Demigod Journals (Percy Jackson FanFic - Blood Of Olympus)

The Perks of Being Brave (Luke)

POV: Luke

((Arena of Anteus))

"Dammit. Work." I silently cursed the golden cage which held the goddess of spring prisoner.

Hurry, son of Hermes. Persephone voiced in my head. The earth has already reached her mouth so she can't talk to me normally. Hurry...

"Yes, yes. I'm doing the best that I can!" I grumbled between gritted teeth. Dam. This wasn't really easy. The door that I had some trouble awhile back was child's play compared to this.

This was a simple visualization of the cage's lock inside my head. Picture a rope knotted a hundred times. Now, picture it with another hundred ropes, intertwined and coiled together. Much like a videogamer's nightmare with all the cords and wires. What I needed to do was find the one exact rope that corresponds to the heart of the cage's lock, separate it from the others and unravel it to open the cage.

I was at the part of unravelling it but the coils would not budge to my will, no matter how hard I concentrated.  It was like the rope itself was fighting all my efforts to be unlocked. Figures. What's more frustrating was that I could not picture out the knots clearly which was almost like untying it in the dark.

How much do you want this?

"What?" I asked the goddess who looked at me with deep, unreadable eyes. Her eyes were somewhat mesmerizing, the color of chocolate only there were flashes of red, pink, yellow, green and many other more - just like the blooming of flowers in spring, the colors bloomed in her eyes.

This? How much do you want this second life?

"I-" her question made me pause. Why was she asking me at a time like this? I needed all my mental faculties to concentrate.

I will help you, just this once, only because you are trying to help me. Your courage is quite admirable. Moreover, I'd much prefer to be free here and return to my Lord Hades' side than be swallowed by my great grand mother. She scoffed at my head. Zeus' daughter was right into thinking that this labyrinth was testing everyone that travelled here. It was brought to life again by Pasiphae's life force but it was no longer controlled by her as she was destroyed by your friends in Greece.

I had a brief recollection of who Pasiphae was from the lessons at camp."Then who controls it now?" Please don't tell me some evil god or goddess again, worst case - Gaea.

No one. This labyrinth was neither a force of good nor evil. It was now governed by the primordial power of Chaos.

"Not evil. Huh? Seems pretty bad to me." I remembered all the things Thalia and I had to go through to be here.

The power of Chaos is testing your worthiness, demigod, for what that I couldn't answer. But the forces around here will test you to your limits, force you to face your biggest fears and show you the things about yourself that you would never admit or never even acknowledge.

"Oh..." Now that the goddess said it in plain words, everything became clear.

So now, I am another of the tests. I ask once again if you truly want this. Free me and you may get another chance in life, as a reward from my Lord Hades and me, myself. Free me and you may yet live once again, among the people that you once deceived, among the people that you know you've hurt and wronged or maybe live a solitary life, away from the camp that you've always called home.

My fists clenched as Persephone continued to talk.

Free me and you could live with the one you love but without the assurance of being with her. She is, after all, still a hunter of Artemis. She had sworn off men and physical love. Breaking that promise would mean death to her and you know quite well how deeply she feels for you. You know all of this deep down and these are the very things that cloud your mind right now.