IV

NOCTIS

Noctis was falling, falling head first down through into the abyss of nothingness, free falling down to his doom, his demise growing ever nearer and his Death coming ever closer, and there was nothing that could break his fall, and it seemed that nothing could stop him, nothing to make this nightmare go away.

In the black and white world of the abyss and the light above that casts no warmth or comfort, in the dreamscape of ruin and barren nothingness, all clouded with black mist, all infected with the sins of a fallen angel, confusion and powerlessness attach themselves like a parasite to once a world of paradise, and now only an unchangeable fate and an unchangeable destiny remain; in this Nightmare World of his imaginings, fate and destiny were one and the same and there were no differences.

In this blackened dreamland, this scorched chasm, he saw a vast expanse of land deserted except for the black birds of post war and battles, and the other not-so-glorious results of war: it was a graveyard for as far as he could see. He spotted figures running across and saw himself taking up the front, leading the rest of the group to who-knows-where. The out-of-body experience unsettled him and he wondered if maybe, with a chilling thought of premonition, it was a glimpse of the future.

Tears fell like drizzling rain, light and gentle, its crystalline droplets falling with the appearance of liquid silver. Was there no savior for him, no salvation in this hell, and no escape route for which to run to?

He fell, confusion taking hold and overwhelming his mind, clouding his thoughts until his mind was blank like how a piece of parchment caught on fire and burnt to stray black ashes, his mind crumbled with the flames of subjection. It was like the flames and it was like building blocks tumbling down, the collapse of his empire.

Noctis closed his eyes, getting bored of all the bleak pictures. What in the world was this? Why on Olympus was he dreaming these stupid things?

And suddenly, confusion was replaced by anger, and for the first time, it seemed, his mind was clear

His surroundings changed as if a giant paintbrush had painted over the dreamscape and created another world entirely. The new place was all different hues of the sky and ocean, blues that ranged from dark to light.

Noctis was floating in the middle of the sea, time becoming irrelevant as he lay there floating on his back. The fish swam around him, unafraid of his presence as they continued on following their usual patterns of life. Some of the dolphins though seemed to think of keeping him company for they leapt around him as if guarding him from unknown attackers.

Closing his eyes, Noctis tried to escape the dizzying dreamscape of the aquatic biome where he lay floating staring up into the full moon as if searching for something. He had forgotten what he was searching for though and that made him uneasy. He racked his brains, trying to figure out what he was missing, but failed to come up with anything.

What was it? What was it that was out of his reach? What had he been looking for?

Finally he decided to just try to escape from all these dreams; it was funny enough that he could think as clearly as he was when he was asleep. He wondered if it had to do with being associated with the gods.

It wasn't until the storm cloud came overhead that he moved. He felt uneasy about the storm as if something wasn't right; it wasn't natural it seemed, more like a warning than nature's work.

He began to swim, diving down to a deep valley and further down, away from the storm above, away from the land of air and into the domain of sea creatures and water; the fish swam with him, acting as escorts, as he made his way to the bottom where he spotted a large palace. He saw sea people swimming around the place, some playing games while others went on about their daily business, and yet others guarding the palace gates, dozens standing at attention.

The underwater palace seemed like something from a fairytale, its walls soaring high above, and its gates and other entrances well guarded with mythical creatures of varying sizes and monstrosities'. But Noctis had a feeling that this palace was real and the mythical creatures weren't as mythical as everyone thought them to be because even with no memory he was sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him, then again this was a dream. He sighed. Never mind that; any reasoning in a dream will lead nowhere.

As he entered, he was greeted by the many, armed creatures, mermen and muscular giants, possibly Cyclopes, alike. He strode past them and as he did, they bowed their heads in respect. The gesture confused Noctis even more but he continued forward, waving uncertainly at the people, and entered the main building after crossing through the courtyard. He went wandering through mazes of corridors and stairs and rooms, getting himself lost, until he reached what looked like a giant meeting hall with a throne at the end of a long coral-made table.

"I see you've found you're way to the throne room without getting lost. I guess you haven't forgotten everything, have you now, Noctis?" he stopped midstride and slipped a hand into his pocket, feeling for Riptide.

"Hey now, I'm not your enemy. No need to get all wary of me."

