Egyptian New Year

by David-El

Following the events of the Battle of the Labyrinth, Alexander, son of Jupiter, follows the leadings of Fate and Ra to England and the Kane family. With them, he faces threats as great as he ever did with his cousin Percy, and discovers startling truths about his own history, as well as the truth behind Egypt's greatest threat: Apophis. A sequel to The Revised Alexander Chronicles.

1. Training and a Christmas in Hades

A/N: Okay, like my Percy Jackson stories, this has been slightly rewritten to fit the latest information given and the new direction this series is going. As before, this first chapter is mostly based on The Sword of Hades from The Demigod Files, but the rest will be pure Egypt.

The Alexander Chronicles

Part II: Egypt

Book I: Egyptian New Year

Chapter I: Training and a Christmas in Hades

My name is Alexander Julius Caesar, Roman demigod son of Jupiter/Zeus, legacy of Venus/Aphrodite and Mars/Ares (supposedly through Aeneas, Romulus and the Gaius Julius Caesar,) and for the past three years, I have been living at the Greek's Camp Half-Blood with my best friend and cousin, Percy Jackson, Greek demigod son of Neptune/Poseidon. (Gahh! I hate having to use the Greek names!) Two weeks after celebrating Percy's birthday, I Lightning Traveled to the Dorma Lupa, a place that I now knew was the former home of Jack London, a son of Mercury. It was the place that all Roman demigods started their journey, and it was now the place where I started taking my first steps towards acknowledging my heritage as a Roman, not Greek. I was getting an odd feeling about it, part of it was good, but another part said that there was something stirring, something extremely dangerous. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be quite awake yet, so I calmed down, whatever it was, it wasn't going to wake up any time soon. . .

My brother Jason Grace, son of Jupiter and newest consul of New Rome, arrived about an hour after I did, which was surprising, because I didn't leave New York until it was 1:00 in the afternoon, or 9:00 in the morning on the West Coast. "What took you so long? Did Lupa not want you to train me or something?" Lupa was the wolf that raised Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome and the initial trainer for the Roman demigods and legacies (descendants of demigods.)

He laughed. "No, Lupa's not involved much at Camp. I just had a few consul duties to take care of before I came here. Hey, what's with the staff?"

I grimaced at that, I hated that I had to use the staff just to walk and had really hoped Jason wouldn't mention it. "I had a little encounter with a Chimera. It's tail bit me in the heel and it never really healed, I've had a limp ever since. Fortunately Apollo makes it so that it doesn't slow me down in a fight. Now, are we here to chat, or train?"

"Yeah, but you didn't actually think that we'd be training here, did you? Come on, bro, we're going to my camp. Do you know the Caldecott Tunnel?" I nodded, and Jason smiled. "Good, then you know how to get to New Rome. Do you mind?"

I smiled and grabbed his arm before Lightning Travelling to the meridian of State Route 24, right in front of the tunnel. Although I don't know how, I knew the camp was just on the other side of that hill. Of course, it helped that there before me were two guards in typical Roman armor and uniforms: i.e. a purple T-shirt and jeans. "Salve, citizens, mind letting us through?" I asked.

"Consul, is it safe?" one of the guards asked.

"Perfectly safe, Bobby, and no pranking him, understand?" Jason said. I followed my brother as he went into what looked like a maintenance tunnel, and he explained his comment. "Bobby is a son of Mercury, and one of the greatest pranksters in New Rome. A great guy, loyal, and an amazing fighter, but always watch yourself around him."

I just grinned. "He sounds like his Graecus brothers, Conner and Travis Stoll, they are exactly the same way! Great for a laugh, but watch out if you tick them off! Do you remember the quest I was on when we met?"

Jason laughed. "How could I possibly forget? You were a little moody at the time because you'd just lost the sister of your crush."

"How did you-?"

"I'm your big brother, Alex, of course I knew! So, how did you piss off the Stolls?"

I stared at my half-brother and asked "Just what makes you think I pissed them off?" Jason just raised an eyebrow. Laughing, I told him "Actually, it was one of the Hunters of Diana. We did a game of Capture the Flag, and she pissed them off during the game. Anyway, just before the quest, they gave her a t-shirt that they claimed was a collector's item. She accepted, but when she put it on, she discovered that they had coated it in centaur's blood."

