XVIII. Goddess in Chains
Hades had left with his unconscious daughter, knowing the newly ascended goddess would take sometime before waking up – days, months, maybe even years…
Adra entered alone the gate to Kur.
It was a testament to how corrupted the realm had become – the air was poisonous miasma, and a multitude of creature roamed the area, former spirits whose body had rotten and mind broken, so far gone they couldn't even feel the natural fear toward a superior predator as they mindlessly attacked her.
Of course – she was deep in a Dream World by now, and it had taken but a second to unleash her aura. With each swipe of her sword, the twelve-tailed goddess was cleaning up the area. Most of the souls, she had to destroy, so far gone were they – a few, she could send over to the Immortal Realm, where it would take a long, long time before they were healing enough to enter the reincarnation circle again.
As she made her way deeper and deeper in the crumbling, decaying Dream World, she started to feel something faintly familiar.
Souls.
Mortal souls, yet rather new ones compared to all the ones trapped for millennia she'd had to free on her way.
Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange.
"Well," she mused "you aren't the wizard I was expecting."
"If you're after the dark lord, you're too late." the elder brother said biterly
"So… since you're already dead, you won't mind telling me what happened?"
"We found him, weak and barely able to possess even a snake." the younger one started "Oh you should have seen Bella cooing at him, and letting him curled around her shoulder! It was disgusting."
"He told us he had a way to regain a new body, to become as powerful as a god. So we took him to the ruins like he asked…" Rodolphus took over
"We went inside despite the creature's warning." Rabastan forged on "And there was this locket, with a gigantic emerald and Slytherin's coat of arm."
"But that thing didn't feel right." the dead Death Eater shuddered "And the snake was insisting that Bella couldn't touch it, because it needed her."
"It's only when we dying that we realized that he meant he needed her as an incubator." the other said, face still horrified at the thought "This thing sucked the life right out of me, and when my brother tried to help, it took him too…"
"There was this voice… Thanking us for our sacrifice, and laughing. It wasn't the dark lord, no it was far worse. But Barty and Bella didn't seem to realize."
"And now they're gone, and in nine month this thing will be born."
The two newly minds were still scrambled from their encounter with Nergal – but even though, what they saying was clear enough.
And terrifying enough.
No wonder she'd been able to clean the Realm so easily – Nergal had abandoned it.
He was possessing Voldemort – and soon, he'd be back in a mortal body.
[Life Quest Updated! The Girl Who Lived...
Goal Failed: find Voldemort phylactery
Bonus Goal Complete: you've learned Voldemort's plan for revival
Bonus Reward: +20XP, Sacrificial Lamb perk unlocked
[New perk unlocked
-Sacrificial Lamb(5PP): +10 to Necromancy
Available: 25 PP]
She'd sent the two soul on, then kept on cleaning up the area, loosing herself in the methodical killing of creature and judgment over the souls, purifying over three millennia of corruption as she went.
¤.¤.¤
[Multiple Hunts Complete (LV100)!
Reward: +3000XP, unlocks Galla's Claws,Galla's Sword and Galla's Heart, Rabasa's Shadow, Rabasa's Steps and Rabasa's Fangs, Ekimmu's Wings,Ekimmu'sTrick and Ekimmu's Body Perks]
[Life Quest Updated! The Girl Who Lived...
Hidden Goal Complete: you've cleaned Kur
Hidden Reward: +40XP, Spring Cleaning perk unlocked
[New Perk unlocked
Galla's Claws(1PP): +5 to Blood
Galla's Sword (2PP): +5 to Blade and Close-Range Fighting
Galla's Heart (10PP): youcan call your own life to add damages to your attacks (upkeep: 10HP/+1 Blood damage)
Rabasa's Shadow(1PP): +5 to Shadow
Rabasa's Steps (2PP): +5 to Stealth and Persuasion
Rabasa's Fangs (10PP): youcan steal the life of an enemy (upkeep: +1HP/10 damage)
Ekimmu'sWings(1PP): +5 to Air
Ekimmu'sTrick (2PP): +5 to Stealth and Bluff
Ekimmu's Body (10PP): youcan become intangible (upkeep: 10MP/second)
Spring Cleaning (10PP): +10 to all Holy Magic
Available: 25PP]
[Level up! You are now level 69!
+8SP, +2MC]
[Shadow Art progressed to rank 70
Abyss Art progressed to rank 60]
"You've done enough, sister."
Adra's head snapped toward the new arrival in Kur, as if coming out of a deep trance.
Pyxis eyed her with kinds eyes, and took her in his arms as she stumbled – she'd been so much in tune with her powers as a goddess, she'd nearly forgotten all about her mortal body over the course of the two weeks she'd spent in the corrupted realms.
"Sleep now."
"Sleep sounds good." she agreed, immediately falling asleep
He let his powers flare around the area, checking for anything that may had slipped under her radar – feeling a few lesser monster burn to crisps, but overall, nothing really important. Stepping back toward the shadow, he couldn't help but feel impressed with her work she'd downed in such a short time – if a bit annoyed that she'd done it at the coast of her own health.
But of course, he understood well enough why she'd done it.
With how corrupted and out of balance the Dream Realm had been – seeing it abandoned by it's current owner had been all the authorization she'd needed for her instinct to take over.
He would have probably been able to resist the call a bit better – if only because contrarily to her, he wasn't attuned to Chaos.
A multitude of eyes shone in relief as he arrived with the sleeping girl.
As days went by without any news from Adra nor Bianca, the people of the clan had been getting more and more antsy. While Pyxis, but also Anubis and Loki had been able to assure them that both girls were relatively alright, the "relatively" had been the problem.
Hades had dropped by three days after the disastrous events of the ruins of Kutha, explaining what little he knew – that something happened in the ziggurat that had made Bianca and Ereshkigal ascend as a new goddess, and that Adra was heading into the nearby afterlife when he'd left her.
Pyxis had immediately tried to check on her – but the realm she was in was so corrupted that it was difficult to open a portal toward it. He'd gone through the door of Kur a few times over the past two weeks, working with Bill, Julius and Leto to get rid of Riddle's ward and place their own, mixed wixen and shesh magic.
Over time, he could feel the Realm she was in settling down, until finally, he'd been able to open a portal to her.
"She'll probably need a few days of sleep." he warned them "But otherwise, she's alright."
¤.¤.¤
Hazel smiled softly as she watched Jason and Frank spar.
They'd quickly gotten along over the weeks they spent with Lupa. They'd trained their endurance, learned to hunt and live off the land, to fight for their life – then, the she-wolf had sent them off.
Walking straight – the journey was supposed to last about 24 hours.
Of course, it hadn't been that simple.
There had been Medusa who'd tried to transform them in her latest garden ornament, a couple of hell-hounds that clearly weren't the balls of fluff and love that was Ki Du – under his Mist form that is; and even a flock of feather-shooting bird.
All in all, they'd taken nearly three days to arrive to Camp , the two guards manning the disaffected tunnel that served as the hidden entrance were from the group that had been at Camp Half Blood, so they hadn't had any problem in gaining entrance.
