Chapter Eleven: Revealings

Point of View: Perseus Jackson

My father turns so they are within everyone's sight. They walk right up to me. "What do you mean?" My eyebrows furrow. 

"Perseus Jackson," Atropos begins. 

"As the only truly pure soul to come into being," Clotho continues. 

"You are the last ruler, the only true king, and under your care," Lachesis tells me. 

"The world will prosper eternally. No more wars caused by demigods, no more awful influences by wrong gods, nothing horrible will again come to pass. Not under your reign, the last reign, and the never ending reign. This world will never cease to exist now that it is in your hands. Humans will begin to gravitate towards serenity all over. Your soul will purify them. Nothing evil to rise again. This, is the Last Age, the Pure Age, and the Everlasting Age. It will be forever. We still have threads to spin and cut of course, but no tragedies will unjustly befall another. Those who you plan on tormenting, deserve it. But once they are ready to fade, let them. You won't die. Not ever. Your children will help heal the damage the world has received. They will bring back the Wild Places, heal rifts in races, stop disasters before they happen, and help you keep your life stable like it was supposed to be a long time ago." They say together. 

"Wait, a long time ago?" I ask them, catching the meaning behind the last words. 

"Yes." Lachesis nods with a saddened look on her face. "The moment you decided to save Luke Castellan, something the gods did at that moment, caused Gaea to stir enough to wage war. Had they not perceived you in some light, Gaea would have swayed back to sleep because she had exhausted too much of her power. But the gods started to fear you, and they used their power against Typhon wrongly in the last moment. They created a rift to where Gaea emerged more powerful than before. Your defeat of her only strengthening their fear of you. Causing your father to do something he would never dream of. Your love for the world and the ones you held dear gave you the will to take Gaea on and defeat her. You paid the ultimate price in your eyes. Now, you have everything back."

I can feel the shock on my face. "And what life was I originally supposed to have?" 

"The one your father envisioned when he visited you so long ago in your nursery. Annabeth Chase your wife, kids all over, friends and family surrounding you. Immortality for you and all your loved ones. But, your destiny twisted and now it is the same end result with a few different people. Artemis is your wife and your children will be different in their powers but not much else. In a sense, had Annabeth not existed and you fell into the Pit for a friend, Artemis would have been your wife anyway. She is like Annabeth Chase, just older and from a different lineage." Atropos says. 

"Why?" I choke out. 

"Because your fate is always changing. The sea green wool for you is so intricate, we hid it from Zeus. We knew he would eventually demand it had he become desperate enough. Cutting your thread would mean the end of all life. You were right to spare Apollo though. He is needed. As to why you are like this and always have been, we doubt even the Creator himself knows. We only began your thread when you popped into being. Whether it was meant to be before time began for this world or not, you did come into being. For what reason is beyond us." Clotho tells me. 

"Are you saying that I wasn't originally meant to be alive?" I ask them, sitting down again. 

"Normally when we begin a thread, the thread is already in a set place of history. When we started yours, it wasn't there before. We assumed we had made a mistake and even called on Ananke. She never recalled making your thread either and she makes all threads, we just spin them. The a have set destinies, but you don't. You attached yourself to a part of the vast amount of strings and as we went along, we had to wait for what you would do. Always watching to see where and how we had to string your thread and your life thread, it's never going to be cut. Ananke though, she began to look thoughtful. As if someone was telling her the answer to our question." Lachesis puts a hand on my shoulder. 

"Someone did." A female voice says from my right. I feel a warmer hand replace Lachesis's and look up. "Greetings, young Perseus. It is nice to once again be in your presence." 

I just give up on being confused. "I've never met you before." 

"The person who gave me my answer, was you." She tells me. 

"How is that possible?" Gaea asks. 

"His reason was, 'Because I am needed. I will do what I must to save and repair what is left of the world when my time comes. It is dangerous for my coming into being. I will be very influential in any event I encounter.' I too wondered at how he came into being. His answer, 'They willed me into being because of their sheer need. Unconsciously, they want someone to lead them, help them, and most of all, love them. They made me and so I will be one small spark in the flames. Hopefully, they will find me soon after I am born into their messed up world.' This was what you told me. Being born as a human must have drained your actual memory. I gave false visions of your future to the Fates. Annabeth Chase was never meant to survive. Artemis has always been who you were supposed to be with. The end result of who ruled was going to be you. But, had it happened the other way around and you defeated your family as of now, Zeus would have stepped down and the council would have chosen you. But the shift to cause the second Giant war killed that chance and your love made you a victim. Annabeth would have died in this war because Tartarus had another reason to fight this battle." Ananke says and looks at Tartarus. 