Jason shivered in response, no doubt thinking the same thing I had when I heard the tale-our most famous brother, Hercules, had died because of a piece of clothing coated in centaur blood. But neither of us could focus on it, as just then we came out of the tunnel and for the first time in my life, I gazed on Camp Jupiter with my own eyes. It looked just as it had in my dreams. A city made in the Greco-Roman style, with the Forum at the center of the city, with the military camp just on the other side of the Little Tiber from where we stood, and a hill covered in temples to the south of Nova Roma. Jason then turned to me and said, "Welcome home, Alex. This is where you belong, little brother."

For the next two and a half months, I trained with Jason, learning every thing he could teach me about Roman methods of fighting and Roman culture. When he told me about Mars being the god of war and agriculture, I started laughing. There was no way I'd let him live that down! And as he taught me, I managed to combine that with what I'd learned from Annabeth, her mother, and Clarisse to create a completely new style of fighting, one that was a combination of both Greek and Roman, something I was sure could defeat even Saturn or Mars in a duel. Even though Mars was the god of war, even he couldn't counter something he'd never seen before. Jason also gave me an update on something a little personal to me. About six months before, the Greek's Camp Half-Blood had been attacked by the army of Saturn, and I had captured a few demigods, including a handful of Romans. I had delivered the Romans here so that Jason and his co-consul, Reyna, could take them in and hopefully manage to get them to switch sides. By November, all of the Roman demigods had switched from Saturn to Olympus and willingly joined Camp Jupiter. To make things even better, all of them had been claimed by their Olympian parents. Unfortunately, my training with Jason ended all too soon, and on our last day of training we agreed to pick it back up in January and continue until March before focusing on our parts in the war.

However, something odd happened on my way back to Camp Half-Blood: my lightning travel was diverted to Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan. Boy, was I shocked when I saw Percy there with Mrs. O'Leary, his pet hellhound. "Alex! What are you doing here?" When I told him about following the diversion, he immediately grew suspicious. "This can't be a coincidence, Alex. You and me ending up in the same place at the same time?" We agreed that a god had to be messing with us, then a shadow passed over the sun, and then Nico di Angelo, son of Pluto/Hades, (our very handsome cousin that I had a serious crush on) was tossed out of a shadow. That made us even more suspicious, but now we were wondering if it might be Saturn manipulating us in order to cause us to fulfill the prophecy to his satisfaction. Next thing we knew, we were falling through a shadow to gods only knew where.

When we landed, we were in Proserpina's garden, and not thirty seconds after, Proserpina/Persephone herself showed up. Nico didn't take her arrival well. Apparently they'd had a family spat that ended with her turning him into a dandelion the last time they met. Proserpina admitted to having sent the hellhound, the shadow and causing the diversion that brought the three of us here, and that she brought us here because she had a mission for us from Dis. "I need your help, and quickly. It concerns Lord Hades sword."

Nico was confused. "My father doesn't have a sword. He uses a pitchfork in battle and his Helm of Terror."

When Nico said that, I caught on to what Proserpina was saying. "Don't tell me he's forging a new symbol of power! Not without Zeus and Poseidon's permission! Not that they'd ever allow it, it would tip the balance of power in favor of Hades." Yeah, I preferred to use the Latin names, but with my Greek cousin(s) here, I used their Greek names.

"You mean make Hades their equal? Believe me, son of Jupiter, the Lord of the Dead has no designs against his brothers." Damn it, why did these gods always have to call me a son of Jupiter? If they kept doing that, it could get me in a lot of trouble. Only Nico knew about my Roman heritage, and I was sure that if it became public knowledge, I'd be in big trouble, especially considering I went to a Greek camp, for now anyways. "He knew they would never understand, which is why he forged the blade in secret."

Then she created an image of the sword being forged. A Stygian iron blade with something set in the blade just above the hilt. "Is that a key?"

