CHAPTER 3

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Silena felt like she was floating. Everything was hazy. She had trouble moving her body as it felt like she was wading through syrup. Giving up on large movements, she tried to move her fingers and toes. With their subsequent success, she tried to move her other extremities.

With extreme difficulty she opened her eyes. What she saw astounded her. She was suspended in a blank white space that went on and on until she wasn't able to see its boundaries. She looked around in panic, trying to figure out what was going on. There was nothing in front of her. Not a blade of grass or a whisper of the wind. The white horizon seemed to go on forever.

She turned to her back with great effort and to her relief she saw Charles, Percy and Zoe motionless, suspended in the air just like her. They were yet to come to their senses. She was glad that she wasn't about to face the unknown on her own.

Silena had always been a romantic. She chased after beauty and fairy tale romance just like any child of Aphrodite, but she managed to curb that particular bad habit a lot. Though she only saw their backs as they faced away from her, she was immediately able to see the minor changes in her friends' appearances. At first she couldn't even spot these differences. But when she started to utilize the powers that her mother bestowed upon her when she was born, she could identify even the tiniest change her 'family' had gone through.

Charles had always been buff due to the hours he spent in front of the anvil hammering something or another in the forge. It was this that first drew her to him. Then her infatuation turned to love after getting to know the man at an intimate level. But now… his rugged looks were refined. His muscles had toned down. Instead of being a walking mound of muscles, he had slimmed down a bit and in her eye he had turned into the perfect man. One thing that miffed her though was the fact that Charles had turned slightly paler. Instead of his chocolate complexion he now had an olive complexion that was seen in Greek peninsula. It was a shame that he was turned away from her so that she couldn't see his face at all.

She turned to Zoe, her sister in all but blood from the time they spent together in Elysium. Zoe had always been a beauty. Say what you will about Atlas, but the man was one handsome dude. His looks were inherited by his daughters in a much softer tone. Silena always thought that Zoe had the bearings of a princess. But now she definitely looked the part. She could see why Percy fell for Calypso while he was in Ogygia. If she was a man, she too would be pining after a girl like Zoe. Zoe seemed to have gained couple of inches, but that could be due to the fact Silena had no visual references to compare in a location with no left or right and up or down.

Last but not least was Percy. Silena had a small crush on him since he arrived at the camp. His laid back attitude and rebellious looks gave him the bad boy vibe. He was one of the males that the female population in the camp always talked about since more than three quarters of them had feeling for him. It was the main reason why most of the females didn't have a good relationship with Annabeth as she had taken away their subject of attraction off the market.

Now, he was just like Neptune. She had seen a picture of Poseidon's roman aspect some years back. Amongst the gods, he was the one with the commanding bearings that demanded respect. Percy was always associated with Poseidon's Greek aspect because of his rebellious nature. Now he had the look of the perfect warrior. Thick black hair that went up to his shoulder blades, high cheekbones and slightly sunken cheeks… he was every woman's' dream husband, not that she cared for she had already found her soul mate.

'What happened' she asked herself after seeing these changes in her friends. She didn't know how much she had changed seeing there was no mirror at hand. But she felt fantastic. Her body felt completely at ease even though she was facing the unknown.

Then images came flooding to her mind.

She saw the attack on Elysium by vampires. She wasn't sure who shattered the protective dome around the Elysian Fields, but that person was beyond her imagining. The protection had been there since the foundation of the world beneath and she was pretty sure they were place by the protogenoi. To destroy a protection like that, it would take another protogenoi. With the march of vampires she was sure Tatarus was behind it. For what reason, she didn't know. She didn't see the Lord of the Pit, but his minions wreaked the place where dead went to live in peace.

She remembered the screaming and panic when the residents were brutally cut down. Silena didn't know what would happen when one died in the underworld because it was unprecedented and if it had happen before, it was something Hades would have kept a tight lid on. She remembered fighting. But it was hazy and the more she tried to remember what happened, the larger the headache she got. It was like her brain was actively trying to make her forget what she went through. She couldn't remember her last moments. But since she was here, she was sure that she perished too like the others.

