Chapter 1:

776 years ago: Earth, the Milky Way Galaxy

A couple trudged along a boiling out river, limping with every step their feet took as they made their way closer to the Doors of Death. The girl was supported by the boy; he held her up with an arm around her waist as her cloth-wrapped ankle shook under her body's weight. They were both covered in blood and filth, looking as if they hadn't showered in months. Their clothes were torn to pieces, the boy using one shirt sleeve to wrap around his head like a bandana and the other to staunch the bleeding of a particularly deep cut on his arm.

"Percy," the girl rasped, turning her head towards the boy. He was panting with the exertion it took to carry both his weight and hers. "You need to take a break."

The boy shook his head and gasped between short breaths, "I'm fine, Annabeth."

"Percy," her voice was hard and decided. She was still able to give the boy a hard look even through the throbbing pain in her ankle.

He relented finally after a few more steps, carefully setting her down on the harsh skin of Tartarus. The place was a hellhole and pained both of them to see the other suffer through it. Annabeth blamed herself for pulling Percy with her. Percy blamed himself for not saving Annabeth in time. What a lovely self-deprecating pair.

Percy heaved in relief, relaxing his shoulders and closing his eyes as he took a breath of toxic air in. His lungs, of course, immediately rejected the toxins, so he stooped over in a coughing fit.

He received a concerned look from Annabeth as he felt as if coughing out all his lungs and insides. "Try drinking some more from the Phlegethon," she suggested.

A disgusted look crossed his face at the thought of tasting the liquid, but he nodded in agreement, nevertheless. Percy knew it would likely take an arm and a leg to cross the dangerous terrain of Tartarus and make it to the Doors of Death alive, so the least he could do was drink a bit of nasty liquid. He just had to remember all the Cokes he would drink to wash out all memory of the Phlegethon's taste once they got out.

As steadily as possible, he squatted to the ground and got onto his knees right on the riverbed. The flowing fire of the river glowed orange in contrast to his sea green eyes while he leaned over it precariously with his hands cupped.

Just before his hands touched the boiling water, a glint flashed through his vision.

Perhaps it was destiny, perhaps the Fates themselves planned for the dark metal to pass in his line of sight, to make his eyes double back to the spot he saw it. Some powerful force had to have been at play in that moment Percy saw a dark sword shining up at him from the bottom of the Phlegethon.

Metal twisted around its hilt, a Xiphos simple but elegant as it radiated mysterious power. A strange aura that itched at Percy's intuition to tell him it was out of place. And so was he.

"Annabeth," Percy's mouth seemed to move unconsciously, acting on its own accord—because, oh gods above, of course he couldn't just leave the sword alone, look away, and pretend it never existed. "I think I found something."

They could've walked away—no, they should've walked away. They didn't know of the butterfly effect soon to follow the event, but who really did? Percy always knew he was a magnet for trouble, but what he was about to get himself into was something so deep it would leave him reeling for centuries to come.

Present Day: Czion, the Hathodor Galaxy

Cads was in a local galactic space stop diner when the TechBand on his wrist started buzzing. It was a fancy little piece of technology wrapped around every Council-warrior's wrist. His eyes shot to the small square screen to see it blinking red. He wasn't really sure why they made the alert red—it made him feel like an urgent call for assistance was being made and not just a simple meeting.

"Great" grumbled Pj, from the bar stool beside Cads. He slapped his wrist angrily, turning off the alert also coming from his TechBand. To Cad's astonishment, he proceeded to reach his left hand out on the counter in front of them, grabbing Cad's shot glass and downing it in one gulp.

"Hey!" Cads scolded him as he placed the empty glass back where he found it, "What'd you do that for?"

"Because I needed that buzz."

He opened his mouth to argue that he needed it too, but a hand patted Cads on the head, surprising him slightly as a familiar voice began to speak, "He's got a point, Cads, we all know this call can't be good."

"Yeah," Cads spun his stool around to face Avalas's blue face and long vibrant violet hair, "too bad you're late to the party, you missed your chance of getting a cold one."

She shrugged as she turned and grabbed a random half-full glass that the diner owner had neglected to clean off the bar, simply chugging the contents of it. Pulling a face, she said, "Or a warm one."

"Why are you late, anyways?" he asked her.

Her face soured at his question, "Your lieutenant wanted a progress report and then proceeded to give me a uniform check." Her frowning face, matched with the short stature of 5'ft and blue tinted skin she inherited from her people on planet Kysh made her very comparable to a cute, angry blueberry.

