The Cinema of Eternity: The Opening
The space was neither white nor black. It was a dimmed void, a cinema hall whose dimensions seemed to adapt to the aura of its occupants. In the center, a colossal screen, deeper than Tartarus's abyss, waited to come alive.
Suddenly, bursts of light and shadow tore through the silence.
The Arrival of the Primordials
Chaos appeared first, a moving silhouette made of stars and void, radiating absolute serenity. At her side, her children took form: Nyx and Erebus, draped in palpable darkness; Tartarus, whose mere presence made the air tremble with despair; and Thanatos, whose dark wings remained wisely folded. Gaia, far from the shapeless, angry mass that the demigods knew, materialized with a look of frightening clarity, her mind completely restored.
The Shock of the Olympians
At the other end of the room, the Olympians were torn from their thrones. Zeus instantly brandished his Lightning Bolt, his face red with fury, while Poseidon gripped his trident, looking ready to unleash a typhoon. Athena was already analyzing the place, Artemis and Hades remained on alert, while Hestia instinctively approached the central hearth of the room, seeking to ease tensions.
"Who dares?" thundered Zeus. "Who treats us like mortals by locking us in here?"
The Archbishop's Intervention
A man stepped forward from the shadow of the screen. He wore long dark jackets, an aura of absolute calm emanating from him. He did not seem divine, and yet, even Chaos inclined her head slightly as he passed.
— Archbishop: "Put down your weapons, King of the Heavens. Here, your power is but a whisper compared to the reality that awaits us. I have gathered you because your universe is wavering."
Hades narrowed his eyes. "Wavering? We have defeated the Giants, we have survived Cronos."
— Archbishop: "You have survived because one single being has held the weight of the sky, the earth, and your mistakes. He is the central pillar. Without him, the Primordials present here would be but memories in an endless void."
The screen suddenly lit up, projecting a still image: Percy Jackson, alone, standing facing a tide of monsters, looking tired but indomitable.
— Archbishop: "You are going to see his future. You are going to see how the story of a son of Poseidon became the backbone of existence. Settle in. The viewing begins."
The Sleeping Pillar and the Wrath of Olympus
In the center of the room, floating a few centimeters off the ground in a halo of emerald and sea-green light, lay Percy Jackson (cinema). He seemed peaceful, his face usually marked by battles showing no sign of stress. An invisible barrier, made of energy older than time, protected him from all contact.
Poseidon took a step forward, his face twisted with worry. "My son... What have you done to him?"
— Archbishop: "He rests, God of the Seas. He is the only one here who has deserved this silence."
The King's Arrogance
Zeus could no longer bear the ignominy. Being ignored, seeing his brother's "favorite" son at the center of attention, and above all, being locked up by a stranger.
"ENOUGH!" shouted Zeus.
The Primordial Lightning Bolt appeared in his hand, vibrating with power capable of razing continents. "You presume to give us orders? You presume that this kid is our pillar? I will reduce this cinema and yourself to ashes!"
He unleashed the thunderbolt. A lance of pure energy shot toward the Archbishop.
Five Minutes of Nothingness
What followed froze the blood of all the spectators, including Chaos (cinema).
The Archbishop did not move. He simply raised a finger. Zeus's (cinema) lightning bolt stopped dead a millimeter from him, instantly transforming into a shower of blue flower petals that fell limply to the ground.
— Archbishop: "Five minutes, Zeus. That is the time I will grant you to understand your place."
With a brusque gesture, the Archbishop snapped his fingers. Zeus (cinema) was instantly pinned to the ground by a gravitational pressure so intense that the marble cracked beneath him. The King of the Gods tried to scream, but even sound was denied him.
During the following minutes, the Archbishop played with the reality of the King of Olympus:
Minute 1: Zeus was turned into a glass statue, unable to move as the Archbishop walked around him.
Minute 2: He was transported into an absolute void where his senses disappeared, leaving him alone with his terror.
Minute 3: He returned to the room, but each time he tried to summon his power, it turned against him, inflicting his own electric shocks upon him.
Minute 4: The Archbishop aged him a thousand years in one second, turning him into a trembling old man, before restoring his youth.
Minute 5: He was forced to bow, his forehead touching the cold floor, before the sleeping body of Percy Jackson.
The Silence of the Primordials
Nyx and Erebus stepped back, their eyes wide. Chaos, for her part, stared at the Archbishop with a respect mixed with curiosity. She recognized this aura. It was a primordial power, a force that did not come from creation, but that was creation.