[Life Quest Updated! Thunder Boy / Burning Brightly / A girl's best friend...
Goal Complete: reach camp Jupiter
Reward: +10XP]
Then they'd been taken to the augury – and the man had savaged the stuffed animals they'd grabbed on their way thanks to Gwen's advice.
It should really have been ridiculous, to see the seventeen year old girl, with golden hair making a wild halo around her head, a sharp face and gleaming eyes that didn't seem quite sane slashing thought a plushie's innards. Except it wasn't.
She'd given a pass to Jason rather easily, which wasn't too surprising given that the boy had completed the quest that had reunited Greek and Romans and made the gods take notice of New Rome for the first time in a long time.
Then, she'd taken a look at Frank's plushie, mumbled something about Poseidon's blood, and a broken curse, before decreeding him good to go.
And finally, her face had paled as she watched the fuzzy filling of her own plushie, which somehow hadn't surprised her that much. She knew better than anyone after all, that she had much to atone for, not to mention a curse that made it dangerous for people to be around her.
"You've been dealt a bad hand, poor girl, and dark days are still to come. But the gods are with you child, the heavy curse that laid on your shoulders has been broken by the Earthshaker's child in the depth of hell, and a new life gifted to you by the Rich One."
Hazel had broken down here and there, as the words "broken curse" echoed again and again in her mind. It was true, she realized – no undue riches had ghosted her steps ever since she'd stepped out of the afterlife.
Percy – hadn't just broken his mind-control when he'd shook the earth, apparently.
Once she'd calmed, she resolved to send a big thank you gift to the boy – but first, she had to enter the legion.
The trio's first view of the full legion was quite impressive.
Five cohort, each hosting about forty soldiers – all dressed for war.
Polished chain-mail and greaves over the purple camp t-shirt, sword and skull design on their helmets, leather combat boots reinforced with iron cleats – not to talk about the large, rectangular, red shields, pilum, gladius, dagger, and all the rest of their equipment.
Camp Jupiter was a very different place from Camp Half Blood.
¤.¤.¤
In front of the cohorts, the two praetors were watching the decurion take attendance in their respective cohort, then once attendance was confirmed, the blond augury called for "Colors!" and all five standard-bearers, with their lion-skin cape, stepped forward, holding pole each bearing their cohort's emblem.
Except the fifth cohort – Gwen had warned her, that while it wasn't as bad as it used to be, her cohort wasn't very popular, because their emblem had been lost during a disastrous quest that had also seen them loosing quite a bit of the legion's stocks of imperial gold.
"Romans! We've got three new-comers today, who trained with Lupa and made their way to Camp!" one of the two praetor claimed loudly
"They seek to join the legion! What does the augury says?" the other took over seamlessly
"The auguries are favorable." the crazed girl proclaimed "They are qualified to serve!"
Loud shouts of "Ave!" and "Hail!" were heard at that, then the senior officers of each cohort stepped forward.
The older looking of the two praetor turned toward the three of them "Recruits, do you have letters of reference?"
All three nodded – Adra had given them one just before they'd been left with Lupa, and Hazel had been rather happy to have been given access to Chaos Game, if only because it had made keeping the letter safe quite easier. Speaking about Chaos Game – that had been quite a surprise when the green eyed, black haired witch had sent her an invite, making her a Main Player and patiently teaching her about how it worked.
She'd been grateful, but a bit surprised, about why she'd been picked.
It had been Nico who'd answered with a shrug "You're touched by Fate." at her widening eyes, he'd quickly reassured her "Hey, that's alright, there's quite a bit of us. It means that we could do great things in life, and this is a great helping tool but…" a shrug "Look at Bianca! You don't need to be touched by Fate to be great!" the argument had worked quite well in calming her - Hazel had develloped a bit of hero worship for her half-sister after all
"We got three letters of recommendation from Adrasteia Potter, Envoy of Hades and Pluto for one Jason Lupin, son of Jupiter, Frank Zhang, unclaimed, and Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto." the younger praetor announced "Does any cohort want to claim them?"
All five cohorts were ready to accept Jason among them immediately, without much surprise.
Hazel got a more mixed reaction – Adra's hand in making people understand that death was but a part of life hadn't yet reached the Romans, except for those who'd gone to the Greek Camp. Still, word had spread of her part in the latest quest… In the end, only the third and fifth cohort came forward to claim her.
As for Frank – while he did have a letter of recommendation, not much was known about him. After a bit of hesitation, the fourth and fifth cohort stepped forward.
[Life Quest Updated! Thunder Boy / Burning Brightly / A girl's best friend...
Goal Complete: enter the legion
Reward: +10XP
Goal Complete: join the same cohort
Reward: +20XP, +1PP]
The trio hadn't needed to share a look. There was but once choice to make in this situation.
¤.¤.¤
"You've made a bold choice, probatio!" Gwen was laughing a few moments later "Refusing any other cohort for us dishonored punks of the fifth?"
"That's the only way we were staying together." Jason pointed out as they went through the armory, getting their standard package
"Especially you, golden boy!" she guffawed "Saying no to the first, they must be seething! You'll have to watch your back in the next war games, they're not going to let the insult stand!"
"Bah, they should have a better sorting system than this farce then." the son of Jupiter grouched
"Well the cabins of the Greeks aren't much more efficient." Hazel couldn't help but point out "Most of the gods have cram their children into Hermes' cabin."
"Well yes, but why not sort people… I don't know, according to their skills or specialties!" the boy pointed out, hands waving animatedly
"That… Could be great." Frank agreed "Put all of us probatio together for standard training, then after a while split everyone in even teams."
Gwen looked thoughtful "Yeah, that's not a bad idea." she agreed, before plopping a heavy armor in his arms "But if you want to make it work, you've got to make a name for yourself. One big enough for even the senate to listen to you…" a sigh "And there hasn't been a praetor from the fifth's legion since the sixties."
In the past few weeks – Hazel had learned to read Jason well enough to guess what his face meant – and in a single sentence, Gwen had just set the boy's goal for the next few years.
And between his natural charisma, keen mind and head-strong character, she had no pain seeing him actually managing it.
From there on – they'd become a part of the fifth cohort, and managed to fit right in with the misfits of the legion. Like Hazel had predicted, Jason's natural charisma was doing wonder for the usually down-throwed cohort, and soon, he was proving that was also quite skilled. As for Frank, the fact that he didn't know who his father was had been soon forgotten in view of his own talent, and natural tactical mind. Hazel herself had seen the wary glances thrown her way significantly decrease over the months, as she proved just how useful she could be – because she may not have inherited much in term of control over the dead, the daughter of Pluto had instead inherited an ability to feel the ground's nature, and found the hidden path under the earth.
Between the three of them – it had taken them barely a month after joining before they'd led their cohort to victory in the war games.
Now, nearly a year later, they were heading back home for the holiday – and by the time they came back, they''d be nearly ready to gratudate from their probatio status.
