Chapter 65

[Third Person's PoV]

In the middle of the night, Lucian was shaken awake, causing him to open his eyes groggily.

"Huh?... Annabeth? Is that you? What do you want?" He asked, still feeling incomprehensible.

"I can't sleep. When I close my eyes, all I think about is the prophecy… Do you mind if I sleep with you tonight?"

Lucian, still not fully awake, just lifted his covers. "Yeah, sure, go ahead."

"Thanks," she said, getting in and snuggling close to him, seeking his comfort.

She started to shake slightly. "I'm scared," Annabeth whispered. "I don't want to go to war…"

Lucian, who was still loopy, hugged her and muttered, "Don't worry, I'm here to protect you," before falling asleep.

Annabeth smiled with tears in her eyes and slowly fell asleep as well.

…

"WOAH!" Lucian shouted before falling off the bed.

Annabeth woke up hearing the commotion and looked at Lucian on the floor, blinking slowly. "Why are you on the floor?" she asked, sounding tired.

"A better question is why are you in my bed?" Lucian asked, rubbing his butt from the fall.

Annabeth looked at Lucian in confusion. "You said I could get in when I asked yesterday," she said before laying back down.

"I did," Lucian muttered before scratching his head. "I guess I did."

He let out a sigh and did his morning routine before Annabeth woke up for real this time.

"I'm going towards the forest if you need anything," Lucian warned Annabeth before disappearing into his shadow.

He reappeared in an open space surrounded by trees before sitting down on the floor and summoning his grimoire.

Lucian started recording down any spell he had knowledge of inside his grimoire to have easier access with a single thought instead of preparing a magic circle or using High-speed Divine Words.

Right now, Lucian was mostly focusing on curses he could conjure. He held out his hand as a magic circle manifested, and Lucian muttered, "Curse of Slow Perception."

Every time he casted a spell, it would be recognized and recorded in the grimoire. Lucian realized that the magic circle helped him add more power to the spell and stabilize it better than he would have without.

Lucian first tried writing a magic circle on the floor and then on paper before having enough practice to draw it in the air with his mana.

Usually, in order to activate a spell or use some of his power, Lucian would have to visualize how it looks, how much power it needs, and the effect it would have. There is no need with the Grimoire. Sure, Lucian already trained his visualizing to the point where he could execute his moves efficiently.

But with the Grimoire, the entire visualizing step is completely removed. "Curse of Blindness," "Curse of No Speech," "Deaf Curse," "Void of the 5 Senses," "Enhanced Pain Perception."

As he was thinking of curses to make, Lucian came up with an idea. "What if a target moves too fast, and I would have trouble hitting him with these curses?"

Lucian smirked to himself before drawing a circle in the air. He started writing in ancient Greek letters around the inside of the circle, words related to target and homing.

When he was done, he drew a symbol in the middle of it. The symbol serves as a focal point for the caster's intent and energy, helping to concentrate their magical power and direct it toward the desired outcome of the spell or ritual.

The symbol Lucian decided to form right now was a black skull with a black sun on its forehead, as he felt that's what represents him the most.

After all, the black skull is due to him being a son of Hades, a big part of who he is and what he is capable of is because he's his son, while the black sun represents his mother, as it's on the forehead it represents all the wisdom she had imparted to him, whether it was related to magic or something else entirely… and also because he could use black flames.

"I'll name it Focus Lock," Lucian declared, "the Focus Lock curse ensures the target can never evade the caster's attacks, no matter where they hide or flee. It would lock onto the target and follow them no matter how much they try to evade the attack."

As he was focusing on what else to create, Annabeth appeared. "We need to go back to camp quickly!" she shouted, appearing suddenly.

She grabbed Lucian's arm, helping him up while also dragging him. "What's going on? Are we under attack or something?"

"No, much worse. Luke just received his quest, and it doesn't look like he's happy about it," Annabeth explained.

'How is that worse?' Lucian thought to himself in confusion before sighing and standing up straight. He picked up Annabeth in a princess carry, taking her by surprise before he grew dark black wings made of shadows on his back, resembling the wings of a devil.

He took to the sky, which took Annabeth by surprise. "AHHHHHHH, WHY ARE WE DOING THIS!? COULDN'T WE SHADOW TRAVEL OR SOMETHING?"

"Hehehe, because it's fun. It feels like I'm the one in control when I'm flying like this," Lucian answered, making his way towards Luke, where he detected his life force.

"I DON'T FEEL LIKE THAT AT ALLLLL!" Annabeth shouted as Lucian dove down from the skies and landed in front of Luke.

Luke was first surprised before sighing and shaking his head. "Hey Lucian, guess what my quest is?" Luke asked, his surprised expression switching to an angered one.

Lucian just tilted his head, pretending not to know. "What?"

"He wants me to be a gardener! For crying out loud, his grand quest for me is to pluck a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides."

"Really? That's it?" Lucian asked with a surprised expression, still pretending not to know.

"I know, right!" Luke said, sounding frustrated. "Does he believe I don't have what it takes to do more? Is that all the confidence he has in me?"

Luke then shook his head in disappointment. "I was expecting things to go differently. Sure, he did help us during our journey here, but that's all he did. He didn't ask how I was, what I'm doing, if I was alright. He just sent me away to be someone else's problem. He couldn't be bothered to check, and now he wants me to play gardener."

Lucian just looked at him with a raised eyebrow, causing Luke to sigh once again and shake his head. "Sorry about that. I shouldn't be venting my feelings onto you like that."

Lucian just chuckled. "What are you talking about? Of course you can. What are friends for, right?"

"That's nice and all guys, but are you going to take the mission?" Annabeth interjected.

Luke scoffed and looked at Annabeth in amusement before patting her head. "I really wish I could just decline it, but I don't think I can, so I might as well."

"Then take me with you," Annabeth demanded, looking into Luke's eyes with a serious expression.

Luke instantly said no. "I was planning on taking Lucian and Thalia."

"Wha-"

"Take her," Lucian said instantly.

It was Luke's turn to be dumbfounded. He looked a bit hurt that Lucian didn't want to go with him.

Lucian rolled his eyes before looking at Luke. "You trust me, right?"

Luke scoffed at that answer. "We've had each other's backs for years. Of course I trust you."

Lucian then smirked. "Then take her…"

Luke looked at Annabeth, who was looking at him with expectations. "Fine, but I'm being the leader here, got it?"

Annabeth nodded happily and threw a fist pump due to her excitement. "I'll go get everything ready!" she shouted happily before running away.

"Do you really not want to go?" Luke asked.

It was Lucian's turn to sigh. "Man, I wish I could, but I already made plans. If I had known earlier, I would have managed to rearrange them, but…"

"Well, in that case, I'll go and get ready," Luke said, shaking his head in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Lucian looked at Luke's back with a calculating smirk…