This takes place 4 years after the end of Blood of Olympus. This is a separate timeline from the rest of the Riordanverse and I am only using the cannon set in PJO and HOO. I'm doing simply to avoid plot holes/contradicting plot lines. I really just don't want to deal with figuring out where every character is at all times in relation with my story.
Lilith POV:
Lilith's eyes burned, her ears rang, her face felt like it had been sprayed with acid. Acid might've actually been a relief all things considered, she thought to herself as the side of a blade smacked her in the head, sending her skidding across the coarse dirt floor of the small training colosseum nestled in the center of Camp Olympia. She wiped her eyes with her hand and slowly her vision began to clear, giving her just enough time to roll out of the way of another attack by the huge son of Ares who had been chasing her around the arena for the last 5 minutes. She was sure she was a better combatant than him but apparently no one thought she needed to know that his sword exploded on contact. I mean for gods sakes that seemed unfair, right? She managed to stand up and readied her own sword, which she had somehow held on to through the barrage of kicks, punches, slashes and explosions. Her vision continued to clear and she began looking for an opening in the large boys defense.
Jordan. They had known each other for 6 years now but they had never really been friends or now that she thought about it, talked. In fact she had rarely seen him talk to anyone outside of battle strategy meetings. He was calm, quiet and perhaps the most terrifying person at Camp Olympia. His 6' 4" stature and broad shoulders lent greatly to the fear he inspired in the rest of the camp and especially the fear he forced upon Lilith at that exact moment. She stared at his eyes waiting for him to make a move, they were dark brown with hints of red but still, somehow, felt cold. He paused for a moment before swinging, Lilith jumped backwards, the blade only inches from her chest. It was a full on game of cat and mouse at this point but the cat had an exploding, celestial bronze sword. She lunged forward, thrusting her sword at Jordans chest before quickly stepping back. Jordan easily side stepped it and attacked Lilith from the left, taking advantage of her weak arm which he had nearly broken earlier in the fight. Lilith barely managed to turn her body and deflect his sword with her own, the explosion sent her back several feet but she managed to stay upright, it seemed the celestial bronze of her sword was able to absorb the explosion just a bit making them much more manageable. The fight continued like this for several more minutes, Lilith attempting to get quick jabs in but for the most part retreating, trying to avoid the terror that was Jordans sword. Then. She saw it. The point of victory.
Lilith was a daughter of Nike, the goddess of victory, and while she didn't have the flashy powers like some of the other demigods, she had two very useful abilities. She had a strange, almost otherworldly constitution, especially when she was losing a fight, that would allow her to keep fighting even when she got hit in the head with an exploding sword. And, more uniquely, she could always see the point of victory, she couldn't describe exactly what it was but she always knew it when she saw it, a weakness in an opponent's defense or a flaw in there strategy that she could take advantage of. Everytime it was like something clicked in her brain and she knew exactly what she had to do to win. Her two abilities, while not the most desirable, had grown on her over the years and worked very well together as this fight had shown, sometimes it took her a while to find the point of victory and she needed to still be standing to take advantage of it. The point of victory in this fight was Jordan's sword, it seemed almost obvious to her now, the explosion the sword emitted was always in the direction of Jordan's swing.
