Welcome Back. I'm so sorry this chapter is beyond late. I decided to take a small break and that turned into one week and then two weeks. I always get frustrated when fanfics I love take so long to update, but now I think I understand what the author's are going through. Sometimes you just have to get away. You'll probably be able to tell that I'm a bit rusty with this chapter, and if it feels like it's rushed or written different, I'm sorry. It takes me a bit to get back in the groove.

Anyway, let's look at some reviews.

Shadowhunter2077: "Wow so in the Norse camp there is a son of Odin who defeated the Sons of Thor and Thor himself, I with Harper on this one the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" saying is very true here.

Also I think finding Nikandreos is actually a good idea because right now the Olympians are accepting any help they can get even if they are bitter over said help, and right now I don't think Nikandreos is too OP, I would say he is in the same level of Apollo and Artemis.

Also man I need to say I think the Norse are only the beginning in Ouranos plans, because there are a lot of beings who would want to destroy their receptive pantheons like the Asuras in the Hindu Pantheon, or the demons and fallen angels in the Christian Pantheon and the help of a Protogenoi would be very helpful in this tasks.

There also the beings on those pantheons like Indra the Hindu equivalent of Zeus, he is also the King of the Hindu gods and is the god of Thunder and War and Sky."

Response: Yeah, you'll find out more about the Son of Odin in future chapters. He plays a large part in this book and future chapters. As for Nikandreos and the other pantheons, just keep reading, you'll find out how Ouranos's plans will develop. Anyway thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Ramen: "first i'll state the positives -

1. The character development is great, gradually they are shown to become better or at least stronger
2. i rarely like OC stories, but you have made these OCs relatable and likable
3. Battle scenes are really good descriptive and powerful
4. The plot is enticing and original

now the negatives
1. The chapters feel drawn out, with random filler conversations that are of no use a 10 - 15 thousand chapter only contains 8000 words of actual plot the rest being to be quite frank boring
2. One pov chapters, its a huge turn off, maybe in one chapter make two different povs, by that i mean show the story from Harpers AND Matt's style instead of singular chapters.
3. the self promotion by the superone guy is honestly... disgusting, i saw another review saying the same thing and that superone guy always responds with swears and doesn't give a real answer.

But i must say that you have a good story here with a solid foundation, you have a loyal reader base who clearly like the story.
Please do not take this as a flame but as constructive criticism
All in all great thing you have going on here, i wish you best of luck
:)
- Ramen"

Response: I appreciate this review, and the constructive criticism. It helps me improve the story and be a better fanfic writer. First of all, thank you for the kind words and positives you pointed out. I'm glad you enjoyed those parts.

Now about the points of criticism. I'll admit that I add some filler in chapters, especially the last one. My intention with that is to build relationships between the characters, but I realize that I can do that without the added scenes, so your criticism is valid on that one, and I'll condense the scenes in the future. About the two different pov's...yeah, I could see using the different perspectives in the same chapter working, but I feel that would make the chapter's even longer than necessary, and my style of writing probably wouldn't work with that. I can see why it might annoy some, but for most it seems to present no problem. And lastly, thesuperone342, I understand being annoyed by the constant mention of him, which I shouldn't do. But it's not like we're desperately promoting ourselves or begging for reads, I simply recommended his story a couple of times, and I consider him a friend. But I get the criticism point.

Overall, I'm glad you gave this review, it pointed out some things I wasn't really aware of, and now I know, so I can fix them and improve on them. Thank you for the kind comments. I don't know about this story being "great" but thank you for saying that. The praise and criticism is welcomed, If you continue reading this story, I hope you enjoy it!

MountainBookSage25: "Mmmhmm

Im gonna be honest, I was worried about there having a development between Harper and Talon, but it was just talking about ideas about redemption

Then we saw how Harper was still worried for Matt despite all that happened

Man you are really expanding your world, I think by what happened to Thor, Magnus Chase is not canon now, or at least, some events

Hope you add more pantheons like the ones available in Riordanverse or additionals like, i dunno, Christianity? With the demons and angels?

Pretty excited for the next update at least, keep it up!"

