Percy

More time had gone by, though I still had no idea how much.

Things had gotten even more challenging ever since the void creatures. It was only through a combination of my skill and Ouranos's power that kept me alive.

I still slaughtered thousands of monsters a day, but there were some groups I just avoided. The group of five drakons for example, or the pack of two hundred hellhounds. I had no intention of risking my life on challenging them when I could go around.

There was not a single being down here that I could not beat one on one. Well expect for one, but these groups of them were an entirely different thing.

If I had been in the upper levels I wouldn't have a problem with them. They just became so freaking strong down here.

For example, I was fighting a centaur whose weapon of choice was a sword. Before, it had been simple enough to fend of all of their attacks and even overpower them if bored.

Now though, they could keep up with my speed without any discernible effort. Not to mention when I had tried to overpower one by pushing his sword back with mine, he had simply held his ground,not giving up an inch in the process.

Speaking of the one being I couldn't take on one to one, I quickly hid behind some rocks as he passed.

I was actually making my way down to the next level. So I was ,of course, on one of the trails that spiraled around the edge of the pit. The paths between levels were as various as the scenery of the levels themselves.

I had climbed several dozen ladders, a few ropes, only two escalators, and only one elevator. I griped every time after the elevator that there couldn't be more of them.

Back to my buddy, he was so large that he could reach up and easily touch the level above him. As for how he got all the way down here, I have no idea. The other levels didn't seem to show any signs that this gigantic creature had fallen down here.

I would have expected large holes in the ground or something like that, but nope, not a single clue. Who is the one being that has made me hide behind rock like a scared child? The only one to give the gods so much trouble of course.

Typhon, father of all monsters, the being that almost destroyed the southern part of America single-handedly without even trying.

I knew there was currently only one person who could take Typhon on one on one. And that was a fully awake Gaia.

I knew that according to Ouranos, eventually I would have enough power to defeat him as well. But for now, I was a mere gnat compared to this powerhouse. So I took the trail down slower than usual, always making sure the I was never seen by him or anything else.

The last thing I needed was to get in a fight large enough to draw his attention. When I reached close to the bottom, I relaxed, or as much as I could anyway.

I had finally reached the last stop on my list, the level where the last piece of essence in Tartarus was held.

I took a moment to take a look at this level, as I was curious about the dangers it might hold.

I saw monster camps around the far edges of the zone, strategically placed to avoid being crushed beneath Typhon. The zone itself had no features that stood out to me except the giant footprints.

I figured that either this was the way it had always looked, or everything had simply gotten crushed by the giant.

I did not wish to waste more time than I had to, so I moved towards the essence's resting place with as much stealth as I could basically involved me shifting repeatedly to safe spots where I couldn't be seen or stepped on.

I doubted the monsters could see me, but it never hurts to play it safe in these situations. I especially didn't want the monsters to attack right now, because while I could probably beat them with little problems, I was still unsure about the whole get Typhon's attention accidently thing.

I was fairly sure he would notice if fighting broke out, because he seemed to be making sure not to step on any of the camps not hugging the edge much to my regret.

I finally made it to the one landmark the level had, a huge mountain that dwarfed me, but would occasionally be used as a seat for Typhon. The top of it was worn smooth, so I had no doubt it was often used as a seat repeatedly and could hold his weight.

Therefore, I had no excuse not to enter the entrance of my destination, the cave where I knew the final essence rested.

I looked on with amusement at the fact that this essence resided in a cave similar to the first one, though this cave was much larger. Like when I entered the inner sanctuary of the temple, I mentally prepared myself for whatever was in there.

Right after I finished I strode inside, Riptide at the ready. Once again, I immediately saw this essence, which was also floating at the center of on altar. But I hesitated in running for it, because the was a woman in a black shawl standing next to the altar.

"Ah, my dear young Perseus Jackson has come to visit me again," she said with a hint of amusement and a definite middle eastern accent.

I tensed up, "Medusa," I said calmly. "Or should I call you Auntie M? Long time no see." The sarcasm in my voice clearly giving away that I didn't think it had been long enough.

"Yes dear, I certainly has been awhile. Call me Auntie M if you please. And I believe the last time we saw each other is when you cut off my head." her voice now contained a hint of anger.

"Sorry about that," though I wasn't sorry at all, "But you did try to turn us to stone first if I remember correctly." My tone made it clear that I thought it was a decent response.

"You would have made such a nice statue," she sighed, "But unfortunately it was not to be. Nor will it be the case now."

"Really?" I said surprised but also wary, "What is the case now then?"

You can understand why I was surprised. Last time she had been so keen on me being a statue that she could have to herself.

"Well my dear, I require your blood of course," like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"With the blood of a hero like you, I will be able to raise myself back to the mortal world faster than the blink of an eye. And it is impossible to get blood from a statue of course."

"Of course," I said raising my sword to the ready position.

