"Tell me Valen, how do you think magic works?" Erebus asked, walking through one of the many doorways in his palace. The room was mostly empty,
"Huh?" Valen was taken aback by the sudden question, "I guess people with some form of divine dna can influence the world around them, although restricted by which deity's dna they have."
"And how exactly do they affect the outside world? What do they use as a catalyst for it?"
"I'd say they exert their will over whatever part of the world they can manipulate— shadows and storms in my case, and use their own energy as the catalyst."
"Wouldn't that mean that whenever you use magic you would feel the toll on you as if you had physically done it?" Erebus asked, receiving a hesitant nod as a response, "And do you?"
Valen shook his head, "No,"
"Have you ever heard of the term mana?" Erebus asked, "I suppose not, it's not something the gods would tell you."
He walked to one end of the room, "It is an ethereal substance found in every corner of the universe."
He waved his arm and millions of motes of white energy became visible to Valen, "Every being has a set amount of mana they can store in their body, yes even humans. Everytime you use magic, you use your own internal source of mana until you deplete it entirely and are unable to use magic for a while."
"Over time, you will replenish it by absorbing the ambient mana, your body does this naturally." He waved his arm again, and the motes of mana vanished.
"Now, using that mana is a different matter altogether." He said as three images rose around them. Rachel Elizabeth Dare's image began glowing, "Mortals have the least control over it, try as they might they can barely get the mana to budge under their will."
"What about those who can see through the mist?" Valen asked.
"Ah those, now those are interesting ones." He said, "You see a demigods soul is different than that of a mortals, for even after death, some of their power lingers. And when these souls are reborn as mortals…" He trailed off.
"The lingering magic lets them see through the mist," Valen realized, "That makes a lot of sense, but then shouldn't there be hundreds of mortals that can see through it?"
Erebus shook his head, "No, it only happens when a demigod is reborn as a mortal, not when a mortal seer is reborn as a mortal again."
"The magic is too weak by then," Valen mused.
"Exactly," He nodded, "Now demigods, they have a better grasp on mana. Unlike the mortals, they can influence the mana to their will and perform feats that should be impossible."
He waved his hand again, and Percy Jackson's image began glowing, "Contrary to what you believe, your magic is not restricted by the divine dna you have. It grants you an unnatural affinity with a particular branch of magic, but you can still use the other branches. Of course it would be extremely difficult for you, but not impossible."
The space between Valen's brows thinned, "You mean to say I could control water like Percy?"
Erebus nodded, "Nowhere near the level he is capable of, mind you, but given time and enough effort you could. Albeit it would not be of any help in combat."
Clapping his hands, he pointed towards Valen, "You, however, have a better grasp on mana than any demigod. What was the term you used, tri-blood?"
Valen nodded, and Erebus continued, "It is easier for you to use magic than any other demigod, the mana responds to your will."
"However, deities are on a different level," He said and the image of Hades lit up, "The mana obeys them without question, without objection. It gives them an illusion of omnipotence."
"But they are not," He said, "Above them, lie the primordials, the very incarnations of their domains." He snapped his fingers, and the images disappeared, "We are not deities of a domain, we are the domain. I am not the primordial deity of darkness, I am Darkness itself."
Then, he did something that startled Valen. He began laughing. "Do you know how the gods acquired their domains?"
Wordlessly Valen shook his head.
"I thought as much, for you see they had to fight us for it." He grinned. "They did not fight us head on, no, it would have killed them if they did. Rather it was a battle of wills. Those with the strongest wills persisted for the longest, and those with weaker wills didn't last long. In the end they all lost, but they managed to claim a part of us for themselves, albeit a pale imitation of what we truly are."
Valen stood there in silence for a few moments before speaking, "So my father-"
"Your father," Erebus interrupted, "Was rather ambitious. He went against both me and Thanatos. He held his own against us, his will was probably the strongest of them all. In the end he claimed a part of both the darkness and death."
