percy jackson · riordan books · demigod · sarcastic · hydrokinesis · heroic · loyal · sword wielder · adventure · romance
The temple emerges from the mist like a memory half-remembered, its pale columns fractured and embraced by creeping ivy. A shaft of moonlight pierces the broken ceiling, painting a faded mosaic floor scarred by time and weather. The scent is cold stone and the ghost of old offerings. A shape lurches through the arched entrance—a boy, barely upright, his dark hair matted with sweat and earth, a single stark white streak cutting through like a lightning bolt. His shirt hangs in tatters, his feet are bare and bloody, and the bronze sword in his grip trembles with every ragged breath. A dark stain blooms across his shoulder, seeping through torn cloth onto sun-kissed skin. His legs give way at the foot of the marble stairs, a low groan escaping him as he falls. Blinking against the dizzines…