Here we aaarree! A new chapter, a new day! We find ourselves in the future today; Percy had been ordained a priest and taken leadership of his small community at Mt Athos. No longer a Deacon, but a fully ordained Priest of the Eastern Orthodox Church, he is now in charge of his order's community, the Monastery of St Nestorius (fictional). The Catholic Eastern Orthodox Church of Greece is a national church, kind of like the Episcopal Church, aka: Church of England for example. The Orthodox Church of Constantinople is of the same communion as the Greek Church; it is just that it has a different presiding Bishop. The monasteries on Mt Athos come under the geographic authority of the Church of Constantinople, and under the administration of His Most Divine All-Holiness the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church. And this despite the country of origin of each of the various monasteries.

Geographically, Mt Athos is a peninsula in the remote northeast of Greece, it is a politically independent community of physically and administratively unconnected monasteries. And all come under the direct authority of the Eastern Orthodox Archbishop of the capital city of modern day Turkey.

The Archbishop is not considered as if a "Pope", but as THE First Among Equals as regards the Eastern Orthodox Bishops at the head of their national churches, such as the Orthodox Church of Greece, the Orthodox Churches of Romania, Bulgaria, the United States and so many others.

And when any Ecumenical discussions with any of the other "Catholic" churches takes place such as Rome, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Malabar, or wherever, it's the Archbishop of Constantinople who represents the Eastern Othodox Rite Churches. And his All Holiness is The Boss over all the various monasteries on that peninsula, even though many are of differing nationalities. They are all of the Eastern Orthodox Community.

We're picking up in the year 2063; far away in the future. Percy had undergone many changes and seen many amazing things. He has become trusted by the other national churches' monasteries and the communities of all male religious living there. As we join him, he is reflecting on his past, and all the massive changes he has undergone, having seen and experienced so very much.

Monastery of St Nestorius, Mt Athos, Greece

September 12, 2063

Papas Perseus, ordained Priest and Archimandrite of the monastery of St Nestorius sat on the edge of the low stone wall that separated the footpath along the cliffside of the monastery from the sheer 750 foot drop straight down to the Aegean Sea by the Cape of St Theodoric.

It was the northwest side of the peninsula, an autonomously governed region of Greece, and recognized as independent by the European Union in the "old days", and now by the European Federated States. Europe had formed one nation finally, with the exception of the United Kingdom. That now very divided political commune of four kingdoms had gone it's own way back in 2020. The British Monarch no longer ruled either Wales or the province of Northern Ireland. OR Scotland or Cornwall, either.

Northern Ireland had become the Irish province of Ulster once again during "The Great Divisions", during which the Republic of Ireland re-absorbed the wayward province of Ulster while Wales and Cornwall went their own way together as the reconstituted Kingdoms of Wales and Cornwall. Both had its own Parliament and ruling Princes, but was not affiliated politically or royally with either Scotland or England.

After Elizabeth II had passed in 2025 at the ripe old age of 99, Prince Charles hadn't been able to keep the United Kingdom together. He just wasn't well trusted after Diana's death, and Scotland decided just a month after the state funeral to leave the UK, quickly followed by Wales and Cornwall.

Civil War was only barely averted; Percy well remembered spending much time on his knees along with his congregation in Queens, praying constantly for peace. The big issue was the nuclear weapons that the UK had then possessed. The new US President led a coalition of both NATO and other European Nations and the then-EU armed forces into some very intense negotiations for possession of all the devices, and helped incredibly with the sudden breakup of Europe's formerly most stable and honored monarchy.

King Charles III hadn't been too keen on the deal, but he was informed by his own military staff that if he didn't knuckle under and go with this "deal", then the other NATO and combined United Nations forces would see to it that he DID. Likewise, the Prime Minister and the cabinet was informed by their European mainland counterparts that the "British Lion" was to be "defanged and declawed" in terms of nuclear weapons, or at least until their situation had stabilized.

The United States Navy sent a task force leavened with ships from the entire EU… but not from Germany. It wasn't discussed by any of the nations. It just wasn't done. Some memories were just too...

