Right to Lead
There are two ways of obtaining power. One, you are born with it and two, you earn it. I am one of the lucky few to have been born with it but on the downside I have never been able to assert it because I hadn't earned my power. So what's the use of power if you can't assert it? Well, for a demigod there are more uses than one can even think about but I won't dwell on the list as it is endless and new things are added to it every other day.
Being a demigod wasn't easy and using the power that came along with being a demigod was no joke either. Earlier demigods were revered as much as the gods but now we lived a life behind a veil of invisibility that completely separated our world from that of the mortals.
I often wonder why the gods did so. Why they separated the mortals from us, from themselves? But some questions are better left unanswered.
As I walked through the stoned corridors of Sentinel Tower I thought about the years that I had spent here at fort Olympus. As a child of Zeus everyone had expected great things of me, especially my siblings Thalia and Jason Grace. Over time I had proved myself but I was yet to be praised by the High Council in a manner that my siblings had been praised.
Climbing the spiral staircase, I looked outside at the Fort that surrounded the central tower. The pier to the east, Central city that surrounded fort Olympus on all four sides, Emerald forest- the divine forest of the Hunters of Artemis and last but not the least, the Castle of Fort Olympus; built with white stone and marble, the Castle shone with a gelatinous gleam during the early morning hours.
As I climbed the last stair and found myself outside the doors of the Crystal chambers I soon saw that I wasn't alone. The Entrance hall was full of demigods, sentinels and legacies all anxiously waiting to be summoned before the council. I counted close to fifteen people in the entrance hall. Some leaning in the corners with their backs to the pillars, some sitting cross legged on the floor; meditating and yet others were chatting animatedly in groups.
Although I didn't stay around Fort Olympus much but it so happened that I knew most of the demigods in the chamber, those who recognised me nodded and smiled, greeting me and I politely returned their greeting with a short bow or a nod.
Looking around I finally saw someone who I had been keen to meet for a very long time.
She stood at the end of the chamber overlooking the wall length windows with her back towards me. She wore clouded white armour; her long midnight black hair tied in a loose braid as she normally wore them.
I silently walked towards her and went to stand right beside her as she passed instructions to who I guessed was her Second-in –Command.
"Command suits you well Astria" I sad in my deep baritone with a smile on my face. She turned on the spot to look at me, her electric blue eyes sparkling with excitement and happiness. It had been a long time since I had met my sister and without wasting another moment, she lunged at me almost knocking me to the floor, her arms around me in a tight hug.
"You are such an arse. Where have you been Talen? You haven't spoken or IMed to me in ages." She said with a tight grip around me. She didn't care that other demigods in the room had left their conversations and staring at us, No, the only thing she cared about me was me and I guess I was happy about it as she was the only family I was left with now.
She continued to rant for the next few minutes and I stood there looking at her as if there was no tomorrow. We weren't related by blood, Astria and I but we some bonds were stronger than that of blood. As she continued to rant and complain, occasionally punching me on the arm I noticed that the Silver doors to the Council Chamber creaked open.
Quickly the demigods and sentinels fell into line and filed into the chamber.
When the last of us walked into the chamber the doors closed behind us and our group of about twenty five people arranged ourselves into two distinct columns. One comprising of the Sentinels and the other of Demigod warriors, the latter outnumbering the former by a ratio of two is to one.
I quickly surveyed the room, looking for council members I knew personally. I saw Jason Grace, my half brother sitting near the head of the circle while his sister Thalia Grace sat at the head of the Council with Perseus. The seat to Thalia's left was unoccupied, which I personally thought was strange as Nico never missed a meeting.
"He's in the infirmary." Astria whispered in my ear picking up on my curiosity regarding Nico's empty throne. If I was surprised I must have done well not to show it as Astria didn't pass anymore information to me from there on and she couldn't have as the Council at that very moment demanded our attention.
We all bowed deeply to the council and its members. Although most of the members were only about a decade older than us and didn't ask for us to bow before them it was seen as a mark of respect and gratitude that we had for the esteemed heroes and warriors that had guided us over the years, providing a home and family to vagabonds like us.
"Rise, warriors of Olympus and Sentinels of the Fort." Thalia spoke in a loud and clear voice.
In one swift move the half dozen warriors came to stand on their feet in full attention, hands on their weapons as a mark of Salute.
"At ease." Perseus said standing from his throne and coming to stand before us leaving Thalia and the other councillors seated.
