Chapter 4: Son It Begins.

Hey, so I literally just finished playing Ryse: Son of Rome in one playthrough. Took me 8 hours and I'm tired as hell, so I'm going to sleep after I write this author's note. I'll actually write the chapter tomorrow. Anyway, great game, recommend that you guys check it out. Think God of War but without the monsters and God's. Just a Roman soldier hell bent on destroying an entire army of Barbarians. The game really makes you feel like a badass once you get the hang of it, slaughtering everything in sight, commanding cohorts and laying waste to enemy bases and bosses. (Spoiler Alert:) You even murder Nero and his dickhead sons for killing your family. It's really great, and if you're an Xbox player like me, you can get it with the game pass for only $5.

Chapter 4: So It Begins.

Even though we weren't praetors like everybody expected, things were going great for Reyna and I. Quite the opposite for Octavian, however. Because of his decision to be the only praetor, all the work got dumped on him. Even work that could've gone to another lower positioned member like a Centurion or Commander. The reason for that was simple, nobody liked him, not even the senate. He couldn't walk down the street without being hissed at or having some kid throw a stick at his back.

Octavian could barely be seen these days without bags under his eyes and a scowl on his face. The poor rat looked ready to lay down and die. Pathetic considering he had only been in office for two weeks.

As for me, things were going fine and dandy. Reyna and I were officially dating now, everybody was happy for us. When we told Jason and Hazel, Hazel hugged Reyna and started crying tears of joy. It totally wasn't an insanely awkward moment, not at all. Jason just congratulated us and bro-hugged me, a large grin on his face.

Octavian, though hated by practically everybody in New Rome, was still using his position to make himself look better. He literally had a statue of himself put up next to the large statue of Jupiter in the centre of New Rome. A statue, next to a god's. Guess how long it look the damn thing be obliterated by lightning. I'll give you a hint: The workers almost died as they finished carving it.

Octavian, though nervous that Jupiter, literal king of the gods, now hated him, seemed to grow an even bigger ego than before. Saying that Jupiter was just jealous of all the praise he was getting. Guess how long it took for him to get struck by lightning. I'll give you a hint: he had to be rushed to hospital immediately after proclaiming that to a group of uninterested girls.

Though we all laughed at Octavian's failure, I still couldn't help but be nervous at the silence from the gods, Norse that is. They were supposed to keep me updated on Ragnarok, that was answered shortly after dinner.

All throughout dinner, I kept feeling this strange presence, and loud whispering. I looked around for the source of the noise, but always found nothing. "You okay, Perce?" Hazel asked, worried. "Yeah, Haze. I'm alright, just slightly going insane." I mumbled to her to which she just raised an eyebrow but didn't question it.

Dinner ended and the four of us, Jason, Hazel, Reyna and I all left the mess hall. As we left, the whispering got louder. I told them that I would catch up and they left. I walked around in different directions for a bit, playing hot and cold with the whispering, before I learnt which direction it was coming from, the river where I talked with Odin.

I made my way there and walked along the riverbank until I reached the rock where I sat during my talk with Odin. I sat down on the rock and instantly, the whispering stopped, as if someone had flicked a switch. I looked up at the river. Nothing. "Don't worry, you're not going crazy." I heard a female voice say. I looked beside me, and saw the face I so wanted to see most at that moment. "Mom!" I leaned in to hug her, half-expected it to just go through like with Odin, but I was surprised to learn she was indeed solid.

My mom hugged back and kissed my forehead. "Yes, my baby. I'm here now." I pulled away and smiled. "Why are you here? What's happened?" Hela smiled. "What, I'm not allowed to see my son unless the world's ending?" I shrugged and she smiled. "So, Perseus. How's life going for you at this camp? I hear from the Allfather that you're running for praetorship, that could indeed be beneficial."

My face grew solemn and I looked down. "It was going well, and I actually won, but then… this brat descendant of Apollo came in and ruined it." My mom frowned and pulled me in to comfort me. "It's okay, my son. It doesn't matter, the plan can go the way it was before." I nodded and pulled away. I grew nervous when I saw the smirk on my mom's face.

"So, what's this about a girl I hear?" I blushed. "Yes, grandson. Do tell." The sultry voice almost gave me a stroke. I regained myself and looked upon the blonde smirking man. "Grandfather!" I tackled him in a hug and he laughed. "Hello to you too, grandson. Anyway, enough with the love, tell us about this girl." I blushed as he pulled me off of him.