Noctis turned to get a better look at who had spoken to him, tilting his head as he glanced over his shoulder at the man waving his hands, defensively. Their eyes met as Noctis stared down the stranger who had walked in from behind him, a feeling a familiarity crossing his mind as if they had met before.

The same sea green eyes stared back at him. The man even had the same black hair like his own. However, in contrast to Noctis' pale skin that looked almost a little too unhealthily corpse-white and his pianist fingers delicate and unscarred, the man's skin was tanned and his hands were ones of a fisherman's scarred and lined. He looked like he'd been fishing in the sun forever. His attire was what one would wear to a beach: sandals, a Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned, and shorts. He held a trident in his right hand that had the hues of every color of the sea, his left hand hung loosely at his side.

"I don't know anything…" Noctis replied finally, his tone was flat and empty, a hint of sadness traced in his voice as he broke eye contact. He turned his gaze back to the stranger's and saw a flash of grief cross the man's features.

"So, it seems. You are a lost hero, my boy," the man walked forward and pulling up a chair he sat down tiredly, setting his trident against the table. "But keep your spirits up. After all of this has ended I would think that your memory would come back. Hera has played a dangerous gamble in this war but one that may be our only way to win."

Noctis turned completely to face the man now, thoughts and deductions flashing through his mind as he sorted through the questions racing around in his head. "You're…a god? You spoke of Juno, the goddess of marriage just now, meaning you two must be acquainted with one another to a degree…"

The man looked taken aback as he studied Noctis more closely as if he was from a different world. "Juno? You've never referred to any god by their Roman names before…must be your new comrades influences on your knowledge of us. This is quite a feat…to influence a demigod's way of viewing us. And also your attitude…the way you talk and how you act—it's different. However, that's to be expected." He sighed, scratching his chin, thoughtfully. Then he remembered Noctis' question, "But yes, I am a god and sadly I also know my dear sister, Hera…" he grumbled something that was unintelligible, probably an insult about Juno, before clearing his throat. He looked at Noctis expectantly, as if waiting for him to guess even though it was obvious.

Noctis hesitated before confirming, "You are Neptune, Lord of the Seas," He stood there awkwardly, deliberating on the thought of whether to bow or not.

"The one and only." Neptune smiled.

"So what am I doing here? This is a dream but it's going out of control. I don't know this place at all." He looked around, trying to recall ever being in such a place and came up blank. "What's going on? And what's this gamble of Juno you're talking about, something that has to do with my memories being lost?"

The god shifted uncomfortably, as he gazed at Noctis, his eyes searching his as if he was sizing him up.

"Your first question is simple: I called you here. You have been here before but your memories are wiped so of course you don't remember. As for what's going on…You'll find out at this roman camp you're going to. I'll tell you this much though: Zeus has called that all gods should withdraw from communicating with the demigods; that's as much as I can say. As for the gamble Hera is making, that I can't tell you—it could get you killed. Suffice to say that if her plan works, we might just survive this crisis." He turned to gaze out a window at the seascape outside, where the merpeople swam around, where the sea life went on, care-free and oblivious to the troubles Noctis was burdened with.

Noctis mulled this over, turning the information around in his head. He shook his head, confused; none of this was making sense. He focused instead on the main question, "So why did you call me?"

Neptune shrugged. "The days ahead of you are going to be rough. And to meet you face to face as Noctis and Neptune rather than our past encounters—we're family, Noctis, it's natural. Also, I called you here to warn you." He sat down in one of the high-backed chairs, twirling his trident. "You've made a lot of enemies in the past, Noctis, mortal and immortal alike. I'm only looking out for you. Some of the gods would love to see you dead so watch your back. My eyes can only see so much so stay alert and be wary."

"Wary of what? Everything?" Noctis looked bewildered. "I have to know my enemies a little more so I can properly watch my own back."

The sea god smiled albeit sadly. "You're thinking like a true Roman demigod. It's for the better, I guess, but still you're not the same demigod as before. I doubt you'll ever be the same even if you get your memories back. Your life has changed completely, and this sort of change is not going to go away that easily…"

Noctis opened his mouth to respond, to ask another question. What did Neptune mean by that? Never the same again?