With a genuine smile on his face he greeted us like equals, his sea green eyes gleaming with happiness when he found Astria and I in the gathering of warriors. Standing amongst us and after sharing a glance with each and every member present in the chamber he opened his mouth to speak.
"You might wonder why we have asked for a mass gathering of all our best warriors and Sentinels" he asked questioningly, a smile forming on his lips. "Why we have called forth bitter competitors and aggressive rivals together? What could be the need for such a gathering, have any of you thought about it?" He asked all of us.
Most of the assembled warriors along with me simply nodded and shared glances with those beside them.
"Well then, we won't keep you waiting." said a high cold voice from our right. Some turned around to see who had spoken but there were those like me, who closed their eyes and silently cursed abut hearing her voice; Reyna, Daughter of Belladonna and Army commander of the Legion of Legacy and the five cohorts that formed it.
She walked swiftly and came to stand beside Perseus, her hounds at her heels.
With a quick glance at Perseus she stepped forward eyeing each of us carefully as if making a decision regarding all of us individually and then moved back to the central stage so that she could look at all of us.
"As some of you might know, a Grand Council is being hosted at Mt. Olympus..." even before she completed the sentence all the warriors broke out into silent whispers shocked at the prospect of a Grand Council being held at the Autumn Equinox.
Asserting her words and speaking in her voice of authority Reyna managed to silence us all, not with her voice but one deathly stare as if she would run us through with her sword if we even uttered a single word.
"Now as you may all know the Grand Council includes not only the Olympians but also all the minor gods and immortal personifications." She paused for a moment and then continued, "This time however, leaders of nature spirits and the monarchs of several communities hidden by the mist have also been invited. The Council of Fort Olympus will also be attending this Grand Council along with select few warriors."
At this the crowd of warriors who had been disciplined till now again broke into whispering.
Reyna drew her sword, annoyed with the constant show of lack of discipline which in itself silenced all the assembled demigods.
"As I was saying, some of the demigods will be attending the Grand council with us. As I call out your name please come and stand to my right." She said in a seething voice and from her dark violet cloak she took out a piece of parchment and began reading out the names.
"James Lowell- Cohort Commander of Thundering Pegasi step forward." She said scanning the parchment.
I looked around me to see James. I hadn't seen him in a long time, over a year perhaps. I didn't even know that he had made it to commander. As I looked around I saw him coming forth from behind the group, lowering the hood of his dark brown cloak to reveal a haunted face with sunken eyes and unkempt long dark blonde hair.
Nevertheless he walked forward with the pride of a cohort commander and silently took his place behind Reyna, looking down at the floor.
I wondered what had happened to him to make him like this. Last time around he had been a jovial person to be with, true that he was a little shy and kept to himself but when you got to know him he was good company.
"Erida Psyche, Sentinel" Reyna continued in her commanding voice.
I turned once again to look at the assembled Sentinels. From the front row, a tall lithe woman marched forward. All I could deduce was that she had some airs about herself, especially the way he carried herself.
Turning my gaze back to Reyna she read three other names from the Parchment, "Alec Blackwood, Commander of the Dealers of Death, Zac Jones another Sentinel and Alice Marie Forman a Healer." She rolled the parchment and gesturing the five demigods to stand together, separate from the rest of us.
As soon as Reyna took her seat, Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena came forward to address us.
"As Reyna mentioned that the members of this council will be attending the Grand Council to be held on the Autumn Equinox, which happens to be tomorrow. But there is something else that we'd like to confess to the rest of you..." she said the last few words hesitantly.
Gazing at all of us with concern she continued, "A dark shadow has fallen upon us."
Most of the demigods in the room gasped, I could see many of them shift on their spots. Others tightened their fists and some clenched their jaws. Even Astria next to me tightened her grasp on the hilt of her sword.
I suddenly felt out of place. What was it that I didn't know? Was there any monster I didn't know of? I shook my head, giving my full attention to what Annabeth had to say.
"Over the last few days a new enemy of the demigods has arisen. An enemy that lurks in the shadow and attacks with stealth and poise." She said as if commending the enemy's abilities over ours "I don't intend to frighten any of you... just make you aware that the demigods for the first time in many years have been challenged by a very strong enemy." She said undeterred by the unnerved demigods.
