Epilogue

He sent Apollo with the declaration of war. It was seen as a miracle that he was alive, but Lady Artemis had revealed that her brother had just been left in a palatial cell surrounded by beautiful women, so he hadn't really cared much about his imprisonment. Percy had been kind, he said. I wasn't tortured, and he even let mother visit me, he said. He's become a god. He's amassing an army, of genetically tailored demigods, taller, stronger, smarter than anyone we have on the mortal side, he said. One hundred and twenty thousand of them, all immaculate warriors. He plans to take Olympus. To take the world.

Zoe wasn't sure if Apollo was talking about Percy anymore. He had Tartarus, what did he need Olympus for? It didn't matter, however, because the declaration was true. Percy was amassing an army, and he had marched right to the surface with it. He had used his control of the mist to camp the army in the middle of Kansas. Why Kansas, Zoe didn't know. That was what she was sent to find out. Not in her capacity as a hunter, but in her capacity as his friend. Oh, Artemis had ranted and raged, but she lost out in the end. Zoe led an envoy, comprised of herself, the Roman Praetors, several camp counsellors, and the Lord of the Wild, Grover Underwood, Pan's successor, and supposedly one of Percy's best friends.

The camp they arrived at was nothing if not efficient. Large walls of earth and wood were surrounded by a deep moat filled with spikes. There were four entrances into the camp, one in each cardinal direction, with a small causeway leading over the ditch. She saw archers following their approach, and before they could make it within a hundred feet of the walls, mounted horsemen came galloping out, circling around them. Mounted archers, their bows trained on them the entire time.

They wore black robes and armour, and full masks that wrapped around their head, their eyes the only visible part, the faces twisted into snarls, runes carved into the metal. The circling eventually stopped, and one of them dismounted, his bow being slotted in a sheath on his saddle. He still had a sword, a shield, and a quiver of arrows, however, and Zoe knew better than anyone that if the fighting became desperate enough, the arrows themselves would be used as makeshift shivs.

The man swaggered over to them, but it wasn't out of confidence. He was bowlegged, most likely from riding. He paused several feet in front of them, and Zoe realised just how large he was. He was easily six and a half feet and looked to weigh close to two hundred and fifty pounds, give or take thirty pounds in either direction. She studied the horses briefly as well. They weren't mortal horses. They were larger, more muscular, and were barely moving.

"King Perseus invites you into our camp," the man stated, "if you will follow me?"

His voice was hard to place, as he sounded to be a mix of dialects, American, Greek, even Latin inflections appearing in his tone.

Zoe let the troop of men lead her into the camp, keeping her hand near her knife, just in case. The camp was well planned and designed, with two wide roads intersecting in the centre of the camp, like a Roman camp, in front of a large open area, which in turn sat in front of a large wooden building. There were long log buildings that Zoe assumed were barracks, and stables which held even more horses. Still, the camp was too small to hold a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers.

"This camp is only for the Ten Thousand," her guide explained, "King Perseus' personal guard. The rest of the army is camped elsewhere."

He must have noticed her observing the camp. He was perceptive, at the very least.

"How old are you?" The tall, burly Praetor asked.

"Almost one hundred," the man answered, either not noticing or not caring about the surprised glances that were exchanged. He paused in front of the door to the building, "King Perseus is inside. Allow me a moment to inform him."

He then pushed through the door, leaving them in the centre of the camp, watching by hundreds of eyes. The door opened a moment later.

"Enter," he commanded simply, holding the door open for them. The group shuffled through, appearing in a large room that had a table in the centre, dozens of maps unrolled on it.

Zoe recognised some of the faces, like Iapetus, Pallas, Lelantos, and her own father, who no longer had the long scar along his neck. There were others as well, men wearing similar armour to the soldiers outside, though they held their helmets under their arms.

"This should be interesting," Atlas muttered under his breath, though the others heard it. Lelantos and Pallas snickered, while Iapetus just sighed. Percy himself was leaning over the table, eyes trained directly on her.

"It should be," he answered her father, though his eyes never moved, "why are you here? Does Zeus think that flashing the faces of my old friends will stop me?"

"We were sent to try and prevent a war," Zoe told him with a frown.

"You can't prevent a war that's already begun," Percy countered, "New Rome is under siege as we speak. You two chose a poor time to depart."

The two Praetors stiffened immediately, and the girl looked ready to draw her sword.

"Of course, I use the term 'siege' loosely," Percy continued, uncaring about the potential threat, "we're letting supplies flow through, and I don't plan on attacking you. I just don't want you marching to aide Olympus."

"It is our duty to defend the gods," the female Praetor stated, "you used to understand that."

"I still understand it, Reyna," Percy said, "I just won't abide it anymore. Children shouldn't be fighting."

"And what if the legion attacks?" the male Praetor asked, "they won't appreciate an army surrounding them."

"Then I'll slaughter them all and raze New Rome to the ground," Percy replied with a shrug, "your people will be scattered to different camps and kept under guard until the war ends, at which point, I'll set them free. Don't take it personally, either, I have another army surrounding Camp Half-Blood. I'm isolating Olympus, after all."

