Most characters belong to Rick Riordan.

The modified European map used for this is on my profile.

A/N: This story shows negative ideas regarding things like women's rights and homosexuality, amongst others. These thoughts are not mine, I am only trying to represent a 1400-1600 A.D Europe. In Europe, at this time, homosexuality was not seen in a positive light although many important renaissance figures participated in it, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci for example, feminism was completely unheard of and women were way below men in society. I highly recommend you do the research if you do not believe me.

In regards to my style of writing I'm a very unorthodox writer- most other fanfiction writers have linear storylines that follow the clear pattern of the books. I personally am not a big fan of these stories as they are too linear, a story shouldn't be black and white, it should have a sense of deep- like the books of George R.R. Martin, who is my big idol when it comes to writing. I strive to keep this story as unpredictable as possible and hope that you will enjoy it.

Piper

After Jason got smacked down in the arena no one saw the prince outside of his chambers. Perseus told her everything about how pathetic he had been afterwards, as he took off his armour he had formed many plans of how he was to take out what he called 'a threat to the stability of the realm'. The rest of the day had passed on for Piper as she had been in her training room, trying to go through the obstacle course that Theseus set up. She completely forgot the competition that Annabeth was to participate in and only got to hear about it when Perseus came and delivered her food.

She had been so focused on the cursed thing that she didn't notice him coming in, only his voice disrupted her concentration, "I thought you would need food, lady Piper," Perseus said, her head snapped in the direction of his voice. Food? How long had she been here?

"What time is it? Have I missed anything special?" she asked before it hit her, the competition! She was supposed to be there, she had even betted for Lukas' champion. She mentally facepalmed.

"It is about time to eat, I would say maybe an hour past dusk," he said. "And you have missed something special, the competition! Lukas certainly made a good choice of a champion, in the archery round we had now she scored number one–" he threw her a bag of coins. "– and this is what you've won. The odds were not in your favour but it seems lady Fortuna brought you a win."

"Thank you lord Perseus, how did it go for the other champions? I am s–"

"Please, just call me Percy," he interrupted her. A kind smile plastered onto his face. Piper blushed and scrambled to continue.

"I–you–I–okay Percy, then you should call me Piper." Crossing her arms over her chest she stared back at him. The silent contest was interrupted by another person entering the room.

"Been practicing the whole day, have we? That is what I hope to see in my students–" it was Theseus' deep and soothing voice that said it. He continued, "–the things that I didn't expect would be in this generation- determination, persistence. Not since the big changes were–" He stopped, obviously having said more than enough.

"–Not that you would care about that," he finished.

Piper blurted out, "What big changes?" A huff from Percy and a glare from Theseus told her to shut it.

"Nothing that you should care your pretty little head about, most people who cared about it are dead now. But it affected you all. It is something only the brave or the crazy talk about," Theseus signified the talk was over by turning his body so that his back was against them.

Percy was obviously uncomfortable with the silence that followed the statement and said, "If it's not too much to ask; how did you beat Jason so fast? I couldn't find any flaws in your fighting and was barely able to see what you did."

"It is not too much to ask, if you come to the training room tomorrow I can have a lesson with you whilst lady Piper here tries to beat the obstacle course." Theseus had turned and was now looking at Percy. "I'm sure you are a skilled swordsman as I had the honour to meet your father once. Like father like son right?"

Percy seemed surprised about this, Piper could see that he was thinking of how to ask the next question.

"I will not tell you when or how I met your father. That is something you'll have to figure out by yourself. Though it's good boy, know your past so that you can understand your future. The very principle our world seems to turn by. If you want to learn about your past, I strongly recommend swallowing that royalist proud of yours and go to one of the hidden story-houses this city has to offer, what you'll hear will set some gears in motion in your brain."

With that statement out Theseus turned and walked away, leaving Piper and Percy in an awkward silence. Piper suddenly felt a pain flash through her muscles as her body caught up with the intense exercises she had been doing from dawn to dusk with only a brief stop for food.

She excused herself to Percy and left the room. As soon as she reached her chambers and fell onto her bed she fell asleep.


