Thalia: Meeting the children of Saturn (an amazing incident)

Nearly a week ago, we had received two new demigods into camp with an interesting history covering their lives. Their names were Brian and Allie, both of whom claim heritage to a very different deity from any we've had before: Saturn. When they arrived, Brian had endured the bite of an Egyptian Asp and held it to his arm with magic before it began to cause him great pain and his hold weakened. Yes the initial bite is painless and yes, it is painless when it courses through your bloodstream quickly but it's when you notice it and decide to stop it that it becomes a problem.

Though his arm was useless and would soon kill him if we didn't amputate it, he showed no interest in us so much as my friend and uncle Gabriel. For five days, Brian was unconscious and then for another two, he was recovering in our Asclepius cabin a.k.a. the infirmary but he could tell us his story. I went in one day, when no one else was there, and introduced myself to him before interrogating him about his purpose here. "The day we were forced away from home started like any other," Brian began, lamenting on the details as well as thinking hard to recall everything.

"Allie and I were two of the twelve leaders of Saturn's Land and were of the highest rank: Archbishop. Her brother Conan and our friend Caitlin were also Archbishops and below us were four others called Bishops. They were my brother Roy, Allie's cousin Jacob, my wife Marian, and my sister Cleo with four Archdeacons below them: Daniel, Zeke, Stella, and Jennifer and we were the leaders of Saturn's Land. A peaceful, cloudy (with a chance of rain) day had settled over our home in the Appalachian mountains as was the norm around there and I was on my way to a meeting with everyone except Conan as he had gone missing in action a week before," Brian explained.

"If I may interlude for a moment, I have something for Allie that came from her brother," I said. "Wait, are you sure you obtained this from my brother? Where was he at when you saw him?" she asked, desperate to know her brother's whereabouts. "When I saw him, he was slowly dying of shock, malnutrition, and blood loss from infected wounds in the dungeons of Mount Orthys, the legendary home of the Titans," I told her after warning her.

"Let me see what he had for me please," she said. I pulled out a folded and somewhat crumpled piece of paper that Conan had given me before he died and told her to read aloud whatever it said. With tears making her eyes glassy and sadness choking her voice with each word, she read the letter aloud to us. "Dear Allie, If you are reading this then I am dead and I have fulfilled my one hope before passing onto the next life: to let you know of what happened to me and to deliver the Sword of Saturn to Brian," she started.

"Continue Allie, tell us if there is anything else your brother said," I told her. "Though I love you, I regret to inform you that I am definitely not going to return in time for your dance but rest assured I made the ultimate devotion to Saturn's Land. I have sacrificed my life and the lives of more than half my team to prevent the complete and total annihilation of Saturn's Land. Remember the old prophecy: 'As long as a child of Saturn bears the Sword of Saturn, Saturn's Land shall never be destroyed'.

"As for Brian, I thank him for being the best friend that both you and I have ever had and I thank him for willingly accepting the Sword of Saturn as my parting gift," she finished. "Who would ever have thought that a boy like Conan could endure so much pain at anyone's hand just to provide me with the Sword of Saturn and you a letter before passing away. My guess is he held on to life to do those two things and when Thalia found him, he knew that they both would be passed on and there would be no need for him to live anymore; he is now a hero for as long as there is anyone who will tell his story. But let me continue my story and I will explain what he was protecting us against," Brian said.

I nodded and he continued with his story. "We were in a normal session to discuss normal matters when all of a sudden, the sky was so dark that one could easily mistaken it for nighttime. Then we saw a bright light fly just over the statue of Saturn that holds the soul of our father in it and explode just a few miles away from the wall. The resulting impact destroyed the wall as well as a fourth of our entire town, including our primary Police Department, our means of communication, as well as our only college in town," he continued.