I don't even look and Tartarus speaks. "To capture the greatest demigod to ever live alive," I think I just lost the will to give voice to my words.  "And show him why Olympus must shift down in power. Either by falling or by reason, Olympus needed to come to a close. It's chapter in the book is over. Now, it's his turn." 

"What would you have done if you would have had to capture me?" I ask as I look at the cracked ground of a fallen Olympus. 

"Reasoned with you. Taken you and shown you everything that the Olympians had ever done wrong. I wasn't so quick to do much to you because of what you had done before. But I think the second Giant war needed to happen. You needed to see what the Olympians were truly like. Now they are no more and cannot wrongly accuse anybody ever again." He tells me. 

"And if the Olympians had come to get me?" A small smile plays on my lips. 

"They wouldn't send anyone and there would have been only one person that would have come to get you. But I would have given you back once I had shown you everything necessary and talked to you." He answers. 

"Yes, I do believe you are right." I tell him. 

"Good." He says. 

"Perseus Jackson, you life before has long ended but the corruption of Olympus kept you from moving on. You still feel it's affects, do you not?" Ananke smiles kindly at me. 

I look up at her and rise to my feet. "There is something in the air about this place." I nod. "And something stirs inside of me." 

"That something is the last key to the sea, dear boy." She tells me. She shoves her hand in my abdomen and rips out a spherical object. 

The orb is a mix of every blue and every color of the sea. It shines brightly in the sun, but is ice cold. She places it in my hands and the cold feeling becomes stronger. The orb bursts with light and I stare at the little key that sits in my palm when I open my eyes. 

"Why do I have this?" I ask her. 

She holds out a lockbox. "This contains the sea within. The heart of the sea. It was lost not too long ago. It was once placed inside a child, the little one's soul. But it was removed because something happened to the child. Open it." 

I open the lockbox and gaze upon the nearly identical orb I just held in my hand, but smaller and more powerful. "It's familiar to me. Why does is it familiar? I've never seen this before in my life." I look up at her. 

She puts the orb in my hand and close my fist over it. The lockbox disappears and she takes my other hand in both of hers. "Dear boy, that child...was you." I still, but I can't seem to let go of the orb in my hand. "When you were born and Poseidon came to visit you, he saw your future because I showed him. I was hoping to avoid this outcome, but it happened nonetheless. Seeing you so happy and knowing it would be best if kept in you because of your soul, he attached it to you permanently. It didn't increase your powers or make your scent stronger or make you more like him. That was you. This just made your bond with the sea and Poseidon a nearly impossible to break, something that Poseidon did himself. When he lost you, he lost the sea and it's only perfect child. Loyal to a fault, caring, loving, and pure. Once Tartarus and Gaea made you their son and you cut your ties to the sea, the heart left you because it couldn't bear to see you in so much pain. It ripped your soul into three pieces. You retained everything but the heart of the sea and love. You have regained the latter. This," she touches my other hand. "Was part of you for so long, it will soon die without being part of you again. The sea is you. It's yours. Without you, it will disappear. It already weakens. Rejoining with you will make it strong again. It's what is still missing inside. That feeling you have, is missing this. And to help Olympus fall to pieces and out of the sky to disappear forever, you need to become whole again." 

"How did the key get inside me?" I whisper. 

"To keep you from feeling almost completely and totally empty, your soul made a replica of the heart of the sea. It made it a protective casing to that key." Ananke tells me. 

"What's so important about the key?" I ask and hold it up. 

"Your soul needed the heart back and to keep your soul from becoming void, it created a key to the heart's lost location. The key kept your soul connected enough for you to stay at least a little bit like how you were before. Without the ties of course. This won't give you back the ties you once had but it will strengthen the ones you hold now. You must accept it." She tells me and pushes my hand into my body, where I hold it to my heart. 

"What if it doesn't rejoin with me? The sea? It abandoned me before. Why should I want to reclaim it? Why shouldn't I let it go?" I question her, but I know she's right. 

"It was meant for you. You are it's keeper. And the sea didn't abandon you, it's master did. You would never let something as precious as the sea die out. Take it back." She tells me. 

I open my hand to look at it and something comes to mind. "You said Poseidon put it in me because of what my soul is, but how can I be so pure with everything that I have done, that I have lived through? I shouldn't be this way at all." 