The question was only she, Charles, Percy and Zoe was here. She was certain the casualties were in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. With the barrier gone, all the monsters would have made Hades' domain their playground. But she didn't see any other creatures other than the vampires that led the attack. Either only the vampires were behind the attack or the other monsters were directed to other sectors of the Elysian Fields. She and the others were just unlucky to meet fearsome creatures like the vampires, the most foulest of the beings that ruled the night. If it was something like Hellhounds, she and the others could have survived easily.

She heard someone stirring.

It was Charles. The man shook his head as if to get rid of flies and took in his surroundings. She watched with a small smile as his face scrunched up in confusion, then deep thought. He still hadn't seen her because they were placed in a circular pattern with their backs to each other. She watched with a smirk as he wiggled his body to turn around. At the moment their eyes met, his eyes widened and jaw dropped down eliciting a snort from her.

"Se…Silena?" he stuttered after getting through his shock.

"Better close your mouth Charles, and stop gaping."

"What happened to you?" he asked slowly as if he was trying to comprehend something that was beyond him.

"What do you mean?" she questioned raising her perfect eyebrow. She could guess what he was going on about. But she wanted to know it from his words. Silena could see Charles blushing from his bright red ear-tips.

Charles was always a man of few words. She knew that he loved him like no other. But getting a reaction from him was always hard because he was one of the most emotionally guarded people around. Not to the extent of Percy after his death, but Charles was a private person who didn't display his affection out in the open. Especially when they were not alone. Even with their time together she could count the times the man blushed in the company of others with the fingers in her hand. And it was hard to see him blushing because of his dark complexion. Now that he was lighter, she could catch on to it much quicker, which was what she was doing right now.

"I mean… you look… wow," he stringed his words together with much difficulty.

She smiled at him warmly. "I know… you don't look bad yourself, though I do miss your darker skin tone. Look at them," she pointed at the other two.

"So we all have changed in some manner," he said after studying the other two. "But how?"

"I have no idea. It's like having a barrier in my mind. I can't seem to recall anything that happened after starting to fight with the vampires. The last thing I remember is being hurt… and the unbearable pain… then nothing."

"Same here. I went to help Zoe… then I got hurt somehow… I know this because I can still feel the phantom pain in my chest. After that… nothing." said Charles with a look of contemplation in his face. "Where are we?"

"No idea Charles. I woke the same as you in this place with missing memories. Only the four of us are here, which is weird because many more died before us in the attack."

The two turned silent waiting for the other duo to wake up. It wasn't long before Zoe woke up thrashing wildly with a scream calling out for Percy. Silena tried her best to calm Zoe down and explain the situation. It took a while because Zoe was so agitated that she didn't comprehend half of what was going on around her. Finally they were able to get through her panic haze and were able to get her to recount her side of the story.

Just like with her and Charles, Zoe too hadn't any idea of what had happened. The last think she could remember was Percy getting speared by the crazy vampire, something which Charles and Silena didn't recall.

They literally hung in the air while waiting for the last of their quadruple to wake up while engaging idle chatter. It took about another half an hour for Percy to wake up.

"What's going on?" he all but demanded after getting his bearings and finding his family in all but blood here with him.

"No idea, Percy. We don't have the slightest clue of what's going on. What is the last thing you remember?" Charles asked him.

The three had begun to piece together some facts after getting to know their sides of the story. Each of them remembered something different about their final moment. Even then, they did not have the slightest clue on what happened after Percy's apparent death. Zoe was the one who provided that last tidbit and that was the reason why she panicked when she regained consciousness.

"I remember dying… but I definitely killed one vampire. Charles crashed into me. I don't know how that came t be but that changed the rhythm of the fight and I was able to strike at the vampires heart the same time it drove its fist through my chest. The vampire said something to us… but I can't recall anything. Then…I remember getting angry and my body moved on its own… after that I can't recall anything," Percy said after thinking hard. His face scrunched up and his frown deepened as he retold the final bits of his memory. Much like them, it took a massive effort to think about the final moments which was accompanied by a splitting headache.

"So none of us know what happened after you got stabbed?" Silena asked for which she got nods from the other three.

"Now what?" Percy asked, his restless nature getting the better of him.

"Now you talk with me," came a melodious female voice from all around them.

