Disclaimer: I don't own the Riordanverse.

Rise of a new Power

Prologue: A tea party among sisters

Betas: None so far, you're welcome to apply


It was a beautiful day in New York City. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and the wind was blowing just strongly enough to keep things cool.

It was in this idyllic atmosphere that Ophis was entertaining her sisters with a tea party in the dining room of her Waldorf Astoria home.

"Ophis, where's Nico?" Hestia asked. The eldest daughter of Kronos and goddess of the hearth was in the guise of a nine-year old girl with mousy brown hair and wearing a modest dress.

"Spending some time alone with Big Brother Hades." Ophis, the seven year old daughter of Kronos and protogenos of Time and Space, replied as she served her guests their tea. The youngest of Kronos' children had tied her waist length ebony hair into a long tail which she held in place with a white bow and was dressed in one of the many gothic style dresses she liked, this time in her favored colors of black and white.

Demeter, the second of Kronos' daughters and goddess of Agriculture, currently in the form of a striking woman with wheat blonde hair and wearing a green dress, snorted at the mention of her hated brother/son-in-law and his illegitimate son.

Her displeasure was shared by her younger sister, Hera, the queen of Olympus, who likewise sneered. Though her ire came more from her domain as goddess of home and family which meant it was likely directed mainly towards Nico, who as the product of an affair, she saw as a insult to Hades' marriage to his wife Persephone. Displeasure that presented itself in a frown that marred her otherwise perfect beauty. She had the figure a supermodel, long licorice-black hair, a regal and unapproachable face and large, soft brown eyes

Privately, Ophis thought both Demeter and Hera were trying a little too hard in terms of their choice of appearance. As gods they could of course choose how their physical forms looked but to always choose such excessively beautiful forms? It seemed to the young primordial that they were trying to compensate or hide something.

Not that she would ever tell them that.

She liked to maintain a cordial relationship with her sisters, thank you very much.

Something that it seemed her sisters desired as well, if their lack of a verbal response to the mention of Hades and Nico were anything to go by. They both knew by now that Ophis would not tolerate insults towards either of the men that she regarded as her beloved Big Brothers.

That said, Ophis was not above playing nice a little to defuse the tension slightly. As such, she turned to Demeter, "Big Sister Demeter, thank you for all that cereal you sent me as a "Welcome to the family" gift. I still haven't tried all of it yet, but I've liked what I've eaten so far."

The goddess of the seasons smiled at that, clearly overjoyed that her gift had been appreciated. "Just call me Demeter, dear. And really? Well, there is plenty more where that came from. I can send it over to you if you want."

The Great Serpent panicked a little at that. She might have liked trying out all the different types of cereal she'd received from her sister, and had even made doing so into something of a game. But she didn't want to eat nothing but cereal and if what she'd heard about Demeter's obsession with it was anything to go by, that might be what she'd be forced to do if she agreed. Thus she hastily backtracked, "Err… Maybe after I finish what I already have first?"

Hestia and Hera both smiled in amusement at Ophis' predicament.

The traitors.

"Just tell me when you do. I'll send over more for you to try right away." Demeter said with a smile, apparently undeterred or perhaps just oblivious to Ophis' obvious hesitation. "It's wonderful to finally have someone who appreciates them. Someone who finally knows that grains are wonderful-"

The goddess of the harvest was thankfully cut off from launching into a rant about the benefits of grains by Hera, "Oh, please stop Demeter. We came to spend time with Ophis, not to listen to you rant about your favorite topic."

Demeter looked put out by this, but she nevertheless acquiesced, leaning back in her chair and taking a sip of her tea to hide her frown.

"Thank you, sister." Hera acknowledged the youngest immortal's gratitude with a nod. One which seemed just a tad condescending, but since neither Demeter nor Hestia seemed to make a fuss about it, Ophis just filed it away as just her imagination.

"Ophis, dear, may I ask why we're meeting here and not on Ogygia?" The matron of women began, gesturing at their surroundings. "Surely, it would be more fitting to have this gathering at your new seat of power?"

"I'd thought of that, Big Sis- Err.. Hera?" Ophis cut herself off and hastily corrected her terms of address at the sharp look her elder sister sent her, only continuing when she received a smiling nod in reply. "Well, as I said, I thought of that. But Ogygia is kinda just a giant construction site right now and not the best place for a tea party. So I decided to have it here at home, instead."

Hestia beamed when Ophis called the suite, one she'd gifted her little sister before the primordial had even known their relation or her nature, her home. A smile which only broadened when Ophis shot her a grateful look.

"No need for thanks, Ophis." Hestia said as put down the cup of tea she'd been idly sipping and reached across the table to clasp her youngest sister's hand lightly. "It's only appropriate that I give you a gift to welcome you to the family after all."

Demeter nodded encouragingly even as she ate one of the biscuits that Ophis had laid out.

Hera looked between her sisters for a moment before sighing. "Am I the only one here who hasn't given Ophis a welcoming gift, yet?"

"Yes." The older goddesses chorused. Hestia chidingly, while Demeter was more smug than anything.

"Big Brothers Hades, Poseidon, Chiron and even Zeus gave me presents too." Ophis supplied helpfully.

"Even Zeus?" Hera said incredulously.