Medusa raised her hands to her head and made sure her shawl wouldn't come off, then she lowered them to chest level for her. Her palms faced inward and then the tips of her hands turned to incredibly sharp claws.

"Sharp enough to shred celestial bronze if I remember correctly," I thought cheerfully.

She then clenched her claws and with a snarl, she attacked.

Annabeth

I was staring at the blueprints for several buildings that were currently being built-in New Olympus, the city to replace Rome.

It had taken many years for the merger between camps to be fully complete. One of the main problems that came up was where would the new camp, Camp Olympus, be placed, and what to do with the old camps.

We had argued about it for who knows how long before we finally came up with a solution that everyone could agree on. Camp Half-Blood would form the base of Camp Olympus.

Over the years we planned to expand it to include everything Greek and Roman, as well as be large enough to house all the demigods at once. Several ideals of both the camps became merged together to maximize the potential of the demigods.

All of the cabins from Camp Half-Blood would remain, with a few extra ones built later on for the Roman minor gods. The demigods would live in their respective cabins, but they would fight along-side the members of their cohort in the legion.

With the amount of demigods flowing in plus all the ones already there, major changes had been made to how the legion worked.

The biggest and most controversial change came from dissolving all the original cohorts. The idea was to make sure that no one had an advantage over another. We did not want all the Greek campers who had no idea how the legion worked being forced into one cohort and being deemed lesser to the other cohorts.

Many of the older legion members complained of course, but they were always ignored as they were to snobby to be taken seriously.

With the move of all the Roman demigods to Camp Olympus, we began to worry about how we would keep an eye on Atlas's mountain. We decided that the best solution would involve leaving the majority of the Battlements there intact, and sending demigods who needed to "toughen" up there.

The plan worked surprisingly well despite the fact not many had agreed with it. The demigods sent there usually came back two to three years later, and in much better physical and mental shape.

We also found out quickly that it was a good way to punish demigods for various issues, usually only the larger ones. A few years at the old Roman camp, or the borders as some took to calling it, would always straighten out the most hard-core trouble-makers.

I should probably take the time to mention that the Greek mentality wore off on the Romans, not the other way around. The Romans became much more laid back and began enjoying pranking people as much as we did.

The trouble-makers who got sent to the borders we sent because they either refused to follow orders, which is something even Greeks soldiers do, or because the were bullying other campers. Both of those violations got you a one way ticket to monster hell.

The last thing we moved from the Roman camp was New Rome itself. We packed it up as fast as possible and had it across the country where our new city, New Olympus, would be in record time.

When we unpacked the city it was beautiful as always. The problem was that it was too small for all the new people at the moment.

The gods intervened on the discussion on who was to design the new places in the city and named me official architect again. The project was almost as large as redesigning the original Olympus, and I was glad to have the support of my husband William in it. Together we designed, then help build the new city of heroes.

The original structures of New Rome were moved around quite a bit, and the city that took its place more than tripled the size of it.

Many Greek building were added as well as a few new Roman building. The biggest change made was the shrines to the gods.

They were placed on either side of one of the larger main streets, with Roman shrines on one side, and their Greek counterparts directly opposite them.

Due to popular demand, I also include several more modern buildings. A movie theater and arcade were place in it, and became quite popular with everyone. I had Leo make everything electronic with celestial bronze or imperial gold to avoid drawing unneeded attention to the city.

I probably shouldn't have worried with all the protection we had for it, but it wouldn't be me if I didn't try to plan for everything.

Terminus guarded the borders along with Leo's now rebuilt dragon Festus as well as some automatons. Terminus was allowed to perform his duties only when heavily medicated which lead to much more pleasant interactions with the god.

Originally everyone was worried about Festus going crazy again, but Leo assured everyone that the control disk was top of the line now. As it had been his dad who built it we all believed him, and managed to stop tensing up every time we saw Festus.

When everything was finally perfect by my standards, it had been one hundred years since we had lost Percy. I had to William for almost ninety years now, and was very happy.

I still always thought about Percy, but it was no longer out of regret or sadness. I now remembered all the goods time we had together and wish he could be here. I knew he would approve of William and get along well with him.

I knew William was originally worried that Percy would return and that he would lose me, but I knew that Percy and I would only be good friends if ever did come back. I eventually convinced William of this, and he gained to desire to meet Percy face to face shortly after.

With New Olympus finally completed, and the threat of wars seemingly behind us, William and myself finally began looking towards a future where we weren't ruled by our duties.

We began talking about what we wanted, and the topic of children came up several times. Neither of us felt we were ready for a child, so we did the next best thing for us, our own place.

Due to all the construction, there was rarely a person who had a place to themselves before everything was complete. I had often wound up sleeping on my old bunk in the Athena cabin as it was closest to my work.

With everything finished, William and I finally moved in together into an apartment in New Olympus overlooking the central plaza.

There are benefits to being the Official Architect you know.