Nico froze in shock. "One of the keys of Hades?" The phrase 'keys of Hades' sounded familiar. Fortunately Percy asked what the keys of Hades were. "My father has a set of golden keys that can lock or unlock death. At least . . . that's the legend." Proserpina confirmed that the legend was true. "If one of those keys has been set in the sword-"

"The wielder can raise the dead, or slay any living thing and send it's soul to the Underworld with a mere touch of the blade," Proserpina finished.

"So what's the problem, sister? Why did you bring us here, and what does it have to do with Hades' sword?"

"I need you to get it back. The sword was stolen when it was nearly finished. I do not know how, but I suspect a demigod, some servant of Kronos. If the blade falls into the Titan lords' hands-"

Suddenly I remembered why the phrase sounded familiar, and I started laughing. Now that I knew what they were talking about, I knew that we had nothing to worry about. The sword might kill, but raise the dead? Not anymore they couldn't. Or at least, no more than Hades already could-meaning only zombies. "What's so funny, Alex?"

"I'll tell you later, Nico. So how are we supposed to find the thief and the sword?"

"The sword could not have left the Underworld yet. Hades has used his remaining keys to shut down the realm. Nothing gets in or out until he finds the sword, and he is using all his power to locate the thief." I quietly laughed at that, we got in while the Underworld was shut down, so obviously people could still get in. "The search for the blade cannot become common knowledge. We have locked the realm, but have not announced why, nor can Hades servants be used for the search. They cannot know the blade exists until it is finished. Certainly they can't know it's missing." Nico supposed it was because some of them would probably join Saturn if they found out the blade was missing. "The thief must be a demigod. No immortal can steal another immortal's weapon directly. Even Kronos must abide by that Ancient Law. He has a champion down here somewhere, and to catch a demigod, we shall use three."

When Percy asked why we were recruited, Proserpina said that it was because we were the three sons of the Big Three and none could stand against us. And if we returned the sword to Dis, then it would send a message to our fathers saying that we trusted Dis and they would not protest the sword's creation. "But I don't trust him!" Percy declared, and then turned to us for support. Nico wasn't willing to support Percy because it was his dad we were talking about, while all I could think about was what Father had said about his brother. I have often tried to convince my Greek half to let Pluto have equal representation on Olympus, but I've had no luck. Maybe, just maybe, I could provide the push that gave Dis equal representation on Olympus, and with him, Vesta. "Well now Percy, I don't completely trust Hades, but Kronos I don't trust at all. Who would you rather have the sword?" Percy had to give me that, and yielded.

"Time is wasting. The thief may have accomplices in the Underworld and he will be looking for a way out. No prison is escape-proof, not even the Underworld. Souls are always finding new ways out faster than Hades can close them. You must retrieve the sword before it leaves the realm, or all is lost." When I asked how we were supposed to find the sword and it's thief, Proserpina created a dieing carnation that was leaning to the left, like it was trying to find the sun. "This flower will guide you. It always leans toward the thief, and as your quarry gets closer to escaping, the petals fall off." Right on cue, a petal fell off the flower. "When the last petal falls off, the thief has made it to an exit, and you have failed."

Before we left, Percy insisted that Dis swear on the Styx to never use the sword against his brothers. Proserpina shrugged and said that while she wasn't her husband, she was sure that he would agree.

As we walked by the Pit of Tartarus, I noticed the other pit that I'd noticed back on our first quest. Then it had been covered by a rock bound with seven seals, with one seal broken. Now, only one seal bound the rock over the pit, and whatever was in it was trying to get out. Great, doomsday was getting closer. "Hey, Alex, could you explain why you were laughing earlier?"

Boy was I glad that Nico had interrupted my thoughts. "Sure Nico. I was laughing because those keys that your dad has are not the original keys. They're copies. The originals were taken from the Underworld about two thousand years ago."

"What? That's impossible!"

"Want to bet? Did you notice the crystal area that was completely empty? Did you ever wonder who was in there? Two thousand years ago, on April 5, 33 AD, Yeshua of Nazareth was raised from the dead, but before he left Hades, he took the keys with him, to keep for eternity, taking with him everyone who had been in the crystal cavern."

"How do you know about all this?"