It made perfect sense, you wouldn't want to use an exploding sword if you also got hit by the explosion so of course it would explode in the direction you swung. This revelation made Lilith appreciate Jordan's fighting style much more than she had before. As she continued to dodge and run she realized that Jordan rarely swung the sword towards himself. I mean duh, Lilith thought, but it was impressive. He would swing, wide, hard, slashes towards Lilith but bring the sword to a stop halfway through and pull it back, it's point directed at Lilith almost like a fencer. It was sort of beautiful, he managed to fight while never allowing his blade to point towards himself. Lilith jumped backwards as Jordan swung and shuffled back trying to create as much space as possible between the two so she could think. Point of victory was a useful ability but it had one fatal flaw. It showed her what she needed to use to win but it didn't show her how she needed to use it. She racked her brain as Jordan slowly approached his sword held above his head, ready to strike down at Lilith. Down at Lilith! That was it. She crouched down in a low stance, trying to draw Jordan in, trying to get him to swing straight down at her. She inched forward and gave a small, inviting swing at his ankles. He bit and swung down hard towards Liliths head fast enough that if she hadn't been hoping for exactly that she wouldn't have been able to dodge, but fortunately for herself, it was exactly what she wanted. She rolled away from the blade and it crashed into the dirt ground shooting an explosion straight into the earth. Perfect, just as she expected the sword bounced up towards Jordan, propelled by its own explosion. He was strong, but not strong enough to stop the sword entirely and Lilith was ready, quickly swinging her sword up at Jordans, which was now moving towards his face, and sending an explosion into his eyes, knocking him back and giving her an opportunity to strike. She jumped up and lunged forward, hitting Jordan in the stomach with the flat of the blade and kicking him in the side of his knee, bringing him down to a kneel. She raised her sword, intending to hit him over the head and end the fight but it was then that he let out a deafening shout that sent Lilith flying back into the wall almost thirty feet behind her. She should've known it was coming, a shared trait among the children of Ares, a shout that channeled the energy of the god into one desperate attack only to be used in last ditch situations like these. Lilith opened her eyes to see Jordan walking towards her, sword raised, and knew it was over. Slowly she raised a hand presenting the signal that she was done. Jordan paused mid stride and carefully sheathed his sword before walking over to Lilith and offering her a hand, she accepted and stood as best she could, she hated losing, especially when she was so close to victory.
"Good fight. You had me on the ropes at the end." Jordan said, surprising Lilith with a full sentence. She looked up at him and noticed blood dripping out of his mouth, Ares' shout must have been taxing. She supposed she should have been proud of forcing him to use such a self destructive power but she couldn't help but feel shame. It was a trait of Nikes children, losing was never easy.
"Yeah." She replied, shaking her head. "That sword of yours is, well…" She thought about how to describe it but before she could put it into words he interrupted.
"Horrifying?"
"Yeah, horrifying." She finished turning to face the crowd of campers that she had almost forgotten were there. I suppose a child of war and a child of victory could take it too far, she thought looking at a crowd of dumbfounded campers who had just watched a casual spar turn into what almost became a fight to the death. Out of the crowd came a young girl, maybe 11? Who held two small pieces of ambrosia. Lilith took one and threw it down her throat without a thought of chewing, she let out a sigh as the healing effects immediately washed over her body. Then, she noticed something more terrifying than Jordan and his sword standing behind the girl with the ambrosia.
Lilith's stomach dropped so far it felt like Persephone herself was putting butterflies in it. She looked over towards Jordan and saw that she wasn't alone in her fear as his face contorted into one not customary to a child of Ares. They were going to have to wash so many dishes, Lilith thought as she looked back towards impending doom in the form of a 22 year old demigod, tan skin and sun bleached blond hair glowing in the afternoon sunlight. Annabeth Chase. It felt like Annabeth was staring into her soul, her gray eyes pierced through Lilith like daggers. She had stepped away maybe 20 minutes ago to attend to an injured camper and left Lilith and Jordan to spar. Really it was her fault, Lilith thought, but she would never say that to her face, she knew better than that.
"Are you kidding me?" Annabeth asked, looking past Lilith and Jordan at the destruction left behind in the wake of Jordans attacks. Lilith started to respond but was stopped by Annabeth, "That question was rhetorical." She turned towards the other campers, "You can all go, the rest of the day is free time while I deal with these two." She waved the others away and waited for them to leave before turning back to the two demigods who stood dejected.
"I'm really sorry Ms. Annabeth we just got carried away and well…" Lilith trailed off, the realization that less talking was probably better in this situation.
"Carried away? There's a crater the size of a scutum over there!" Annabeth said, pointing at where Jordan had hit the ground. "Jordan, you know you weren't supposed to use that sword against other campers, for gods sakes we just finished patching up the arena from the last time you were here." She rubbed her temple clearly thinking about what to say next. "Lilith I can't help but think you were the one who provoked Jordan." She stated, not even a question, she knew. Lilith nodded.
"I just, I guess I'm too competitive." Lilith said remembering the not so family friendly taunts she had thrown at Jordan during the early stages of their fight. "Sorry Jordan."
"No problem." He responded with a quiet grumble staring down at his feet. Jordan wasn't one to be nervous or timid but the way he was shutting down was a testament to Annabeth's in command aura.