— Chaos: "You are like me... no, you are the architect of what I am only the essence."
The Archbishop released the pressure. Zeus collapsed, gasping, his pride shattered into a thousand pieces. Hera and Athena did not even dare to help him, petrified by the power they had just witnessed.
— Archbishop: "Let this serve as a lesson. I am not your enemy, but I am not your subject either. We are here for him." He pointed to Percy Jackson. "And for what he is to become."
Gaia let out a dark and melodious laugh. "The little son of the sea... The pillar. Show us then this future that frightens you so much."
— Archbishop: "Very well. Prepare yourselves."
The giant screen began to vibrate. The first viewing is ready.
The screen comes to life, projecting a bluish light onto the faces of the spectators. The silence is heavy, interrupted only by the heavy breathing of Zeus who is slowly recovering from his humiliation.
Vision I: The Hero's Mask
The image on the screen stabilizes. We see Camp Half-Blood, bathed in sunlight.
Percy walks near the climbing wall. He smiles, jokes with the new campers, and returns the greetings of those who call out to him. Annabeth approaches him, slipping her arm under his, seeking a closeness that he accepts with apparent ease. He seems to be the very portrait of happiness.
Cinema Reactions
Poseidon lets out a sigh of relief seeing his son like this, but his eyes remain fixed on the sleeping Percy.
Athena frowns, observing her daughter's version on screen. "There's something wrong. His gaze... it doesn't follow his smile."
Chaos tilts her head. "Mortals are experts in the art of building ramparts with laughter."
The Reminder of Sacrifices
Suddenly, the screen begins a series of rapid flashes, showing the moments when Percy saved Olympus. We see him bearing the weight of the sky, facing Titans, then, the fateful moment: he refuses the immortality offered by the Gods. The image then shows the Council of Olympus, where some gods coldly vote for his death despite his services.
Cinema Reactions
Hephaestus and Hermes look away, uncomfortable.
Ares growls: "He should have accepted. You don't spit on such power."
Zeus clenches his fists, his voice thundering despite his weakness: "What arrogance! Refusing our gift to remain a mere mortal... it's an insult to our very essence!"
Poseidon turns to his brother, furious: "You wanted to kill him after he saved us, Zeus! And you dare speak of insult? I wanted him to be eternal so he would be safe, not for your ego!"
The Loneliness of the Pillar
The image on the screen changes radically. The sun disappears. Percy enters cabin 3 alone. As soon as the door closes, his smile vanishes instantly, replaced by an expression of infinite fatigue.
With a wave of his hand, he traces symbols in the air. Dark, ancient magic, which even Hecate in the room doesn't quite recognize, activates. A dome of absolute silence envelops the cabin, guaranteeing total intimacy.
Percy closes his eyes and makes appear, by sheer force of will, ethereal instruments and a conductor's baton. He begins to conduct an invisible melody.
The Melody: Reveries in the Crimson Beyond
The cinema's speakers then broadcast a melancholic melody, deep and of devastating emotional power. The voice rises:
"In the silence of the falling stars... where the crimson meets the void..."
The music speaks of loss, of betrayals suffered in silence, and the solitude of a being who carries a world that does not love him back.
Cinema Reactions
Hestia lets a tear fall. "He's not just sad... he's broken by us."
Nyx and Erebus exchange a troubled glance. They recognize the tones of the "Void" in his music.
Artemis observes the young man with a new respect. "No one could have suspected such depth... such pain."
Gaia smiles, fascinated. "Look closely, little gods. Your 'pillar' is closer to us than he is to you."
The Revelation
As the last notes of the song fade, Percy stops moving. Silence returns to the cabin, heavy with secrets.
He raises his head toward the "camera" of the vision. Slowly, he opens his eyes.
The blue of the ocean has completely disappeared. In its place, his irises shine with an intense scarlet red, of a terrifying beauty, as if the blood of the ancients and the fire of the stars had mingled.
The Final Shock
In the cinema, it's total stupor.
Hades stands up abruptly. "That is not Poseidon's power. It's not even the power of a demigod."
Chaos lets out a crystalline laugh that makes the whole room vibrate. "Oh... Archbishop, you did not lie to us. This is not a hero we are watching. This is something much more... primordial."
Zeus is petrified, staring at his nephew's red eyes on screen with a fear he can no longer hide.
The Archbishop turns to the assembly, a small smile on his lips.
The atmosphere in the room has become electric. The silence following the end of the music is heavy with suspicion and a new fear. The Archbishop stands, hands behind his back, observing the assembly with cold amusement.
