The scene around me had changed. It was my first time in Town Asclepius, also known as Town Augustus. I followed Hades to one of the largest buildings, which housed Apollo's Arrow's Legatus Legionis. I didn't know who the current leader was, but I knew that the leader wasn't Aaron Barbieri just yet. Apollo walked out in his 'I'm trying to look professional' clothes. Apollo wore a blue vest, with a white long sleeved undershirt, and black slacks. In his vest pocket was a pocket watch with a gold and silver chain that was supposed to represent himself and Artemis.
I hid behind Hades again feeling Apollo's energy. The overwhelming energy of continued death and centuries of prophecies washed over me. Apollo walked over and placed his hand on my head, and the energy cancelled out. I looked up at Apollo and saw that his eyes were glowing an emerald green, that and his hair was glowing gold.
"She's an Oracle, and a Daughter of Hades. That doesn't spell out a great life for her," Apollo said.
I wish I'd known what Apollo meant at the time. "I know Apollo, you need to change your title to God of The Obvious," Hades answered.
I stood there silently watching as Apollo and my father talked, I tuned it out for the most part for something else I noticed. In my reflection my eyes had turned green, I blinked my eyes a few times and my eye color went back to normal.
"Mary?" Apollo asked.
I tuned back in, "Yes?"
"It's a symptom of being an Oracle. If you use your powers, or get close to me, that will happen. That's why I changed my eye color," Apollo said through a bright smile.
I forgot that gods could also change their appearance. The difference between the mortals collectively changing a gods appearance, and a god doing, is the pain. When the mortals get a piece of information wrong, or rather change a piece of information, it changes on gods (and immortals as well). One example was Charon, he used to be dressed in armor from around Greece and now he wears a black cloak. In the writings mentioning Charon, his name was eventually replaced with the name The Grim Reaper.
I shied away again and hid behind Hades, "Ok."
"She's still a little shy, I can't imagine how all of this is effecting her. The sad thing is I have to be back in The Underworld soon," Hades said.
Apollo looked at me, "I can take her off your hands, Hades. I didn't have much planned anyway."
"Will Artemis say the same thing if I ask her?" Hades asked crossing his arms.
"Do you want someone who won't scare your daughter as bad as the others escorting her?" Apollo responded immediately.
Hades sighed deeply, "Fine, I'll be back soon Mary. Just follow Apollo, he'll lead you through the cities."
I blinked my eyes and came to in Town Fates, also called Town Fortuna, walking along the street. Groups of three guards in patrol form walked through the city, each of them wearing Roman armor and blue uniforms. It was Neptune's Blessed's turn to watch the demigod bank that resided in this town. Apollo walked ahead of me twirling a sunlight arrow in in his fingers.
"Mary? Do you know the Greek Adventurer motto?" Apollo asked.
"I will fight till my shield breaks, and my sword falls into the depths of Tartarus; until my armor cracks and my bones shatters; until no amount of ambrosia can help me. I will fight alongside my brothers and sisters in arms when required. The phrase, back to back, wall to wall, Olympus must never fall, is also used quite often," I answered.
"Very good! Do you know the legions mottos?" Apollo continued.
"Pluto's Guard's motto is, protect the dead as you would the living. Neptune's Blessed's motto is, cities rise and fall, while ours has done both." I answered again.
Apollo smiled, "My legion motto is, succeed where others have failed. My legion is the only legion that uses archery as it's main fighting style. The only other one I know is my sisters. The Huntress of Lady Diana, their motto is, fight in the dark or die in the light."
I knew all of the legion mottos now, but I never got Artemis'. My guess was that it was a reference to Artemis' connection to the moon, that and her reserve was a place of eternal night.
"By the way, you got the Olympian motto wrong kid," Apollo said walking forward.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The complete motto is different. Whether you're Roman or Greek we share the same banner. We bleed the blood of warriors, we carry the courage of wolves, and we carry the titles of our parents all the same. No matter the field of battle, no matter the opponent, we fight back to back and wall to wall for a common ideology, Olympus must NEVER fall. It was shortened later on, but it was originally written by Cristiano Moretti after he founded Town Alpha." Apollo explained.
Before the dream continued I woke back up in the arena. Echo sat in front of me with with some water, she waved and almost vanished. My brain was pounding against my skull, and it hurt to breathe. Every breath felt like I was inhaling a thousand degree air, I knew this feeling from one other experience. I was suffering from an ambrosia overdose, there's three stages to ambrosia overdosage. There was exhaustion, then there was fainting, and the the last, and fatal, stage was burning from the inside out.
I stood up slowly and heard a loud echoing voice that said, "IF YOU DON'T SIT DOWN NOW YOU'LL WISH THE AMBROSIA HAD KILLED YOU MARY LUCIA RILEY!"
I shuddered and covered my ears sitting down as demanded. I couldn't tell whose voice it was due to all of the echoing, but if I had to guess, it was probably Hecate.
"Where is everyone strange burning bush?" I asked keeping my ears covered.
"Compare me to my father and Vulcan again, and I'll complete what Dreamwalker started." A man said walking in.
I looked at him and recognized him from my hospital visits at school, it was Asclepius, he was the true God of Medicine. He walked with a staff that had one wooden snake wrapped around it, and he wore a United States combat medic uniform. Asclepius had blonde hair like his father, Apollo, followed by blue eyes from his mother Coronis. On his left hand was a blue latex glove. I knew why he wore that, but I couldn't quite remember at the time.
Asclepius knelt next to me and took out a canteen of water, "Here, this should help."
I slowly took the canteen and drank a bit of what was inside and almost threw up, "What is this shit!?"
"Watered down Ichor, it fixes you. The godly portion of your body recognizes the ichor, and knows it's purpose. It's a healing remedy that no god gives lightly, the amount you drank should be sufficient. You have the energy of The Styx on your shoulders, you have a healing factor that shouldn't be possible," Asclepius said standing up. "I'll be back soon, Lucia."
Asclepius walked away and I watched as he walked away, I looked around to see I was in a small bedroom. My senses came back to me, and I looked down to see that I was in a bed and my jacket was gone. I sat up straight and felt a sharp pain in my side, almost like someone had stabbed me with a serrated blade. It felt weird to hear my middle name, not even my father called me by that name. I sighed and laid my head back and held my hand over my side to feel another sharp pain in my chest.
"Hurts doesn't it? Well it can't hurt more than your insides burning from the inside out," a woman's voice said.
My heart froze, I looked up and saw Khaos in front of me, "How did you?"
"Get here? I'm the most powerful Titan in existence, a small magic barrier isn't gonna stop me. Or rather stop her, Khaos is….sleeping right now for lack of a better word. I keep forgetting I'm my own person sometimes if I'm being honest." Khaos said.
I stared blankly at her, "You mean…..Khaos isn't here."
"Sort of, now let's catch up…little sis," Kori Vlahos answered, sitting on the bed in front of me.