She woke up, feeling incredibly tired. Her limbs ached so much it was almost impossible to move, yet she still had training with Theseus. She forced herself up and called for her handmaiden. The woman rushed in and began to help her out of the old dress and into a new one, huffing about how hard it would be to clean it. Piper didn't care about that, she was too focused on actually getting her legs to walk her to the training room.

It took a painfully long time for Piper to get to the room, and when she entered she already heard the sound of a sword hitting a sword. She saw Percy trying to get through Theseus' guard, he had probably been at it for a while since sweat was pooling at his brow whilst Theseus looked as calm as ever, not even breaking a sweat as he fended off all attacks.

She thought Percy looked incredibly handsome with his black hair in a mess and his brow furrowed in concentration- Piper blushed the second she thought this. Percy was an excellent swordsman- it didn't take much to see that, but he was still losing. She saw that his full concentration went to controlling his body, a single slip-up would cost him the duel and grant him a new bruise.

Percy lunged out- stabbing towards Theseus. The man just side-stepped in what seemed to be in the last moment, almost as if he hadn't anticipated. She almost thought that Percy managed to break the iron guard of Theseus- but soon Percy was on the floor with a big bruise forming just above his right eyebrow.

"Don't let shock paralyze you!" Theseus said with a mocking tone. "I let you through so that this would happen."

"Everyone can't be the best all the time," Percy retorted before he picked up a clearly old pack of ice- water was already dripping from it and Piper concluded from the size of the puddle underneath the bench that it had been there for a while.

Theseus turned to her. "Welcome Piper, I see that you managed to make it here, late. For this lesson I want you to complete the obstacle course. You will not be allowed to leave this room until you've finished."

When she didn't move he said, "Go on, the faster you're done the faster we'll get to the fun stuff."

She still didn't move. "Is it possible?" she asked. "Is it possible to complete it under a minute? Or are you just using this as a way to teach me a lesson? Do I have to ask a specific question to get the answer? Do I hav–"

He interrupted her by saying, "I've already told you the answer, now get on with it!" Then he turned to Percy and raised his blade, suggesting that he was ready.

Piper groaned inwardly, she felt like this was going to be a long day.


When it was dusk Piper still hadn't completed the course. The fact that she hadn't eaten at all didn't help with her mood. She felt slow and numb and her stomach was screaming. With every move it screamed. Food, food, food. She was going crazy from hunger, lack of rests and physical pain.

She had tried to go through everything Theseus had said to her- trying to find the clue of how to beat the cursed jungle of objects that stood between her and her bed. Percy had long since stopped his training session and started to give her tips on how to be faster. "Swing faster there." "Jump a little earlier." "Duck!"

She almost felt like ordering the guards to drown him in a barrel of water. All the things were going to her head so she just decided to give up- when the clock started she walked the two metres between point A and point B and flopped down on the ground.

A slow clap resonated through the room. Clap, clap, clap. Wait what? Theseus was applauding?

"Congratulations Piper! Tomorrow we begin practicing with the sword," Theseus said before turning and walking towards the door. Piper was dumbfounded. That was seriously the correct way to do it? She had spent many hours trying to figure out how she could finish it and after all her hard work and hours spent trying to force her body through.

"But what was it all for? Why did I have to go through all this?" She asked, almost screamed.

"I told you the very basic principle I will teach you by when we first met. You are not going to be taught normally- you will take shortcuts and learn how to cheat. Just because you are an oh so righteous princess doesn't mean you'll not learn how to use whatever chances you are given."

Piper tried to object but Percy was quicker, "You did all of this just so that she would learn to look for whatever shortcuts she can use?!" He was angry, his face red and his sea-green eyes seemed to glow with energy.

"Now now, not defending are we? You do know she's only fourteen, right? And for you- I recommend you think about what you do before you judge others, boy–" he made sure that the precise meaning of the word was clear, they weren't anything compared to him. "–I've heard about what you did towards that girl. You should probably go to her and ask for forgiveness before you come back here. Both of you would need to dump that nonchalant arrogance that all of you royal children possess, it doesn't suit you. Now go both of you before I get angry!"

The only thing that suggested that he was having a hard time controlling himself was that his eyes were churning like the sea during a storm, glowing with energy. Piper and Percy scrambled to get out of there, not wanting to anger Theseus further.

