That night, the War Council learns of difficult circumstances in the godly world. Zeus reports his skies are swamped with an unusually large number of Egyptian monsters. He's working closely with Shu, the Egyptian god of air, to rid them from their realm. They say it would be nice of Thor could help out, but he's having his own issues in Asgard. By now, the shock of other pantheons existing have worn out.

"Well, that prophecy is already in motion," Chiron declares. "It appears you must travel by foot or by water. Today is the seventeenth of May. Hades opens his doors again to mortals on the Ides of June. Seeing that you're stuck going on this quest solo, and that you have gods know how many more kinds of monsters to fight, you are to leave at dawn tomorrow. The Twenty-First Nome has been so gracious to provide you with the Tools of a Magician, a book of spells, and some bounded hybrid Greco-Egyptian spells in scrolls to use in last resorts. As for Camp Half-Blood, you are given a triple supply of nectar, ambrosia, and everything else. You have to carry three people's worth of supplies, but being a legacy of both Kratos and Dolos, you should have no problem figuring something out. Unfortunately, you're on your own with finding the path to Long Beach. There is one known shortcut, but it's too dangerous to risk. We're giving you almost a month to get there and only Hades can know when you will come back, if at all."

"Don't be so down, kid," Percy reassures me. "You have the demigod powers of more than one god, and you learn so fast it makes Annabeth jealous."

Annabeth and the other Athena camper present both look at me with grudging respect.

"Under better circumstances, I would send you with Hazel and Frank to Camp Jupiter." Chiron continues. "Their location in San Francisco gives you a nice forward base. However, that plan was thwarted by the trouble in the skies. The Thirty-Fifth Nome based at San Francisco House have been joining forces with elements of the Twelfth Legion, who together are trying to clear the skies of these monsters."

"I still have to deal with hybrid monsters," I shudder out. "I can't shake the feeling that monsters have interacted as well as gods since the times of Rome."

"There has been no precedent for a hero like you, Arthur," Chiron says to me with great sadness. "As far as we can see, you're the first of your kind. And if the version I heard of the Prophecy is true, I rather not tell you too much. You can only do one task at a time, cross a bridge when you get to it, and build a boat if need be. I'm sorry we can't help you more, but only you can help yourself at this point."

I quietly accept the words the War Council members each offer me.

Scarcely half a year ago, I was just a happy little lad opening Christmas presents. Now, I'm expected to save not one, but possibly all the gods and the world from a threat unknown. I can't fathom what kinds of challenges lay ahead of me. I can already tell my task alone will put Hercules's entire career to shame. It's hard to believe that the guy was actually real, and that somewhere out there in the Mediterranean, there was a teenager running amok causing trouble. That's exactly what these campers expect of me.

"If it makes you feel a bit better, your parents are in California," Chiron says after the meeting is adjourned. "Your mother is talking to the centurions at New Rome, and your father is aiding the Thirty-Second Nome at Long Beach. However, your mission may not cross paths with theirs. Before your spirit gets a bit too down, let's join the campfire sing-along."

I found the sing-along both cheesy and heart-warming in my months at camp. The Apollo campers are all excellent musicians, and I'm no slouch either. I can play the piano, violin, guitar, saxophone, and nearly every instrument my school has. It took me no time at all to learn the Greek instruments, and I have perfect pitch like any Apollo camper.

Tonight, no one is singing. No Apollo camper has their instrument on hand. In place of where Will, the Apollo counselor, normally sits, is Nico. His black shirt is quite eerie. It's as though the light from the bonfire is disappearing into it. He is holding a glossy obsidian acoustic guitar. The strings are an alien black metal.

"I thank the Apollo cabin for helping me rewrite one of their brother's songs," Nico begins. "Lately, I can't stop thinking about Jason and where he's been in the last three years. One of Apollo's older sons, Eric Clapton, wrote this tune about when his son died. Today, in our usual cheesy parody fashion, I shall perform this new hit. I present to you all 'Tears in Hades,' in memory of Jason Grace."

I hear Nico play the familiar A-major riff. The air of the camp grows somber with the strumming of the guitar. Obsidian really lends a dark, glassy quality to the sound.

Nico's voice begins to ring out, loud and pure, For a son of Hades, he's a surprisingly good singer. However, no one else is singing along. The lyrics are mostly the same, and the sentiment is the same.

"...I must be strong
and carry on
'but I know that you do belong
here with Hades."

Will brought out his own guitar and started harmonizing with the guitar solo. By the last verse of the song, only the other members of the Argus II quest were harmonizing with Nico and Will. Percy was doing a pretty bad job, although no one with a heart would tell him anything.

Everyone left the campfire in a somber mood. Many campers became teary-eyed, especially the ones who fought in those two wars just a few years ago. That song must have struck a cord with a lot more bad memories, more chords than any jazz solo could hope to conjure up.

For the first time in months, I have a dream in my sleep. The dream is unusually vivid. Hoping to see if I still had it in me, I will my hand to move. Suddenly, I am fully lucid in my dream, like the many I had when I was little. However, this dream seems different.

I stand in a massive underground cavern on the banks of a black river that cuts through a section of the landscape. Its waters are dirty and polluted, as though heavy industry takes place upriver. Just past this, I see a gate. It's suspiciously familiar and something seems missing. I will myself to fly and get a better view. That's when I see the enormous field of corpses piling up.

Left and right, wisps of gray ethereal essence zip about in what appears to be the chaos of a battlefield. A bright gated community, which would in better circumstances be a Caribbean island paradise, is under siege. I notice the corpses are disappearing and coming right back to life in the crowded field I saw before. The humanoid figures and animals charge towards what appears to be a long, winding trench system. Projectiles of that same alien black metal as Nico's guitar fly towards the other trench. Then, without warning, a horde of the most unusual monsters begin charging no-man's land. They get killed off in droves by the projectiles, which magically reappear in the artillery piece after shots. Then, behind the other trench line, I see the brightest thing in this underground cave.

A long, winding fissure of light is unleashing more and more monster-soldiers into the support trench in the back of that line. Meanwhile, monsters from a large pit join the trench closer to me. Some sections of both trench lines are in offense and defense alternatively. No man's land is in complete chaos. Finally, in what appears to be the command post on the side without a fissure, the figure of two old men sit at their desk. They appear to be discussing battle strategies. Their eyes are bloodshot with not red, but gold. Their sweaty brows show how stressed they are. When one of them finally spots me, I see the scene fade before me.