More years had passed, Perseus was now 10 years old. He continued his weapons and diplomacy training and was now an expert in both the trident and sword and shield, he had also become a regular judge in Poseidon's court. Perseus and Rhodos eventually got over the awkwardness of their first encounter and decided to take things a bit more slowly, and had gone on dates a couple times a month. They kept them a secret though since Perseus was told that if the relationship became too public, it would risk Aphrodite finding out. The mysteries had decided to meet for it was now time for Perseus to leave the ocean for the first time.
The other members of the Mystery arrived at the Atlantean Palace, and gathered outside the meeting hall.
"Wow Poseidon, this place is great." Apollo beamed.
"I still wish we decided to host meetings in the underworld." Hades grumbled. Hestia smacked him on the back of the head.
The doors opened and at the table sat Poseidon, Amphitrite and Triton, who had joined the meeting as guests. Hestia, Hades, Apollo, Hermes and Styx sat down.
"Welcome to Atlantis everyone, today is an important day as Perseus must now start his final stretch towards adulthood." Poseidon begun, "Is there anything that someone wants to say before we begin?"
Apollo raised his hand.
"Can we finally see Perseus?"
Hermes facepalmed.
"Actually, he's old enough to join our meetings now, so yes."
Amphitrite stood up and left the room to collect him.
"Have you told him his true origins brother?" Hestia asked.
"No we have not, while Amphitrite is grabbing him perhaps we should discuss when we should tell him the truth."
"You shouldn't." Hades said gloomily.
"Why not?" Apollo said angrily. "I want to hang out with my brother."
"He's also my brother." Triton said stonefaced. "I'm not sure how he would take the news."
Poseidon paused.
"We will tell him when he becomes an adult."
"But, that's 6 years away!" Apollo pouted.
"Apollo, you're going to start teaching him about the godly world above the seas with him starting tomorrow, you will not tell him who his real identity is, that's the compromise for your childish demands." Hades said clearly annoyed at the antics.
"Alright fine. I can handle it I suppose, but what if someone finds us?"
"Hermes can think of an excuse for you."
"Uhhhh..."
Everyone looked at Hermes, who was reaching for his business phone to try and act like he was busy. But then an idea came to him.
"How about you just say you got jealous of your sister having her own group and that you've decided to make your own?"
Apollo snapped his fingers and pointed at Hermes with a mischievous smirk.
"This is why I choose you as my pranking buddy. That's genius!"
Poseidon slammed his trident on the floor.
"NO PRANKS! THAT'S WHAT GOT US IN THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"Y-YES UNCLE, I'll BE ON MY BEST BEHAVIOUR!"
Hermes started to laugh but stopped after Hades glared at him.
"This is not a laughing matter, you better not be raising Perserus to become a decadent playboy, you will teach him everything you know Apollo to help him with the prophecy."
Apollo sighed.
"I feel like Chiron would do a better job than me, but I'm not sure if we can trust him."
"After your tenure with Perseus is complete, you will tell him his destiny and send him to the mortal Sally Jackson, who will adopt him while he trains at Camp Half-Blood." Hestia said while playing with Greek Fire she summoned in her hands.
"I'm still not sure if sending him to the mortal world by himself is the greatest idea." said Apollo as he crossed his arms.
Poseidon stroked his beard.
"It will provide a good disguise for him, by disguising him as a demigod his aura will be reduced, and it will also explain how he is able to perform feats only gods or powerful demigods could accomplish. And, if a conflict does occur between Zeus and myself, it will allow him to be a player in the conflict without risking his true identity."
The rest of the council nodded except Apollo, he was still unsure of it being a good idea, but he decided that he was in the minority and didn't further any argument. Amphritrite then entered the room holding the 10 year old by the hand.
Everyone was quiet, Apollo stood up and walked over to him.
"Hello Perseus, I am your cousin Apollo."
Shocked, Perseus went to bow but Apollo stopped him.
"No need to bow, we're going to be great friends!" He beamed.
"Son, this is your Uncle and Aunt, Hades and Hestia, your cousin Hermes, and the River Goddess Styx."
This time Apollo allowed Perseus to bow.
"My lords and ladies, it's an honour to meet you."
