Ataraxia [BTS au | Heroes of Olympus]

45

He watched in horror as the giant king rose to his full height – almost as tall as the temple columns. His face looked just as Taehyung has described– green as bile, with a twisted sneer, his seaweed-coloured hair braided with swords and axes taken from dead demigods.

He loomed over the captives, watching them wriggle. "They arrived just as you foresaw, Enceladus! Well done!"

Enceladus bowed, braided bones clattering in his dreadlocks. "It was simple, my king."

The flame designs gleamed on his armour. His spear burned with purplish fire. He only needed one hand to hold his captive. Despite all of Jimin’s power, in the end he was helpless against the sheer strength of the giant – and the inevitability of the prophecy.

"I understand how they think." Enceladus continued. "Athena and Poseidon … they were just like these children! They both came here thinking to claim this city. Their arrogance has undone them!"

Over the roar of the crowd, he could barely hear himself think.

Namjoon tried to say something, but the giantess Periboia shook him by the neck. "Shut up! None of your silver-tongued trickery!"

The princess drew a hunting knife as long as his sword. "Let me do the honours, Father!"

"Wait, Daughter." The king stepped back. "The sacrifice must be done properly. Thoon, destroyer of the Fates, come forward!"

The wizened grey giant shuffled into sight, holding an oversized meat cleaver. He fixed his milky eyes on Namjoon.

Jimin shouted. At the other end of the Acropolis, a hundred yards away, a geyser of water shot into the sky.

King Porphyrion laughed. "You’ll have to do better than that, son of Poseidon. The earth is too powerful here. Even your father wouldn’t be able to summon more than a salty spring. But never fear. The only liquid we require from you is your blood!"

He scanned the sky desperately. Where was the Argo II? Thoon knelt and touched the blade of his cleaver reverently against the earth.

"Mother Gaia …" His voice was impossibly deep, shaking the ruins, making the metal scaffold resonate under his feet. "In ancient times, blood mixed with your soil to create life. Now, let the blood of these demigods return the favour. We bring you to full wakefulness. We greet you as our eternal mistress!"

Without thinking, he leaped from the scaffolding. He sailed over the heads of the Cyclopes and ogres, landed in the centre of the courtyard and pushed his way into the circle of giants. As Thoon rose to use his cleaver, he slashed upward with his sword. He took off Thoon’s hand at the wrist.

The old giant wailed. The cleaver and severed hand lay in the dust at his feet. He felt his Mist disguise burn away until he was just Jin again – one boy in the midst of an army of giants, his jagged bronze blade like a toothpick compared to their massive weapons.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Porphyrion thundered. "How dare this weak, useless creature interrupt?"

He followed his gut. He attacked.
His advantages: he was small, he was quick, and he was absolutely insane. He drew his knife and threw it at Enceladus, hoping he wouldn’t hit Jimin by accident. He veered aside without witnessing the results, but, judging from the giant’s painful howl, he’d aimed well.

Several giants ran at him at once. He dodged between their legs and let them bash their heads together.
He wove through the crowd, jabbing his sword into dragon-scale feet at every opportunity and yelling, ‘RUN! RUN AWAY!’ to sow confusion.

"NO! STOP HIM!" Porphyrion shouted. "KILL HIM!"

A spear almost impaled him. He swerved and kept running. It’s just like capture the flag, he told himself. Only the enemy team is all thirty feet tall.

A huge sword sliced across his path. Compared to his sparring practice with Taehyung, the strike was ridiculously slow. He leaped over the blade and zigzagged towards Namjoon, who was still kicking and writhing in Periboia’s grip. He had to free him.

Unfortunately, the giantess seemed to anticipate his plan.

"I think not, demigod!" Periboia yelled. "This one bleeds!" The giantess raised her knife.

He screamed in charmspeak: "MISS!"

At the same time, Namjoon kicked up with his legs to make himself a smaller target.

Periboia’s knife passed beneath Namjoon's legs and stabbed the giantess’s own palm. ‘OWWW!’

Periboia dropped Namjoon – alive, but not unscathed. The dagger had sliced a nasty gash across the back of his thigh. As Namjoon rolled away, his blood soaked into the earth.

The blood of Olympus, he thought with dread.

But he couldn’t do anything about that. He had to help Namjoon. He lunged at the giantess. His jagged blade suddenly felt ice cold in his hands. The surprised giantess glanced down as the sword of the Boread pierce her gut. Frost spread across her bronze breastplate. He felt grateful for taking the sword with him.

He yanked out his sword. The giantess toppled backwards – steaming white and frozen solid. Periboia hit the ground with a thud.

"My daughter!" King Porphyrion levelled his spear and charged. But Jimin  had other ideas.

Enceladus had dropped him … probably because the giant was busy staggering around with his knife embedded in his forehead, ichor streaming into his eyes.

Jimin  had no weapon – perhaps his sword had been confiscated or lost in the fighting – but he didn’t let that stop him. As the giant king ran towards him, Jimin  grabbed the tip of Porphyrion’s spear and forced it down into the ground. The giant’s own momentum lifted him off his feet in an unintentional pole-vault manoeuvre and he flipped over onto his back.

Meanwhile Namjoon dragged himself across the ground. He ran to his side. He stood over his boyfriend, sweeping his blade back and forth to keep the giants at bay. Cold blue steam now wreathed his blade.

"Who wants to be the next Popsicle?" he yelled, channelling anger into his charmspeak. "Who wants to go back to Tartarus?"

That seemed to hit a nerve. The giants shuffled uneasily, glancing at the frozen body of Periboia. And why shouldn’t he intimidate them? Aphrodite was the most ancient Olympian, born of the sea and the blood of Ouranos. She was older than Poseidon or Athena or even Zeus. And he was her son.

Forty feet away, Jimin bent over the giant king, trying to yank a sword from the braids of his hair. But Porphyrion wasn’t as stunned as he let on.

"Fools!" Porphyrion backhanded Jimin like a pesky fly. The son of Poseidon flew into a column with a sickening crunch.

Porphyrion rose. "These demigods cannot kill us! They do not have the help of the gods. Remember who you are!"

The giants closed in. A dozen spears were pointed at his chest. Namjoon struggled to his feet. Namjoon had retrieved Periboia’s hunting knife, but he could barely stand upright, much less fight. Each time a drop of his blood hit the ground it bubbled, turning from red to gold.

Jimin tried to stand, but he was obviously dazed. He wouldn’t be able to defend himself.

His only choice was to keep the giants focused on him.

"Come on, then!" he yelled. "I’ll destroy you all myself if I have to!"

A metallic smell of storm filled the air. All the hairs on his arms stood up.
"The thing is," said a voice from above, "you don’t have to."

His heart could’ve floated out of his body. At the top of the nearest colonnade stood Taehyung, his sword gleaming gold in the sun. Hosoek stood at his side, his bow ready. Jungkook next to him, his Stygian Iron sword ready in hands.

With a deafening blast, a white-hot bolt arced from the sky, straight through Taehyung's body as he leaped, wreathed in lightning, at the giant king.