Perseus knew that this would happen, he just didn't want it to be so soon. Mira was a strong but young girl and even though she knew the faults in the Gods, her mind couldn't really process how bad they actually were. The only way she would see the truth would be to experience herself, which he had initially wanted to avoid. It was the fate of a demigod to make it to one of the camps or die in the process.
Staring at the soft crackling fire in his living room, he sighed and closed his eyes, hoping to calm his nerves. Perseus was interrupted from this when there was a soft knocking at the door of his house. He wasn't expecting anybody so he reached out with his senses and determined that it was Rhea.
With a wave of his hand, the front door opened and Rhea stepped in with her signature smile on her face, seeming to make Perseus' mood a little better than before. When she entered the room, Perseus got out of his chair and wrapped his arms around her. Rhea, while surprised at first, welcomed the hug and returned it.
"What happened Perseus," Rhea said soothingly, rubbing his back gently. "Where is Mira?"
He didn't respond at first which made Rhea tense up a little bit. "At Camp Half-Blood," he whispered.
Rhea backed away from the hug with a surprised expression on her face. Her brother couldn't have sent his daughter to that camp, he didn't like the Gods so he would never do it willingly. "How?" she asked simply.
Perseus just sighed and gestured for her to sit down in a chair next to him and then proceeded to explain the whole story to her, how she didn't get off her bus, how he figured out what happened, and the Iris Message that he received from Mira.
At some point during this time, Rhea grabbed his hand for comfort, which he found himself blushing a little bit once he realized what she did.
"It's okay to cry, Perseus," Rhea whispered into his ear. "It doesn't make you weak, it just shows how much you care for your daughter."
That was all that was needed to be said for a couple tears to come leaking out of his eyes. "I'm supposed to be the calm one, who makes the right decisions, but I'm not sure I can do that anymore. I think I let my fear get in the way of what was best for Mira. She's having the time of her life at Camp Half-Blood, but I kept her here and refused to send her there out of fear."
A calming feeling then suddenly came over him as he looked up slightly and saw Rhea's hand emitting a soft and warm colour. Being the motherly Titan she was, she probably had experience in handling others crying in front of her and knew what to do. They talked for a while about everything that came into their minds, anything to distract Perseus from his daughter at Camp Half-Blood.
"My dear brother," she began, stroking his hand with her thumb. "You have always been so wise, so strong, and so caring. In my lowest moments, you picked up the pieces of my broken heart and put them back together. Even after… even after I betrayed you. Your wisdom has never faulted, not even once, but even you cannot openly defy fate. It is Mira's destiny to be at Camp Half-Blood, she is the daughter of a Goddess after all."
Perseus nodded his head in acceptance, clearly not liking this predicament, but also understanding that there was little he could do to avoid it. "Come with me, I'd like for you to meet someone," Rhea said softly to her brother. Both of them stood up from their seated positions, hands still intertwined with each other's,
The Titaness flashed them both to a cabin in the middle of the woods. The cabin wasn't big, but it looked comfier than anything that Perseus had seen in a long time. It gave off a sense of home that made his shoulders relax and a soft smile to spread across his face. Rhea, seeing her brother's reaction, gave him a triumphant grin, like she had just proven something right to herself.
Perseus took a look at the camp fire that was already blazing in the fire pit, a couple of logs were burning within it and the fire gave off a warmth that made him want to sit down and sleep. Leading him to one of the logs, Rhea sat him down and then sat down herself, allowing herself to rest her head against his shoulder.
Fascinated by the fire blazing in front of him, Perseus drifted off in a world of his own, just simply thinking about how beautiful it was and how great this feeling was. He was interrupted in his thoughts when he felt a godly presence enter the area. The presence was warm and comforting, just like the fire, but he still stood and summoned his staff, pointing it at the newcomer.
This person clearly hadn't been expecting him either as she let loose a shriek of alarm before accidentally tripping and only being saved from hitting the ground by Rhea.
Perseus, seeing the amount of affection his sister displayed to whoever this was, gently lowered his staff, but kept his hand on it in case he needed it. "Rhea, is this the person you wanted me to meet?" He asked in a questioning and slightly cold tone, cocking his head to the side a small amount.