"What happened after that?" I asked since he paused for a bit. Then he resumed his story and went to its conclusion. "The aftershocks of the explosion came in the form of a shower of comets that rose from the ground and destroyed almost everything in their path as well as a wave of fire to burn what the comets had missed. I knew we were under attack since I had seen that kind of explosion before in the early days of my term as Archbishop and rallied what remained of our army during the explosion and its aftershocks.

"We waited after all that remained from the impact were the burning houses and building that had been left in the wake of the impact as well as the spots that used to be where the first explosion happened, hoping it really wasn't an attack (least I was). It was when the enemy forces came swarming in that my worst fears had come to life: the Titans had come for us and were set on destroying us down to the last child. Leading them was a Titan with a spear that I later recognized as Prometheus' brother Epimetheus and I rallied the remnants of my fellow officers (numbering six including Allie and my wife) to destroy him.

"He tore all seven of us (five had been killed in the explosion) apart until only Allie and I survived with one more officer staying behind to aid the women and children in evacuating Saturn's Land. As far as I know, not even half a thousand people escaped the destruction of Saturn's Land and most of them barely had any experience in combat. Allie and I were the leaders of a group of twenty-eight that was wiped out on the same day that I had gotten my bite from the Asp that brought about the amputation of my left arm. When my group were being hacked limb from limb by Epimetheus' soldiers and I had been bitten by the asp, I knew there was only one hope: to find your uncle Gabriel Johnson, the legendary son of our father's Greek ego Kronos.

"I set out from there and arrived here with Allie even when the venom threatened to bring about a painful death for me," he said, finishing his story with that. "But what reason would the Titans have for destroying Saturn's Land and to what end would it serve?" Allie asked. "When Kronos transformed into the Roman ego of Saturn for the first time, Saturn was originally just another ego. But then, he manifested into his own deity and betrayed his Greek counterpart in a battle for freedom.

"The Titans knew they couldn't find Saturn so they destroyed our home because it was the only means of taking revenge against Saturn unless they could revive him, which they also couldn't do," Brian explained. I asked him to elaborate on what he meant by reviving Saturn and he did. He took a massive jewel out of his bag and said that this was one of the eyes of the statue of Saturn. "Another like it has residence in the left eye socket of the statue and if this one was to be restored and a laser from them reflected back at them, Saturn can be resurrected," Brian said.

"So what do you need Gabriel for?" I asked. "A child of both Kronos and Saturn are marked in such a way that only they can safely reflect the lasers and revive Saturn. Only such children can survive the process without being vaporized in the process of reviving the god," Brian answered. "And there has not been a need to unleash the power of Saturn upon any enemy until now?" I asked.

Brian shook his head and just then, Percy came in to check on him and see how he was doing. "He's recovering now that we've amputated his arm, he must have resorted all of his magical energy to keeping the venom at bay long enough to reach us," I said. "That's not what I'm here for, I was just coming because I had to ask him if he heard of a weapon called the Sword of Saturn," Percy replied. "What a coincidence, we were just talking about it ourselves," I lied.

"Uncle Gabe addressed it specifically to Brian so I came to hand it to him. Here it is bud, hope you know how to use it because he didn't tell me how it's done," Percy said. "Every true-blooded child of Saturn is required to learn how to use it no matter what their position in our town was meant to be," Brian replied. "Thank you Percy, tell Uncle Gabe that he appreciated that," I told Percy just as something I thought of off the top of my head.

"I'll be back to talk to you later Brian, I mean if that's all right with you. As for you Thalia, Uncle Gabe wants you as soon as you're finished at the Zeus cabin for privacy reasons," Percy said. He left to wait in the lobby until I was finished with my visit and I thanked him for dropping by to drop off the sword. "Allie, can you help me by holding the scabbard while I pull the sword out?" Brian asked.

Allie nodded and held the scabbard of the sword while Brian used his remaining hand to pull the sword from its scabbard. When he removed it from its scabbard, he a good, solid look at the blade as though he were going to the grave with it. Seeing that he was a child of Saturn and one of the last of his kin, that might still have a chance of turning into reality. "For eight years, I have been told that this sword was my destiny and that one day, I would use it to restore the honor of Saturn's Land and my father Saturn," he said.

