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Iapetus and Rhea were grinning at me, probably waiting for my reaction.

"Kronos?" I said slightly hesitant. I wasn't sure if I believed them or not. It would explain a lot of things but if my mythology was correct Kronos was, and has been, in Tartarus for like, a bazillion years or something.

"Yes Kronos. If you don't believe me you may want to look above your head."

I looked up and saw a floating, glowing, hologram of an hourglass and a scythe. I guess that settles it, I thought resignedly. I was happy that I had been claimed, but I wasn't sure if I was happy to be claimed by a supposedly evil parent who you would never meet because he was suck in hell forever.

'Wait," I said as an odd idea entered my head. "If Kronos is in Tartarus, how did he become my father?"

Rhea looked confused by my question. "What do you mean?" She asked

"Kronos is in Tartarus, so how was I born if he couldn't ever meet my mother? And if I was born in Tartarus, how did I get up here?" I asked.

"Well who said you had a mother? A titan as powerful as Kronos could make a child without a female partner. He could've made you from energy, which is most likely how you were born. And if somehow you were born in Tartarus, which is highly improbable, he could simply teleport you up here." Iapetus said.

I felt upset that I was born so weirdly, if you could consider being made from the energy of a male titan being born and not created. "So I'm either not a real person, or I am a person born in the Greek version of hell?"

"Or both" Iapetus said excitedly before receiving a glare from Rhea.

"You are a real person, just not born the usual way. Don't think that you are not human, or demititan." Rhea said.

Her words comforted me, but only slightly. She did bring up another good point though. "How am I a demititan if Kronos made me from energy. Why didn't he make me a full titan? And would I still be considered a titan because all of my parents were titans." I was about to rattle off more questions but Rhea held up a hand, signaling for me to stop.

"You are a demititan and that's probably because though Kronos has been storing energy, he doesn't have a lot. So instead of making you a full titan he made you a demititan because it would use up less energy to create a demititan." Rhea said.

"Oh."

Rhea spoke again. "Now we need to discuss something much more important; your training."

"Training?" I questioned.

"Yes training. Did you think that we would get armor and weapons and not train?" Rhea said raising one eyebrow.

"I suppose that when you say it like that I seem rather idiotic." I said embarrassed.

"Yes. I will be in charge of your studies about mythology and Iapetus will teach every method of fighting that you may need. Any questions?" Rhea said.

"Yes. Who will teach me how to use my fire powers and the time control abilities that I apparently have."

Iapetus looked surprised, as if he'd never thought of that. "We don't know anyone that can help you with your time control and Hyperion is the only one that can teach you about your Pyrokinesis, but I don't think it would be safe for you to spend too much time with him."

"Don't worry, we'll come up with something eventually." I said it what I thought was a reassuring tone.

Iapetus nodded, still looking distracted.

"We will start tomorrow, you have the day to do whatever you like." Rhea said, before she flashed away.

Iapetus mumbled a goodbye before he also flashed away, leaving me alone in the arena. I walked out of the destroyed building wondering what I could do.

I wondered aimlessly for a bit before I came to a small road with a small table set up. I looked more closely and noticed that two men sat on the table across from each other and I recognized one of them as Koios. The other person was blurry and indistinct. I started to walk in their direction and the closer I came the more I could see of the second person. When I was about fifteen feet away from the table I finally got a good look at the second man and I realized that it Koios. What? I blinked my eyes wondering what in the world I was seeing. I clearly saw two of the exact same person sitting at a table and playing some kind of game involving little blocks of wood. As I got closer both Koios' looked at me and I was confused by the fact that there were two of the same person.

"Hello Percy." One of the Koios' said. The other repeated exactly what he had said and what they did was so similar it was almost like someone had reversed time a few seconds.

"Huh? Why are there two of you?" I said thoroughly confused.

Koios, or rather both Koios', smirked at me as if they were amused at my confusion. "Well one of me is just another of me that I made so that I could have someone of equal intelligence to play in a game of runes."