Too late—Neptune waved his hand as if in goodbye and the scene with the throne room of the palace in the sea vanished.

Noctis was drifting again, falling back into his previous dreams of the dark abyss but now there were dark angels flying around him, more enemies made themselves visible, their appearance mere shadows and silhouettes distorted in the swirling abyss but still concrete enough to make out. It made things look more dark and forbidding than it already was. He broke free from his mental chains a moment later and reached out toward the sky overhead and at the moon barely visible and then he felt the cool, delicate fingers of a girl grasping his hand and lifting him toward her.

Suddenly, his free fall stopped and there was a split second where he caught a glimpse of her but then distant voices were heard through the roiling tempest of black and white and shades of grey, their volume growing louder by the second.

"Noctis…Noctis…Noctis…" the voices echoed, reverberating around, bouncing off invisible walls.

"Noctis, wake up." Noctis was shaken awake and as he regained his focus, he noticed his new comrades all crowded around him, concerned etched on each of their faces. "Thank the gods you're alright." Reyna stood sternly over him, with the rest standing beside her. "You should feel blessed to have been found by one of the gods, Noctis. If she hadn't found you, you could've been killed." She looked over her shoulder and frowned. "Huh, she's gone…"

"Never knew gods to be so shy…" Bobby joked. "Well, you learn something new every day."

"Don't let her hear you say that." Dakota warned, slapping the mischievous demigod on the back so hard he coughed. "Or she might turn you into a bird or something. I heard it's her favorite pastime." He gave Bobby a brief headlock before releasing him.

Noctis stood up shakily and glanced around. They were standing at the shore and the girl he had seen before he fell unconscious was nowhere to be seen. He glanced over at the others, now that he was focused enough and noticed the dried blood crusted on their faces and the claw marks on their armor. "It must've been one heck of a fight." He searched his pockets, his hand closed on Riptide. He sighed, relieved.

"Tell me about it." Hazel mumbled, grimacing as she touched a wound on her shoulder. "We should head back to camp. I doubt the Hesperides know where Jason went anyway. Let's leave the search for tomorrow or so until we've healed."

The others murmured an agreement, and the search party began their long journey back.

Noctis looked over at where he fell and traced the footsteps of someone from there to the place where the waves crashed, erasing the prints from there. Silver sparks still sparkled from the place Noctis suspected the girl to have vanished. He gazed at the place thoughtfully for a while before focusing his attention on the trip to camp.

I'll have to find a way to thank her…whoever she was. He had a feeling he knew the girl, the name on the tip of his tongue but the feeling passed and he was disappointed.

The trip back was smooth and uneventful. They made their journey to camp in silence, trekking through rough terrains and through other landscapes that stood as natural obstacles in their path: Steep rocky slopes they had to climb, swamps they had to circumvent, places so consumed by trees the only way to get across was to climb the forest's various limbs, like squirrels Noctis noted to the rest when they leapt from one thick branch to another, or like monkeys Bobby added as they swung from the smaller branches but Noctis didn't like that comparison as much.

As they continued onward through the endless obstacle course Nature had laid out for them, Noctis realized that the geology was probably part of the base's defenses. The natural landscape were meant to exhaust travelers with its treacherous chasms and its crazily steep paths and so on; it also created great confusion to those who didn't know where they were going with its identical overhangs and passes and other land marks.

That was the critical view of the place but looking over the place once more, one can see the beauty of the land; its bewitching scenery with its huge crashing waterfalls and the huge trees whose limbs stretched out far and wide like hands outstretched to take the entire scene its hands and the endless hills and the cliffs that were like steps to the sky at how they were shaped, the sight of all these things gave off an impression that this place was ancient, centuries old, a place somehow suspended in time.

An eco-fanatic's paradise, not that Noctis was one obviously; he preferred more cold places, snowy woods were more his wonderland, his winter wonderland that is. He smiled.

The place, Noctis was almost certain, was from an older era, a more ancient time period than this century. He had a feeling that it was meant to be an imitation of the seven hills of old Rome.

He was jolted out of his speculations by Reyna who drew out a horn and blew, alerting the camp, he presumed as they continued forward. Stormy eyes turned toward him, her eyes seemed to warn him to behave or something, "We're almost there."