— Archbishop: "Before continuing, I would like to hear your brilliant deductions. What do you think of what you just saw? What does this 'red' mean to you? Go ahead, theorize. I will grade your relevance out of 20."
The Theories of the Olympians
Zeus (still a little trembling but his pride returning at a gallop):
"It's a betrayal! That kid made a pact with an entity we don't know. That red is the mark of corruption. He used our trust to accumulate power in secret. He's a monster waiting for his moment to overthrow Olympus!"
Archbishop's (cinema) Grade: 02/20. "Typical of you, Zeus. Seeing a threat where there is only suffering and depth. You confuse 'power' and 'corruption' because you fear anything that surpasses you."
Poseidon (cinema) (voice broken by emotion):
"It's not corruption. It's... it's his pain that has crystallized. He carried the world for too long, and this red is the reflection of the blood he shed for us while we treated him like a tool. He is not changing his nature, he is simply awakening to a force necessary to survive his own despair."
Archbishop's Grade: 10/20. "Moving, but incomplete. You see the father, but you forget that the ocean has abysses that even you, its King, have never dared to explore."
Athena (analytical, eyes fixed on the screen):
"This is not a simple divine evolution. The magic he used in his cabin... it is not Greek. It is older. I theorize that Jackson absorbed fragments of essences during his falls into Tartarus or during his fights against the Titans. This red is a mutation of his demigod essence into something hybrid, a new form of pre-Olympian divinity."
Archbishop's Grade: 07/20. "A logical analysis, but too narrow. You are trying to put into a box what was created to break all boxes, Athena."
The Theories of the Primordials
Gaia (with a carnivorous smile):
"You are all blind. This boy has become a predator. This red is the color of the end of times. He is not a pillar that supports, he is the pillar that will collapse to crush everything. He understood that to defeat us, he had to become worse than us. He is the incarnation of the Earth's vengeance."
Archbishop's Grade: 05/20. "You are projecting your own desires for destruction onto him, Gaia. He does indeed have the power to end everything, but not for your reasons."
Nyx & Erebus (speaking in a single shadowy voice):
"We recognize that glow. It is not the end, it is the Crimson Beyond. A plane of existence that even Chaos rarely frequents. He found a source of energy located beyond creation and destruction. He is no longer a son of Poseidon, he is a stranger to this world."
Archbishop's Grade: 14/20. "Finally some clairvoyance. You are touching upon the geography of his soul, but you have not yet understood his role."
Chaos (maintaining her absolute calm):
"I do not theorize. I see. This boy is becoming a universal corrector. The red is not hatred, it is the ultimate balance. He has become the receptacle of the truths that you have all tried to stifle. He is my spiritual successor, the one who will clean the canvas when it becomes too soiled."
Archbishop's Grade: 18/20. "Almost perfect, Mother of everything that exists. But even you underestimate how much he resents you for what you allowed to happen."
The Archbishop turns to the sleeping Percy, whose eyelids flutter slightly.
— Archbishop: "Your grades are mediocre overall. You are trying to define Percy Jackson with your own terms. But the truth is far more terrifying. The next viewing will show you how he got those eyes... and the price he exacted from those who pushed him to open them."
The screen darkens again, a red glow beginning to pulse in the center.
The screen shimmers, moving from the scarlet gleam of Percy's eyes to a much darker, more suffocating atmosphere. The music has stopped, replaced by the sound of ragged breathing.
The Rejection of Existence
The image shows Percy staggering toward his bathroom. He looks livid, almost spectral. He pulls off his t-shirt, and the cinema audience lets out a stifled cry of horror.
Where other demigods have patted him friendly on the shoulder, where Annabeth has placed her hand or kissed him, Percy's skin is swollen. These are not bruises, they are chemical burns, as if every human contact had been a drop of concentrated acid.
Cinema Reactions
Annabeth — although physically present as a divine entity, her name is whispered with dread by Athena (cinema): "My daughter... she is killing him without even knowing it?"
Aphrodite (who had kept a low profile) covers her mouth: "The touch of love... transformed into agony. It's impossible."
The Archbishop observes coldly: "For a being whose essence rejects material reality, 'human warmth' is the worst of poisons."
The Gastric Ordeal
On screen, Percy collapses in front of the toilet. We see flashes of the meal he shared earlier with his friends. For the spectators, it was a feast; for him, each bite now seems to turn into crushed glass.