It took me a few seconds to actually understand what he had said. "So one of you is fake?" I asked.

"Yes." The Koios farther from me said before he swiped his hand through the other Koios. He evaporated into the air leaving no trace that there was ever anything there.

"Care to join me for a game of runes Percy?" The remaining and I am assuming real, Koios asked me.

I had never even heard of a game called runes before, but I had a full day with nothing to do and this was as good a way as any to pass time. I nodded before I took a seat in the chair that the mist Koios had been in.

"How do you play this game?" I asked once I sat down.

"What." Koios said in a surprised voice. "I can't believe this. Everybody should know how to play runes. Here, I will teach you how to play the game you should've learned long ago." He started explaining the game to me and it was slightly hard to understand at points, but I got the general gist of the game.

"Now, lets see what you can do." Koios said before distributing the pieces.

Thirty minutes of this game had shown that I was worse than bad at runes. Koios had won four out of four games over that time when he told me that the average game lasted at least half an hour and almost always more. Then again, the average game isn't usually played between a little kid that hasn't received a good education and an immortal being thousands of years old that specializes in intelligence.

We played three more games and I still sucked. The fourth game lasted an astounding fifteen minutes, but I got the feeling that Koios went easy on me that game. We kept playing and after a while I completely lost track of time. It wasn't till Rhea came and told us it was time for lunch that I realized that we had been playing for almost three hours.

We were walking to the dining hall and Rhea and me were talking. Koios had just disappeared when Rhea interrupted us, but not before flashing me a smile.

"So, I see you have been introduced to the game of runes." Rhea said.

"Yeah, it's pretty hard. I'm terrible at it right now, but I guess that's because I just started playing it."

"Don't underestimate yourself." Rhea said in a stern, yet oddly comforting voice. "I doubt there are many eight year olds that could play Koios in a game of runes and last more than ten minutes."

"Because you know so many eight year olds. You must have a pretty good idea what the average skill level of and eight year old is." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, great. Koios is already starting to rub off on you. I fear that it may be too late to save you." Rhea said in an over dramatic voice that made it sound like it was the end of the world. I just smiled and kept on walking.

When we reached the dining hall everyone else was already seated and eating. I sat in the same place that I did last time and reached for a piece of bread. Everyone made idle chatter when Rhea said something that caught my attention.

"I assume that you will leave today Oceanus?" She said in a very matter of fact tone.

I looked up startled. "Leave?" Why would he leave?" I asked.

"Because he's a coward." Said a voice that I had come to hate in a very short amount of time.

The other titans looked ready to defend him but Oceanus didn't need nor want their help. "Listen you half-wit, just because you are not sensible enough to hide or take some course of action that would prevent you from being captured or killed does not mean that the rest of us have to do the same. I, for one, will not live in the open where I could easily be attacked by anybody that recognizes me. If you wish to do so, then do so in peace instead of attacking the rest of us because we are smarter than you and have the sense to hide." Oceanus was red in the face by the end of his speech and I guessed that he had to deal with a lot of crap from Hyperion.

Hyperion also looked he was ready to kill. He shot out of his seat and launched a fist at Oceanus, who dodged it. Oceanus raised his own hand and prepared to strike, but Iapetus grabbed his wrist and held his arm back. He and Oceanus spoke in whispers for a few seconds, and you could tell that Oceanus was still furious. Their argument dragged on and Hyperion was still standing a few feet away looking angry yet rather smug for producing this kind of violent reaction out of Oceanus.

Oceanus finally conceded and sat down. Hyperion and Iapetus also sat down and the meal continued normally, except for the fact that there was so much anger and tension in the air you could almost feel it.

After Rhea nodded her head at Iapetus in a gesture of thanks, she continued saying what she was before she was interrupted. "So you will leave today?" She asked once again.

