Perseus POV

Black.

Pitch black, then, white. Pure, white light.

White. Blue. Grey, Silver.

Slivers of colour entranced me in the world that encompassed me, flickering ones, individuals that stayed constant, powerful bursts of light and life, creating the harmony that together formed the world around me.

I heard voices and spun around to the direction of the voice. He spoke with absolute certainty and with pride," That's my son, alright."

My father. He looked... Proud.

Imagine feeling prideful of a being that hadn't done a single thing on this Earth.

The woman nodded and smiled, a reserved and shy one, and placed an arm around my father's.

"Imagine." My father said to her, "Our son will perform feats that not even the greatest gods will have accomplished.

"Yes, he will."

They continued, an incoherent murmur and babble. Meanwhile, I was exploring the room. It was massive and really neat. The place looked like it was painted in some light blue and looked incredible. It was a palace. Probably deep below sea level. Orbs of air randomly flew across the expanse of the room. Shocks of fluorescent light illuminated the tremendous expanse inside the palace and far out into the depths of the brilliant ocean. It looked like... I was at home.

Line Break

I explored the courtyard. Finally after being discharged from the... the hospital.

Anyway, I swam around waving at all the nice fish people. I was having fun right now! I swam into an alleyway and looked around. There was a bunch of mermen sitting around a table. I counted up 3 mermen. They looked like they were having fun, so I decided to join them.

"Hi, Guys. I'm Perseus" I yelled.

They all looked up and I saw their faces morph into one of shock. They then looked at each other and said, "You are the king's new son?"

I nodded and they all laughed. One of them grinned," Would you like to play a card game with us, sir?"

"Sir, huh? Sounds kind of weird, doesn't it?"

He, along with the other guards looked baffled by my reply but shrugged, "I guess, but it's a simple show of respect."

"Sure." I shrugged and they grinned. They pulled out a deck of cards that had a bunch of gods on it. I recognised a bunch of gods that dad told me about.

They glittered and the complementary statuettes shimmered on top of them.

Demeter wielded two golden blades; Hera exhibited a shiny celestial bronze Xiphos; Hestia wreathed in flames; Hades fashioned a pitch-black helmet, engulfed in waves of darkness that seemed to bend and kneel at his feet; Zeus who proudly hefted his massive lightning bolt, which was crackling with power from the looks of things, and my dad, Poseidon, who gripped a first-class, one of a kind, golden trident that had tiny tornadoes swirling around it like flies.

Hours later, we were all playing around the table with cards in our hands. I had already been briefed on the rules and shown some strategies.

I had Perseus (a child of Zeus, I believe that my existence wouldn't be met with that reception), Hestia, and my dad, Poseidon. I also had a titan called Iapetus and a Titaness called Rhea. The rest of my team consisted of demigods and demititans.

Two mermen, one named Nickolas and the other named Jack, had challenged each other and were currently engaged in a one on one battle. This left me and the last guard, Jozef, to duke it out. I had placed down Hades and Demeter along with a couple of demigods to defend the gods.

Jozef had Hestia and Zeus on the field. He smirked smugly. I racked my head, trying to come up with an idea when I thought of something. Iapetus was a titan. Rhea was a titan. Titans are more powerful than gods. Titan equals beat up gods. I smirked and pulled out Iapetus and Rhea.

I grinned at the guard. He looked like he were about to faint on the spot. Earlier, he told me that he only had three titans, which meant one of the other guards had the other one. Sighing, Jozef handed me his cards after discarding Zeus and Hestia from the battlefield. I grinned victoriously and decided to silently spectate the match between Nickolas and Jack. Nick had Demeter out and Jack had Hades. I knew Hades was stronger than Demeter because Hades controlled the dead and had a considerate amount of control overnight.

A few moments after that, Jack yelled," Ha! Take that! I have Clymene! Hahaha!"

Nick (his new nickname) sighed and handed his cards to Jack, who grinned widely and turned to face me. I smiled. He smiled back. Then, I changed my demeanour and cackled rather maniacally. I placed my titans and he reeled back in shock. He fainted on the spot (A bit dramatic - and cringy - of him but that's alright I guess). I heard Nick snort and take out his new Hephaestus brand iPhone (wait...what were those?) which was completely waterproof and available on Mount Olympus at Hephaestus' Workshop. He snapped a few pictures of unconscious Jack while Jozef high fived me.

I hung out with the guards more until I got bored and bid goodbye to them. I swam away and decided to check out the land. I swam upwards while listening to my sea instincts, and saw the sky. I reached the surface and shot out like a dolphin, curving through the air with the help of gravity. I landed on my feet and tested my surroundings.