"Patch up the arena and then…" Annabeth thought for a moment, "One week of dish duty"
"For the whole camp?" Lilith exclaimed, "I mean yes ma'am." She quickly corrected Annabeth's frown making her want to run to her cabin and hide under the covers of her bed.
"Get to work, you'll start dishes tomorrow morning." Annabeth ended the conversation and turned to leave the arena. She paused at the tunnel that led out of the arena and to the main concourse of Camp Olympia and looked back. "Oh and Lilith, come by my office later, we have something to talk about." A lump formed in Liliths throat. Really? She knew that she had messed up but she didn't think it was that bad.
"Yes ma'am"
It took them several hours to patch all of the holes, by the time they finished the sun was nearly gone from the sky and the dinner bell had already rung. Two aurae had come to laugh at the punished demigods and bring them pizza and water while they worked. But finally, they were done. Lilith looked over at Jordan, her vision finally completely clear from the several shots she had taken to the head and noticed a gash on his brow that she hadn't remembered giving him.
"Sorry again, I shouldn't have been taunting you." She said as they loaded shovels into the wheelbarrow and pushed them into a storage shed tucked away in one corner of the arena. "I just get so competitive sometimes and talk bigger than I can back up." Jordan shook his head.
"It's no problem, I shouldn't have let you get to me but like you said, competitiveness is part of our natures."
"Yeah," Lilith agreed. "That swords pretty wicked though." Lilith said, looking at the sheath hanging from Jordans hip. "Maybe you'll let me give it a few swings some day." They both chuckled which surprised Lilith, she had never heard Jordan laugh before.
"Yeah, maybe" They stepped out of the arena into the central forum of Camp Olympia, the huge combined camp made up of demigods from Camp Halfblood and Jupiter. Romans and Greeks, trained together in one place. "Sorry for exploding your face." Jordan mumbled, looking up at the stars which had begun to creep their way into the sky.
"What an eloquent apology." Lilith chuckled, "No problem, sorry for trying to use your sword to explode yours." Jordan shook his head at that.
"That was a good trick, very creative." This made Lilith smile.
"I should probably go." She said pointing towards the huge farm style house across the forum. "Annabeth asking for me and all." Jordan nodded in agreement.
"See yeah around I guess."
"Yeah, see you around" Lilith said, giving a small wave before turning and walking towards the house in the distance, her stomach twisting in anticipation for what she could only assume would be a continued punishment.
Lilith had lived there for 3 years now but as she walked across the forum she couldn't help but admire how beautiful Camp Olympia was. Nestled away deep in the aptly named Olympic mountain range in Washington state only a few hours away from Seattle and a few miles away from Mount Olympus, the largest mountain in the Olympic range which also acted as a portal to the real Mount Olympus on top of the empire state building, it was the perfect place for a demigod camp. She looked up at the snow capped mountains rising up above the forested hills and marveled. New York was cool but Lilith loved nature and New York had nothing like this. She shook her head and kept walking towards the building that housed the camp offices where Annabeth would be waiting for her. On her way she passed the central hearth, a huge campfire in the center of the forum that served as a gathering place for campers, she waved to a few of her friends and shot them a 'Can't talk, going to get yelled at' look that she had mastered over the years. Finally she arrived at the steps leading up to the building that housed Annabeth's office. She took a deep breath before apprehensively stepping up onto the porch and opening the door.
The camp offices were all too familiar to Lilith, how do I end up here so much? She asked herself as she walked down the main hallway, passing various rooms and giving coy waves to the counselors and staff who noticed her. Finally she reached a door at the end of the hallway, it's almost like this place was designed to make you do a walk of shame, she thought, staring at the crooked "CAMP DIRECTOR" sign hanging from the door. She raised her hand to knock but just before she made contact with the door she heard voices speaking inside. Lilith knew she should just knock, make her presence known, but Lilith also rarely did what she knew was best. Instead of knocking she softly pressed her ear to the door in an attempt to listen.
"Yes she's coming, I just…" She heard Annabeth's voice, she sounded concerned, worried maybe.
"It's ok." A man's voice interrupted. It was soft and slightly raspy. "You have friends, you have allies." He paused. "You have me." Lilith didn't recognize the voice but it was warm and comforting, friendly, maybe more than friendly?
"I thought we were done with this fighting." Annabeth said, anger seeping into her tone. "I thought it ended when we defeated, well, you know."
