"I still cannot believe that girl had never seen a puppy." Frank said again.
"That gives us a good idea of humanity's standing right now." Hazel said. She looked around. "We should find somewhere to talk about what we've figured out and plan our next move."
"How about over there?" Percy pointed to the wall, where there was an empty area big enough for all of them to sit down and still have plenty of room.
"Sure." Hazel grinned. She ran over and dropped onto the ground, and was shortly joined by the rest of the group.
"Humanity is obviously hiding from something." Annabeth began. "We know that because of the wall. And I've heard people saying walls, plural, so there's probably multiple walls. The interior is probably the area in the center of the wall farthest from the outer walls, hence the name."
"Chloe Dare said that food had been hard to come by since Wall Maria's residents took refuge here." Piper said. "Something must have happened with Wall Maria that forced people to come to this wall. Perhaps something that is part of the reason there even is walls."
"Notice how she said refuge instead of just come to live here willingly." Jason pointed out. "Refuge means a condition of being safe from danger. So yeah, I think whatever triggered humans to build the walls did something to Wall Maria that made it uninhabitable, so it's citizens were forced to come here."
"That must be why I sense so much death absolutely everywhere." Nico added. "People must have died while escaping from Wall Maria, so whatever it is that humans blocked out kills humans."
"It could be more humans. Like a different race or tribe or something. Everyone here has the semi-same skin color, and everyone looked at me, Hazel, Piper, and Leo strangely because of our race." Frank offered.
"Chloe did say our skin was standing out quite a bit." Piper muttered.
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why the walls would be so tall. I can understand the height, it has to be tall to keep enemies out, but if I had that much material, I would use it differently when building those walls. I would have made spikes at the top." Percy commented.
"Did you notice that there were people on top of the wall?" Leo asked. "They had cannons and stuff up there. Whatever they're keeping out, they feel the need to be constantly keeping an eye on it."
"Hey, what's that?" Frank pointed above them, at a poster. They turned their heads to read it.
"'Join the military cadets today. Be the reason humanity thrives.'" Hazel read. "'Sign ups in the marketplaces and any military stations. Ask your local garrison regiment soldier for more information.'" On the poster was a man with a fist over his heart in a brown jacket, with the wall in the background.
"'Be the reason humanity thrives…'" Annabeth repeated. "That pretty much tells us that the enemy these people are facing are not human."
"What's a garrison unit?" Percy asked.
"Garrison, the troops stationed in a fortress or town to defend it." Annabeth replied. "I bet it was those people up on the wall!"
"Should we try to talk to one of them?" Nico asked. "Or should we sign up for the military cadets? The military is always a good place to start when you're trying to solve the problem."
"Talk first. Let's get as much information as possible, but we'll join the military afterwards, since being the reason humanity thrives sounds like resolving the conflict to me." Annabeth said. "Jason, Frank, go up the wall and try to find someone in the garrison regiment."
"How?" Frank asked.
"Just ask around. See what you can find." Annabeth answered.
Frank nodded and changed into an eagle. Jason smiled softly and shot into the air with Frank. They both landed securely on the top of the wall, and Frank quickly shifted back into himself. Jason leaned over the side of the wall and gave the small figures of the demigods a thumbs up.
"Jason, I think I know what humanity is up against." Frank said shakily.
"Huh?" Jason turned to look at him, but Frank's eyes were fixed on the other side of the wall. Jason followed his gaze and instantly felt terror shoot through his rationality.
Giant humanoids lumbered through the ruins of a village just like the one the rest of the demigods were in. They had black stares and open jaws, and literally no clothes, but no...privates, either.
Jason began to feel light headed with fear. "What are those?" He whispered, staggering backwards.
Frank grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the center of the wall. "I don't know. They're as big as the giants. But they can't be giants, we defeated them."
"This isn't happening…" Jason breathed. "This can't be happening."
"Hey, snap out of it!" Frank barked. "Let's focus on finding the garrison regi-"
"Oi! You two!" A gruff male voice barked.
Frank turned, still struggling to keep Jason on his feet. "Yes sir?"
"What're you doing up here?" The man exclaimed, dashing towards them across the wall.
"We saw a poster for the military cadets, and it said to speak to a member of the garrison regiment for more information." Frank explained.
"You found the garrison regiment alright! How did you get up here?" He was dressed strangely, with white jeans, knee high brown boots, a cream shirt, and a brown jacket like the one the man in the poster was wearing.
"We got up here the same way everybody does." Frank said hurriedly, feeling a bead of sweat beginning to form on his brow. This guy looked much too surprised. People must not be allowed to go up the wall.
"Only the garrison regiment has the authority to set foot on these walls!" The man snapped, confirming Frank's suspicion. "Is this your idea of a joke kid?"
"N-n-no sir! Not at all!" Frank said frantically. "We'll head down if you want us to!"
"Well you're already up here." The man grumbled. "What questions do you have?"
