Chapter Two "A Pine Tree"

The silence stretched between my mother and me as we watched Percy Jackson's group from afar. The question I'd posed about interference hung in the air, weighty with implications.

"The ancient laws that bind the gods do not apply to you directly," Alaya finally answered, her form shifting subtly in the moonlight. "When the laws around what mortals and deities can do with the Age of Man were made no one could have expected…"

"A child of Alaya to be born," I spoke up. "What am I exactly? I don't think I am a demigod…" I looked down at my chest, not at my physical heart, but its equivalent located in my soul. "Demigods don't possess Divine Cores…"

"Most demigods don't, but some do," Alaya clarified. "Take Brynhildr, Thrúd, Hildr, and Ortlinde from the Norse pantheon. They're demigods, yet they possess a Divine Core."

"So am I a god or a demigod? You never explained what I exactly am."

"What do you think you are?" asked Alaya cheekily.

"It's confusing as hell," I grumbled as I recalled the state of my father.

Senji Muramasa was technically a Heroic Spirit, but unlike others, he hadn't died to ascend to the Throne of Heroes. The situation became more complex because, in this world, Muramasa had never passed away. He was actively worshipped by some, particularly Japanese blacksmiths who were aware of the Japanese pantheon. As a result, he was in the process of becoming a Divine Spirit, essentially a deity. My father was somewhere in between a higher form of human and a god.

"You will have to find that answer for yourself, my son. Think of it as a long-time homework," my mother replied. "Getting back onto the previous topic… One of the first things I will have to talk to my sister." I winced at how my mother was calling Gaia her sister when technically they were one and the same thing, just more like split personality to my understanding. "Regarding your status and any children I might have in the future."

"So what are my limitations as of right now? Besides me doing anything that would endanger Human Order or the continued existence of humanity."

My mother might not be physically present, but I shuddered as I felt the omniscient presence bore its full weight upon me.

"You have a good idea already," Alaya chuckled while I got the chills she was warning me that I shouldn't overuse the Authorities I had inherited from my mother or my own boosted powers due to my connection to the Human Counter Force.

The weight of my mother's presence eased, freeing me from the burden that felt like the world on my shoulders. With a lighter heart, I turned my attention back to Percy Jackson's group. They had managed to extract themselves from the wrecked car and were now making their way towards what I knew to be Camp Half-Blood's location. Even from this distance, I could see Percy supporting his limping friend Grover while Sally Jackson kept watch for any more monsters.

"You've already changed things significantly," Alaya continued, gesturing toward the dissolving remains of the Minotaur. "The boy was meant to face that monster alone, to discover his powers under pressure. Now that moment of awakening has been delayed."

"He's twelve," I countered, though my voice held less heat than before. "There are better ways to awaken his potential than throwing him to the wolves."

"Perhaps. But remember what forged you into who you are, my son. Was it not the fire? The tragedy? The battles?"

The memory of flames licking at my skin, of smoke filling my lungs as I walked through that hell on earth, flashed through my mind. She had a point—hardship had shaped me, had tempered my ideals into steel. But...

"There's a difference between facing challenges and being sacrificed needlessly," I argued. "I can help guide him, train him. The prophecy doesn't specify how he must learn, only what he must become."

Alaya's expression grew distant, as if she were seeing through time itself. "The Great Prophecy is not so simple to circumvent, Shirou. It speaks of a choice that will preserve or raze Olympus. That choice must be made freely, with full understanding of its weight."

I traced Kanshou and Bakuya absently, the married blades materializing in my hands before dissolving back into motes of light. "Then let me ensure he has the tools to make that choice wisely. The skills to survive long enough to make it at all."

"And if your interference leads to worse outcomes?" my mother challenged. "If your presence draws the attention of forces better left dormant?"

"Then I'll deal with those consequences," I stated firmly. "I won't stand idle while children are sacrificed for prophecies and politics."

"Very well," Alaya said after a long moment. "But remember this: while you may not be bound by the ancient laws, you are still my son. Your actions reflect on me, and through me, on humanity itself. Choose your interventions wisely."

I nodded, understanding the gravity of her warning. "I will."

As my mother's presence faded, I found myself at a crossroads. Should I continue to actively interfere with a future that might no longer exist because of what I've done? This was just one of the many questions swirling in my mind, marking the first pivotal moment in Percy Jackson's legend. Or, should I choose a more passive role, watching events unfold from the shadows?

Whatever the case, I also really needed to figure out the full impact of my heritage as the Son of Alaya had upon me…

- O -

I stood at the edge of Camp Half-Blood's borders, pushing aside my investigation of being the Son of Alaya as there were more important things that caught my immediate attention.

My senses—already impressive by normal human standards and further enhanced by Reinforcement—were probing the magical barrier that protected this sanctuary of Greek demigods. The Golden Fleece hanging from Thalia's pine tree pulsed with divine energy, maintaining what the campers called their magical borders. While impressive compared to the modern magecraft of my previous life due to the soul of Zeus's daughter, it was... concerning.

"Structurally unsound," I muttered, tracing the weak points in the barrier with practiced ease. Years of analyzing Bounded Fields at the Clock Tower and dismantling the magical defenses of rogue mages and all manner of supernatural threats in my previous life had given me an eye for detecting weaknesses in magical defenses. What I saw worried me. The barrier was powerful, yes, but... "A single point of failure."