When walking towards her chambers she wondered why he had gotten so angry, it seemed unprovoked and a bit unnecessary to her. Had she done anything wrong? Once she got inside her maid rushed to help her out of the dress. The girl seemed disconnected and not as fast as she used to be. She had an expression of fear on her face and fumbled when she tried to unfasten the tightly laced dress.

"Come on then, get me out of this dress!" Piper screamed at her. The maid jumped and finished it quickly before backing off.

"Now help me into the new one!"

The girl was now frightened of Piper, her face was pale and she tried to avoid contact, physical and eye-to-eye. Piper dismissed her with an arrogant nod. She was the princess and sole heir to her kingdom's throne! She was not to be played with to the extent that Theseus had done it! She wasn't going to take humiliation at that level- she was going to speak to her father about it. He accepted every wish she made and firing a lower class swords teacher wasn't going to be hard for her to get him to do.

Piper had already decided not to go to bed. She was far too angry to do it so instead she sat down at her piano. As most other royal daughters she had been given a proper education in the art of music- she could sing and play the piano and dance. Her teachers had always said that she was a protegee in all three and she tried to practice as often as she could. The piano had always calmed her down, as the name of the instrument implied, she felt soft whilst hitting the keys. The sounds could vary and all she had to do was to increase pressure in her fingers.

She played through the songs she had most recently bought, from a musical that she had seen with her father and rather enjoyed. The most stunning piece was at the ending, she had played it over and over yet she still couldn't make it sound right. There was something missing from it.

"I see, you've also seen that opera. I've had people search for a long time trying to find someone who could play it like it was- none have been able to find the musicians. It's like they've disappeared off the face of the planet since their last performance in Olympia." She turned her head and saw Percy leaning against a wall. "Do you know what the title, Nordens Song means?"

It was a rhetorical question, the answer was of course not. All of the pieces of the play had been named in a language other than the common tongue, all she knew was that it wasn't the older tongue- latin. The language had been spoken long before in what was known as the Great Empire. Now it was mostly dead with only a handful of scholars knowing how to speak it. The musical hadn't been written in the old language and neither in the common tongue and there was no one in the kingdoms who seemed to know the translations. Perhaps it was just written in a made-up language? she had thought to herself many times, and though she had tried to break the code she hadn't been able to.

Only a single song's title had been in a language she knew, it was called Dear friend and was the last piece, right after the mysterious song that many thought to be the best piece they'd ever hear. Dear friend was a sort of looking back for the main character- he is reliving the greatest moments he had with his friend before letting go in the end and walking off the stage, a shadow symbolising death helping the old man. It was a powerful piece- she'd have to give it that, it was just not as good as the mysterious Nordens Song.

"The name deepens it right? Makes the piece mysterious and fascinating. I also love how it is connected to the last song. The transition is amazing, right? I mean in slowly fades and increases the volume of Dear friend until you can't hear what song is what. I would love to give the writer of it all a place as royal musician of Atlantis." Percy was excited like a little boy opening presents. "I pray to Apollo that the composer will show himself soon, so the world can bathe in his glory."

Piper had done exactly the same thing, praying to the gods for help in this matter. She wanted to get the composer as a teacher.

Suddenly Piper realised something, "Percy, what are you doing in my room? In the middle of the night?"

Percy's face went a bit red as he blushed when he realised that he was standing in her chambers.

"I-you-um. I was-going to this place, you know," he said rubbing the back of his head. "I was intrigued when your teacher shared his thoughts on us- you know when he told me to swallow my pride and spend some time in the story-houses? Well I did that. I went out and to be honest, the stories they tell are worth it. I would give my crown to know all of them. I was actually going to visit one now when I heard you playing. So right now I will excuse myself and go learn some stories."

He backed out of the door and into the corridor, turning away with a quick bow and a 'My lady' that got Piper blushing. When she heard his footsteps down the hall Piper let out a nervous breath. She understood what he meant by interesting, the history lectures she had gotten all seemed ridiculously made up to fit the view of the world that Olympus proclaimed. How the gods doomed the Othryan empire by sending the kingdoms against it.

She ran out the door in a quick surge of courage. She was probably going to regret the decision later, but she just wanted to follow Percy and learn a thing or two about how her people thought about her. Little did she know how right she would be!