And they took on board all British nuclear munitions, to be stored in an unnamed place. Or places?

Yep; Europe had changed!

St Nestorius Monastery, overlooking the Aegean...

Percy sipped a cup of tea from his thermos bottle, a gift from his "little sister" Estelle back in the US, and he passed it over to his companion, an extremely old monk. Unbelievably old, in fact.

Estelle always sent him things; thick socks, underwear (ahh, luxury!), a stout Swiss Army pocket knife, and so many other things all of which Percy shared. He was particularly grateful for the vid-scanner. It was a new invention, a really high-end combination computer and tv, capable of picking up a satellite signal anywhere in the world, and all in 10g hi-def plus! No more Internet subscriptions! Not only that, but it also did all kinds of writing, telephonics and such. They were as small as an Android cellphone used to be (dinosaur!) and could do far, far more. They also projected a holo-vid 36 inch picture above the unit in 3 dimensions and in hi-definition, plus made perfect recordings replayable in the same format.

He'd been able to see the first pictures of the landing of the manned Mars Mission from the surface of the Red Planet! The other monks had been utterly fascinated; they didn't see much television up here, and most particularly not Percy's very elderly friend. It was a really remote community and a very austere existence. When the unit had come, Percy immediately donated it to the community so that it could be used by all for all the important things that happened all over the world, as well as studying scriptures via the Uni-Net which had replaced the Internet.

It could be used for phone calls and video-conferencing. It had been particularly useful when the new Eastern Orthodox missionary community at the Earth's Moon Colony had needed guidance and help in teaching, carrying the holy scripture to all those scientists, engineers and construction workers so sorely in need of God's Word and guidance.

St Nestorius Monastery included the leaders of all the monasteries in these calls so no matter the language used in worship, all needs could be met. That had really helped, particularly with the Russians and the Bulgarians doing the construction and basic engineering at the new and massive Moon Colony, Mare Imbrium Base.

The collection of monasteries didn't have the necessary technology for this. But Papas Perseus and St Nestorius monastery did, and they shared. And after all this unstinting sharing, the Ecclesiastic Council of Mt Athos had decided unanimously to make the American born Greek Priest, so newly ordained as such the newest Protos; the "First" amongst the Council members. This was how the entire community of Mt Athos governed itself, and it put Papas Perseus in position as the liaison with the Greek national government in Athens.

Percy was now the Ecclesiastic Community's leader, when dealing with the outside world. He wasn't really sure just how that made him feel. But one thing had happened that literally rocked his world; he'd been introduced to the monastic sanctuaries' greatest secret, a monk whose true identity was known only to a precious few of his fellows: the Beloved Disciple, Ioannes. Or, as he had originally been known, Johannon. John the Younger.

The Beloved Disciple. The youngest of all the Twelve Apostles.

Two thousand years prior, Jesus had given the care of His mother Mary (Mariamne) over to Johannon, the only disciple to attend the Crucifixion. The rest of the Twelve Apostles had hidden from the Sanhedrin and the Roman garrison (minus Judas Iscariot who'd hung himself), the Jewish ruling council responsible for bringing Jesus, (or more properly 'Yeshua') to his death. John was marked for death, but he didn't care. He put his faith and trust in the Father, and attended his Lord at His Crucifixion and burial.

Jesus had once been asked by Simon Peter when He would return for the final judgement of humankind. The reply was that only the Father knows that day and time, and not even the Son will know until the Father tells Him.

"But what of all those who died before that day; how can they be judged and ascended into Heaven, all these faithful believers if they are dead?"

Jesus replied that it made no difference to the Father if they "slept" as He had commanded of all life, all flesh. Besides, what difference did it make at all if Jesus told "this one to wait for Me until that day, what difference would it make" for Peter; he would be "seeing Jesus and a lot sooner" than he thought!

Peter got a chill up his spine. He was just informed by the Son of the Father ("I AM") that Peter would die and long before John. But John, Ioannes was just told to "Wait for Me".