"Nico, over two billion people believe the way I do. Admittedly, they don't believe that our parents are for real, but they all believe that Yeshua of Nazareth holds the Keys of Death and Hades and is waiting for a particular day to use them, so that all the souls that have ever lived or are living can be judged."

"Huh? What do you mean judged? And what do you mean, two billion people believe that?"

"Haven't you ever heard of Christianity? Yeshua of Nazareth is also known as Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ. His story is without a doubt the most read story in history with more than six billion copies published in it's history."

Before I could continue, we arrived at the hill of Sisyphus, fortunately just as he finished an attempt at completing his punishment. As we got closer, I heard him swearing in multiple languages I'd never heard such colorful language. At first, he believed us to be the Furies and wouldn't talk to us. He ran from us until I grabbed him by the hair and offered to move his rock if he'd talk to Percy and Nico. While I was moving it up the hill, I thought of a way to escape even this punishment. If Sisy had just flattened the top of the hill instead of leaving it rounded off, he could have escaped centuries ago. And the fool actually thought himself clever! Then, just as Sisy attempted to escape his punishment, again, I felt the rock pull back and I yelled out "INCOMING!" As I followed the stone, I heard Percy start swearing so much, he could have rivaled Sisy for a minute. Once everyone had calmed down, Sisy tried to get me to continue moving the stone. "Sorry, Sissy-may I call you Sissy? But this is your punishment, Sissy, not mine. Now go on and get back to work, you don't want the Furies to come after you, do you?" He started swearing again and still hadn't stopped by the time we got so far away that even my enhanced hearing couldn't hear anymore.

Percy asked Nico about someone called Melinoe, but Nico just said it was a long scary story. But before Percy or I could ask him any more questions, I heard bat wings coming towards us. I warned Nico and Percy by calling out "Weapons!" while pulling out Ventus (my celestial steel sword/bow combo, disguised as a pen,) and activated it's bow form. They pulled out their weapons, and went back-to-back, just before a dozen creatures appeared in front of us in a ring. They appeared to be women with bat wings that sprang from their backs, claws to replace their fingers, and teeth that would make a Great White Shark jealous. "Nico, what are they?"

"Keres. Battlefield spirits that feed on violent death." Oh, Tenebrae. Jason told me about them. Not only were they spirits that fed on violent death, they were disease carriers. A single scratch would bring a violent death to the victim, exactly what the Tenebrae wanted. "Get back! The son of Hades commands you!" But his command only pissed them off and claimed that their new master would give them free rein. I could sense that they weren't going to let us pass, so I loosed my first three arrows, each one taking down a Tenebrae, just as Percy took down one that was about to shred Nico. Inside of five minutes, all the Tenebrae had been killed, for now.

Unfortunately Percy got cut by one of the Tenebrae during the fight. We poured some nectar on the wound and fed him some ambrosia, but Nico and I both knew that it would do nothing more than buy Percy some time. I tried to get him to slow down, but he made a good argument against it. "There's no time. One of the daimones mentioned Iapetus. Am I remembering right? That's a Titan?"

"Yeah, Saturn's brother and father of Atlas and Prometheus, the Titan of the West. His name means 'the Piercer' because that's what he liked to do to his enemies. Like most of the Titans, he was cast into Tartarus, he should still be in there. But using that sword, it's wielder could probably summon the Titans out of Tartarus. But we still don't know who it is," I answered.

"Probably Ethan Nakamura. And he's starting to recruit some of Hades' minions to his side-like the Keres. The daimons think that if Kronos wins the war they'll get more chaos and evil out of the deal," Percy suggested.

"They're probably right. My father tries to keep a balance by reigning in the more violent spirits. If Kronos appoints one of his brothers to be lord of the Underworld, then the Underworld would get a lot worse. The Keres would like that, and so would Melinoe," Nico commented.

"Who is Melinoe?" I asked.

"She's the goddess of ghosts-one of my father's servants. She oversees the restless dead that walk the earth. Every night she rises from the Underworld to terrify mortals."

I'd never heard of her. Apparently when the Romans downsized Olympus to add in their own deities, they dropped her. "So she would have her own path to the surface?"