She caught up to him when he'd just gotten to the door of the palace. She had been running far more than she would've liked. Her dress was out of its otherwise neat bun and her dress was sticking to her skin. She was panting hard and felt extremely out of shape.

"Percy—wait up!" she shouted. He turned around and studied her as she ran up beside him. "Can I follow you?"

He must've known before he said it that she would be curious enough to follow him, since he said, "Curiosity is a strange thing, but I think acting without safety suits you. It is very non-princess like. Almost like swordplay. . ."

He extended his arm for her to take and she took it. Then they walked silently into the city of Rome.


They reached the story-house after about half an hour of walking. Piper was mostly walking around looking at the city that seemed more beautiful at night than it did during the day, lights were everywhere. As they reached the small establishment she couldn't help but feel the city pulsating around her, almost as if the earth was alive around them. The house almost seemed to be the centre of the night due to the thick amount of people leaning towards it, trying to hear stories.

When they got inside Piper was surprised at how clean it was, she had always thought taverns like this to be filthy and packed with harlots and the rest of the city filth, but the room was neat and tidy. The room was a half-circle, in the middle of the wall there was a fireplace that was burning. In front of it sat an old man who appeared to be the storyteller, around him were rows of wooden benches. Towards the corners and along the sides of the room were tables and the bar was located towards the entrance. Percy guided her over to a table close to the bar and gestured for her to sit down.

"Beckendorf!" he called and a burly man Piper guessed must've been Beckendorf came up to them. He looked strong, his arms were thicker than even the strongest guard's. His wasn't handsome in her mind but she guessed he had a winning personality.

He leaned over the bar and said, "You brought a girl with you this time Percy." His accent was thick- Piper had to concentrate to understand what he was saying

Piper couldn't help but say, "This girl has a name you know, it is Piper"

"Feisty, eh? And you are that Piper, Percy has been talking a lot 'bout you." Then with a falsetto mimic of Percy's voice he said, "She isn't like the rest of them, she is more concerned with her surroundings- she even started practicing with the sword, what lady does that?"

Piper looked over at Percy who had his face planted firmly down into the table, a deep blush was visible on his face.

"Come on Beckendorf," he groaned. "Just bring us something to drink that is not too strong."

Beckendorf was laughing as he walked away to fetch them their drinks. He returned moments later with two big mugs filled with some brown liquid.

"Here, this'll be good for ya"

When Beckendorf had left Percy said, "We met two days ago when I first came here, we talked and then we became friends. He doesn't know about any of our titles." Then he went silent and turned his attention to the old man in the centre of the room.

"–and so the once mighty empire fell. This is where my story begins–" his voice was raspy and he coughed but Piper let herself sink into the story. . .


". . .In the beginning of time, a shard was created. The shard held the power of the gods and whoever held the shard would become most powerful person in existence. To the person who found it it didn't seem like much- a flat, glowing rock. But later it became know as the symbol of power in the greatest civilization of all. The tribe that the man belonged to soon grew to become the best, they used magic in all its forms to bend the elements to their will and they forged an empire. The shard seemed to be able to do only good things and the empire soon spread, conquering tribe after tribe until they controlled almost all of the known world.

When it became known what the shard could do it was forged into a mirror, the Mirror of Dawn. The mirror was the royal regalia of the empire and the royal family used all of its powers for the good. Then another force came into the world, evil. The darkness that was bound to always chase the light was born in the minds of the people who sought after the shard. To them the light was nothing but deceitful and they built themselves a stronghold underneath the royal city. From its core the darkness started growing, finding ways to manipulate mortals and gods alike until a war broke out, tearing the nation apart.

The war spanned five generations, heroes unlike those we ever hear of today were born and died before the conflict was finally settled. The gods themselves came into the world to bring peace, but they only brought the night. Before the night had been nonexistent, but now the mortals were left to stumble around blindly in desperate attempts to survive. The most successful attempt was to reforge the Mirror of Dawn to the Mirror Twilight. The new symbol was used to lock day and night in an eternal struggle for dominance, equally strong both sides shared human life. The Mirror lost most of its power as it forced the raw elements into submission. As the Mirror's power diminished, the fabric of the world weakened.