Wasn't he?

Percy now knew for SURE that he HAD been. Because here he was, sharing tea with Percy! In all of Percy's 79 years on Earth, this new friend was the most amazing. He had a perfectly calm outlook on things. He knew, KNEW that Percy was the only mortal son of Poseidon living other than Tyson, who himself wasn't exactly "mortal". John had first greeted Percy and discussed these things with Percy before Percy could properly greet the man back!

Percy had come to this place of peace decades before. It was just a couple of years after that mess with Artemis had happened and he was so glad when he arrived on this sacred soil, made so by centuries of monks living prayerful and contemplatively worshipful lives, completely dedicated and absorbed in prayer and meditation upon the Divine.

It was beautiful and serene, with a view of the Aegean Sea that went on for hundreds of miles out. It was a long time before he was told of Brother Ioannes' true identity, and only two years ago after being voted in as Protos. Ioannes never left Mt Athos these days. He'd been exiled to the island of Patmos, not far from the Turkish coast back about the year 94AD, at the advanced age of 88. He was born in 6AD, and it was the Roman Emperor Domitian who sent him there in exile for spreading the new Faith.

And for daring to not die when Domitian had him boiled alive in oil in the Colosseum in Rome, in front of almost thirty thousand pagan Romans!

Yeahhh, that really did get Domitian's royal goat! Thousands of pagan Romans had given up the gods that day. Zeus had a migraine for weeks! That had to have hurt. It surely did kind of emasculate Domitian. Ioannes had used his time constructively in writing the Book of Revelation. It foretold the end of the world and God's Plan for us. Percy's favorite part of the New Testament.

Percy was feeling troubled that day; his feelings were the reason why he'd sought out John. He was aware that Ioannes "had knowledge", knew things he normally couldn't possibly know. But Percy also knew from Whom Ioannes received his knowledge. He'd been given a gift of mortal life for as long as he could endure, and all for the purpose of conversion and as a testimony to his Faith. And the Father's love for him, a faithful disciple of His Son, perhaps THE most faithful. Certainly the youngest. He'd cared for Mary for the rest of her life. That had to mean something.

God always keeps faith with those who keep faith, HAVE FAITH in Him whose name is "I AM". And now Percy's faith was telling him that something… 'something was wrong' somewhere in this world. And he had asked Brother Ioannes to meet and speak with him that morning.

"My brother, Ioannes! Good morning to you! How are you today?"

It was about 7:15am, a wonderful time of day in late September. John looked at this much younger man. He was aware of Percy's true identity and of his "family". He knew that Perseus Jackson was the mortal-born son of an ancient Greek god, the god of the oceans and the seas; Poseidon.

And Ioannes knew he could tell that somewhere in the world, a place already known to Percy but not known to John that there was a problem. Somewhere, an ancient evil was stirring and it might be that only men marked by God Himself could stop it.

Ioannes was no warrior and he never had been, but he was an Emissary. He was absolute living proof in the power and divinity of The Master. He'd cared for His mother until her death and the Ascension of her blessed remains wholly into Heaven at the point of her mortal death. He'd physically seen it. He'd seen The Master, her Son ascend to Heaven after His Resurrection. He knew what Ascension meant. And John had lived every day from then until now, even speaking with and converting the Roman emperor Constantine after first converting his mother, Helena to Christianity. John had changed the Roman Empire forever. A Christian priest. An Emissary.

John had been instrumental in convincing the Frankish Prince Charles, called "The Hammer", or in Frankish, "Martel" to challenge the Muslims then boiling out of Asia and offering them battle at the city of Tours. They came at Europe under the banners of the Ummayad Caliphate. The Muslim forces were destroyed. Completely. And history was changed once more by a Christian. An Emissary.

John had inspired the Polish King Jan III Sobieski to ride to the rescue of the city of Vienna when again, Turkish Muslim forces had "come calling"; three hundred thousand Muslims had attacked in July and it lasted until September of 1683, with less than twenty thousand defenders in Vienna. To say they were in a very bad way is a gross understatement.

