A god paying him a visit hadn't really been in Percy's cards.

He found himself at Montauk Beach, reminiscing the good times he had with his mom before it all just … went away. Percy wished he had cherished those moments more, as he would've done if he had known Mom would take an early exit in life. He was in deep thought, pondering as he stared out into the oceanic blue waters of the Atlantic.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" a voice next to him said.

Percy turned to look at a very unfamiliar person, yet someone who looked like someone Percy could be at ease with. He was tall and graceful, his long white beard flowing like waves on a peaceful day. His face was proud, but soft at the same time with deep sea-green eyes very much like Percy's own, and his father, and his father before him. He wore a blue Greek-style tunic and in his hand, he held a gleaming three-point trident, brimming with power.

Percy had never seen this … person before, if he could really call him that. Because for all the power that he radiated, despite never seeing him before, Percy knew exactly who he was looking at. He was almost tempted to bow before his presence.

For this was Poseidon, the god of the seas himself.

"Um …" Percy began. "Yeah, it's a … a very beautiful view."

"I think it is only right that Atlantis befell into the Atlantic," Poseidon said. "There is a … sense of gracefulness when one comes to watch the oceans of the Atlantic."

"Um …"

"There is no need for bowing, if that is what you're thinking about," he said.

Percy shook his head, stunned. "I-i-it's an honor, to erm … meet you in person. You're the … you're him. Poseidon, right?"

"I can go by other names as well, the Romans called me Neptune. I'm also known as the Earthshaker and the Stormbringer but for the most part, yes, I am Poseidon."

"What … what brings you here?"

"I suppose I could not convince you that I came on my accord, to gaze at this very amazing and beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean, could I?" Poseidon asked, making Percy smile. "I know you and my people of Atlantis seek to topple that tyrant off his throne, am I correct?"

Percy nodded. "Yes."

"Attuma will use politics to fight back and when that doesn't that work, he will wage violence instead. You will be the only strong enough to stop him. But in order for you to stop him, you will need a weapon. And not just any weapon, but one specially made for an Atlantean warrior such as yourself."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that out there is a specially crafted trident and those only that are worthy of it can wield it. Many have tried, many have failed because they simply were not worthy of it. But you … you are the first I see for myself that is truly worthy of such a weapon. I will advocate you, my champion, to seek this weapon and make it your own."

"So … I'm the only one, you're saying, is worthy of this trident?"

Poseidon tipped his head. "Yes."

Percy nodded in understanding. "Okay … um … what do you want me to do, then?"

"Follow me," Poseidon said.

Poseidon started to head into the ocean and Percy briefly paused before ultimately deciding to follow the Olympian god. Poseidon propulsed with a sonic boom and Percy followed him, doing the same. They swam at jet-like speeds and reached into the some of furthest, deepest parts of the ocean until they Poseidon started to slow down and Percy followed his routine. Soon enough, they were swimming at a normal pace until the Olympian halted and Percy stopped behind him. Poseidon set himself on the top of an underwater cliff, Percy leering into the deep abyss below as he came to a stop.

"The trident is an underwater cave deep into the submarine canyon but there is a … complication," Poseidon said.

"What sort of complication?"

"An unwelcome foe, an old sea monster by the name of Gargantus has taken upon himself to be a sort of … guard to the entrance," Poseidon explained. "This is why I was saying that many have tried, many have failed. There has been warriors that have sought the trident, stemming from the old legend that they would hear about and there were admittedly, I deemed worthy. Ultimately though, they fell short."

"Why don't you just … tell the monster to go away? Or make him … disappear or something?"

"This is an ancient foe, young Perseus," Poseidon said. "Even if I could, as an Olympian, I am not liable to interfere with the quests of mortals. Getting rid of it would be directly aiding you or any other person quested with seeking the trident."

"And that's not something you can do?"

"We Olympians took upon an ancient pact many thousands of years ago, when we first defeated the Titans and split up the land between me and my brothers. It is a sacred pact that unfortunately we must continue to follow."

Percy grimaced. "So … you think I'm worthy of this trident? You said it yourself, many have tried, many have fallen short."

"You are the first I've come across that I know is worthy of the sacred trident, Perseus," he said. "You have already been told this before, but you are much stronger than any Atlantean, and even more stronger than any average mortal. Your mutant physiology allows you to be stronger than both of the races. I do not think you can defeat Gargantus, I know you can defeat him. But … in the end, it will be only you who can convince yourself of that."

Percy bit his lip and pondered as he stared into the abyss.

"There is no shame in it if you don-"

"I accept," Percy interrupted, before realizing he interrupted an Olympian. "Sorry."

Poseidon smiled. "Alright. I suppose I shall leave you to it. I will meet you when you are done."