You never waited for one pillar that supported a powerful Bounded Field to protect an area. That was why the Clock Tower had layers upon layers of redundant barriers, fail-safes, and countermeasures accumulated over centuries. One accident or problem and Camp Half-Blood, relying almost entirely on a single tree, would be rendered defenseless.

"The magical defenses only keep out monsters and nothing else. If someone threw something as simple as a rock at Thalia's Pine Tree and caused enough damage... the magical border could be weakened or disabled..." My eyes scanned the pine tree and its surroundings. "The lack of guards watching the pine tree means an infiltrator could easily sabotage Camp Half-Blood's defenses. It should be protected at all times by at least one person, and..." I peered at the rest of the invisible but potent mana making up the borders that kept out regular humans and monsters. "There should be routine patrols to..."

You would be impressed by the Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood—Camp Jupiter, my mother's voice whispered in my mind, her presence feeling distant, almost amused. That is a properly protected and patrolled setup that Camp Half-Blood should aspire to if they want to protect themselves from monsters properly.

I nodded my head in agreement. Camp Jupiter was very far from being comparable to the Clock Tower of my previous life, but it fit my standard of a properly protected supernatural territory compared to Camp Half-Blood.

My eyes turned to the pine tree that currently housed the soul of Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus.

I hope you are not thinking of further interfering with fate… Alaya's voice rang in my mind in disapproval. Thalia Grace by all rights should be dead if it wasn't for Zeus's intervention. The dead deserve to stay dead.

A tired sigh slipped out as I looked at my great-grandniece (yes, Thalia Grace was my grandniece if I considered Gaia as my mother given that in some ways Alaya was the split personality of Gaia).

"The dead deserve to stay dead..." I repeated softly as I saw the pine tree housing the soul of Zeus's daughter like it was right before me with my superhuman vision. "Mother, there's a distinction between resurrecting the dead and helping someone who's still technically alive. That means it is okay…"

Shirou… My mother warned. It is one thing to intervene in the fight against the Minotaur, but I will not let you save Thalia Grace. Percy Jackson is supposed to do that several years from now…

I gritted my teeth. Not saving someone that I could went against my ideals. This was not some irredeemable individual that couldn't be saved. Thalia Grace might be a stranger to me, but she had done nothing to deserve her current fate. She had just had the misfortune of being caught between a feud between Zeus and Hades. A girl that hadn't even reached her mid-teens before her life had been nearly cut short without divine intervention.

The weight of my mother's presence grew on my mind, almost warning me against what I wanted to do. For a moment, I wanted to disregard everything and save Thalia until Zeus's own methods of saving his daughter got me thinking. My mother was against me interfering with fate as that went against certain rules regarding destiny that all gods, including Gaia and Alaya, seemed to be bound by. But there were certain ways I could "help" and my brain started to churn ideas…

- O -

Thalia Grace sighed, or the closest thing that a tree could do. She really hated her current situation. Don't get her wrong, she was extremely grateful to her father, Zeus, that she was still alive, but that didn't mean she had forgiven him for being a terrible dick in general…

Thunder boomed nearby.

You are still a terrible father, Zeus. The girl-turned-tree would have rolled her eyes if she could in response.

What Thalia despised most about her current life was her inability to do anything like she used to as a human. It was driving her insane. Yet, in some ways, she wasn't losing her mind. Perhaps being a tree kept her from going mad in a way a human would have if they were in her situation.

How being a tree was keeping Thalia from insanity was a mystery to her. Maybe it had something to do with not having a human brain anymore…

It also helped that her life was somewhat bearable thanks to the occasional Dryads that would walk over and start a conversation. Most of them were curious about what it feels like for a human, especially a demigod, to be a tree as Dryads were literally part of their host tree, but they were not trees themselves. One Dryad had also offered to pass on her essence that would eventually give birth to a dryad that would bond with Thalia, but the demigod quickly turned that offer down because in some ways it felt like such a thing would violate her.

Thalia turned her attention to a new presence that she detected was approaching her.

For a moment, she thought it was Luke. He was the only person besides Annabeth and Dryads that came to visit her. Her assumption was quickly proven wrong when she discovered it was a male. Someone in their late teens or early twenties. A tall and muscular male. Besides that, she couldn't really "see" much detail about the newcomer as she was still getting used to being, well, a tree. So his exact physical features such as eye and hair color were unknown to her.

What caught Thalia's attention the most about the newcomer was how different he felt from the Greek demigods and creatures of Greek mythology that she was used to. He might appear to be a human, but he wasn't a demigod and felt more akin to a god. Even then, his presence was vastly different from any god she had ever felt before. He seemed to radiate a presence that seemed hostile to her. As if his existence was akin to a human that might cut her down for many possible purposes such as fuel for a fire or building material.

No, he felt more alike to human civilization if such a thing was possible to associate with a person…

Wait, what?! Thalia screamed in confusion. Is he a god of humanity? Is that even a thing?

When Thalia tried to focus her attention on the man, she started to sense more. She started to sense a presence closer to that of her half-brother, Hephaestus (the Greek God of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture, and volcanoes), but his presence felt like he also contained traces that were not… Greek?

Is that even possible? She wondered as the man continued to come closer to her. What are you planning? Motes of light started to gather around his hand and Thalia's branches started to shake frantically. Wait!? What is that sword for? And why are you coming towards me with it?!

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