The relief columns battled the rear guard forces of the Turkish leader, Kara Mustafa incessantly and finally defeated a force of over fifty thousand men, thus opening the way for Sobieski to run his forty thousand cavalrymen right at Mustafa's rear.

A Christian monk, an ordained priest called Marco d'Aviano was greatly trusted by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold ( Austria) and had been absolutely instrumental in getting the predominantly Germanic war council of nobles to accept the elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who himself was not "born to the crown"; it was d'Aviano's brilliant oration that carried the day and convinced the nobles to accept Sobieski.

D'Aviano was credited with being a saintly man, who had worked many healings and other miracles. He had also been observed bi-locating physically (being in two places at the same instant). And of course, his gift of tongues (perfect Polish? Italian? Latin, Greek, and German?) had to "come from somewhere". Right?

When Ioannes took on the identity of Padre Marco as a younger man, his facial features were altered divinely so as to look younger. Much younger than his already estimable 1,683 years! And he lived as Padre Marco for a number of years before going back to the island of Patmos. And all the while he aged "normally".

Patmos was by then his home, after all.

He could have "moved on" whenever he wished, but what with the jobs he "was assigned" he was having too much fun to leave the Earth! So he endured.

When his call to leave Patmos came, he moved to Athens where he introduced himself to the Hellenic Archbishop of Greece. Ioannes had been preceded by a "Visitation", a messenger angel. Ioannes was announced to the Archbishop in a dream in the middle of the night. When the good Episkopos awoke, he was standing on the main altar of the cathedral.

But it wasn't the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens that he normally said mass in; he found himself at St Nektarios Cathedral in the city of Patras, 134 miles from Athens and overlooking the Peloponeseus!

HE BELIEVED THEN, ALRIGHT! And this was important because he argued with the angel who spoke to him in his dream. He went to sleep at ten pm and awoke at dawn, 134 miles from his starting point; and this was back in 1889! So no rapid transport there back then! The archepiskopos also learned one more immutable fact: Angels have a rather broad sense of humor. So NEVER argue with an angel. Especially not before bed. The venerable churchman woke up on the cathedral's altar in the middle of morning mass with no pants on.

MWAHH-HAHH!

John was assigned to the monastery of St Nestorius after meeting with the bishop. The thing was made clear to all and John was used to things pretty much always happening this way. He had a new task set before him; guide the the formerly pagan demi-god on his set path. He was gonna NEED said guidance! So John settled in for the long haul. And he waited. And prayed and meditated and… mostly waited very patiently.

Percy poured the tea into each man's cup, surreptitiously stealing a glance at the ancient human in front of him. Percy's abilities to sort people and monsters by scent had gotten much stronger over time.

He sensed no harm or deception coming from Papas Ioannes. It was a holdover of his demi-god capabilities that had helped Percy along his New Path, and it would hold him in good stead for a while longer, this John well knew. It had been "explained" to him.

"So brother, how long have you been here on Athos", Percy asked.

"It's been… a while now."

Percy continued to stir in milk and just glanced at the other man. Percy grinned a little and quipped back, "A 'while' you say? A 'while'? A long while, maybe?!"

John looked at Percy's sea-green eyes and said, "You know, I once met some...one… with eyes like yours. Very much exactly like yours, ocean green, deep sea green. You might actually have met this 'man'".

John emphasized the word 'man' just a bit more than the rest of his words.

Percy put down his teaspoon and picked up his cup. John joined him and the two priests began drinking their tea. Percy reflected on what had just been said to him, and decided no harm, no foul.

"You say you met this person? A woman or a man?"

"Mmmm, kind of hard to quantify actually. But a male, a very powerful male. And you look just like him".

Percy smiled. He sipped his tea and looked outward, out over the blue Aegean. He could see a school of dolphins out there playing around with a distant ferry. His extraordinary eyesight permitted this.

"So brother, you met...someone… who looked like me right down to my eyes?"

John put his cup down on the large rock that was serving as their table. He took in Percy's features. Over the many years that Percy had gotten older since his days as a teen-aged demi-god, he had always looked like his father.

