Chapter 78: CIRCE
AUTHORS NOTE: For those who don't know, Demeter is NO LONGER the love interest. I totally had it planned out from the start *wink* *wink*. Anywho....try to guess the actual love interest. I'm betting one chapter that you shall never guess it. Muhahaha!!!
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"Athos Apsifoun!", he muttered but it was as if he'd set off a bomb.
Unlike before, his name now carried weight. The air seemed to become heavier and the previously still water seemed to shiver a little as though it was attempting to scamper off in fear.
"Huh...", the lady said in a daze, lost in his abyssal eyes.
"Excuse me?"
"Huh? Ah!..I-I'm sorry sir! Athos-Apsifoun it is", she snapped out of her trance before scribbling on her clipboard, a red hue tinging her cheeks.
Most men that arrived on the island were sailors who wrecked their ships and after weeks or months at sea, didn't look their best. She was ordered to offer them a complete makeover on behalf of the spa which was merely an excuse to take them to Circe, but the man who called himself 'Athos Apsifoun' needed no such thing. His face looked as though it was immaculately carved from bronze itself.
'Is he a God? He did arrive on a magical horse...', she thought, her mind racing.
"Right!", she said, trying to regain her bearings. "Well, I'm sure C.C. will want to meet you. Come, please."
"I presume C.C. is the founder of this...' Spa ' ", Athos asked, almost spitting out the last word. C.C. was Circe, another Greek goddess of Magic and one who excelled in Transfiguration and the creation of drugs. Her favourite pastime was to turn men into pigs by tricking them into ingesting food laced with her magical potions.
"Yes, she indeed is", she replied before turning around and heading to the island.
Athos cracked his neck and followed her, enjoying the sights the island had to offer. It was a tropical paradise through and through but it still paled in comparison to his father's island.
'Well, that no longer exists, does it...', he thought mournfully to himself. After suffering so much punishment, the island simply ceased to exist. It was magical in nature in the first place, and once it got split in half, it could no longer sustain itself. 'Wonder how Achelous is doing...'
Losing his second horn was bad enough but losing his home once again probably was the last straw. He had fallen from a powerful River god to a greatly weakened one when his source was relocated to the island. If his source was destroyed once more, he would have probably faded.
'Fading is a better option than living as a shell of your previous self. I hope he finds peace in Khaos. May you sing for all eternity', he thought, pushing down the tinge of guilt in his heart.
Sounds of laughter shook him out of his reverie and his head snapped to the side. White marble and glass filled his vision while fancy buildings climbed up the side of the mountains. He saw swimming pools, food stalls, waterslides, and beautiful waterfalls while fountains spouted water in numerous shapes that seemed to defy the laws of physics. If that wasn't enough, numerous tame animals roamed about as though it was completely normal.
A sea turtle napped on a bed of beach towels while a tiger lay belly up on the white sand while young women rubbed its furry stomach. A young girl was teaching a leopard to sit on command while a panda lazily lumbered behind a food stall. Eagles, parrots, and ravens flew together in the sky, occasionally dropping down to pluck a fish off a woman's hand. Women lounged in deck chairs, sipping on cocktails or reading magazines while herbal gunk dried on their faces and manicurists in white uniforms did their nails.
As they walked deeper into the island, the surroundings became less resort-like and more like a university. Young women dressed in more formal attire walked about cobbled roads carrying books and bags while their pets either perched on their hair or followed them. Some stopped and pointed at him, whispering to their friends who were beside them.
There was indeed a hint of fear in their eyes but it was mostly disdain and gloating, as though they couldn't wait for something terrible to happen to him.
'Welcoming place...', he thought sarcastically as they made their way up a staircase toward what looked like the main building. It was the biggest and the fanciest one out of all of them.
"I'm afraid that you'll have to continue on your own, sir. This is as far as I can go", the clipboard lady said before giving him a short bow and walking back into the streets below.
Athos shrugged and continued walking up the seemingly endless stairs. When he got closer to the building's entrance he began to hear something odd. He could hear a woman singing in a strange language that sounded incredibly ancient.
Her voice could only be described as heavenly in that it could make anyone relax and enjoy the moment. His emotions stirred before the beauty of the song as the Ancient words ebbed and flowed akin to a river. It was a foreign tongue but he could understand every word. The timeless mountains, colours of the sunrise, moonlight in the olive groves....the more she sang, the more enticing the song seemed to become.
'Fuck!', Athos thought before biting his tongue to regain his bearings. 'That's charmspeak...powerful charmspeak...'
It was a type of hypnotism that allowed the speaker to lace their words with magic which made them incredibly persuasive. A sufficiently powerful demigod could even put a weakened Primordial to sleep if they used charmspeak right.
He shook his head to clear it before continuing his climb. A minute or so later, he walked through two large doors into a giant room whose front wall was a thin sheet of glass that overlooked the beach. The back wall was covered in mirrors arranged in such a way that it made the room seem endless.
Everything looked sleek and polished including the expensive furniture that littered the room but the one thing that seemed incredibly out of place was a large wire pet cage filled with guinea pigs. The victims of Circe's sorcery.
