AN: Hey guys, this is an idea I had along with my other story, the Twin Titans. Since I'll be working on two stories now, updates won't come as quickly but I'll still try to update my stories as fast as I can. I know the feeling when an author leaves a story off on a really interesting cliffhanger and then doesn't update for months, and I don't want my readers to experience that. As you can probably tell from the summary, this story will be a Pertemis story with Percy sort of acting as a guardian for the Hunt. But I promise to add some twists and turns to avoid the typical plot with Pertemis stories. Alright, I'm starting to ramble at this point so let me cut to the chase. Here is the first chapter of The Son of Atlas.

Chapter 1

The Garden of the Hesperides

Two figures, each with bows in their hands, could be seen running in the night along a beautiful garden. As they ran, flowers of vibrant colors and grass illuminating silvery light were trampled under their feet. In the center of the garden, an enormous golden tree filled with glowing golden apples stood guarded by a terrifying dragon with one hundred heads. The two figures skillfully shot arrows at the apples, counting how many they shot down. Each time an arrow struck an apple down, a new one grew back almost instantaneously. After the course of two minutes, an excited voice shouted out, "106! Ha, I win again sister."

Zoë Nightshade, who had hit only 88 apples, rolled her eyes playfully at her brother. Her brother was a master at archery so he would win every time they played this game. Despite this, he would still get excited after each victory. Sighing, Zoë said, "You have may have won today, Percy, but I'm getting closer. One day I'll be able to defeat you, just wait."

Chuckling, the man named Percy responded, "I'm sure you will, little sister. Your skill has gotten a lot better since I started to train you. You have a lot of talent."

Once again, Zoë rolled her eyes, but this time at her brother's insistence on calling her little sister despite them being only a year apart in birth. Percy was the second youngest child of Atlas and Pleione, so Zoë was the only one he was able to call little sister. Although he loved all five of his sisters, Percy was always the closest to Zoë, constantly joking around with her and teaching her skills about archery. The sibling bond held between the two was unbreakable as they were a pair that never left each other's side.

Suddenly, a large roar was heard coming from the dragon, interrupting the conversation. Instead of shaking in fear at the startling sound, Percy and Zoë just smiled as they knew what the sound meant. Rushing over to the large dragon, the two sibling carried a batch of lamb's meat that they held in stock for when the dragon got hungry. Percy stepped forward to pet one of the dragon's heads soothingly while holding out the meat, watching amusedly as all hundred heads focused in on the meat. Throwing up the meat into the air, Percy said, "Here you go, Ladon. I hope it is enough to satisfy you, my little dragon."

As soon as the meat was suspended in the air, a blur of heads all reached out their heads to snatch a piece of it. The meat vanished as a hundred heads crowded around it viciously, all fighting for a taste of its favorite food. In a matter of seconds, the entire batch of lamb was completely devoured and Ladon released a puff of smoke through its nose, showing Percy that it was content. All of the heads stared at Percy with hunger still evident in their eyes, silently asking him if he still had any more food. Laughing loudly, Percy said, "I'm sorry, my friend, but that is all I have for today. Maybe, if you're good, I'll bring you more tomorrow." Ladon grunted, as if he knew that Percy would bring more lamb tomorrow regardless of its behavior just as he has for several centuries.

Seeing her brother treat Ladon so affectionately, Zoë joked, "Sometimes, I feel like you love that dragon more than you love me. Surely, I have better breath than it."

Percy laughed as he knew that Ladon's breath smelled like the acidic stench of rotting corpse mixed with the scent of eucalyptus. Over the years, he had gotten used to the smell, but Zoë still couldn't stand the pungent odor and would often cover her nose when she visited Ladon with Percy. Looking into his sister's volcanic black eyes, Percy said rather seriously, "No one will ever replace you in my heart, Zoë. You have been and will forever be my best friend in addition to my little sister. I would sacrifice anyone, even Ladon and myself, if it meant for your well-being."

Zoë's eyes grew teary before she launched herself into her brother's strong arms, relishing in his warmth. Wrapping her arms around Percy's neck and hugging him tightly, Zoë said, "I feel the same way, brother."

After pulling away from the hug, Zoë noticed a look of sadness in Percy's volcanic black eyes. Stroking his hair softly, Zoë asked, "What's wrong, Percy? Did I do something wrong?"

Percy shook his head. "No, my sadness has nothing to do with you. It's just that I sometimes feel like this garden is more of a prison than a blessing. Although I've enjoyed its beautiful scenery, I wish to journey outside of the garden's boundaries and explore the world outside. I've missed the adventures we used to have before the war between the Titans and Gods."

Zoë nodded silently, understanding his brother's pain. He was the most devastated when Zeus confined all of the Hesperides to this garden to guard the apples of immortality. They were neutral during the Titan war, but Zeus still couldn't allow any children of Titans to roam around freely. Despite this, Percy never held any ill-will to Zeus or the gods and understood his decision. Before Zoë could respond to Percy, a strong, handsome man stepped within the garden wearing a tunic and leather sandals with the skin of the Nemean Lion wrapped around his back.

AN: I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of this story. A little bit of a cliffhanger to end this chapter with, but I bet all of you know who the man at the end is. I treasure every single review I get, so please tell me whether you enjoyed the chapter and what you'd like to see in this story. See you guys later.