"Why?" Zoe asked, "have they not ruled well these past millennia?"

"Well, they've certainly ruled," Percy retorted, "whether or not they've ruled well is another question. Zeus dropped a lightning bolt on Nico's family, hoping to kill them. Hades sent an army of monsters after Thalia, hoping to kill her. Even my father has tried and succeeded at killing several sons of Zeus. The gods are by no means innocent, even when compared to the rule of the Titans. It needs to end."

"If you resort to violence to obtain your goals, how are you any better, Percy?" Zoe asked, "you're just putting the Titans back in power."

"No, I'm not," Percy told her, "you haven't heard it, but the Olympians are wondering why Poseidon hasn't been showing up to any council meetings. They think I made Oceanus attack him. I haven't. My father has allied with me, as have several other gods. I don't want to replace the Olympians with the Titans. I want to replace those who abuse their positions."

"Neptune has betrayed Olympus?" Reyna asked in shock.

"Well can you blame him?" Pallas asked with a shrug, "Poseidon has always been seen as a lesser god by Zeus, despite being arguably more powerful. You Romans scorned him since you arrived, relegating him to a minor role. And then his favourite son was exiled. It doesn't paint a pretty picture of Olympus, does it?"

"That's not true!" Reyna protested, only to be interrupted by a laughing Percy.

"My father's 'temple' in New Rome was a shed with mouldy fruit in it," he told her, "the 'great' Roman Navy was an old rowboat. You've never respected Poseidon other than to fear his power. But my father isn't the only one. Oh, no, I've been planning this for quite some time. But enough of politics and war. You came to try and make peace. Out of respect to our friendship, I let you come. You've seen more than anyone else, but you're going to see even more. Apollo told you I'm a god?"

Zoe nodded slowly. Percy held his hand out and one of his men handed him a knife. He drew it along his forearm, which began to bleed… silver?

"Ichor is gold," Zoe said, eyes narrowed.

"Not mine," Percy replied, the wound sealing up, "I'm a new generation, Zoe, a new god. It's a cycle, you see. Every time a new generation appears, the previous one is overthrown. I'm just following the cycle. Lord Chaos informed me what's happened in the past ten years. I'm not letting Zeus stay in power."

"Lord… Chaos?" Zoe asked carefully, frowning, "do you not mean Lady Khaos?"

Now Percy did frown.

"No," he said, "Lord Chaos. Looks a bit like Lincoln?"

"Oh dear," a new voice, an unfamiliar voice, drawled, "it seems I've been found out."

The guards didn't so much as twitch. Zoe spun on her heel, and lo and behold, there was Abraham Lincoln, leaning against the wall, save for eyes that she recognised. Eyes that seemed to hold galaxies in them.

"Khaos, my dear sister, is as I am," the man stated, "we are one and the same."

As he spoke, his body morphed into the familiar body of Lady Khaos.

"Of course, when I'm in one place," she continued, "Chaos is in another. Percy, dear, how are you?"

"Slightly confused, but I think I understand what's going on," the immortal admitted, "people on the surface have seemed to have a decent idea of what I've been doing. Was that your work?"

"Oh, you clever boy," Khaos clapped, "I chose you well. I have been wondering something, however. You've yet to choose a location for your capital. Mount Orthys would suit your needs, of course, but you haven't even chosen to occupy it."

"My capital is occupied at the moment," Percy stated, "unfortunately, it's occupied by Zeus and his family."

Zoe blinked, and swallowed.

"Olympus?" Khaos asked in surprise, "oh, you are ambitious. I can see why so many ladies have fallen for you."

"I'm also quite charming," Percy added, "isn't that right Pallas."

"Most charming person I know, sir," the Titan responded with a smirk.

"Oh, I like you more and more Perseus," Khaos said, "Chaos never told me how witty you were!"

Percy just bowed his head, before turning back to Zoe and her group.

"This meeting is over," he told her, "tell Zeus there will be no peace. If he wants this war to end, he can surrender to me."

Zoe opened her mouth to respond, but Percy waved his hand, and suddenly, they all found themselves outside, half a mile from the walls.

"That was Percy, all right," the Satyr, Grover, stated, "divine, but Percy. Khaos was right. He's ambitious, but more than that, he's bitter."

"You didn't speak to him," Reyna stated, "how could you possibly know that?"

"Percy was my best friend for six years," Grover said, "we used to have an empathy link, before he was sent to Tartarus. Beyond that, I learned how to read Percy. Once you know his mannerisms, he's easy to read. Even as a god, it seems."

"That's a lesser point at the moment," the male Praetor stated, "we need to return to New Rome. I don't think we can break the siege, but we need to give our people hope."

"You're right Frank," Reyna stated, "I wish you all luck."

"And to you," Zoe stated, "I must report to Olympus."

Zoe shook both their hands, before sighing once she was alone. The campers were huddled around each, discussing Percy. Zeus wouldn't be happy with her report, especially not Poseidon's betrayal. Percy had been right, of course.

There would be war.