Physician's Cure

The Physician's Cure is a potion, invented by the healing god Asclepius, that can bring the dead back to life if administered quickly.

History

Reviving Hippolytos

Upon hearing the death of her hunting companion, Hippolytos, the son of Theseus who killed him, a grief-stricken Artemis gathered his deceased body and presented it to her nephew Asclepius, a son of Apollo and the best physician in all of Greece. She asked to have Hippolytos brought back to life, and Asclepius complied by creating the physician's cure and administering it to the dead prince. It revived Hippolytos immediately, but upsetted the natural order of things, causing both Aphrodite and Hades to complain to Zeus about Asclepius' digression. The king of the gods struck Asclepius dead with lightning, angering Apollo who avenged his son by killing the Cyclopes that forged Zeus' Master Bolt. This act resulted in Apollo being stripped of his godly powers for a year, and to prevent further feuds with his son, Zeus resurrected Asclepius and made him into a god. However, the physician's cure and its abilities was declared off-limits medicine.

The Heroes of Olympus

The Blood of Olympus

Asclepius, the inventor.

When Leo Valdez, Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang capture the goddess Nike in Olympia, she warns that one of the four present will die battling Gaea. She also tells them of the physician's cure and the necessary ingredients, but says it is too dangerous. Frank replies that he likes cheating death and that they will proceed to find the ingredients.

In Pylos, Piper McLean and Frank go to find Frank's shapeshifting relatives, who might have insight on the Poison of Pylos. One of Frank's distant cousins gives him the mint, no problem, but warns that their next test will be even tougher, and directs them to Sparta.

In Sparta, Piper and Annabeth Chase descend into some ruins, which is the temple of fear, or Phobos, Piper's maternal half-brother. Guarding the chained god's heartbeat is Mimas, the giant born to slay Hephaestus. Piper warns Annabeth not to think their way out, and instead rely on their emotions. Using her knife, Piper is able to kill Mimas by having the statue of Phobos fall on his head.

The final ingredient lies on the island of Delos, the home of Apollo and Artemis. Apollo reveals that on Delos, the two aren't incapacitated with pain from the Greek-Roman schism. The final ingredient is a yellow daisy, known as the curse of Delos because when the twins were born, the island was so happy, it covered itself in yellow flowers and rooted itself in the ground. After Leo gets the daisy from Apollo, by trading it for an instrument he created which he named the 'Valdezinator,' Leo tells Frank and Hazel his master plan.

With all the ingredients, Leo, Piper, and Jason proceed to Asclepius' office. He gives Jason glasses and has his snake Spike make the physician's cure. Asclepius also notes that Piper had broken her arm after falling off a horse at age six and knows that Leo knows that he will have to die. He says it can be either injected or swallowed. Leo secretly keeps the real vial while Hazel manipulates the Mist so Piper thinks she has the real one. Leo then takes the vial aboard the ship and sends it into the Argo II's veins using the engine's ventilator line.

When the Argo II is destroyed, the vial is left in the rebuilt Festus' body. Following Leo's death defeating Gaea, the bronze dragon injects Leo with the physician's cure and resurrects the demigod.

The Trials of Apollo

The Hidden Oracle

While discussing Leo with the now-mortal Apollo, Will mentions Leo dying to take down Gaea and Apollo recalls Leo seeking out the physician's cure on Delos. Apollo asks if Leo had been planning on sacrificing himself all along which Will and Nico confirm, revealing that they got a message from Leo revealing his resurrection a few days after he returned to life.

The Burning Maze

After revealing that Herophile has predicted that either he or Piper McLean are going to die going after Caligula, Jason Grace tells Apollo that he's confident that she meant for real unless Apollo has an extra vial of the physician's cure in his pocket. However, they are both aware that he doesn't as the physician's cure is only available from Asclepius. As Asclepius wants to avoid going to all out war with Hades, he never gives it out. Leo Valdez was the first person to be resurrected with it in four thousand years and he is very likely to be the last one ever.

After Jason is killed by Caligula, a desperate Piper suggests using the physician's cure to resurrect him. However, Apollo tells her that Leo had the cure ready the moment that he had died, gone through many hardships to get the ingredients and even then he had needed Asclepius to make it. The physician's cure can't help in saving Jason.

The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure

While sharing his story with Gorgyra, Nico mentions Leo's death and resurrection using the Physician's Cure.

Ingredients

• Pylosian Mint
• Makhai
• Curse of Delos

Trivia

• Leo's death and subsequent resurrection were sensed by Nico di Angelo who noted that although Leo had died, something felt different about it that Nico couldn't understand.