Chapter II:
Reyna regained consciousness, and opened her eyes. In front of her was what could only be described as the Universe. The trillions of stars that made up the cosmos twinkled around her.
She looked down and yelped when she realized that she was floating in mid-air. Her standard legionnaire armor had been replaced by a silky white gown. The jaded wolf charm was still in the palm of her hand.
"Hello, is anybody there?" Reyna called out into the dark.
"Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano." A deep voice said from behind, echoing in the infinite night.
She spun around and on instinct reached for her sword that she no longer had.
Nobody was there.
"Who are you?" She spoke to the stars.
"I am Aether." The voice was neutral.
Reyna spun rapidly, trying to identify possible escape routes. "Show yourself."
A moment later, a small white cloud materialized in front of her, two glowing blue dots appeared in the middle. "Hello, Reyna."
"Who are you?" She repeated.
"I am the ruler of life." It said calmly.
The fates were apparently not done with her yet.
The miniature cloud stopped a couple feet away from her. "It has been a long time since I have shown myself to your kind. This, however, is just a small projection of myself. I cannot reveal my true form to you."
Reyna pinched herself again to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. If you had told her that she would run into Aether, the primordial god of life, she might have given you a smirk, called you an idiot, and assigned you to stable duty for two weeks. "Huh?"
"I am Everything."
Reyna's brain felt like it had been completely shut down. "W—Where am I?"
The cloud began to rotate around her. "This is my realm. I was once called the Guardian of the Stars by your people, but that was many millennia ago. Allow me to explain."
Reyna blinked, and found herself standing back in the middle of downtown San Francisco, just two blocks away from where they had fought the monster.
The first thing that she noticed was that there was no sound, it was like time had hit a pause button. Her Imperial Gold armor and sword had returned.
"Over here."
She turned and found an attractive man sitting on a black bench. He couldn't be more than seventeen or eighteen years-old, with raven black hair and tanned skin, but his golden eyes hummed with power.
The man patted the spot next to him. "Sit."
In a trance, Reyna walked over and did as the man said. She couldn't shake off the feeling that he looked vaguely familiar.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask me."
"I'm not sure what to ask."
The man chuckled, which was the first time Aether had shown emotion, and pointed to a watch on his wrist. "Time controls everything, the multiverse would cease to exist without it. With Time, I can be anything I want. In this instance, I chose to take the form of this young man."
Reyna nodded silently, not quite following what he was saying.
"Are you aware of time loops?"
She shook her head.
Aether snapped his fingers, and suddenly, he had transformed into a kid. He snapped his fingers again and instantly became an old man with shriveled skin. He snapped his fingers for the final time and returned to the form of the attractive man.
"Why do you think you are here?" He asked, acting like he hadn't just defied the laws of nature.
Reyna's brain short-circuited and blanked at his question. It was something that she had asked herself every night. A question that exposed her deepest self-doubts, things that she had to push away in order to be a leader, memories of her father from long ago.
"I don't know." She answered quietly. "Why would you pick me?"
"You are a leader, Reyna." Aether said. "Don't let your doubts ruin your confidence. Your mother bestowed upon you her gift for a reason."
"Did...you just read my mind?" Reyna asked cautiously, desperately trying to get rid of the image of her cuddling with his attractive form.
A small grin appeared on the man's face, but quickly disappeared. "As ironic as it might seem, we do not have much time. A great threat to your world is on the horizon, a deity that draws power from your pantheon, and the pantheons of your friends."
Reyna's mind immediately flashed back to their recent war with the Titans. Was it possible that Kronos had somehow returned?
"It is not Kronos, he may claim to be the Lord of Time, but his power pales in comparison."
"Chaos" She said out loud. The power the name held caused it to reverberate around her skull.
"Unfortunately, you are correct. My more well known sibling, Chaos. We are the two balancing forces of your universe. The recent actions he has bestowed have forced my hand. In one fortnight, Chaos will exact vengeance on this timeline, and capture me. When he does, this realm will cease to exist."
A rock formed at the pit of Reyna's stomach. "How do you know this? Are you from the future?"
Aether played with his wristwatch, which transformed into an hourglass in his hands, and then became a pocket sundial. "Time works differently for us primordials. I can see into the future, and I know what will happen if Chaos wins."
"Isn't that cheating fate? Changing the future to what you want?"
