Wanted: The Dark Kingdom (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Chapter 25- The New King

Wanted- The Dark Kingdom

Chapter 25: The New King

A wind from the North blows,

bringing with it those who lie below.

With them, spreads the infection,

to what may be the darkest connection.

A crown forged from the tears of good and bad,

will choose the king whose army stands.

The light leads and the dark follows,

to the first jewel of the girl who borrowed

Then, the dark leads and the light follows,

to the second jewel of a man's true horror

A king shall be crowned where the first king stepped,

putting an end to their world's unrest.

~

Despite it being three years now since defeating Gaea, I still have nightmares from those days. How we had managed to defeat one of the most invincible beings in the Earth still surprised me. My dreams consisted of memories of her constant taunting and tormenting. But Gaea was gone now, for good. But it did make me wonder, what other beings similar to her hid in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike?

Annabeth Chase's Diary, Page 304.

~

While Percy and the others were searching for the first jewel...

Jason needed more time. Despite the many efforts put by the campers to retrain themselves, Jason knew it wasn't close enough to pose a challenge against Percy's forces. The former slaves were still hesitant about using their powers. They believed Percy's army was going to walk in on them any second and even when Jason tried to calm their fears, he could still see the fear in their eyes. Fear that had buried itself deep within them. Fear that had grown powerful in the five years that have passed.

Jason wouldn't admit it, but he himself couldn't understand why Percy hadn't made his move against him yet. Nico would sometimes find him pacing back and fourth in the Zeus' cabin for hours, trying to piece together Percy's motives. Trying to understand him.

Jason didn't have time. He could feel it. His dreams wouldn't tell him anything about the new king. The goddess Achlys no longer came to him. The whispers had gone silent. Now, his dreams were haunted by battlefields painted with blood and littered with dead bodies of demigods. Both from Percy's and Jason's armies. But it wasn't the bodies that rattled him and shook his core, making him fear what he'll see whenever he closes his eyes.

But it was the shadow man with bloodshot eyes that appeared in all his dreams. Precisely like a shadow, the man-like figure would always stand in the background of his dreams, floating a few inches above the ground, his body moving right and left, as if he was an illusion. Jason could never make out his features, but it watched him, with deep interest.

Jason would yell at it sometimes, demanding to know who he was, what did he want and who had sent him. The shadow man had never answered, however. Sometimes, when he is fully awake and when the sun is high in the sky, an indication that the night wasn't here to haunt him, he could swear he could feel the shadow man's presence. He never saw him, but he knew the feeling that came with him.