Olympos was shaking.
The four cardinal winds were tyrants, roaring and groaning as they attacked the mountain, spreading throughout the lands as they ripped away chlamys and chitons alike.
Rolling clouds crashed down, and streaks of lightning danced across the golden streets. The storm howled ferociously, an unhinged sort of anger to and nearly capsizing it and at the center of it all stood Ivppiter Fulgur, Ivppiter Tonans.
Ivppiter Optimus Maximus.
"Is she mad," he roared, lightning flashing in his eyes.
She, being his sister-wife, Iūnō Regina, who was speaking to her stepson and champion even now on the earthly plane.
Our time is limited, Jason. My prison grows stronger by the hour. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to work even the smallest magic through its bonds. I've managed to bring you here, but now I have little time left, and even less power. This may be the last time I can speak to you.
"Find her NOW!" Father thundered, and his words were echoed by a clap of thunder so loud and piece of the mountain cracked off.
"You're in prison?" The boy didn't lower his sword though Mercurius wished he had a bit more self-preservation so long as Leaneíras' mind was connected to his. His blessing was pacing outside the camp boundaries, hands sparking with mageia as she and Alabaster yelled at each other. "Look, I don't know you, and you're not my patron."
You know me, Iūnō insisted. I have known you since your birth.
"I don't remember. I don't remember anything."
Back at the boundary, Leaneíras slapped Alabaster across the face.
No, you don't, Iūnō agreed. That also was necessary. Long ago, your father gave me your life as a gift to placate my anger. He named you Jason, after my favorite mortal. You belong to me.
"Whoa," Jason said. "I don't belong to anyone."
Now is the time to pay your debt, she said. Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory.
All of them froze in place, sharing looks of horror. Iovis turned to look at Apollō. "My son... is this true?"
"Is that a threat? You took my memories?"
You have until sunset on the solstice, Jason. Four short days. Do not fail me.
Her astral form dissolved right as Leaneíras let out a loud scream and stormed away from Alabaster, cursing all the while.
Apollō's eyes slipped closed. "The Second Great Prophecy is amongst us."
Iovis breathed deeply. "Did your oracle prematurely revealed a prophecy that may yet destroy us all.'
Gold burst into the eyes of Apollō, the blue in his eyes giving way to eyes that shine like rays of light that he inherited from his grandfather, Krónos. And most of the theoi flinched away for it reminded them so strongly of the Titan Lord whom nearly destroyed them scant months ago.
"May I remind you, Father, that the prophecy was already known amongst the romans and even in snippets of the Grecians long before the First Great Prophecy had even been known."
The tension in the room skyrocketed.
"Yes, yes, you're right. Forgive me, my son." Their Father sighed as all the strength seemed to leave him at once. He turned sincerely apologetic eyes onto the god of light. "I offer no excuses but my sincerest apologies."
Apollō inclined his head.
"I must admit," Árēs commented, musing as he looked down onto the earth. He was dressed in full armor, eyes burning with the need to search for his mother. "Tis smart of them to choose now of all times to move instead of what? It was the forties when Pluto's kid died? They came back now, building strength and numbers while we were too focused on the Big Three Prophecy and now we're still rebuilding strength from that."
Below them, Annabeth and Piper were walking into Hḗrē's cabin while Leaneíras had dragged Drew to her cabin where the girl was screaming and crying.
"That was almost intelligent of you, brother," Athḗnē mocked, but Árēs only scoffed. Her need for vengeance especially since the knowledge that her beloved statue would soon be found had been agitating everyone and her need to draw them into arguments even more. Árēs had long since decided to not entertain her which really only had her trying harder to goad him into a fight.
"What do you want us to do, Father," Bellōna asked, turning their attention back to their King.
"Nothing for now," Iovis stated. His siblings and children with Iūnō all took offense to his words, but he only held his hand to stop their words. "They wish to utilize her against us. We shall not fall for their schemes." His gaze moved further to the cosmos where Anánkē and Khronos drove the rotation of the heavens and the eternal passage of time beyond the reach of the younger gods whose fates they controlled.
He turned his back onto the gods around him as he sat straight upon his throne. "First, we must count on the mortals to save her as it may be trap for the rest of us." He turned to look at Apollō. "My son, what have you gleamed from the threads of the Parcae?"