Hermes started laughing.
"Who did you get to teach Perseus like that?"
Perseus's face went red with embarrassment, thinking he did something wrong.
"Aphros is the greatest teacher we have in Atlantis!" Poseidon grumbled.
Hestia looked down at Perseus and smiled.
"Ignore Hermes Perseus, he's just not used to this much formality. It's been a while since even us Olympians have conversed in the ancient tongue so formally."
Apollo patted him on the back.
"Don't worry about it Perseus! We're going to have so much fun together and I'll teach you how to speak in English."
"Aphros did a good job it seems, it's good that brats are learning the old ways, although personally I'd prefer it if you'd let me bring over Aristotle to teach him instead." Hades grumbled.
"Hold on a minute, father, what's the purpose of this meeting?" Perseus asked.
Poseidon frowned, clearly upset with what he was about to tell him.
"Perseus, it's time for you to explore the outside world, if you're to be a great god, you need experience outside of the seas."
Perseus was shocked.
"W-what?"
"Apollo will be your guardian and teacher. He will teach you everything about the mortal and godly world above our domain."
"But I have things to do here, I have many duties.."
"Those can be done by others with longer experience with you, honestly they were quite annoyed at how someone as young as you was able to work so well and hard at a young age!" Poseidon laughed.
"Maybe I should hire you as to replace of the of the judges of the dead sometime when one of them is on holiday." Hades smiled.
"That would be a great honour Lord Hades, but it's not even just that father, what about..." Perseus's face went red and refused to comment.
"Ah, Perseus already has a lady friend!" Apollo laughed. "We'll definitely get along!"
"Apollo, if I hear that you've been teaching my son on how to chase wood nymphs or anything of the sort, you're fried." Amphitrite's eyes pierced into his skull from behind.
Apollo gulped and turned around.
"That will never happen ma'am!"
Perseus sighed.
"Okay, but can I say goodbye to Rhodos first."
"Very well, you may." Poseidon signaled Perseus leaved and he left the room.
A few moments of silence occurred before Apollo registered what had just been said.
"Rhodos?! I've been trying to get with her for eons."
Hestia smacked the back of his head.
"Ow!".
Perseus met with Rhodos and hugged her.
"What's wrong dear?"
"I have to leave to the surface."
Rhodos kissed him.
"It's okay, I've waited for a long time before, you won't be gone forever right?"
"I'm not sure, I will be staying with Apollo."
Upon hearing this, Rhodos cringed.
"Don't pick up any of his... habits."
"I won't, I suppose you can't visit me."
"Actually, you can visit me, I stay on my island most of the time."
"Where's that nowadays now that the gods have moved to America?"
"Rhode Island of course." she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Do you mean the original island in Greece or the American state?'
"The state duh! Why would I live so far away?"
Perseus shook his head.
"Alright, if we get the time I'll ask Apollo to take us there."
They kissed one time before pulling away while still holding hands.
"Please don't forget me..." she said with a tear.
"I won't."
The next day, Perseus awoke and appeared before his father's empty court, Poseidon snapped his fingers and a trident appeared before him, the weapon shone a bright blue hue.
"This is my gift to you my son for when you enter the realm of Gaia."
"Isn't this something you would give for my adulthood?"
"Indeed, but I feel that you won't be returning to the seas for quite some time. This trident is made of Adamantine, it is super stronger than any other metal, and is enchanted to never break as long as it is regularly bathed in sea water."
Poseidon then pointed to a sea green gem that was fastened to the where the 3 prongs of the trident met.
"If you press this gem, it will transform your trident into an enchanted ring, just press the gem on the ring again to bring forth the trident once more. The enchantment on the ring is that nobody else can wear it without your permission."
"What if I lose the trident?"
Poseidon sighed as if he expected this sort of question.
"It will return to you as a ring on your finger."
Perseus then held the trident in both of his hands before trying the enchantment, upon pressing the gem the trident turned into a signet ring with a gem that displayed a motif of Poseidon sitting on his throne with his trident. After admiring it for a few seconds, Perseus put it on his finger.
"With this ring you now carry the authority of the House of Poseidon upon your shoulders, go forth and be prosperous!"