A good number of the people who'd been grumbling about the fact that half-bloods who came from families out of New Rome were now authorized to head home had seen their argument against this disappear as the children came back from home with renewed enthusiasm and not having lost all of their skill because of a few weeks of missed training like some had feared.
The fact that Jason, whose popularity was growing like weed, was one of the "go home club" members was also doing wonders in making the naysayers shut up.
While, when the first time to head back home had come around, around the end of the year, Hazel had been ready to stay at camp – Nico and Bianca had all but kidnapped her, and dragged her to England, and the clan.
For the girl who'd died in the forties, and had suffered a lot of her false reputation as a witch because of the curse caused by her mother's greed and gone to a Christian school– discovering the wixen world had been quite a cultural shock…. But by the time they'd headed back to camp, she realized that she was already looking forward to seeing the large family again.
She'd particularly hit off well with Akhet, who just like her was also a bit out of step with the mortal world – thought it was only during the spring break that she'd realized it was because he was a young god who'd spent the last two thousand year locked up.
This break, they would be spending two weeks in the clan with their family- they head to Camp Half-Blood to spend some time with their friends over there.
The first part of the holiday had been great – but then, just as they were preparing to head out to the Greek Camp, Bill had returned from his trip with Adra and Bianca alone, still feeling guilty for having ran, yet knowing he couldn't have done anything else in this situation. Hazel had sent Jason and Frank ahead, not able to leave her brother when the fate of their sister was unknown.
And now – now her father was saying that Bianca had become a goddess, and would be sleeping for who knows how long…
Nico and her had been splitting their days between their father's temple in the underworld and the clan, wanting to both look after their sister and be nearby when Adra came back.
But the time to get back to Camp Jupiter had arrived – and Adra still wasn't back. So Hazel had gone back, making swear the clan to take care of her brother, and to keep her updated on the situation.
Of course – things hadn't been going any better in Camp.
Apparently, Frank was on a quest and Jason had rushed back from the Greek Camp to raise the alert.
¤.¤.¤
Summer had started out so well, Pipper mused morosely.
Her dad and Leo's mum had taken a weak off, and they'd all headed to New-York – after all, this year, finally, they were deemed old enough to go to Camp! They had been waiting for this for years!
They'd both been claimed on the first evening.
Leo fit right in with cabin 9. While he wasn't as tall or burly as Hephaestus' kids tended to be, he was a genius tinkered, able to improvise things on the go – a real-life McGuyver, like his mu said. And he had fire. Fire! There hadn't been a child born with that gift in cabin 9 in ages, making him quite popular. Within a few weeks, he'd become Charles Beckendorf, the cabin's counselor, protege.
Pipper on the other hand had always had trouble reconciling with the fact she was Aphrodite's daughter, so being claimed… Yeah it had been annoying. Especially the elaborate make-up and change of clothes that had come with it, making her feel very much not like herself.
Then she'd discover the pinkish hell that was cabin 10 – and very much not gotten along with most of it's inhabitant. Silenas Beauregard, the cabin leader was alright – but most of the other children were vain and obsessed with their appearance and quick to judge people based on their look.
Pipper enjoyed sparring with her friends, didn't mind rolling around in the mud and generally didn't really give damn about her appearance…
Needless to say, things had started to get ugly really quick with her half-siblings. Especially with Drew Tanaka, an annoying black-haired daughter of Aphrodite who'd been gearing up to take over Silenas as soon as the older girl decided to leave Camp behind. But Drew's strongest weapon didn't work on Pipper, since she was much more skilled in charmspeak that the other girl – from there one, her half-sister had decided they were rivals, much to her frustration.
So once more, Pipper was ditching her own cabin.
It wasn't to hard to mingle with the children of cabin 11. With nearly forty different kids, poor Luke really didn't have the time to check all of them were present – or even if all of them were even from his cabin, and even when he realized she was there, he never outed her to her own cabin councilor.
And it was far more useful than what her own siblings studied.
Since each cabin set their own time-table – to the exception of the compulsory studies – Aphrodite's children tended to have far more time set aside to dress up, whole lessons on flower arrangement, and a bunch of other useless things.
Oh, there was a few sparing session here and there – but most of the time, it consisted of them staying on the side-lines, checking out the other cabin's kids and commenting on how hot they were.
Pipper really couldn't understand them – there was a war brewing, and everyone around them was gearing up for it, and were getting ready to fight for their life… What was wrong with those girls?
"A war doesn't only need brute warriors." Luke had patiently explained her one evening after one of her rants against her own siblings "Looks at my father's kids. We're certainly not relying on our brute force to win the fight!"
"They're not better at sneaky things either." a shrug, and a condescending sneer "And apparently healing is far too dirty for them."
"Yet who better than a child of Aphrodite to confuse an enemy?" he poked her in the chest "I remember how bad you were a few years back, you drove your father mad because you always got people to give you things."
She blushed "I'm better at controlling it now!"
"And when you don't control it and make half the other side all too eager to give you their weapons just for the chance of seeing you smile?" a smirk "When all your siblings do the same?"
The girl's eyes widened at that.
If they did that – cabin 10 may well be able to stroll the battle-field and sow chaos among the enemies without even lifting a finger.
"We all have our strengths." Luke pointed out "And your siblings strong suit isn't conventional fighting, but they are still here. And it may not seem much to you, but I can assure your that quite a few of them have been trying much more than before in the arena."
That – that was rather stunning, and both reassuring, as it proved they weren't as dumb as she feared… And a bit worrying, because they really weren't very good.
"You're very strong of a child of the Love Goddess."
"I know that." Pipper sighed – learning not to accidentally control people, between her over the top amokynesis and charmspeak, had been really hard and she still slipped up from time to time
"What you don't realize is that you haven't only gotten stronger talents from your mother from that. Just like the children of the Big Three, you've also inherited stronger fighting instincts and talents, even if you're not a battle-fiend."
Oh. This, Pipper hadn't expected. She knew that it was important to learn to defend herself – because of the monster, and because of the Titans that were stirring – but she wasn't really a fan of fighting like Thalia, Jason or Percy were, so she'd never considered that she could be talented in it.
¤.¤.¤
Her talk with Luke had helped the girl revise her judgment on her siblings.
They – didn't share a lot, but they were still family in a way. So instead of skipping the charmspeak lessons, she stayed and helped Silenas give them pointers, and made sure to always include examples that could help in a fight. And the kids of cabin 10 – reacted far better than she'd expected to it.
Unwittingly – despite the fact she was so different from them – Pipper had finally started to get along with her half-siblings, and was even starting to see just how and why Silenas managed the cabin like she did.
While she would never spend so many hours in the bathroom as Susan, Keith or Evelyn did – Pipper surprised herself as she realized that yes, spending a few more minutes on her hair in the morning really did help… And conversely, she did manage to convince a few of the cabin member to try a bit harder in the most "dirtying" activities – pointing out that being too perfect way well even play against them depending on who they wanted to seduce.
Of course – it was as she was finally started to enjoy her time at camp and even with her half-siblings that she'd managed to get herself kidnapped.
