The campfire crackled, and the stars blinked overhead like watchful eyes.
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Percy stood in the center of the amphitheater, still damp from his time at the lake. The hushed murmur of campers echoed all around him, everyone waiting for the sign—Poseidon’s trident—to glow above his head. Annabeth leaned forward, eyes narrowed with a strange mix of suspicion and awe.
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Then, it happened.
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A green-blue light shimmered above Percy’s head. The symbol of Poseidon, a trident, formed in the air and glowed brighter than the full moon. Gasps rippled across the campers.
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“Poseidon…” Chiron whispered, breath catching in his throat.
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One of the Big Three had broken the pact.
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Percy stood frozen, uncertain whether he should feel proud, scared, or just very, very tired.
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But then—something else happened.
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The trident flickered. The light above Percy didn’t fade—it split.
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A second symbol emerged behind it, this one a deep, smoky violet, almost the color of storm clouds at dusk. From the darkness bloomed a symbol no one expected:
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A black crescent moon cradled a silver eye, surrounded by shifting stars.
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The crowd fell into stunned silence. Even the campfire dimmed for a moment.
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Chiron stumbled backward. “No. That’s not possible.”
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“What… is it?” Percy asked, trying to look up.
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Annabeth’s voice was barely a whisper. “That… that’s Nyx. Primordial goddess of the night.”
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There was a long pause.
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“Did I just get… double claimed?” Percy muttered.
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It sounded stupid when he said it out loud.
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But no one laughed.
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Aftermath
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Cabin Eleven was empty when Percy was escorted there, no longer just a child of Poseidon, but something else—something ancient. Chiron had pulled him aside immediately after the ceremony, frowning so deeply his beard practically trembled.
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“Two claims,” he said. “In all my years at Camp Half-Blood, I have never seen it. Not from two Olympians. And never from a primordial.”
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“What does it mean?”
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“It means the rules no longer apply to you.”
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Chiron explained that Nyx, as a primordial deity, rarely interfered with the affairs of gods or mortals. Her children were feared even among gods—personifications of things like sleep, madness, death, and fate. If she had laid claim to Percy, it was not by accident.
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And certainly not to be nice.
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“She sees something in you,” Chiron said, lowering his voice. “Something that terrifies even the gods.”
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The New Quest
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The next morning, the camp awoke to news that changed everything.
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The stolen master bolt was still missing. Zeus still blamed Poseidon. But now whispers of Percy’s second parentage were spreading like wildfire. The children of Hermes avoided him. The Ares cabin looked at him like he was a ticking bomb.
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And Luke?
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Luke stopped smiling entirely.
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Chiron called an emergency council. The Oracle had already spoken again, unprompted:
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“Born of sea, and cloaked in night,
Shall shake the world with wrong and right.
A choice of darkness, a choice of flame,
To erase the gods or cleanse their name.”
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No one knew what it meant.
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But Chiron did the unthinkable—he gave Percy a different quest.
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Not just to retrieve the lightning bolt, but to descend into Erebus, the deepest part of the Underworld, to meet Nyx herself.
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Final Scene of the Chapter
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As Percy packed for his journey, Annabeth stopped him outside the Big House.
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“Why would Nyx claim you?” she asked. “She’s… she’s older than the gods. Older than the Titans. She doesn’t even like most of her own children.”
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Percy shrugged, looping Riptide to his belt. “Maybe she made a mistake.”
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“No,” Annabeth said firmly. “She doesn’t make mistakes.”
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Her grey eyes met his. “Just… promise me you won’t listen to her.”
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“Who?” Percy asked.
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“Nyx. She’ll offer you something. They always do.”
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He wanted to ask what she meant. But then, the shadows on the ground stirred unnaturally, creeping like ink under his feet. A voice curled around his ear like smoke.
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“Come, my son. The night is listening.”
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And Percy Jackson, no longer just a boy from New York, no longer just the son of Poseidon, stepped into a quest that would decide not only the fate of Olympus…
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But the balance between light and darkness itself.