Silena knew that her mother, Lady Aphrodite had the most alluring voice amongst all the immortals. It was her weapon. She used it to get other gods to do her bidding. Mortals raised armies and warred against one another from her one command. That was the reason why she was feared amongst the Olympians. She didn't need to start wars to get her way, she could just ask. Coupled with her looks and her fickle nature, she had caused more tragedies for humankind than any other god. The Trojan war was a prime example where her fickle nature and charmspeech destroyed one of the greatest bastions of mankind. Even the gods fought during the war albeit indirectly.

But unlike the alluring tone of her mother, this voice was ethereal. She couldn't describe it, but it made her feel reverence to its owner. She felt the need to please the owner of the voice and earn her favor. Subconsciously she imagined the owner to be a devastatingly beautiful lady with looks that were beyond normal immortals.

She wasn't wrong.

The other three looked around cautiously trying to pinpoint the origin of the voice. But there was none. Charles raised his eyebrow at her questioning what was going on, but she slowly shrugged telling him that she was just as clueless as he was.

Slowly a light started to appear at the centre of their circle. From the positions they were in they could turn around and observe the surroundings, but they couldn't move an inch from their spot. So they were unable to defend themselves properly should the being attack, not that it mattered seeing that they had no weapons with them.

The light got brighter and brighter until they were forced to close their eyes. Just as the light shone to its peak intensity, it disappeared. By the time she could see properly again, a woman clad in a white overflowing gown stood in front of her. She was breathtaking. If Zeus was here, he would have been on this lady in a second, being the horny bugger he was. She could see that even Charles had problems keeping his thoughts pure. Percy was a goner. He had his mouth slightly opened as he openly stared at her.

It wasn't just her beauty, but the woman extruded an aura that made you feel that she would make everything alright. It was soothing. To Silena's overtaxed nerves, the feeling was a cooling balm.

"Who are you?"

'Blunt as always,' Silena Thought as Zoe all but demanded the woman.

The woman smiled serenely. With a wave of her hand they were all next to each other in a line facing her. She made it look so effortless. Here they were trying their best to move from their suspended position without any proof for their effort and the lady just waves for it to happen.

'Either we are in her domain… or she's so powerful that she can vaporize us in an instant with just a thought.'

This display of power tuned down hasty Zoe and made her doubly alert. Even Percy seemed to be highly alert. Silena knew that out of the four of them, Percy was leagues beyond them in raw power, which he proved to be quite substantial during the titan war. With just his abilities alone he was able to contain Hyperion, one of the elder titans and the second most powerful one out of them, until the satyrs were able to seal him inside a tree. His power made even Zeus to be on guard at certain points. But never had Silena seen Percy so focused. Even when fighting his mighty adversaries, Percy was cool as a cucumber taunted his enemies in his laid back attitude to get them all rile up.

Silena dreaded the thought of facing the woman if Percy deemed her powerful enough for him to go all 'Perseus Mode'.

The woman regarded all of them. She seemed to be quite amused by Zoe's blunt questioning rather than get insulted like the other immortals. "I'm known by many names. To many I'm the overseer of the rules in the universe, to some… I'm the mother of the Fates, but to you… I'm Ananke; the Primordial goddess of Fate and Destiny."

'Great, another Primordial,' Silena thought.

She could see it in the looks of her friends' faces. They were scared. Neither she, Charles nor Zoe had come face to face with one. Only Percy had faced Nyx, Erebus, Tartarus and Gaea in the past. From his accounts, they were the hardest challenges he had ever faced. Each time he had faced them, he had escaped because his luck proved to be substantial. Each time he was barely clinging to his life. In the end the primordial goddess of the Earth had taken his life ending his streak of luck. And that was saying something because he had faced and defeated multiple gods and titans in the past.

"Bitch," swore Percy under his breath and tried his hardest to break the force field holding him down to throw a punch at Ananke's face. His face which was once filled with a look of fascination was now contorted in fury.

"Percy!" shouted Zoe, trying to calm her brother down.

"Let me go!"

"Calm down, Perseus. You are making things worse," Zoe shouted at him. Silena and Charles too joined the shouting match to calm Percy down.