Moving on land was harder. I tried jumping off the ground and swimming through the air. This resulted in me face-planting. I got up and spat continuously. I dusted my baggy outfit and looked around.

The bright colours blinded me. Underwater, it was never this bright and yet at the same time plain. While underwater was like a kaleidoscope, radiant colours everywhere, the overworld had more toned down colours that while relatively dull, were also shockingly different to what I had previously been exposed to (which wasn't much, but still, the point stands.)

The sky was clear, other than a few stray clouds that wandered the upper dome of the world. Under me, soft sand shifted to mould into the shape of my feet. Over the horizon, I saw plants and flowers, splashed with vivid and fluorescent colours that would make Iris squeal with joy. The wind exploded across my face and swept my hair into small wave shapes. I turned laboriously behind me and saw a few land creatures. I saw some white animals with wings. Birds, I guess. I stared at them in wonder, probably for about eight hours.

Back to important matters, such as getting used to the physics of land. I tried stepping around, only to find that the process was harder on land. I had to know why later on. I sighed and looked around, searching for something to help support me for the time being.

I found a stick and walked around in circles for a while. I giggled randomly. I probably looked like an old man right about now. I grinned. I like grinning. I decided to go explore the city. I trudged tirelessly towards the city and saw a sign.

It read 'WELCOME TO DELPHI!'

It also read '12 HOURS UNTIL DELOS LANDS!'

I trekked towards the centre of the city to find a giant expanse of empty land. Nice. I might go ahead and ask someone to build a temple for me there. That would be cool.

I decided to do some sightseeing. I walked around. Half of the area was empty or cleared off. If I were to guess, I'd say that they didn't have a patron god. I walked over to a large crowd of people. I asked a man," What's everyone doing?"

He turned and was caught off guard. He was surprised - that much was obvious. " Oh, another one." He smiled and turned away. He seemed, sad, almost. He walked motioning for me to follow him, but I could easily tell something was off," Come with me, child."

I followed him, intrigued as to what was going on and where the children were. The youngest people I'd seen so far looked to be between the ages of thirteen to fourteen, by the looks of things. I finally reached the old man and blinked rapidly - was this for real?

Standing in front of us was an army of soldiers opposite the position of the village's citizens. In the middle, was a group of children, all aged from two up to twelve, tied to each other, the frontmost with ropes attached to horses. The horses themselves looked intimidating and weary. I tried asking it a few questions. I know I sounded crazy, but I was trusting the judgement of Jozef the friendly mermen.

'Hello?' I looked at a horse expectantly.

'Hello, son of the sea. What is your wish?'

I continued, 'What is going on here?'

'For losing a war, the citizens of Delphi must sacrifice all their children between the ages of 5 and 12 to the Spartans.'

I nodded at the horse and spoke loudly, startling the residence as well as the soldiers. All of them looked confused to see a small child in the crowd, "Leave now mortals; you have displeased the gods."

A nearby soldier raised an eyebrow but didn't protest. He looked mildly irritated but didn't voice his annoyance - at least, not directly, "For what? Sorry kid but you don't exactly look like a god or prophet or anything, so you're going to have to come with the rest."

"I'm not from here."

He shrugged and turned away, "Then you should know that there was a war and in order to maintain peace, they give us their children to fuel our economy and in return, we offer them protection."

I glowered, "I am the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. Obey my commands or face his wrath."

Everyone stepped back. The reason? I wasn't sure, but I paid no attention to any of them. Instead, I continued on, "I'm going to need one of you to escort me to Sparta so that I may confront the king.

The citizens of Delphi looked like they wanted to stop me, but if they did, they didn't voice their thoughts.

The soldiers, however, were a different story. The majority were grinning - whether it was because their king was about to get chewed out by a kid or because I was going to be in a significant amount of trouble was mixed between the soldiers.

One stepped forward. He was tall and burly, and yet looked more nervous than any of the other soldiers were. He started off and someone murmured something, which elicited crude snorts and laughter.

I glared at the group of soldiers and followed the volunteer. Along the way, I bought a couple of sheets of papyrus paper and a reed pen along with some ink; trudged alongside the soldier down an uneven gravel path.

He asked me whilst whistling a tune," What are you going to do to our king? Slay him? Good luck to you. He's a powerful man, but if you can, then go for. He's a terrible person and he's done nothing for us nor our town. He's a cruel, twisted and sick person, yes, but, are you sure that you want to - or can - do this. I mean, no offence, but you're just a kid."