He'd gotten older, a little gray had crept into the hair by his temples and he had lines around his eyes, but even though he was now nearer seventy he hadn't visibly aged. No one knew just how long a demi-god could live; most died violently in battle, earning their places in Elysium that way. But Percy had lived a good deal longer than any other in many centuries. Even he had no idea, but going by visible signs of his aging, he had a looong way to go just yet!

"Yes; your eyes are very distinctive you know. I've never met any other mortal with your… or HIS color eyes. A deep sea green,verrry deep, I would say".

The ancient Apostle did have a sense of humor, say whatever else about him you liked. Percy found Ioannes' company quite enjoyable. Many was the morning they'd shared tea or sometimes just met and spoke together. Some of Percy's best sermons had used things that this incredible man had spoken to him about.

Percy reflected silently that it would be nice to have someone in whom he could confide even his most personal and honest tales as histories. Papas Stavros had passed on several decades ago; he'd come back to Greece and had been killed near his native village, where he'd accepted a posting as the district priest.

He'd gone down fighting several monsters who'd taken exception to a demi-god coming back to the village he and his brother had fled many years before. Stavros had been killed by a poison tipped arrow fired by a Dracaena, one of several who waylaid the old son of Apollo on his way home after giving last rites to a dying parishioner. Over half of the group went down under Stavros' blade until the poison reached his heart.

The monsters had roused several dozen villagers all of whom had reached for the one thing that they knew from bitter experience would kill the savage bastards: Fire.

They fell on the six or seven left, a mix of dracanae and mountain cyclope (no sons of Poseidon here) and burned them down to ash. Their weapons were divided between a few of the villagers brave enough to take possession of them. They were put to good use in clearing the whole district out of said supernatural butt-lickers over the next few years.

Something about the courage of Papas Stavros and his love for his own home and flock had stirred them all. That and the fact that another younger priest had come to take over temporarily after his friend and mentor was killed.

Papas Perseus came; his Episkopos had ordered him to keep his pen handy and to do what he could about the situation.

After the old priest's funeral, Percy had been approached by a delegation of citizens who were armed with the seized weapons. They'd seen Percy going through his paces with Riptide the night before they came to ask him to train them all. The great sword had left trails of luminescence with every swing; it was like watching a laser-light show.

Percy wound up training them as best he could in the amount of time he had before he'd had to go back to Athos. He'd only been at Mt Athos a year when word came about Papas Stavros.

But Percy had a chance to demonstrate his skills with a very brave (read: stoOOpid!) Cyclope, who sought to make a name with Percy. Percy had cut the huge bastard to literal shreds, bit by bit. But the battle had drawn the attention once more of the Greek gods, having taken place so close to the original Mt Olympus.

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Zeus had a headache. A nasty one, and he called to his son Apollo.

"Hey pops! What's wrong? Can I help you with anything? Maybe sing a song, make up a hai-ku for ya?"

Zeus just held his head in his hands and groaned. He looked sideways at the chipper sun god, his youngest immortal son out of the corner of one squinty eye.

Apollo looked concerned; "Dad, you don't look so good. Wassup?"

Zeus opened his mouth as if to talk and suddenly vomited all over the floor. Apollo looked at the sick by Zeus's feet and grimaced. He waved his hand and the sick disappeared.

"Father, you really don't look well and that vomit was of nasty color. Why don't you let me check you over in my temple and let's see what's wrong, okay?"

Zeus could only try to rise from his throne and grab his son's arm for help. He was so ill he couldn't see straight and he couldn't speak. And all of his existence he had only felt this way or this bad once before, and that was when he was birthing Athena out of his head.

The pain in his head that time had been so bad that he screamed for Hephaestus to open his head with a chisel. Hephaestus did so and lo and behold, Athena popped out fully dressed and ready for battle.

Well, that's what you get for swallowing a pregnant woman so that she won't give birth to a goddess who may overthrow you. Kind of like what happened with his father.