Pj chuckled, "Did she give you a biscuit and invite you to play a nice long game of chess as well?" Cads expected Pj to be practically knocked out considering his alcohol intake. He probably shouldn't be surprised, though; they often left their base to enjoy several space stops like this one and Cads had long since learned his friend was a very sober drinker. He just sat next to Cads with the black-tinted "shades" he always wore covering his eyes while he took another shot.

Today, the trio had come to celebrate Cad's recent birthday, having to wait a week due to their busy schedules. He was now 127, so since he was still young enough to know his age, Avalas suggested they use the excuse to leave their base and relax. Cads wasn't into the idea as much; he wasn't even really celebrating his birthday since no one knew when it was, just the day he was sorta kind of adopted. He also happened to be very busy (as usual).

Avalas began to complain to Pj about her tardiness, but Cads interrupted them, "Guys, we gotta go! The buzz we got on our TechBands was red for an immediate Council meeting, remember?"

"Yeah, Pj," Avalas snickered as she stood up from her stool, "if you're late again, Chaos might box your ears."

"No, she won't," the shaded warrior grumbled. He had an unusually high tendency for walking in late on their Council meetings or simply missing them altogether. He would use the excuse that he was just busy with something, but Cads knew better and guessed his friend either forgets about the meetings or purposely avoids them. "Too boring," Pj always claims to Cads, "besides, I get enough death and depression without having to listen to reports about it for two hours straight."

Avalas and Cads shrugged, unsurprised by their fellow Council-warrior's attitude. It was a tendency of his to become imprudent and grumpy. Oftentimes, they learned to avoid bothering him too much when he was in a mood. Thankfully, Pj wasn't always as forthcoming. He could make jokes that would have the whole army laughing when he wasn't distant.

Since Pj showed no sign of wanting to be in time for the Council meeting, the other two trudged their way out of the space stop diner to see the starry night sky. A bright orange moon shone in the east as they strolled through the shipyard cracking a few jokes before transporting via Criztallised-style to base.

Eccentri, the Hathodor Galaxy

"—and then," Avalas's eyes filled with mirth as she choked down her laughter long enough to speak, "then he pulled off his clothes—mind you, the undergarments too—and he started streaking right in front of all of us towards the enemy lines!"

Cads pitched over, holding his arms to his chest to support himself, catching his breath as if he just ran several kilometers. "No way!"

"Way."

"And how'd Brown react?"

She shrugged, turning her on heels as they turned the corner of the corridor, "Oh, you know how Brown is: gave good ole Red a smartening glare with some pinched lips before turning her nose the other way. I don't reckon she completely condones all the ridiculous distractions we pull during battles, but she can't deny the results when Order's soldiers were too busy staring up Red's buttcrack to see the missile we launched at them."

Cads chuckled at the image Avalas described, unsurprised the Council-warrior would pull something so … revealing. "Brown is as stiff as they get, but she's a warrior to heart; she knows just as much as anyone here that a good laugh nowadays is hard to come by."

"I could drink to that."

They stopped in the middle of the corridor and at a pair of ivory doors. Cads tugged up his black bandana further up his nose, and next to him he could see Avalas doing the same to her purple bandana. Every one of Chaos's warriors wore a bandana to cover their face, but only the Council-warriors were allowed to wear other colors besides gray.

As the pair opened the ivory doors and entered the room, many people already sat around the rectangular table in attendance, all wearing different colored bandanas that covered their noses. The room itself was likely one of Avalas's favorites: a large window spanned the wall across the doors, allowing all a view of the churning sea below; arched beams of marble, twisted with both colors of ivory and ebony, adorned the tall ceiling; and the chairs they all settled in were crafted masterfully with twisted wooden armrests and leafed etchings that only could've been made with the hand of a true artisan.

Both friends took their respectful places at the table, Cads sighing heavily into his chair at the head of the table while Avalas scooted her's out from his left side, leaving herself to face away from the ocean view. Many of the Council-warriors ignored their entrance, but a few greeted them with some pleasantries.

"Rough day?" a woman to Cads immediate right asked him. Her face was mostly covered by a pale pink bandana, but her wide, amber eyes stared above the cloth at him in perfect compliment to her chestnut skin and curly afro.

"Something like that," he responded in likeness.

