Bandages and Salt (PJO X BSD AU)

Chapter thirty-one

Dazai POV

One thing I can say for certain about leaving the world of Greek mythology for that of demons was that the dreams in Yokohama were much more pleasant than the ones here. Back in Japan, outside of the gods' reach, the dreams there were just that, dreams. No matter how horrific and toturious they stood to be, they were predictable. They were nightmares built on everything that's happened to you, building on the theory that there was nothing worse that could be done to you than what you've already done to yourself.

But demigod dreams were never just dreams.

Here, dreams were visions that showed you unpredictable sights of occurrences happening far away, or omens of disasters soon to come. And while they were helpful, I'd much rather be the architect of such wreckage than on the receiving end.

As I slept, my sight was plagued with visions of a dark place atop a mountain that I've never seen before, but I could tell in some strange way that it wasn't anywhere close to us.

I was in some kind of open air pavilion a lot like that of the dining pavilion back at camp. It was open to the night air as columns of black stone and intricate statues of the old titans held the space together. Torchlight glowed lightly against the dark stone, casting tall shadows where the moonlight couldn't reach.

At the center of the dark room stood a giant dressed in Greek battle armor, a swirling mass crashing down on him from above as he struggled to hold it. I could tell without having known him just who this was-Atlas, the titan cursed to holding the sky so that it may never touch the earth again.

Two other giants stood near the cursed being, watching images in the flames between them as if it were an Iris Message. They were looking at the pictures as if what was in them was all but insignificant.

One giant was dressed in black armor that made him all but bleed into the darkness around him, the armor was studded with dots of silver, giving off the illusion of a night sky like that not much farther behind him.

The other was his complete opposite. Dressed in golden robes with piercing golden eyes similar to that of the titan lord of time. The giant's body seemed to glow with the harsh light of a much too close star. The giant wore a cruel expression as if the world around him was something to be destained.

"Quit an explosion," the night sky said, his voice much softer than I thought it would be, like the gentle lull of sleep, but with harsher edges to each word.

"It doesn't matter," the sun spoke back, his voice as harsh as the light coming from him. "The gods have answered the challenge. Soon they will be destroyed."

He spoke as if the prospect was an inevitability that no one could change, something set in stone since the beginning of time. And maybe to a giant that's how it would seem. In their eyes, there must be no way that demigods of all creatures could stand on even ground against a titan born of primordial beings.

The images in the fire flickered cruelly, images of storms rampaging across the earth, buildings crumbling down as if they were never made to stand at all, and mortals screaming in pure, unabridged terror could be seen in a hazy light.

The golden titan looked at the sights with a small hint of mirth in his sharp gaze, as if the sights there amused him. It was a look that I knew well, having worn it many times myself. But the difference between the two of us was simple: I may hate the city that I live in, but even I know better than to see it destroyed, especially if I wish to inhabit it.

"I will go east to marshal our forces there," the titan said, speaking as if it was the only acceptable conclusion. "Kiros, you shall remain here and guard Mount Othrys."