An hour later and some very rigorous tests including a prostate examination which Zeus thought was completely unnecessary but just had no strength to resist, and all the testing was over.

"Dad, the only thing that I can see here is that your godly energy levels have spiked tremendously and rather viciously as well. Their color should be a little cooler than what I'm seeing but yours are running very very hot right now. So you're feeling terribly ill. I will try to find medication that will work for you and easing the pain because I don't think that Ibuprofen or acetaminophen or even aspirin is going to help this one!"

Over the last hour Zeus had actually been feeling a little bit better. Whatever he had done, Apollo had made Zeus feel better. Whether his examination had loosened up some of the Godly energy that seemed to be backed up or whatever he had done, Zeus was feeling a bit better and was finally able to communicate somewhat.

"P-p-p-eeerrse-se-us…"

Perseus? PERSEUS?

"What about Perseus dad? Have you found him? Do you know where he is? Please Dad, please tell me! You know how much we all want to find him!"

Zeus just frowned and shook his head slowly.

"N-n-ooo! Don't know-where.. He-he-he…"

And Zeus vomited all over again.

He looked up at Apollo in what could only be described as utter misery. Apollo, ever observant as regarded such things could see his father's misery.

The god of medicine… among other things… was taken completely aback by his father's face, such was Zeus' facial expressions. The agony and misery as well as the uncontrollability of these conditions had twisted the king of the gods' face into a mask unlike anything Apollo had ever seen before.

It was at this point that Apollo realized that his father was in worse pain than when he birthed Athena!

Apollo moved around to his father's side and put an arm around his shoulders. It was only his intention to give some physical comfort, but what happened next shocked both gods; Apollo could feel 'stuck' to his father, and something started pulling on his godly energies!

It felt as if an unseen parasite had clamped down on them both, immobilizing them and riveting them both to the spot!

PAIN! UNCONTROLLABLE PAIN… Apollo was SICK! Like he'd never experienced anything like this before!

Suddenly, a golden glow formed around them both and a voice spoke to them. It was a soft voice, soft as if deliberately made so by the speaker. But with an authority that brooked no argument.

"I have spoken with you before now. I have made my will known to you concerning my holy priest, Perseus. Why do you continue to fail ME and him in these matters? Why is he being permitted to do YOUR jobs of killing off these abominations left on my Earth? Why have you not sent teams of demigods from your camps, your own children to do their bound tasks of destroying these beasts and abominations of desolation that you Greeks created"?

Apollo was able to croak out a reply; "P-p-pleeease! Stop the painnnnn… killing usss! Don' know whatchoo wannn' from uss! How can we helllp?!"

The glow became softer and the pain started to ease. Both gods could stop vomiting now; they'd left a copious mess all around themselves and on themselves. Two of the most powerful gods on all Olympus had been reduced to shivering wrecks of their former glory.

The Voice spoke again: "I AM. You both know Me by now. I have caused you, Zeus much pain as a lesson. I could have taken all your powers and authorities from you had I so wished. But rather than do that, I inflicted that same pain upon your son, your "Sun god" as he is titled. I did this as he tried comforting you, his loving father so the two of you would stand as examples of what ALL OF YOU can expect the next time you choose to disobey My Will."

There was a pause, and both gods ceased feeling any pain. The memory was still not coming to them; what was this ubiquitous 'I AM' on about?

"To refresh your memories, one of my Holy Priests, a Warrior named Stavrious, also your son, Apollo; he was slaughtered by your pantheon's monsters defending the folk of his own native village, and very close to the base of your old home.

"This was YOUR JOB, not that of my Priest's. But Stavrious was never, EVER going to allow that situation to fester; but YOU BOTH DID!"

The light became unbearable and the pain lanced through both gods all over again! They screamed, they cried. THEY WERE BOTH WRONG TO ALLOW THIS AND THEY BOTH SCREAMED OUT HOW SORRY THEY WERE!

The pain stopped.

And both father and son fell unconscious on the floor of the throne room. They would soon know REAL sorrow.