Valen whistled, impressed. Then a thought struck him, "Wait, what about gods like Hestia and Dionysus? I don't remember there being primordials for the hearth or madness?"
"Ah yes, them," Erebus said, an amused smile on his face, "Clever ones those two, they picked domains with no incarnations. Doing so gave them a better grasp over their domain, for there is no one else to challenge them, at least no one significant. They are closer to us primordials than the Olympian gods, albeit still far weaker."
"You're saying they're stronger than Zeus, Poseidon and my father?" Valen said in disbelief.
"Hestia is, yes, but Dionysus…Zeus can disable his immortality on a whim, so I wouldn't necessarily consider him stronger." Erebus mused.
"He can do that?"
He nodded, "Being the king of the gods grants him that authority, but only to those who are significantly weaker than him. If he were to try that against, say Poseidon, he would need the help of other gods in the council."
Valen had nothing to say to that. He jumped when Erebus clapped his hands, "I'm going to teach you to sense and influence the atmospheric mana, it will take you a little over two weeks to properly learn it, that would leave us about a month to finish the rest of your training."
"Alright," Valen nodded, "So when do we begin?"
Erebus snapped his fingers and a sense of dread filled Valen as the air hummed with power. Holding his breath, he dared not move.
"You sense it, don't you? The unnatural disturbance in the mana," Erebus said, "Get used to this feeling, it will help you sense the mana when it is calm."
Breathing deeply, Valen tried to calm himself and drown in the feeling of the chaotic mana.
It was like standing in the middle of a storm, it was overwhelming. He doubted he could use his powers even if he had them.
"I want you to fight it," Erebus said, "make it stop, return it to the tranquility it once possessed."
"What?" Valen asked incredulously, he could barely sense the thing!
"Don't worry, it's within your capabilities," He said, walking towards the door, "I'll come back once you're done."
"Wait sto-" Valen called out as the door disappeared behind Erebus.
Valen sighed, "Of course,"
Sitting down in a meditative position, Valen extended his consciousness outward, clinging on to every mote of mana he could find.
"Dammit!" Valen yelled out in frustration, it had been over a day but he had yet to make any progress.
"How am I supposed to control mana if I can barely sense it?" He grumbled, sighing. "Okay, calm yourself, there's no use getting mad over this."
Breathing deeply, Valen began thinking. The mana is resilient, it does not want to listen. No matter what I do, it will not respond. I'm supposed to be able to influence it somewhat, I've done it before whenever I used my powers, why is it so hard now?
He furrowed his brows, What word did he use again? Influence? Maybe I'm not supposed to be controlling the mana, but guiding it?
With no better ideas, Valen stopped trying to bend the mana to his will. He ignored its existence, forgetting about his task, forgetting about the war looming on the horizon, and entered a state of complete calmness.
The calmness radiated from him managed to quiet down the mana closest to him, but before it could get any farther, the mana sprang back into its previous state. It was like a physical blow to Valen, and he fell backward. Managing to stop his fall with his hands, he gasped awake.
Sweat lined his forehead, and his legs had fallen asleep. How long was he in that meditative state?
"Around five hours,"
Valen jumped, surprised at the sudden voice. He looked up and found Erebus staring at him with a raised eyebrow, "How long have you been there? And did you just read my mind."
"The last fifteen minutes, and yes." He answered bluntly.
"Didn't you say you would come back after I had managed to calm down the mana?" Valen said.
"You were never going to be able to do it."
"Wha-you lied to me?"
"Yes." He stated shamelessly, "Now that you know how to use the mana around you, I shall teach you how to use it to refill your reserves."
"But I don't-"
"You managed to calm down the mana around you did you not?" He interrupted, "You're ready."
Valen had nothing to say to that so he waited as Erebus snapped his fingers again and the mana calmed down, returning to its original state.
