A single line of the great prophecy seemed to be the dreaded line that will predict the end.  Although no line in the great prophecy is significantly delightful this one was exceedingly dreadful. The single line of the great prophecy that seemed to be the causes of my nightmares. When I go to sleep all I can hear is that single line echoing repeatedly through my mind.  

A hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. 

Everyone knew who that line was written for. Everyone knew that I would be on the receiving end of that cursed blade. Although nobody seemed to dare say it out loud, everyone knew who the heroin in that line was. Everyone knew but no one actually knew.

Camp Half-Blood is full of heroes. Heroes that have laid down their lives for the greater well-being of the universe. Heroes that are children. Heroes that have families. Heroes that have friends. Heroes that now will never see what their futures could have become.

When I saw Luke fighting within himself in the grand throne room of the gods, his eyes flickered out of focus as he fought for control against the king of titans. He fought with himself right in front of the great throne room where the gods looked over the universes.

The gods that were our parents, the gods that were supposed to protect us. The one that we sacrificed every night, every day, our every breath for. The same ones that we would whisper our greatest desires to when we didn't have enough hope to say them out loud. In the end when it actually matters those same gods can't do anything--they can do anything except when it actually matters.

A hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. 

Everyone knew that I was the great hero. The hero that could save everyone and everything from destruction. Everyone knew but nobody knew at the same time. 

My whole world tipped upside down, and I gave the blade to Luke. The cursed blade that reaps the hero's soul.

I saw Luke sprawled at the hearth. He didn't stab himself hard but it was in the right spot. If it was any other spot Kronos' scythe wouldn't have liquefied into molten metal and it wouldn't have trickled into the coals of the hearth, which wouldn't have started glowing like a blacksmith's furnace. 

Luke's left side was bloody. His eyes were open-- blue eyes, the way they used to be.

I've seen enough death that I knew when it was coming. I'm no doctor but with my 4 years of experience as a professional demigod, I just know when things are about to happen. It wasn't the heavy breathing or the dilated eyes, it was just a feeling in my gut. A feeling that every single demigod that has fought for the gods knew. It wasn't a tickle, it was more like someone took their hand and stuck it in your abdomen and refused to let go.

Although I didn't dare say it out loud the look on my face must have shown my thoughts. He nodded as if he'd expected it. He nodded as if he could understand everything I was saying even though I didn't even whimper a single word.

He winced in pain.

"We can get ambrosia," Grover said. "We can---"

"Grover," Luke gulped. "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But no. There's no healing..." 

Another cough, followed by another. This time you could see a small trickle of blood come out of his mouth. It followed the side of his chin like a child would go down a playground slide. As it dripped down his chin it stained his armor. That doesn't really matter since his armor was already stained. Not with his own blood of course. Blood nonetheless though.

He gripped my sleeve, and I could feel the heat of his skin like fire. 

"Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't 'et it... Don't let it happen again." His eyes were angry, but pleading too. He wasn't hiding anything, this was raw human emotion. 

"I won't," I said. "I promise."

Luke nodded just barely, and his hand went slack. 

When I put him down, his body started glowing as if it was on fire. This was a first. Demigods are demigods, they pass into the next world like normal mortals.  I take back what I said before about gods not doing anything when it actually mattered. 

Maybe this time they actually decided to do something, or maybe Zeus got too much of intoxicating liquids in his godly system and started giving out immortality willy nilly. I'm not complaining though, we need all the immortality we can get.

This light was unnatural as if it was affected by some unnatural force. I looked away, as the blinding light shined through. I better leave Luke alone for now and let the gods do whatever they want. Blinding godly lights emitting from mortal bodies usually wasn't a bad sign.

The unnaturally godly light slowly died down, I waited a couple seconds before I was sure it was over. Looking at a god in their full form is never a good idea. I just basically survived a monster apocalypse. I'm definitely not going to die now from pure idiocy. 

When I looked back, Luke was standing, his fighting armor was not exchanged for a newly tailored chitin. It wasn't like the cheap material that the servants in Athens wore but the material that was of a godly tier. His short blonde hair grew out and now had a soft wave giving it some volume as it dropped down to his shoulders. 

I knew that Luke was fit. I knew that he probably worked out like any demigod that had to focus on their physical skill to survive a day out of the safe borders of the camp. I knew that he probably had biceps but what I didn't know is that they would expand with becoming a god. 

Luke looked down at his hands and stared directly into my eyes. A flirtatious smile slowly emerged from his face. "Like what you see Jackson?" He gave me a halfhearted wink. His golden eyes looked directly at me, although the tone of his voice was playful all I could see was a deep hatred. 

"Everyone thought that you would be the source of my demise. Really though I need to thank you. Without you, I would have never been able to unlock my power. The only thing that was holding me back was that mortal body. Now that it's gone I don't need it anymore. Thank you, Perseus Jackson, thank you for causing the demise of everything that you're fighting for."

I take it back, Luke definitely looked worse than he did before. Considering that before he was a bloody mess lying in a heap on the floor of the throne of the gods that's a pretty good insult. Luke definitely looks worse than he did before. 