Said Titaness nodded her head and opened her mouth to speak, "Yes, this is Hestia, my oldest daughter, who I'm pretty sure you know."
Relaxing slightly at the new knowledge he received, he sat down, but kept his staff in his hand so that he could defend himself and his sister if needed. His sister trusted her daughter, but Perseus didn't trust any God yet, no matter what. Trust must be earned and that is something that no God has done yet.
The Goddess Hestia, seemed to have regained her bearings and stood up, staring defiantly at the Titan of the sky; however, there was a certain look in her eye that Perseus couldn't place. Both waited to see who would back down first, but in the end, the piercing eyes of the first Titan were too much for the Goddess and she looked away toward her mother.
"Mother," she began. "Who is this? And why have you brought him to one of our meetings?"
Rhea patted the seat next to her and told her daughter to sit down while she explained things. Hestia did as she was asked, but still eyed him warily.
As she should, he thought to himself.
"Tell me," Rhea said. "What do you remember about where you were raised, the island of Crete?"
The Goddess looked a little surprised at the question but nonetheless she told her mother and Perseus what she remembered of the island. She said there was a tall mountain that they were never allowed to climb up to the top of, some forests, and a couple huts where they would all sleep and train near.
The Titan of Motherhood smiled at her daughter, "And do you remember what I told you was on top of the mountain and the reason why you shouldn't go there?"
Hestia thought for a moment and then snapped, like she had just remembered it, "Yes, it was some immortal that was imprisoned, although Zeus was the only one to see him. We called him the immortal atop the mountain, but how does that…"
She then looked at Perseus for a moment and then understanding passed over her as her jaw dropped and she stared in wonder. "But… how?" she stuttered out.
Perseus chuckled, "Well, Gaea rose a couple years ago and threatened to destroy the world. I sensed that in order to beat her, you would need some help, and since my chains were made from her power, nothing short of overwhelming them with power could work. I knew that taking on your demigods would make her use more of her power than she thought she should, so I used all of my power to break the chains, forcing her to pick between being put back to sleep or to keep me imprisoned. Unfortunately for her, she didn't make her decision fast enough and she was put back to sleep, along with me breaking out."
She sat in shock for a moment, before she composed her features and smiled at him warmly. "Even though we could not see you, you guided us into being the best immortals we could. I remember your voice now, comforting me in times of need and teaching me how to control my powers."
The Titan of the sky's hesitance around the Goddess completely melted away at seeing the comfortable state that she was in. Yes he had attempted to teach all of the children of Kronos to master their powers over small aspects of magic while mentally communicating with them, but he had never known that he made such a big impact on some of them. Although that did bring up the question that if he meant so much to them then why hadn't they tried to free him, or at least climb up the mountain.
Perseus quickly dismissed this line of thinking, deciding that even if they did come and try to help, they wouldn't have been able to free him anyway, there was no use dwelling on what could have happened, only what did.
"I never knew I had such an influence over you," he admitted. "If I had known then I might've even let Rhea bring you to meet me. I know she wanted to do that before."
Hestia turned toward him, "Why didn't you want us to know who you were?"
He sighed, getting ready to explain, "I guess you could say that I was a little scared of your reactions." At Hestia's puzzled expression he continued, "I am the first Titan, the first child of Gaea and Ouranos, and the Titan of the sky, life, and observation."
Seeing no noticeable reaction from the Goddess, Perseus became a little puzzled. He was sure that even Hestia, the kindest and most accepting of the Olympians, would react in a bad way when they found out he was a powerful Titan. However, she started explaining herself before he got around to asking the question. "I am not my siblings, they would probably not take another Titan too kindly. I don't like the Titans, they were even more cruel than the Gods are nowadays, but you're different. You and my mother basically raised me, I am forever grateful for that."
At hearing that, Perseus knew that Hestia was by far the best Goddess up on Olympus and he felt a strange sort of pride from that statement. Deciding to not conceal his true emotions anymore, he gave her a bright smile, got up, and sat down next to the Goddess.
