A/N: Oook, that's been a while I guess *eep!* And I haven't revisited the book in a while cuz work has been piling up so... sorry for any technical errors!

"Talking in the head"

"Right... what about the other one then?"

"Zoe Nightshade, she was a Hunter of Artemis... lieutenant actually, and a great fighter. She should be able to help us improve combat and if willing, she will also be willing to aid us" Percy said as he glanced around the table, taking in the wary looks they gave him.

"But will it be the right choice? I mean, we have a war coming up right now and well... While we can use any help we can get..." Sadie trailed off, not knowing how to proceed.

"Don't worry about that. I will take care of explaining to her about the situation. But what are we going to do about the crisis? Our numbers are low and the HoL is not as willing to help us with any of this" Nico asked, turning serious.

"We are trying our best to scout and bring in as many people as we can and train them but we will still fall short of people if Aphophis does decide to attack this fall... We need to find a way to convince the HoL and the gods to help us with this." Carter reported.

"And I think the huntress and your sister can be useful additions to the group Nico. If they agree to keep the secrecy that is. And if they are willing to cooperate. The Greeks and Magicians have a long time of feud and it can prove to be disastrous if we take a wrong step" Amos pointed out.

"If I may intervene" Anubis started and Nico nodded, signalling Anubis to take over. "Please don't interrupt me on this. There have been rumours going around that something bigger will be coming our way sooner or later as far as the prophecy given to Percy and Nico are concerned. Which means we will have to work together with the Greeks and Romans at some point in the future. So it will be ideal to start integrating it in small steps so that we won't be caught unaware."

"Point noted Anubis. Which reminds me, how is your side of the prep going on Percy?" Carter asked. "We have nearly a year to get ready for our attack Carter so no need to worry about that as of now. Our main priority currently is the Egyptian side of the war, which will most likely take place by the end of this month. We just have to be glad that they haven't joined forces" Percy stated.

"Don't jinx us Percy!" Sadie groaned. "Alright. You bring those two into our fold and explain what's going on right now and seek their help. This meeting is adjourned for the time being. We will call in the next one soon enough to assess our position and the battle strategy." Amos declared and they all agreed before heading out.

"Are we going to get an explanation anytime soon? And why is there a monkey jumping around the place and... was that a crocodile in the pond? And why is the place lit up with... is that" Zoe asked, glaring at Percy.

"That's because we are in the Egyptian territory. I will love to explain more but not before I show you the rooms. It will be the best if we can discuss it in private." Percy said and Zoe reluctantly agreed while Nico dragged Bianca away from Kufu, who seemed a bit down that his playmate was going away.

"First off, welcome to the 21st Nome, let's say the Egyptian equivalent of CHB or CJ. And yes, Egyptian gods do exist but they don't have children, instead they have Egyptian magicians. There are two categories, one which follows the path of the gods and the other which is against that path. And there's a crisis coming and we need all the help we can get." Percy said.

"Um... Percy, you might want to slow down that explanation and let it sink in before any elaboration" Nico said as he pointed at the confused expression on Bianca's face and the stoic Zoe.

"Ok, ok, Egyptians exist... right. Explain from the beginning" Bianca said. "Right... so, there was a time when Egyptians worshiped their gods... but that was before the Greeks and Romans invaded and the magicians sort of locked up their own gods as they thought that they had abandoned them... sort of and stopped learning the path of the gods." Percy said.

"And what is that?" "The path of the gods is something where the pharaohs and their descendants can call upon the gods and host them temporarily. Or learn magic that is related to the God's power. I will show you some examples later on." Nico said as he noticed the looks of confusion.

"But where do you guys come into the whole feud?" Zoe asked. "Well... according to them, we have the blood of the pharaohs flowing through us, through our mothers in our case, but our Greek bloods were more dominant. But how we fit in the story... I think Percy will be able to explain that more clearly" Nico explained.

"Ok so... my mother and stepfather, both were magicians, though my mother didn't know about her heritage before she died. And she was related to Ruby, who was the wife of Julius Kane. My step father was the brother of Julius and Amos Kane and all 3 of them were magicians. All the chaos started when Aunt Ruby got a vision of an upcoming apocalypse and well... releasing the gods was the only option to do so. They did try their first attempt, which resulted in the Cat goddess Bast being released from her prison but it cost my aunt's life.