Poseidon turned before he shimmered into the water, and dissipated into nothing. Percy took a deep breath and looked into the dark abyss one more time before swimming off the cliff and into the darkness below.

Despite being is some deepest, darkest parts of the ocean, his eyes adjusted. He couldn't even explain how, it was almost like he had night vision goggles. Maybe it came with his Atlantean physiology, but up to now that hadn't been something Percy discovered because well, … he hadn't exactly come scouring the deepest parts of the ocean.

As he paused for a second, he spotted the cave Poseidon had been talking about, being it pretty hard to miss. It was quite wide of a gap in the canyon. Percy almost started to swim towards it when he sensed another presence around him and he knew … he wasn't alone.

Percy kept his senses on high alert, looking around him but the presence detected him, scurrying around him like he was looking for an opening to strike.

"I know you're there," Percy shouted as he continued to check his surroundings. "So why don't you do us both a favor and show yourself?"

Percy paused for a second, dropping his guard momentarily until he felt the presence directly behind him and he whirled around, catching sight of the sea monster for the first time.

He was a real sea monster alright. He was as big as a dinosaur and as blue as as the sea. His face was … really ugly and misshapen, like he'd been using these canyons to smash his face in.

Talk about a face only a mother could love.

He had fin-like ears and another fin growing from his hunched-over back. He was scaly all over with four fingers on his hand, four toes on his feet and a big tail that floated underneath him.

Percy had never fought a sea monster before, but he was beginning to have a very low impression of them, wondering if they all looked the same as this … creature.

"You dare seek out the trident of Father Neptune?" the monster boomed.

"Father Neptune doesn't like you very much," Percy retorted.

"And how would you know?"

"I just spoke to him right before coming here," Percy replied.

"So you know that he's sent warriors here before, to face their fatal demise?" he asked. "Yet, you still decided to show yourself."

"Yeah, because I'm coming out of here with that trident," Percy said, trying to sound as confident as he could. In reality though, the sea monster was actually very frightening. "Now, you could step aside and let me take it. Or you could make it challenging and I'll just just battle you for it. Either way, the trident is coming with me."

"You are very foolish," he said.

Percy shrugged. "Yeah … I've been told that before."

The monster started to rear back, though. "Very noble of you to give me a choice. But you don't get to have one. You're not coming out of here alive, just like everybody else before you!"

At the least word, the sea monster lunged but Percy stood his ground and struck a blow to his jaw so powerful, the sound of it resonated in the ocean and it sent the creature hurling into the canyon as the impact shook the underwater chasm.

The sea monster snarled at Percy as the mutant just stared back at him. "It appears I do have a challenge on my hands," the monster growled. "No matter. I'll still kill you."

Gargantus bared claws and lunged at Percy with them, as he dodged under his swipe. He swiped with his left hand and Percy couldn't get out of the way but he managed to hold his massive hand. He then used his momentum to slam the sea monster into the side of the canyon.

The monster looked angry now as he tried to grab at him in rage, Percy swimming circles around him as he used his speed and agility against the massive beast. He managed to slip between his hands as he attempted to clap and crush him flat before he struck a blow to its stomach. The monster howled before angrily swatting at Percy, finally landing a blow and Percy was sent crashing into the side of the ridge.

Percy grunted in pain as the sea monster took advantage of his weak moment and grabbed Percy, before starting to crush him in his fist.

"I told you before, you're not coming out of here alive," Gargantus scorned. "You should've swam away when you had the chance."

Percy gritted his teeth as his felt his ribs scream in pain from the inside as the fist crushed him. Percy started to push on the fist and he roared as he slowly but surely started opening the fist, giving him some breathing room.

"How is this possible?" Gargantus demanded.

Percy roared again as pushed his fingers apart, the sea monster attempting to close his fist in retaliation, but he found that he couldn't. Percy took advantage of Gargantus's focus on his fist to shoot out and punch him directly in his massive eyeball with all of his might, the sound of the punch again resonating around them.

Gargantus howled in pain as he clutched his eye, which was surely toast by now, the orbital crushed by Percy's blow. Percy decided to take advantage of Gargantus being in pain and he struck several heavy blows everywhere: chest, face, legs, stomach, back.

Gargantus could do nothing but take the blows before Percy grabbed his massive head with both hands using his fin ears and dragged him to the side of the canyon. He then proceeded to slam his head against it with all of his strength. Then he did it again … and again … and again … and again … and again. He didn't stop until Gargantus was nothing but a grumbling mess with his face properly smashed in now.

Percy let him monetarily before striking the final bow, a heavy uppercut that snapped his head upwards and put him out cold. Percy watched as the sea monster sank until he hit the bottom of the ocean floor with a thud.