"Uhh…" Annabeth hadn't told him what to ask! Crud. "What style of fighting is used in the military?"
"God. You're clueless." The man rolled his eyes. "ODM gear is used of course, with some hand to hand combat."
"ODM gear?" Frank repeated.
The man looked so surprised Frank quickly realized this "ODM gear" was common knowledge. He'd have to be more careful about what he said.
"I-I-I-I-I mean," Frank felt his face get hot. "Where's the nearest sign up station?"
"...In the marketplace." The man stared at him strangely.
"Okay. Thanks." Frank said quickly. "Jason, could you maybe snap out of it?"
"Is it his first time seeing a titan before or something?" The man said drily.
"TITAN!? Where?" Frank whipped around, his eyes searching for the Greek tyrants.
The man's look got even more weirded out. "Uh, down there?" He pointed to the giant humanoids staggering through the village remains.
"Oh." Frank relaxed. They weren't actual titans, that's just what they're called. "Uh, yeah. Come on Jason, we gotta go."
Jason stared at Frank for a second, his eyes unfocused, before he seemed to come back down to earth. "R-r-r-r-right. S-s-sorry. I w-w-wasn't expecting that."
"They're giants that eat people." The man remarked, making the boys' insides turn cold. "What did you expect? Magical faeries or something?"
Frank barely stopped himself from shouting THEY EAT PEOPLE?!
"Come on Frank." Jason tugged his friend's sleeve. "Let's go."
Frank nodded. "Thank you, sir." He offered the man a smile, but got a withering scowl in return. He spun on his heel and marched away.
Jason and Frank leapt off the wall, Frank becoming a falcon half way down and Jason quickly gliding down the air currents.
"Well?" Nico raised his eyebrows.
"The wall is to keep out giant humanoids that these people call titans out because they eat people." Frank said grimly.
"What?!" Annabeth shrieked. "No! That's impossible!"
"That's what the soldier told us." Jason added.
"That's unbelievable." Leo breathed, running his fingers stressfully through his dark curls. "How did that happen?"
"No clue." Frank sighed. "But the man also said something called ODM gear is used in the military."
"What the Hades is that?" Piper hissed.
"I don't know. His tone implied it was common knowledge, and I didn't want to act suspicious. I'm sure we'll find out once we're in the military though. The guy said sign ups were in the marketplace, so let's make our way back there." Frank replied.
"Alright. We don't have any time to lose." Annabeth barked. She walked off, the demigods trailing after her as she led the way back to the shopping area.
Titans that eat people huh. Nico thought grimly. The number of people those things have killed is inconceivable. I can see why Kronos was so smug now. How are we going to stand up to these things. Nico felt his morale sinking. No. They might be sissies. You haven't even seen them yet, don't go assuming all hope is lost just yet.
"Say Jason, what did they look like?" He asked the blonde boy.
"Well, they all looked like boys, and they all had this set expression, like huge smiles." Jason furrowed his brow. "They had no clothes, but at the same time, no privates...Some were smaller than others. Fifteen meters is the highest one I saw, and five being the smallest."
"How did they move?"
"They kind of lumbered around, slow and klutzy, y'know?" Jason frowned. "And it was in a village like this, except completely abandoned. Quite a bit of blood all over the place though."
"I can sense a lot of death from that direction." Nico turned his eyes away from the son of Jupiter and back to straight forward. "There's so much, it's truly unbelievable. I'm talking in the hundred thousands here. These titan things are dangerous."
"We're here. Sign ups look like they're at that booth." Annabeth pointed to a small booth that was being attended by people dressed the same way as the garrison regiment. That must be the military uniform, Jason thought.
"Hi. Us eight would like to sign up." Annabeth told the man.
"Names?" He asked, pulling out a pencil. A piece of paper was laid out in front of him, with many other names scribbled on it and another word next to it. Most said "Trost" or "Rose" and three of them said "Shiganshina".
"Annabeth Chase."
"District?"
"Hm?" Annabeth perked up.
"Where are you from?" The man rolled his eyes.
"Here." Annabeth said hurriedly.
"So Trost." The man looked at her as if asking for permission to write.
"Yes. We're all from Trost." Annabeth smiled nervously.
"Alright. Go to the training academy tomorrow morning. That's where we initiate you." The man waved his hand. "Next."
"Percy Jackson." Percy stepped up.
Where is this training academy? Annabeth thought. He didn't tell me, which implies he's either lazy or it's common knowledge. I'll stick with the cover up of being from the interior and ask around.
"Um, excuse me?" Annabeth tapped a woman's shoulder as she walked by.
"Yes?" The woman asked.
"Do you know where the training academy is? I'm visiting here and I don't know my way around." Annabeth shrugged innocently.
"As far left as you can go. You can't miss it." The woman pointed off to the side.
"Thank you."
"Do you think we'll learn about this 'ODM gear' thing in military camp or something?" Percy asked.
"We'd better." Annabeth leaned against Percy's chest. "We're clueless in this world. We need all the information we can get."