I stuttered, thinking of what to say, before I just blurted it all out. "Well, I've got a girlfriend. Her name's Reyna and she's beautiful. She's a daughter of Bellona, The Roman version of Sif, she's a born leader and we ran for praetorship together." My grandfather looked disappointed. "That's it?" I looked nervous and confused. "Yeah, why?" Loki looked shocked. "I want more details! I need to know about this, I could give you relationship advice." I blushed. "Grandfather, I did not take you for the lovey dovey type." The god of mischief and lies burst out laughing. "Grandson, I managed to seduce a horse and give birth to an eight-legged one, I think I'm more than qualified to give tips."

I cringed thinking of my uncle Sleipnir before my mom raised her hands in a shooing motion. "Go away, father. I'm trying to talk to my son here!" My grandfather put up his hands in self defence "Okay, okay. Bye, Grandson!" I waved as he shimmered and disappeared before turning back to my mom. She had a solemn expression on her face.

"Perseus, I'll admit. I didn't come here just to talk about your love life. New Rome is in danger." My eyes widened. "What danger?" I asked frantically. She sighed. "An army of monsters marches on New Rome as we speak. They will be here by midnight." I stood up. "I have to alert everyone!" I was stopped by my mom putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Perseus, remember you're still undercover. Tell them that Pluto sent you a vision of the army, along with a warning to prepare." I nodded and hugged her tightly. "I love you mom." She kissed my forehead. "I love you too. LOOK OVER THERE!" My head spun around and I saw… nothing. I turned back questioningly to my mother only to find her gone. "Bye mom." I whispered into the air, and I swear, I could hear a faint voice telling me "Stay safe, my son."

I ran back to Camp Jupiter and straight into the praetors office. Octavian looked up at me with a smirk on his face. "Come here to grovel, Jackson?" I glared at him. "No, you fool! My father, Pluto, has just sent me a vision! An army marches on New Rome and its people! We need to get the legion together and evacuate the city."

Octavian looked impassive. "And why should I listen to the words of a god that is known to not be the nicest of them all. What if he simply wants to waste our time." I looked at him in disbelief. "You really think the god's get that bored? All this power really has gone to your head Octavian." A fist slammed down on the table. "BE QUIET, FOOL. I WILL NOT WASTE MY TIME WITH YOUR CLAIMS OF DANGER TO MY EMPIRE." I was shocked. "Your Empire? Who do your think you are?" Octavian looked furious. "I AM OCTAVIAN THE GREAT, AND YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER ME. NOW LEAVE!"

I slammed the door my way out and yelled in frustration. That guy was not fit to be leader. I mean, come on, Octavian the Great? Yeah, right. I marched over to the fifth cohort barracks where I knew Jason, Reyna and Hazel would be playing cards or some other game. Sure enough, when I walked inside, most people were getting ready for bed or playing cards. By mine and Jason's beds, the three of them were in a round of last card, which Hazel was winning.

"Last card!" Hazel called as I walked over. You know what, the news can wait until after their game.

Jason picks up.

Reyna puts down a 3 of clubs.

"HA, SUCK IT REYNA!" Hazel shouted as she put down her card. A 3 of diamonds. I walked over. "Hey, guys. Sorry to interrupt, but I have terrible news." Now I had their attention. "My father, Pluto, has sent me a vision. An army of monsters march on New Rome as we speak. They shall be here in…" I looked at the time. "4 hours." That sent everyone in the room into a panicked frenzy.

Everyone was yelling at me, asking if I was telling the truth, begging that I was lying. I shook my head. "I told Octavian, but he will do nothing. He believes that nothing can harm his 'Empire', for he is 'Octavian the Great'." Reyna was fuming now. "To hell with what that weasel has to say, we need to inform everyone of this immediately! We must prepare for battle!" Jason, Hazel and I all nodded our heads. Jason stood up. "You hear that, legionnaires? We are going to war! Gear up and be in your positions by 11:30 sharp!" Jason barking orders sent them all into chaos, struggling to pull on their armor and get their weapons.

We exited the building, and I turned to my friends. "We need to inform the other cohorts. Reyna you take Cohort one, I'll take Cohort two, Hazel gets Cohort three and Jason get Cohort four. Meet back here in 10 minutes!" They nodded and we spread out to warn the different cohorts.