"Ah that would be Ananke." Aether twirled his watch into the air and caught it. "The primordial goddess of Fate. Her three daughters form every possibility that could ever happen. I am involved with them, but very discreetly."
Reyna fidgeted uncomfortably under Aether's golden gaze, the man being attractive wasn't helping. She cursed herself for being distracted. "What happens if Chaos succeeds?"
"With Time comes endless possibilities. Anything you can think of, he could do."
"Well, what am I supposed to do?"
She closed her eyes for a millisecond and found herself standing in front of a massive crystal white structure. Reyna counted seven levels that stacked on top of each other like a gigantic wedding cake, with massive buildings on each one. It was Circe's Island, but on god-level steroids.
Aether appeared next to her, now in the form of a distinguished old man. Both of them were now cloaked in the same white gown.
"Welcome to the City of Light." Aether said proudly. "Here, you will train with the greatest heroes that have ever lived in your world."
"But what about our lives back on Earth? What will happen to our friends?" Reyna's first thoughts went to Jason, and if he would miss her if she disappeared.
"In my realm, time works differently. By the time you are done, and I have sent you back to Earth, only mere seconds would have passed."
Aether strolled with an air of confidence towards the magnificent piece of architecture before her. It was one that would have made Ancient Rome look like a Lego set; it was beautiful.
"There is something you must understand." The old man said as they walked, raking his eyes over the castle that stood in front of them, unwavering, steady. "I am life, Reyna."
The daughter of Bellona frowned. "What?"
"I am life. Some days, I cannot comprehend this idea, my very own existence… but I am life." His back still faced her, Aether was now standing almost completely still. "If I cease to exist… as I have said before, so will life. That is the most simple explanation I can provide; the best example I can utilize for you to understand."
"Lord Aether?"
"I'd said before that Chaos capturing me would end your world. Not strictly true; it would only end life on Earth. The world itself would be sustained by Gaea, and the world under it under the rule of Tartarus. But everyone, everything, no matter Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Mortal—even the trees, the grass, everything —would die. Such is life."
Aether went quiet for a long moment. "It is, obviously, more complicated than that, but I doubt you could bear the amount of knowledge I could unload on your fragile mind, compared to mine, at least."
The words rang through Reyna's mind. Everything. Die.
"So." Aether's golden gaze now pierced through her, the Lord of Life granting her his attention. "Are you up for this? I can always find another."
"Yes." It was impulsive, sure. But Reyna couldn't say she trusted anyone fully. Not even Jason, not Hylla, after what she'd done. But the fate of the world?
There was no one she'd give that responsibility to—not because she was selfless, but rather, she just refused to trust anyone with the entire world's fate.
"I'll do it."
Aether was now back in that weirdly attractive form of his, that still seemed so familiar. His eyes, a molten golden, stared into hers, apparently searching for something in them.
"Give me your sword." Aether said cooly.
Reyna slowly unsheathed her blade, the light reflected off the Imperial Gold. It was the physical incarnation of her brutal will on the field of combat. She hesitated for a moment, squeezing the familiar leather grip.
"I don't ask twice, Reyna."
The blade fell into his outstretched hands, she watched as he ran his finger over the metal.
The sword glowed brightly for several seconds before its gold color was replaced by a sparkling silver.
With inhuman speed, he brought the gladius to her wrist, slicing the surface of her skin. Reyna flinched at the painful sting, her blood splattered across the length of her blade, droplets of crimson liquid staining the sterling silver.
Aether clasped the open wound within the palm of his hand. Reyna twitched at the burning sensation that followed. When he finally released her wrist from his grip, a silver infinity symbol, that pulsated to the beat of her heart, had been branded over the now healed scar.
"Kneel."
Reyna did as he said and bowed her head.
"Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano," Aether's voice magnified tenfold as he tapped the blade over her shoulder. "You are now one with the Light. Rise."
He held the sword out to her, and Reyna took it. She marveled at how balanced it felt, the sword was practically weightless. It was now truly an extension of herself.
"You deserved a weapon worthy of a champion. Your blade is now part Adamantine, the strongest metal in existence. But its core is still Imperial Gold."
"What about the other two?" Reyna wracked her brain, trying to remember their names. "Thalia and Zia…?"
Aether smiled a little, and his crooked grin, for some reason, gave her heart a sudden shock. What the hell?
"Oh, I'm actually talking to them right now." The smugness in his neutral voice had returned.