"She, Iūnō, who lie in the arms of Iovis, since he is our greatest; Iūnō, she of the golden throne, will need to be rescued before midwinter lest her life force be consumed by the earth. These things the Ancient Maidens whirl on with rushing thread of brazen spindles."
Iovis slipped his eyes closed. "Then we shall hold onto hope that she is be saved and be returned to her loved ones within the bronze-founded house within the City Eternal of Iovis." He opened his eyes to look at them one by one. "We cannot allow them to attempt to trap us alongside her but we can discreetly help along. Veritas, I want you to go alongside Mārs and Mercurius to reassure that we have no other traitors amongst our ranks. Dīāna and Diktynna, take Pholoe and Syrinx with you, find where they are keeping my wife."
Iovis turned his attention to his siblings and children around him. "We shall get her back and that I swear."
"Assemble the other gods of war. We must prepare ourselves if this is to be war." He ordered Athênê and Mārs. Turning his gaze back to the mortal world below, his words held a bit of introspection. "And mayhap, these mortals shall prove themselves worthy to fight alongside us gods against these enemies of old."
Leaneíras held Drew as the girl cried and raged and talked about her regrets and the dreams that she had been having for the last few weeks.
"I should have known," Drew was saying. "I mean I've always dreamed about the gods since finding out about them. I used to always think about getting carried off by one of them in some romantic dream before I came to my senses and realized that it could get really dark, really face but it was especially true when Eros was babysitting me. You know, his story with Psykhe, but still... they started talking about the Roman gods and well, they're the same gods with just different names so I didn't put much thought into it, you know."
"Not exactly," Leaneíras said, moving over to her desk.
Drew blinked, dotting a handkerchief at her eyes. "What do you mean, not exactly?"
"It's something me and Medea were talking about once. The roman gods. They were all the Dii Consentes. They had their own gods that were indigenous to their lands before they started invading everybody and they mama and stealing their gods. Like did you know in their version that Hermes who they call Mercury is actually the son of Caelus and Diēs, the roman names for Ouranos and Hemera which would make him the half-brother to your Mom who they called Venus. And they are other differences like Jupiter and Juno who are the equivalents to Zeus and Hera are twins in roman myths. Then Mr. D. and Persephone are considered twins in Roman myths by the names of Liber and Libera. And they even have a few gods like Janus and that Pompona statue from the war... they were completely roman." Lea shrugged, moving some papers around until she could find the notebook which she kept all the information in.
She moved her scrying material away though she did set aside some of the ingredients for the potion to break the mind meld with Jason. "Same as your brother actually. In roman myths, Eros was a native god to Rome and the Eros that was in the greek myths was the primordial god that emerged at the dawn of creation. Your brother was also considered to be an allegory of Love and War. That thin line between Love and Hate. And also, in latin literature, a couple of writers could not decide on his Father. Seneca says that it was Vulcan, who we know as Hephaistos. Cicero states that he was the son of Mercury and Diana who we know as Hermes and Artemis. He also says that there are two. One of them is the son of Mercury and Venus who I'm guessing would be Hermaphrodite. And then you know, your brother. Son of Venus and Mars aka Aphrodite and Ares. So, yeah. It's a lot of differences and their appearances changed also. Like we know Aphrodite as being incredibly beautiful, dressed in the finest of clothing. The romans knew her as being butt ass naked. And their attributes changed. They even had slightly different personalities."
"Okay, so maybe people saw them differently through the centuries. That doesn't change who they are."
"Sure it does. The gods change to reflect their host cultures. I mean your Mother tops more magazines and runways than Gisèle Bündchen and she's the highest paid model. Hermes has a sponsorship with Nike. Uncle Zeus likes tailored suits, reality television, and that Chinese food place on East Twenty-Eighth Street because they are the only ones that can get Běijīng Kǎoyā right which is crazy because he can't even eat mortal food to tell the difference but whatever. They were Roman just as much as they were Greek. It's also probably why the roman myths don't make much sense because they were there before whole synchronization between Greek and Roman gods. So of course their Roman aspects are still a big part of their character."
"And you just know all this why?"