Oceanus nodded. "I plan to head out after dinner and return to the ocean. Tethys should be waiting for me."

"Will you tell us your location, in case we need to help you or vice versa?" Rhea asked.

"I will tell you but I ask that you do not disclose the information with anyone else, even the other titans here." Oceanus responded.

"Very well." Rhea said.

Lunch was soon over and I was not sure what to do. I could've played more runes but frankly, I was sick of being crushed in that game. I didn't know what people did for fun around here. I mean there was nothing that I had seen that could have been entertaining in any way whatsoever. The favored pastime here seemed to be playing cards against yourself and taking naked swims in the magically heated lake. Although, as strange as that sounds, it's not so weird when you consider the fast that the people who do these things have lived thousands of years in solitude. It's really kind of sad when you think about it, albeit, the titans kind of had this coming considering that Kronos, oh sorry, my father, ate his children so that they wouldn't overthrow him, which ironically was the reason that they overthrew him.

I supposed that since I was going to live here I might as well go sightseeing and at the same time figure out where everything was. I really only knew where the armory, dining hall, and my bedroom was.

I started walking in the only direction that I hadn't ventured even the slightest bit. The farther I walked the more I realized why I had never needed to go here, even though I had already done quite a few things for my short time being here. I looked around at the large desolate piles of rubble and felt a sudden chill creep up my spine. It was an assortment of sadness that this place had been destroyed, which was odd considering that I had only been here thirty-six hours, loneliness, and oddly fear. It was an odd experience; living with Gabe had hardened me beyond the average full-grown man, and to a point that it was almost inhuman for an eight year old, yet the fear was comforting for a reason I knew not. It brought me a solace that I had not felt in years.

I continued walking until I came upon a rather horrifying scene. A large scorch mark was on the ground, and it looked as if a hundred lightning bolts had hit the ground simultaneously. While that was a cause for fright by itself, the thing that really disturbed me was the body that seemed to have been grafted into the cold obsidian floor. It had been charred and mangled to the point that it was hard to tell if it was human or not, and if it was, there was absolutely no way that I the body could have ever been identified.

I quickly backed away from the horrible sight. I felt sick, but soon I was walking back to the main forum. I reached the forum and was still unsure of what to do to pass the copious amounts of time that I seemed to have. I decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask one of the titans if there was anything even remotely fun here. Of course, there was the slight inconvenience that I had absolutely no idea where any of the titans were.

I had an idea for where Iapetus was, but all the other titans' location was unknown to me. I knew that Oceanus was going to be in his bedroom, probably preparing for his departure to the ocean later today. The only problem was that I had no idea where any of the titans slept. If you think about it, I probably should figure out where they slept; if I needed their help with anything, I would need to know where they would be, but how could I do that without the knowledge of where everything was.

I figured that I might as well go and see if Iapetus was where I thought he was.

I started walking towards him, looking into my memory to find the path that I knew would lead me to where I believed him to be. I walked into the familiar clearing with a tent in the middle. I walked inside and sure enough Iapetus was sitting at a grindstone, sharpening a sick looking weapon. It had a bone handle and a dark red blade. There was a large red ruby attached to the hilt of the deadly looking weapon, yet I could not see the purpose of that.

I remembered Rhea mentioning that I would be getting a smaller, lighter, and quicker dagger, and I wondered if this was it. I wouldn't mind having a weapon like that.

Iapetus was so focused on his task that he didn't notice me until I spoke. "Hello." I said from behind him. He turned quickly, obviously expecting danger. I smirked and gave him a small wave.

"Ah, Perseus, what can I do for you this fine afternoon." He said, waving arm horizontally as if to show me just how fine this afternoon was.

"Well Iapetus, I was wondering if there was anything around here that I could do for fun. Life seems pretty dull around here when it's not filled with training or tours."

Iapetus gave a hearty laugh that frankly was just way over the top. I don't even know what was so funny.