Even with their pleading, Percy seemed to be of one mind. That was to have a go at the Lady of Fate. It didn't seem to matter to him that he would probably die again at her hand. All that mattered to him was to land one solid blow on her face before he perished. His rationality was completely squashed by his fury. Silena could see the feral snarl etched on his face. It was downright scary. His muscles trembled due to his anger and she could hear his breathing from far away. Percy looked and sounded like an angered bull that was rearing against its bindings.

Silena knew that Percy had some resentment towards the Fates for giving him one of the unluckiest lives ever. Hell, even she resented the Fates. It had both led her to Charles and took away him from her. But to see him downright primal… she realized how deep the resentment ran and her beef with the three hags was nothing compared to his.

While the hubbub was going on Ananke was giving Percy a look that resembled pity. With a look she completely froze Percy from on tracks. She ignored his growls and snarls which resembled a riled up wolf, slowly stepped towards the frozen Percy and placed her palm on his chest.

"My poor child… nobody deserves the pain you lived through. Let me take away you pain."

Ananke's hand glowed bright golden and it transferred to Percy's chest. The glow started to spread gradually until it covered his entire body.

Silena could see that Percy relaxed his clenched jaws slightly at the start and with each passing second he seemed to relax further. He was unfrozen, but he didn't jump the gun to hurt the goddess. Whatever she was doing, it was something Percy needed. Though curious she and the others kept their mouths shut to see where this was going.

With one final pulse the glow receded.

"Is that better?" the goddess asked him.

Percy opened his closed eyes groggily and observed Ananke seriously as if he was deciding whether she was friend or foe. For the first time since he arrived in Elysium, he seemed to be at peace. Sure, he behaved as if everything was alright, but Silena could see the major difference from then and now. Even Zoe seemed t have noticed this. He was engaged in a losing fight with his conscious. Silena could see that even with his gigantic will, he seemed to be ready to pass out any minute.

"What's going on?" Zoe asked with suspicion.

Ananke turned to them. Her look was weary as if she was burdened by the weight of the world. She smiled slightly at Zoe. Silena noticed that her smile gave the feeling that everything was going to be alright and she was there to look after them.

"I cured you little brother's curse."

"What curse?" Zoe fired back. As far as she knew, Percy had no curse on him. Even the one that he was afflicted with was lifted long before he had passed on.

"Zoe Nightshade… what do you know of Styx's curse, or more commonly known as Achilles' curse of invulnerability?"

"It gives you total invulnerability with the exception of your mortal anchor. You must have your mother's blessing to receive it. You need to bathe in the waters of Styx to obtain it. Only three people have received it that we know of. Percy had it, but it was cured after he crossed the Tiber to get to the Roman camp. But what had it to do with Percy?"

"Everything," the goddess replied.

"Care to elaborate?" Charles asked wanting answers.

"Percy!" Zoe yelled when she notice that her brother had passed out.

"Do not worry. His body is readjusting now that his curse has been lifted. He will wake within a few minutes."

With that she waved her hand again and all of them were freed from their bindings. They slowly drifted down and were left standing on their feet while Percy was laid back. The location changed from the blank emptiness to one they were more familiar with. They were in the amphitheatre of Camp Half Blood, but at the same time they were… not. The similarities between the two places were uncanny, but Silena could see many differences that indicated they were not in the actual place. For one, there were no campers about. This place was empty of campers only when lights were out and the harpies were about.

Silena gave up on admiring the goddess' recreation of the camp because something far more serious required her attention. She and Zoe immediately went towards him while Charles took a defensive position in front of them facing the goddess.

Silena felt Percy starting to burn up one second, then start to freeze in the next. She looked at Zoe and her sister in all but blood looked back at her worriedly. In a medical standpoint this temperature fluctuation would cause Percy's organs to seize and would never occur naturally. But when it came to the divine world, everything was possible.

"Don't worry… nothing will happen to him. In fact I think it's better to counter all of your curses," Ananke said before waving her hand dreamily at them again. A wave of power rushed through their bodies and Silena felt herself seize up again. She felt something unpleasant. It was like bugs crawling under her skin and into her muscles and organs. She wanted nothing but to scratch them off. She and Zoe were kneeling down next to Percy when the energy wave hit them, so they were relatively ok. But Charles fell down to his knees with a mighty thud.