"He gave her a gift voucher for Aphrodite's Boutique. It's where she picked out all those dresses of hers." Hestia explained, smiling pleasantly as she recalled what she considered the first sign of healing in the strained relationship between her brother and sister. Ophis personally thought Hestia was reading too much into Zeus' gift. He probably saw it as nothing more than satisfying the formalities.

Hestia eyed the dress that Ophis was wearing more closely for a moment, before a smirk spread across her face. "I'd bet that your tastes had the staff in quite a tizzy?"

"For a while." Ophis acknowledged with a nod. "They wanted to dress me up like some Disney princess at first. It took them a while to actually accept that I didn't want that and to help me get things I wanted instead."

"They're like that. Always trying to dress customers up in a style that they think is best." Demeter commented with a nod. "But once they get their act together, they are excellent at finding clothes that you like and also make you look the best."

Hera and Hestia nodded.

"Fine. I guess I'll send you a gift. Just to avoid duplicating gifts, what did Hades and Poseidon send you?"

"Big Brother Hades gave me a couple of "Get out of the Underworld for Free" cards," Ophis declared, summoning the two nondescript laminated cards into her hands and waving them for her sisters to see. "And Poseidon is helping me build some walls."

The sea god had once raised the walls of Troy, walls so durable that they withstood the armies of the Greeks for a whole decade during the Trojan War. And those were walls he built while he was stripped of his godly powers and made mortal as part of his punishment for his role in the Olympian Riot. The walls he was now building for Ophis would be much, much more durable.

"Walls?" Hestia asked curiously as she leaned back into her seat after having leaned in close to get a look at Hades' gift. "For Ogygia?"

"Not quite." Time and Space Embodied hedged.

"This has something to do with how Ogygia is, in your words, 'a giant construction site'?" Demeter observed as she refilled her tea.

Ophis just kept mum, she wasn't ready to explain what she doing just yet. Not when things had barely begun.

"It's part of my plans to deal with the upcoming crisis and let's leave it at that." Ophis suggested.

The two oldest goddesses shifted uneasily at the mere mention of what was coming. In contrast, Hera seemed approving of what Ophis had said.

"So you have your own plans in the making as well, Ophis? Good."

Ophis nodded even as a frown spread across her face and she turned to the goddess of marriage, "Hera, are you sure you want to go through with your plan?"

Demeter and Hestia both shot Hera uneasy but unsurprised looks.

So they know about Hera's plan as well? Maybe they can help me convince her to not go through with it.

"Of course." The queen of Olympus said confidently.

"But it's so risky." Ophis warned, looking to the other two goddesses for support but found none. Hestia and Demeter instead choosing to pretend to be more interested in their tea and some of the snacks that Ophis had provided.

"Perhaps." Hera acknowledged with a wary nod. "Nevertheless, it's still the best way we can prepare for her return and the war to follow."

Ophis just sighed, it seemed there was no dissuading Hera from her plan.

"Alright. If that's what you think you need to do to prepare for Gaea's rise, then so be it."

All three goddesses flinched at mere mention of the Earth Mother's rise and with good reason. The protogenos of the Earth was a being so far beyond the power of the gods that it would be foolhardy to not be terrified at the prospect of fighting her. As a protogenos herself of equal and perhaps greater power, Ophis was another matter altogether but to her sisters, Gaea was someone to be feared.

"I will not interfere with your plan." Ophis continued, politely pretending not to notice their reactions. While fearing Gaea was natural for the goddesses, their pride as divinities would never allow them to admit to it. Thus it was only polite for Ophis to allow them this pretense. Not that this was on Ophis' mind as she spoke, no this was mere reflex on her part. Instead, her mind was primarily focused on something else entirely.

Damn it! Everything is going just like how Rachel said that it would! If it keeps going on like this, then that means even the terrible things in the future that she warned me about will come true too. But if this is the case… Then I'm gonna have to use this to further my own plans. That way, maybe at least some good will come out of this.

"Thank you-" Hera began only to be cut off by Ophis.

"No need for thanks, Hera. I want something in return for this. Consider it your "Welcome to the family" gift to me."

"You make it sound very important, Ophis. What in the world could Hera offer you that you cannot acquire yourself?" Hestia asked curiously, knowing full well that Ophis would be reasonable in her request.

Demeter and Hera herself, were clearly far less confident of this and looked at Ophis warily.

Smiling disarmingly, Ophis began to explain. "Well, I'd like some help with…"


And here's the prologue to the HOO portion of the Ophisverse.

I hope you all liked it.

To be honest, I'm quite mixed about this prologue myself. It's a lot more fluffy, and a lot less serious than I initially intended. I quite like it how it turned out. However, I'm not too sure whether it serves the role as a prologue that teases what is to come like I'd intended it to be as the fluff might be a little too distracting.

Tell me what you think in a review.

Now onto something more general, namely how I treat constructive criticism. To understand this, you'll first need to understand my posting schedule. At the time that this chapter gets posted, I'd have completely finished writing the whole fic. That's how I like to do things. I hate unfinished fics and will do my best to avoid adding to their numbers, hence only posting finished fics. I'll still only post a new chapter each week though as I discovered this to be the ideal frequency to get reviews. And I do want constructive criticism and will edit things if I think it's valid, however don't expect me to rewrite the whole completed story or even large chunks of it just because of a single critique. If a valid criticism requires that I'll take it to heart and take it into account in my next project. I'm not going to redo months of work and stall my posting schedule in the face of criticism.

Anyways that's all I have to say, so till next time, peace.