The Dying of the Light

Chapter 1

The Giant War was finally over. But at what cost?

Percy could still hear their screams, ringing through his head as clear as the day they had been torn from his friend's throats. He could still smell the iron that hung in the air from all of the blood. He could still feel his heart beating its desperate and adrenaline fuelled rhythm as monsters howled in delight all around him. And the smell of singed hair still wafted into his nose after the scathing heat of the explosion that finally ended all the suffering.

Leo was gone. Countless others had fallen. And though they had won the war, their victory felt hollow.

The gods had allowed them time: to mourn, to rebuild, and to pick up the pieces of their broken hearts and minds. But eventually, a council meeting was called, and their presence was requested.

'It was a rewards ceremony', they had told he and his friends. Percy nearly scoffed at the thought. Where were the rewards for all of the others? All the campers and legionnaires and fellow brothers and sisters in arms that had laboured and died right alongside them? Why were they not being recognised?

Bitterness twisted his heart. A darkness and savageness that he had always had to rein back had been set loose in the pit, and if Percy was being honest with himself, he saw no reason to hide it away any longer. It was who he was. Not the goofy laid-back boy that he always pretended to be, but the war-torn, broken man who had had the fate of the world placed on his shoulders since the mere age of 12. He could not, and would not hide from that anymore.

Which led him to now, standing in front of a council of beings who towered over him without even a spark of fear in his eyes at all. He gripped the hand of Annabeth, beside him, tightly, as though she were the only thing still tying him to this world. Which, in a way, she was. His mother and Paul had passed, killed in a car accident while he was away fighting. All he could think about when he heard the news was the fact that he couldn't remember whether or not he had said that he loved his mother before going to sleep the night he was whisked away.

"Rise, heroes", a loud voice boomed, shaking him out of his thoughts.

The seven friends around him all stood from the kneeling position they had lowered themselves into upon the arrival of the King of the Gods. Percy had not moved. Instead staring his uncle right in the eyes, daring him to challenge him. Thunder boomed, and the god's eyes flashed with lightning in his anger at the blatant disrespect, but he did nothing more than that.

Zeus looked away first. "You have been called before the council to receive your rewards for your heroic deeds in the Second Gigantomachy".

Looking around the large room, Percy could see that all the gods were present for this particular council meeting. Per his request at the end of the last war, dozens of smaller thrones now encircled the main twelve thrones of the 12 Olympians for the minor gods. Today, every last one of them were filled. Even Hades was present, standing off to the side in a shadowed corner.

"Nico Di Angelo and Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano please step forward".

As they followed the orders of the gods, Percy noticed how close the two seemed. Reyna had a protective arm around his cousin's shoulders, and for once, Nico didn't seem to mind it being there.

"For your achievement in retrieving the Athena Parthenos and delivering it to Half-Blood Hill to unite the two camps, we offer you both immortality".

Both of their eyes grew wide at the prospect, and Reyna stepped forward almost immediately.

"I graciously accept your offer, my lord. I wish to stay in New Rome, not as praetor, but as its protector and guide until the day the Fates decree the end of my life". Sitting in one of the thrones for the minor gods, Enyo, twin sister of Ares and Greek aspect of Reyna's mother Bellona, practically glowed with pride.