Percy Jackson - Beyond the Gods

Ikki took a step forward.

It was a simple movement, but the sound of his footfall echoed like thunder in the ears of the others.

Thalia, Zoe, Atalanta, Phoebe, and Grover remained where they were, motionless, like statues sculpted by absolute fear. They barely breathed. Their faces were pale, their eyes wide, pupils constricted like cornered prey.

Ikki felt the weight of that silence and let out a sigh.

He took another step forward.

Grover, who was still on his knees, seemed to shrink even further, his horns trembling along with his body. Atalanta instinctively reached for the hilt of her weapon, but hesitated, as if knowing it wouldn't help. Phoebe seemed breathless, her hands clenched into fists, trying to contain the uncontrollable tremor that ran through her body.

Thalia tried to open her mouth to say something, but couldn't. Her lips trembled, and she just swallowed, her mind still stuck on that impossible moment—the punch that erased Talos and split the sky.

Zoe, always so firm, so rigid, was silent. Her dark gaze oscillated between Ikki and the trail of destruction he had left behind. The newborn river flowed behind him, a silent testament to the force he had unleashed.

Ikki stopped a few steps away from them.

His sapphire blue gaze slid over each of them, unhurried. He knew exactly what they had felt.

"...It's all right now." His voice was low, almost gentle.

But no one answered.

Fear still held them with invisible claws, a fear so visceral that, for a moment, Ikki wondered if they were even capable of seeing him as an ally at that moment.

He didn't want to scare them.

He didn't want to be seen like that by them.

Ikki took a deep breath and looked away, turning towards the horizon.

"Let's get out of here."

He didn't wait for an answer. He just started walking.

And one by one, still trembling, still in shock, the others followed him.

Ikki continued walking, feeling the weight of their gazes fixed on his back.

He didn't need to turn to know that his friends were still shaken. Their silence said it all. The way they took a while to follow him, the hesitant steps, the uneven breathing—he felt it all.

And, as much as he tried to ignore it, an uncomfortable pang grew in his chest.

Guilt.

He knew he shouldn't care so much, that he had done what needed to be done. That there was no other option. But still... seeing them in that state bothered him.

He clenched his fists.

He had needed to use a good portion of his strength in that blow. Talos was a real threat to his friends—and more than that, it was a fragment of fate trying to force them to follow the path that was already laid out.

And he hated that.

He hated the idea that their choices didn't matter. That fate would always try to crush them, push them where it wanted, regardless of their desires.

It was this hatred, this revolt, that fueled his blow.

And that was why his aura had become so terrifying.

He never wanted to make his friends feel that way, never wanted them to tremble before him as if he were a monster. But... at that moment, it was impossible to contain. All the frustration, all the anger against fate manifested in a way he couldn't control.

Ikki let out a sigh.

There was no point in regretting it now. Talos was destroyed. The path was clear.

Time would find a way to calm the others. Right?

He hoped so.

For now, all he could do was move on. And hope that, at some point, those looks of fear would turn into something different.

After a few minutes of walking, the absolute silence gave way to small sighs, subtle gestures of relaxation, and eventually, quiet conversations among them.

Thalia was the first to let out a long sigh. Her body still carried a remnant of the previous tension, but she was no longer trembling.

"Well... That was intense..." she murmured, breaking the silence.

Zoe nodded slightly, trying not to go pale at the memory.

"Yes. I've never seen anything like that before."

Grover, who had been huddled as he walked, finally seemed to remember how to breathe without looking like he was going to faint. He rummaged through his backpack, pulling out a crumpled can of soda and taking a nervous sip.

"I thought I was going to die just being near..." he admitted quietly.

Atalanta, walking beside him, crossed her arms and snorted.

"Did you guys feel that? I swear my whole body wanted to run... To escape. As if... I was going to be crushed by fear itself."

Ikki continued walking calmly in front of them, without interrupting the conversation. He noticed that they were calmer now, and that was a relief. He knew the feeling of fear he had provoked wasn't something that would disappear so easily, but at least they weren't paralyzed anymore.

Phoebe grumbled with a sigh: "Next time you decide to unleash *that*, give us a heads up..."

Ikki didn't respond, continuing to walk, though he smiled slightly.

Outside the limits of the former junkyard, which was now just a desolate plain with a new river cutting through the landscape, the group found something unexpected: an old van with a trailer behind it, abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

The vehicle was in such a sorry state that it seemed to have discarded itself. The bodywork was rusty, the paint peeling, and the tires had seen better days. The driver's seat was torn, exposing the yellowed foam inside, and the dashboard was covered in dust and sand.

But, to everyone's surprise, the engine started on the first try.

"What?" Thalia frowned, incredulous, as Ikki turned the key in the ignition once more to be sure. The roar of the engine was a welcome sound amidst the strange silence of the desert.

