Percy's POV
After Nico and I had also read the scrolls with the S.P.Q.R. on it, Nico recognized that some of the names of the Roman Riders were already in the Roman camp.
"That's good. We can take some eggs to the Roman camp and leave them there so they can hatch for those people," I said.
"Dude, they won't just let you walk right in. You have to make an entrance. Say you're the Ambassador of Neptune or something," he suggested.
"How about this? I'll go meet with my dad – Poseidon, and I'll have him teach me everything there is to know about the Romans. Once I'm done, I'll change my features into that of a human's and I'll go to the base."
He agreed to the plan. Alexō, however, didn't like the idea of me traversing the world alone.
Alexō, come on. You can't breathe underwater and I can. You can't really expect to go with me.
Percy. I do not like this idea. You could get hurt!
I can protect myself. I'm not a little child.
A short time and a few growls later, I got him to agree. He would fly me over to New York, and I would travel to Olympus and speak to Poseidon.
/^\
I looked across the lobby of the Empire State building. Man, it had been a long while since I had been here.
Walking up to the guard, I prepared for him to deny me access. "Give me the card."
He looked up from his magazine, then jumped in shock. "Yes sir, immediately." He handed me the card without hesitation. "I assume you know what to do."
I mentally laughed, then nodded. I entered the elevator and listened to the horrible music nostalgically. As the doors dinged open, I cautiously took a step out into Olympus. I walked up the walkway to the throne room, getting more than a few strange looks.
By the time I had pushed open the doors and strode to the middle of the throne room, all the gods had fallen silent.
"So the prodigal demigod returns.." Ares started. I quickly shot a glare in his direction, surprised when he flinched. I smiled inwardly.
Zeus looked down from his throne to see me. "What brings you here, Perseus?"
"I want to see the Romans." My statement enticed more than a few gasps from various gods.
Zeus was immediately furious. "Absolutely not! Why would we allow a Greek demigod to confer with their Roman counterparts?"
"Because my Order will bring our two races together. Romans will become Riders." Ares didn't seem to like my statement.
"Who cares about your silly Order, with your dragons and magic and all that crazy stuff?" I heard a roar and Alexō rammed through the gates with his huge bulk. He immediately looked at Ares and started walking towards him slowly, growling the whole way.
Ares swallowed visibly. He looked on in fear of the dragon that was taller than his giant form.
I prepped myself to deflect any magic Ares might use against my dragon. As I had predicted, Ares sent a large fireball towards him.
Alexō walked through it unharmed, as fire had no effect on him, you know, being a dragon and all.
Ares tried to switch tactics and began to throw bolts of energy at my dragon.
Speaking the words of the ancient language, I deflected his magic easily.
Alexō, I think you've scared him enough. You can stop now.
Not until he apologizes.
"Well, Ares, my friend said he's not backing down until you apologize. You don't want to see a dragon angry, especially my dragon."
I'm already angry.
Yes, but you aren't attacking him, now are you?
Alexō was silent for a moment. I could if I wanted to.
"Alright! Fine, just don't rip me to shreds!" He had scrambled out of his seat and was backing away from Alexō. "Fine! I'm sorry, okay?" Alexō stopped where he was and gave a loud roar, a dare to challenge dragons again, then tread over to me and laid down behind me.
"Now, will you take me to the Romans?"
Poseidon and Zeus shared a look and then both sighed.
"Brother, your son is particularly stubborn."
"He gets it from his mother." Oh no, he still thinks I'm his son.. I guess I'll have to tell him.
"Take him away from here and explain to him how it will work," Zeus said.
Poseidon nodded and stepped off his throne. With each step towards me, he shrunk in size until he was as tall as me.
Placing an arm around my shoulders, he led me out of the throne room and we started walking to his palace.
"Percy, I know you know that I'm not your real father," he said as soon as we were inside his temple.
"You knew?"
"As soon as you turned thirteen, you were too powerful to be my son. My children, while powerful, were not as powerful as you. And I saw vague references to Kílf almost everywhere. The way you fought with a sword. And to confirm, I looked into it. You truly are Kílf's son."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You wouldn't have understood. This way was better. Besides, you kinda still are my son, right?" He chuckled to himself. "Now, to business. The Romans are very, very different than what you are used to with the Greeks. Their camp, their code, everything they do is based around pleasing the gods and honor."