She didn't know of the time that passed. It might have been five seconds, or it might have been half an hour. By the time they got over the feeling, she was on her hands and knees desperately trying not to fall on her face. By the time she was able to get her motor skills under control Percy had reawakened and was trying to sit up. All this while, Ananke had been closely observing them with a small smile sitting on a wooden chair she had conjured.

"Percy, are you ok?" Zoe asked him with concern dripping in her voice.

"I'm fine… I think," he replied shaking his head.

"What just happened?" Charles asked getting up from the floor.

"Better ask her," Zoe nodded at Ananke.

"Shall we have our conversation now?" the goddess interrupted them from their conversation. She received three nods while Percy remained silent.

"Let's start with Perseus' little problem. The curse of Achilles is something entirely different than you think. Yes, it grants you invulnerability for the exchange for a mortal anchor… but where does the energy that you get inflicted with when hit with a weapon go? Laws of this universe cannot change. Even we the primordial gods must obey them in that particular universe. One law of this universe states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. So there must be somewhere the energy needs to go when the bearer of the Achilles' curse is hit. Any idea?"

Silena shook her head as did Zoe and Charles while Percy kept frowning. Silena knew that Percy was aware of the answer from the look on his face alone. But since he kept quiet she turned to Ananke for the answers.

"The force goes to the mortal spot," she said eliciting a gasp from her and Zoe. Ananke raised her hand indicating to hold back their questions.

"The curse part comes from the fact that this pain is not immediately transferred to that location. It is gradually inflicted over the course of many years, like an ever present itch. But when it come to a person like Perseus and Achilles, who gets injured a lot, the itch becomes more prominent and it starts to border on pain. Over time, the pain becomes so dominant, that it clouds judgment. Why do you think Achilles was always angry? Why do you think Perseus curses the Fates in every breath he takes? At one point, all the receiver of the curse want to do is die, which was what Achilles did. He could have dodged the arrow, but he did not."

"But Percy cured his curse after he crossed Tiber," Zoe said reminding that Percy got rid of the curse before the Giant's war.

"And there lies the problem," Ananke sighed. "The invulnerability went away… but not the pain."

"Is that the reason why you chose to sacrifice yourself?" asked Charles slowly from Percy.

Percy nodded slowly but kept staring at Ananke.

"Why didn't you tell me? Even after you died you were not released from your pain. And I thought you were angry because the fates took away everything from you," Zoe hugged her brother like no tomorrow. Even Silena joined her in the hug.

'My reasons to be angry at the Fates sound almost childish when compare to Percy's,' she thought sadly.

"It was my burden to bear," Percy said finally.

"No, its not. We are family, all four of us. If you keep these things to yourself, how is your sister going to help you?"

"Yes, I know it's hard for you to trust anybody now Percy, but give us a chance… we will always be with you," Silena added to which Charles nodded.

Silena couldn't imagine going through that pain. He last moments in the land of the living had been painful, with the drakon bite, poison and all, but Percy lived a life of pain. He woke up with pain and went to sleep in pain. And it was a pain he couldn't relieve. If she was in his shoes, she was sure that she would have lost her mind.

Even with that, he continued to fight for what he believed in, only to be left with nothing. No rewards, no girlfriend, no family and finally… nothing to show of his accomplishments.

'The three Fates truly are bitches. They deserve to wither in the pain they create for others,' she thought completely forgetting that the three hags were the daughters of the woman in front of her.

History stated that Achilles was a brave, strong warrior. But the truth was that he was a bitter man in pain who wanted an escape. His rage for his cousin was all but a ruse to try and end his miserable existence. Historians painted a vastly different picture of what truly transpired. Maybe it was because only Achilles knew of the pain he trudged through daily before his 'heroic' death.

She didn't know how the historian would write about the Great Perseus Jackson; Slayer of Giants, Titans' Bane, Destroyer of Monsters, Son of Poseidon, but it too would be within the same lines as Achilles. No one knew of their pain. She was pretty sure, he would be a martyr who fought and bled for the Gods of Olympus so that they could rein the world with peace and prosperity.

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Till next time...