Ataraxia [BTS au | Heroes of Olympus]

44

At the top of the tunnel, the green membrane rippled. He grabbed his sword and rose, prepared for a flood of monsters.

But Kekrops emerged alone. "The way is clear," he said. "But hurry. The ceremony is almost complete."

Pushing through a curtain of mucus was almost as fun as he imagined. He emerged feeling like he’d just rolled through a giant’s nostril. Fortunately, none of the gunk stuck to him, but still his skin tingled with revulsion.

Jimin, Namjoon and he found themselves in a cool, damp pit that seemed to be the basement level of a temple. All around them, uneven ground stretched into darkness under a low ceiling of stone.
Directly above their heads, a rectangular gap was open to the sky. He could see the edges of walls and the tops of columns, but no monsters … yet.

The camouflage membrane had closed behind them and blended into the ground. He pressed his hand against it. The area seemed to be solid rock. They wouldn’t be leaving the way they’d come.

Namjoon ran his hand along some marks on the ground – a jagged crow’s-foot shape as long as a human body. The area was lumpy and white, like stone scar tissue. "This is the place," he said.

"Jimin, these are the trident marks of Poseidon."

Hesitantly, Jimin touched the scars.

"This is where he struck the earth," Namjoon said, "where he made a saltwater spring appear when he had the contest with my mom to sponsor Athens."

"So this is where the rivalry started," Jimin said.

"Yeah."

"The rivalry ends here," Jimin said, smiling.

He pulled Namjoon in for a kiss and sighed in relief. "Sorry for that." He said to Jimin. But Jimin was smiling all wide with happiness.

"It's fine."

"Uh … anyway. We’re beneath the Erechtheion." Namjoon said a blush still covering his cheeks. "It’s a temple to both Athena and Poseidon. The Parthenon should be diagonally to the southeast of here. We’ll need to sneak around the perimeter and disable as many siege weapons as we can, make an approach path for the Argo II."

"It’s broad daylight," he said. "How will we go unnoticed?"

Namjoon scanned the sky. "That’s why I made a plan with Taehyung and Hosoek. Hopefully … "

"Is Taehyung up there?" Jimin asked shocked.

"He must be." Namjoon said. "Though I asked him to stay as far as possible still with a view of us. He's not coming to us.  As soon as he gives Hosoek the word, he will –"

"Gah!" He yelped.

Namjoon clamped his hand over his mouth. Which looked strange, because suddenly each of them had turned into a hulking, six-armed Earthborn.

"Hosoek’s Mist." Jimin's voice sounded deep and gravelly. He looked down and realized that he, too, now had a lovely Neanderthal body – belly hair, loincloth, stubby legs and oversized feet. If he concentrated, he could see his normal arms, but when he moved them they rippled like mirages, separating into three different sets of muscular Earthborn arms.

He grimaced, which must have looked even worse on his newly uglified face. "Wow, Namjoon … I’m really glad I kissed you before you changed."

"Thanks a lot," Namjoon said. "We should get going. I’ll move clockwise around the perimeter. Jin, you move counterclockwise. Jimin, you scout the middle –"

"Wait," Jimin said. "We’re walking right into the whole blood-spilling sacrifice trap we’ve been warned about, and you want to split up even more?"

"We’ll cover more ground that way," Namjoon said. "We have to hurry. That chanting …"

He hadn’t noticed it until then, but now he heard it: an ominous drone in the distance, like a hundred forklifts idling. He looked at the ground and noticed bits of gravel trembling, skittering southeast, as if pulled towards the Parthenon.

"Right," he said. "We’ll meet up at the giant’s throne." At first it was easy.

Monsters were everywhere – hundreds of ogres, Earthborn and Cyclopes milling through the ruins – but most of them were gathered at the Parthenon, watching the ceremony in progress. He strolled along the cliffs of the Acropolis unchallenged.

Near the first onager, three Earthborn were sunning themselves on the rocks. He walked right up to them and smiled. "Hello."

Before they could make a sound, he cut them down with his sword. All three melted into slag heaps. He slashed the onager’s spring cord to disable the weapon, then kept moving.

He was committed now. He had to do as much damage as possible before the sabotage was discovered.

He skirted a patrol of Cyclopes. The second onager was surrounded by an encampment of tattooed Laistrygonian ogres, but he managed to get to the machine without raising suspicion. He dropped a vial of Greek fire in the sling. With luck, as soon as they tried to load the catapult, it would explode in their faces.

He kept moving. Gryphons roosted on the colonnade of an old temple. A group of empousai had retreated into a shadowy archway and appeared to be slumbering, their fiery hair flickering dimly, their brass legs glinting. Hopefully the sunlight would make them sluggish if they had to fight.

Whenever he could, he slew isolated monsters. He walked past larger groups. Meanwhile the crowd at the Parthenon grew larger. The chanting got louder. He couldn’t see what was happening inside the ruins – just the heads of twenty or thirty giants standing in a circle, mumbling and swaying, maybe doing the evil monster version of 'Kumbayah’.

He disabled a third siege weapon by sawing through the torsion ropes, which should give the Argo II a clear approach from the north.

He hoped Taehyung was watching his progress. He wondered how long it would take for the ship to arrive.

Suddenly, the chanting stopped. A BOOM echoed across the hillside. In the Parthenon, the giants roared in triumph. All around him, monsters surged towards the sound of celebration.

That couldn’t be good. He blended into a crowd of sour-smelling Earthborn. He bounded up the main steps of the temple, then climbed a section of metal scaffolding so she could see above the heads of the ogres and Cyclopes.

The scene in the ruins almost made him cry aloud. Before Porphyrion’s throne, dozens of giants stood in a loose ring, hollering and shaking their weapons as two of their number paraded around the circle, showing off their prizes. The princess Periboia held Namjoon by the neck like a feral cat. The giant Enceladus had Jimin wrapped in his massive fist.

Namjoon and Jimin both struggled helplessly. Their captors displayed them to the cheering horde of monsters, then turned to face King Porphyrion, who sat in his makeshift throne, his white eyes
gleaming with malice.

"Right on time!" the giant king bellowed. "The blood of Olympus to raise the Earth Mother!"