The Silver Ring (PJO)

Chapter 1

A/N-Hope you enjoy the story. Please star it if you like it, and have a good day! Feel free to leave suggestions.

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"Perseus," Chaos, the Creator of the Universe said seriously. "I'm sorry."

Normally, when the Creator himself personally appeared in one's dream, they usually had one of two typical reactions: dropping down to the floor in shock and reverence; or, my personal favorite—thinking he isn't the Creator.

The first was reaction was by the majority of people; humans and demigods alike would feel like they'd done something good in their past life, or they'd done something bad, and thought the Creator was punishing them personally.

The second reaction was by almost every single god. And I meant all of them. Since they're usually not challenged in power, they are very powerful—and very arrogant. At the starting, they don't believe Chaos, and make fun of him—but once they find out, they become a blubbering mess of self-pity.

I wasn't exactly normal, so I didn't fall into these categories.

"For what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Bugging me?"

Many people had told me that I was missing an important part of human instincts: the instinct of when to stop aggravating immortals. But since I'm still alive, I don't think it's that important in survival.

But I should probably back up and tell you why the Creator was in my dream.

First up, a bit of backstory. 

After Leo's failed attempt at sacrificing himself to kill Gaea, I got very mad, and my powers fed on that. For several minutes, my powers were almost on par with Gaea, and I used that time to kill her. Still, it was a pretty hard battle, with me at the end with multiple heavy injuries. I can't complain, though, since I got the job done.

It all started a month after the defeat of Gaea. The camps were repaired, and everything was back to normal. Well . . . as normal as it could be after a primordial attacked the camp, killing most of the campers. Everybody stopped worrying about a second back-up plan that Gaea might have made, and started to move on in the future. 

Leo had returned back to camp, and made all my regret about not stopping him disappear. Then, I began to sleep easy. But my definition of "easy" is probably a bit different from yours. I still had terrifying dreams of Tartarus, but it was better than the guilt of letting a friend die. 

Suddenly one night, Chaos came into my dream. It was pretty shocking, but I still had enough gall to try and provoke him. Then, to my surprise, Chaos didn't get mad at me. Instead, he laughed along with me. There, a friendship bloomed. (Or at least, Chaos just wanted to annoy me.) After that, he started visiting me every night, stopping my bad dreams.

Although, I can't decide whether meeting Chaos is worse than dreams of Tartarus. Seriously.

You might think there's something wrong with me, because I'm not honored to meet him. You might think I'm a spoiled kid who's bitter about not being the most powerful. But I'm not. Before I learned I was a demigod, I was raised by my step-father and my mother.

Well . . . actually just by my mother. My step-father—Smelly Gabe—used to mug me for money whenever I came home from school. And get this: he used it for more beer.

In short, my childhood, wasn't exactly in the storybooks. The only good thing was my mother.

 But if you met Chaos, you would be so frustrated that you would probably rip your hair out.

I'm not joking. Plenty of people think Chaos is serious, imposing, and wise—but he's none of that. Sure, at the start, it might seem that way, but very quickly you can catch on that he's biting his lip to contain his laughter.

And when you heard the bad news of him considering you as a friend . . . he doesn't even try to hide his mischief. 

Instead, he acts more like a kindergartner all hopped up on ice cream. And that's why I could predict his reaction to my remark.

Chaos' serious facade cracked, and he scowled playfully. "Hey! That's pretty mean."

"I don't care," I said, dragging a hand across my face. "Just tell me what you want, then let me go back to sleep.

Chaos gave me a quizzical glance. "You are sleeping. I'm just talking to your mind, in your dream."

"Well then," I said. "Stop talking to me."

Chaos gasped in mock hurt. I considered calling him "Drama Queen," but that was already taken by the Thunderbolt Maniac named Zeus. "But I have to tell you something—"

"Tell me tomorrow."

"You have to know today! Before you wake up."

"Fine, fine," I said, relenting. "Just make it quick."

Chaos flashed a childish smile at me, which looked weird on his twenty-five-year-old body. With his full black getup, it looked more nefarious than mischievous. It was like forcing an ape to stand straight. "I'll try."

"Good."

Chaos went back to being serious. It was pretty rare, so I paid attention; the only other time he looked serious was two minutes ago. "I can't tell you much—"

"Let me guess," I said, cutting him off. "There's going to be a battle."

Chaos looked surprised. "Perhaps," he admitted.

"I knew it!" I crowed, but then frowned, realizing that there was nothing to be happy about. "I'm done with all the heroics and losing people. It's time for other demigods to take my place."

Chaos laughed. "Don't tell me you want to retire. I can proudly admit, you've fought more than any other hero, and I owe you an unplayable debt of gratitude, but you're still a young adult . . ."

"Unlike you?"

"Perhaps," Chaos admitted. "As I was saying, there might be a war, but this one's different."

"How so?" I asked, curious, but scared for the answer.

Chaos locked eyes with me. There were many emotions swirling inside his void-like eyes. "You have a chance of ending it before it starts."