Reyna was once again rather stumped. She could definitively say it was her most hated feeling she'd ever experienced. "What?"
Aether tapped his head. "God, remember?"
She raised her eyebrows before blushing in embarrassment. Another rather uncomfortable and strange feeling for the normally proud demigoddess. Who would have thought that the primordial god of life would be such an asshole.
"That's not very nice." Aether laughed. "Let's go, my champion."
He shifted back into the old man, and together, they stepped through the gleaming arches of the City of Light.
-Ω-
Aether ushered her into a room that would have put the Senate in New Rome to shame. It could have easily fit the Colosseum with more than enough room to spare. Marble covered every surface, and sparkled from the light of the city that flooded through massive stained glass windows.
Reyna saw her own reflection on the floor, and the large statues that were placed seemingly at random around the chamber; she couldn't identify any of them.
Turning her head towards the center of the room, Thalia and Zia were already standing there. But they looked...shaken up.
Despite just having fought one battle alongside them, Reyna's instincts told her that it would take a lot to faze the two of them somehow; saving the world seemed like something that they were accustomed to.
If her internal suspicions were correct, that there was a duality between Greeks and Romans, Thalia most likely fought in the Titan War. What her role was remained a mystery. The Egyptian girl, however, was an enigma. She wasn't particularly well-versed in Egyptian mythology, so she couldn't say what Zia might've done. Still, there was a battle-hardened aura around her, and the display she put on battling the hybrid monster undoubtedly left a lasting impression on Reyna. The girl was experienced.
So what could have caused them to be like… this?
"Good! You're all here!"
The voice that spoke was surprisingly feminine, and definitively not Aether's. Reyna looked to her left and came face-to-face with a woman, who looked radically different than Aether, save for their molten gold eyes.
She had straight-blonde hair that was tied up in a high ponytail and carried a cheerful grin that was plastered on her face.
"I'm Hemera." Thalia huffed in disbelief, apparently shocked by the revelation. What was that all about?
"You're called Day?" The daughter of Zeus said.
Reyna felt a wave of disappointment wash over her. That was it? She'd been expecting-
"No, I am Day. Lady Hemera, the Primordial of Day."
This. She'd been expecting a bombshell like this.
"I am the Daughter of Aether, born from the Light." Hemera continued, not even slightly fazed at the dumbstruck looks of the girls before her, save Thalia, who looked like she didn't even care. "I'd requested to see the champions before the start of your training."
"Yes, yes." The voice of a certain Primordial, who'd been missing from their conversation, reappeared. "They are remarkable, are they not?"
Aether appeared, still in the form of a man. The hair was now auburn and cut rather short, and the form was a little bulkier. Reyna still preferred the form of the black-haired man that he'd taken up prior to this one.
"Indeed." Hemera replied, eyes still trained on the trio of girls before her. "Truly remarkable that they passed your trial."
"Trial?" Reyna inquired, a curious look on her face.
"The hybrid." Aether answered. "I sent it, it will be one of the things you'll face against Chaos. He has his ways…this abomination is one of them. I'd captured it and attempted to educate it, but it resisted. I decided to use it as a test, of sorts, knowing you'd all come to it."
"I detected a large surge in magical energy when I started my hunt for the monster. Was that you?" Zia spoke up this time, startling Thalia and Reyna, who hadn't heard her speak since they'd entered the room.
"Strictly speaking, it wasn't really magic that I did, but that of the monster that entered your plane of existence. To keep things simple though, it was me who started it."
Aether clapped his hands together, interrupting any further thoughts or questions the girls had. "Now. You three are going to be training. You all can't face Chaos like this unless you wish for certain death."
Thalia frowned. "What do you mean?" She protested, sounding offended, "Listen here shiny eyes, don't disrespect me."
"Yet someone is capable of beating you, Thalia Grace. A certain someone, in fact." Aether pointed out, and the daughter of Zeus huffed, unable to find a rebuttal.
"To assist you, I'll be summoning the greatest heroes that Earth has ever had to offer!" Aether smirked, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
"Like?" Zia prompted.
"What? Oh right. You know, Achilles—" Reyna looked positively disgusted, here, "Lysander. Cassius. Maybe I'll even get Ramesses the Great. And Perikles, too, since you guys will be taking Political Science. I'll have to see whether Erikson would be willing."
"What the hell? Political Science? Erikson? That doesn't sound very Greek."
