Athanasios Perseus Apollyon - The Forgotten Tide

Chapter 7: The Quest for the Trident

The ocean depths held countless secrets, and today, I was diving into one of the most dangerous. My task was clear: forge a trident that would be my symbol of power, a weapon that would declare my place among the gods. To accomplish this, I needed the remains of two ancient sea monsters—Ketos, the bane of Olympus, and Phorcys, the terror of Othrys. Their bones and scales, along with the staff of Chronos and a crystal from Hydros, would form the core of my trident, a weapon worthy of the gods.

This was no ordinary quest. Ketos and Phorcys were not just ancient monsters; they were forces of nature, each embodying the primal terror that had once haunted the gods themselves. Ketos, the great sea serpent, had nearly brought Olympus to its knees with her fury. Her wrath had been so fierce that even the gods had trembled, and it had taken the combined might of several Olympians to finally imprison her in the darkest depths of the ocean. Phorcys, on the other hand, was a creature of even greater dread, his body a grotesque amalgamation of all the most fearsome aspects of the sea. He had once terrorized the Titans of Othrys, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake that had nearly spelled their doom.

Before I set out, my father, Poseidon, granted me permission to take along two of my most powerful allies: Titanodon, the last Megalodon and a primordial son of Pontus and Thalassa, and Karathen, the first Kraken of the world. Both had bonded with me during my training, their spirits now linked to mine. Titanodon was a massive beast, his body a dark shadow that moved silently through the depths, while Karathen was a creature of immense power and intelligence, her tentacles capable of crushing ships and her roar echoing across the seas.

With them by my side, I felt prepared for the trials ahead.

The Hunt for Ketos

Our journey began in the deepest, darkest trenches of the ocean, where Ketos had made her lair. The pressure here was immense, the water cold and still. No light reached these depths, and the only sounds were the distant groans of tectonic plates shifting and the occasional rumble of underwater volcanoes.

I rode on Titanodon's back, his powerful tail propelling us forward at incredible speeds. Karathen swam alongside us, her massive form undulating through the water with grace despite her size. As we neared Ketos's lair, a massive underwater cave lined with the remains of those unfortunate enough to cross her path, I felt a familiar, ominous presence.

Titanodon growled low, a sound that reverberated through the water. He could sense the danger too.

"Stay sharp," I muttered, gripping the handle of the knife Hades had given me on my fourteenth birthday. It wasn't much, but it saved my life more than once.

The entrance to the cave loomed before us, a gaping maw of darkness. As we entered, the temperature dropped further, and I could feel the currents shifting, becoming more erratic. Ketos was near.

The legends spoke of Ketos as a serpent of immense size and power, but they failed to capture the sheer malevolence that radiated from her very being. She was a creature born of primordial chaos, a terror that predated even the gods of Olympus. When she had risen against the gods, her fury had been so great that the heavens themselves had shaken. Zeus had been forced to call upon his thunderbolts, and Hera, and Hecate had woven a spell of binding so potent that it had drained both of their strength for days. Only after a protracted and desperate battle had the gods managed to chain Ketos to the depths of the ocean, where she had remained imprisoned—until now.