"Because I didn't make your thread. I just watched over your path and gave the Fates the visions they needed to keep you moving. It helped them spin your thread into the web of life." She tells me. "Not to mention you were born to two very loving people. But you were right when we first spoke, you were very dangerous and coming into being in this world had drastic effects. Had you not entered it would have perished altogether. But the affects that should not have occurred happened around you because subconsciously, your soul already knew the best outcome. This," she waves her hand around. "Was the best outcome."

"You think so? I pretty much just exterminated an entire race of people." I look at her quizzically. 

"I know so. I saw all other outcomes. In the end, however difficult it might be to see now, Destiny happened to choose right this time. And it's all due because you answered their call." She touches her fingertips to my temples. 

"What are you doing?" I ask her.  

"Giving back your memories before you let yourself become human." She tells me. 

Her hands glow white and I see several scenes rush into my mind. She removes her hands and I blink away the dark spots in my vision. "I can't be that old." I look at her in confusion. 

"You are. You spent your time with me, watching the way of the world. All its fates, beginnings, and endings. All its heroes, villains, and victims. Royalty, common folk, and those who were above the norm. You studied it with me, helped me shape destiny before the world even started. Though how you heard their call before they even came to be is beyond me. You yourself just had an inkling and formed yourself. You are a Primordial as old as I." Ananke smiles. 

"I didn't have a body until I became human. Odd. It feels weird now." I chuckle. "Yes, Primordial of Immortality and Balance. I became the ruler of my other domains because that's what humans created and I was needed to keep the balance of the world. They all called to me." 

She laughs and smiles. "Do you know how lonely I've been without you or my husband?" She asks. 

"Is he no longer with us?" I ask in concern. 

"Oh, he's somewhere. I cannot seem to locate him." She sighs. 

I breathe deeply and look up at the sky. "He will return." I say and look back down at her. 

She cocks her head. "How do you know?" 

"Just a feeling." I smirk. 

She giggles. "You're feelings are always correct. I will wait then." 

"Well, you're always welcome to visit me. I guess now that I think about it, it's been so long since I have carried the threads of time for you." I tell her. 

"Indeed it has been." She nods and glances at my hands. "Reclaim the gift, Axes." (Pronounce like Axis)

"Don't worry Ananke, I will." I chuckle at Tartarus's confused look. 

She kisses my cheek and flashes away. I look at the heart of the sea and it shines brightly. I close my eyes as I reconnect with it, my soul stitching back together and finally, the emptiness is no more. I look at Olympus. Gaea puts a hand on my shoulder. "Go," I smile contentedly at her. "I will explain all later. But I must finish the process of tearing down the world of the gods." 

They all look at me and smile as they flash out. I walk into the throne room again. I take my sword out of Zeus's throne and Olympus starts to tremble. I walk to the middle of the throne room. I chuckle. "Funny, I guess I'm ironic that way. Look up Luke Castellan, because Olympus is falling. Brick. By. Brick." I say softly and plunge my sword into the center of the entire floating city, the center of the throne room. 

I feel it as they all start to fall an vanish into another space. The void. The unknown world most cannot enter. I look sadly at Athena's throne. "Sorry Annabeth, but the beautiful city you rebuilt needed to come down. The reign of the sky is now over and it is falling to pieces. I hope you rest in peace, knowing that all is better." I tell the throne. 

I pull my sword back out of the ground and sheathe it. I walk out of the throne room and see that even the walkway is crumbled to dust. The ground leading up to Olympus caving in and disappearing, dissolving into thin air. I flash to the Pit and meet everybody in my home. 

They all have piled into the second floor living room. Tartarus stands up. "Where will your seat of power rule from in our world?" Gaea asks from beside my loving wife. 

"Over time, I have seen the world, Mount Othrys, Mount Olympus, and so far, nothing really works. The Pit is too far below for me to keep an eye on the mortal world. The sky was Olympus and the ground Mount Othrys. But the sea is much like the Pit. It's harder to keep an eye on everything. So," I look at all of them. "I think I'll try out the forest. Rebuild the world from there." I look at Artemis and wink. "There's no place like the woods for sanctuary. Really, it's where the smartest creatures live. Animals use it to their advantage all the time. And I think humans need to become more grounded again and learn to survive. Nature needs to be revitalized and we alone cannot do that. Humans are needed to help." 

"You're kidding." Gaea smiles. 

"I never kid. It's not who I am." I chuckle at her reaction.