I nodded. I listened as he explained the history of the town. Their ruler sounded like a sucky person in general, and some of the stuff he did was just pathetic.

He needed to have his priorities checked.

"Sometimes all one person needs to do is to be the spark, then the explosion," I replied.

When we arrived at the castle of Sparta, after receiving multiple strange faces from the residence, I left the soldier outside and asked him to wait. Sighing, I made sure I had a few cisterns of water on my person; I marched inside.

The first thing that I noticed was the air. It felt damp and heavy, like the air in an arena after countless matches. The air seemed to weigh me down slightly. I tried controlling the moisture around me to find that I couldn't. I decided to train myself to do that later. Further examination showed that the whole room, from the walls to the furniture, was completely coated with a thick layer of dust. Every corner was flooded with trash. Flies combed the whole area and searched for any source of food containing a tint of colour other than black or brown. Sadly, that included me too. Flies nipped at my body as I wandered the hallways, searching for any sign that anyone had recently been in the common room. The castle lacked any human life and sound. I walked through an archway and was instantly followed by a surge of flies. I decided to end this nonsense quickly and coated myself with a layer of water.

After walking through countless and extremely grimy corridors, I heard voices. At least five of them. I decided to listen in on the conversation and see what information I could gather from the subjects of the king and the chefs. I swiftly dashed towards a wall, but slow enough that I didn't make a sound, and edged towards a corner. The voices started to clear up and seemed to increase in quality and volume. The sounds echoed throughout the entire castle.

"The king requests that you prepare two dozen serving carts of fish and meat. He wants to make an example of some particularly stubborn citizens who were planning a coup d'état." A masculine voice, likely the kings royal advisor, ordered in monotone.

I heard someone, probably the cook, mutter, "Might've been a good idea."

Both of them got into a heated conversation about the state of their city and how it got to be the way it is. They sounded wistful as they described Sparta when they had lived in it during their childhoods.

"We just have to hope the gods hear our prayers." The advisor said.

I heard their voices fading away as they walked away, the advisor listing out specific ingredients for the chef.

I thought about what I just heard. The 'king' wanted to make an example of someone. Probably to increase his influence via the fear factor. This was to happen at some point in the near future - maybe tomorrow - and would probably be mandatory for the civilians to attend. This would probably be a good place to show the citizens what happens to evil dictators with corrupt motives.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Footsteps padded across the ground. I lurched backwards abruptly and scanned the area near me. One... no... two? Three? There were definitely a couple but I couldn't make out the exact number.

I pulled out two cisterns of water and poured the water out. The water surged downwards, due to gravity, and pooled on the floor.

Changing, the shadows shrunk and merge. There seemed to be four guards. Due to my incredible observation skill, I was able to identify a spear being held in each guard's hand along their bodies being protected by leather armour - not that it would be of much help.

Turning a corner, nearly a dozen shadows, all ranging in darkness and tone, completely mixed into four soldiers, spears sharpened and glistening. They spotted me and at that moment, each of their two eyes met mine and an awkward silence followed. They saw what I was doing and a silent agreement was formed. They turned away and walked back the way they came, 'accidentally' dropping their spears along with two sheets of papyrus paper. There was something written on each one.

I picked one up and read it quietly to myself.

It had a message written on it,' Come to the outskirts of town up north. It's about the king. Bring supplies.'

The other displayed also had a message on it,' Beware of spies. Make sure you're not followed. Find the citizens of Delphi. Bring them.'

All this revelation with the evil king and the secret anti-king organisation was making me tired. I yawned and decided to gather the citizens of Delphi with me tomorrow. I waved my hand. Floating spheres of water started to form and dance around me.

I carelessly strolled through the corridors and back-tracked myself. Now and then, I'd see a soldier or two and they'd either attack me or turn a blind eye and pretend I didn't exist. When they did attack me, I'd just cover them with water and let them fall into short-term unconsciousness along with giving them short-term amnesia.

Near the biggest set of doors, a few guards hefted their spears clumsily and pointed them at me. Boredly, I flailed my hand and they were struggling to stay conscious. After a few moments, they fainted and I continued onwards.

The king was likely going to throw a party to celebrate this person burning to death. He wasn't going to live long enough to see that happen ever again. It was time to crash a party.

25/6/19 Edit: Made it less cringy, I wish that I didn't rush publishing these chapters.

25/11/19 Edit: Once again, made it less cringy as my friends discovered this fanfic

What-have-I-done,

~MasterGravity