Hestia flashed in to tend the Central Hearth. She immediately saw both Zeus and Apollo in front of Zeus' throne on the floor. She gasped and ran over. Settling in next to her baby brother Hestia cuddled him in her lap, getting covered in vomit in the process.

She slapped Zeus' face very lightly but firmly time and again in an attempt to awaken him. It wasn't working so she tried sending a wave of godly energy at him. She'd worry about Apollo after helping her brother.

"Hestia"

She looked up to see where the voice had come from, but there was no one and nothing there. She turned her sole attention back to her king.

"HESTIA".

Now she stood up and looked around. And she saw a figure dressed in white samite. There was a beautiful golden glow that absolutely enveloped and permeated him(her?). The figure turned toward Hestia and pulled down his robe's cowl. His face was absolutely beautiful and he had a sword sheathed at his belt. His robe fell open and it became clear he was fully armored.

His breastplate was contoured to his abdominals and his forearms were covered in twin vambraces made of the same glowing white… metal?... that formed the rest of his armor. His battle kilt was made of long angled plates of the stuff and his collar protected his neck and shoulders thickly but it seemed he moved easily in it.

He looked at the childlike goddess and she knew this was a Warrior Without Equal. No peer. And he reminded her of Percy. His hair was full and tousled like it had never seen a brush and he had a sword scabbarded at his side. He bent down and picked something off the floor where it had been half-hidden from view. He had a huge shield with a long spear. And his spear's head was made of flame. A flame so bright that Hestia had to avert her eyes. A goddess of fire had to avert her eyes!

He looked at her directly and she somehow knew; this was an Angel of I AM.

"I am an Angel sent to you with a message from the One TRUE God". He said this last with a glare and Hestia could feel his animosity. It was well-controlled but it was there.

She stood after laying Zeus' head down and vanished the vomit and misery from her dress. She altered her appearance to that of an adult woman, beautiful and with a demure but even countenance.

"Angel, are you responsible for my brother and his son here? Are they like this by your hand?"

The Angel looked at the two gods with disgust. He turned to face Hestia and looked at her in her eyes; "No. The Almighty has done this. It is His Will alone that causes this now. The example is set and here is the message: You have permitted your mortal children to battle your abominations. These monsters are YOUR problem, and NOT your childrens'.

"Now My Holy Priest, a mortal child of Apollo has been slaughtered whilst defending the people of his own native village.

"AND I WILL NEVER PERMIT THIS AGAIN.

I am sending Perseus, son of Poseidon and the mortal woman Sally who has brought her own son to My Path. I have made his path straight and I will protect him. And he will be dispatched to this village to exterminate absolutely this nest of evil in My NAME. None shall escape his blade, for I shall bless him and his blade Riptide to My Holy purpose.

The villagers, most of whom are descended of you Greek celestials will see this demigod son of Poseidon and a mortal woman, a consecrated Deacon of my Church made holy to My Name of his own free will, utterly destroy these beasts of your own creation.

"And he will preach the Holy Gospels to these simple folk. I shall send them blessing after blessing through Perseus and he shall heal many who are injured or ill.

"And he will bring these to me and away from you all. You will lose this village, this entire district that has been mostly your own for many millenia. And they will come to Me because of Perseus.

His blade shall whittle you all down. And you shall all be made to watch. You will see My power when you choose to allow any and all of your own children to do your jobs for you."

Hestia pondered this for a moment.

"I do not intend any disrespect, but I will be asked by my fellows if this command of Yours will not lead us to violate the Ancient Laws. Why do I say to them? Please help me to understand this".

Hestia tried being cautious here; she needed to help the others understand that this I AM had the power, the Authority to change these laws at will. Hestia did understand this; but she knew she would need to make the others understand this as well. And she definitely did NOT want to be perceived as defying The Almighty.

Hestia had been studying this for years now and had an understanding better than the other Olympians. But she had to proceed with caution and respect. The Angel continued, answering her question.

"You are wise to ask this. You must all understand how taking direct action against a lesser form of being will not violate those Ancient Laws of yours. To begin with, those so-called 'laws' were passed down so that the abominations that were your corrupt parents could be restrained by Divine Will.

