Forgotten prophecy

Chapter 85

Iguaza Falls were absolutely stunning in every sense of the word. In any other circumstance, Percy would have relished the opportunity to spend time swimming in the swirling waters and drinking in the magnificent sights. But, this was far from normal circumstances. A massive iron chain stuck out from the swirling waters at the base of the falls and ran up the height of the waterfall, anchoring itself with a larger link of the chain to the dead center of where the water spilled over the edge. Leo whistled low and shook his head slowly. "I hate to say this, Percy, but I don't think Jason and I will be able to help you too much. If we go over that waterfall it's sweet dreams for us."

"No problem," Percy said, drawing Riptide and uncapping the pen. The sword shimmered into being a few moments later as the son of Poseidon waded into the water. He drew in a deep breath and the water begin to slow. Jason and Leo whistled low as they watched Percy effectively cut them a path to the chain. Percy turned to them, his face screwed up in concentration, but beckoned for them nonetheless. "Come on, I can't do this forever. Let's break this chain and get back to camp."

Jason and Leo quickly followed after him, watching where they put their feet as the ground below them sunk at random intervals. They made their way to the chain and Leo went down on one knee to examine the metal. It was cold, unnaturally so, and even when he bathed it in flames the metal retained its cold touch. Leo pulled a hammer from his magical tool belt and tapped lightly at the chain. The instant that the metal touched the chain it crumbled into dust. Leo pursed his lips thoughtfully and tossed the wooden handle over the edge of the falls. He tried several other methods of destroying the chain, but it seemed that the strange metal was imbued with some magic that caused it to be immune to all manners of industrial sabotage.

After several failed attempts Leo slowly got to his feet and shook his head in annoyance. "Strike seven," he said, folding his arms and frowning. "I went at it with everything I had. There's gotta be some kind of trick to it."

"Well, we expected that." Jason sighed.

"Any ideas?" Percy asked, a thin sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead. "Please say yes, this isn't easy."

Jason reached out to touch the chain and recoiled the second his skin touched it. It was hot. Leo nodded in sympathy. "It's super cold."

"No, it's hot!" Jason argued, showing the angry red burn on his fingers.

Leo raised an eyebrow in confusion. He reached out and touched the metal again, confirming that it was, in fact, cold. "Uh, it's cold to me..." he said slowly. He glanced to Percy and nodded to the chain. "You try it maybe that has something to do with it?"

Percy obliged and the results were instant. The chain snapped immediately and fell away into the basin of the waterfall, leaving the three demigods atop the waterfall. "Let's get to the edge," Percy said, suddenly looking quite nauseous.

The other two agreed and soon enough all three of them were at the river's edge, none of them looking pleased with their deed. In fact, they all appeared to be quite ill. "That was too easy," Jason said, his face pale and his voice shaky. "That chain did something to us."

"You think?" Leo said, his hands trembling. "I'm so cold, I feel like I've been laying in ice. And I'm never cold."

"Try turning your fire on," Percy suggested, his eyes glazed over. "I think I need a swim, I feel so lightheaded."

The god of Poseidon looked to be about to do just that when Jason caught his hand. "Leo let-..." Percy's voice trailed off when he realized that it was not the demigod he had thought it to be who had grabbed him. "Jason, you are seriously burning up dude."

"I'm aware," he said, sweat now dripping from his chin. "I don't know what that chain did, but we shouldn't do anything reckless until we figure it out."

"Let's head back to the car and take a rest," Leo said, getting to his feet. His breathing was labored and he was coughing quite a bit from the small amount of effort. "Man, I can't breathe."

"What did that chain do to us?" Jason asked, voicing the question that was going through all three of their minds.

The three demigods who went to the West were not the only ones encountering problems with their part of the chain. In the North, Nico and Will were facing down their chain with wariness. Nico had found the chain through the whispers of the shadows and had taken his boyfriend there with all the swiftness of shadow traveling. The chain, much like the one by the waterfall, emerged from the earth and anchored itself to a large hunk of rock. Nico and Will had tried quite hard to remove the chain from the rock, but to no avail. "We've got to figure this out," Nico said, pursing his lips and drumming his fingers on the hilt of his stygian iron sword.

"You don't think I know that?" Will snapped, shooting a glare at the son of Hades even as he tried to pull the chain off of the rock. "What, does it look like I am just sitting here twiddling my thumbs?"

Nico took a step back, visibly recoiling from the harsh words. Will had never raised his voice to him, not in true anger like this. "S-sorry," he said in a low voice.

"Whatever," Will snapped, clearly not at all sorry about his tone. "Come over here and help me get this damn chain off."

Nico meekly followed the instruction, grabbing the other side of the chain and pushing hard on it. The chain, which had been so obstinate for nigh on several hours now, shockingly budged slightly. Nico felt a small swell of joy in his soul and just as quickly pushed it back down like he used to. The reaction was so instant that, considering he had not done that in such a long time, Nico stopped trying to push the chain off. "What?" he said, blinking in shock.

Will glanced over and his face darkened in anger. "What, did you need a break already?" He barked. "Grab this damn chain, and HELP ME!" the normally good natured son of Apollo roared the last two words and Nico, spurned into action, followed the orders immediately.

The chain budged again at both of their efforts, but Nico felt something was very much awry. Will, though he refused to say as much, felt much the same. Nico was the most important person to him, and yet even then he hated that fact. He thought about his brothers and sisters back in the Apollo tent and found that his anger towards Nico extended towards them as well. In fact, the more Will thought about it, the more he realized that he felt rage at every single person he thought of. Something was, indeed, very, very wrong.

Nico and Will weren't the only couple that was dealing with unexplained effects. Frank and Hazel stood before the hole that their chain had fallen down, but that was not their focus. "You feel it too, don't you?" Frank asked softly.

"I don't," Hazel said sadly. The more that the two of them had freed the chain the less she felt for Frank. For the praetor, it was quite the opposite. When the chain had slipped beneath the earth he had felt an overwhelming surge of love for his girlfriend and made to embrace her in triumph. But Hazel had help up a hand, her face drawn up into confused lines, to stop him. "I don't... I don't feel anything towards you."

"What do you mean?" Frank asked, laughing nervously. "Come on, it's me!"

"I know!" she said desperately, willing her heart to do something. "Trust me, I know! But... it's like... like there is nothing there. I know I loved you that I should still love you, but I don't. I don't like you at all. I don't feel anything towards you. It's like you are a stranger to me."

Far below all of them, in Tartarus, the body of Ryker laid before the broken remnants of a chain, hanging loosely from the dark above him. Standing over the body was a very elegantly dressed version of Ryker, staring down at him with an impassive face. He ran a hand over his saber and sighed. "I guess that it was inevitable, in the end." He said, turning on his heel and striding away. "The chain is almost gone. Only one link left. It's time to return to the surface, I believe." The Corrupted Ryker did not look back. He did not spare a single glance back at the body of the original. Business as usual.