Luke. No. Luke didn't have hair up to his shoulders that had a soft wave. Luke didn't have a perfectly chiseled arm autonomy that looked like a statue made in ancient Greece. Luke was a demigod, a hero with all his flaws. 

This wasn't Luke. No. This was someone else. When Kronos gave me a smile of thanks I didn't feel any pleasure. It felt like that uncle you didn't like gave you a pat on the back and congratulated you for doing something you aren't proud of. Except this feeling was so much worse. 

When your uncle congratulated you it might have been because you cheated on a test and got away with it. This was different. I was getting congratulated for causing the downfall of the universe. 

Kronos lifted his arm out and the hearth that was once glowing like a blacksmith's furnace slowly started to disappear. It looked like the life of the hearth was slowly getting absorbed. I wanted to lunge at him and make him to anything but to continue. I just couldn't move.

Annabeth and Grover were frozen beside me, although I couldn't see them I could feel the struggle and fear while they tried to do the same. We all wanted to attack, the years of training and when it actually mattered we couldn't do anything. When it actually mattered we didn't do anything-- like the gods.

The hearth of Olympus that was once glowing like a blacksmith's furnace slowly withered from its bright blinding light to a soft glow to emptiness. Dark emptiness. It left a pit in my gut as nothing did before. Even though times were tough the hearth of Olympus always kept on burning. Now it was gone it felt like someone snuffed out the light of my life that I didn't realize I couldn't continue without.

The molten metal that once trickled into the coals of the hearth moved its way out. It grouped together as the small drops grouped into a larger one and larger and larger. Slowly but surely it was forming itself into the shape of a scythe. The Scythe of Kronos. 

This was a time that actually mattered, if we could get one attack then we could win the war that we were so close to winning. This moment mattered, but just like our parents when it actually mattered we couldn't do anything.

The 3 of us were frozen in place as we watched our greatest enemy slowly rise back into the feared power that he was before.

The Scythe looked different in his body than it did with Luke. It looked different, more intimidating. Just seeing the embodiment of Kronos with his Scythe in his hand, set an unidentifiable level of fear through everyone watching this spectacle. 

He walked closer to me, at the rate of what only could have been a few seconds it felt like years. Before if I saw an enemy that I hated approaching me all I would feel would be anger. Before I would be full of anger that I would charge at them at full speed. Now with his Scythe in hand, with Kronos holding it, all I could feel was fear. Even if I could move this wouldn't be a battle I could win with skill.

In one hand he held his scythe, it reigned even above his height. He easily stood at 7 feet at his mortal image and his scythe reigned above him by a couple more. With his other hand, he ran his finger under my chin. If I could I would have definitely bit his hand off. 

"I know I should thank you for setting my power free by getting rid of my liability." He looked at me as if studying my structure. "I can't thank you though, you took out most of my army. I can't be a king if I can only rule some of my armies. I don't have the time to wait for them all to come back."

He looked at me one more time while studying both my physical structure and my soul. He stared at me for so long. When he finally looked away it couldn't have been better timing, any longer and I would have broken down in tears. When he looked away there was a smirk on his face as if he finally pieced together the pieces of a puzzle that he spent months on.

He turned around as a portal appeared, the vacuum of the hole sucking up the nearby crumble of granite. He looked at me one more time before turning back.

"You may know me as the KRONOS was the King of the Titans and the god of time. When ancient Greece named me during that particular time my power was viewed as a destructive, all-devouring force. They aren't wrong though. As the god of time, I also have access to all of it."

"I remember you know Perseus Jackson, see you in your past lives, Perseus. I'll make sure you don't become a hero then and be reincarnated to destroy my army now. Without you, I will have my army back to rule." He walked through the portal as sudden blindness overwhelmed me. If I had control over my body I would have turned around, but I couldn't move so all the 3 of us could do is to watch the blinding light. 

When I could see again, everything was normal except for the fact that it was too quiet.

The gods arrived a few minutes later in their full war regalia, thundering into the throne room and expecting a battle. A battle that they missed. A battle that actually mattered. In the end though when it actually mattered those gods can't do anything,

Instead of a full-fledged battle, they found something else in their stead. What they found were the three of us standing not over the body of a defeated god but in disbelief over a torn throne room with no enemy. 

"Percy," my father called, awe in his voice. "What... what is this?"

I turned and faced the Olympians. "I-I don't know"

Athena walked up to me, her eyes scanning me, "Something has changed. Something is wrong." 

Even though I couldn't see any visible change in the environment, even a seaweed brain like me could sense something was wrong. 

I looked down at my body as I saw faint smoke rising from my skin, which first rose as an extension of my skin and it slowly faded into the atmosphere. I felt light-headed and everything seemed like a dream. At first, when I looked into Annabeth's eyes I could see alarm slowly settling in as she watched me slowly disappear. 

As I disappeared more, the alarm in her eyes disappeared with it and it seemed like she couldn't see me at all. I slowly started turning translucent until I ceased to exist in everyone's eyes. Whatever Kronos did, it seemed to have worked to my dismay. 

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A majority of this book is unedited, all edited chapters will have a gif banner in the starting chapter. I will be slowly editing the book. Thank you!