They then started talking about his domains and all of the powers he had. They eventually got bored though and the Goddess of the hearth conjured up some smores that they could all roast over the fire.
Perseus had tasted a lot of food since being freed from his prison, but he had never had these things before. Picking up one of the marshmallows, he squished it a couple times and stared at it, debating whether or not he should eat the concentrated sugar.
The others laughed at his reaction to the marshmallow and he blushed in embarrassment. He picked up his staff and stuck the concentrated sugar mass at the end of it, placing it over the fire. He waited for it to be nice and toasted. Using his symbol of power to roast marshmallows made the other two immortals laugh even harder than before, making Perseus grumble a bit.
Sandwiching the gooey mass between two crackers and a bit of chocolate, he took a bite. It was absolutely delicious, in fact it was one of the most delicious things he had ever tasted. He quickly grabbed more and began eating them at a very hasty pace, causing the other two to laugh yet again.
Perseus ignored them this time and continued eating the smores, until they were all gone. He relaxed on his log next to Hestia and Rhea as a feeling of contempt settled over him, making him forget about the previous events of the day.
He felt like this is how things should have been thousands of years ago. Sitting down and camping with a family of his own, not worrying about his siblings and mother throwing him into an unfair prison and then killing his father, not having to worry about the safety of those he cared about, and not having to worry about what will happen when the rest of the Gods find him.
Even though he knew he shouldn't dwell on what could have been these thoughts instantly soured his mood and it could be felt by his two companions, who turned to him questioningly.
Perseus sighed and got up, summoning his staff to him. Everything that this little campsite symbolized were things he could not have, the world was not a safe place for such things yet. Besides, his time to live a peaceful life and start his own immortal family was long behind him, taken from him by other members of his family.
Aside from revenge, he wanted to continue his mission to find all of his old friends, the Primordials and see what they were up to these days.
With a frown Perseus bowed his head to his companions and said that he must go and continue his journey of finding the Primordials. He didn't wait around to see Hestia's shocked expression or the sad face that Rhea held at him leaving.
He opened up a portal with his staff and stepped through, arriving back at his house in the state of Maine. He packed a singular backpack which held a couple different books and a laptop that he enhanced so it didn't need wifi to work and never ran out of power. Perseus couldn't just quit his jobs, people were counting on him to get at least some work done, even if he took a small break.
Deciding that the Primordial of inevitability, Ananke, would take the most effort to find, he chose to find the Primordial Goddess of the day, Hemera, first.
Aether had always talked about founding his own kingdom and having his own society, away from the world that the rest of the Primordials shared. Since he knew that Aether had married Hemera, he wondered if she had gone along and helped him execute his plans. If so, then locating them would be a challenge. He didn't know if they had traveled to another dimension and made their kingdom there, or found a place in the brightest part of the world and separated it from the rest.
Well, since he didn't know where he was going, he decided to just start walking, letting the will of the fates dictate the path ahead of him. He walked all night in a random direction, patiently waiting for anything to happen to him.
Perseus sighed and decided that he'd set up a little camp and try to sleep for a little bit, he wanted to be free of his own cursed mind and its thoughts. However, fate decided at that particular moment to intervene and present him with some entertainment to pass time.
A silver arrow sprouted from the tree that he was about to lean against. He cursed himself, all this time he had been walking, he was so focused on the day's events that he failed to realize that the hunters of Artemis were heading his way. Now, their paths had converged, and Perseus had two options: to kill all of the hunters and be on his way or play innocent like he was just some lost camper that accidentally stumbled into their path.
Perseus, while being a gentle immortal for most of the time, wasn't having the best day and was getting irritated. These hunters were nothing more than arrogant fools who think they have power over men just because they're females. He could just squash them like ants if he wanted to. However, even with his terrible mood, the Titan took a deep breath and decided that revealing himself to the Gods by killing some hunters wouldn't be the best strategy.
Feigning ignorance of the Greek Pantheon should be his best course of interaction with the hunters. He jumped back in fake shock, dropping his backpack that he was carrying. He then looked around at the trees in shock and allowed the next arrow to pierce through his shirt and pin him to another tree.
Ten fully equipped hunters then burst from the trees, all aiming their bows at the Titan of the sky.