Lea waved her hand, lying smoothly. "Medea and Magnus like to invoke their roman names for spells." But was it really lying? It was technically the truth. She was just letting Drew make her own conclusions. Inwardly, she cursed Hermes for tricking her into an oath to keep it a secret. "And in the Land of Dreams... I mainly spent time with Hermes, you know, but the other gods are there all the time too—always shifting forms. Dreams are fluid, you know. You can be in different places at once, always changing identities. It's a lot like being a god, actually. It was a part of the training we did with the whole world walking thing, but I kept getting sucked into other people's dreams so we stopped training there."
"Back to Rome?"
"Right, Rome," Lea said. "So we call the gods by their Greek names because that's their original form. But saying their Roman aspects are exactly the same—that's not true. In Rome, they became more warlike. They didn't mingle with mortals as much. They were harsher, more powerful—the gods of an empire."
"Like the dark side of the gods?" Drew asked before they both scoffed. Please. They were plenty dark in their greek forms.
"No, they were more warlike. They stood for discipline, honor, and strength. It's what made Rome last long, but they weren't very friendly in their roman forms. You know Hesiod's whole Five Ages of Man thing? Let's see where did I put it... Ahh, right here! The Iron Age is where humans live an existence of toil and misery. Children dishonor their parents, brother fights with brother, and the social contract between guest and host is forgotten. During this age, might makes right, and bad men use lies to be thought good. At the height of this age, humans no longer feel shame or indignation at wrongdoing; babies will be born with gray hair and the gods will have completely forsaken humanity: 'there will be no help against evil'."
The two of them shared looks. "Jason called Hephaestos Vulcan earlier," Drew murmured. "If they are the same gods with different names and a different aspects, then do you think that they have children also?"
"The Olympians are the only gods around." Come on, Drew. Use your brain. I can't say it, but you can figure it out.
"Yeah," Drew murmured. "But it's like you said: Janus and Pompona are fully roman gods."
"Something to look into."
"Yeah," Drew said before shaking her head. "After I find my boy—after I find Ethan."
Lea nodded, mixing a few ingredients together as she led the girl to her set up in the corner. "Alright. So this one will let you transverse the Land of Dreams. When you get there, call out for one of the kids of Hypnos. Maybe Clovis. He's the strongest one and ever since they got their own cabin, the dude has been dropping into my own dreamscape. With his help, you'd be able to find Ethan and backtrack to what happened."
Drew nodded, not even looking nervous despite the fact it was very much an experimental spell. She put way too much into that Mother of Witchcraft title even when Lea barely understood it herself. Lea gave her another smile, mixing the herbs together in her grinding bowl, pricking Drew's finger to draw blood, and fusing her mageia into it. She placed a few crystals around her head, eyes glowing the same greenlish light as always. She gave the elixir to her friend who downed it like the old ladies drinking wine in Daniela's shop. "Alright, Let we who waken from our sleep, return at once to slumber deep."
The girl sank into the pillows, eyes fluttering close and began to breathe softly as she slept.
The door to her cabin banged open and she didn't even blink when Salome emerged from the shadows with a loud growl.
"Lea," came Annabeth's voice. "Call off your kitten!"
Lea sniffed, turning her nose up. She whistled and the tiger bound over to her and Drew, plopping down beside the daughter of doves. Lea turned to look, seeing Annabeth, Rachel and Eliza walk in with their newest charity case. "What's going on?"
"Piper asked about this place," Eliza told her before a hint of grief appeared in her eyes. "And about you and... and Percy so we thought we'd introduce the two of you."
"Is that a tiger," Piper asked, hiding behind Annabeth as if the girl could protect her.
Lea didn't even look at her, turning to look at the other three girls. "I am not the friend that you introduce to people," she scoffed, turning back to Drew. "I don't like people. Hell, I didn't like any of you at first."
"Well, she's not wrong," Eliza said wryly as she came closer. "What are you doing with Drew?"
"She had a hunch about something," Lea said, glancing back over at Piper in suspicion. "E's gone missing. Percy's missing. The gods went silent and now one of Alabastard's blessings has shown up."
Rachel pushed herself closer, ignoring Salome's growl. "She's thinks this has something to do with soulmates?"
"She's the Protector of Ill-Fated Lovers," Lea explained. "All of this happening at once? It was worth looking into."
"So what are you doing," Annabeth asked.
"Something that I'm going to need you and Eliza to do later," the Mother of Witchcraft shrugged. "A bit of dream walking. Back track through Percy's memories in the Land of Dreams. I may need to get Jason in here also. I almost got something from his memories earlier. I'm sure of it." It jus slipped through her fingers though like sand at the beach.