After saying this, Poseidon opened his arms, and they hugged.
"Remember that no matter what happens that your mother and I love you, and to rely on the sea. You don't realise how powerful you really are, but the sea does not like to be restrained, and will always answer your call."
They cried for a fun minutes before breaking apart, Perseus still holding his fathers arms.
"I love you dad..."
"I do too son, don't forget that ever."
A few moments of silence occurred before Poseidon completely broke away and begun leading Perseus outside.
"Now, you must go to Apollo now Perseus, I believe in you."
He nodded and then Perseus begun to swim up towards the surface for the first time ever.
Perseus landed on Montauk Beach. His first struggle was actually standing up, as he hand never been on land before. After standing up for the first time, he wobbled before falling over on his face straight into the sand. In the distance laughter could be heard. Apollo was sunbathing, shirtless with shades.
"Welcome to the mortal world Ariel."
Apollo gave Perseus his hand and helped him up. This time Perseus was able to maintain his balance only on his second try.
"Wow usually it takes months for babies to learn how to walk!"
"I'm not a child."
"You are compared to me kid." Apollo said while roughly patting Perseus's head.
Perseus pushed Apollo's hand away and then looked around on the beach, the ocean and at all the mortals enjoying their morning.
"Now that you've finally entered the mortal world, you need to change clothes." Apollo snapped his fingers and Perseus's robes were changed into a simple t shirt, jeans and sneakers.
"The shirt's nice but the shoes and pants feel restrictive..."
"Used to all that traditional wear huh? Nobody has worn that in thousands of years Perseus, you gotta move with the times."
"Alright, I suppose you're going to teach me English too?"
Apollo snapped his fingers again and a backpack appeared on Perseus's back. It had two zippers for separate compartments and a bungee cord attached to it. The backpack had a sleek black design with a lyre embroidered on it.
"Inside the small zip you'll find an enchanted pocket full of Ambrosia Squares that will always be full as long as it's daytime, so make sure you keep track of how many is left during the night so you don't run out, it will refill in the morning. In the larger zip you'll find some mortal history books and an English book, I expect you to read them whenever we're camped and you don't have any chores. You can store anything in the larger zip and you will never run out of any room and it will be weightless. There is another enchantment, pull on the bungee cord."
Perseus did this and the backpack disappeared and a bow appeared in his hands, it was made of wood and had a golden ancient Greek meander pattern.
"Awesome."
Apollo grinned.
"Couldn't have put it any better myself, you can pull on the bowstring to shoot."
Perseus pulled back on the string and a golden arrow magically appeared. He shot it towards the ocean.
"I don't think your father would appreciate you littering his ocean Perseus." Apollo said smugly.
"I'll just tell him you told me to do it."
"Please don't. Anyway, to get the backpack back just sling the bow around your shoulder, pretty useful for disguising it around mortals."
After returning the bow back into backpack form, Perseus bowed.
"Thank you for this mighty gift Lord Apollo, I'm truly honoured."
Apollo shook his hands and his head.
"Do not worry about it Perseus, and don't call me Lord, I'm going to make you lieutenant for my new group, we should be far more friendly with each other."
"If you say so Apollo, why are you creating a group and what's it called?"
"Well, you might know about my younger sister's hunter group, I figured it's about time that I had my own one! And you will be the first member. As for it's name, I'm not sure what to call it, do you have any ideas?"
Perseus decided to ignore his comment about how Artemis was his little sister, which as far as he knew was factually incorrect, and thought about potential names for a few seconds.
"I'm not too sure of what you intend this group to be. how derivative of a group is it of Artemis's hunters?"
Apollo rubbed the back of his head.
"Heh, I mean, I don't technically have permission from my father to create a group of immortal followers, for now I just want you to help me start an all male group for mortals and demigods to join, I don't want to do a no dating rule like the hunters, I think that would be kinda lame."
"What about, 'The Wolves of Apollo', after your sacred animal?"
"Sounds edgy and awesome, I like it!"
Perseus cringed internally, deciding he regretted coming up with it, but before he could come up with an alternative name, Apollo clapped his hands.
"So it's settled then, as a patron of protecting the young, I shall raise my wolves to be the awesomest they can be!"
Perseus groaned.