The flat plain they were now walking through was littered the gears of war.

There were a wide variety of weapons that lay strewn about all over the place, some impaled in the ground, stabbing armored corpses whose flesh had long since been eaten away by carrion-eaters, skeletons pinned down by more skeletons with swords and spears sticking out like pin cushions, other weapons were grasped in bony hands of fallen warriors; there were Roman gladii and other swords of different origins, bows and arrows, lances, spears, javelins, daggers, war hammers, and other weapons that had no names.

The different equipment for war were scattered everywhere, the sheer quantity was overwhelming and it gave Noctis a sick estimate of the number of soldiers who participated in this particular battlefield.

Skeletons covered the place, not all human-like, some as huge as houses, others smaller but not human size. There were torn flags stitched with different emblems erected here and there, flowing in the wind. The wind carried through the bones of the fallen, making a ghostly sound, it went through armor, making low whistles like moaning, and it made the whole place creepier than it already was.

Noctis turned to look at the others and saw them with their heads bowed, walking through the place with an air of respect and reverence.

He was about to ask what had happened to result in such a mess when Hazel answered his silent question in a low voice, "This is the Graveyard of Rome. All of this you see—it's what happened at the Fall of Our Empire. These are all the fallen demigods and monsters that fought to the death. No one was left standing in the end of this battle. You won't hear of it anywhere in any historical text by the mortals; the event was erased from history so to speak, that much of a tragedy."

Noctis looked around again, puzzled. "How did all this get to California?" he stepped over a skull and gingerly made his way through the scattered swords, careful not to touch any of them.

Gwendolyn answered his question this time. "Just like the dwelling place of the gods' changes locations depending on the sphere of influence, the Roman camp and its surrounding landscape does the same. It was really horrible during the time Britain came to power. You heard of the Fire in London right? Yeah, that was one of our men—a son of Vulcan given the gift of fire. It was more of a curse some think but we believe London needed burning at that point—to sort of cleanse the remnants of the Plague." Noctis blinked, bemused.

As they proceeded through the bleak field of the fallen, the mist began to fall on them again, thickening as they approached the unknown. Suddenly, they came to a halt and Noctis looked around, bewildered. Why had they stopped? Was there something ahead?

Then he realized: they arrived at the Roman camp.

When Noctis had caught sight of the camp, his first impression was that it was…very fortified. Other than that he didn't know what to make of it.

The Roman base was huge, its walls stretching out from either side toward the end of the horizon it seemed. Sentries stood guard beside the gates. Watch towers loomed out of the heavy mist to cast its gaze on the new arrivals.

The Camp's exterior had a huge assortment of almost nothing but fortifications, garrisons, and traps, as if enemy attacks were an everyday thing; a commonplace in a Roman Demigod's life. Any kind of defense one could think of was all there.

The Camp perimeters were completely walled with tree trunks that were spiked at the ends to prevent anyone from climbing over it. That was the first layer of defense. The second was a stone wall behind the trunks; providing extra support should the enemies decide to use catapults to fling rocks. And the third obstacle: the really deep and really wide trench dug in front of the Camp walls that looked like a giant maw, about to eat anything unfortunate enough to fall in it.

"This is a military camp." Reyna stated. "It's situated right beside the ruins of the Titan's Citadel that's on the mountain. And since this is a permanent home for us Roman Half-bloods, we have to have more defenses than any ordinary base. If we were to be attacked, the attackers would have to go down the trench then climb out of it and then go over the wall all the while dodging arrows and spears and such."

She went on to explain, matter-of-factly. "Besides the defenses and assaults from behind our walls, there is our militia. If the wall and ditch aren't good enough and prove ineffective against our enemy then we open the gates and our legions would take them out."

Noctis looked on admiringly, impressed but still very taken aback. Romans were really paranoid. But he guessed it was always good to be ready for anything even a blue moon.

A guard came running out to meet them; he was flanked by about a dozen or so soldiers behind him. "We heard your call and prepared for your entrance. We'll escort you." he spoke formally, not even out of breath. Noctis started pondering what sort of training the Romans went through.

Reyna smirked. "You're our escorts? We're not prisoners of war or anything."