Response: Thanks for the review MountainBookSage, I always appreciate it. So you got Talon and Harper vibes? Yeah I guess that's understandable, but trust me, they're just friends. And the age gap is a little questionable, him being 21 and her 16...so yeah. And I only read a little of Magnus Chase, so I'm not sure what's up with Thor in that one, but it's still canon, since Annabeth mentioned him near the beginning of this book. I just gave my own little Norse twins. About the other pantheons, I plan on adding Shinto for sure, not sure about the other ones, and certainly not Christianity for one simple reason...the beings are too strong. Guys like Michael and Lucifer are simply too powerful to include, and it's super deep, so I would have a lot of explaining to do. Hope that doesn't disappoint you.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes Of Olympus, or Trials Of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

Now then, on with the fifteenth chapter.

15. Who The Hell Is Sigurd Borgarsson?

Matt

I did a double take in the mirror to make sure that I wasn't having a nightmare.

Black veins around my eyelids, and my eyes themselves extremely bloodshot. The sight was unnerving.

I pinched myself as hard as I could on the arm to make sure this was reality, and felt a slight sting.

I did not sigh in relief.

I wished this was a nightmare, and I could go back to five minutes ago, when I was in searing pain and disoriented. At least then part of a psycho Primordial wasn't inside of me, taking over my head.

I gripped the sides of the sink, breathing long and hard in a pattern, trying to calm myself down and make the hideous mark on my face go away.

I won't let him take control, I told myself. I will not let him take control.

"Hey, you alright in there?" A voice outside the door said, breaking my concentration.

I immediately let go of the sink and my head turned to the door. Eliza was outside, and I had probably been in here long enough to gain her suspicion. Well, not that she wasn't already suspicious of me.

I cleared my throat, "Uh, yeah I'm good!" I fiddled around with the water and soap to make it seem like I was doing something normal, "Just washing up!"

"Okay..." She replied, obviously not convinced.

I looked in the mirror again, and it hadn't gone away. My eyes widened and I gulped. If it didn't go away the mortals would definitely know something was up, and I would have to hightail it out of here.

Then again, I was healed now, so why not?

A lot of reasons, Idiot. Like how weird it would be that you just walk out of here, no transportation whatsoever, and the fact that you supposedly can't walk at all. No, leaving now on my own wouldn't help things at all. Besides, these people were nice enough to take me in. The least I could do was try and repay them somehow.

But not looking like this.

My stomach now had no wound at all...a bad thing if I wanted to keep my cover. I grabbed the bloody bandages off the floor and wrapped them back around me. I examined myself, and it looked convincing. The cloth was so thick and the blood was so prominent that they wouldn't be able to tell.

That was the easy part, fixing my eyes...how was I supposed to do that?

I tried to push them deep into my skin, somehow hiding them, but that didn't work. Every time I did it would just resurface.

I tried blinking a bunch of times to clear my bloodshot eyes, then closing them for a few seconds, to no avail. Nothing seemed to work.

I could hear the faint voice of Ouranos inside my head, telling me that he had won, that I was his now.

No, I said.

I tried to think of every peaceful thing imaginable. Camp Half Blood the way it should be, Chiron still alive, my old apartment, and most of all...a surprising new image that I found comforting. My Mother and Father together.

I had the chance to go to the mental institution and let father see her again...but I thought better of it. I didn't think he would even want to do it, and she probably wouldn't be comfortable either, or even recognize him. Besides, the mission was urgent.

But a part of me couldn't help but hope that maybe in the future...they could meet again, and be on good terms.

Suddenly the prickling came back, and I felt a soft release in my nose and eye area. I looked anxiously at the mirror and saw that the black veins had faded, along with my bloodshot eyes.

I was back to normal, for now.

This time I sighed with relief. Not knowing when it would come back though, that would be a problem, but for now, it was gone.

Next problem, keeping my cover in front of these mortals.

I opened the bathroom door, expecting no one to be there, but I was shocked to nearly bump into Eliza, still motionless, her arms crossed.

"Whoa, sorry." I said awkwardly, glancing sheepishly at her.

She didn't break gaze, instead she held my eyes and said, "I want you to tell me the truth."

"Sorry?"

She scoffed, "Oh come on. I saw you fall from the sky, literally! How does someone survive something like that? Let alone with just a hole in their stomach?"

