Small but interesting, I am skipping a lot of summer and fall as it wasn't important... Aaron has goals now so he isn't as busy.
"Come on." Excited, Aaron all but dragged his freinds towards the beach, the radiant power of the Lake's many divine beings ( Nymphs mostly) brought a smile to his face as he approached. "We don't want to miss anything." His friends, Silena, Will, Bryce and Charlie all shared a look of amusement. He just ignored them and charged ahead, eager and happy to finally have a day off for once. No demigods to save, no god egos to soothe, just pure enjoyment to have and to hold.
It took a minute but group found a comfortable plot of land and put down a wide checkered blanket before pulling out a massive basket of food and other goodies. It was all gifts from the Nymphs, who enjoyed all he did for the nature of the land. They had prepared extra bits and bobs of stuff for them to enjoy while watching the fireworks. Silena, ever the doting mother, passed out drinks and whatnot as they sat down, waiting to see the amazing fireworks that Charlie's brothers and sisters would be launching into the sky.
A boat drifited in the middle of the Lake, signalling that the show would begin soon.
" We really need to schedule more fun days." Aaron said, looking back at his friends. " We, well I, am so busy that it feels like all we do is work. We need to have more fun days together."
Charlie laughed. "Yeah, it does. Maybe a day or two a week or every two weeks, something to just chill and enjoy ourselves."
"That would be lovely." Silena leaned against Charlie, smiling at his spluttering red tinted face. "We can all do better I think."
Will, laying on his belly, nodded. "I would kill for some time off, I am just patching people up nonstop especially after Capture the Flag on Fridays. It's great work, and I love it but I feel like an old man sometimes."
"You look like one." Bryce snarked out, making Will gasp in the most dramatic way.
"I will have you know only Aaron has white hair, I am all blonde."
"OOH!" Aaron called out. " The fireworks are about to start." Then, with flawless percision, the fireworks blasted into the air, dozens a minutes in perfect orientation. The images appeared to showcase a battle, between... "Is that The Civil War?" He recognized it as a scene between the Confederency and the North, where many soldiers and captians were Demigods. "That is impressive."
Throughout the nights, the fireworks would change to showcase countless other scenes, from Hercules and his labors to Perseus killing poor Medusa to the finally showcase Aaron himself fighting and destroying a Hellhound to save Meggy.
Needless to say, he blushed a deep red while his friends teased him mercilessly.
"""
The summer faded, as did the Fall without anything uber interesting happening. Aaron, Silena and Meggy saved three more Demigods but they lost four more to Luke's madness. The gods had not been happy about this and Zeus thundered something fierce in annoyance. Aaron had done his best to not roll his eyes the entire time but sometimes had to bail and hide somewhere to do that privately.
They built a couple more shrines, one to Artemis a bit deeper in the woods. It was a beautiful shrine with a sort of birdbath in the center with a small garden around it. It radiated beauty and it was a common sight to find upset girls. One to Demeter in the center of the Fields where they grew their produce, which was a simple pillar with vines growing on it with a candle set deep inside the center of it. It felt fitting in it's simplicity. It increased the fertility of the feilds and made the food all the richer in flavor.
Overall the Demigods, under Silena's instruction, became far stronger over the few months. It was spread around that truth of Kronos, people now knew that he was rising and war was coming. Castor and Pollux had become much more capable, mastering far more interesting tricks with both a bladed weapon and their vine powers. The Children of Aphrodite, while still on the lazy side, were far more powerful overall and actually started to participate in the Capture the Flag cames, helping change the current of many of the games entirely.
However overall not much changed, the feel of Camp stayed realitivley the same. Aaron wasn't too pleased with that to be honest... no one bar his group of friends seemed to be taking things seriously, bar Castor and Pollux who seemed to understand the way the world had changed.
Meggy was constantly building new fancy arrows for Aaron, interesting bits of jewelry that were enchanted for her friends and just a lot of interesting things. Anything to help camp. She armed her friends up with some serious power, just to ensure they all survived.
On a personal level, Aaron still trained Nico and Bianca, excited to see where they would go when the markings on them faded... which was coming up very, very soon. He could feel it fading, their immense power was becoming closer to the surface with each visit. They had become very powerful on their own, closer and closer to mastering Swordplay and Archery on higher and higher levels almost daily.
Then there was Aaron himself, who had offically reached a level close to Percy's with swordplay. After almost a year and a half of training and effort he had mastered swordplay to a pretty high level. He was still lacking in stamina and power, but he was good. His archery however was just shy of the Children of Apollo level, and he was proud of that. His only disadvantage was speed, which the Children of Apollo had in spades.
Then there was his magic, which had become far more fluid. He could cast spells, some spells, without speaking. He could control the Mist to mess with Mortals and some demigods, though he couldn't teleport with it just yet... but he was trying. His potions, which he had admittedly neglected in the past, had become far more interesting and powerful. He had a stock of interesting healing potions, memory potions and a variety of others he was experimenting with. Overall he was pretty damn good and he was proud of that.
'''
"Two Demigods? Where?" Aaron asked Dionysius, who was holding a report.
"Maine, at a school called Westover Hall... " Mr. D was smirking wickedly. "Your interesting Demigods are there, the ones you have been training."
He froze. "You know?"
"They were in the Lotus Hotel, a place of party and estacy, for decades of course I know who they are. I respect my uncle, he allowed me my mother and wife from his domain to become living Goddesses. I will never reveal their heritage, not until it is time for them to be revealed."
"Thank you... so I am off to get them?"
"Alongside Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace and Annabeth Chase, yes. They will need guidance and you will give it to them. Now go, Argus will take you to Sally Jackson's home so you can join them on their mission."
Excited, Aaron turned and heel and marched away, happy to finally find and save his beloved students and bring them home.
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was a lot of fun.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.