Speaking of Circe, she was lounging on a large white sofa, with her back to him while her hands weaved coloured thread back and forth on a giant loom. The tapestry was of the beach view that was before her but to say that it was a copy was an understatement. It shimmered as though it were three-dimensional. The waves seemed to be physically moving and frankly, the tapestry looked far more beautiful than what the beach looked like in real life.
"You appreciate my weaving, my dear?", she asked, her voice soft and sweet, sounding far more angelic than before.
Athos froze. She had stopped singing when she talked to him but he had already walked halfway across the room. Charmspeak was truly frightening.
"I do", he said, taking a deep breath. "but I'd appreciate it if you would stop with that charmspeak of yours."
"Hahaha!", she chuckled, her laugh like tinkling bells. "I apologise. It's a bad habit."
She turned around and he had to admit she was far more alluring than her fabric. Her eyes were a kaleidoscope of colours, constantly shifting from shade to shade, each version prettier than the other and her dark hair was braided with threads of gold like most of her apprentices. She wore a silky white dress- the same colour as the sofa, with sky-blue lines outlining it. Every move of hers sent ripples down the dress as though she was wearing water itself.
"You're here for the makeover, aren-....uh", she stopped when her eyes met Athos', the latter part of the sentence disappearing down her throat. She looked confused for a split second before frowning, dropping her 'mysterious' facade.
"Who are you?", she frowned, standing up in one smooth move. "You are no lost soul."
"No...I am not", Athos answered, his lips stretching into a small smile.
He turned to the back of the room, at the mirrors. They were magical in nature at were enchanted to show the 'perfect' version of whoever looked at them. Circe used it to convince men to willingly eat and drink the food that she claimed would transform them into what they saw, but in reality, life as a guinea pig awaited them.
His reflection began to morph and twist as though it was going through a magical blender. When it began reforming, it stopped and began to morph again. This continued for a few seconds before the image that the mirror conjured up was the exact copy of him currently.
"Congratulations!", Circe drawled sarcastically. "You are already perfect. You are not a God yet you look like one. Now tell me, who are you?"
"What do you know of Scylla?", Athos replied, ignoring Circe's questions. He made his way toward an expensive white chair and took a seat.
"WHAT?! What did you say?!", Circe lost her composure and tensed while white sparks danced around her fingers. "Why did you say that name?!"
"Hmm?", Athos looked up, his abyssal eyes seemed to pierce through her very being. "Do you not know of her? Weren't you the one who-
"STOP!", She yelled and the tapestry next to her went up in flames. "Why do you bring her up?! What do you want?"
"Me? What I want is simple. I want to reverse Scylla's current situation. Don't you think she's suffered enough?", he smiled. "I want the antidote to her poison."
"Even if it exists, what makes you think I'll give it to you?", she sneered.
"It's simple really...It's because I'm asking nicely", he said, his smile growing wider. He wasn't the least bit afraid of Circe. She was one the weakest goddess' ever to exist, almost like an ordinary human with a few magical powers along with immortality. If she was stronger, then she would've been able to stop twelve-year-old Percy and Annabeth from fleeing her abode with ease, but she couldn't. The only thing he should be wary of was her charmspeak.
"INSOLENCE!", she boomed and raised a hand to cast a spell but she was too late.
Draconic Aura!
BOOM!
A beautiful pattern of cracks spread across the room with his chair as the epicentre. Circe was forced to her knees as an invisible pressure bore down on her, almost crushing her spine.
After two months of arduous practice, he had far, far better control over his aura. His dad's training had not only helped him gain far better control over his lightning but also the other powers he'd gotten after the metamorphosis. He could now release the aura for a far longer time than before, around two minutes, and even control its intensity. The wire cage full of guinea pigs that was untouched spoke of his current skill.
The helmet covered his face once more and he stood up, unintentionally increasing the pressure on her shoulders. He had barely released half the aura yet it was enough to almost squash her.
"The sea god Glaucus fell in love with Scylla when she was a nymph and he came to you after she rejected his advances."
He took a step forward, his footstep echoing in the silent room.
"He begged you to make a love potion to melt her heart, but as he told his tale of love, you fell hopelessly in love with him. Funny isn't it? Circe, the man-hater, falling in love with a man..."
He took another step and Circe glared at him from the ground, her kaleidoscopic eyes now blood-red.
"You were furious, but not at Glaucus, no, but at Scylla. You tried your very best to woo him with your sweet words but he only had eyes for the nymph."
Another step.
"So you prepared a vial of a certain powerful poison and poured it into the pool where Scylla bathed. As soon as she entered the water, she was transformed into a hideous monster."
He was now in front of Circe and he crouched, now eye to eye with the sorceress.
"Your jealousy blinded you, yet after the deed had been done, you showed no remorse. You turned to Glaucus in the hopes that he would reciprocate your feelings but he was gone. You broke his heart and he lost his will to live. I don't need to tell you what happens to Gods that do not wish to live...."
"You....!!!", Circe managed to growl, a drop of Ichor trickling down from her nose. Her bloodshot eyes exuded pure hate.
"All I asked for was for you to prepare an antidote, to right a grievous wrong, yet you responded with violence", Athos sighed.
"You BASTARD!", She snarled once more.
"You dare act like a saint?! I don't need magic to see your black heart! How many lives have you ruined?!!", she spat.
"You are nothing but a hypocrite!"
Athos merely smiled.
"I know."
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