She wasn't dumb, I'd have to remember. But another thing that I noted, she saw my fall? How? I figured the mist would cover something like that up.

I leaned on the wall in fake pain, and said, "From the sky? Where'd you see that at exactly?"

"I was at our barn, feeding the horses, when I heard this noise...like a comet or something. Then I looked up and saw exactly that about thirty feet in the air, and then it crashed. I ran over to see what it was, and instead of some Space Rock..." She took her hand and gestured to me, "It was a dude."

On the inside, I was freaking out a little. I had never experienced something like this before, dealing with mortals, especially a confrontational one. But I thought of a quick response and said coolly, "You must've been seeing things. I was in a car wreck, like I said before. I can't exactly remember what caused the hole in my gut, but I do remember going in the air for a bit before hitting the ground."

She raised a red eyebrow, "A crater, though?"

I shrugged, "Yeah. I mean, I'm a pretty big guy, and it was a long distance, so..."

"You're lying."

I sighed, "Look, you don't have to believe me, it doesn't matter. Either way, thanks for helping me out."

She studied me again, which was getting uncomfortable. I'm not gonna pretend that she's not attractive, because she is, in a natural sort of way. Her long red hair was slightly curled and neatly done, like she really cared about her appearance. Her face was clad in makeup and a splotch of freckles along her noseline, and she wore a denim jacket with jeans and cowgirl boots. It was the intense gaze that bothered me, like she could see right through my facade.

But after a moment she just rolled her eyes, "Fine. I guess if you were some alien from outer space you would've killed us already." She motioned for me to follow her, and I did. "C'mon, since you refuse to go to a hospital I guess you'll be staying here. I'll show you around." She looked back at me, an eyebrow raised, "Can you walk?"

I faked a wince and stepped away from the wall, limping believably, "Yeah I'm good. Give me the grand tour."

Her house was nice.

It kind of reminded me of the Big House back at Camp...only more lively and bright. There were numerous paintings hung on the walls, showing scenes of various rivers, farms, animals, etc, and etc. It was three stories high, the third story being an attic used for storage. She didn't show it to me because it was "messy" and "pointless" according to her. I was already impressed. This being in Kansas, I hadn't expected such a large home. I guess I was so used to the city and the large buildings there that I always though southern states didn't have big residencies. Boy was I wrong.

She had showed me pretty much everything, lastly where I was going to sleep.

We stepped in the doorway and she gestured to a clean room with her hand. Only a bed and a few dressers sat there, a window by the closet area. No decorations, posters, TV, or anything else.

"This was my older brother's room, before he went off to live on his own."

I stepped inside. It smelled fresh, like it hadn't been used in a while.

"Quite a place you got here..." I let the words hang in the air. I was trying to get her to say her name. If I was going to be here for a couple of days, I at least wanted to know the name of this girl and her family.

She caught on, "Oh, I'm Eliza, Eliza Shaw."

"Matt Beckett."

"Ah, that sounds about right. You look like a Matt."

I chuckled, not exactly sure what she meant by that. I looked out the window and awed at the sight outside. Golden fields of wheat and a dozen other crops lined the foreseeable landscape.

"Woah..." I exhaled, eyes wide.

She joined me at the window, "Yeah, it's something else."

"You guys own all of that?" I asked incredulously.

She looked away and began to walk back to the doorway, her expression not that of pride. She seemed almost...shameful.

"Yeah, we have a lot of farm land. It's...what my family's known for. We have the largest farm in Kansas."

I couldn't see why she wouldn't want to show it off. If I had beautiful fields like that at my disposal, I probably would.

"Isn't that...a good thing?"

"Of course! But it's just..." She sighed, "Look, just follow me. I wanna show you something."

I stepped slowly to her, "The guy that you just met, and you wanna show me something?"

She chuckled, "Shut up and follow."

She led me down the hall on the second floor to another room. This one was very much different than her brother's. For one, it was overflowing with stuff. Posters and notebooks everywhere, the posters detailing maps and parts of the world that I couldn't really recognize. One seemed to be depicting Africa, and another England. The entire room was like a giant geography study.

"Wow...Eliza, this is...kinda incredible."