Over the next hour, he told me everything I needed to know about the Romans.
"In order to do this, you will need to change your appearance. They will not accept the fact that you are an elf. When you arrive, name yourself as my ambassador. It's around the time that I send one anyway. They will fear you, as they do me. I will leave you so you can do your magic."
I nodded. I worded a spell to make myself appear as a human, but when I dropped the spell, the illusion would drop and my true elf form would be revealed. It seemed easier than using the other method. When I finished, I grabbed a mirror and stroked my face. It looked just like it had before I left for Alagaësia, the very first time.
"Now that's the real Percy that I remember." Poseidon's voice broke me from my thoughts.
"Yea, it's kinda weird seeing myself like this again. After seeing myself as an elf for more than a year." He agreed with me.
"Now, I will teleport you to my Roman home, where Neptune will greet you." I nodded. He placed a hand on my shoulder and a bright light engulfed me.
I opened my eyes to see I was underwater and a tall man in armor was standing near me.
"Neptune?"
"Yes, Perseus. I am Neptune. My Greek counterpart has informed me of your plan." He handed me a pair of gloves. "For your mark."
I slipped them on and asked, "Then you agree to it? And will support me if the Romans call on you?" Neptune nodded, then directed me to Camp Jupiter.
/^\
Standing on top of the water, I looked out and observed the Roman camp from a distance. It was very organized in a way that everything led to the center of the city.
Deciding I had to make an entrance, I used my inborn powers to start a hurricane swirling around me and walked towards the camp.
By the time I was close to the docks, people had begun to gather. As my foot stepped off of the water and onto the solid wood of the dock, two people, a guy and girl, in purple cloaks, stepped forward to greet me. I looked around, my eyes landing on a teenage girl around the age of fourteen standing next to a very bulky guy who looked Chinese.
"Name yourself," they commanded. My eyes drifted back to the two people standing in front of me.
I thought for a moment before I decided to remain aloof. "You should think twice before threatening an authority higher than yourself."
The girl glared at me, whereas the guy cleared his throat. "Fine, I assume you are Neptune's Ambassador, come to check up on us?"
"Yes, and no. I am of the sea, but I am not working for Neptune at the moment. I am on a personal errand. I would like to speak with you in private."
I followed the two into the city and into a building.
"Please, take a seat," the boy said, motioning to the chair behind the table. My advanced hearing heard another set of heartbeats approach, but no one else entered the room. "Before you can tell us or ask of us what you want, we need to make sure you are not a threat to Rome." I nodded. Two dogs entered from a side door.
"These are Aurum and Argentum." Gold and Silver. I was about to ask which one was which, but then I realized that would have been an incredibly stupid question, seeing as one was gold and the other was silver. "They can tell whether you lie, and they don't like liars, so I'd tell the truth if I was you." I nodded again.
"Ask away, but be forewarned, I may not be able to answer every question."
"And why wouldn't you be able to do that?" the girl asked forcefully.
"You are ill prepared to hear the information I have. It would do more harm than good for me to completely answer every question." The girl continued to glare at me.
"Alright, then we'll start with something easy. Introduce yourself, and your godly parent, as we can tell you are a demigod."
"Percy Jackson, and I'm of the sea. Which sea deity I cannot tell." The girl paled slightly. "Now, would you give me your names?"
"I'm Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, and my partner here is Reyna, daughter of Bellona."
"Wait, did you say Grace?"
He looked at me strangely. "Yes, that's my surname."
Thalia – Thalia's last name is Grace! Jason's her brother! "You wouldn't happen to have a sister, would you?"
Jason took a small step backwards, "How do you know this?"
"I know your sister. She's one of my friends."
He put both his hands on the table. "After you have said whatever it is you wanted to tell us, you will take me to Thalia." I agreed. Thalia would be glad to see her little brother. The thing that confused me, is how did her mother attract Zeus and conceive Thalia, then Jupiter and conceive Jason?
The girl said something that brought me out of my thoughts. "What?" I asked.
"I said, what did you want to tell us?" I heard the third set of heartbeats quicken.
