Struck by Lightning

XVIII

For a moment, Percy felt at peace. He was laying on a warm surface, the temperature being a nice contrast from the cool breeze that blew past. His eyes closed, he dug his cheek further into the surface like it was a pillow, feeling it shift underneath his weight to accommodate his movements.

After a few moments of comfort and peace, Percy finally began to truly stir. His hands brushed up against the surface to rub his eyes. Groggily, one hand slid through the surface of the ground, feeling the fluid movements of grains as it contorted through his fingers. Bringing the hand up to his eyes, he slowly opened one. Blinding light obscured most of his bleary vision, but making out his hand, he could see the soft grains of sand fall as he rubbed them between his finger and thumb.

With a start, Percy rolled over so his back was to the ground, his eyes opened wide as he struggled to get up. A groan erupted from him as he got onto his side as heat flared all over his body. Looking down himself, Percy saw a litter of cuts and slashes all over, some of which were still open and oozing the red nectar of life.

The sound of crashing waves shook Percy out of his stupor, and he turned to see a vast blue dominate his field of vision. It was difficult to distinguish the horizon that separated the two great aqua domains from one another, forcing Percy to push himself to his feet against the hot pain in his legs and muscles and squint his eyes to make out as much as could of the view.

He spun around. Behind him, a lush forest appeared where the white sand stopped, and in front, there was nothing more than the expanse of the blue sea. He swallowed, panic rising in his chest. Where was Thalia? Annabeth? Kronos? Quickly looking down, he saw the front of his shirt seared black – with a start, Percy remembered the golden dagger than had come so close to skewering him. Lifting open the front of his shirt, he sighed in relief when he saw unblemished skin, with no sign that the dagger had actually harmed him.

However, the moment he took a single step forward, he stumbled onto the ground, and he remembered that his limbs were covered with cuts and bruises, courtesy of his short but brutal fight with Victor. His legs, with numerous slashes lined on his calves and thighs, refused to respond to Percy's commands. Crawling over to the sea, he flopped into the ocean water, letting the refreshing coldness of it wash over him. The saltwater seeped into his wounds, but instead of burning them, it healed them, closing up the numerous gashes and restoring bruises to pristine skin.

As Percy lay in the shallow water, staring into the heavenly blue of the clear sky, his mind wandered. Specifically – where was he? A beautiful place, yes, but it was nowhere that Percy recognized. The clear-blue water, bright skies, and clean white sand made it seem like he was somewhere almost tropical, but the heat was hardly that oppressive; it was actually quite temperate and cool. He closed his eyes in defeat. He had no idea where he was and was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to find out. Either way, resting and recovering was the best option.

Percy lost track of time, his eyes closed and his breathing even as he let the restorative powers of water heal him. However, the sound of sloshing – water being moved by an unnatural object – awoke him to the world, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that the sun had moved from its morning position to an afternoon spot. Blinking his eyes a few times, he sat up in the water, reveling in the feel of his damp hair in the cool breeze under the warm sun. Turning, he saw a ship – a boat, really – slowly sailing towards him. The white sail was retracted, and there were some men using oars to row it into the shallow depth Percy sat at.

When the boat pulled parallel with Percy, a middle-aged man, his skin tanned bronze and his black hair cropped short at his shoulders, leaned over and smiled at him. His teeth were relatively clean and he wore a beard and moustache that suited his look and gave him an appearance of friendliness and kindness.