"Trust me. This place may seem dull and boring at first, but you are yet to uncover the secrets that this place holds that can entertain one for a millennia."

"Whatever you say. Just tell me what I can do for fun." I demanded.

"Why not get to know the rest of us. You will be spending the next few years, and possibly longer, here so I think it would be best if you got to know us. However don't go near Hyperion. He's become a bit nasty over the years." Iapetus suggested. I thought it over a bit before nodding. I suppose it would be good to know everyone. I only got the brief introduction yesterday.

"Ok. Thanks Iapetus." I said as I walked out of the tent and realized I still didn't know where everyone else was. I hadn't seen any of them at all except for when they searched for me and during the meals. I supposed I could just go back to my room and just do whatever I could find.

I headed back towards the forum again and found the building that had my sleeping quarters. I walked into my room and shut the door behind me. I sat down on my bed and sighed through my nose. "I'm so bored." I mumbled under my breath. I leaned back and just lay there, staring at the ceiling.

I felt my eyes start to droop, and forced them back open. They started to droop again almost immediately and I gave up and let sleep overcome me.

I was transported to a pitch-black throne room, with lots of golden ornaments. There was a single throne in the center of the room, and sitting upon it was the most hideous person I had ever seen. He had large, horrible looking wounds covering him all over, and scars where I guessed there used to be even more wounds. He was wearing fine golden robes, as if to make up the hideousness with royal, fancy clothes. He had a black crown on and it had multiple various colored gems, and gold, surprisingly enough. He had shoulder length black hair and a beard of the same color that reached about mid chest. He didn't look particularly strong, but I had a feeling that this guy could have torn me apart barehanded.

He sat there on his throne and looking smug, staring at me with an intensity that made me cringe on the inside. I tried to maintain the appearance of being fearless but I was pretty sure I ended up looking like a nervous wreck.

"It is good to see you my boy." The man spoke and unsurprisingly, he had a raspy voice that was filled with power, and authority, but it was so evil and undeniably malicious that it sent shivers down my spine

"And who are you?" I asked. I had a suspicion of who it was, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to be correct, though I was near positive that this was who I thought he was.

"Your suspicions are correct, for I am Kronos, King of the Titans." The man on the throne said with a cruel smile.

"And why are you visiting me father." I asked and though I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice, it managed to seep its way in. Why should he visit me now, when I could've used his help while living in hell the past eight years?

He gave a humorless, bone-chilling chuckle. "Good. Your anger is good. It will give you purpose, and fuel." Somehow this made me even angrier.

"You never answered my question."

"Well, I thought I might check up and see how my only son is doing. I must say I am rather disappointed. I put you in that orphanage to get rid of your emotions, not make them even more potent." I got the feeling he was taunting me, trying to make me lose control of my emotion. It was a difficult task to keep them in check knowing that he purposely put me in that orphanage and hoped it would better me.

He seemed slightly disappointed that I didn't lose control. If he was going to break me he would need to put a lot more effort into it.

"Anyway, did Hyperion bless you?"

"Yes." I said and I remembered the pain his so-called blessing brought. Though the Pyrokinesis was cool, I had no idea how to use it and if it got out of control I could end up hurting someone that I cared about, though there were very few of those. I felt a flash of anger towards my father, and I got the feeling that this would not be the last time I felt that.

"Good. He always has followed orders well. Though that's probably because he's a coward, and sneaky little bitch." The surge of anger I was feeling was a constant now, but it was only reinforced with his comment. Even though I practically hated Hyperion, his dislike for his own brother and servant annoyed me.

"Anyway," He continued, "I'm done with you, see you next time, if you're alive." He flashed out of the throne and the room dissolved into darkness.

When I next opened my eyes it was still dark out. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only four thirty in the morning. I tried going back to sleep, but quickly discovered that my body was not going to. I felt a small rumble, and it wasn't till I heard it again that I realized that it was my stomach.