She continued to stand there on the stage at the centre of the chamber. I looked at Perseus and Thalia sitting behind Annabeth involved in a heated conversation which ended when Percy banged his fist on the throne and stood up to join Annabeth at the centre stage.
Without wasting another moment he came and stood before Annabeth and opened his mouth to speak, "What we are trying to tell you is that over the next few days most of the council members will be away." That one sentence was enough to make me nervous.
If the council members of the order of Sentinels were going after a monster then the matter was extremely serious but my train of thoughts was ended by Percy's voice, "We need to bring down the monster that has killed our comrades and injured several of them, including Councillor Nico Di Angelo." He said his voice venomous.
Now I knew why Nico wasn't present for this meeting but what really shook me, was the fact that someone had put Nico on a hospital bed. I could understand why they were so hell bent on finding this monster. I mean why wouldn't they ... but again my thoughts were interrupted this time by Thalia, my half-sister.
"And this is why we have gathered you here." She said walking towards the stage to join Annabeth and Perseus. Dressed in white and silver robes, Thalia wore light armour along with her bracers. Her spear reduced to a cylinder, which she had clipped to her waist.
"Some of you will be taking our place and acting as our proxies while we hunt for the monster that has been so effortlessly killing demigods and posing to be a threat to our survival." With one last look at us she raised her hands, "Some of you will be tasked to act as proxy council members while the others will take our place as Councillors. Those who have been chosen as councillors are:"
She looked towards me, a faint smile tugging on her lips, "Talen Berraz, Son of Zeus and Commander of the Swirling Storm Cohort." I didn't know what to do or say but my name was soon followed by another, a name that I never wanted to hear in my entire life, "Delilah, Daughter of Poseidon and Heir to Aquatica."
I didn't even turn to see Delilah. I had suffered enough on her behalf. Not to mention suffer my father's anger. I stood there waiting for the other names while I simultaneously thought of the power and responsibility that came along with being a Councillor.
"Malcolm, Son of Athena shall take Annabeth's seat on the council" I heard Percy say and from the corner of my eye I saw Malcolm smile with pride, beaming at his sister. Some things could only be handled by a child of Athena I guess.
They took their time to announce other council members and I was joined by Aaron Madonna, Erida Psyche and Alyssa Lacour. All of them had been Sentinels for long and specialised in their own fields as sentinels. On the Warrior side I was joined by Tzefira Landon, the Quarter guard of the thundering Pegasi and Maritime Tortelle another Daughter of Poseidon and Cohort commander of the Sea Storm Cohort. Maritime had been summoned from her post in Londinium we were informed.
Also to join us was James Steele, a son of Thanatos and the Second in command of Dealers of Death. Now that was someone to look out for.
Till now they had selected four councillors which left space for four more but my question was immediately answered and none other than the Councillor I detested the most.
"While you eight have been selected as Council members that doesn't mean that there will be no former Councillors present." Said Reyna, clearly behaving as the dominating leader she always was but she wasn't done yet, " I along with Jake Masen, Michael Yew and Chris Rodriguez will preside over this council. If anyone has objections, they are free to challenge me in the arena." She said drawing her sword, three feet of tempered imperial gold carrying the poison of the Chimera in its core.
I sighed. No one was stupid enough to take on the Daughter of Belladonna and it seemed that's where I was wrong when a voice from my left spoke up, "Challenge accepted".
Her crystal clear voice rang bells in my mind and for the first time in over a year I turned to see the divine form of one daughter of Poseidon. Her dark ebony hair falling in waves down her back and her mesmerising sea green eyes shone like emeralds with a latent fire.
Donned in robes of various hues of blue, I knew beneath them she wore her armour with multiple daggers hidden in the various folds; clasped to her body. I was right as from within the folds of her robes she drew her sword.
A short blade that gleamed with colours of the ocean, its hilt crested with an aquamarine.
As Delilah stepped forward so did Reyna, swords in hand and with their guard up they began circling each other, each giving the other a deathly stare not giving a thought to the fact that several demigods; warriors, sentinels and councillors were witnessing what many people would have called a cat fight to death.
A/N: sorry for the long wait. I have been a little busy as a Beta and didn't get enough time to update my own story. On a happier note I think this is my longest chapter in this series as yet. And I think I myself might need a beta, if I want to post more often. Anyone interested to do so can apply.
I would appreciate any reviews and comments. Especially on the direction the story is taking. There will be more action and drama in the coming chapters. Sit tight.