She'd been asked to go in the city to get a batch of potion from the wixen district – something that really shouldn't have been dangerous, in an out, a couple of hour top, mostly of boring bus travel… All the half-bloods that were familiar with the wixen district took turns in going there about every two weeks. While the official job was to bring back potion or other wix essentials like hiding charms or rune inscribing tools for the children of Hecate and so on – it was also an unofficial occasion to go shopping in the wixen district.
By the time she was on her way back – she was really thankful for her Inventory, as by the time she'd managed to buy all the things the other half-bloods had asked her to, she was pretty sure she had enough items to open her own miscellaneous shop.
She was nearly back to Camp when she got jumped.
Six men, wearing battle gear, infrared google, utility belt filled with tactical gear, a knife holster – And M16 rifle. What the hell was she supposed to do against rifle, she thought grimly – this wasn't something the twin daggers she'd looted from some giant snake a couple of months ago would help with!
She quickly sent a message via Chaos Game, then focused on dodging and keeping out of the troop's hands.
But mortals they may be – dodging bullets wasn't really something she could do, even if she could sense them coming her way far better than a normal person would. So while she did try to escape – she soon had a bullet in her shoulder, and she was pretty sure it wasn't more only because the mercenaries were trying to capture her and not kill her.
The seconds were drifting by, and, Pipper was getting wore and more desperate.
Then a silver arrow flew past her pinning one of the guys to a nearby tree, and Pipper felt some hope – even Artemis' hunters, no matter how much at odds with her mother they were, wouldn't just let a half-blood get abducted under their eyes, right?
Right.
On the other hands – the mercenaries clearly hadn't been instructed to avoid casualties, and apparently they didn't nee the hunters alive. Pipper heard a scream of pain – another of fury – and she realized there was only one way this could end without any more blood shed.
Letting her daggers drop back in her Inventory she took a step toward the men, hands raised in surrender – and carefully positioning herself between the hunters and them.
"Stop shouting and I'll surrender." she promised, lacing her words with some charmspeak
Right now, she couldn't convince them of much more than accepting her suggestion – she didn't know how but they seemed to have some sort of protection against her talent… But she hoped that once closer, she could make a better use of her voice.
She never saw the hit that knocked her out.
¤.¤.¤
Artemis had been with Dionysus when she felt one of her hunters starting to fade.
Given that her girls were not too far outside of the Camp – it was rather worrying. So she rushed toward them – arriving just as a helicopter was rushing off.
"My lady!" Zoë, her lieutenant, immediately called
The tall, dark-haired woman, whose face usually held a calm thought haughty expression, was quite distressed – and more importantly, covered in blood, though not her own.
"What happened?"
"Men." another voice all but spat in fury "Preying on a young girl!"
That was when a troop of half-blood arrived, ready for battle. Taking in the scene, they stilled, and their leader score.
"Fuck. They took Pipper?"
"If that's the name of that girl, then yes. Your friend gave herself up to prevent them from shedding more blood. She was very brave."
"They said they were taking her to the 'General'." another hunter added, not noticing her leader startling at that
Agitated whispers immediately echoed, all wanting to go after their friend, yet not even knowing how to start to look for her – none of them had a helicopter under hand to chase them after all - and pegasi were fast but not that fast!
"We need a quest!" the teens were soon claiming
"Calm down," Chiron, who'd just arrived, raised his voice "First, we have people to heal. Our oracle is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning, take that time to decide who is going."
This managed to settle the half-blood enough, and soon they were helping the more injured hunters up while all headed back in camp.
"Zoë." Artemis turned toward her lieutenant "There is an old scent in the air, and I must make haste." she looked at her hunters "Take care of the wounded, and wait for me here."
Her lieutenant looked ready to protest, then thought better of it. Then she eyed the agitated god-borns that despite their worry had already gotten healing balms and bandages since not all hunters had been half-bloods before taking their oath to the goddess.
"We have a debt to repay."
"Give what help you can." the goddess agreed, before turning toward her half-brother "I'll be heading out, take care of my girls."
"Good hunt." the god of wine nodded "We'll hold the fort."
In a few steps – she'd disappeared, leaving her lieutenant to shepherd the hunters toward the Big House for the wounded, and cabin 8 for the rest of them.
That evening, as everyone was still wondering who would go after Pipper, the lieutenant announced that the hunters too were volunteering, causing quite a stir – the handmaiden of Artemis, helping a daughter of Aphrodite? This was something that hadn't been seen in living memory… And some in the Camp had been alive for a long, long time!
¤.¤.¤
That night, several people had the same vision.
The scenery was suffocating, as if they were in a cavern where the ceiling was too low. Here and there, broken columns and other ruins of what may have once been a very old Greek temple, now laying in shamble.
But what really was bad about the scenery was the twelve-year old girl, with auburn hair and a silvery, tattered dress, with heavy celestial bronze chains bounding her to the ground, and the whole ceiling heavily crushing her shoulders.
In the following morning, Little Red was speaking a prophecy.
"Fourwho saw will go west on wings of fire
The West will help before sundown
The bane of Olympus to save the day
To the Titan's home will pave the way
But find your way before sundown
Or the war will grow more dire."
"Those who saw what?" was the confused whisper going around camp – until three people stepped forward, describing the same dream.
Chiron sighed at the strange group, while Dionysus had laughed merrily.
"Very well then." the centaur proclaimed "Zoë Nightshade, hunter of Artemis, Groover Underwood, satyr, Frank Zhang, unclaimed probatio of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata and Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. You have been granted a quest. Go forth, bring Pipper back and free Artemis."
Chaos ensued.
The four questers managed to slip out of it thanks to Beckendorf, who dragged them in the woods.
"I've got your ride guys!"
"You… What?" both the satyr and the hunter repeated with eyes filled with wariness at the over-the-top enthusiasm
Leo – Leo's eyes were shinning, as he realized "Of course, Wing of Fire! It's Festus!"
"Yeah, I've finished installing those wings you helped me design yesterday." the councilor of Cabin 9 nodded "He's ready for his maiden flight!"
"Sweet!" the younger boy crowed enthousiastically, stars in his eyes "But… Wasn't he made to protect camp?"
"He was." his half-sibling agreed, as a gigantic celestial bronze dragon stumbled out of the woods "And he will." he affirmed "Quest always help the Camp in the end."
Frank's eyes widened at the gigantic creature.
"Festus. Alright. A giant mechanical celestial dragon with a Roman name. Yeah, sure. Let's save Pipper and the Goddess of the Hunt on Happy the dragon!"
[Life Quest Updated! Tinker, Tailor / Burning Brightly...
Goal Complete: participate in the quest to save Pipper
Reward: +10XP
Goal Complete: find a ride West
Reward: +10XP]
Their ride found, the trio had split up just long enough to gather their belonging – and they were off.
¤.¤.¤
The first few hours had been calm enough, though by the time they were flying over Chicago, Leo had decreed that they weren't going fast enough, gaining a vexed huff from the mechanical dragon.
