Chapter 65: Deep Beneath The Waves
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Jax finds out some interesting things and learns something important about himself in the process...
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[Zac Blakely]:
Just when both boys managed to clean up, Zac seemed to have to pee, still. Yet, it was as he was peeing, that it happened.
The stone passage opened, suddenly alighting Zac with orange light. And Zac, ever curious, decided to explore the passage.
He had told Jax that he would return soon and to return to camp, so Zac figured he could do this one little thing.
He had always felt that a piece of him was missing. He never knew what; just that a pull to the unknown told him so.
That same pull was pulling him inside this chamber.
Who was he to ignore such gravity?
And so he walked in and explored the passage.
He had no idea that his fate was about to change.
[Jaxon Bennett]:
Meanwhile, Jax never returned to camp. No, instead he had rushed into the sea, jumped in and transformed before instantly swimming away in supersonic speeds, faster than any mermaid, ever.
He had no idea where his instincts were taking him, but they've been yelling at him to return to... somewhere. They've been screaming at him ever since sundown, honestly, and he was tired of ignoring them.
It was giving him a migraine.
Instead, he heeded its call, and found himself on the other end of Australia, off the coast between South Australia and Western Australia, placing him directly within the Great Australian Bight.
He instinctively followed the water currents and the cliffside to a hidden underwater cave system that led upward to a volcanic moon pool only many times more beautiful than anything Mako could've created.
It was vast, almost a mini-lake with two layers to it. Large, high, ornate columns reached high into the cavern ceiling above, lit by torches that glowed with sea green flames as beautiful as the waters. In the very back, the crest of a large trident resided.
To the right platform of the moonpool, was an altar, and on that altar was a pedestal. On that pedestal was a book with the crest of a trident etched upon it in gold.
To the left, was a platform — A raised platform that had a trident stuck in stone. And a slab that read "For my Son, the Son of Poseidon."
[Reference Images]:
Jax, stunned, couldn't help but rush to the book, rubbing the cover in wonder.
Suddenly, an almost holographic scene illuminated from its surface, and Jax saw the whole scene with Zac peeing, find the cave and falling into the Moon pool.
Somehow, he instinctively knew what this would mean, but he also knew, somehow, that he would be fine for the most part.
And, mentally, he reminded himself to check up on him when he returned to camp that evening.
Instead of vanishing though, the mystical visage shifted to another person — A stranger who Jax had never met, he was sure, but, for some reason, carried a familiar face.
He was a blond, tall and muscular, closer in age to Zac, no doubt, with short, wavy, dirty-blonde hair and captivating blue-green eyes as piercing as they were captivating. He looked to be around 5'10 with straight, white teeth and a dazzling smile that alone could cause girls to swoon.
He watched his story; how he was descended from an ancient line of mermen, given up at birth to a foster family on land. He watched him discover his gifts early in life and learn to live and hide his abilities.
He watched him age out and move out of his foster family, moving from place to place — Living a nomadic life to help hide his abilities.
Erik — as he's learned his name was after watching his life story — never met another like him despite his nomadic lifestyle and he's always kept his distance from mermaids after a single encounter had him chased across many acres of sea, and onto land.
Despite his lifestyle, Jax could see the loneliness and the desire to connect in his eyes, no matter what mask he wore everytime he moved to a different location.
Jax felt for him.
He didn't know the man — He had no shared history, but something deep within him, something primal, screamed at Jax to find him. Find this man and claim him.
It was the same instincts that flared when Jax looked at Zac — A primal urge to rectify a problem and right what is wrong... Whatever that meant.
'These men are mine,' that instinct seem to say. 'Their hardships are mine to bear. Mine to correct. Comfort them. Mate them. Bring them home.'
Jax's instincts have never let him down. It was why he was so in-tuned with them — because he often listens to them.
He's never met his parents. His mother was supposedly a wealthy business tycooness in the States; which was why his house was so big, his bank account so fat and his needs were swiftly met, growing up.
