AN: As per the challenge I issued in the last chapter I have selected a domain for Percy based on your suggestions. Also due to many of the arguments made I've the decision to give Percy a second ethereal domain that was inspired by what many wrote.

Now for our Winners!

So9iswhat, LoneWolf0729, and Darlok will have at least one of their suggestions used in my story. (Thank you for that by the way. Also Darlok I know you gave your recommendation back in chapter 28 but I promise I never forgot about it.)

In addition the following people have influenced the what domains he will receive and how they are interpreted: Ladis11, lostxinxthexdarkness, and DebaterMax. There are a few newer people who have posted their ideas but these are the ones that were present when I made my decision.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 55

Jason POV

It had been almost a year since Octavian tried to kill me in the desert. Even now I could still remember that day visibly. That moment when I walked into the senate having completed my quest. The Augur was beyond shocked to see us alive but when we told him of what happened he turned it to his advantage. Claiming that prophecies and the words of the gods are often open to interpretation.

When he asked how the water was provided. I made up an answer about finding a container of water. I couldn't risk letting Octavian know about the canteen. He passed up the quest claiming that he felt there was no need to prove himself. I knew it was because he feared the difficulty. Octavian never took on a task he wasn't sure he could complete and he was good at making his feats look greater than they were.

The way he passed the quest onto the fifth cohort left him open to claim a reward from us should we recover any spoils of war. My canteen didn't count as it was a gift but all it would take was one vote and he could force me to hand it over. Because of that I made sure to tell no one of it, not even my quest mates.

Much like I expected upon hearing that we had obtained some things during our quest he immediately took an interest. In the end he laid claim to a bejeweled knife used for sacrifices. It both suited his station and vanity.

Once we were dismissed I went to the one being I felt I could trust in the hopes of finding answers.

(Flashback start)

Walking into a back room of the Roman library I checked to make sure that no unwanted people were around. Thankfully it was early and no one ever really liked coming back here. The librarian tended to scare people off. Tarpia was a Lar and once a Vestal virgin and the only person I could trust to keep my secret and answer my questions.

Long ago she was in line to become the next head priestess but one of her fellow sister's became jealous and killed her. She'd been in the same situation as me and that's why I felt I could trust her.

"What do you want?" Tarpia growled. She wasn't exactly known as the friendliest of the Lares.

"I need your help." I said walking towards her "On my quest I received something related to the gods and I wanted help understanding the god who gave it to me."

"Then why not talk to your Augur? Surely he could answer your inquiries." She replied.

"Because I can't trust him." I said. "Just before the quest Miller announced that he was stepping down as praetor. Octavian has amassed a power base and we both know he's going to run for the position. Only myself and Gwen have the potential to beat him in that race. Then on my last quest he purposely led me astray in the hopes I'd die in the desert. He may say differently but I know what he did. He wants me either dead or out of the way, probably Gwen too. If I bring up an unknown god that helped me he'll take that and twist any knowledge about him against me."

I paused taking a moment to call down "You know what that's like, please lend me your wisdom."

Tarpia was silent for a moment then waved me over. "What can you tell me?"

"Not much to be honest. He's young, near my own age from what I'm told. He's the son of Neptune but I don't know his mother."

Tarpia sighed "If he's as young as you say then there's not much I can do for you. Most of my knowledge is of ancient beings and based on your information I can't give much more than suggestions. If you had something to define him by maybe I could do more. A symbol or a blessing might give me something but-"

"Wait! I do have something else. He enchanted my canteen." Said fumbling with the strap "There was a symbol on it but I didn't recognize it."

Finally freeing it I set it on the counter in front of her. Looking at it with interest the lar traced the picture with her finger. "A dragon could potentially mean many things, wisdom, strength, or maybe even pride but…" Tarpia tilted her head to the left and then to the right. Then she physically moved the canteen so the image was upside down. I always found it odd that Lars could actually touch things from time to time despite being little more than ghosts. "That's interesting."

"What is?"

"The symbol hidden in the dragon's scales. It's old, very very old. From what I understand it's part of a language all gods know instinctively. If he's as young as you say he is he probably doesn't even know he left it behind."

"Do you know what the symbol means?"

Tarpia nodded "I learned it when I was preparing to become the high priestess of Vesta. Also it's not just one symbol, it's four combined into one design." She waved her hand and four colors appeared on the canteen, using the dragon's scales to take shape. The original symbol I noticed was marked out in gold, branching off from that to the right was red. To the left was blue and above it was purple. "The golden symbol stands for domain, as in a god's domain. The three others marking that connect to it mark out three separate domains.

The blue markings when connected to the gold represent the domain of Chivalry though not in the modern sense. In ancient times a Chivalrous man was one that was Loyal, Courageous, Honorable, and Wise. These four things act like lesser domains for him. Small pieces that make up a larger whole. These lesser domains are not equal to a true domain but their presence must be noted as they are the cores of his true domain, Chivalry.

The red markings when connected to the gold represent the domain of Battle strategy. He is a skilled leader and can improvise in most any situation. He does not fear the battlefield but he does not love it either. He is more guardian than conqueror.

The purple markings when connected to the gold represent the domain of Horizons. This domain is unique among the others he was not born with it. Rather another god bestowed it upon him. He acts as the dividing line between two opposites whatever they may be. Sea and sky, night and day, sun and moon, life and death, even mortality and divinity. He is also what connects these things together. Demigods themselves are a representation of the horizon, the point where opposites meet."