The son of Hephaestus had started to think at the base of the mechanical creature's neck, where buzzing disks and wires could be seen under a hatch – this was both the heart and brain of Festus he explained.
"Making him go faster is easy enough, but he'd need to be fed much quickly."
"Fed? What does a mechanical dragon eat?" Groover couldn't help but wonder
"Motor oil." Leo answered as if it was evident – to be fair, it was quite logical "And Tabasco Sauce too."
That – made even the rather serious hunter raise an eyebrow at the half-blood – and that despite the fact she'd done her best to ignore the trio of male she was stuck with because of their shared dream.
[Life Quest Updated! Tinker, Tailor / Burning Brightly...
Bonus Goal Complete: upgrade Festus' speed
Bonus Reward: +20XP, +1PP]
Still, thanks to Leo's tinkering they were clearly going faster. While it had taken them nearly five hours to reach Chicago, in under one hour they'd reach the border between Iowa and Nebraska, where they decided to make a pit stop to feed Festus.
It was as they took to the air once more that things started to go awry, dark stormy clouds gathering in the air around them.
"This can't be natural." Frank protested as the rain started
"It's not." Groover confirmed "I can smell a monster, but it's not one I'm familiar with."
Then – the thunder started, and the wind grew so strong that Festus was veered of course.
A piercing cry broke through the storm – and a gigantic bird appeared in the middle of the storm, thunder raging with each flap of it's wings and lightning shinning in it's eyes.
"That's a thunder-bird!" Zoë realized "We must have stepped in his territory."
"And I'm gonna guess it's a bad thing?" Frank guessed
"A very bad thing. You'd need at least twenty hunters to kill one." the dark-haired girl affirmed "And once they've given chase to a prey, they'll only stop once they're dead."
"Do they at least have a weak point?"
Zoë's dark expression was answer enough.
"Well that's not the only bad news!" Leo reported, once more by the mechanical dragon's hatch "Lightning is bad for Festus!" he claimed
Indeed, they cool see some of the wiring was smoking despite the rain – and Frank was pretty sure he'd seen at least one of the cog-wheel move out of it's axis.
The powerful winds whirlwinding around them were taking them more and more of course, and the storm around them was so dark they couldn't even see the ground below.
"Can't your satyr magic calm this thing down?" Frank asked his co-quester
"I'm not that good with satyr magic!" Groover reminded him "I mean I've gotten better, sure but still..."
"Well I'm not going down without a fight!" Leo said with a stubborn tilt of his jaw
"That's his 'I'm about to do something stupid' face." Frank sighed, getting a weapon out of his Inventory
"Is that Stygian iron?" Zoë realized
"Yeah, apparently I'm suited to it because of the death curse I used to have." the boy explained as Festus was making a sudden hard-turn and was now going straight toward the gigantic bird
Frank's spear wasn't a regular pilum – but a hasta, and had been Hazel's present for his birthday a few weeks earlier. He'd been stunned that she'd managed to convince her father to let her use the metal usually used only the god of death's own half-bloods.
Hazel had laughed, and explained that she had finally realized that her father wasn't as cold as she thought – he simply wasn't used to show his feeling. So convincing him to part with some Stygian iron for a child favored by Adra, touched by Fate and who'd been sticking by his daughter's side ever since she'd returned to life had been as difficult as he'd imagined.
Beyond the fact that Stygian iron could hurt even undead creature was were difficult to care of otherwise, and tended to prevent monsters from reviving for longer – what Frank really appreciated with the weapon was that it wasn't a regular pilum, but a hasta, a spear that wasn't made to be thrown, but to fight with.
It had been the weapon he was looking for – without knowing it.
¤.¤.¤
So when Festus finally was in range with the gigantic bird, and started grappling with it in the sky – the unclaimed Roman half-blood didn't hesitate, and jumped into the fight.
Groover mumbled something about crazy god-born, but immediately started to whistle a melody to help the quester be more sure-footed, that was surprisingly effective and Franck was pretty sure had to come from an anime's OST, thought he didn't quite remember which one.
Zoë hadn't wasted her time, several arrows heading toward the creature's eyes, while Frank was trying to make the bird crash, hasta digging in the joint between the body and the wings.
Leo – was trying to patch up Festus as soon as he was getting damaged, finger moving as swiftly and assuredly as those of a pianist as he juggled between the multitude of tools hidden in his Inventory.
They couldn't say how long it lasted – Zoë had emptied her quiver, and joined Frank of the monster. The creature's eyes, riddled with arrows, were now only a low simmering of lightning, and the screams of fury had been replaced by pain.
They were loosing altitude faster and faster- and finally, in a large cloud of dust, Festus and the thunder-bird crash-landed in the middle of a dry, desert landscape.
The monster tried to fight back a bit more – but Festus, while he'd taken some damages during the fight, had also dealt his fare share of it. With one last hit from Frank's hasta – the gigantic creature disappeared in a large cloud of golden dust.
[Hunt Complete: Wakinyan(LV100)!
Reward: +10XP, unlocksWakinyan'sGlare,Wakinyan'sWings andWakinyan'sEyesPerks]
[Life Quest Updated! Tinker, Tailor / Burning Brightly...
Bonus Goal Complete: you've defeated the Wakinyan
Bonus Reward: +20XP, +1PP]
[New Perk unlocked
Wakinyan's Glare(1PP): +5 to Lightning
Wakinyan's Wings (2PP): +5 to Orientation and Wild-Life Survival
Wakinyan's Eyes (10PP): your eyes are as keen as the Wakinyan, letting you seen far further and far more accurately than any human
Available: 25PP (Leo: 14 PP / Frank: 17 PP)]
The four questers fell to the ground, leaning tiredly against Festus.
Just as they were starting to catch their breath, all four startled.
A warm breeze, far more pleasant that the scorching summer sun, spread around them.
Grass and plants seemed to sprout all around both Zoë and Groover were suddenly looking much better. Then things grew even stranger as the wave of unknown power swirled around the battered form of Festus – changing the dragon as it went.
Groover seemed to be in a trance as he called "He's here!"
"What's… What's going on?" Leo asked, eyeing worryingly the automaton that had been entrusted to him by his cabin's councilor
"The Wild." Zoë answered with reverence in her voice "We've been blessed by the Wild."
Festus got up, damages done by the thunder-bird gone – but his movement were very different from earlier, less mechanical and more…
"He's… He's alive!" Leo realized, stuck between awe and panic
¤.¤.¤
The son of Hephaestus was right – while he was still covered in celestial bronze scales, and cog-wheels could be sen here and there, his movement now held the easy elegance of a predator, and the ruby eyes now held a vertical, cat-like pupil.
"Wow." Frank whispered, hesitating a bit before coming near to the dragon once more
The large creature lowered it's head toward hit and nudged him with a snout nearly as large his face.
"Well," he mused "I don't know why, but it seems that someone is helping us!"
[Life Quest Updated! Tinker, Tailor / Burning Brightly...