The guard smiled, good-naturedly. "Sorry, it's just procedure. Lupa is cautious as ever with everything that's happened."

Reyna rolled her eyes in mock irritation. "Whatever. Fine. Okay." She turned to Noctis. "Meet the Third Centurion of the Seventh Legion. Names aren't necessary at the moment so you can introduce yourselves on your own time." Noctis and the centurion exchanged nods as they headed through the gates.

The interior of the camp was nothing like the exterior. While the exterior was all defenses and gloom and doom preparations of the worst case scenarios possibly imaginable, the inside was something like a city. There were shops, bath houses, temples of worship, and living quarters. There was a huge theater where some demigods were practicing a play, also a coliseum but there weren't any gladiators about, go figure.

The place was pretty much Rome, back when it hadn't fallen yet. As they passed through the streets of Rome/camp, Reyna would give a brief description of notable places: the Bathhouses of Neptune, the Forum where the leaders of each legion would meet and discuss matters, the Shops of Apollo and Mercury and other gods, the Garden of the Earthen Gods like Ceres, Bacchus, the Forges of Vulcan, the Salons and Beauty Parlors of Venus and gods-knows-what-else Venus had, there were also the Planetarium of Jupiter, and other places.

Finally they came to the newest addition: the meeting hall where all the demigods gathered and where new demigods were told what their test was, "entrance exam for newcomers" Reyna had said with a smirk.

"Afterwards, you get one of these purple shirts, recognizing that you are part of our camp, and your name gets written in the records. It used to be togas but we upgraded, thank the gods." Reyna added.

Upon seeing the confused expression on Noctis' face, Reyna explained, "When someone in Rome came of age, they gave their bulla and their regular toga over and paid their respects to the household gods, and then they receive the toga of adulthood, white togas with purple linings. It used to be just males but after the Women's Suffrage movement, we got into the tradition. As you can see though, the tradition has evolved, probably for the better." He raised an eyebrow.

"What about the test?" Noctis asked. "How does that fit in?"

"You face off against adversaries, one enemy at a time until you give out or collapse. Then you're given a rank and the uniform. Everyone will be there to see you, too. It's kind of like entertainment to the rest of us." The others chuckled as Reyna smiled with a hint of a sadistic smirk on her features. "No pressure though, it's only a couple hundred demigods here. Back in the days of Rome before the Fall, this camp was packed, about a thousand or so demigods."

"You all went through this?" he asked, doubtfully.

Reyna nodded. "But we had training and we were accepted into camp at a young age so it wasn't much of a challenge, more like pleasing the crowd. We were put through the test when we were thirteen." She paused, and then added as an afterthought. "You should be fine. I mean you survived on your own for so long outside in the mortal world, this shouldn't be anything for you."

"Once you get your purple shirt, you're allowed to go on missions, fulfill prophecies, all that good stuff." Dakota spoke up, stretching. "Each mission accomplished moves you up a rank."

Noctis nodded, pondering over his situation. He wasn't really sweating bullets but his heart rate had picked up to a rapid pace even before Reyna had finished. He didn't know what adversaries were going to be thrown at him but the idea of "fight 'til you drop" was no walk in the park.

Then realization dawned on him and the apprehension he had felt skyrocketed to higher levels of anxiety. He looked ahead of him at the coliseum to his left, amid shops and taverns and forges and other buildings. Reyna noticed and nodded, approvingly. "So you've realized what you're going to be put through."

Noctis glanced at the coliseum again. Reyna nodded in confirmation. "When do I get tested?"

Reyna shrugged. "Probably tomorrow, we'll give you a day to adjust and enjoy then put you to the test. That's how the consuls are like. Don't worry it will be a challenge but not something super hard or anything, Lupa isn't always present nowadays but if she is, then your challenge will be even more difficult. You know, just to impress her." She patted him on the back, encouragingly. Great.

"Who are the consuls?"

"It changes every two years, it was Jason and Clio, the son of Jupiter and one of Apollo's muses, mortal and immortal, sort of like a balance, but now the new year is almost here so the immortal Augustus Caesar and I, daughter of Minerva, will be the newest consuls of our Roman camp." she smiled, drawing herself to her full height. "I don't know about Augustus, but I do not intend to give you an easy test. That wouldn't be fair."

