Chapter 02: The Winter Solstice

New York City – Mount Olympus – Olympian Throne Room

Thirteen magnificent thrones were spread about the room in a 'U' shape. At the vertex sat the mighty Zeus and his wife Hera, the king and queen of the Olympian gods. Poseidon and Hades sat on either side of the couple staring at the center of the room. In fact all the gods stared at the center of the room in shock and in one goddess' case, fear. For in the center of the room was a glowing blue portal, with a clock hand slowly spinning around it.

As the portal faded from view many of the assembled gods stiffened. Now floating in the center of the room was Clockwork. Zeus, as the leader among the gathered gods, was the first to recover as he spoke. "Lord Clockwork! To what do we owe the appearance of a Primordial such as yourself? The last we saw of you was when we banded together to seal Pariah Dark." As a primordial, Clockwork was older than any of the gathered, older than even the Titans who had finally been defeated just a few months previously. Some of the younger gods looked at Clockwork in wonderment and a tad bit of fear, they had heard stories of the powers of the Primordial beings, and Clockwork was supposedly one of the more powerful, but he hadn't made an appearance in many centuries. Dionysus the youngest of the assembled gods, had never seen Clockwork, for he had left years before he was born.

Clockwork raised his hand and spoke, "I bring both good news and bad news for you all. But before that I must congratulate you all as well. Banding together with the Demigods to defeat the Titans proves that you have all grown immensely since the last time that I have shown myself to you."

Athena spoke, "What news do you bring us, ancient one?"

Clockwork sighed at being called ancient and said, "First of all, like all of you I have changed over time. I am no longer the formal stiff I used to be." A few of the assembled gods chuckled at this, with Apollo giving a deep laugh. "Shadowkin have begun making movements across the Omnis."

Ares gave a questioning stare as Zeus stiffened in fear. "And what are these Shadowkin?"

Hades answered for his brother, "The Shadowkin are dimensional travelers, long lived but not immortal. But they are powerful. Many of their kind have powers on par with our own. In fact I've met a few that could've easily defeated any of us." A groan was heard from Dionysus, as he realized that this meant more trouble.

"Calm yourselves, unlike last time, not all of them are against us. They have split into a civil war, one group calling themselves the Runic, who follow the ancient ways, while the other group calls themselves the Dusk, they only seek to stop the Runic while promoting unity amongst the dimensions of the Omnis."

"What makes you so certain of this Clockwork? As powerful as you are, not even you can claim to see everything. The last time the Shadowkin went to war they exterminated the Ethereals!" Zeus gestured at Clockwork wildly. While he was hopeful that they wouldn't have to fight every Shadowkin that exists, he didn't believe that any of them could be friendly.

"Because I told him that's why." At the sound of the unexpected voice, a few of the gods gave a small jump, startled. As a pillar of darkness erupted next to Clockwork, revealing a young man with black hair, red eyes, and wearing a regal black suit with white accents. "I am known as Shadow, and I am the leader of the Dusk."

Zeus and Hera openly glared at Shadow, while some of the other gods looked at him in interest. Clockwork interrupted before they became more distracted. "As I was saying, Shadow here has informed me of a number of dire situations that require everyone's cooperation. One such situation is here in your world."

Athena glanced at Shadow again before she spoke, "And just what is this dire situation?"

Shadow turned to her with a worried glint in his eyes, "The Runic Order has begun moving across the many dimensions and have started to absorb the worlds they come across. Some of our intel suggests that this dimension has caught their interest. It is likely they have sent one of their agents ahead in order to scope out the power of opposition."

"Can you give us any information on this Runic?"

Shadow shook his head. "Sadly we have no idea who it could be. They may have sent one of their higher ranked members or even someone that they just recruited. I can make no guarantees as to who it could be, but we are certain that the upper echelon are not involved. Only one member of their highest ranked is unaccounted for, but Venoss hasn't been spotted in three years. So I doubt that she is here." He then sighed deeply and said, "With that warning, I'll leave Clockwork to explain the rest of the situation. I may send a few of my troops here later to see if he truly is here, but until then I must bid you all farewell." As he disappeared in another pillar of darkness, some of the gods could've sworn that they heard him mentioning how it was almost time for his vacation.

Clockwork gave a light cough when he noticed that many of the assembled were still focused on the spot where Shadow had disappeared. "As for my other news, the good news that is, I have bought back the first demigod. It is time that he learned of the world where he was born. And what really happened with Pariah Dark."