Deciding to act more like a mortal he put on a brave face but made sure to plant small hints of fear in his eyes. "What do you think you're doing?!" he began. "You could've killed me!"
One hunter stepped forward with a stoic expression on her face, "You are lucky we aren't going to kill you male."
This particular hunter interested Perseus. She seemed to carry around a certain sadness to her that was mostly blocked by the expression that was on her face.
"Thalia," another hunter said. "This male is in our sacred hunting ground. We should kill him where he stands."
The first hunter with black hair and electric blue eyes growled at the other hunter, "I said no. We do not have to just kill every single person that accidentally stumbles upon one of our areas."
As the two continued to argue, Perseus looked back and forth. The girl, whose name is Thalia, appeared to be a daughter of Zeus. He could tell from the leadership qualities she shared with her father and from the scent of ozone that came to his nose whenever she got mad at her fellow hunters. Thalia kept mentioning a brother that she had and how he wouldn't have wanted her to take part in the killing of innocent people.
Deciding to act more human and do something stupid he pulled the arrows out of his clothes and the tree and chucked them back toward the hunters and started to run away. Perseus deliberately limited his running speed to that of a mortal and was totally expecting to get shot with an arrow at some position on his body.
What he predicted came to pass as he felt a sharp pain in his leg. A silver arrow had gone straight through his thigh. Crumpling to the ground in more irritation than actual pain, he gave a shout of surprise.
"What the hell is wrong with all of you?!" he shouted again, whipping up some fake tears.
One of the hunters stepped out of the trees and planted a foot on top of him, preventing him from moving at all. She sneered at him and drew back her arm, which held a dagger within it.
Perseus thought that he might actually have to reveal his powers to avoid being stabbed, but it appears that fate was on his side, as at that moment a chariot descended from the sky. Strong winds blew the hunter back, making her slam into a nearby tree, knocking her unconscious.
The chariot, which held designs of snowflakes and various arctic scenes, that came to his rescue was pulled by two pegasi and seemed to be made out of a sky blue metal.
If memory served him correctly, this was one of the Gods of the four winds, most likely Boreas since he was the God of the winter and north winds and there were snow designs on his chariot. The God himself had long black hair and a long dark beard, both of which seemed to be covered in a layer of frost. He wore a blue suit that also seemed to have light bits of frost coming off of it as he flew through the air. However, the most astonishing feature that Boreas had was his giant purple wings on his back.
The rest of the hunters who had reached the area by this point looked up in slight shock but mostly anger that someone had messed up their plans to kill their prey. A couple of them raised their bows but were stopped by their lieutenant, Thalia, who shouted out to the God, "Begone Boreas, Zeus' punishment was for you to remain in your castle for 100 years. If you leave now then I will not tell him of your interference."
The God didn't even spare her a glance, just simply staring at Perseus as he slowly descended from the sky. After a small amount of time he reached the ground and stepped off of his chariot, still looking at Perseus.
Shocking everyone in the clearing, Boreas got down onto one knee and bowed his head. Perseus, who was still on the ground acting scared out of his mind, opened a telepathic communication with the God in front of him and told him of what he was trying to do.
Seeming to understand, Boreas got up from his kneeling position and grabbed Perseus by the back of his neck and threw him into the chariot, startling the pegasi, who had begun to graze on the ground. Not wasting any time, the God leaped into the chariot as well and ordered his pegasi to take off. The hunters shot arrows after them but nothing reached them as they were moving way too fast to be hit.
"I know who you are," Boreas said in his cold but somehow friendly voice.
Perseus raised his eyebrow, "I'm sure you do, could you tell me who I am because I seem to have forgotten."
The God smiled and laughed a little, mist coming off his breath, "You are the eldest child of Ouranos and Gaea, Titan of the sky, life, and observation. You have been imprisoned on the island of Crete, the land where you trained Zeus, for millennia and have just recently escaped your unfair imprisonment."
Summoning his staff and pointing it at the God he asked, "How do you know who I am?"
