I checked my watch for the millionth time that minute. I was going to reveal myself to Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, a minute from now. I was already on a stage with every member of Camp Jupiter scattered around me. Jessica stood close to me and summoned some water from the aqueduct above us. She turned it into mist, with some guidance from Percy, and I threw a drachma into the mist and asked to see Chiron. Sure enough, the view was of a group of demigods from Camp Half-Blood with Chiron in the middle.
I began to speak. "I'm sure that some of you already know this, but my father isn't Hermes, or Jupiter. My father is Ouranos." As I said that, a collective gasp was heard throughout the valley. I chuckled. "Keep listening, it gets worse. And my mother is Gaea." I didn't even bother to wait for the gasping to stop. "Due to this, I am a primordial god, but I cannot share my domains for I will need to keep them a secret for the upcoming war. Now, you might be asking yourself, What war? Well, we're going against Ouranos. He intends to destroy the Earth, along with every trace of the Olympians. That includes demigods, and even humans. I fear that he may have some more primordial allies. However, we may have to reach out to our enemies to keep the Earth alive. We will have to ally ourselves with Kronos and possibly Gaea." I was honestly expecting people to start throwing tomatoes at this point.
"But Ouranos hasn't even risen yet!" a voice from the crowd yelled.
"That's the other thing I wanted to talk about," I replied, shutting up the entire crowd. "Yesterday, Zeus, Aphrodite, and I had our powers absorbed by Ouranos. He's alive for sure, he freaking shot me with lightning!" There may have been a few nervous laughs, but the sound of everyone gasping was all I could hear.
"At this time, I think it would be justified to begin recruiting allies, which is basically everybody except some primordials." I said. "Ouranos doesn't love any of his titan children, therefore, he would kill them along with any of their offspring, which includes gods, demigods, and even humans. I wouldn't be surprised if a few nature spirits, such as nymphs, and some gods that aren't affiliated with Olympus joined Ouranos' side. Now that Ouranos is alive, it would be wise to begin to ally ourselves with the titans that are still around." I looked around at the surprised faces and took a breath, realizing that I hadn't stopped talking.
"Any questions?" I asked.
"How would we control the titans?" a voice asked.
I smirked and replied, "Like I said, I can't share with anyone what my powers are, but my powers should be able to take care of rogue titans. Also, there are some titans that would be peaceful enough to where they could remain in the mortal world if they wish to." There was a few more questions before I decided to end the message and leave the stage. Ignoring some questions that were directed at me, I went to my sister's villa to relax. Alexis basically lent me half of the house, mainly because she barely spent any nights in the huge house. I didn't really come here unless I was stressed and wanted to be alone, like right now. I sat on a balcony overlooking New Rome and thought about the upcoming war. I contemplated whether or not we really needed Gaea and Kronos to rise. Kronos would need to, just because the prophecy said we needed to ally ourselves with time, and the primordial, Chronos, had faded millennia ago. It was allowing Gaea to rise that hurt me the most. As if I hadn't despised her enough already, learning that she put me to sleep for thousands of years just because she was paranoid I would go against her didn't help. But again with the prophecy, it more or less said that the Earth would fight the sky, and the message was clear enough. I heard the front door open and ignored it, assuming it was Alexis.
I heard a strong, feminine voice calling for me from the first floor and yelled, "On the balcony."
Moments later, the screen door opened, revealing that Reyna was the one in the house.
"Before you ask, I still have a pair of keys for the house," she said. I nodded, not sure what to say as she sat in a chair a few feet from mine.
"So, why'd you visit?" I asked.
"Sometimes I like to visit the house, but I also wanted to talk to you about the strength sharing," she replied.
"Oh, yeah I never thanked you for that," I began to say.
"That wasn't what I came here for," she said. "When I lent my strength to you, I felt pain nearly equal to Nico, but angrier. What happened to you?" she asked.
A sudden wave of anger and a hint of grief hit me thinking of the things that happened, and it was clear that Reyna felt it too.
"Look, I know that we're not the greatest at explaining emotions, but I learned that you have to tell people what's bothering you to be happy."
Despite the somber tone, a small smile tugged the ends of my lips upward and I said, "since when did you get all touchy-feely?"
Instead of a chuckle or even a smile, she kept pushing. "Joking isn't going to get of you out of it," she said with a stern voice.
My smirk disappeared as soon as it appeared. "I kinda figured that you already knew," I replied. "But, seeing as you obviously don't, I might as well spill."
I told the story my life since my parents found me all the way up to when Ouranos rose. Reyna was a very good listener, at some point, I forgot she was even there.
"That explains most of it, but the feeling of betrayal I felt was more than getting dumped by that flower girl," Reyna stated, her tone becoming sour when she mentioned my ex.
"That has to do with my real parents, but I can't tell you if I wish to keep my powers a secret." I replied, not letting the bitter feeling into my voice. She just nodded and we sat in silence for a moment.
"So, what are you doing now that you aren't praetor?" I asked Reyna.
She seemed thrown off by the sudden change of subject. But replied, "Helping your sister with being Praetor, helping around camp, I'm honestly not sure what to do now." There was a hint of sadness in her voice at the end of the sentence, and I understood why. Life after camp wasn't easy for demigods, especially demigods like Reyna. It wasn't like she could join the military or become a politician, mainly because she technically wasn't a U.S. citizen. I had similar doubts. Becoming immortal was also a hard thing for me, because I would eventually run out of things to do and lose the ones closest to me. I had no idea what my future held. By this point, the sun was starting to set over New Rome. I could have sat there forever (literally) and stared at the sunset. We sat there in silence until Alexis slammed the door open, causing Reyna and I to jump.
"I should be getting home now," Reyna said, getting up from the chair. Alexis shot her a knowing look while Reyna blushed and left the balcony. A few moments later, looked at me and stifled a laugh.
""So, you and Reyna, huh?" she asked, with clear amusement in her voice.
I stood up from the chair clumsily and replied," No, no. I'm sixteen, she's almost 23!"
"Have you seen yourself lately?" Alexis asked. "You could pass for a 25 year old easily."
I rushed to the bathroom inside and looked in the mirror. Sure enough, any form of acne was gone, my jawline was sharper, and I even had a little bit of stubble, which was funny considering I didn't even shave before I knew I was a god.
"Oh yeah, you're also like, 3000 years old," Alexis added before walking into the living room.
I knew I could be a bit dense sometimes, but I'm not sure how I missed something like Reyna liking me. If she didn't, why would she have lent her strength to me, knowing the pain that she would have to endure. Also, with the talk we just had, she seemed very emotional, which was odd for her. I guess it made sense, but I wasn't sure if I wanted a romantic relationship at all after seeing what other immortals have gone through in that department. I stopped thinking about it and joined Alexis on the couch and started watching an Avengers marathon, which basically meant watching the Incredible Hulk and half of Iron Man before we both fell asleep on the couch.
My dreams seemed to happen even in my godly form, unfortunately. I saw an army of predominately underworld and flying monsters surrounding Camp-Half Blood being lead by a figure that I couldn't recognize from Roman History Class. That was until he turned his, revealing his Identity. Porphyrion.
"It's too late," he said before my dream faded.