"I agree with that but please call me Octavian," A voice spoke up from behind them and they whipped around to meet the stormy eyes of a tall man wearing casual clothing that didn't seem to go well with his Roman stature. "'Augustus' makes me feel old."

He strode passed them and toward a raised platform, he gestured for Reyna to accompany him and she did with a roll of her eyes. Octavian looked over at Noctis, fixing him with his grey eyes. "So the prophecy has come to pass and the lost, wandering hero has arrived at last…" he trailed off, his eyes becoming distant.

Noctis was confused. He was the lost hero? Neptune had mentioned something like that, too. But what was the meaning of this. And how did they know he would come to this place? Other questions were brought to light as he turned the facts around in his head. He was a lost hero of a prophecy that has 'come to pass'…

As he went down his mind's road, Reyna was busy explaining to Augustus what had occurred on their search for Jason, of how they met Noctis and the attack. Octavian nodding gravely once or twice, the rest of group just hung back, bored, waiting for the meeting to end.

Octavian began again, "As it is accustomed for newcomers, you will be put to the test. Your abilities will be assessed and your rank given." He stood up. "But for now, you can rest and enjoy the good food and take a tour around. Try to get a good night's sleep, tomorrow is a busy day and you need to be well-rested for the challenge you'll be put up against."

Be prepared. Noctis bit his lip in surprise, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the silver mane and glowing eyes of a wolf. It was Lupa, the wolf goddess of the Roman camp, that Noctis had no doubt. Sleep well, and tomorrow prove your worth.

He glanced back at where the goddess had been and found that she had vanished.

"The consuls have spoken and there is nothing else to address. You may leave." Octavian stated. It seemed that only Noctis had heard and seen the she-wolf.

The rest of the time went by in a blur; Noctis was given a tour around camp but he could hardly appreciate the beauty and architecture of the place with what he had to do tomorrow looming over his head. He went to bed without dinner, his appetite lost as his anxiety boiled beneath the surface. The guest quarters were extremely comfortable and in seconds he was asleep.

He dreamed of the coliseum and the gladiators who fought in it but that scene was soon replaced by another. Now he was gazing up at the moon, he was sitting up on the roof of one of the temples of the gods and there wasn't a soul in sight.

"What are you doing sitting on my temple, Noctis?" He turned around, and faced Apollo in his Roman garb, keeping his expression blank and impassive yet respectful at the same time. "You were a lot livelier back before Juno wiped your memories." The sun god muttered. "I'm not surprised though. After all, I'm the god of prophecy. And sister warned me of this. 'A nice change, less of a likable idiot and more of a likable leader', she said."

Apollo sighed and raised a hand dramatically,

"Noctis looks at the moon,

And the moon looks back,

Love's beginning is sweet."

Apollo grinned at his poem and looked at Noctis, expecting a compliment.

Noctis tried to look impressed but was having a hard time with such a bad poem. "Um, great…why are you here again?"

Apollo looked surprised, "Checking up on you of course. My sister can be really commanding at times, told me to get myself over here and see if you made it or she'd put the hunters on me." He sat beside him, whistling. "You arrived, so that's good."

Noctis looked up at the black skies, "Your sister…that's nice to hear." he glanced over at the god to find him looking at him, mischievously. "What is it?"

"Nothing," He stretched and stood. "I came to give you something." And out of thin air Apollo took out a silver bracelet, spinning it on his index finger. "Here you go."

He tossed it to him and Noctis caught it deftly with his right hand, examining it. On closer inspection, he noticed the bracelet was more of a pendant than something worn on the wrist, a crescent moon of sparkling diamond hung from the chain, mirroring the moon up above. He turned it around in his hand, marveling at it. "Wow…but isn't a little girly?"

Apollo grinned. "That's what I said but little sister insists. Put it on and see what it can do, I doubt it's an ordinary bracelet."

Slipping it on Noctis clutched the crescent moon in his palm and the bracelet changed into an improvised crossbow with a silver arrow already notched, constellations were etched all over the weapon and they seemed to shimmer and change and move around. Releasing his hold on the weapon, it changed back to the bracelet, hanging around his wrist. He spun the crescent silver of the moon and it changed into a star, he clutched it. The bracelet changed again but now it was a long silver lance.