Once he was done, Erebus placed his hand on Valen's shoulder and drained all the mana inside him in one swift motion. Valen's knees buckled and he almost fell, he had not expected to be drained of all his mana so fast
"What the-"
"Try to refill it with the mana around you," Erebus said, "I'll keep draining you every hour until you manage to replenish yourself completely. Then we shall move to the matter of hosting me."
"How am I supposed to replenish myself?"
"The same way you managed to calm some of the mana," He said as a matter of fact.
Valen sighed, and closed his eyes, Here we go again.
The next few days were hell for him. Every time he made any progress, Erebus would drain him again. There were times when he had almost completely replenished himself, but before he could finish the process, Erebus would drain him. The constant switching between tired and replenished made him numb to the point where he had difficulty differentiating between the two.
"You've done it," Erebus said suddenly.
"Huh?" Valen sputtered, had he really completely replenished himself? He tried absorbing more mana, but it wouldn't penetrate his skin. "I did it?"
Erebus nodded, "Yes, it was faster than I expected, albeit by only a day."
"I've been here for half a month already?" Valen exclaimed, it did not feel as long. "Wait what about everyone else back at camp, I just disappeared without warning."
"I'm sure Hades will explain everything to them," He said, "I warned him beforehand, reassuring him that I would not harm you more than necessary."
"What do you mean by-"
"It is time for one of your meals," Erebus interrupted and began walking away.
Valen nodded numbly, following Erebus into the next room, the same room he had been using to eat and sleep. It was a simple enough room, with a couch to sit on, a bed, a table to eat on, and an adjacent bathroom. It was more akin to one of the cabins that his father's castle.
"Meet me outside once you're done." He said, walking out. A shade walked in moments later, holding Valen's lunch on a tray.
He had once wondered where they got the raw materials for the food since Erebus' palace was in the middle of nowhere, but he had learned not to question it.
Thirty minutes later he walked out of the room he had been training in for the past two weeks and found Erebus patiently waiting for him.
"Are you done?" He asked simply.
Valen nodded, "I'm ready."
"Good, then follow me." Erebus led him to another door, far away from Valen's room. As the door opened and Valen walked in, he felt the sheer weight of the room, it was like he was swimming in mana. It was absurd to have so much mana concentrated in one place.
With that much mana, he could do anything…
A sudden pain at the back of his head brought him back to reality.
"Don't let the mana get to your head." He chided, "With great power, comes great temptation. If you cannot control yourself, then leave."
Valen shook his head, "It won't happen again."
"Make sure it doesn't," Erebus said as a string of pure darkness spilled out of his chest. A similar thread was connected to Valen's heart and the two open ends of the threads intertwined and conjoined together.
And as their minds fused and their memories meshed, Valen witnessed the origin of all.
.
.
.
Anastasia's first day at Camp Half-Blood was rather eventful. The entire place was in chaos after the disappearance of Valen Steensen. She doubted she could have figured out which cabin to go to if her mother hadn't told her before.
The one most affected by Valen's disappearance was Nico di Angelo. He had woken up when it was happening, yet he was unable to do anything to stop it. In the end, he was thrown back and hit his head hard on the obsidian wall, losing consciousness.
A conch horn blew, and she watched as everyone around her began heading in a specific direction. Sighing, she approached one of the girls closest to her, "Hey, where are we going? I'm kinda new here."
The girl turned to face her, "Oh, we're just heading to the mess hall for lunch. I'll show you the way, come."
"My name is Silena," She said as they neared the tables.
"Anastasia," She replied.
"It's nice to meet you," She said and pointed to one of the tables, "You should head to the Hermes table. After that, you could hang out with me and Charlie."
"Charlie?" Anastasia repeated.
Silena nodded, pointing towards one of the boys at the Hephaestus table, "He's my boyfriend, you'll like him."
"I'm sure I will," She replied, walking to the Hermes table, things were going smoothly so far.
After an awkward lunch, Silena half dragged her to meet Charles Beckendorf before she took her to the stables where they kept their pegasi.
"I'm not getting on that!" She protested, backstepping away from the stables. Flying would be an absolute nightmare for her.