"They'll listen." The man replied. "I know they will, they're sensible people. I hope." He said sheepishly. "I'll be back soon, ok, I can help. We just have to hope they don't do anything stupid in the mean time." For a moment there was silence. Lilith was entranced by the conversation, what were they talking about? Who was Annabeth talking to? What fighting?
"I miss you." Annabeth said with a sigh. "Comeback soon, please."
"I miss you too wise girl. I'll be back as fast as possible, but remember." The man chuckled a bit and started again in a slightly teasing voice. "I'm only on this quest because you sent me."
"Whatever." Annabeth replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "I'll see you soon, I love you."
"I love you too." Lilith felt her own face get hot. She felt terrible, intruding on such a private moment. She turned around putting her back to the door in an attempt to collect herself and instantly felt so much worse as she locked eyes with the woman who had been standing behind her for gods knows how long.
"Looks like we've got ourselves an eavesdropper." The woman said, an evil smile adorning her face. "Now what should we do about that?" She asked in a sadistic tone.
"I didn't mean to, I mean, It was just…" Lilith stuttered before noticing the quivering creases at the corners of the woman's mouth, and the way her brilliant green eyes had begun to twitch. She stopped and the woman burst out into laughter.
"Oh honey, I'm sorry." The woman squeaked out. "I've done much worse stuff, you're alright. Although I hope this isn't a habit." Lilith shook her head vigorously.
"No ma'am, it's not." If she weren't the butt of the joke she would be laughing too. But all she could register at that moment was the embarrassment and the burning in her face which she could only assume had turned as bright red as the woman in front of hers hair. For a moment they stood in relative silence as the red haired woman collected herself, stifling laughter as best she could.
"I'm guessing you're Lilith?" The woman asked, her laughter finally subsiding. Lilith nodded, still embarrassed about being caught eavesdropping.
"I was coming to see Annabeth and I just, I was curious, she was talking abo-" The red haired woman interrupted her.
"If you're going to eavesdrop I would request you at least not share the private details of what you heard with strange women you've never met." Lilith fell silent and nodded. This was not the way to meet someone. Actually, now that she thought about it, who was she meeting? She looked up and studied the face of the woman a bit closer. She had curly red hair tied up in a messy bun and emerald green eyes that were so bright they almost glowed. Freckles dotted her face and arms, Lilith thought she recognized her, maybe from Camp Halfblood? Then it clicked. Rachael Elizabeth Dare, the old oracle. Lilith had only seen her at Camp Halfblood a few times but her hair made her hard to forget.
"Are you?"
"Rachael Elizabeth Dare, at your service." Lilith was interrupted by the eccentric woman.
"But why are you here?" Lilith asked apprehensively.
"Let's go see Annabeth, we wouldn't want to keep her waiting." Rachael's reply made Lilith nervous, why was the old oracle, the keeper of the Sibylline books there to see Annabeth with her?
"I'm sorry." Lilith said, staring at the huge book Rachael Elizabeth Dare had set on Annabeth's desk. "I just don't understand, you think that this prophecy is about me?"
"Well it might not be you I suppose but given the current situation you're certainly the most likely candidate." Rachael doodled on a notepad as she talked. "Unless you think the child of victory is your 9 year old brother." Lilith shook her head in disbelief. It's not like prophecies were rare, in fact gods issued them to their children all the time, but this? A prophecy from the Sibylline books? That was rare. She read through the prophecy again, a thoughtful frown stuck on her face.
"Discourse between new friends, Romans and Greeks
The spirit of Rome brought to its knees
The anger of an old friend will answer the call
The one who still sleeps will settle it all
Victories child will bring about the end
In Nikes keep the last wound will mend "
Rachael was right, the prophecy clearly indicated a child of Nike and besides her the oldest child of Nike or Victoria at Camp Olympia was 9. There were veterans living in the city, sure, but prophecies rarely referred to veterans. For some reason the gods liked to pick on campers. She shook her head and looked over at Annabeth who also appeared to be deep in thought. For a moment their gazes met and Lilith thought she saw something unusual flicker across Annabeth's eyes. It was fear. Her camp director, who had survived the titan war, crawled through the depths of Tartarus and had been instrumental in defeating Gaea and bringing peace to the camps, looked scared.
"Lilith," Annabeth started, "I need to tell you something important that may relate to this prophecy but I need you to swear on the River Styx it doesn't leave this room."
