Memories of a Hero

10

Percy found his way back to his home behind the waterfall. There, he meets Zoe and Bianca. Bianca was a sleep and Zoe was busy . . . um, undressing.

"Hello?" Percy called. As he entered, he saw Zoe in her jeans and white tank top as she took her parka off.

When Zoe turned around, their eyes met.

At first, Percy thought she was going to lash out at Percy and was going to chase him to the ends of the earth while firing arrows at him. To his surprise, Zoe breathe out a sigh of relief and rushed to hug him

Zoe hugged Percy, to which he doesn't know how to respond. "Um,"

"Don't you ever do something like that ever again." Zoe said as she stepped away.

"Uh, sure." Percy said. His mind was still trying to figure out what happened. Zoe doesn't normally do that. She also doesn't normally hug people, especially males.

She seemed to know what he's thinking. "Oh, relax Percy." Zoe said. "I think of you as a friend."

Percy wasn't sure about that. Sure, Zoe might be gorgeous and beautiful but he wasn't sure he could be in a relationship with Zoe. After all, they're just friends. Why would he start having feelings for her?

Why would him having feelings for her at all is an option?

Why would that be a problem to anyone?

Percy shook those thoughts out of his head. Clearly, the exhaustion is getting to him. He'd fought an army. Of course he'd be tired.

"Oh and by the way," Zoe said as she sat down to watch the TV. "We found another relic."

"Where is it?" Percy asked. Zoe gestured at a ring on a table. The ring was silver, except for the embedded jewel on top of it which was bright pink. He picked it up and studied it. As he tried to put it on his finger, the ring expanded to his finger size. "What does it do?"

"Gaia said that it's called the Illusion Ring." She said. "With a drop of blood from a person, you can look exactly like that person for a day."

"Cool," Percy said. He thought about trying its powers but considering that Bianca and Zoe were the only ones here, he decided against it. He went on and put it in storage."Wait, you can talk with Gaia now?"

Zoe shrugged. "Her voice popped in my head."

It's not like it was the weirdest thing in the world since Gaia was a primordial. "Well, I'm going to bed."

"Sure," Zoe said. He heard the TV's volume being turned up as Percy crashed onto his bed.

Surely enough, he had dreams.

Percy stood at the familiar place of Mount Tam, where Atlas is holding up the sky. The darkened clouds swirl around on top of the mountain, where Atlas is straining to hold it up.

"What are you doing here?" Atlas bellowed in anger. Percy jumped. At first, Percy thought that the Titan General was talking to him. But then he realized that he wasn't.

"Is that your way of greeting a fellow relative?" A voice said around Atlas. Percy didn't really see who it was but whoever it was, it sounds . . . ancient. 

"You . . ." Atlas sounds terrified. Percy didn't know who else could terrify Atlas. "Why are you here? You shouldn't be here!"

"Alas, here I am," The voice said. Percy's head was spinning. His knees buckled. Whoever this voice belongs to is way out of Percy's league. "And I am here to relieve you of your punishment."

"What are you talking about?" Atlas said frantically. "You can't do that! The gods made sure of it. If you free me, who's going to take the burden of the skies?"