HiddenGoal Complete: you've received an unexpected help
Hidden Reward: +40XP, +Blessing of the Wild perk unlocked]
[New Perk unlocked
Blessing of the Wild(7 PP): +10 to Wild Affinity, +5% HP regen
Available: 25PP (Leo: 14 PP / Frank: 17 PP)]
"That's Pan!" Groover said happily "They all told us to give up, to admit that he was dead! But he wasn't!'
Zoë was more stunned than extravagantly happy as she said "I really don't know what else it could be… But he hasn't been seen for nearly two thousand years!"
"It's impressive but right now we have a quest to finish, the sooner the better… We don't know what they wanted with Pipper, or what's happening with your Lady." Frank reasonably pointed out
"You're right." the hunter agreed with some reluctance
While she wasn't as extravagant as Groover in her reaction – it was clear she wanted to investigate too.
"Where are we anyway?" the Roman demigod wondered looking around him
"Given the look of this area, the dry ground, the sun, the vegetation…" Zoë mused "I'd say we've been dragged toward the south." a shrug "Probably Arizona or New Mexico."
"Let's find the nearest town." Leo mused "If you want to come back to investigate later, we need know where we are."
Soon, the four of them were back in the air, and finding that the nearest town was Roswell – they'd been pushed nearly twelve-hundred kilometers off course in barely an hour.
"So I've just received a message from Jason." Frank announced "Apparently, the Princess Andromeda was spotted near San Francisco. They're heading toward Stinson Beach."
"I guess the beach isn't the problem, right?" Leo asked rhetorically
"It's the nearest beach to Mount Othrys." Zoë answered before Frank
All four winced as their fears were confirmed.
"It's not the ceiling she's carrying. It's the sky." Frank stated grimly
¤.¤.¤
It had taken them a couple of hours to reach the Roman Camp, where they landed on the empty Fields of Mars.
The two praetor were there, as was Jason and the whole fifth cohort, ready for war.
"Without proof, we can't convince the senate that the whole Legion must go to war." the younger of the praetor explained, looking tired – clearly he already had tried to convince them
"But if the fifth cohort's exercise just so happen to lead them near mount Tamalpais…" the other shrugged "Well, there's nothing to it right? The place is supposed to be empty…" his smile was full of teeth "And if it just so happens that the place isn't empty…"
"Then we'll do a bit of spring cleaning. Summer cleaning. Whatever!" proclaimed Gwendolyn loudly "Fifth cohort! We're marching out!"
"We've got a bus ready to go." the other centurion of the fifth cohort, Lakshan Dewan, explained as they followed the cohort "It'll take about an hour to reach the trail, then we'll be going by foot." he eyed the sky "It'll be a bit short but we should manage to reach the garden before sunset."
The questers were debating between going on ahead and waiting for the fifth cohort.
The choice had been made when Festus' stomach had loudly grumbled.
During the hour needed for the car trip, they fed the dragon – learning that he still liked motor oil and Tabasco sauce, though apparently he could now even chew the plastic and glass containers – and taken the time to eat a bit themselves, since they'd been on the move since the morning.
Since it was dinner time, the mess was full of legionaries of all age – except for the fifth legion of course.
That was why the sudden appearance of a monster in the water fountain didn't go unnoticed by anyone.
"Wait!" Groover shouted as weapon were taken out "He's… he's asking for asylum!"
"Can a monster do this?" a young voice wondered among the legionaries
"That's the Ophiotaurus." Zoë realized as she eyed the creature with the top half od a bull and the bottom of a sea-snake "The bane of Olympus from the prophecy!"
"Then we should kill it!"
"He doesn't look really dangerous…" another voice mused – which was true despite the snakey bottom half, the monster had rather kind brown eyes and seemed rather sweet, if not a bit stressed
"He isn't dangerous!" Groover agreed loudly "They want to sacrifice him to give the Crooked One more power!"
"Then we have to protect him." another voice affirmed – and this time, all seemed to agree
That was when a probatio came barging "There's mortals! Mortal attacking the tunnel entrance!"
"Raise the alarm!" the older praetor called "I want the first cohort at the gate, the second to take this creature to the field of Mars and protect him at all cost! I want the third to scout out and check that anyone else isn't using the mortals as a diversion! The fourth, be ready to assist on any front!"
The second praetor turned toward them "We'll hold the line here. May the gods be with the fifth and with you."
[Life Quest Updated! Tinker, Tailor / Burning Brightly...
BonusGoal Complete: the legion will protect the Ophiotaurus
Bonus Reward: +20XP, +1PP]
Goover explained to the monster that the legion would protect it, and they left. They could hear a centurion of the second cohort ordering someone to fetch a faun to translate for the monster – and soon they were back in the air; and heading toward mount Tamalpais.
¤.¤.¤
"OK, so next is the queen's garden, right?" Leo mused with a worried sigh "Like… The trial even Heracles didn't manage himself and instead tricked the Sky Holder in doing for him…"
"Well we're not trying to steal anything contrarily to him, just to pass through."
Festus was flying low over the now walking cohort, and they were now more than hallway to the top. With each passing moment, the mist was growing deeper, and the scent of the eucalyptus tree around them becoming stronger and stronger.
"We're near." Zoë whispered, smoothly sliding down Festus' celestial bronze body to land in front of the cohort "You'll need to focus on me if you don't want to get lost." she warned
Following her – was hard, and all were thankful she'd warned them. At first, she'd nearly disappeared in heavy mist – then, step after step, it became lighter.
When the mist finally disappeared, the grass was thicker – the sun, blood red, was nearly disappearing under the sea and the summit of the mountain, swirling with clouds and raw power, suddenly seemed far nearer.
There was only one path toward the top, leading through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers – the garden of twilight. The place was so serene and beautiful it made people want to stop for a moment, lay in the silvery grass, take in the scent of the luminescent flowers or take a bit of the large, tantalizingly mouth-watering golden apple that weighted every of the five-story tall tree that was in the pride of place of the garden.
Or rather it would be – if not for the terrifying monster coiled around the tree. It's body, covered in glinty copery scale rather similar to Festus' own, was as big as Adra had described the basilisk to be – but instead of only deadly head, this one had over a hundred
[Life Quest Updated! Tinker, Tailor / Burning Brightly...
Goal Complete: enter the Garden of Twilight
Reward: +10XP]
It was still sleeping for now… But all knew that as soon as they stepped a foot in, or over the garden, it would awaken.
Then, the shadows began to move – and four figures shimmered into existence – four gorgeous looking women, all bearing an unmistakable resemblance to the hunter that was still in front of them.
"You should not have come." the eldest said
"We've got business at the top, we mean you no harm." Frank pointed out logically
"It doesn't matter," another answered "harm or not, no one is allowed to pass here."
"Yeah? Then you've done a piss-poor job of it." Leo taunted Because there's a party going on up there, and we're the guests of honor!"
This – angered the four spirits, yet they still weren't moving from their place. Frank's eyes widened "Oh. You don't want to wake him either, do you." he laughed "Such a good guardian you trained that now even you're afraid of him!"