Realistically, he didn't need school. His prospects were unmatched — By the age of 7, his bank accounts were so large that he already had enough wealth to live a comfortable life.
He only goes for Zac and Cam. He doesn't really get pleasure from it and he isn't exactly stupid. In fact, he was a literal genius.
In the time it took people to read, he was already reading dictionaries, case studies and academic journals while studying mathematics and algebra on the side. His iq was exceptional, even if he's never really tested himself or done an iq test.
Honestly, he preferred reading stories about demigods and monsters about his favorite characters, like Percy Jackson, Heracules and and the mythos of ancient civilizations. They provided entertainment and reprieve from his often chaotic mind.
The curse of being too intelligent is loud thoughts. Or that may be the autism talking, honestly.
He would often imagine himself as a son of a sea deity or sea spirit when he's swimming the Australian seas. It probably didn't help that he had a tail…
That said his father was never mentioned in anything or letter left by his mother. No name. No documentation. Nothing.
Jax looked above his head and spotted a glowing blue trident, his widening even as he stared at it then across the moonpool at the altar where the trident remained stuck in stone, at the slab beside it, at its message, and then back at the glowing trident hovering above his head — Then repeated the cycle two more times as if to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"No... fucking... way..." Jax laughed aloud for what his eyes were telling him. "No. Fucking. Way... Ahaha. Oh, hell yeah!"
Jax did a bit of tap dancing before his maturity caught up with his actions and he forced himself to calm down.
"Why was he giddy?" you may ask.
Well, that's simple.
He was the fucking son of Poseidon.
Meanwhile, somewhere deep beneath the waves of the North Atlantic Ocean, inside an underwater palace that existed on a plane of existence that was anchor-pointed between that reality (H2Overse) and the Percy Jackson's multiverse, a man was seated upon a throne — A man that looked like prime Kevin McKidd, only more well-built and in-shape. And this one also wore an ornate, dark Greek-styled scale mail that mimics the textures of the sea. It had deep oceanic tones, studded leather details and stylized shoulder guards, or pauldrons. Matching cuffs bewore his wrists and an even more impressive trident than the one stuck in stone at Jax's Moonpool resided in the god's hand. A trident tattoo was inked on his left bicep.
This was Poseidon; Jax's father.
Because Poseidon was the sole Olympian of his universe to find this particular world, he naturally assumed the authorities of this place without contest.
Of course, he did so with the local almighty's blessing. Every worldly god naturally understood and could sense hierarchy, and the sea god wasn't an estrangement to this fact.
His authority in his home multiverse was the Sea God — Here, it was many — God of the Skies, the Storms and the Earth. Lord of the Sea, the peoples and all that dwelled in-between.
The other authorities were currently out of Poseidon's domain — Yet, as he stood now, his power superseded his Zeus by a very large margin, but only while in this multiverse.
'And the perks of being here climbs. Monsters are practically non-existent here and the sea life of this world seems highly supported by the almighty here,' Poseidon had once thought whenever he had arrived here first. 'She seems to favor the mer-women over the men... But, best of all, Zeus and the others don't know about this place nor possess any influence in its existence.'
Poseidon had been so pleased by this, he pursued the richest, most influential female of this world — A young mortal at the time, 20, and a beauty beyond words.
One night—
And then she had Jax and, as he watched him grow, he was smitten.
He knew it was wrong. Andy tried to resist the pull, but it was always there and, as the boy grows and mayures, it inly seems to get stronger.
He feels...conflicted.
He wanted to be a respectable father.... yet whatever pulls him towards his son is greater than his own power alone.
It was.... disarming.
"At this rate...," Poseidon muttered, frowning. "It will be soon that the pull becomes unbearably painful.... Hopefully, I can soon find a solution. If not, by his 19th birthday....No. ill find a solution before then. I must."
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[Zac Blakely Reference Images]:
[Erik Reference Images]:
[Poseidon Reference Image]: