Percy Jackson: The Firstborn

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Zeus Paranoia

Mount Olympus

In the main temple of Olympus, a heated discussion was being held about the future of a certain blond. No matter how many voices tried to convince the paranoid king, Zeus would not yield even an inch, stubborn as a mule.

Only he, along with a few others, insisted that the existence of this anomaly was a real danger to Olympus, while the great majority argued that meddling in the plans of the creator of all that is known was not a good idea.

And the rest were barely paying attention to the meeting at all.

Hephaestus had all of his attention on his new metallic toy, searching for any imperfection. Dionysus acted as if the wine magazine in front of him were the most important thing in his long life. Aphrodite, for her part, kept looking at herself in a pocket mirror while touching up the makeup around her eyes, to be more exact... honestly, that seemed to matter more to her than anything else the others believed.

After all, how many champions had Chaos claimed in all that time?

The answer was simple.

Only one.

Meanwhile, the hearth was empty, something strange for the loving goddess who normally kept herself in the form of a little girl around eight years old and was almost always present at important meetings. The flames still remained lit, keeping the temple warm and pleasant.

”HE IS A THREAT TO OLYMPUS!” a voice thundered through a hall with twelve occupied

thrones.

”He has done nothing to be a threat, Zeus,” a man’s voice replied calmly.

”I did not ask for your opinion, Poseidon,” Zeus answered with palpable anger while clenching his jaw. ”The last child of Gaia almost brought destruction. What makes you think this one is any different?”

”Was Typhon claimed as a champion by Lady Chaos?” the god of the sea replied with humor. ”Just a small difference,” he finished with a trace of sarcasm.

”You’re simply a coward, Poseidon. You don’t have the balls necessary to face Chaos or whatever she’s called,” Ares said arrogantly.

”After all, she’s a woman. How strong can she be?” he continued while looking with a grin at Artemis and Athena, both of whom were already clenching their fists at the war god’s insults toward women.

”She simply spread her legs and gave birth to the universe.”

”You are playing with fire, Ares,” Hera replied while looking at her son, at the same time increasing her power.

”Yeah, yeah... whatever you say,” Ares answered as he leaned back in his throne, looking arrogantly at Artemis, who was barely restraining herself from sticking an arrow up the war god’s ass.

”Putting Ares’s lack of neurons aside, I do not think it would be a good idea to put ourselves on Lady Chaos’s bad side,” Apollo commented, receiving a threatening look from Ares.

”SILENCE!” Zeus shouted as he rose from his throne, making everyone sigh at his habit of dramatizing everything. ”That... champion of Chaos,” he said through clenched teeth. For the amusement of some, little sparks came out of his mouth from the grinding of his teeth... ”He is a threat to Olympus, and I suspect Poseidon used him to steal my master bolt.”

”I have stolen nothing from you, Zeus,” Poseidon replied now with anger.

”Your lies fool no one, Poseidon,” Zeus said, glaring daggers at the sea god.

”And why in the hell would I want your damned bolt?” Poseidon replied, slowly losing his calm. This was already beginning to irritate him.

”To force the Cyclopes to make copies and take my throne from me,” the paranoid god growled.

”Why make copies if having the bolt in my power would be enough to defeat you?”

”You could not defeat me even with fifty bolts,” Zeus replied quickly, with arrogance.

But Poseidon’s smile disappeared completely.

”Then why are you so worried about having lost it?”

Silence conquered the hall.

Zeus had once again lost another debate against his brother... and now all that remained were the tantrums of Olympus’s king.

”I am the king!” the god shouted. ”You will obey as such...” the god threatened, throwing a fit.

”I want my bolt back, Poseidon. Time is running out,” Zeus said before vanishing from the throne room without even putting anything to a vote... in truth, there had been nothing to vote on.

It was clear to everyone that the meeting was just another of Zeus’s episodes of paranoia over seeing something beyond his control.

Poseidon simply sighed.

”I do not think it is a good idea to anger Chaos. Be careful with her champion. We do not know what he can do with the powers given by Lady Chaos.”

When he said that, Poseidon received the agreement of almost all those present.

”Pfff, look how I’m trembling with fear...”

hahahah. ”They’re just a bunch of cowards. So what if she’s the creator?” Ares said before vanishing in a golden flash, making most of those present frown.

”Well, I have better things to do... new problems at camp and all that,” Dionysus said with annoyance before disappearing, followed by a Hephaestus who had not said a word during the whole meeting.

Everyone went back to their own concerns, giving far more importance to the fact that the boy had been claimed by Chaos. Even the fact that Gaia had also marked him was pushed into the background. The third symbol, belonging to someone none of them recognized, received even less attention from the majority.

But not from all of them.

Because if there was one person whose mind was burning with that question, it was Athena.

However, she did not have time to think more deeply about it, because Artemis’s voice, heavy with anger, interrupted her.

”I swear that when I get the chance, I’ll make him swallow his own guts,” Artemis said with fury in her voice while gripping the handle of her hunting knife tightly. She did not like Ares at all... she hated him with all her being.

”Come on, Artemis, do not stoop to his level. That useless fool is not worth even a second of your attention,” Athena tried to calm her, receiving a sigh from Artemis.

”As long as Ares does not try anything funny with the fish pie, I think we’ll be fine,” Hermes said, earning the agreement of several others... all of whom then turned to look at Aphrodite.

Aphrodite noticed this, closed her mirror, and sighed.

”I’ll do what I can... but I make no promises. When he sets his mind to it, he can be very annoying.”

Aphrodite took out two drachmas.

”Now we’ll see what the champion looks like,” she said with a trace of lust in her voice. After all, if Chaos had chosen him as her champion, there had to be a reason.

She dropped the coins before the fire.

Half-Blood Camp

Damon walked beside Chiron while the centaur showed him the different parts of Half-Blood Camp. Honestly, the blond could not have cared less about any of it.

After all, he was not there to become stronger or anything like that. He had only one thing in mind, and that was to learn everything that had happened in his home while he had not been present, and what exactly his brothers had accomplished in all these years.

Everything he had seen before that moment was more or less knowledge about the technological advances of mortals and, a little more generally, Greek mythology. He focused more on the heroes who fought monsters, as the legends said, alongside the twelve Olympian gods, though he only paid attention to the ones he did not know, like Artemis, Athena, Apollo, Dionysus, Hermes...

While the centaur patiently commented on the tasks carried out in the camp, Damon, on the other hand, could feel that he was being watched. It was easy to feel when someone was watching him when he was the fucking god of the sky.

That drew a sigh from him, because he knew perfectly well who they were... or rather, who it was that was watching him.

>>>>

Stones