"It's not," Aether conceded, "He's Norse." That drew some weird looks, but the primordial just waved them off. "As for Political Science, I refuse to teach someone who is unaware of the Father of Democracy himself."
The trio kept stared at the god with a mix of incredulity and mistrust, but Aether didn't seem to care. "Now. If you excuse me, I have other places to be. You guys get acquainted, and play nice."
A flash of golden light, and Aether disappeared.
"Sorry about that." Hemera apologized. "I know that Aether's a bit of an acquired taste. We are all excited to have you here, it's been a long time since we had living heroes. I'll show you to your dormitory now."
Together, they followed the Primordial through the pristine streets, taking in their new home. Everybody seemed to be dressed in some sort of white clothing, and seemed to come from all over the world.
"The people you see are all gods and goddesses." Hemera explained. "They come here once their civilization has forgotten about them."
Reyna waved back at small boy that was watching from a window. To her surprise, he immediately shape-shifted into a dog and started to wag his tail. "How many are here?"
Hemera picked up a dead flower from the ground, the petals bloomed in her hand. "Thousands. Your Pantheons, Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, have actually caused the fall of many smaller civilizations through expansion."
A nervous spark emitted from Thalia's spear, which Reyna noted was now also silver. "Do they hold grudges?"
"Not at all, the City of Light is like an eternal paradise, similar to the Greek Isles of the Blest. Here, they no longer have to shoulder any responsibilities. The ultimate retirement party." Hemera answered. "Ah, here we are."
The primordial opened up the doors to a building the size of a castle, and quickly ushered them inside.
"This where you guys are free to eat, sleep, and do whatever you please while you train. Everything will be provided to you, free of charge of course."
Zia looked around the grand estate with wide eyes. "Why...why are you doing this for us?"
Reyna had to agree with her, never before had something been given to her freely. Everything that she had, she earned, and she liked it that way.
"Aether foresaw what would happen if Chaos won…you all are very important to us." Hemera said with a worried look on her flawless face.
Still, Reyna couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. The two girls next to her still looked mildly uncomfortable, and the way these two deities presented themselves seemed overly casual. It wasn't like immortals were known for their hospitality when it came to demigods, especially Roman ones.
Even as the City of Light shone with undeniably magnificent radiance, there was a certain… darkness, a realization that despite their accommodations they would determine the fate of the world.
If Jason had been here…
Jason…
Reyna was snapped out of her solemn remembrance for her missing friend by Hemera, who still wore her trademark smile.
"Follow me!" The goddess chirped, seemingly trying to change the mood, "This is the best part!"
Hemera then brought them to each of their rooms, which Reyna was thankful for, but also chatted incessantly, which Reyna was less than thankful for. Still, the day had been a roller coaster of emotions, which left her in a state of complete exhaustion. All she wanted was to sleep as soon as possible. The moon began to shine through a window, the sun apparently still set in Aether's realm.
Thalia and Zia said their goodbyes for the night and closed their doors, leaving Reyna alone with Hemera.
"Is there something troubling you?" The primordial asked.
Reyna stared into her swirling gold eyes. "No, thank you for doing this."
Hemera smiled softly. "Have a good night, Reyna."
The goddess walked down the hall and turned out of sight, leaving a trail of glowing footsteps in her wake.
Reyna opened the door to her room and was stunned when she realized it was an exact replica of her Praetor's quarters back in Camp Jupiter. Her armor was back on its stand, with her purple cloak draped over the side. Inside her closet doors, she found her entire wardrobe still intact.
The only difference was the addition of a sliding door, that Reyna discovered opened up to a small balcony overlooking the entire city. To her left was a quaint wooden rocking chair with a small table.
A wave of homesickness hit her hard when she realized that she would be without her two dogs, Aurum and Argentum.
Reyna sat down and gazed at the stars in the sky. There was one in particular, the image of a huntress, that she swore hadn't been there until two or three summers ago. There was a rumour that Diana, maybe Artemis, now that Reyna thought about it, had put one of her Huntresses in the stars. Maybe she'd ask Thalia about it some other time.
It was times like this that made Reyna feel so… small. All she could think about was how tiny she was, a speck in this infinite night; the title of 'Praetor' meant nothing to most people.
Praetor.
Jason Grace.
Wait. Grace? Oh…oh no.