Percy panted heavily as he swam lightly to the entrance of the cave and he sat down to catch his breath. He knew deep inside that monster wasn't dead, but at the very least, now he was blind in one eye. Percy could strike as many heavy blows as he wanted but there was only so much one could do against an ancient sea monster like Gargantus.

At least for now, he was out of commission, and that gave him more than enough time to retrieve the trident and get out of here. Percy just needed to catch his breath before he did, for that might have been the hardest workout he's ever done.

Tiredly, he stood to his feet, aiming to get out of here while he was still reeling and feeling very fatigued from the battle. He treaded deep into the cave until he started see the bioluminescent lights give a bit of brightness inside the cave. He came to an end, reaching what appeared to be a casket. Percy eyed the casket cautiously, anticipating a possible mummy or zombie coming back to life in case he needed to.

But he had no need to. As he edged closer to the casket, Poseidon himself shimmered into appearance, awaiting his arrival.

"What is this place?" Percy questioned.

"My burial ground," he replied. "Holding my coffin, which inside used to contain my mortal body."

Percy looked confused, which seemed to amuse Poseidon. "What do you mean … mortal body?"

Poseidon walked around the casket. "Do you know about the full history of Atlantis?"

"I read bits with Chiron," Percy said. "But there always seemed like … stuff was missing."

Poseidon nodded. "Did they mention that I fathered the first ten kings of Atlantis?"

Percy grimaced. "Hm … I might have skipped over that."

Poseidon nodded. "Me and … Cleito, she was a mortal girl I fell in love with and I made her my eternal wife, but er, …"

"Things didn't work out?" Percy suggested.

"Something like that," Poseidon agreed with a wink. "But regardless, together, we made the first ten kings of Atlantis and every single king that followed was bestowed to an offspring."

"So that makes me-"

"A descendant of mine," Poseidon finished for him.

"Wow," Percy muttered. "That is so … strange and cool at the same time. That makes you like, my great-times-thirty-something grandfather."

Poseidon looked amused. "Well, to answer your question about my mortal body …"

"Right, let's get back on that."

Poseidon sighed. "This is something the history books might not to tell you. Over two-thousand years ago, the Atlanteans started to worship Set."

"Set?" Percy questioned.

"Set was one of the Elder Gods that existed long before the Olympians. They included Set, Gaea, Oshtur, and Chthon, whom had all been created at the dawn of planet Earth. Make no mistake, though, the Elder Gods were not friendly. They turned on each other and became corrupted, degenerating into demons."

Percy looked disturbed. "Sounds like someone people should refrain from worshipping."

"Exactly," Poseidon agreed. "So Atlanteans started to worship just Set in particular after he had made his presence felt. I fought and banished Set from Atlantis, but even that was not enough. A cult had formed full of Set enthusiasts, which I destroyed as well. Afterwards, I lived on Atlantis, as one of them. I became an elite warrior and made a carbon copy of my own trident, made of Enchanted Adamantium metal. Upon my mortal death, I was buried here, the trident along with me."

Percy started to move the opening of the casket. "So … your trident is in here?"

Poseidon nodded. "And after defeating Gargantus, I believe firmly that you are deemed more than worthy of wielding such a weapon, if you choose to do so."

Percy pushed casket, which was empty … except for the single glowing, green trident that laid in it. "No body?"

Poseidon shrugged. "Eventually, I had to become whole again, as an Olympian."

Percy reached inside and grabbed hold of the weapon, staring at it admiration as he pulled it out of the casket. He firmly gripped the handle with both hands and touched the metal with a finger, feeling what was Enchanted Adamantium. As he planted it onto the ground and swung it once, Percy felt a trident for the first time feel balanced in his hand. It almost felt like it was made for him specifically, feeling light enough to swing properly but heavy enough that it could forceful when it wanted to.

It was properly balanced weapon.

"I like it," Percy concluded. "It's … it's a very nice weapon."

"Yes," Poseidon agreed. "And it is the very same weapon that you will use against Attuma to topple him of his throne. For the trident has the power to manipulate any form of water along with some other neat tricks that you might find you like."

"I'm honored, Lord Poseidon," Percy said, his voice almost a whisper. "I will carry this into battle with honor."

"I have no doubt you will," Poseidon said as they headed back out to the entrance of the cave. "Here we are. I think you know what time it is."

"Yeah," Percy agreed as he looked up the towards the surface high above.

"Go, the people of Atlantis need you now more than ever."

"Thank you," Percy said.

Poseidon nodded his reply. Percy swung the trident once before he held the three-pointed end away from him. With a sound boom, he blasted off, leaving the god of the seas watching as he sped off.