Drew sat up with a loud gasp, brown eyes glowing as green as Leaneira's mageia. "Hera... Hera... she's trapped. Kidnapped. She needs to be freed by the solstice or the king rises."
"Drew?" Lea and Eliza said as the girl began to seize. "Drew!" They moved as much as they could to make her comfortable while Rachel rushed out of the cabin to get Lee Fletcher. "Drew!" Lea's heart pounded with guilt.
Free me, she said. But it wasn't Drew's voice. It sounded like an older woman, speaking from somewhere far away, down a long, echoing pipe. Free me or the earth shall swallow us. It must be by the solstice.
"DREW!" Lea screamed, hands hovering over her desperately. Her eyes were with panic as Lee Fletcher and Will Solace pushed her out of the way to get to her best friend. Green light bean to emerge from faded scars around Drew's body and Lea felt tears welling in her body. She did this.
Around the cabin, the same echoing voice said: Our enemies stir. The fiery one is only the first. Bow to his will, and their king shall rise, dooming us all. FREE ME!
WORD COUNT: 2997
WORDS TO KNOW:
1) Ivppiter Fulgur - Lightning Jupiter
2) Ivppiter Tonans , "Thundering Jupiter
3) Ivppiter Optimus Maximus - Jupiter, the best and greatest
4) Iūnō Regina - Queen Iūnō
5) Parcae - the Roman Fates.
The Deities Named that Most Don't Know:
1) Britomartis - Virgin Goddess of Hunting-, Fishing- and Fowling-Nets | Daughter of Ζεύς and Karme
1A) Rick implies that she used to be part of the Cretan pantheon of gods and that she survived by befriending Artemis and becoming a Greek goddess. When Britomartis ascended into godhood, she was worshipped in both pantheons and Artemis joined the worship of the Cretan pantheon because of the friendship.
1A) She is also known as Diktynna. The goddess was frequently portrayed on Cretan coinage, either as herself or as Diktynna, the goddess of Mount Dikte, Ζεύς' birthplace. As Diktynna, she was depicted as a winged goddess with a human face, standing atop her ancient mountain, grasping an animal in each hand, in the guise of Potnia Theron, the mistress of animals. Thus, I use it as her Roman name.
2) Pholoe - From Statius, Silvae 2. 3. 1 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.). She was one of Dīāna's huntresses that was loved by Pán. Dīāna helped her to escape by covering her pursuit to the bottom of the lake where she covered herself with weeds to hide her from view.
3) Syrinx - From Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 689 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.). She worshipped Dīāna and was also loved by Pán. She was changed into a reed which Pan then made his flute. Kind of like how Dáphnē was changed into a laurel tree and Apóllōn made the laurels one of his symbols of power.
COMMENTS FROM THE AUTHOR:
1) I wished we could scheduled post on here. I'd have the queue so full because writing up sometimes makes me forget to update or I want to update all at once and i dont get to have chapter by chapter reviews.
2) Don't think I mentioned it since, but reminder that Lee Fletcher is alive. Lea saved him during the BOTL. He and Castor made it through but neither of them are front line fighters anymore. Reserved members. Very much at camp during the war.
3) I'm not sure if you noticed but Jason's soulmark in the last chapter named Veritas as his blessing but we were introduced to her as Aletheia. That was intentional. His soul recognizes her by her roman form so her roman name is what she gets.
3A) Now if this was more accurate to the mythos, then he would have been matched Aletheia by herself and Veritas would not be apart of that because those are two different goddesses.
4) I realized yesterday while I was working on some of the finer details that I made two families of impressive backgrounds. Like canonically, Annabeth and Frank are legacies.
4A) Magnus is apparently implied to be a legacy of Freyr and if that's the case, then Annabeth would be too. Idk that's what the wikia says.
4B) But I went ahead and made Octavian's frankly impressive background and then I have Medea (and Trent) whose family line started during the Salem Witch Trials.
5) Fun Fact: The "trio" here is Lea, Drew, and Medea. They represent the sun (Drew), moon (Medea), and the stars (Lea).
5A) Also, the Power of Three from CHARMED. Lea is Piper. Drew is Phoebe. Medea is Paige/Prue.