"Wow." I breathed. Cliche I know but I didn't know what else to say. He didn't seem like much when I met him but now he felt so much more, I don't know, amazing I guess.

"There's more," Tarpia said, waving her hand once again. This time a small tint of green light appeared below the gold markings "these represent a domain he himself is not aware of and or has yet to access. This is strange since at his age the Fates should have revealed to him all the domains he possesses. Because of this I can't tell you any more than it exists."

With a snap of her fingers the lights faded from the canteen "That is all I can tell you, now leave me be."

(End Flashback)

"Jason!" Dakota called breaking me out of my memories

"Yes!" I said saluting.

"Ease up man this isn't a formal meeting." Dakota laughed

"Sorry, I feel like I have to be a model soldier lately." I replied

"I can Imagine, Octavian's been pulling out all the stops to get himself elected as the new Praetor. Did you hear the latest rumor he put out about Gwen? Claims she's been taking bribes to give up the better missions to other cohorts! It's complete trash and I know because I've been the one handling mission assignments!" I took a step back from the seething son of Baccus. Say what you will but Dakota didn't become a centurion out of luck.

Taking a few breaths to calm down Dakota gave one of his rare serious looks. "Octavian's been asked to lead a scouting mission around the base of Mt. Tam and he's requested you go along with him."

"You're kidding me."

"No but I did convince Reyna to add enough of her more trusted people to the mission. Hopefully having himself and his followers outnumbered will discourage Octavian from trying anything. Still watch your back out there. You supposed to meet up at the temple in an hour."

Nodding in acknowledgment we separated and I returned to my home. Most people stayed in the cohort barracks full time during their years of service. This was mostly due to the fact that most of the demigods or legacies that joined the legion arrived with little to nothing to their name. For those like myself who essentially grew up in new Rome there were some options. As an orphan who joined the legion I got a small stipend in addition to my legionar pay which I'd been saving up for years and after that quest to the desert I had saved enough to outright buy a small home for myself. Well home might have been too strong a word.

In my home I had a living, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen none of which could be called luxurious by any means and nothing compared to the homes given to the Praetors and Centurions. I also shared walls with my neighbors on either side. My complex looked more like a motel that had been converted into apartments. I did have an exceptionally large walk in closet but I never used it as such. When I moved in the first thing I did was tear out all the shelves, closet bars, and other such things that were unnecessary. Once I was done I converted the room into one of worship and built a small shrine to the one god that always aided me, Percy. I didn't have much to define him by so I spent over a month painstakingly carving the image from my canteen onto a slab of white marble, copying it surprisingly well despite being a novice. I used the slab as the focal point of the shrine, modeling it after one that was made for Apollo. Normally this was something only done for house gods but in rare cases it was done to honor a higher god, as was the case here.

Stepping into the room I knelt before it and said a prayer asking for protection on my coming mission. I did this every time I had been called upon by the legion and then I rose and dipped my hand into the basin that sat before the marble carving. Touching the right and left sides of the slab I let the water flow off my finger tips "To Percy." I said. Since Neptune had asked that I don't make standard offerings to his son I settled on this humbler option. As always the water seemed to be absorbed by the marble and I took that to mean my offering was accepted.

Leaving the shrine I attached my armor before grabbing my shield and set out for my father's temple.

Percy POV

'There it is again.' I thought, doing my best not to move. Stealth was key on this mission. Over that last year I kept feeling strange bursts of energy flowing into me. They were small and infrequent so I never mentioned them to anyone, well besides Apollo. He looked surprised but told me it was nothing to worry about. In fact it was a feeling that might happen more often as I got older and that I should pay attention to any impressions that came with them. Like always I had a brief image flash through my mind of Jason, older now, and a quiet question. It was almost like he was asking for help but didn't know if he was going to need it.

At first I just ignored the feelings but as them kept coming I eventually started responding to them in a sense. No that's not the right way to phrase it. I was accepting or denying the feeling with a positive or negative emotional response. If I responded negatively nothing happened but if I responded positively I felt a connection form. Usually nothing would happen and the connection would fade away harmlessly after a time. But once just once I felt it activate and form a moment my energy being drained away. Little was actually taken and the connection broke shortly after.

Even though the moment had been scary to me I felt good afterwards, like I made a difference somehow. When I told Apollo about it he sat me down and told me to be careful about doing such a thing until I was at least seventeen, maybe even twenty five, as a blind response like that could drain me considerably. He wouldn't tell me what it meant only that it wasn't his place to tell me, that my father would explain once the Fates determined the time was right.

I knew when dealing with the Fates things got complicated very quickly so I never brought it up with my father, or anyone really, but would it kill someone to explain something to me! I feel like I'm surrounded by questions and no one will give an answer to any of them. I wanted so badly to just seek them out myself but with a second titan war looming I didn't have time to do so. Maybe once the war was over I'd talk to my father about it, hopefully he'd say more than Apollo would.

In the back of my mind I could sense the feeling waiting for an answer. I met it with a positive response and a new connection formed. A hand touched my shoulder and I looked up to see Beckendorf giving me a curious look. I gave him an okay sign and he went back to steering our little boat. I couldn't even see the Andromeda yet but I knew it would only be two or three hours until we reached it.

AN: I hoping to post at least one chapter a month now that I'm back in school so I hope you'll bare with me.