Four more Council-warriors filed into the room, but before the woman could say anything more to Cads, the ivory doors opened to a person that called to everyones' attention. Her skin was dark, an inky black as deep as the night sky. She had an angular face, sharp as her sword, and bright purple eyes mysterious as the void. Her hair was white in contrast to her skin, glistening as bright as the stars, and she wore a long white robe to match its beauty.

Chaos sat at the other end of the table, opposite to Cads. Her purple eyes raked across the room, finding all seventeen other chairs to be matched with a warrior, save for one.

She raised her eyebrow at the unattended chair, directly across from Avalas. "Is anyone in this room willing to go track down that darn warrior?" Chaos asked, "Because I would really like to push him off of the next roof I see."

"Don't we all?" Avalas muttered under her breath, though it carried across the room, causing many people to laugh and snort.

"Anyways," Chaos cleared her throat, calling the table's attention back to her as she began to speak, "I apologize for the short notice, everyone. I'm sure many of you have been in need of a break. You all have been doing a fantastic job, however, and I know these can't be easy times for any of us.

"The war with my twisted brother has been nothing but horrendous—many of you bear the scars to prove it. The civilian casualties have continued to grow, and we have unfortunately lost many planets to his conquests, but I promise you, there is an end—I feel it inside me, deep in my gut, in my very being—the final battle is soon."

The filled with a few murmurs as Chaos continued, "That being said, we must gather our forces: my brother has changed his plans. He isn't moving towards the Lexiva System to subjugate their capital as we first thought, but the Solar System. And that means the only planet he could possibly plan to attack there is Earth."

A few whispers and a few eyebrow raises occurred throughout the table, but Cads was rather confused. Taking over the Lexiva System was a smart and beneficial move for Order; he would then have plenty of use for their massive military and firepower the system had to offer.

Cads frowned, unconsciously moving a hand to his chest to fidget with a tiny chain necklace, dragging a ring looped inside the chain back and forth to create a small sound of grating metal. "But what good does Earth do for Order?" Cads wondered, "The system it's in isn't even a century close in light-years to any other intelligent planets."

"I think his interest lies less in the geography and more with the inhabitants. He, no doubt, wishes to obtain some powerful allies." Chaos explained vaguely.

"Powerful allies?" questioned a man sitting next to Avalas on her right. He wore a yellow bandana and sported several eyelid tattoos that must have been painful to receive.

Chaos nodded, "The gods, the Titans, the Giants, and even some of my children, the Primordials. I am sure he will attempt to either recruit or destroy many of them."

There were many gasps around the table as she spoke, but Chaos had ignored them. Everyone knew that Chaos and Order had left children on a few random planets, but they hadn't known about Earth. Chaos probably didn't want to advertise it too much.

"So what should we do?" a woman wearing white bandana asked next, crossing her arms, "Are we supposed to help them, or…?"

"My plan is to help anyone who will listen to us. The society on Earth lives a solitary life from the rest of the Universe, so people there are ignorant to my brother and I's quarrel (though many immortals are aware of our existence). I can't give any of you the information I want to involving what my brother's plan will be, whether he plans to completely take over Earth and destroy all the living deities or convince them to ally with him for a more concentrated attack on us, but either way, we need to get our forces to Earth."

"So, ally with them before Order makes any moves towards them." Cads summarized.

She gave a nod in his direction, "I believe the gods will be our best bet in terms of civil conversations. Many of the immortals on Earth tend to be rather…territorial, but the gods, more times than not, will hear what you have to say before trying to incinerate you."

"Erm," Avalas shifted in her chair, "incinerate, you say?"

"Yes," Chaos frowned slightly to herself, "WhiIe now that I think about it, I don't believe we want to chance one of you getting blasted by a lightning bolt. Perhaps the best plan of action will be to make contact with the demigods first."

"Demigods?" a man wearing a red bandana asked next. None of the other Council-warriors could complain about his annoyed tone, all being very new to this Earth talk.

"The mortal children of the gods," Chaos explained, "I do believe it is in our best interest to send a small group of warriors to one of the demigod camps—likely Camp Half-Blood since Greeks have more leeway—and attempt to negotiate for a talk with the gods."

People around the table nodded in agreement as Chaos addressed the woman to my immediate left wearing a brown colored bandana and having a slight green skin complexion, "What do you say, Brown? How do you feel about leading with yourself and two other Council-warriors in negotiations?"

She shrugged slightly, though her eyes gleamed with amusement at Chaos, "I'm free to lead, though I suppose it depends on which two idiots decide to tag along for if I'll want to."

Avalas stood up from her chair, giving a rigid salute towards the woman, "Ready and able, O' Great Warrior Brown."

