Percy Jackson and The Sands Of Time

| Epilogue |

Hello, Readers! Sorry about the break between this and the last chapter - I (CSP2708) had just gotten home and was packed with family activities. Anyway, please enjoy the last chapter of this work and look forward to the continuation of The Unknown Destiny in the new year!

~CSP2708~

*Dylan_Walts*

| Epilogue |

*Hephaestus' Point of View*

Finally, Typhon had fallen. Poseidon's tidal waves rose around him in grasping arms to drag the ugly monstrosity back down to the Pit he'd crawled out of. Good riddance, I'll say. His face was sure only one a mother could love - and if I'm saying that, you know it's true (I'm not oblivious to what people say about me).

Now all that was left was to stop Kronos - my grandfather. Perhaps we could've taken him - if we hadn't had to fight Typhon first. He was already in the throne room, that much we could tell, but what happened after that was left to mystery. We'd find out soon enough, rushing through the deteriorating golden streets of Olympus toward what was left of the main hall.

I wasn't the first to reach the doors, obviously, but seeing as we were all ragged and heaving from our fight against Typhon, I wasn't left too far behind with my limp. Zeus slammed the doors open, and from behind Athena's head, I could see a vortex of some sort vanishing from the center of the room. It was purple, swirling in the air like frozen yogurt - which was then met with the heat of the Apollo's convertible because it melted into oblivion.

I pushed through to the front, ignoring Apollo's gasp of indignation. He could go to the back - I was the shortest one here! (Aside from Hestia, who was eight.)

The sight before me was quite underwhelming, though, and for a second I couldn't put to reason why I'd pushed to the front. It was just a couple of demigods in a room that had once been whole, now resembling swiss cheese more than the throne room of Olympus. The two demigods appeared to be a daughter of Athena and a son of Hermes, and Hermes' son seemed a bit worse for wear. He was lying limp in the Athena girl's arms, and she was staring, dead-eyed into the abyss where the frozen-yogurt portal had just disappeared. Maybe her face had melted a bit, too, like the portal, because the liquid streaming down her cheeks couldn't have possibly all come from her eyes.

"What happened?" Zeus asked.

The girl - Annabelle or something? - just choked and doubled over, wailing like she'd been struck in the gut. The only thing that dampened her sobs was the Hermes' boy's armour, as she buried her face in his chest.

Was he dead?

I couldn't think about that for long because suddenly Poseidon screamed, too.

"My son!" He ran forward, grasping at the air where purple puffs of smoke still hovered from the portal as if gathering them together would bring the boy back. What had happened to Perseus? I was actually quite fond of that boy; he made for excellent ratings on my TV station.

An echoing laugh hissed through the crevices of the room, settling in my ear canals like a fungus. I shuddered. For all that I tried, I failed at locating its source; it was everywhere.

"You've failed to save the boy!" a deep voice cackled, following the laughter.

I'd never heard the voice, but it sounded oddly familiar, and not in a good way. Like the creepy uncle you'd met at a family reunion way back when you were first born, but then weren't allowed to see ever again, only for him to come back when you were in your mid-forties with two kids. (I'd never had that experience, as a god, but for some reason, mortal television gives a lot of insightful background on things like that.)

As the voice faded, Athena approached her daughter. The poor girl was still hiccoughing irregularly; I recognized her as the girl who was caught in my wife-and-boy-toy trap a few years back at that abandoned water park with Perseus. They went way back; perhaps they were close; it sure seemed like it.

"Annabeth, what happened here?" Athena asked.

(Ha! I knew the girl's name was Anna-something!)

Annabeth's chest heaved a few more times as she struggled to regulate her breathing. When she did open her mouth, it was to stutter out only a few words. "He...he's gone. P-Percy is... he's gone!" Then, she shuddered, hit by a whole new wave of sobs. "H-he cursed h-him! He said he'd be lost-lost to the s-sands of time!" After that, there were no more words to be gotten from her.

Poseidon was in a similar state of disarray. His only son was gone - without a trace - to a curse bestowed by his own father - who'd only managed to rise because of our negligence. He was kneeling on the cracked marble, ignoring Hestia, who was whispering what I could only assume to be comforting words into his ear.

I guess this was it. In standing against Kronos, the boy suffered one of the ultimate punishments, lost to the stream of time forevermore. How long would he survive without immortality? Surely, the effects of time travel would put a severe strain on his mind and body, leaving him as an empty shell.

"Agh!" Pain shot through my skull from the downward swing of an invisible axe. Somewhere in my head, a tiny man started playing an old-time film tape, filtering new memories behind my eyes. These memories were of a mysterious demigod from thousands of years ago, back when the gods first fought the giants. He...was Perseus - black hair and sea-green eyes, with the same mannerisms and skills with a sword. He'd been the boy out of time from the prophecy...then had disappeared without a trace into a portal just like the one we just saw.

It was so clear to me, even as my old memories faded away to give room for these new ones, like pictures burning all in a row on a wire. Perseus had been sent back in time by Kronos - to do what? Perhaps mess up the time stream to destroy the very fabric of reality. Who knew?

"Perseus..." I heard Zeus whisper, making my head snap up. He and the other gods were in similar states as me, clutching their heads and staring into the middle distance with wide eyes, unseeing of the world around them - more focused on the new stream of images flashing through their minds. Fire and steel forged these new memories, though I was stressed to have such things affect me; they were my elements, after all.

Zeus spun from where he'd been tending his throne. "You! Girl! What exactly happened here? Where did that Poseidon-spawn go?"

Annabeth shuddered again, but it wasn't her who spoke.

"I think the question you want to ask, father, is not where, but when," Artemis said. "It seems that in his rage, the Crooked One cursed young Perseus to be lost within time, being transported to several important moments within history. In a past time, while he was in my custody, he admitted to me that this is what happened - I remember this now - and that he does not know how or why it is happening."

Zeus jerked his head swiftly downward. "I see. Well...there's nothing we can do about it, now - only wait. We should resume fixing our thrones and reward our brave demigods for fighting at our sides."

"My son needs a proper burial," Hermes said.

"Of course," Zeus agreed amicably, shocking us all. What? How could he be so nice? He was never nice. Maybe in changing history, Percy had interfered one too many times.

Then again, I feel that Poseidon would much rather have his son back than have his brother be nicer to him. My poor uncle was still collapsed, frozen on the floor where he'd first fallen. His arms were wrapped around his torso, no longer meaninglessly grasping at the air, but instead hugging his absent son to his chest. His son...who was lost to the eternal river, beyond even the Fates' grasp.

I hadn't known him well, but from what I do know, he will only continue to help Olympus, no matter where or when he shows up. Perhaps one day he'll return to us, but for now, he was just a man lost in time.

***

Word Count: 1364

Posted: Saturday, December 28th, 2019

~CSP2708~

*Dylan_Walts*