"I will tell you everything you need to hear to understand my offer, but no questions until I finish. Is that agreeable?" The both nodded. "There is another world, named Alagaësia. It is far behind Earth in technological terms, but it is highly centered around magic." Seeing their confusion, I said, "Yes, magic. But magic that is unlike the gods' magics. They have more than humans too. Dragons that are tamed, elves, dwarves, Urgals, I will explain all these races later, if you wish." They nodded that they would. "Long ago, there was a giant war between the elves and dragons, and to stop the war, the elves and dragons formed a pact called 'The Dragon Riders.' After a while, they allowed humans into the pact. Dragon Riders prospered until a human went mad over the death of his dragon. He stole another and forced it to bond with him. He killed all the Riders and named himself King over all of Alagaësia. A hundred years passed, and three friends and I killed him and his evil dragon, restoring peace to the land. To ensure unity between all the races, we allowed Urgals and dwarves into the pact. After that, I moved back here and settled in the Rocky Mountains. I have a small Order of Riders started, mainly just people I had already been friends with." I turned to Jason. "Thalia is one of those Riders. Any questions?"
"You said 'moved back here' implying you were here before you killed the king. Does this mean you are a child of Rome?"
"No, nor am I Greek. I was –"
Reyna interrupted me. "You know Greeks?"
"Yes, I do. They are quite different, yes, but not in a bad way. They know nothing of the Romans. You are safe." Reyna relaxed a slight bit. "It is my intention that by bringing both Romans and Greeks into my Order, we can build a bond between the two that will last forever, regardless of our past rivalries."
"So you have Greeks in your Order?" I nodded.
I took the risk and told them, "Currently, I only have Greeks."
"But you said – wait, my sister is a Greek?" I nodded. "How is that possible?" I shrugged. I had asked myself the same question.
"Back to my earlier question, who's your godly parent?"
I sighed. "I can see you aren't going to drop this. My mother, is named Kílf. She is an Alagaësian goddess, basically the equivalent of Neptune." I paused for a moment, listening to the third set of heartbeats again. "I know Romans will become Riders." They looked at each other. "And I wish for you to take these three eggs."
They walked away a few steps, talked for a moment, then came back to talk to me. "Let us see them." I opened a door to a pocket in space and pulled out three eggs. A sky blue one, a red one, and an orange one.
"The only way to get them to hatch –" I heard the third heartbeat quicken again. "Good gods, whoever is hiding behind that wall, come out right now or I will kill you."
A tall and skinny boy with straw-colored hair stepped out. At first he looked harmless, but as he approached, I began to think differently. He had a curiosity within his eyes that looked dangerous.
"Lair! You have dishonored Rome! You should be killed!" the boy said.
"Octavian, calm yourself, what do you mean?" Jason asked.
"He lied to us! He said he was of the sea! He's no son of Neptune!"
"Correction: I said I was of the sea. I may not be from Neptune, but my mother is still a deity of the ocean." He glared at me for finding his mistake and using it against him.
"I bet he's not even human," he said. I lightly searched his mind, finding everything he wanted to use against me.
"Resorting to childish insults will get you nowhere, legacy of Apollo."
He jumped slightly, then asked, "How did you know that?"
I stood to my feet, raising to my full height, standing a full half foot over him. "I know everything about you, augur. You've been in the Legion for seven years. You wanted to go searching for the Sibylline books, but the Praetors wouldn't let you, so you've been getting angry and plotting to kill Jason to take over his position."
"I – I, I have no idea what he's taking about! I swear!" he said as he started backing away from me.
"Your pupils are dilated, and your heart rate is elevated. You are sweating profusely, but you refused to let me see because you know everything I am saying is true."
"No, you lie! You're a Greek!"
I slipped off my gloves and let my human appearance slip. "No, I am much more than that. I am Perseus Jackson, son of Kílf and Eragon the first Rider, Rider of Alexō, leader of the Earthen Order of Riders, Hero of Olympus, Slayer of Galbatorix, and one of the full elves of Alagaësia." Octavian slipped on the floor and fell onto his butt.
"Next time you think about confronting someone, make sure you can win."
Both Reyna and Jason examined me closely. "So you are an elf?" I nodded.
"Keep the eggs. All three of those eggs will hatch for demigods in this camp." I didn't tell them that I already knew who would become Riders. I was highly disappointed in the third to-be Rider. I had hoped he wouldn't be as Nico had described him. I can only hope I can change him.
The following morning, I returned to my home and enjoyed a long, relaxing weekend of rest.