She picked up one of the notebooks on her desk and looked at it, a fond smile on her face. "Yeah it's...a mess, but it's my mess."

I walked over and tapped on a large globe in the corner of the room, "So I'm guessing Geography is your favorite subject in school?"

She exhaled a laugh, "Yeah, I...love traveling, and...well, it's stupid."

I turned to her, "What?"

"Nothing, it's dumb."

"Oh come on, I'm a total stranger. Whaddya have to lose?" I gestured to myself with my arms at my side, a prying smirk on my face. I didn't mean to be pushy, but I was a little curious. I'd lived around mortals my entire life, but I never knew that much about them. What they like, their interests, and other things. I had kept to myself for so long to keep them safe, that I never really got to know them. I guess now was my chance.

She hesitated for a moment and continued to hold the notebook. She finally broke the silence with a sigh and put it down with a light thud.

"Okay, so the thing is...I wanna be a journalist."

I deadpanned, and waited for her to continue. But when she didn't, I was left with an expression that probably read - That's it?

"And?"

She rolled her hand in a circular motion, "And my parents don't know. They think I wanna take over the farm someday, but the truth is...I don't want to. I wanna travel all over the planet and be a journalist, a classic journalist, not the modern crap you see today. People trying to one up each other and latching onto topics that aren't even that interesting. I wanna be different. I wanna change the game, ya know?"

She had such a hopeful look in her eyes when she talked about it, like she was truly passionate about whatever it was...journalism? Uh...not exactly my cup of tea, and I'm actually not sure what that even is, but a mortal interest...hmm.

"Why don't you just tell them? Your parents I mean."

She frowned, "Because my brother already has his career planned out, and me...well, I'm the only one left that can take over the farm when they...you know. And I've been going along with it for a while now, it's to the point that they believe I want to. But I don't, and that's the problem. They'd freak if I told them the truth."

"I doubt that. Come on, they're your parents, you should tell them."

She scoffed, "You don't know my parents."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "So where are they anyway?"

"Probably outside. Here, you can officially meet them, if...you're feeling up to it?"

I faked a wince, "I'm good."

"Alright, come on."

We walked outside and immediately the hot air hit me like a truck. It hadn't really felt like Summer this time around, what with all that was going on back at Camp and the constant training with my father, I never really got to take in the atmosphere. But here, I was enraptured with the summer feel.

Their farm was huge. Dozens and dozens of crops lined up row after row, some of them I had no idea what they were called. But when I asked Eliza, she would tell me.

We found her father in the barn behind the house, working on one of the tractors. He was a big man after all, now that I could clearly see him. He had a scruffy beard and a broad build, not like a person that worked out, but a person that had been working manual labor all his life.

He shook my hand with a firm grip, "You doin' alright, son?"

I guessed that was a southern thing, greeting people like that. Normally in New York you'd only call somebody "son" if they were...well, actually your son.

But I understood the gesture, "I'm fine, sir. I really appreciate your help."

He nodded, "No trouble. I'm just...amazed you survived that, and you're up walking. I was sure that you'd be out for at least another day or two."

I saw Eliza give me a suspicious look in my peripheral, which caused my stomach to sink a little.

I quickly replied, "Ah well, I guess I'm a tough case."

He chuckled, "I suppose so."

I was reminded by myself that I wanted to repay these people somehow, to thank them for saving me.

"Need some help?" I offered.

He looked at the tractor then back at me, and threw a dismissive hand, "Oh no, I got it. Besides, you shouldn't even be walking with your condition, let alone helping with work."

"Well, I'd like to repay you guys anyway I can."

"That's nice of you, but we can handle it. You just rest."

I smiled. These people weren't so bad at all. They were genuine and they obviously had something they loved doing. I was getting a good sense of the mortal life so far, and to be honest, I was intrigued by it.

"I will, sir."

Eliza interrupted and motioned for me to follow her, "Alright dad, we'll leave you to it."

Her mother was in the horse stables, and the same conversation ensued. About how I don't have to do anything and I was to relax. But the thing was, I couldn't relax, not like this. My father was still out there, along with the Sons of Thor, if he hadn't killed them. And even if he had, what about Harper and the others? There was so much to do it was unreal. I wanted to repay these mortals and get on with what I was doing. But I couldn't just yet, at least not without breaking my cover.

