[Third Person's PoV]
Annabeth stealthily walked into the Myrmekes Lair. The Myrmekes were large ants made of steel, about the size of a full-grown German Shepherd, making them rather large to Annabeth.
She watched as they all walked in an organized line, each carrying something shiny in their mandibles.
'I need to catch one by itself to take it down,' she thought, already coming up with a plan.
She tossed her dagger into one of the tunnels away from the ants, causing it to make a thump as it hit the floor.
The ants marched forward, and one, hearing the noise, turned towards it. Seeing the shiny golden dagger on the ground, the ant broke formation and walked towards it.
As it went to pick it up, Annabeth kicked it, causing it to go even deeper into the tunnel. The Myrmeke tilted its giant head in confusion before following the kicked weapon.
This went on for a few times until the Myrmeke started to get annoyed. Once Annabeth saw that they were far enough away from the others, she picked up the dagger, causing it to turn invisible in her hands once more.
Annabeth didn't strike for the head; instead, she aimed where the metallic sheen wasn't present. She swung her dagger towards the section that separated the ant's three body parts, cutting between the thorax and the abdomen.
The ant let out a painful screech before swinging its head, accidentally hitting Annabeth on her side and sending her flying back into a wall.
Hearing Annabeth hit the wall, the Myrmeke turned towards the sound but didn't see anything there, except for her outline on the dirt.
Figuring out its opponent was invisible, it let out a screech and charged towards the outline, snapping its mandibles.
But as the metal ant thrust its mandibles, it ended up pushing against the wall, getting stuck as Annabeth had already jumped out of the way.
Annabeth slashed the section between the head and thorax, causing blood to splash on her body. She then plunged her dagger into the section, using her other dagger as a hammer to drive it deeper and separate the head from the body.
The Myrmeke couldn't even let out one final screech before it quickly turned into golden dust, leaving behind a pair of steel mandibles.
Annabeth let out a sigh as she dusted off her hands. She then heard the sound of quick footsteps approaching, so she quickly grabbed the mandibles, put them inside her pouch, and ran out without making too much noise or alerting the other Myrmekes.
When she returned to Lucian, she undid her invisibility and smiled confidently. "I think we now have everything for my potion."
"Good," Lucian said as they both walked back and headed down towards Lucian's secret place.
"You ready?" Lucian asked her.
Annabeth, who was by the cauldron, nodded her head as they both started to name and insert the ingredients they had gotten for her potion.
"Daedalus Blueprint Essence and five celestial bronze ingots for the main ingredients," they said as they threw everything together, and Annabeth began to stir.
"A Feather of Icarus, a core of an Automaton, Tail Hair of a Sphinx, and Myrmekes spoil of war," they said as they put everything in one by one. The potion kept changing colors as they added the ingredients, and when Annabeth finished stirring, it was a blue metallic color.
After they put it in the vial, they performed their new tradition of cheering towards each other before Annabeth downed the potion.
Annabeth's nose wrinkled. "It tastes like I just drank metal—" Annabeth stopped mid-sentence and dropped to her knees, holding her head in pain.
Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes as she gritted her teeth from the overbearing pain. "It feels like my brain is constantly moving and shifting inside my head. This pain is driving me crazy!" she screamed.
Lucian just rubbed her back and waited until the pain passed. After close to half an hour, Annabeth started to calm down.
She had a tired look as she held her temples. "I think I will want to stop existing if my head grows an abnormal shape because of this."
Lucian just chuckled. "So what can you do now?"
"Wait, give me a moment," Annabeth said, sitting down and catching her breath before closing her eyes and studying herself.
"Well, for starters, my warding has become much stronger. As for main abilities, I gained these:
- Blueprint Projection: The power to project detailed blueprints and 3D models of designs directly into the air.
- Architectural Animation: The power to bring architectural creations to life, animating statues, golems, or even entire buildings
-Material Enhancement: Capability to imbue building materials with magical properties, enhancing their strength, durability, or aesthetic qualities.
- Geomancy: The ability to manipulate the earth, which will help in constructing buildings or other structures.
- Architect's Eyes: The innate talent to perceive the structural weaknesses and vulnerabilities of any building or construct at a glance."
As she mentioned the last ability, her eyes gained a certain glow, making them brighter in the dark.
Lucian nodded as he heard everything, but before he could say anything else, Annabeth interrupted, "Now that that is over, I'm interested in what you mentioned earlier about writing a book."
Annabeth looked at Lucian with a raised brow, amused. "I didn't take you for the type that wanted to be an author."
Lucian rolled his eyes. "Because I'm not. It's a way to gain faith and have people pray to us. It's better if we make our religion early."
"I'm sorry!?" Annabeth asked in surprise. "You want people to start praying to you, and to do that you want to write a book?"
Lucian nodded. "We need to write such an entertaining story with catchy phrases that people will start saying them ironically. When they do, they'll actually be saying praises towards us. Like, for example: Praise the Shadow Monarch! Or something stupid like that."
"The Shadow Monarch?" Annabeth asked, amused.
Lucian blushed a bit. "I was only using an example."
"PRAISE BE TO THE MONARCH OF THE SHADOW!!! HA-RAAAAAHH!!" Beatrice and Golurk shouted from his shadow.
Lucian and Annabeth both jumped in surprise. Lucian's ears turned red with embarrassment, while Annabeth held her stomach in laughter.
"Hehehe, it looks like they really like your title of The Shadow Monarch," Annabeth giggled.
"It was only an example," Lucian grumbled, causing Annabeth to continue giggling.
"Plus, it needs to relate to the end of our sequence," Lucian said.
"But we don't even know what they are," Annabeth said, looking at Lucian in confusion.
"Remember before we went to the labyrinth I said I found out the rest of my sequence? Well, somehow when I received mine, I also ended up with yours," Lucian said.
"What!? So does that mean you know how they end?"
Lucian reached into his shadows and pulled out two cards. He flicked them, causing them to fly towards Annabeth's hand. She looked at the two cards and was surprised to find images of them when they are older.
She looked at Lucian's picture. He was wearing a robe that seemed to be made from the galaxy itself with a red halo behind him and a third eye in the middle of his forehead. All three eyes were glowing bright red, and he had a smile on his face with his hands in a praying position, showing his skull ring with a single word at the bottom. Annabeth couldn't help but mutter the word she was looking at: "Paradox."
(Image)
Annabeth then looked at her own picture. She was wearing a white toga, sitting on a destroyed white throne with rubble that appeared to be from an ancient ruin all around her feet. She had a small frown on her face, and just like Lucian's, it had a word at the bottom: "Ruin."
(Image)
Lucian nodded. "Apparently, they are called Cards of Blasphemy."