"Then should we have a meet and great?" Leo taunted "Festus! Go say hi!"
"Are you completely mad!" another of the Hesperides shrieked in disbelief as the celestial bronze, newly alive, dragon let out a mighty roar
The next moment, a hundred pair of eyes came alive at once, intently watching the one who dared challenge him so blatantly
"He's been trained to protect the tree." Zoë said urgently "Skirt around the edges of the garden, and as long as there's a bigger threat he should pay you any attention!"
¤.¤.¤
Wall on a side, and shield on the other, the fifth cohort did just that.
Festus was now spitting a large stream of fire, making Ladon shriek angrily and try to rush toward him – the other dragon merely took a bit of altitude, while Groover, Leo, Frank and finally Zoë were reaching the other edge of the garden.
[Life Quest Updated! Tinker, Tailor / Burning Brightly...
Bonus Goal Complete: escape Ladon unscathed
Bonus Reward: +20XP, +1PP]
"Wouhou! Who's the biggest bad-ass dragon!" Leo crowed enthousiastically as Festus dived toward the other dragon, dodging in a roll-barrel at the last second – and proudly coming to glide back above their head
"It was quite well done indeed." Zoë agreed "But do not underestimate Ladon, if he was not instructed to protect the tree at all time, he wouldn't have been so easily fooled."
Even now – the hundred-heads dragon looked furious, tail violent stomping the ground and heads angrily hissing.
Now that they'd gone past the garden, they arrived at the top of the mountain, where ruins were strewed around. Broken blocks of black marble as tall as a mortal, half-melted bronze statues.
It was like the questers had seen in their vision except – except it looked less broken down and dilapidated.
"It's repairing itself as they gain their powers back." Gwen whispered, not daring even thinking their name in that place that had been the siege of their power – the one before the gods
At the top of the mountain, just like in the questers' dream, Artemis' child-like body was bending under the weight of the sky.
Zoë ran forward, trying without success to break the celestial bronze chains with her silver dagger.
"How touching." a voice drawled mockingly
Not far from the cliff-side that was the other side of Mount Othrys, stood a tall man – no titan, that could only be what he was given how tall he was and the powerful aura he emitted – with dark hair slicked back, hard grey eyes, a regal face with a proud, haughty expression that was somewhat familiar…
By his side, there was Ethan Nakamura, Pipper by his side with her hands bounds in her back and a gag in her mouth. Half a dozen dracanae were carrying a large golden sarcophagus that could only be the one Thalia, Luke and Clarisse had encountered a few months before.
"This is your last chance." Ethan warned "Cease your useless struggling and you'll have your place in Kronos' army!"
He was talking boastfully – but he was looking pale and weakened.
"You look a bit peaky." Leo mused with false concern "The health plan not all what he was rumored to b on the other side?"
"Bah! Laugh all you want! In the end you'll fall with your gods!"
"Not if we kill you before!" Jason was the one to answer, the fifth cohort roaring it's approval behind him
"Bah! A few Romans rejects," Ethan laughed "the shame of the legion! What do you think you'll be able to do against my army?"
The Princess Andromeda was visible from there, they realized – as was the torrent of monsters unloading from her.
"The shame of the legion we may be." Frank agreed, hasta in hand – a weapon looked down by the other legionaries, indeed "But at least we're no traitors!"
"We can still fight, and die!"
"Then you will die!"
¤.¤.¤
The fifth cohort rushed toward the dracanae, while Frank's hasta was barely shielded by Ethan's strange looking katana. Leo was fumbling with some tools in his Inventory and hacking at the goddess' chains, while Zoe was aiming her arrows at the weak points of the enemies so fast she was a blur..
Jason turned toward Atlas.
"Don't!" Artemis warned
The son of Jupiter knew he really shouldn't – that as long as he didn't attack the titan, the titan couldn't attack him directly either – it was the law of the immortals.
But the thing was – there was nothing preventing him from calling for reinforcement faster, or coordinating the monsters – and there was a reason why he was called the General.
No, no matter how stupid and dangerous it was, Atlas needed to be distracted.
"Trying to fight us is pointless!" Ethan was saying again, as he parried all the attacks of Frank, who no matter how skilled he was still was nearly five year younger "Soon, we'll have victory in our hands!"
"If it's for the bane of Olympus you're waiting for," Leo contradicted him as he stepped away from Artemis, now unchained though still under her rock "I've got a bad news for you."
With that, he was jumping in the fray, side by side with Jason.
"You're little mercenaries, against the might of New Rome? Yeah, I wouldn't like the odds if I was you." the son of Jupiter concurred with the son of Hepaestus
Against them, Atlas' suit had been replaced by a full Greek battle armor. Astrike of the titan's javelin sent Jason flying, his back hitting painfully against a black marble wall that hadn't been here a moment before.
"Fool! You think because you are the son of that pathetic king of the gods, you can beat me?" he raised his weapon to finish him off – but had to dodge an arrow before he was able to
In the distance, Frank noticed that the monster army had encountered the patrolling cohort – a fight had started, but they clearly weren't enough.
"Festus!"
The dragon nodded his understanding, taking off toward them and soon bringing fire and death to the horde.
Meanwhile, Leo was trying to get up again – he'd pushed Zoë out of her father's attack, but hadn't managed to completely avoid the hit himself. Right now, he was pretty sure he had at least three broken ribs, probably more.
Pipper, who'd been freed by one of the legionaries, had joined the fight and was taking out her frustration at having been kidnapped in her every attack – but even like that, it wasn't enough.
The dracanae had been dealt with – and seeing as he was outnumbered, Ethan had retreated toward the cliff, jumping under the stunned eyes of the Romans – a few moments later, they realize a ventus had caught him, and was carrying him toward the Princess Andromeda.
The fifth cohort turned their attention back toward Atlas, and started to attack with the questers, under the melody of Groover's reed pipes, that was helping them react just a bit faster, dodge just a bit better.
¤.¤.¤
Still – the battle was taking it's toll, on the titan, but mainly on the human.
One legionary, then another fell, never to get back up.
Lakshan was bleeding out – and it was clear that even ambrosia wouldn't be able to heal him this time.
Frank frowned as he eyed the situation.
They needed a plan – and quick.
His eyes fell on the goddess still trapped under the sky, and his eyes widened.
Dodging out of the titan's attack, he managed to get to Jason and Gwendolyn.
"I've got a plan."
It had taken a bit of time to inform everyone about his idea.
It had take surprisingly little time to make it happen.
The fifth maybe considered as the worst of the cohort – they still were Romans, military formation were their bread and butter.
Leo, with his fire, and Zoë and her arrows took the flank, making Atlas move toward the position they wanted to little by little. When finally he was right in front of Artemis – the full cohort fell in a column and charged ahead, Jason at the front gathering the strongest win he could to give them a stronger impulsion.
This time – it was Atlas that went flying.
Right under the sky, which Artemis had dropped but a second before, easily guessing at the god-borns plan.
[Life Quest Updated! Tinker, Tailor / Burning Brightly...