Nico nodded. "I doubt it would be blocked. Normally no one would even think about trespassing in her cave. But if this demigod thief is brave enough to make a deal with her, he'd be able to take the sword back to Kronos in the surface world. And Kronos would then be able to use it to raise the rest of his brothers from Tartarus." Percy then struggled to his feet, insisting that we finish this together, and that he was strong enough to keep going. I doubted it, but we decided it would be better if we stuck together.

One petal later (we were now at three,) we hit a barrier, a river so black, it made obsidian look bright. Nico called it "I Lithi tou potamou. We'll never make it across." If I heard him right, he said something about the Lethe, a river in the Underworld. When Nico confirmed my suspicions, I could see why he was so pessimistic about crossing the river. The River Lethe was the River of Forgetfulness, a river here strictly for the handful of souls that made it to Elysium and wanted to try for the Isles of the Blest-an area of Elysium for those who'd achieved Elysium in three different lives. If you touched its waters, you started to lose your memories, stay in it too long, and you were washed completely clean of memories, a blank slate.

Percy suggested using my bow to get us across, or using the dead, but Nico shot both ideas down. Then Percy suggested that he use his hydrokinetic abilities to get us across. "No offense Percy, but I don't think that you're strong enough to do that and be any help in a fight. Besides, I've got another idea. I can just flash us over to the other side. It'll be completely safe, and faster than anything else we could come up with." They reluctantly agreed, not that I was surprised. Our dads were major rivals in their Greek forms, and normally Zeus wouldn't hesitate to blast them out of the sky.

By the time we'd crossed the Lethe, we were down to two petals, and we were now on the path to Melinoe's cave. We were halfway to the cave when I froze. For the briefest of seconds, I saw one of the ugliest people I'd ever seen, excluding Juno. Half of her face was as black as pitch, like it had been mummified, while the other half was as pale as bone. She wore a golden dress and golden shawl, and had empty pits where her eyes should have been. But after that short second, I saw my mother, Sarah Summers. She had the same dark brown hair, warm sapphire blue eyes that I knew and loved. To my surprise though, she turned to Nico first and started talking to him, and if that wasn't surprising enough, I couldn't hear what she was saying to him. "Mom?"

She faced me, and started yelling at me. "Alexander Julius Summers! You left me to die after all I'd done for you!" Hmm, sounded like her alright. And she was still yelling at me for something I'd had no control over. I pulled Ventus out of my pocket. "And you're still friends with these others, demigods that could challenge your leadership over the camp. When will you ever listen to me? Zeus is your father, you should start acting like him."

Same old, same old. I activated the bow and pulled out two of my poison arrows, and shot her. "Mother, shut up! I am sick and tired of all your whining, complaining, and demands to distance myself from my friends. You are dead, and you are going to stay that way, forever." To my surprise, when the arrows hit, she burst into green flames and disappeared.

Percy and Nico stared at me in shock. Nico was the first to regain his voice. "Damn, I know you said that you were on bad terms with your mom, but I didn't realize it was that bad. Would you have done it if that really were your mom?"

"To shut her up for good? I'd pay for the privilege. Now, are we going to go after the sword or what, we are down to one petal." Just then, the last petal fell off the carnation, and it turned black and wilted. "Never mind, we're too late."

"You're right about that!" a voice boomed. We turned to face the cave, and saw Ethan Nakamura, son of Invidia/Nemesis standing next to a thin man with a scraggly beard, wearing a ripped prison jumpsuit. That had to be Polus/Iapetus. And in Ethan's hands was a steel blade with skeletal designs in it, and a golden key set at it's base. The Sword of Hades. They had made it to an escape point, and they were wasting time talking to us?

