It all started when a mortal ran through the border.
And then collapsed.
That mortal's name was Matthias Ardesen, and he was currently a guest and Camp Half Blood, eating at the Hermes table before he left. He could hear Mr. Dionysus and Mr. Chiron talking about him nearby, though he was too absorbed in his lamb meat and potatoes to listen. Were he to listen, though, he would have heard this conversation, and what happened next would have probably made a lot more sense and a lot more fiasco could be avoided.
Dionysus grumbled. " He's a mortal, Chiron. I can hardly sense a drop of divinity in him." Matthias, did, in fact, have a drop of divinity in him. It was simply so abysmally small, that few could know. He was a legacy of Venus, Backup plan to Jason Grace, Praetor of Rome. Just in case anything went wrong. He wasn't a very good Backup to be honest, as all backups were destined to not be as good as their predecessors. He hadn't quite gained his first stripe yet, his SPQR was burned off by the Hydra chasing after him, incidentally, and his Venus mark was so morphed from the fire ( Hephaestus always did have grudge ), no one could recognize it.
Perhaps if they had, Chiron would not have tried to kill him.
Chiron sighed. " Then how was he able to get past the barrier? It's been improved and Peleus..." Dionysus waved a hand dismissively.
" Bah, must be a monster, chop of his head, I tell, you, you'll see."
" Dionysus!"
" Come on, Chiron. He ain't a demigod. He look demigod to you?"
" I suppose so, but we must question him first."
" Fine, take the sword if he resists."
" Dionysus..."
Now, if Matthias had been listening, he most likely would have hightailed out of camp like a rabid fox was after him. He didn't. Instead, he got up, pushed his tray into the fire, and didn't blink when Chiron came up to him, a sword in his hands and questions in his voice. He did however, get confused, when the entire camp gasped and pointed to his head. Did he have something floating over?
He looked up. A single peacock feather encased in purple. Oh. Shame. He looked back at the camp, bored expression on face, although the same could not be said to the others. Some of them were frozen in shock, while others spat out their drinks and food, more started screaming, and others glanced worriedly at the sky as if it may strike him down any moment. Even Chiron's eyes widened and he let the sword slip from his hands.
He barely made the introduction past his lips. Something about Hail and Hera, and son. And marriage, which led to a snort from a camper. It took Matthias barely a second to realize what was going on, and what everyone else thought was going on. See, he knew instantly that due to Greek traditions, they had reasonably come to the conclusion that since there was a bird hair floating over his head, he was the son of the birdly representative.
Matthias knew that in reality, it was because Hera/Juno had saw her Backup about to be struck down, and didn't want to find another Backup to replace him and decided to improvise at the last second. How sweet.
Matthias also knew that while this entire thing could be cleared up by explaining that he was simply Juno/Hera's Champion, he decided not to. After all, when you spend your entire life playing second fiddle to the oh-so-glorious son of Jupiter, you kind of enjoy hogging the spotlight whenever you can get it.
And boy was this spotlight. Thunder roared in the distance. Rain pelted the dome. Lighting struck against the barrier. Hard. Thank goodness for the Tree or they would all have died just then. The wind wailed dramatically, sparking fear to all. Except for Matthias. Matthias, on the inside, of course, because that's what matters the most of all, was laughing.
After Chiron's declaration, there was still, shell-shocked silence, followed by instant pandemonium.
Chaos.
Shouting.
Whispering.
Yelling, Hollering, Running. The people previously sitting next to Matthias scattered and fled, running as fast as they could, flipping over tables and tripping over each other in the process, scrambling to get out of lightning blasting range. Idiots. Zeus could just blast a bunch more lightning here if they all didn't die from one strike. What was the point of running away when he could already destroy the entire camp and surrounding vicinites? Matthias was pretty sure Juno wouldn't let him die like that though.
Words were muttered, rumors spread fast through the dense crowd.
"How did he..."
" Trick, must be..."
" Why would..."
More asked questions, like , how were you born, why where you born, how are you not dead yet, the like. Matthias stood there a while, patiently listening to all their words although not asnwering any. When they stopped, and when his legs got tired, he chose to play a nice little joke on them.
" Now, now, I'll have you know that I had no father. He was nonexistant. I was adopted." A lie, but Matthias always was good at lying. A girl with grey eyes spoke up, confusing evident in her face.
" Wait. You were born aesexually?"
" Jist of it, yep. Hera more or less just thought: So, like, Hephaestus was a dud, but why not try a second time? And POP! Out came me, voila."
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Matthias just grinned cheekily. "Well, then, I'm getting a tad tired, so I guess I'm going back to my cabin. Lights out. Bye!" He waved before meandering back to Cabin 2, refusing to look at 1 just in case Zeus was going to strike him down. He entered the door, feeling the cold brush against his skin, and nearly jumped when he saw 3 people inside. One with blonde hair, another with curly salt-and pepper. The final was dressed far more formally, with blue-tinted skin, green eyes, and long black hair, straight and in a short ponytail. He spoke first.
" Matthias Ardesen. Alternate Champion of Juno. Legacy of Venus. Presumed son of Hera. It is I, Prince Triton of the Seas, son of Lord Poseidon." he finished speaking, looking at the blonde. Matthias barely stopped himself from trembling in fear. He never actually saw a god before, let alone three. Were they here to kill him for lying? Probably.
" Name? Lord Apollo. Sun, music, archery, plagues. All my domains. Bow." He grinned as if he had just accomplished a grand victory, and it took Matthias a second to realize it was a Haiku. Finally, the third spoke.
" Eh, I have way too many domains to name. Just call me Hermes." Hermes crept closer and looked at Matthais, a wicked smile in his face. Matthias winced and closed his eyes, tensed, waiting to be struck down, whether by lightning or scepter, or arrow, or trident, or staff, or-
" And, man, I've got to tell you. That was one wicked prank."