"Come on, you won't fall don't worry." Silena said, trying to coax her onto a pure white Pegasus.
Anastasia shook her head, "No, I'm fine right where I am: on solid ground."
"But-"
"It's alright," Beckendorf interrupted, glancing at Silena and a silent conversation passed between them.
Silena slumped down, defeated, "Fine. We could try the climbing wall."
Anastasia remembered that wall, with lava pouring down it. It would be a good challenge. She nodded, "I could do that."
Once there, she proposed a challenge between the three of them. It was simple, whoever could climb up the wall the fastest and with the least blisters would be the winner. Unaware of who they were going against, they agreed.
It soon became apparent that Anastasia was on a whole different league than them. She climbed up the wall in record time, beating the previous record holder, which was Valen. And not a single blister marked her skin when he jumped back down.
Beckendorf was next to reach the top, but he had at least half a dozen blisters on his arms. Silena, on the other hand, didn't get past a few feet before forfeiting.
"That cannot be your first time climbing a wall," Beckendorf said once he was down.
"You're right, it isn't. Although the walls I climbed before never had lava pouring down on them."
"Yet you didn't get a single blister on you," Silena said with some awe.
"I guess I'm just a natural at it," She said, but she was unable to stop the grin from lighting up her face.
"Is your Olympian parent Demeter?" Beckendorf asked, and the smile on Anastasia's face died instantly.
"No," She said, "I don't think so."
"Hmm, Hades may- Ow!" He yelped when Silena drove her elbow into his side, glaring at him.
Clearing his throat, he continued, "I mean, we should probably get you a weapon from the armory."
He yelped again when Silena repeated her action, "Or I could make you one?"
Anastasia smiled, "No need, I already have a weapon. And no, it's not Hades either. I'm not nearly as dark and gloomy as his kids."
"You do?" He said, scratching his head, "Maybe you could practice in the arena?"
Anastasia nodded, "I just need a sparring partner."
"You could try to fight Clarisse," Silena said, "But she can be abit…extreme at times."
Beckendorf grimaced, muttering something about the chariot incident.
Anastasia smiled, "Perfect, where is the arena?"
Reluctantly Silena pointed her to it but warned her to be careful nonetheless. Anastasia reassured her that she wouldn't hurt Clarisse too much in reply, and left for the arena. She could hear the clang of metal against metal as she grew closer to the arena. Strangely there didn't seem to be many people sparring inside.
She realized why that was as she neared the arena. Two demigods were in the middle of a heated spar. The red-haired girl was relentless with her attacks, and the boy found it difficult to keep parrying her twin daggers with his single sword. He barely dodged it when an arc of purple destructive energy spilled out of one of her daggers and cut a deep gash into the ground.
Aricia smiled smugly as both her daggers lit up an eerie purple, "Ready to yield yet?"
Theron narrowed his eyes, the sun would be reaching the horizon at any moment, and once it did he would have the advantage again.
"Let me think," He said, pretending to scratch a nonexistent beard. "It's a difficult choice," He said, "I have to take into consideration all the risks-"
He jumped aside as a wave of purple energy cleaved the air where he was standing moments ago.
"You're stalling for the moon to become visible aren't you?" Aricia said as she shot another wave. Theron dodged it again, but it was clear he was getting tired.
Theron shrugged, "It was worth a try."
He didn't give her the time to think, throwing his sword directly at her face. Her eyes widened in surprise, she barely managed to parry the blade away, almost cutting it in half. As her vision cleared, she felt her blood freeze as Theron let loose three arrows at her. The arrows flew vertically toward her, and she only had time to properly dodge two of them, the third hit her thigh. Thankfully they were blunt-tipped arrows, so the most they did was give a bad bruise or two.
She threw her dagger as Theron let out another volley of arrows. The dagger cut through two of them, and Aricia blocked the last one with her other dagger. Therons bow flew out of his hand as the dagger hit it, the force behind it ripping it away.