Zeus raised an eyebrow at that, "What do you mean by the first demigod? And why would it need to know the truth of Pariah? After we sealed him away, we vowed that knowledge of his existence would remain secret."

"First of all, Zeus, the boy is a he, not an it. Secondly, a year ago, Pariah Dark was freed from his seal. This boy single-handedly resealed him, nearly at the cost of his own life."

Many of the gods stared in shock, none more so then the big three. Poseidon stared at Clockwork, awe not hidden in his voice. "How is that even possible? It took all of our combined strength to seal him away, and even then we almost failed!"

"At the time, he was using a piece of technology that happened to have amplified his powers a hundred-fold. Though more recently his powers have been growing. In fact I have only just unsealed the powers he obtained from his parentage."

The gods stared in shock, there was a being that could quite possibly be more powerful than they were and he was only a demigod. Apollo spoke up then, "If this kid was the first demigod… then how old is the little dude? You never grant immortality so he'd have to be… dust. Shouldn't he?"

"He is only fifteen years old, Apollo, and has no knowledge of your existence at all. Actually I suppose he is learning about it firsthand right about now…" Clockwork shook his head briefly. "Regardless, no he is not immortal, at least not yet anyway. I had him frozen in time up until fifteen years ago. As for which you of is the parent… I'd prefer to leave you all to figure it out for yourselves from his multitude of gifts."

Several of the gods shouted in outrage at this, as Zeus spoke with narrowed eyes, "You are just using us for own entertainment again, aren't you Clockwork?"

Clockwork chuckled before he said, "Perhaps a little. But then again it is the correct path, in order to help shape his proper future."

Apollo spoke up next, "You seem quite concerned for the little dude, aren't you?"

"I suppose you could say that I've grown attached to him. In a manner of speaking, I am all that he has left, at least until one of you claims him. The foster family that I had left him with has recently passed away due to some rather extreme circumstances. In fact his family would've done you proud Athena. They were brilliant inventors back in the world he was raised in."

Athena gave him a questioning glance before he discreetly shook his head in a way so that only Athena would notice. She gave a brief nod back to him before Zeus spoke, "Is there anything else you wish to speak to us about Clockwork?"

Clockwork shook his head before saying, "If what Shadow said is true then I would recommend that Artemis take her huntresses to Camp Half-Blood soon. As I will ensure that you are all stuck up here on Olympus until the boy is claimed by his true parent." Several cries of outrage were heard from around the room before Clockwork raised his hand for silence. "Dionysus will be able to move to and from the camp in order to keep it safe and informed however it will be a restricted access, but other than that none of you may leave."

Dionysus just grumbled as Athena had an intrigued look upon her face. "Is this supposed to be a challenge Clockwork?"

Clockwork was smiling as he said, "It will certainly be a challenge. His gifts will make it hard to identify whose child he is. Just keep in mind that not everything is as it seems." Clockwork then checked one of the many watches on his arms as he said, "I do believe that it is time that I get going. He will arrive at Camp Half-Blood within a day or two, at which point you all shall be summoned to Olympus where a viewing orb will be set up here in the middle of the room displaying the camp. Dionysus can go back and forth for a limited time period, etcetera, etcetera. Now I would recommend that Artemis hurry with her Huntresses. After all, you'll be passing by Medusa's lair on your way there."

At that Artemis stiffened, she had lost a few good huntresses to that demon. Hades had said that Medusa's immortal victims never appeared in the Underworld if they were killed by her. So she couldn't even honor them in the stars. They were trapped forever as stone statues in Medusa's lair.

Zeus sighed as Clockwork vanished in his blue portal again. "It would seem that we must hurry if we are to settle this matter quickly. But judging from his words, I fear that we'll be stuck here for a while. So make any of the accommodations that you must, we don't have much time before we're stuck in here…"

So what did everyone think? The next chapter will go up next Thursday while Phantom Spell will get its scheduled update tomorrow. If anyone has guess as to who the parent is (though I will be painfully obvious very shortly, I intend for the readers to know but the characters will not.) Other than that I have few ghosts planned for appearances, and pretty much the first half of the story planned out (emphasis on planned, not written). I do not however have a solid quest planned yet. Regardless I have up till Chapter 07 written out for all you beautiful readers. Oh and a quick little tidbit of info, many of my stories are connected in some shape or form. Can anyone find the allusion to my next story Wings Of Freedom hidden in this chapter?

So please tell me what you think, something you say may just inspire the next chapter.