Brown rolled her eyes so dramatically that she must've seen more than just the back of her eye-sockets, "Sit down, Purple, and I still need one more person."

Before anyone could offer their help to Brown, the ivory doors cracked open and in walked a man with a blue bandana, shades covering his eyes, and messy black hair. He began to walk over to the empty chair with his feet dragging against the ground, "Sorry I'm—"

"Ah, Blue!" Chaos exclaimed, making the man's head snap up to see her's, "So glad of you to come and volunteer for the new mission!"

"I … what?"

Cads chuckled at Pj's frozen form, facing Chaos in what could only be horror. "Yeah, Blue," Cads decided to play along, "didn't you just talk about how things were getting boring around the base and a mission would be nice for a change?"

"I never—"

Avalas interrupted this time, "You know, I think he did. Not to say he's always complaining about how boring the Council meetings are; that sounds a lot like Blue really is in need of a mission to calm his nerves."

Pj turned his head, looking up to the ceiling for some savior.

Brown raised an eyebrow at their antics, "I must say, Blue, if you really wanted to go on a mission this badly you could have just said something, but I suppose there's room for you—just make sure you're on time tomorrow for once."

"Very well," Chaos said in finality, sounding exhausted considering she is the one of the most powerful beings to walk the Universe, "I'm glad you all could make it, and the council is now dismissed, we will reconvene soon."

The table began to empty as the Council-warriors left to their duties. Pink went to drop a file beside Chaos and Pj began to follow Yellow out the door, but he heard Chaos call, "Now just one minute, Blue."

Pj sighed and turned around. Avalas sniggered at him as she passed, no doubt thinking he was likely in trouble, before gracefully exiting the room with her violet hair swishing behind her. Cads just rushed after her with a simple nod in Pj's direction.

Chaos waited till every single Council-warrior had left and the ivory doors both closed, meanwhile staring at Pj with her gaze seeming to bore right through his shades. "I'm sure you already know Order is planning to go to Earth?" she spoke finally.

He nodded.

"And why he plans to go there?"

It wasn't a question. She wasn't asking him about how Order was most certainly planning to ally with some of the immortals. She knew there was something else going on just as well as Pj did. But she also knew Pj knew more.

That doesn't mean much in this game unless Chaos were to know just how much Pj knew. But she won't. Not yet.

"And why would that be?" Pj asked her, his tone revealing nothing.

"Don't mock me; while I allow you certain leniency from your wishes to not disclose your time after Earth and before you conscripted into this army 259 years ago, I think you falsely accuse me of being blind with two ears cut off." Chaos leaned forwards in her seat, purple eyes glaring at him, "I know you have secrets, Perseus Jackson, and I know you know something involving my brother."

He shrugged off her glare, not easily intimidated by people anymore, "If you claim to reading people so well, then give me one good reason as to why I wouldn't tell you information regarding Order that could change the whole outcome of this war. Why would I act against you, m'lady, when my only wish is to see your brother be destroyed?"

She studied him for a long moment, though Pj wasn't sure exactly what she was studying since his face was completely covered. "So, you can claim with complete positivity that you have nothing you could tell me, whether in regard to my brother or anything else, that would change this war's outcome?"

"Ain't nothing changing with a few words, Chaos."

She frowned, dark lips pouting almost. She knew it was too much to hope Pj would switch the tides with a flick of his wrist. "On Earth," she started instead, "Will you tell them it's you?"

"No." his voice was as sharp and clipped as a rock. "When I conscripted, I made it clear that though I'll let you know my name, no one else is to know. That includes the people that knew me before."

"The whole known universe thought you dead till that strange afternoon 259 years ago when I read that conscription letter with your name on it."

"Indeed."

Chaos stared at him. Pj briefly wondered what she was thinking. She was refreshed by him the moment they met. By his bluntness and his insolence towards her greatness, by his refusal to be recognized, and even by his obvious secretiveness.

He began to walk towards the door, past Chaos. "See you at the next Council meeting," he grumbled.

She left out a laugh, "Will I, now?"

He reached for the ivory doorknob to the room, but—

"And, Percy," he lifted his head over his shoulder to tell her he was listening, "try to stay out of trouble."

With that he left Chaos to ponder her plans.

Author's Note: And ... the first official chapter! I know it's a lot of new characters all at once, but hang in there and I'll be busting out with a ton of familiar names soon. Anything here surprise you? If so, you might be getting a lot more surprises from now on.