Suddenly, he is seized by convulsions. He vomits violently. What comes out of him is not food, nor even normal human blood. It is a dark, blackish-gold liquid, thick, corroding the bottom of the bowl with a sinister hiss.
Cinema Reactions
Poseidon stands up, his face twisted by unbearable paternal pain. "That's Ichor? No... it's darker. My son... he is consuming himself from the inside! Why didn't he tell me anything?!"
Apollo, god of medicine, examines the image with growing panic: "His metabolism rejects everything that is mortal or divine. He doesn't feed himself, he poisons himself with every second of his life."
Hestia cries silently. She now understands why he often stayed close to the fire: he wasn't seeking warmth, he was seeking to burn away his own pain.
Memories of a Forbidden Childhood
The vision changes. We see a little boy, Percy, aged five or six. He is sitting in a park, watching other children play. His mother, Sally, tries to give him a cookie. Little Percy takes it, smiles to please his mother, then, as soon as she turns her back, he grimaces in disgust.
We hear his inner voice, a voice from beyond the grave that does not match his age:
"Everything is dirty. The air is thick, like mud. My blood itches under my skin. My soul... it's too big for this meat body. I want to go home. But 'home' doesn't exist."
We see scenes of him, as a child, rubbing his skin until it bleeds in his bath, trying to "cleanse" this feeling of permanent rejection.
Cinema Reactions
Hades murmurs: "This is not a birth curse. It is a fundamental incompatibility. He was never a child. He was always something else trapped in flesh."
Chaos closes her eyes, an expression of regret crossing her eternal face. "He has suffered in silence since his first cry. And none of you, 'Great Gods,' noticed that your savior hated you as much as he hated himself."
Zeus remains silent, his anger replaced by a deep discomfort. The idea that this boy he wanted to punish was already living in a personal hell is beyond his comprehension.
The screen freezes on an image of Percy, in his shower, water running over his burns, as he leans against the wall, trembling with fatigue but letting out no cry.
The Archbishop turns to the assembly.
"He spent his life pretending to be one of you. He ate your poisoned food and accepted your burning touches so you wouldn't feel alone."
The screen crackles, changing tone. Gone is the intimacy of the cabin, replaced by epic scale and the clash of weapons. The cinema room vibrates under the power of the images scrolling by.
Vision III: The Shadow of the Titan and the Banquet of Vanities
The image transports us into the depths of Tartarus, where the laws of physics collapse. Cronos, the King of the Titans, stands. He is no longer a disembodied spirit, but a colossus of golden power. Around him, hundreds of monsters and followers of Gaia bow.
Cronos observes an image of Percy floating in the smoke. He murmurs:
"Grandson... Your eyes cried out an agony that even my tortures could not equal. I will offer you the only thing these Gods refuse you: the end of your burden."
Cinema Reactions
Zeus leaps from his seat, his face turning livid. "How?! He escaped? And my own father dares to speak of pity for Poseidon's son?"
Tartarus lets out a dull growl that shakes the cinema walls. "He crawled out of my entrails without me feeling it... Interesting."
Poseidon grips the arms of his chair. "He doesn't seek to kill Percy out of hatred. He saw what we didn't see: Percy wants it all to stop."
The Banquet of Olympus
The image changes abruptly. We are on Olympus, during a grandiose feast. Nectar flows freely. We see the Olympians parading.
Ares and Aphrodite incite young demigods to sordid debauchery, promising them eternal carnal pleasures in exchange for their loyalty. Zeus promises divinity to heroes who haven't even completed a quest yet, simply to ensure they never rebel.
It's a scene of pure corruption. But one thing strikes everyone: Percy Jackson is not there. His place at Poseidon's table is empty.
Cinema Reactions
Artemis looks away in disgust. "Look at us... We act like decadent tyrants while danger knocks at the door."
Athena frowns. "Why isn't Percy there? He is the general. His absence is a strategic flaw... or a message."
Hestia looks at the sleeping Percy. "He couldn't come. The touch of that party would have burned him alive, as we saw earlier."
The Hour of the Crime
Suddenly, the sky of Olympus darkens. A deathly silence falls over the party.
BOOM.
The screen explodes in a deluge of golden fire and screams. The palace doors are pulverized. Cronos's army floods in. The demigods, distracted by promises and the party, are massacred in seconds. The Gods try to rise, but they are heavy with nectar and complacency.
In the midst of the chaos, Cronos enters, his scythe cutting down everything in its path. He searches for one person with his eyes.