"Become who you were born to be, become the warrior who will save Saturn's Land just as your ancestor Beowulf the Great who contained your father to the statue and founded Saturn's Land had done. Since that day on May of 1810, the people of Saturn's Land have feared something like this would happen and feared the power of your ancestral sword would have to be called in. And now, here you are, holding the same sword that that great hero had used nearly two hundred years ago when your people need you more than ever," Allie said. "You know Allie, I was rather hoping that your brother was alive and you two had come from that famous bloodline rather than me because I do not have the same bold character that he had; the same warrior character necessary to inspire the people.

"He was not always the sharpest tool in the shed but he knew how to inspire the people when he needed to. And believe me, he's done that more than I have practically to the point of envy on my part," Brian said. "As much as I admire the praise you give my brother, he is dead and you are leader so lead us," Allie said, not even whacking around the bush. "Hmm, perhaps going back to Saturn's Land, destroying our enemy, and reclaiming the land for ourselves could be considered a way of repaying him for saving my life," Brian said.

At this point, I was lost and I asked Brian what he meant by that. "Before I found my way to Saturn's Land, Conan had been assigned by the preceding Archbishop (my maternal grandfather as I later realized after arriving to Saturn's Land) to find me when I had been captured by the Hunters of Diana. They wanted to use stray sons and daughters of Saturn as game for their centuries-long hunts since they had no other game and the Roman gods approved. I was amongst the hunted and Conan had been sent as an undercover warrior that sought to rescue me and any other Saturn children he could.

"Some of my friends back then had been hunted for almost a decade and Conan was sent on a big liberation mission. While I inspired hope into those who would join, Conan truly led us to victory when he staged a surprise attack on the Hunters' cabins in the mountains. The weaker children of Saturn were wise to escape to Saturn's Land while Conan and I took the stronger ones and tore our hunters apart. Ever since that day, I have owed him a very large debt and now that debt shall be paid to Allie," Brian explained.

"I hold your favor to my brother fulfilled, you did enough for him. Now it is your turn to aid those who Conan fought so hard to protect," she replied. Brian nodded and asked if Stephanie could put the sword back in its scabbard then asked me if a suit of armor had been prepared for him. "My uncle would know that better than I so as soon as you feel fit to travel, ask him," I said.

"Didn't Percy Jackson want to speak to us when you were done?" Brian asked. "He's not being rude, he just wishes to meet the famous Percy himself. Since he heard about it, he has wanted to know if it was true that Percy Jackson defeated Kronos and led the demigods of Camp Half-Blood to victory against the Titans that now seek revenge," Allie added. "He wants to meet you too but I can tell you right now that it is all true because I fought with him in the Battle of Manhattan," I said.

"He must be a powerful leader then, may we meet him and know him a little better?" Brian insisted. I nodded and thanked him for his time with me before heading for the lobby to find Percy. Before leaving the room, I heard the nurse say to Brian that he was free to get out of his bed if he wished. "Allie, be ready to help me in case I fall since I haven't used my legs in a long while," Brian said.

I never found out if he needed her help or not since I walked out of the room after that and found Percy waiting in the lobby. Instead, I told Percy that Brian wanted to see him now but he might possibly coming his way now that he was medically judged as fit for travel. "My recommendation is giving him a tour of the camp and learning as much as you can from him about Saturn's Land," I said. "I already received similar orders from uncle Gabe, I'll find out what he wishes us to know about his town as well as this grim situation that's befallen it," he said to which, I replied by wishing him luck on that.

He thanked me then I walked out of the infirmary and back onto the camp. From there, I went on to see what Gabriel had assigned for me for the next week or so. Or at least until my Hunters recovered completely from their encounter with him.