Apparently Ethan agreed with me, as he told Polus that they should flee, considering they had the sword. "FLEE? Did you say FLEE? IAPETUS DOES NOT FLEE! I have waited three eons to be summoned from the pit. I want revenge, and I will start by killing these weaklings!" Then he charged at Percy. Nico summoned three skeletons to deal with Nakamura, while I changed Ventus to it's sword form so I could duel Polus. I tried to disarm him by cutting off the head of his spear, but the spear was incredibly tough and I was only able to cut about ¼ of the way through. Then Percy cut Iapetus' calf. "AHH! YOU DIE FIRST! I will kill you all! Then I will cast your souls into the eternal darkness of Tartarus!" Percy landed just a foot from the Lethe. That's when I got a brilliant idea. As Iapetus went after Percy, I pulled out the birthday present my would-be step-dad had given me two years ago. Apparently Percy had the same idea, because he started insulting Iapetus. Just as Iapetus lunged at Percy, I yelled for him to get out of the way, and two seconds later, I shot Polus with the famous Epirus Bow, or more commonly, the Bow of Hercules. Our plan worked perfectly, as he landed in the middle of the Lethe. Nico and I just barely avoided getting hit by the water, but we did avoid it, while Percy got completely doused, and as usual came out completely dry.

When the Titan rose from the river, his eyes were wide open, as if he were seeing everything for the first time. He asked who he was, and Percy told him that he was Percy's friend Bob. The newly renamed Titan was very pleased by that, and I knew that Ethan was probably going to turn tail, so I tuned back towards him. Sure enough he was looking at Hades' sword, so I sent another arrow towards him, blasting the ground in between Ethan and the sword. "Don't even think about it, Ethan. You take one more step towards that sword, and we'll see how powerful this thing really is." Naturally he ran.

The Furies gave the others an express ride back to the palace, although they didn't look pleased about carrying Bob the Titan. But there was no way we were going to leave him behind, especially after he healed Percy's wound from the Tenebrae. While Nico told his father about our adventure, I studied the rulers of the Underworld. Proserpina seemed quite pleased by how it turned out, but my uncle seemed quite upset, although not at us. He seemed proud of how Nico handled his first quest, but he seemed upset about the sword. Was it possible that he had not ordered the quest, or did he not know about the sword until now? My suspicions were confirmed when he spoke to Proserpina. "You defied my direct orders." Then he turned to Nico. "You will speak of this to no one. And if your friends do not hold their tongues, I will cut them out." He then took the blade and handed it to Alecto, ordering that the sword be finished, and to stay there until it was finished. He then left in a burst of blue flames. Hmm, so that's where Disney got the idea.

Proserpina then created three pearls like the ones we had collected on our first quest. That's when Percy and Nico realized that it had been Proserpina who ordered the sword created and then gave us the quest. Uncle Pluto had never known about the sword, let alone known it was missing, until now. Naturally Proserpina denied it, and even tried to reward us, but she stopped when Percy threatened to toss her into the Lethe. Percy and Nico left right after that, while I stuck around, I had some business to talk to Dis about.

I hope you're about done down there, because Dr. Kane is boarding the plane now! Another thing I hate. For the past two and a half years, the Egyptian god Ra has been talking in my head, warning me of some great threat that was coming. Recently, he'd been insisting that I get to the British Museum in London to meet with a Dr. Julius Kane because he was going to release 'the five gods of the Demon Days,' whatever that meant. I'd been learning Greco-Roman mythology, not Egyptian. Ra also said that if the gods were released, then Set could destroy the gods, releasing Apophis from his imprisonment. Now Apophis I had done some research on. Apparently he was an enormous snake that threatened to eat Ra's sun boat each day, bringing about an apocalypse. In other words, Apophis was Egypt's version of Satan.

Well, at least I had plenty of time to get to merry old London. I hunted down my uncle, finding him right where I expected him, in his throne room. "What do you want, nephew?"

"I have a question for you, uncle. I assume you have seen the Disney version of the tale of Hercules?" He scowled, mumbling something about it being a travesty. "I'll take that as a yes. Then you know about the potion that turned Hercules mortal in it?" He nodded. "Good. I need to know, do you actually have something like that? I know someone that could use it."

"Like who?" I whispered my target to him, not even allowing the Furies to hear me. "Ha ha! I love it! I knew there was a reason that you were my favorite nephew! A chance to get rid of my least favorite sister, while also giving Hestia or myself a throne on Olympus. I'll gladly do it, on one condition. You must do it after the war is over."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, uncle. As much as we hate her, she does have her uses. You can deliver them to my cabin just as soon as the war is over." I then crushed the pearl and as soon as I'd returned to my cabin, I prepared for my flight to England.