Home Is Where The Heart(h) Is

Chapter 15: The End Of You And Me

"This is taking too long, I grow tired of waiting." Gration grumbled.

"Patience, brother." Clytius' voice echoed softly.

"Where is he, anyway?" Barely had these words came out of Gration's mouth when the earth in front of him opened up into a wide hole, and a Giant much larger than the rest of his brethren leaped from the pit, slamming down on the ground, his lance driving a crack into the marble floor of the fortress. The other Giants, five of them, backed off quickly.

"I'm here, Gration." Porphyrion said in a tone of amusement, rising to his full height that peaked above the rest. Said Giant immediately dropped into a kneel. "My apologies, lord," he muttered, his voice holding a slight tremble.

"Move aside, brother, I've no time for your petty insolence." The Giant King sat on his throne. He scanned the throne room, counting Gration, Encladeus, Ephialtes and Otis, and Clytius." Where are the rest of our brethren?"

"They are guarding the Shrines, and Mimas has fallen in combat." Encladeus reported. Porphyrion shook his head in disgust. "He was never really strong, but then again, neither are all of you." The rest bristled at the implication, but remained silent. They knew better than to challenge their leader, who had been blessed by both the Earth Mother and Tartarus.

"Send Hippolytus to me, I have a request for him." Porphyrion spoke to Encladeus, who knelt and teleported away.

"The rest of you, amass our forces, whatever you have gathered while I was in rebirth. Send them to the camp of those half mortals. It's time to eradicate the demigod scum from this world."

The Giants nodded and disappeared into flashes of crimson light.

~

Dawn broke over the horizon. Birds chirped their bright melodies. Trees swayed to the morning wind. To the mortal world, it seemed like an ordinary day. Nothing out of the ordinary. Commuters travelled their normal route to work, children looked out of the window of their school bus, faces lined with dejection of yet another monotonous day of learning.

Yet the campers at the demigod camp of Camp Half-blood did not share those feelings. The mood within the magical boundaries was crestfallen. What hope did they still preserve? The greatest hero had fallen, the Ares campers had gone missing, and when things couldn't get any worse, the gods had went silent, leaving the camp in the dark.

The now living flesh-and-blood Oracle had no guidance either. While the initial surprise had astounded a great deal of the campers and Chiron, the small flame of hope that things could be done had extinguished when she sadly announced even Delphi's spirit had abandoned her, and with it, the campers.

All they had now was the last prophecy left for Annabeth Chase.

Thinking about this, Chiron's forehead creased with worry, recalling only the first three lines that his favourite pupil had recited. Of course, he knew something was wrong. Three lines of a prophecy was not complete, but he could not get answers.

When Annabeth had returned, abound with joy for attaining the fennel stalk, news about Percy's unfortunate demise struck her to her core. She resigned to her cabin in mourning, and Chiron had decided to leave her be. Asking her about the prophecy, paramount its importance is, he could not bring himself to pester her about it.

Training had resumed as usual, with Chiron trying his absolute best to keep the morale steady, but he could not shake a disturbing feeling from his mind. A premonition.

~

"So it's true, you're really dead." Nico said, examining the spectral glow of Percy's form. Whether his voice contained pity, sadness or fear, Percy couldn't discern it.