Boreas, still smiling, just said that he'll find out soon enough. Not quite understanding why he kept smiling, Perseus just shrugged his shoulders and lowered his staff, accepting that this God knew who he was and was clearly looking for him. He then sat down and pulled the arrow out of his thigh with little more than a grunt of pain. They made small talk while they traveled the terrain of the earth, going further and further north until they arrived at a place called Quebec, which Boreas said was his home.
They ascended further into the sky until they came upon a cloud that had a castle on top of it. The castle was pretty big but it was nowhere next to the gradere of Olympus. There was something off about this place though, like a presence resided here, something very old was watching him and Perseus didn't know who or what it was.
Boreas led them into the palace through the front doors, which were opened by various numbers of wind spirits and nymphs. They both stepped off the chariot and it was taken away by a couple nymphs.
"Follow me," Boreas said curtly and started walking down a random hallway.
There were a couple flights of stairs that were completely made of ice, which Perseus found quite dangerous as he almost slipped on them at least three times. There were also a bunch of ice sculptures that were carved with expertise he had not seen the likes of before.
When they were walking down one hallway, Perseus suddenly felt a tingle at the back of his neck and a godly presence seeming to run away. In the blink of an eye he turned around and raised his arm, catching whatever was heading toward him in the air. He looked at the object within his hand and saw that it was a hockey puck.
Unsure of what to do with it, he called out Boreas' name and asked him. The God turned around and his eyes widened when he saw what was in the Titan's hand.
"Khione!" he shouted out. If Perseus remembered correctly, that was his host's daughter, he wondered what she had to do with this.
In a whirl of snow the daughter of Boreas appeared. She wore an irritated expression on her face with expertise, like she had that facial expression a lot of times in her life. She had thick and lush black hair that flowed in the cold breeze that floated throughout the palace, coffee black eyes, and skin that was paler than the snow and ice that was laid all around the place.
"What now father," she said in a bored and disinterested tone, not even looking at the two immortals in front of her, preferring to keep her eyes toward the walls and ceiling.
Boreas took a step toward her, "I thought I told you to keep your brothers in check while our guest was here."
Khione took this moment and finally looked up toward her father. "Oh please father. You know I can never keep track of them, they run around and do whatever they want," she said calmly in the same bored tone. At this point her eyes drifted over to the person next to her father. "Is this the 'guest' you told us about father? I can't imagine why you would risk Zeus' wrath to save this pathetic man."
Perseus smirked at Boreas' flabbergasted face at his daughter's words. He decided to intervene when he saw Boreas' face shift into one of anger and he took a breath like he was about to yell at his daughter.
"It is quite alright Boreas," he told his host. "Perhaps she does not know who I am. There's nothing wrong with that. Let us continue wherever you were taking me before."
The God of the north wind nodded his head and dismissed his daughter, giving her a hard look, which she ignored completely. Perseus continued to be led down winding hallways that were starting to get confusing, even for him.
Eventually they came upon a room that had runes placed all along the doorway. Perseus recognized these runes, he had carved them himself many different times to try and keep prying immortal eyes away from himself. These particular runes prevented anybody, except the caster, from entering or seeing into.
"I carved these runes," Boreas said with a small smile, a little bit of pride evident in his voice. "I will remove the spells placed on this door and you may enter it and I promise to you that all will be explained."
Perseus nodded his head and watched as Boreas concentrated and slowly removed each of the runes around the door. Once he was done he took a deep breath and nodded at his guest who nodded back and opened the door.
Beyond the door was one of the most beautiful sights that Perseus had ever seen. It was a little similar to what he experienced in the House of Night with Nyx and Erebus, except everything was different shades of blue. Light blue pillars disappeared into clouds that seemed to hold up a piece of the sky itself and half of the sky was dark while the other was light.
He gasped in awe at this sight before he heard a voice call out to him. Shaking himself out of his stupor, Perseus looked around and held his staff in front of himself protectively.
The wind in the room suddenly started to pick up and whirl into a tornado in front of him. Lightning bolts came out of the tornado of wind and a dark blue light filled the entirety of the room for a few moments. When the light died down, what was left shocked Perseus into dropping his staff to the ground.
In front of him was the outline of a figure that he had not seen in millenia and had presumed to have faded up until this point. Before him stood the outline of his father.