Despite this, a new civilization was built on the ruins of the old one. The new was the old alike, wonders built with magic and strong rulers. But just as the old empire fell, the new one didn't stand the test of time. Eventually rebels who sought the power of the Mirror attacked the royal palace, and in the chaos of the battle the Mirror disappeared. It is said that it was split amongst four noble knights who were given the quest to protect their pieces with their lives. The knights travelled to the outermost corners of the once mighty empire. In the corners of the world they waited. . ."


". . .With the Mirror gone the rebels couldn't create a kingdom even close to the Empire. But what they founded was great. Greater than all we have today. It is what we call the Great Empire, our predecessors and what came before Othrys."

"THAT IS HERESY!" a female voice interrupted. Piper, like many other listeners, scanned the room to find the mysterious woman. It was a short girl, nothing more than fifteen years, who was standing up with a bow in one hand. Her arrow was notched and pointed towards the old man.

A few young men tried to stop her from firing but she released her arrow as soon as she saw them move. The old storyteller took the arrow in the heart with his arms outstretched in a saint-like position. The suddenly a bunch of other, silver clad girls appeared around the first one- guarding her from harm.

Piper heard someone whisper, "They're the hunters of Diana, sent out by the gods." Piper recognised the name from her religion class- the hunters of Diana were said to be the goddess' handmaidens and companions, they followed her around and hunted her prey. Many innocent men had fallen to them since the goddess hated all of the male population.

People weren't sure how to react around them for a second, until someone threw a knife that hit the leader square in the chest. Chaos broke loose all around them in a full scale bar fight. The girl who had shot the arrow was lying on her back, her friends standing around her trying to protect her so that she could get some cover. The girl was bleeding profoundly from the wound over her heart where the knife was buried.

The moment the first knife was thrown Percy pushed her down on the floor, throwing himself over her to protect her using his body. Mugs and furniture was now flying towards the centre of the room where the hunters held their ground. They were remarkably quick as they dodged and shot with precision. The sound in the room was paralyzing for Piper, people were screaming in anger, in pain, the sound of chairs hitting the small girls.

Percy led her towards the door, his back turned towards the action of the fight as they pushed themselves out. On the way out Piper spotted two old men setting a table of chess. One of them turned his head and watched her with eyes that were old, they showed wisdom and experience unlike that of which Piper had ever seen.

"The pieces are in place," he said. Piper flinched, the man was over 20 feet away from her and it was so loud in the room that she could barely hear her own thoughts, yet still she could hear him as if he had spoke directly into her ear. The man seemed to radiate an ominous feeling that Piper still remembered as Percy dragged her through the door. All the way to the palace she heard those words repeating in her head. "The pieces are in place, the pieces are in place, the pieces are in place."


Percy seemed to have decided to follow her to her room, claiming that it wasn't safe to walk around in the palace alone at the late hour. Something was distracting him, probably about the fight- he hadn't even talked about it, it was scaring her that it had happened and that it happened in such a way.

They turned around a corner and suddenly they heard music emanating from a room. It was almost like magic- the way the notes floated together, simple yet majestic. Then the musician started singing and Piper recognised the song: Nordens Song, the mysterious masterpiece. Percy also seemed to have heard it as he moved to be able to hear better.

Piper swore that it was better than the original musical, it was simpler with only the piano playing. When the song finished there was a silence and then the last performance of the musical started- Dear friend. The song hit Piper like a punch in the stomach, after just a couple of measures and a line of song she was crying and she could see that Percy was obviously fighting back his emotions. She heard the singer singing about his life, probably in character as the main part of the play, crying as he looked back at all the things he did and should've done with his friends and family while they were still alive.

She noticed someone standing and peeking through the door opening. This someone was a girl, in her nightgown with her curly, blonde hair falling over her shoulders. In the light of the room she recognised this someone as Annabeth, then she saw someone else coming up from behind Annabeth, his face was hidden, but his focus seemed to be on Annabeth's back. Piper followed his gaze and saw something she didn't expect to see on a lady, tattoos covered all of Annabeth's backside. It was beautiful, shaped like a butterfly with its wings spread.

As Piper watched a purple light pulsed through the figure and she came to a horrifying conclusion. . .