Julius, then dwelled more into the research, even if he'd been banned from using magic and finally got the plan to release the gods 6 years after her death. I was living with him at that time so... Carter, Sadie - they are Julius' children, and I went to the British museum and things went downhill when we released the gods... Anhur, take over please!" Percy said as he started fumbling around a bit.

"Thank you Percy! You were really messing up a bit there! And it feels nice to stretch for a bit" Anhur said, taking over without warning, causing the girls to jump, not expecting Percy to talk in third person. "Anhur... behave" Nico scolded.

"Alright, alright. You are no fun. I am Onuris or as they like to call me, Anhur, the god of war and hunting and Percy... somewhat willingly agreed to host me. It wasn't a conscious choice of either of us but the circumstances led to it. I will get to the basics of this dilemma first. To put it simply, demigods usually cannot host Egyptian gods, regardless of having the blood of the pharaohs as the Greek/Roman blood is the dominant one. Which means, if they ever host a god, it can usually lead to death as the mortal body cannot handle the power that is flowing through it. You understand what I am talking about till now?" Anhur asked, letting the facts sink in.

"But Percy just said that anyone with the blood of the pharaohs can host gods?" Bianca asked, feeling a bit weird to talk to Percy himself in third person.

"That, young lady, is true. But, the blood of the pharaohs is quite diluted and dormant due to the fact that it has been passed on for generations compared to being a first gen demigod. So he cannot exactly host a god when he is a demigod as it will be like two sides of him warring with each other along with an overflow of power. The same issue applies for Nico. But in both their cases... some unforeseen and unfortunate incidents... it caused something like a power overload as the incidents forced their dormant Egyptian magic to surface and well... it caused a power overflow in them... and in order to balance that power overflow, they had to host gods and the problem is, while it is usually temporary in cases of Egyptian magicians who aren't demigods... it becomes temporary in case of Percy and Nico as they need us to stabilize the power flowing through them." Anhur explained patiently.

"So... what you mean to say is that... my brother is somewhat bipolar?" Bianca asked, slightly weirded out. "Well... you can say it is something like that but at the same time it is not. Nico and Percy are the ones who is usually incharge but if needed we will step in with their permission, ok most of the time. But we will be always lingering in the back of their mind as we can't actually leave them." Anhur explained.

"So... you are saying Bianca will also experience something similar?" Zoe asked, a little peeved. "I think Anubis will be more efficient to answer that question" Anhur said as he gave the control back to Percy, who shuddered before sighing. "That always feels weird" he muttered.

"I... I actually don't know for sure. Theoretically, you should be able to host gods without any problem as you have died and come back again... but I don't know if that will actually stabilize the blood stream enough so that you don't experience the power overload... Same goes to the demi-titan. I think it is not best to experiment though because if anything goes wrong... you will have some... pretty bad side effects" Anubis stated before retreating back, seeing the weirded out expression of Bianca.

"And... what exactly are these side effects?" Zoe asked, feeling a little put out while Bianca is trying really hard not to go and coddle her brother and maybe swaddle him in bubble wrap and blankets. She knew that this is a possibility when she joined the hunters but... imagining and reality are two different things after all.

"Um..." Percy hesitated, feeling a little shy and searched for an escape. And speaking of the devil, Felix rushed inside the room, panting hard. "Percy! I need your help! The penguins need some ice! And Nico, Walt was calling you for some reason." he explained before turning his attention to the other two standing in the room.

"Who are you two? Are you going to help us with the apocalypse? Are you also magicians?" Felix asked excitedly and the girls just turned towards the boys and demanded in unison "Explain."

A/N: So... that's done and dusted... Sorry it took a really long time to update but... I was (and still am) struggling with the direction I am going to take the story with so... here's the main question:
A. Should I diverge completely from the canon after HoO?
B. Should I completely eradicate HoO and diverge from after TLO itself?

Please comment your opinion guys! The whole story depends on this thing mainly as well... it will help decide the bad guys mainly... SO YOUR OPINION COUNTS and will help me decide where to take the plot.

Sneak peak for the next chapter... will mostly cover the whole of TSS. Hope you all like the chapter! All comments and criticisms accepted and appreciated!

Thank you all for reading!

Rasi10 signing off

Published on 11 August 2020