I slowly sat up, my limbs still slightly unresponsive. I reached my arms up and stretched them out. I slipped out of bed and shuffled down the hallway. I was walking down the hall when I noticed a door slightly ajar in the other hallway. I slowly walked down the hall, making as little noise as possible. I peeked through the tiny opening and saw Koios and Phoebe sitting on a black bed. Both of them had their backs to me and I noticed that Koios' bare back was covered in deep scars. They looked small, but I knew they only looked like that because of the fact that the average titan was twelve feet and Koios was a little tall for a titan. The smallest of the scars was probably six inches long.

"I still have nightmares about it. And sometimes I let the memories overwhelm me, and madness takes over my body." Koios said softly. It took a small amount of effort and absolute silence on my part to hear him.

"That's understandable. After all, you broke out of Tartarus where you were tortured for thousands of years for fighting for your family, and then when you escaped, Cerberus attacked you, leaving you with scars." (He didn't succeed in escaping in the myths) Phoebe said in a comforting voice and I got the impression that they were a bit more than friends.

"I don't know why you aren't repulsed by my scars."

"It's because I love you." Phoebe said. I knew I was intruding big time, but this was quite interesting.

"And you do know that Perseus is listening at the door, right?" Koios asked and I froze on the spot, not making a sound and wondering how they knew I was here.

"Of course I know." Phoebe said.

"And do you think Perseus should stop listening to our private conversation?" Koios asked the anger in his voice easily detected. I took the hint and back away from the door, both because I knew that I was invading their privacy, and because I had no wish to incur Koios' wrath.

As I was backing away I caught something Phoebe said. "Do you think he realized that you were just faking being angry with him and just messing with him?"

I reached the dining around five and when I walked in I saw Rhea sitting at the table staring blankly at a cup that was sitting on the table in front of her. I waked over and sat to her right. She continued staring at her drink with absolutely no reaction to my presence. I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. She did not jump in surprise like I had thought she would; instead she just calmly turned towards me.

"Good morning Perseus. How did you sleep?" Rhea asked in a soft voice.

"I slept fine, what's for breakfast." I knew that that was rude, but I was starving.

"How polite. We will have to work on your manners, but for now you can have a nice breakfast of bread and coffee." '

My jaw lowered slightly and an eyebrow crept up my forehead. "That is it. Just bread and coffee." I asked disappointedly.

"That is what you will have for breakfast here. And if I were you, I would skip breakfast today. It would be pointless to eat it and then lose it just an hour later." Rhea said candidly.

My sleep addled brain had to register what she had said for a few seconds before I understood. I had completely forgotten about the fact that I was supposed to start learning how to fight today. Considering the fact that Rhea thought that my training was going to be brutal enough that I shouldn't have breakfast, the anxiousness that I had felt earlier to learn to defend myself had diminished greatly.

I took Rhea's advice and did not have anything for breakfast except for some water to rehydrate myself.

I walked outside and was struck by how beautiful the land looked. Even though I was on the top of a mountain that had been sheared off and everything was in ruins, the rising sun set a golden glow on the crumbled city and the small amount of morning fog, created a sight that would most definitely leave a memory with me.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Rhea's soft voice whispered to me. "If only you could've seen this place before its destruction. The sun was a nice comparison to the deep black rock that Kronos favored." She paused, as if wondering whether or not she should continue. "May I show you something? I think that you will appreciate it more than the other fools here ever could."

I nodded, feeling like my usually loud, excited voice would somehow ruin the scene. Rhea put a hand on my shoulder and a strange feeling erupted in my stomach as we teleported away.

We ended up on a tower, overlooking the lake and forest far below Mt. Othrys. I hadn't seen this tower from the ground, but I could still see some of the other buildings I had visited, so I was confused as to where this building was. I looked over at the lake and gave a small gasp at what I saw. The lake where I had bathed was easily visible, and compared to the bustling city of New York that I was used to, the lush forest surrounding a peaceful lake was beautiful.

