Vita Mortis

Chapter 40

This chapter is dedicated to @abearden2028

I hope I made you proud, I speedran this chapter and made it long af just for you ❤️❤️

~NICO~

I kid you not, as soon as I woke up, I was immediately told that there was an Olympian council meeting to discuss the upcoming war in, like, ten minutes, and both the camps had to be there. Like, what? At least give us a little bit of notice. Some of us actually have lives, you know? I quickly dressed in my ambassador of Pluto clothes, all black jeans and a button-down with a cloak and hood, seeing as I was there to stand alongside my father.

Unlike other meetings, this one had been called for by Lady Hestia, who felt we needed to discuss our actual plans for the world now that we'd gotten rid of the spies. Instead of the gods sitting in their thrones, towering over us and making us look puny, she'd convinced everyone to have a discussion over a home-cooked meal, like a 'civilized family.'

When I walked through the doors to Olympus, I was shocked by how much Hestia had planned for this. She had a long dining table in the front with fourteen seats, presumably for the fourteen gods attending, and multiple circular dinner tables around them, with nameplates for all the demigods and hunters attending from both camps.

I found my nameplate on a table, along with Piper, Jason, Leo, Calypso, Reyna, Frank, and Hazel, but I couldn't find Percy's anywhere. He was coming, right?

I took my seat, noticing that all of our plates were already loaded with our favorite foods, waiting for the everyone else to fill in. Still no Percy. No gods either, for that matter. The entire front dining table was empty.

As soon as all the demigods were seated, there was a booming noise. Zeus' voice rang out, "close your eyes, children." We complied, and when we looked, the gods were there. But no Poseidon. And no Percy. I surveyed the gods sitting at the table, and did a double take when I saw Seph. With a pang, I realized it was really Aphrodite. Seph was dead, and I never got to tell her how much I loved her.

"Hello demigods," Hestia addressed us. "You might be wondering why you're here. You might not. You're here for a discussion about our plans for the war. All cards on the table, now that we have eliminated any spies and traitors," she explained.

At that moment, The doors opened, and Declan, in full Atlantean armor, stepped through. He stepped to the side and announced, "Welcoming King Triton of Tritonis and King Perseus of Atlantis now."

The doors opened abruptly. This time, revealing Percy and Triton side by side. Percy's foot was out; he'd kicked the door open. His eyes never left his phone, and Triton's never left the small pack of papers in his hand. Demigods gasped. Murmurs were heard, wondering why Percy and Triton were referred to as King.

Percy was wearing some weird scaly pants and no shirt, and he had his trident in his other hand. He was shirtless, showcasing tattoos, scars, and massive black wings, which were outstretched behind Triton. And he had his Atlantean crown. Triton was dressed in similar pants and no shirt, with a corresponding trident and crown. They made their way to the head of the table, never looking up. Triton took Poseidon's empty seat, and Percy formed a chair out of ice, sitting beside him. Aidan followed them, standing behind the two kings and maintaining a defensive position with his hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

Finally, Percy looked up from his phone to see all of us staring at him. Triton's eyes stayed on his stack of papers, flipping through the pages. "Hi," Percy started. "Our father isn't going to be able to be here because there's a huge meeting undersea that he has to attend, so we're here in his absence."

Zeus cleared his throat. "Right. So, first thing on the agenda is to discuss the fact that Poseidon decided to keep his kingdoms a secret."

Triton looked up from his papers and smirked at his uncle. "That's because you never asked. We only ever intended for it to be kept a secret from the mortals, after how they treated us when they found out the first time," he said. "I trust you will keep this secret," he glared at us with the true power of a god. A few demigods even whimpered.

"But wouldn't this be a topic that I wouldn't need to ask for to find out about?" Zeus prodded more. "As the king of the gods, I should know my assets."

"Oh please, uncle," Percy scoffed. "You and I both know the only reason you would have wanted to know is because you don't like the idea of others having that much power. You know, I think it's fair. You're the king of gods, Hades is the king of all things dead, and my father is the king of all things underwater. It makes sense," he reasoned. Zeus nodded, too embarrassed to argue further.

"Where'd you get your wings from, Percy?" Reyna asked. I'd forgotten that Jason and I were the only campers who knew. Other than Seph. My heart gave a pang of pain as I remembered my best friend. I'd keep to my vow. Kill Tartarus.

"Came with Hades' blessing. Did him a couple favors," Percy replied, keeping it short and snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Okay," My father interrupted before anyone could ask any more questions. "The next thing on the agenda is to discuss strategies. What are our thoughts on allies?"

Percy smirked. "Oh, don't worry about that, uncle. I've got that covered."

"What do you mean, you've got it covered, Percy?" Artemis asked, seemingly genuinely intrigued by who he could bring to the table. "Who could you possibly get to help us without revealing our existence to the mortals?"

Percy shrugged and waved at the door, "As you know, a portion of Poseidon's army will be helping us."

At that, the door opened and two single file lines of Atlantean soldiers stepped through. The one on the left was led by Nakoa, as I recognized her armor. The people behind her wore Atlantean steel armor with sea-green highlights. They kind of matched Percy's eyes. On the right, though, was a line led by a man I'd never seen before. He and the people he led wore Atlantean armor but with greener highlights. Like Triton's army. Nakoa's line went to the left side of the room and stood at the wall, standing guard, and Triton's did the same on the right.

"When I said that, I may have twisted the truth a bit. They are not just a portion of Poseidon's army. The ones that followed my dear general Nakoa are the soldiers of the Atlantean army that can work above water, and the ones followed by Jarl," Percy gestured to the man who led Triton's army, "are the soldiers from Tritonis, Triton's kingdom, that can fight above water." The campers gasped at Percy's admission, and murmurs broke out.

"Are these the only allies we have in this war, Percy?" Artemis asked. "I hope you know that this is not nearly enough to fight the primordial of hell."

Percy smirked. "Oh, my dear cousin, this is just the beginning."

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