"Useful." Noctis commented as the weapon changed back into a bracelet. "Long range and medium range weapons, combined with Riptide and I'm a one man army."

Apollo laughed. "There you go, now I'm seeing some of your old self. And you can thank me later for delivering the gifts. Hermes was going to but I butted in, I had to have a talk with you with all these rumors going around…." He trailed off, grinning.

"I'll have to thank her when we meet." Noctis said, firmly. And the sun god chuckled.

"You do that." he walked to the edge of the temple roof. "I'll see you around, Noctis. Don't worry too much about the gladiator business, it's not that bad. You've fought worse monsters. And be good to sister dearest, her hunters can be possessive." He fell backwards and in a flash of light he was gone.

Noctis woke afterwards, refreshed and ready for what was up ahead. The sun had only just lifted from the horizon but there was already that active feeling, that alertness, the excitement buzzed in the air.

Glancing at his wrist, Noctis found that he still wore the silver bracelet Apollo had given him as a present from the goddess in his dream.

Getting dressed, he checked his reflection; it was the same confused and lost demigod that stared back at him like through the mirror-like blade of Riptide but somehow different at the same time. He felt calmer, his inner turmoil had subsided to nothing and his questions had lowered to whispers in his head. He didn't really feel empty anymore either but then that might be because of the comforting thought of a couple of gods watching his back.

He made his way to the mess hall, where other campers were eating breakfast. It seemed that word had spread fast because there were hushed whispers behind his back and a lot of pointing and people sneaking glances at him when they thought he wasn't looking.

He headed out toward the coliseum, just like Octavian had instructed him to proceed to last night before he had gone to bed and found that almost everyone had made themselves present, hundreds of heads turned and all eyes seemed to be on him. Reyna and Octavian sat in the very front of the soon-to-be main source of attention and entertainment on a raised platform. Lupa stalked around the place, making everyone stare warily at her.

Oh well, no push over entrance exam for Noctis. Here comes the pain.

Noctis rolled his shoulders, uncaringly. He had decided during breakfast to just deal with his dilemma instead of stressing over it, better facing it calm and thinking properly than giddy and distracted.

Please the crowd and at the same time give it your all… That's what Reyna had said. Noctis shook his head and walked up to the platform. "I'm ready to undertake my challenge." He looked up at them.

"Yes," Octavian said, shifting uncomfortably; he looked uneasy at the presence of Lupa. "I hope you are well rested for this." Noctis nodded. "You'll soon see how blood thirsty a Roman crowd can be during a gladiator fight." Noctis shifted nervously, now. A bloodthirsty crowd? What?

Reyna looked over at Noctis and smiled, sympathetically. "Don't worry you'll do fine. Miracles happen on the battlefield sometimes. Besides we've stepped up our rules. It's nothing like old Rome; if you look like you're about to die, we'll call it off."

Noctis didn't like people coming to his rescue when Reyna put it that way so he just shook his head. "Nah, it's alright. I think I can handle this."

You must be able to handle this…to be the leader of our Roman Legions. Implacable to all opposition, invincible to everything, merciless when situations call for it, and merciful when situations aren't costly, you must be the best. Lupa prowled around the platform, walking in circles around Octavian and Reyna, making them shift uncomfortably every so often.

Noctis looked over at Lupa and cocked his head to the side. "I'm no god. But I'll do my best. Let's just get on with it and skip the whole speech part." Lupa turned toward him fully and the two met each other's gazes evenly. Noctis didn't back down. He went through hell before, he wasn't going to be put down or get scared of some small challenge.

He stared at the wolf-goddess' golden eyes and saw something fierce and primal there but he hid the disconcerting feelings behind his care-free, oblivious façade. After a moment, Lupa broke eye contact and he heard soft laughter. Something seemed to have amused the she-wolf.

You have spirit, hero. Its golden eyes seemed to twinkle and it turned its head toward the two consuls. The games—it begins now…

Noctis tensed, preparing for whatever nightmare he was going to go up against. He didn't really know what to expect but he felt calm and oriented. That was good.

Say your prayers, Noct. He thought.