After I met her parents, I went back inside and laid on her brother's bed, "resting." It was long, and it dragged on dreadfully. I hated being like this.

I had a lot to think about. Using Viribus to heal myself when I shouldn't have. Now the consequences were sinking in. Every minute or so when I sat in silence, I would hear the faint whisper of Ouranos in my head, tempting me to kill Eliza and her entire family, destroy the house, the farm, everything. It was like a gravitational pull, yanking at me with immense strength. A couple of times it got to be so much that I basically had an explosive migraine. It was all I could do to not yell and scream.

Luckily it passed, and the headache went away. I prayed to Olympus that those black veins hadn't appeared too, because just then, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

Eliza peeked her head in, "You alright?"

I guessed I had appeared normal, because she didn't freak out. "Yeah, I'm okay. What time is it?"

"You've been out for a while. It's nearly dark."

That long? Huh, guess the time did go by pretty fast, during all of that inner struggle. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all. If I could wait it out for another day or so, I could believably be on my way, and get back to my quest.

Her voice rang again and I tilted my head up to hear her.

"What was that?"

She sighed, "I asked if you wanted to come with me to town. I have to get some stuff."

"Me? Why?"

"I don't know. I figured it would give you something to do. And you seem okay to walk, judging by earlier."

I contemplated to myself. I guess it wouldn't hurt if I hung out a little, maybe got more insight on how mortals work, day in and day out.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed, "Okay, sounds good."

"You want a change of clothes? My brother still has some stuff in his closet. You two are about the same size."

I got up and went over to it, some plain tees sat inside, along with a couple of pairs of jeans. They actually looked like they'd fit me perfect.

"Sure, I'll put them on."

She smiled, "Alright, meet me downstairs."

I put on her brother's old clothes and did as she said. The following couple of hours were actually...pretty cool. We went to the nearby town, not too big, but big enough that it was filled with people. She got the stuff she needed, and I mostly hung out by myself. But people would come up to me and they would recognize that I wasn't from around here. They were so outgoing, and they seemed to know each other so well.

It gave me the sense of those small towns where "everybody knows everybody" and it made me...sad. It reminded me of home, of Camp Half Blood.

I missed the way things used to be. Even though I've spent so little time there, I missed the atmosphere, the sense of unity, of friendship.

Interacting with the mortals reminded me of that.

On the way back to her house, we were riding in her father's truck. She'd only had her license for a couple of months, but she said nobody would mind, and that she could be trusted. I knew nothing about driving a car, so by my judgement, she was doing good. Besides, it's not like a wreck could actually hurt me, and if worse came to worse, I could save Eliza and play it off or something.

We had talked almost the whole time, nothing meaningful, just random stuff. Eventually that ran out, and we were left with silence. Nothing but the sound of the engine and the air conditioning. It was dark now, the outside no longer lit up by the sun.

Suddenly a question entered my mind, one that I had meant to ask on the way to town, but forgot about it.

"Hey Eliza, why did you tell me about your dream?"

"What?"

"Your journalism dream. Why'd you tell me about it, when you barely know me?"

She didn't look at me, instead keeping her eyes on the road. I couldn't tell if it was for safety or because she didn't want to face me. Probably both.

I was curious though. Why did she feel the need to tell me instead of her parents? Or one of her friends?

Finally she sighed, "It's...easy. You're go with the flow and you seem like a nice guy, but you're also a total stranger. And you'll probably be gone in a week or so. So it's...easier, you know? To talk about something like that. I mean, I've been holding that in for so long, and it feels good to let it out."

"What about friends? Don't you talk to them?"

She shook her head, "I have friends, sure. But I'm not that close with them. And besides, they'd probably tell their parents and their parents would tell mine, or gossip about it one. I just can't risk that."

I raised an eyebrow, "How do you know I'm not gonna tell your parents?"

She surprised me by chuckling, "I know you won't. I can just tell."

She was right of course, and it shocked me at how well she was able to read people. Better than I thought.

