's not even part of the Greek world,"

Thalia looked at her,

"Are you still saying that after he has saved our lives and literally changed the prophecy?" she rebuked.

"We don't even know if what he's saying is true. What if there was another place where rain does not fall and someone is supposed to die there. You can't just defy the Fates!"

"It doesn't matter. I would like for Isaiah to come. Who's in favour?" Percy asked and Thalia and Grover raised their hands.

Bianca also slowly raised her hand.

Zoe gritted her teeth and Thalia clapped her hands,

"That's four to one in favour for Isaiah to come," she turned to the boy,

"Then you're coming with us," she said.

Isaiah smiled and they all started to walk.