"Something's wrong…" Zoe murmured, suspicious. "This shouldn't be working."

"Well, the tank is full." Ikki announced, checking the gauges. "If this is a trick, at least it's a convenient one."

Grover poked the seat cushion suspiciously. "Maybe the trailer likes us?"

Ikki shrugged. "Or maybe it's so desperate to be used that it decided to cooperate."

Atalanta crossed her arms, assessing the vehicle. "Or we just got lucky."

No one seemed convinced, but in the end, pragmatism prevailed. After what had just happened with Talos, no one had the energy to argue about a gift from fate—or whoever had left this vehicle there.

"Let's go." Ikki said, slapping his hand on the dashboard.

And so, with the engine roaring and the sand churning under the tires, the group continued their journey westward, leaving behind the place where Hephaestus's scrapyard once existed.

As the car moved along the road, the silence inside the vehicle was almost suffocating. The engine hummed softly, but no one spoke.

Thalia sat in the passenger seat, looking out the window, her eyes still trembling, as if trying to process everything that had happened. Zoe was in the back seat, her arms crossed tightly against her chest, her lips pressed in a thin line. Atalanta and Phoebe exchanged occasional glances, with no words to describe what they had felt. Grover, normally talkative, seemed almost huddled in his corner, his ears drooping.

Ikki felt the weight of their gazes from time to time. None of them dared to look directly at him for too long, but he knew what they were thinking. Fear still hung in the air, like an invisible ghost that didn't want to leave.

He sighed inwardly. Part of him felt guilty. He hadn't planned that. He didn't want his friends to go through that. But… he couldn't lie to himself either. That punch, that moment when he truly let go… It was liberating.

However, now they looked at him as if he were something more than human.

Ikki kept his eyes on the makeshift road, his fingers tapping lightly on the steering wheel.

"If anyone wants to say something, now's the time." He spoke, breaking the silence. His voice sounded calm, but deep down, he wanted to understand what was going on in their heads.

Zoe was the first to react, letting out a slow sigh. She looked at him from the corner of her eye, her face serious, but different from before. There wasn't just suspicion anymore—there was something close to respect.

"You… are not normal." She finally said.

Ikki let out a short laugh. "Never said I was."

Thalia turned slightly in her seat, finally facing him. The fear in her eyes had diminished, but it was still there, mixed with something more difficult to identify.

"What was that?" She asked, her voice firmer than expected. "I… I felt like something inside me was begging to run. To escape. As if… I was going to be crushed by fear itself."

Atalanta nodded slowly. "I've seen many things in my life. I've fought monsters of all kinds. But that…" She paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "That was different."

Grover didn't say anything, just lowered his head.

Ikki sighed and kept driving. He understood. He knew what he had done. But explaining? That was another thing.

"I just… let go." He said, finally. "For the first time in a long time."

Zoe watched him for a few seconds before looking away.

No one said anything more.

Time passed without a word. The trailer's engine hummed softly as Ikki drove through the transformed desert, his eyes fixed on the makeshift road. The sky began to tinge with orange hues as the sun slowly descended on the horizon, casting long, distorted shadows over the landscape.

The silence within the vehicle wasn't just the absence of sound. It was dense, heavy, laden with unspoken thoughts. The only noises were the hum of the engine, the wind whipping outside, and occasionally the creak of something metallic shifting in the trailer as they passed over some unevenness in the ground.

Ikki maintained a neutral expression, his hands relaxed on the steering wheel, but his mind worked incessantly. He knew his friends were still processing everything that had happened.

Thalia, at his side, fidgeted with the Aegis shield bracelet incessantly, without really noticing. Her leg bounced slightly, an unconscious reflex of her restlessness.

In the back seat, Zoe stared fixedly at the landscape, her arms crossed, her eyes serious and pensive. Atalanta remained silent, occasionally glancing discreetly at Ikki, as if trying to decipher him. Phoebe and Grover also remained silent.

Time dragged on, the hours stretching as if they were longer than they actually were.

The trailer ran out of fuel right at the edge of a river canyon. It wasn't the worst place to stop, considering that the road had simply ended. But still, it was frustrating.

Ikki got out of the vehicle and slammed the door with an irritated sigh, feeling like fate wasn't making his life easy after what he had done. As soon as he did, one of the flat tires popped and sank into the sandy ground. He stared at it for a moment, almost expecting another disaster to happen, but nothing else came.

"Great. Now what?"

The horizon was an empty expanse. The desert stretched in all directions, undulating with arid mountains and rocks cracked by time.

The only point of interest was the canyon just ahead.

A deep gash in the earth where a river snaked lazily, its greenish water contrasting with the dry environment. It wasn't a wide river, perhaps forty meters across, but its presence carved a deep scar into the landscape. The surrounding cliffs plunged to frightening depths.

Grover pointed to the edge of the precipice. "There's a trail. We can get down to the river."