It hit me that talking to a stranger...actually would help with things, probably. She had been holding in that information for a long time, just like me. I mean, I had my father, but that was before this new Ouranos development. Now things are worse. Maybe...I should tell Eliza the truth. If I did, I could vent about it, and get a lot off my chest, maybe...even figure some things out.

I stared at her for a moment. Here was an opportunity, like a therapy session. Just some mortal girl that I met, who seems great, and has an understanding of people. It would be the perfect time to come clean and actually talk about my problems.

But there was a problem. Literally...everything.

First of all, she would freak out for sure. The fact that I'm not completely human alone would probably send her screaming, let alone the truth about the gods, Ouranos, everything.

But still...talking helps. And I had no one. I hadn't spoken to Harper in a year, and my father...well, I don't know where the hell he is, so Eliza was it right now.

"Eliza..." I started.

She glanced at me then back at the road, "Yeah, Matt?"

It was on the tip of my tongue, all the words that I've wanted to say, everything that I've wanted to vent about all day. Ouranos being in my head, the stupid black veins and bloodshot eyes, the temptations of killing people and what that could mean for the future. It was all right there, all I had to do was say it.

But I couldn't bring myself to tell the truth. She had revealed a secret to me, but I couldn't do the same.

Instead I played it off, "I uh, just wanted to say thanks, for letting me go with you. I had fun."

She smiled, "No problem. You're kinda quiet, but you're pretty fun to be around."

"Pretty fun?" I joked, "Come on now."

We laughed, and the tension was broken. Thank the gods.

After we got back, her parents had already ate, so we just decided to call it a night. I was fine with that, the over exposure to the headaches had made me tired anyway.

Eliza and I had taken the stairs together until I reached her brother's door.

I turned to her, "Hey, again, I just gotta say thanks, for letting me stay here. I wanna help out as soon as I can so I can repay you guys."

She groaned, "Give it a rest, it's no big deal."

"No, I mean it. I repay my debts, this is no different."

She rolled her eyes and started to walk away, "We'll see about that. You get a good sleep, okay?"

"You do the same."

With that I closed her brother's door. For a minute I fiddled with the sheets and fluffed the pillow, then looked out the window next to the closet. The sight was incredible. The moon was half full, and it's illuminating glow radiated across the farm fields like a mirror, showing the golden wheat, green plants, and other crops like they were in the spotlight. It was so peaceful, I had to stop and just look for a moment.

I sighed and said to myself, "I'll see you soon guys."

Harper, Talon, Malachi, Sera, I would see them soon. I just knew it.

I got under the covers and closed my eyes, surprisingly drifting to sleep rather quickly.

For the hundredth time, I was brought back to that familiar scene in the African Savannah. Two lions sat by a watering hole, one slightly bigger than the other, drinking the water in light gulps next to each other. The entire land was covered in an orange glow, like some kind of heavenly light. But in the distance, as per usual, a cloud of darkness, indifference, and eeriness sat on the ledge of a hill.

I zoomed closer to the figure, and sure enough, there he stood. The man with the black suit and top hat, his lips hidden by a thick jet black mustache. He looked like those businessmen from the Wild West days, only his eyes had no life in them. It was weird, because I couldn't sense his aura like I could other people. He had a presence...just not one that I could sense. And he wasn't evil either, more like indifferent. Like his entire demeanor said that's the way it is sometimes, pal.

I spent hours trying to decipher this vision, the same thing over and over again, the only thing changing being the second lion growing and getting older. What did it mean? What was the message here? Does it mean something? Or is it just demigod mumbo jumbo.

I doubt it. I've had this vision too many times for it to be mumbo jumbo.

I sat there for a few more moments, just staring at the scene before me, trying to decipher it, when all of a sudden, completely out of nowhere, a giant rumble shook the Earth, disturbing the two lions. They looked up for the source and stepped away from the watering hole uneasily. Even the man in the black suit moved his head to look at the sky.

What the hell was going on? This had never happened before.

Another rumble, stronger and louder this time, disorienting everything. The two lions disappeared, either ran off or just plain vanished, I couldn't tell. I looked over to the hill in the distance, and the mysterious man too, had faded.

It was just me now, or at least my consciousness, alone in this giant space.

I walked around and looked for another sign of life, to find nothing. I tried pinching myself, but I didn't wake up. It was very weird. It was like I was...trapped here, or someone was keeping me in.