Cohort two was all asleep when I got there, probably because they had had a hard day of training from what I heard. I shouted at them. "GET UP! WE ARE PREPARING FOR AN INVASION!" I have to admit, they were very well prepared for this, up and ready in only three minutes. Their commander, a son of Mars named Jacob, walked up to me, clearly annoyed. "What is it, Centurion?" I looked at him and nodded respectfully. "Commander, an army of monsters marches on New Rome as we speak. Commanders Reyna and Jason have ordered that all cohorts be ready and in their positions by 11:30 sharp." Jacob looked surprised for a minute, but then nodded. "Thank you Centurion. SOLDIERS, MOVE OUT." The cohort marched out to prepare.

I walked back to our spot by the fifth cohorts barracks and found everyone aside from Jason had returned. "Where's Jason?" I asked them. Hazel shrugged and Reyna just said. "He still hasn't returned from cohort four." I nodded. Five minutes later, Jason returned. "You're late." Reyna informed him. "I know, Commander Taylor wouldn't believe me. I had to drag him outside it show him." We all nodded.

"What now?" Hazel asked. I looked at Reyna and nodded. "We need to evacuate the main city. The monsters will think we're asleep at Camp Jupiter and will try and sneak past the Camp to the main city. They won't be expecting no civilians and the entire legion waiting for them at the front gate." Jason nodded, before going off to collect our cohort. The came back with about 100 soldiers all ready for war.

"We need to evacuate the city." I told them. Reyna took it from there. "Sound the alarms. Get the mothers and children into the caves, any man or woman willing to fight for the legion will be brought here to be supplied. Gods know we'll need the extra support." The cohort nodded and, with Jason, ran off to evacuate the city. I ran off, suddenly having an idea. Reyna and Hazel shouted at me, asking where I was going but I didn't listen. I ran for about an hour straight, eventually coming across a lair. It wasn't any lair however.

I walked inside, it was eerily silent, at least until I heard a low growl behind me. Turning around, I was met with two large amber eyes, then four, then eight, then sixteen, until I felt a hundred amber eyes all around me. "Who are you, child? I do not recognize your scent. You are a demigod, but not of a god I know of." A female voice could be heard behind me. I turned around and saw a woman dressed in grey, with large amber eyes and wolf-like features. I bowed.

"Lady Lupa, I come from Camp Jupiter, we are in dire need of reinforcements. No pun intended." At that, I saw Lupa smirk, though if it was because of the joke or something else, I don't know. "What is the threat?" She asked. I answered respectfully. "Monsters, my lady. What kind, we don't yet know. All we know is that we are very likely outnumbered." Lupa thought for a moment, and then smirked before nodding. "We will fight alongside the camp." I thanked her and made to leave, but she called me back.

"You will not make it in time on foot, take one of my cubs. Romulus!" A black wolf that reminded me strangely of my uncle Fenrir stepped forward. Lupa looked at the wolf. "Do you wish to serve this Centurion?" The wolf thought about it, and looked at me, before nodding. I smiled and Lupa looked at me. "Climb on Romulus, he will take you alongside our pack to Camp." I nodded and climbed on the large wolf's back.

Lupa changed into her wolf form and howled, the rest of the pack did the same. I almost fell off as Romulus howled at the moon. Lupa then charged out the door, Romulus following right behind her and the rest of the pack closing around Romulus and I for protection, I was, after all, their guest.

We got to Camp in about five minutes and I have to say, the look on everyone's face seeing me riding a wolf alongside Lupa was priceless. Reyna almost flatlined right there. I told them about the wolves and how they were there to help, and they nodded.

11:30 rolled around quickly, and all was silent as everybody was in position. Most of the male adult population had volunteered to help fight, some too old to even hold a sword. We only let them fight because they each said they would rather die protecting their city than sit in a cave waiting for their sons to come back. We understood. Surprisingly, even a lot of the senate was there, all in their own senators armor with sword and dagger at their sides. The only males who didn't fight were Octavian, who Jason and I had chained up in his office because let's face it, he's not meant to fight, and the other men who were either too afraid of war or just thought they were above something such trivial was violence.

Jason, Reyna, Julius and Lupa stood at my side in the dark of night as we waited for the army of monsters to come into view. Then, we heard the horn sound, before a volley of arrows could barely be seen flying towards us, glistening in the moonlight.

Yay! Chapter 4 done! I changed my mind, I'll wait till I finish chapter 5 before I post this story. I have two go two bed anyway, and I don't have time to proofread AND publish this in the span of 10 minutes. Next chapter's gonna be an action chapter, with a big battle. Then, something big will happen at the end and I'll FINALLY publish the story. Thanks for reading so far, even though no ones read it as I'm typing this since I haven't published the story. Message to future people: Thanks for reading so far!

Word count: 2837