Before he could recover, Aricia was on top of him and pushed him down to the ground. He froze feeling the cold edge of one of her daggers at his neck.
"Yield?" She asked.
Theron's eyes glanced behind her and a smile graced his face. Aricia froze when she felt the tips of three swords poking her back.
"No, I don't think I will."
Aricia sighed, pulling her dagger away, and felt Theron's light constructs retract. "It's a tie again."
"Only because you refuse to fight at night." Theron said, getting up from the ground.
"Why would I give you an advantage over me?" She retorted.
Theron shook his head, they had had this conversation before, and it always ended the same way.
"Let's agree to disagree," He said, walking over to the stands. Aricia slumped down next to him, taking a break from their spar.
Anastasia would have liked to fight against them, but she knew she could not just rely on combat skills. Using her powers would give her away, and that was something she could not do. She had to finish her mission successfully.
She barely paid attention when a heavily built girl approached her, saying something about an initiation process, and challenged her to a spar. The fight was over before it could begin, and she barely needed to use a weapon to beat her. The girls arrogance made her overconfident, and Anastasia capitalized on that and beat her in one swift action, throwing her spear away and pinning her down with her own spear.
Enraged by the circumstances, she challenged her again. This time, she was careful not to get ahead of her and gave Anastasia a good fight before being defeated again. They continued that until the conch horn blew again and every camper prepared to head for dinner.
Her day ended with her sleeping on the floor of the Hermes cabin.
Nico was upset, he was entirely powerless against the entity that took Valen. He hadn't felt that much power from any god, not even his father. And the way Valens soul split…it didn't sit right with him. Something had happened to his brother, that much was certain.
He sighed, he still hadn't told Bianca about it, although he guessed she already knew. If she hadn't sensed it, someone had probably told her by then. He sat down on his bed and tried to contact his father, he was the only person he could turn to for help.
Hades did not disappoint, and moments later he was in the cabin. Before he could say anything, Nico interrupted.
"Do you know anything about Valen's disappearance?"
Hades sighed and sat on the bed opposite to him, with a snap of his fingers Bianca was teleported to one of the other beds.
"Wha-? Dad? What are you doing here?"
Hades acknowledged her with a nod, "I'm here to warn you not to look for Valen."
"So you do know where he is." Nico accused.
Hades nodded grimly, "He is in a place beyond all of us, and unless the entity that took him brings him back, I'm afraid there is nothing we can do."
"What entity?" Bianca asked.
"A primordial," Hades said, "The same one who marked Valen as his host."
"Primordial, like Thanatos and Nyx?" Nico said remembering seeing Thanatos in Hades' palace a few times.
"Yes, like them," Hades said with a strange glimmer in his eyes, "wherever Valen is, it is not anywhere on the earth, or the underworld."
"Like…outer space?" Bianca asked, "On a different planet?"
"I do not know," Hades said, "the Darkness works in strange ways."
"The Darkness?" Nico echoed, frowning, "I don't remember there being a mythomagic card about him…"
Bianca sighed, "Not ever god needs to have a mythomagic card Nico,"
Hades smiled slightly, "To be fair, he does not have many stories regarding him either. He iss an enigma, and very few have crossed paths with him. If you want to know more about him I'd suggest talking to Thanatos, but I doubt he would tell you much."
"Is there really nothing we can do?" Nico asked.
Hades shook his head, "I'm afraid not."
Nico opened his mouth to say something, but Hades interrupted by holding his arm up. A moment later, he sighed and got up, "Your questions will have to wait until later, Zeus has called for a council meeting on Olympus, and unfortunately that includes me now."
Nico nodded, "We'll be waiting for you to come back then."
"It might take a whole, but I'm sure you'll be well occupied by the amount of questions the son of Poseidon has." He said, disappearing in a flash of black.
The meaning behind his words became apparent when Percy Jackson barged into the cabin without bothering to knock.
"Who took him?" He demanded.
Nico sighed, "You should sit down, it's kind of a long story."