"This area has been restricted to everyone but me and now you." Rhea said, her voice calm, soothing, and so quiet it was hard to hear.

I was confused as to why I would be allowed to go to a place that no one else but Rhea had been for who knows how long, but I didn't question it.

I watched as the sun rose into the sky, filling the world with it's bright light. I felt that odd feeling once again as Rhea teleported us to right outside of the dining hall. I didn't know the time but considering how long Rhea and I had been watching the sun I assumed it was around six in the morning. Iapetus walked out of the dining hall and almost walked straight into Rhea. After a mumbled apology he turned to me.

"I hope your ready for your training." He said with a grin that made me apprehensive about what I assumed would be some moderate training. It seems like my assumption was off by a mile on how light this would be.

"Anyways, follow me." Iapetus lead me what I presumed was the training ground. It took quite a while to get there actually, almost two hours. However Iapetus cleared up why it was so far away by telling me that I would be running from the dining hall to the training ground each morning, both to build up stamina, and to get me in the best shape possible.

The training area was impressive. It was and extremely large clearing with grass instead of the black stone floors that I had been getting used to. A large arena cast a shadow on the grass, and I noticed that not only was the stone the arena was made out of clean of the deteriorated, dusty appearance that all the other buildings had, but it was also completely intact, which made it almost sure that this building had been built after the Titan War. A long field off to the side had targets on one side, so I guessed that it was for practicing with a bow. There was also a smaller armory where I could see a large assortment of weapons. Off to the far left of the area I could see an obstacle course, a set off weights, and other things that would increase my strength, speed and endurance.

Iapetus walked over to the large arena and pushed open the tall door with. I walked in after him and noticed that certain parts were sectioned off and judging from the items in these areas, each one was specialized for training with a certain weapon. But there was also one main area that was just a large circular pit filled with dirt made for all types of fighting.

"So am I going to fight you?" I asked

Iapetus gave me a quick look of surprise. "Goodness no!" He exclaimed, "In case you have forgotten already, I am thousands of years old and would be able to defeat you so quick you would never learn. You will be training against VE's or Visualized Enemies. I will conjure them up and though they will only be in your mind, and only you can see them, they still have a mind of their own and are able to make decisions. I will make them get better at fighting as you progress along with them, and maybe one day you can fight me for real."

We then made our way over to the main fighting pit and Iapetus showed me some of the more basic moves before conjuring up some enemies.

Five hours later I was sitting up against a wall in the arena, sipping water. I had spent five hours fighting and training and though I got a break for lunch and a few other times. I was still ready to fall asleep right there.

Rhea waked in the arena and over to me. "Hello Perseus. I assume your training went well."

It had, though it certainly not gone like I had expected it to. Iapetus had conjured enemies and I fought them, but when they hit me I felt the pain and saw the wounds, even thought the enemies and weapons weren't real and as soon as the being disappeared, my wounds faded with them. It was a rather odd experience overall, but not a bad one.

I realized Rhea was still waiting for and answer and nodded, too tired to get out a full sentence.

"Good because now it's time to learn something worthwhile instead of how to bash someone's skull in." Rhea said. She motioned with her hand for me to follow her and I grudgingly got up and went after her.

We walked for about fifteen minutes, and my legs ached the whole time, but I forced myself not to complain. I saw Rhea give me a look sometimes, but could not figure it out. We arrived at a small building and I walked inside to find to find that it was just a hallway of sorts that twisted into a square and led to a courtyard. I saw a chair and sat down in it.

"Here is where you will learn Greek mythology, battle tactics, and how to stay awake for long periods of time, even if you are tired as hell." I got the feeling Rhea wasn't joking about that last part. I slouched in my chair and waited for the torture to end.

AN: Sorry for the long wait. I tried to improve my writing this chapter. So tell me how I did in that regard, and also how you like the story, all opinions will be accepted with thanks. Bye