"I swear." Lilith replied quickly. Annabeth thought for a moment before continuing.
"Lately we have dealt with some troubling news, and I only tell you this because of its relation to the prophecy, but we have heard rumors." She paused again, Lilith noticed Annabeth's pen being expertly flipped between her fingers. I guess even the almighty camp director was ADHD, she thought trying to get herself to laugh despite the drama of the situation. "We have heard that a group of Greek demigods have been making stirs, talk of rebellion, war." Annabeth shook her head angrily. "Apparently this rumored group distrusts our Roman counterparts, they feel that the Greeks were mistreated by the Romans in the Giant war. They feel that we should have never formed this unified camp." Annabeth stopped, clearly still deep in thought trying to carefully say enough without saying too much.
"So you think that these 'Greeks' could be the ones causing discourse in the prophecy?" Lilith asked. She looked at Annabeth's which was contorted with various emotions and felt terrible. She always forgot because of how mature Annabeth was, how much she did for the camp and for the city of New Olympia as a whole, that the child of Athena was only 5 years older than herself.
"Obviously we hope these rumors are just that. Rumors." Annabeth replied. "But given the scenario, we figured it wise to bring light to this prophecy. We've been monitoring it for years, hoping it never came to pass, but, well." Lilith's frown only grew deeper. She was friends with so many Roman demigods, she had lived with and fought with and bathed with and ate with Romans for the last 3 years since moving to Camp Olympia from Halfblood. And to think. There were people who distrusted them? Who wanted to be separate? It seemed ludacris.
"If there are." Lilith paused, unsure what to even call them. "If this group is real, the ones who want to be separate. Why don't we tell everyone? Wouldn't it be better if people knew?" Annabeth sighed. Lilith could see the thoughts bouncing around in her head, this girl was wise beyond her years.
"We can't do that. It would only bring about more distrust." Annabeth started. "Do you know who Octavian is?" Lilith nodded.
"He was a Roman in the giant war right? If I remember correctly he never trusted us, I mean the Greeks. He shot himself into Gaea or something?"
"He was the most dangerous thing we fought in that war." Annabeth said coldly, her face grim. "He was a fear monger, he hated us Greeks, he inspired distrust in Camp Jupiter. Octavian is gone but his ideas aren't. We are aware of several Roman groups who still sympathize with Octavian. For the last several years they have been peaceful, they have stayed away from Camp Olympia, but, if these rebel Greeks are really out there." Annabeth stopped but Lilith understood. Civil war, the last thing anyone sensible a Camp Olympia wanted, but now? She knew it was a possibility.
"What do I do?" Lilith asked, her eyes darting between Rachael and Annabeth.
"For now?" Rachael said. "Nothing." The woman looked towards Annabeth for confirmation. "We have to wait for Ella to get back from her honeymoon to confirm the wording." She said more towards Annabeth than Lilith who had no idea who this Ella person was. "And then we have to work on figuring out what the prophecy could possibly mean. Which is why we asked to talk to you." Annabeth started where Rachael stopped.
"If you are the child of victory stated in the prophecy than you need to start thinking about what this could all mean." Annabeths eyes became softer and she placed a hand on Liliths. "I've been involved in so many prophecies, so many, well, fucked up quests. I know this is stressful, but we think that this prophecy is important so we need you to be ready." Lilith smiled, she had never seen Annabeth be this affectionate, especially towards her. Lilith was by and large a trouble maker, she spent more time than she wished to admit in this office.
"Does this mean I still-" Lilith started before being cut off.
"Yes, you still have a week of dish duty." Annabeth said. And then she did something Lilith had never seen her do before. She laughed. Annabeth Chase, the terrifyingly calculated daughter of Athena laughed. Lilith couldn't help but feel in that moment that if she and Annabeth had been closer in age, if they had grown up together at Camp, they would be friends.
"Yes ma'am." Lilith replied. Annabeth checked a clock on the wall and tsked.
"You go get some sleep Lilith. You start dish duty after breakfast and I need you up and ready." Lilith sighed as she heard this and stood. "Oh and Lilith," Annabeth started again. "If you ever need anything, a person to talk to, any kind of support, you come to me. Ok?" Lilith nodded before turning and walking out the door. In the cold night air outside of the camp offices it finally hit