Bonus Goal Complete: Atlas is back in his old position
Bonus Reward: +20XP, Holding up the Sky perk unlocked]
[New Perk unlocked
Holding up the Sky (10 PP): +5 END, +10 to all Resistances
Available: 25PP (Leo: 14 PP / Frank: 17 PP)]
"You have done me a great service." the goddess praised, looked better by the second now that she had been released "But I fear your battle is not done."
With that, she'd nodded toward them – and disappeared. This after all, was a battle between mortals now that Atlas had been pushed back under the sky – she couldn't interfere carelessly. Still, they all quickly realized that a new weapon had appeared on their belt – a silver hunting knife, usually only used by the goddess' hunters.
The goddess gifting anything to so many people, not to mention a good few among them male, was all but unheard of!
But right now – they didn't have time to marvel about this. Just like Artemis had said, Ethan was back, with a horde of flying monster- his objective was clear, but while they managed to put down a few more monster.
They tiredly prepared themselves to battle once more – eyes widening as they realized that each time they came too close to the golden sarcophagus, the air grew colder, whispers echoed in their head – and more importantly, it was as time itself slowed for them without affecting the enemy.
Soon – Ethan had managed to get away once more, this time with the golden sarcophagus.
Leo called for Festus, the dragon quickly flying toward them.
It took several trips to carry everyone down by the on-going battle – but thankfully it didn't last much longer, an unknown signal having been probably been given from the Princess Andromeda as the monsters were soon retreating.
It was two tired cohorts – plus Zoë, Groover, Leo and Pipper – that headed back to Camp an hour later. There too, blood had been spilled, and the mood was somber.
Fighting against mortals with firearms wasn't something they were prepared for -and while they had the advantage of their superior speed, strength and instincts, there still had been casualties here too.
¤.¤.¤
The bodies were prepared for their last travel, with Denarii under their tongue, and Hannibal the war elephant had to take the body of two dozen of legionaries, mainly from the first, third and fifth legion – pulling them to the temple of their parent, were a funeral pyre was then set aflame after a last symbolic meal.
Then, late into the night, a feast was held – that was just as much a celebration of those that had survived as a wake for those that were gone.
Frank, Jason and Hazel were officially promoted from their probatio status, Marcus Carter, the older praetor, clasping their bare forearm – and with a swirl of the magic granted to his position, and a burning pain that would usually been unbearable yet right now was barely worth noticing – the letters SPQR and a I were scorched in the tender skin. There was also a symbol, different for each of them near the four letters – the symbol of their godly parent.
Frank's eyes widened in disbelief as he realized that even on his arm a symbol had appeared.
That was when the legionaries started to kneel – and he realized that he was finally being claimed.
"All hail Frank Zhang, Legionary of the fifth cohort, son of Mars and legacy of…" there was a small hesitation from the praetor, as if listening to something only he could "...Poseidon."
"Ave."
The Romans had been quite curious about Groover – as the idea of a faunus going on a quest, or simply being useful to the legion was alien to them… Yet clearly, Groover was upsetting all their convictions just by being there! The satyr had been all too happy to confirm that as wild spirits, the faunus couldn't adapt to the rigid military laws of the legion; but that it didn't mean then couldn't give anything useful to New Rome at all – helping crops grow, sniffing out half-bloods and monsters, tracking people... The satyr didn't know it – but in an evening in Camp Jupiter, he'd laid the foundation for what would become the Faunus Ranger Corp and Faunus Agricultural Association.
The next day, Leo, Pipper, Groover and Zoë had headed back toward Camp Half Blood – to feast to a quest complete, and bring back the news of the first battle of what was gearing to be the Second Titans Wars.
ADRASTEIA LV 58 (14 YO)
BODY
Agility 18(40)
Strenght 14(26)
Endurance 14(22)
SPIRIT
Intelligence 12(49)
Wisdom 18(37)
Fortitude 12(33)
HEART
Empathy 15(25)
Perception 12(33)
Sociability 16(26)
LUCK 15(34)
MC UNUSED: 2
PERK ACQUIRED (96PP spend, 25PP available)
Black First Rite (1PP): grants Easy Black Magic Potency (+10 to Easy Spells of Battle Magic, War Magic and Curse)
Moon First Rite (1 PP): unlocks Light Battle Aura (+10 to all damages)
Potter First Rite (1 PP): unlocks Sensing Skill up to 25 SP
Ravenclaw First Rite (1 PP): unlocks +10 to easy memory tests and +5 to Mentamancy Skill
Moon Aura (2PP): unlocks a battle aura that grants +10% to all damages when active, and drains 25 MP per minute active
Khonsou'Small Favor (2PP): grants Easy Shielding Magic Potency (+10 damages parried by Easy shield spells)
Thot's Small Favor (2PP): grants Easy Healing Magic Potency (+10 healing done by Easy spells of all Healing Schools)
Black Curse Magic Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to curse
Lovegood Divination Magic Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to divination
Moon Strategy Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to strategy
Peverell Healing Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to healing
Potter Transfiguration Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to transfiguration
Ravenclaw Rune Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to rune
Black Magical Potency (4PP): Grants +10% to MP
Lovegood Light Magic Seeing Ability (4PP): unlocks magic seeing skill up to 25
Moon Blood-stealing Aura (4PP): the Moon aura now allows the user to get back your Blood Skill % of HP per attack
Peverell Reiki Potency (4PP): grants +10% to RP
Potter Reiki Potency (4PP): grants +10% to RP
Black Heir (free): grants +5% MP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen (All Regen rate +5%)
Moon Heir (free): grants +10% KP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen (Atavism)
Peverell Heir (free): grants +5% RP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen (HP +10%)
Potter Heir (free): grants +5% MP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen (RP +10%)
-Slytherin Heir (free): grants +10% MP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen
Jack of All Trade (5 PP): +1 SP per level
Natural Genius (2 PP): double book learning rate (locks Hard Work Genius Perk)
A Father's Strength (5 PP):+5 to all Communication
Blood of the Pharao (5PP): unlocks all Egyptian Magics
Cyclop's Skin (2PP): +5 to Physical and Elemental Resistance
Slytherin Member (free): +2 WIS, access to the Slytherin Students Rooms
Gryffindor Honorary Member (free): +2 SOC, access to the Gryffindor Students Rooms
Ravenclaw Honorary Member (free): +2 INT, access to the Ravenclaw Students Rooms
Hufflepuff Honorary Member (free): +2 EMP, access to the Hufflepuff Students Rooms
Slytherin Knowledge (2PP): +10 to parselmagic
Ravenclaw Knowledge (2PP): +10 to seeing magic
A Spirit's Guidance (5PP): +10 to True Form
Cyclop's Lungs (10 PP): grants the ability to breath underwater
Gryphon's Wings (10PP): grant the ability to summon and dismiss wings
FIRST PATH - (+10% MP and RP, +5 to SPIRIT MC, +10 to Magic Skills)
AWAKENING PATH - (+10% to RP regen, +5 to HEART MC, +10 to Weapon Skill)