"Perseus," Ouranos said in a proud tone, just like he used to when he greeted his son.
The Titan of the sky dropped to his knees, "Father?"
Ouranos nodded and seeming to know what Perseus was going to ask next, he said, "My son, I am rising. The pathetic weapon that sliced me into bits did not make me fade. It only delayed the healing process. In fact, I do not yet have a physical form, which is why my body consists of only air and some clouds as of this point."
"So what does that mean?" Perseus asked his father. He recognized the vagueness of the question but before he could rephrase what he said, Ouranos had already begun talking, understanding the meaning of the question.
"It means that my consciousness is waking up and I have spent the majority of my time surveying this new world that the Gods have ruled over," the Primordial said. "There are problems needing to be fixed and I cannot have those pesky immortals trying to thwart the cure that we will bring to this world."
A change in authority, that was what his father meant. Perseus knew that both himself and his father had already shared similar beliefs before his mother had imprisoned him in the mountain. Since Perseus had recognized the world had fallen out of balance, so had his father. However, Ouranos had always had much quicker reactions and actions, which explains why he already wants to get involved with not only the Gods but in world events.
Perseus nodded his head, "Do not worry father, focus on waking up fully. I will handle the Gods myself."
Ouranos nodded his head, mirroring Perseus' actions prior, "Alright my son, I expect you to keep me updated on events."
With that last sentence, Ouranos started to dissipate into nothingness. "Oh and Perseus," he said. "I'm proud of who you've become."
Perseus smiled, he knew his father wasn't really someone to dabble in personal feeling all the time, he much preferred to leave feelings out of matters where they aren't important.
"Boreas," Perseus said when he opened the door that separated the room from the outside. "You've spoken to my father before?"
The God nodded his head, "Yes I did and I swear on my own immortality that I haven't told anyone, not even my own children of my conversations with him or who you are. Although, the four winds of North, South, East, and West are all aware of you. I assumed that he told them of your existence as well. Now, as per your father's wishes, we are all bound to serve you."
The Titan of the sky nodded and took a deep breath, "Well if you don't mind, I would prefer it if you kept that information to yourself for now. I need to figure out the best way to deal with
Boreas raised his eyebrow but said that he would comply with his wishes. "However," the God said. "Those blasted Hunters of Artemis will tell Zeus of my involvement and he will surely summon me to be 'held accountable' for my actions. Oh and don't even get me started on Aeolus."
Perseus frowned at that. One thing was becoming painfully obvious the more time he spent in this world, the Gods had become too complacent with their power, too arrogant, and way too egotistical. They had shown signs of being good rulers and changing after their two previous wars but they still had much to learn if they ever wanted to be the just and fair rulers they claimed to be. Both the hunters of Artemis and Aeolus were both examples of how dysfunctional the Gods were.
Aeolus was an exceptionally bad choice to be placed as the Master of the Winds. First off, Aeolus was only partially immortal since he was born to a mortal king and a nymph. It was no wonder that he went insane, any mind short of a minor God's would have broken quickly with all of the weather orders and the pressure of being ordered around by the Olympians.
"Well, if you serve me then you will listen to my commands," he said as he glanced back toward the room he just exited from. "And my first command to the four wind Gods is to cut off all communication with Olympus, you will no longer be at the mercy of those arrogant Gods. I would also like to speak with them if you could organize that. Zeus needs to be taught a lesson, and I will happily discipline him."
The God of the North winds smirked and bowed his head, "I shall immediately inform them of your presence and your orders. But what should happen if the Olympians try to destroy us for 'disrespecting' them?"
The Titan thought for a second. He didn't want to reveal himself to the Olympian Gods just yet. If he did then that could put Mira in grave danger while she is at Camp Half-Blood. However, he doubted that these wind Gods could put up much of a fight against the Olympians. "Leave that to me. I will find a way to help you defend yourselves and do not worry about Aeolus, I will deal with him," Perseus said.
"But first," he continued. "I want you to tell me about someone. From my understanding, a son of Zeus, or perhaps it could have been Jupiter, has died recently. Tell me all you know of this person."