"They laid waste to the Earth and corrupted her peoples, even tribes that had never been given to them since just after the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Your parents' meddling upon the Earth was the single most imminent reason for my destruction of the surface of the Earth and all her peoples, save for my devout son Noah and his family.

"These laws I forced upon you all were put in place so that none of you would try using the planet Earth as your 'playground' ever again. You are Celestial Beings, and you styled yourselves gods! You did that to inveigle humans into worshipping you all. Your brother, Poseidon and his niece Athena even battled, contested for the worship of the city of Athens, and Athena highly favored the Athenians who named their city after her.

"Athena clearly violated the Ancient Laws as you call them. So did Poseidon. And so did Ares in his favoring and patronage of Sparta. And you ALL violated these rules in the matter of the Trojan War.

"I allowed these things to pass as it was a matter of Hellenes versus other Hellenes. I was busy with Moses and settling my People Israel into the lands I gave to them back then, and the loss of a few tens of thousands of Greeks did not concern Me at all.

"But I see now that I have been fa too lax with all of you; Artemis proved that to me. You had all lost respect for Me. I will not permit this of you, not any one of you, especially not your so-called king.

"Hestia, you will carry My Words to your Olympian siblings and their children. I am appointing you because you have a pure and honest heart. You are chaste, even though you harbor a secret love for he who is now My holy priest, Perseus. You never acted upon your feelings, but remained pure and chaste.

You have delighted Me in this way, and so long as you observe those things as well as the laws I give you, you shall come to no harm by My Will".

Hestia stood shocked to her core. Her secret love for Percy was out! But she could never act upon it; I AM had made that clear for her, His words coming from the mouth of this Warrior Angel. Her chastity delighted Him, and she would maintain it. And she would now become His messenger to the Olympians, setting up His new interpretation of the Ancient Laws.

There was just one question on her mind…

And it seemed it had been anticipated.

"NO. You will not have any contact with Perseus. His path is Mine to set, now that he has consecrated his life to Me." God's tone of voice via His Angel was harsh and commanding, but then the tone softened.

"Hestia, you are the eldest of all here, and you alone kept the peace, placating your intemperate brother Zeus, even giving up your throne.

"In a truly fair world, you and Perseus could have had a love that spanned centuries. He could have joined you all, and a mighty Olympian he would have been!

"But not now. Perseus was so badly hurt by his trip through Tartarus and all its attendant horrors that his mind was nearly destroyed. And his lover Annabeth could no longer be a part of his life due to the damage done to her as well.

"She was supposed to have been Perseus' wife, the mother to his children, daughter to Sally and Paul and sister to Tyson. But now? Nothing. She has set her own path in life. And this is only right and just.

"Perseus' legend was cut short for any has become an even more glorious destiny; he will become a Warrior Priest, a true defender of the Faith and an Emissary carrying My Gospel to the ends of the Earth. He will become a human Arch-Angel, as he shall battle physical evil as personified by these abominations."

Hestia knelt before the Angel, but he extended his heavily muscled forearm and raised her gently to her feet. His hand was large and smooth, and he said, "You should not kneel before me; those such as myself may not be so venerated. This is only for the Father".

Hestia was amazed. Such a being as this, and completely unselfconscious!

"It shall be as you have said; I recognize these words that came from your mouth as the words of I Am. And I shall obey Him.

"But my siblings and family will try to resist. What shall I do to get them to stop their usual argumentative nonsense?"

The Angel looked at her and grinned. It was a chilling grin.

"Do not worry; my Father will provide you with the means to bring this unruly pack of 'godly wannabes' to heel.

"My name is Michael. And I am the leader of the Heavenly Armies. I will help you bring these others to heel, Hestia. And then Perseus' path will be made straight".

Phew! This chapter took me months. I'm just pulling odds and ends together here. But the next chapter is being written already and Percy will finally meet with Annabeth. It's about time! Right?

Please, as always leave me reviews.