Chapter Text
Arc 0 - Prologue Arc.
Bianca was having that dream again.
She could sense it as soon as the sound of birds echoed through her mind, whispering in her ear. Bianca tried to close her eyes, she’s been having this dream for so long that she knows what comes next. With hands against her ears, she tries to drown out the noise. Yet, the sounds of birds were neverending. Her palms were pressed against her eyes, yet images flashed before her eyes; hanging over a giant fire, her face red as she hears yelling. Two fashionable giants stand at either side, looking down at her with hungry eyes. Before Bianca could even process the image, she felt her body jerk.
She’s back on Mount Othrys, watching Thalia jump off that cliff with Luke under her, a desperate look in her eyes. Her eyes had met Bianca’s before she had fallen, blue startling eyes looking straight at Bianca.
Bianca could hear the daughter of Zeus’s last words in her head, clear as day. Find my brother. Find Jason for me. Bianca didn’t know what that meant or how important Jason was to Thalia but she knows Annabeth had taken to it. Or at least, from what Bianca's heard from Nico.
Flashes of light stream through Bianca's mind and her body burned. Images and visions of things yet to occur, or have but have been warped (Bianca's never in them. Why isn't she in them?) enter Bianca's vision. Heart pumping dangerously in her chest, Bianca lets out a scream and snaps her eyes open, the birds disappearing along with her visions. Bianca gulps and looks around.
It’s always the same. It’s the same antler-headed man, with his eyes closed, meditating on a chair made of wood and ivory. It’s the same woman standing over her cauldron, black hair floating behind her as she whispered to Bianca to avenge them, that the mother is coming, that the nature who birthed her is coming. Whatever that meant, Bianca doesn’t even know who those two people are.
Today, it started no different. The antler man, who Bianca has referred to as ‘Darrell,’ is meditating on the chair with ivory and wood in front of her. On either side are rows and rows of potted plants growing out of their dirty pots, going down the legs of the tables and onto the grass. Vines spun across the golden glass of the greenhouse, making themselves at home in the garden.
Bianca wrinkles her nose as she walks toward this man, as she always does in her dreams. A man with antlers (Bianca is sure that she’s going insane actually) sits at the end of the aisle, sitting peacefully in his chair. She waves her hand in front of the antler man and dares to touch him, but the man doesn’t move; his eye doesn’t even twitch.
Bianca sighs and looks around, for the hog with neon green patterns across the bottom of its fur. It was one of the few things that change her dreams. Sometimes, the hog is there and sometimes it isn't. Bianca would like to think if she killed this hog, she wouldn’t have to deal with these dreams any longer. Unfortunately for Bianca, she hasn’t seen the hog in weeks. Bianca bites her lips and turns back to Darrell.
Instead of seeing Darrell, she’s staring at a large trunk of bark.
Bianca blinks and looks up, noting the canopy of leaves hovering over her. A willow tree that looks to be ancient. Bianca turns around to see the black-haired girl from her early dreams staring at her behind the cauldron. They make eye contact and Bianca resists flinching as the girl walks toward Bianca.
“She is coming and they do not care until the threat is upon them,” the girl says warily. She looks up at Bianca and leans forward, her hand reaching up to brush Bianca’s chin. The girl shudders and the woman backs away.
“We need a rebirth. Please, visit us,” the woman says evenly.
Then, with a snap of her fingers, Bianca wakes up in cold sweat, hands going up to touch her face.