Ikki narrowed his eyes and noticed a thin ledge of stone, barely visible against the rock face. It was narrow, snaking downhill like a wisp of a path.

"That's a goat path," Atalanta commented, crossing her arms.

"And?" Grover spread his hands.

"The rest of us aren't goats."

"We can do it," he insisted. "I think."

Ikki watched the exchange and let out a tired sigh. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that Thalia was pale. He knew the reason. Heights.

She would never be able to do that.

"No," Ikki said firmly. "We'll continue upstream."

Grover opened his mouth to protest. "But—"

"Let's go." Ikki cut him off, starting to walk. "A walk won't kill us."

As he passed Thalia, he met her gaze. She didn't say anything, but there was a quick flash of gratitude in her eyes.

They followed the river for almost a kilometer until they found a gentler slope that led down to the bank. There, at the water's edge, was a canoe rental service. It was closed for the season, but the canoes were there. Ikki left a pile of golden drachmas on the dust-covered counter, along with a short note: BORROWED THREE CANOES.

"We should go upriver…" Zoe suggested, assessing the watercourse.

"The rapids are too fast," Atalanta observed.

Ikki smiled slightly. "Leave that to me."

Although he didn't have Percy's natural talent for manipulating water currents, Ikki knew how to manage. He detected the presence of dolphins swimming beneath the greenish surface of the river. Without hesitation, he activated [King's Dominion], an ability he normally only used to control his emotions in critical moments.

He felt the power flow from within him, not as an absolute command, but as a call. The dolphins, sensitive and intelligent creatures, immediately recognized his presence as something superior. In simple terms, he had made them his subjects.

With a silent request, he instructed them to push the canoes from below, subtly, enough so that they glided effortlessly against the rapids.

It was strange to realize how underutilized this ability was. His [King's Dominion] had never shown significant growth over the years. Its range remained the same, and while it allowed him to feel everything around him, Ikki rarely used it, as his own senses were much more effective. He could hear conversations miles away, pick up someone's heartbeat, the rustling of leaves in the wind—things that [King's Dominion] could never provide.

Ultimately, that supposed "omniscience" the skill gave him was just an illusory feeling. It wasn't real, or perhaps, it had lost its luster since the first few uses. Currently, he wasn't exactly an imperial figure due to everything he had been through in recent years, and perhaps, this ability worked in conjunction with his mindset.

Still, he decided to try it in a different way. He concentrated and cast [King's Dominion] within his [Conceptual Void], the mysterious gap within himself that he had been trying to fill for some time. To his surprise, this skill seemed to take up more space than the others he had tried to comprehend. It made sense—after all, it was linked to the concept of dominion.

But there was a price.

For the first time in a long time, his emotions weren't cooled when they reached a critical point. And, to his surprise, he didn't mind.

In fact, he felt a certain relief. Perhaps, in the end, this ability was limiting him. Preventing him from maturing. After all, how could he grow if he didn't allow himself to feel everything?

Putting that aside, he helped his friends push the canoes into the river. The smell of water and wet stones filled the air, a refreshing humidity in contrast to the dry desert heat.

Thalia approached Ikki as they picked up the paddles. She hesitated for a second before speaking in a low tone:

"Thank you for what you did back there."

Ikki paused for a moment, looking at Thalia. She didn't need to say anything more - he understood.

"It was nothing…" He replied, shrugging.

Thalia looked away, crossing her arms as if trying to hide her vulnerability.

"It was."

She took a deep breath and kicked a stone into the river, watching the ripples in the water.

"You didn't have to do that, but… thank you."

Ikki realized that, for someone as proud as Thalia, admitting something like that wasn't easy. He nodded, a small smile appearing on his lips.

"Relax, you're my sister after everything. I have to be by your side…"

Thalia blinked, as if she wasn't sure she'd heard right. The cold desert wind blew between them, ruffling her dark hair, but Ikki held her gaze steadily, without hesitation.

For a moment, she was silent, absorbing those words. For someone like her, admitting weakness was difficult enough. Receiving unconditional support from someone was even more complicated.

But Ikki didn't seem to expect anything in return. He just said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

A sigh escaped Thalia's lips, and her shoulders finally relaxed. The tension she'd been carrying since they entered Hephaestus's junkyard began to dissipate. For the first time in hours, she didn't seem burdened by the weight of her own stubbornness.

"Idiot," she murmured, but there was a touch of affection in the word.

Ikki just smiled. He knew that, deep down, that was her way of saying "thank you."

"Well, brother, then we better make sure we don't become monster food down the river." She gave him a light punch on the shoulder before turning away to help the others with the canoes.

Ikki watched as his friends worked together, arranging the boats in the water. Despite everything they'd been through, they were still there, still moving forward.

He picked up a paddle and followed behind them, ready for the next stage of their journey.