Reyna's eyes widened. Son of Jupiter, Daughter of Zeus. She rubbed her temples as they throbbed in pain. How had she missed it? Was it still just a coincidence? They looked so different, which went along with their polar opposite personalities; Jason was the 'Chosen One,' born to lead the Legion, while Thalia oozed rebellion.
Despite Lady Venus's crushing words at Charleston ,that she'd never find love where she hoped, Reyna for some reason, still held on. Maybe Jason would one day reciprocate feelings, like how so many praetors before them who had been involved with each other.
They had seen each other at their highest, and lowest. They had fought side by side to scale Tampalis. They stood before the Titan Krios, holding each other's hands. They did everything, together.
It, of course, never happened. Just like the Goddess of Love said.
Pining was not something Reyna liked; not even a little. All it had caused her was pain and an overall sense of numbness after realizing that whatever she did, Jason would never feel the same way.
Such was the word of a Goddess.
She shook her head. Reyna had more pressing issues to deal with than teenage angst; for example, saving the world, and maybe the universe. Sure, she'd fought at Tamalpais. But this was far bigger than just Titans, her enemy was a primordial. Just like Aether, who'd said that just exposing her to his actual form would disintegrate her.
A Titan was not invincible, Krios was a prime example. A primordial, though? Reyna had seen how Jason had struggled against Krios, and he was the most powerful demigod she knew. If she had to take on a primordial…
The thought bounced off the metaphorical walls in her mind, like one of those colour-changing logos on mortal computer screens. Reyna had no benchmark, so she had to use Aether, even Hemera as one. As proud as she was, there was no denying the deities were extremely powerful. At times, Reyna had felt it hard to breathe when she had gotten too close to either of them, it was horrifying to think what would happen to her if they tried.
In addition, it had been months after the disappearance of her co-praetor, Jason Grace, leaving her having to single-handedly run Camp Jupiter while staving off Octavian's attempts at power. What would happen if she was gone for an extended period of time? With New Rome left without a leader? What if Octavian assumed power? The carefully balanced, precarious and fragile structure of power in New Rome would surely topple under his leadership, the slimy git.
That was the tipping point for Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano.
All this pressure, all these expectations, all the responsibilities. For Jupiter's sake she hadn't even had time to mourn some of her closest friends, almost immediately assuming power after the Siege of Othrys. The additional responsibilities added onto that after Jason's disappearance? Attempts by the snivelling coward Augur to impeach her from her position? Her home possibly going from a living, breathing Roman state to a land like in Nineteen Eighty-Four? Now, Reyna was training with the Primordials of Life and Day to face another Primordial that is potentially invincible.
Before she knew it, she was screaming. All the stress, and rage, and raw, untouched anger that she'd pushed down for years unsurfaced. San Juan and her patricide; Circe's Island being destroyed; Hylla leaving her; unrequited feelings she had no idea how to deal with; a war she'd had to fight in as a teenager; a constant state of heartbreak for months as she'd worked with her secret love interest increasingly closely; and now this.
Reyna could feel tears streaming down her face, past her cheeks, and into her lap. She clenched her fists so tightly her nails left crescent-shaped imprints into her palms; a warm liquid started trickling from her hands that could only be blood.
The daughter of Bellona sobbed, any remaining strength seeped from her body as her breaths became ragged and unsteady. She set her hands down on the carpet, and the cruel liquid stained the fluffy surface with dark patches.
Recalling what she'd done when she was younger, still getting accustomed with Camp Jupiter, when she'd felt lost, hopeless, upset, Reyna converted all her sadness into anger.
Reyna chuckled to herself darkly. She needed therapy. From anger to sadness just to get right back to rage, and right back to where she'd started. Square One.
Throwing her head back, looking towards the heavens, Reyna closed her eyes and focused on the one face that always stoked the fires of her hate. Dark, shaggy hair and a tan complexion; complete with a pair of sea-green eyes, unlike any other pair she'd seen before. A boy who had been lurking at the back of her mind for years, taunting her mercilessly.
Percy Jackson.
Just the name was enough to make her tick. Her fingers flexed in anticipation of wielding her gladius, the blade so eager to split his skin and skewer his flesh.
Not even bothering to get into her bed, Reyna blindly reached upwards to find a pillow, and yanked it down towards her.
Reyna, with her dark eyes barely open, felt fatigue take her into the realm of Morpheus, all the while the face of the green-eyed boy invaded her mind. Idly, she wondered what he looked like now.
Before she could have any other epiphanies, though, Reyna blacked out.