Cinema Reactions
Hades has a bitter smile. "They are pathetic. Without the boy to protect them, they fall like flies."
Gaia laughs with cruel joy. "See my children! See the end of your cheap reign!"
Chaos remains still, her eyes fixed on Percy's empty place on screen. "The pillar did not come to support the roof... and the roof collapses."
The screen then shows Zeus cornered, desperately looking for his brother. "Poseidon! Where is your son?!"
The Archbishop intervenes, his voice cutting through the cries of the Gods in the room.
The screen shimmers, displaying a flat calm that violently contrasts with the chaos of Olympus. Time seems to have dilated in the cinema room.
The Calm Before the Bloody Storm
The image returns to cabin 3.
Percy has been standing in front of his mirror for thirty minutes. He doesn't move. He stares at his own scarlet red eyes. His reflection seems almost foreign, an ancient entity trapped in the skin of a seventeen-year-old boy.
Cinema Reactions
Nyx murmurs, fascinated: "He no longer recognizes himself. He looks into the abyss, and the abyss has ended up becoming his face."
Aphrodite shudders: "The beauty of that gaze is... unbearable. It is the end of all innocence."
Poseidon clenches his fists, tears in his eyes: "He's waiting for the storm to break. He knows rest is over."
Suddenly, Cronos's message resonates throughout the Camp, a bronze voice tearing through the air:
"Grandson... I have conquered Olympus. My victory is absolute. Come, I will finish them off once I have defeated you."
Percy sighs.
A sigh so heavy it seems to carry all the weight of Tartarus. He cancels his privacy spells with a simple wave of his hand and goes out. He does not run. He walks, with the resignation of an executioner heading to the gallows.
The Field of Ruins
The image changes to show the center of the Camp, transformed into a macabre courtroom.
The Olympians are chained with black iron bonds that drain their essence. Zeus has his head down, broken. The Demigods are piled up like cattle. Some scream for help when they see Percy arrive, while Annabeth, injured, shouts at him to flee, not to sacrifice himself.
Cronos laughs, his scythe in hand. He throws a bronze sword at Percy's feet.
— "Pick it up, hero. Die with some semblance of dignity."
Percy looks at the sword with total contempt. He knows that against this army, the demigods' methods are useless.
Cinema Reactions
Ares shouts: "Take the sword, kid! Fight like a man!"
Athena shakes her head: "He won't. Look at his hands. He has already abandoned our way of making war."
Chaos sits up straight in her seat, a gleam of pure interest in her stellar eyes. "Finally. The masquerade is over."
The Symphony of the Massacre
Percy doesn't even touch the sword. Instead, he reaches his hands toward the blackened sky. In a swirl of smoke and black ichor, two conductor's batons appear. They seem carved from Titan bone and dipped in the blood of Primordials.
The music begins. Not a song this time, but a Symphony of the End.
From the first notes, the ground cracks. Creatures made of pure blood and solid shadows crawl out of the earth. They look like nothing known. Under the direction of Percy's batons, these monsters don't fight: they erase Cronos's army.
The blood of Cronos's monsters is torn from their bodies to join Percy's orchestra, creating blades of scarlet liquid that cut through everything. The darkness materializes into chains that crush the bones of the Titans. It is a dance of death, of such perfect beauty that it becomes terrifying.
Cinema Reactions: Absolute Shock
Hades is pale: "He... he does not command the dead. He commands the very matter of life and the void. It's... it's beyond my powers."
Thanatos inclines his head in respect: "He does not reap souls. He disintegrates them."
Zeus falls to his knees in the cinema room, choking with terror: "This is not a god... This is an apocalypse. We have created an apocalypse."
Gaia remains frozen, her smile gone. For the first time, Mother Earth is afraid of what walks on her back.
Tartarus lets out a hoarse laugh: "You see that? He's using my own entrails as a musical instrument."
The screen freezes on Percy in the midst of the finished carnage. Cronos's army is nothing but dust and puddles of blood still floating in the air, suspended by his music. He slowly turns the baton toward his grandfather, who retreats for the first time in his eternal existence.
The Archbishop raises his hand, pausing the vision. The silence in the cinema is so deep you could hear a heartbeat.
— Archbishop: "He freed his comrades and your versions from the vision. But look closely at their faces."
The image shows the freed demigods and gods. They do not look at him with gratitude. They look at him with pure horror, as if Percy were a monster far more dangerous than Cronos.
— Archbishop: "The price of his salvation is your hatred. Are you ready to see the rest?"