Eternalia was just as beautiful as Percy remembered, only this time, it was packed full of people.
"Welcome to our capital," Athena said. She told him about the Pures, and explained the tribunal process. Percy tuned that out, since Annabeth had already told him everything.
"Why did Mars want us to go to Atlantis?" Percy asked. "Wait. Atlantis is real?"
Athena nodded. "The Ancients engineered the catastrophe. How else would humans think we sunk? It's accessed from an island, since light doesn't reach it. I won't feel comfortable bringing you under the ocean until you're much better trained."
Percy inwardly sighed and occupied himself by studying the embroidery on the long blue tunic Athena had given him. She'd also loaned him black pants with pockets at the ankles (so he didn't have to sit on the stuff he carried, she'd explained), and black boots. No sign of tights or pointy shoes, thankfully.
It was even stranger seeing Annabeth in elvin clothes: a white and gray dress, silver heels, and a bejeweled comb with a design of an owl in flight. She'd explained that it was a sign of status for a girl to wear a gown, and pretty much a requirement in noble cities like Eternalia.
"Hey, Athena," he said after a few seconds. "Are you, by any chance, related to the myth of the goddess Athena?"
Athena had an uncharacteristically wide smile as she gestured to her ears. "I was born during the rise of Minoan civilization, a few hundred years before the humans betrayed us. I became one of the few elves with clearance to visit the Forbidden Cities. I suppose the legends portraying me as a goddess of wisdom and crafts came from my habits of dispensing wisdom to the humans - though I am unsure of where the war part came from. We were given direct orders to stay out of human conflict."
Percy was too stuck on something she'd said earlier to process the rest of that. "Minoan civilization? That means you're..." he started counting on his fingers.
"Roughly five thousand years old, though I have long since lost count of my exact age."
His jaw dropped. He glanced at Annabeth. "How old are you?"
"Twelve."
"So you were just standing around for...four thousand, nine hundred and eighty five years?"
Athena scoffed. "By the stars above, no. I don't just 'stand around.' I served on the council before I stepped down to marry Annabeth's father."
"Huh," Percy said. He hadn't really thought of Athena as the marriage type, though by logic, Annabeth had to have a father. "Who's your husband?"
Athena stiffened. "That is irrelevant. And anyway, we should be going rather than answering questions about my personal life."
Percy made a mental note to ask more questions about her personal life later.
One thing for sure was that walking around in a city was very different from seeing it from afar. The buildings were even sparklier up close, for one. The buildings were built from crystal, with flat walls and sloped roofs. Annabeth remarked at some point that the architecture of East Asia must have been inspired by Eternalia.
Elves wandered the shops, looking young and composed. The men wore heavy velvet capes, like they belonged at a Renaissance fair, and some of the women's gowns shifted color as they moved. Signs advertised two-for-one specials on bottled lightning or fast approval on Spyball applications. A child strolled past with some sort of hybrid chicken-lizard on a leash. No wonder humans invented such crazy myths after the elves disappeared.
Elegant carriages drawn by creatures that looked like a hybrid between a lion, a horse, and a lizard traveled gold paved roads.
"What are those?" he asked the fourth time a carriage passed by, nodding to the lion-horse-lizards.
"Qilins," Annabeth said. "They draw the Eternalia carriages."
They reached the main road and Athena hailed one of the carriages, which looked like a golden chariot, with two rows of high-backed benches. A driver in an elbow-length orange cape steered from the front bench, drawing the reins of one of the qilins.
"Come on in," Athena said. "Nike won't appreciate waiting. It's time to find out what's in that impenetrable mind of yours."
YOU ARE READING
Project Percy (Kotlc Meets Percy Jackson)
Fanfiction12 year old Percy Jackson has a secret. He's a Hydrokinetic, someone who can control water - something that he's never spoken about, and has made him an outcast, even to his own family. But everything changes the day he meets Annabeth Chase, a myste...