After a few minutes of blindly running around, I heard a loud caw behind me, like a raven or a crow.

I turned around quickly and saw a black figure in the sky. I tilted my head up and squinted my eyes, spotting a large raven flying fifty feet above me, one of it's eyes appeared to be missing.

It swooped down and landed right in front of me, staring me in the eyes. I looked closer, and found that indeed, it had one eye missing. In it's replacement, a line of fur also missing from a deep gash, faded and old. The eye itself was milky white, clear of anything solid. Yet as I looked at it, it seemed to be more entrancing than the good one to it's side.

In fact, I felt myself being sucked in. Like all time had stopped, and nothing else in the world existed but me and this bird. The surrounding savannah became nothing but a black landscape of darkness, seeping into nothing.

My mouth opened unconsciously. I couldn't move my eyes away from this thing, I couldn't look away. This bird was a messenger, and this was important.

I concentrated just enough to speak. "What is it? What should I know?"

Right after I said the sentence, the raven's eyes widened to the point of insanity, and it let out a guttural cry, echoing across the entire void that was what I now stood in.

My ears rung, and if I could, I would've screamed in pain at the sudden shriek. But I couldn't. I felt myself being forced inside of the bird's eye.

Weird, I know.

But it's true, and let's face it, this isn't the weirdest thing to happen to me.

Like a camel through the eye of a needle, it seemed impossible for me to fit in a space so small, but I somehow managed. My shoulders, then my stomach, and finally my legs went all the way through, like a warp of some kind. It felt like I was being teleported by a god, sent millions of miles across the world.

After a few seconds of freefalling through a whirlwind of light, I felt myself land on something soft, and my body sink into the snow.

Snow?

I groaned and pulled my head up, looking at the new scene around me.

It reminded me of the Ouranos visions. I was on a snowy mountain, only this time, there wasn't a blizzard. Instead everything was still, the mountains in the distance, the blankets of snow, and even the gray clouds seemed motionless.

"Finally Son of Hercules, I can speak to you. Even if only through your consciousness." A deep voice said, with a hint of an accent I couldn't recognize.

I pushed myself off the ground fully now, and found the voice's source standing at the edge of the mountain surface.

I was facing his back, appearing to be a little over six foot, if not six foot one. He wore a black cloak with a hood, flapping lightly with the wind, showing off a pair of equally dark boots. I couldn't see his face or hair, only the cloak, and what appeared to be a large sword at his side. It's color and features unknown to me just yet. But if not for the accent, I would've thought this guy was Harper's brother, Levi.

But it wasn't, because when I concentrated in the man's direction and felt his aura, it was way, way different than Levi's. Granted, I had only felt Levi's aura once, on the Island. He's strong, definitely the strongest of the Big Four.

But when I say that this stranger is on another level. I mean it.

His aura was...different. It was similar to the Sons of Thor in that it was foreign, but that's where the similarities ended. While those two auras were wild and ruthless, this guy's was calm and powerful, like an underlying tone of danger. Basically if you messed with this guy, he wouldn't freak out or yell at you, he would strategize and determine the best way to kill you.

As for the aura itself...it was strong, very strong. Just standing there, I could recognize that this guy was more powerful than the Sons of Thor individually, and as dangerous as me without the Red Aura.

And that was just him standing there, not even fighting. Just who is this guy?

"I am Sigurd Borgarsson, Son of Odin the Allfather, and leader of Camp Asgard." He said, "And I have much to show you."

(000)

A cliffhanger, I know. I'm sorry guys.

First of all I realize this chapter might feel rushed, and it's obviously much shorter than the others. I always meant it to be kind of filler, more focusing on the whole mortal subplot as opposed to the main storyline. However, it's real intention was to introduce Sigurd, so that's why it was shorter than the rest. The next chapters will be usual length and since I'm done with my break, they will be in usual quality. If you enjoyed this chapter, then I'm glad. But if not, then I understand, as I've been away for a couple of weeks.

Anyway, I'm super excited to be back and I can't wait to finish this second book and write more Norse characters. I have a lot of plans for the Norse camp and the Son of Odin, so stay tuned!

Until Next Time.