"Perseus Jackson, are you ready for your test? And you'd do remember the rule of no powers correct?" The Roman wolf goddess asked. Percy uncapped Anaklumos and gave Lupa a firm nod, the large she wolf and her pack were evaluating the demigod to see if he was worthy enough to enter camp Jupiter. Percy had been teleported here by Artemis and was here for one soul purpose, to gain respect of the romans. The first thing he had to do was to get into the camp, to do so he would have to pass the test, the initiation. He bravely stepped forward and entered the cave, he was suddenly cocooned with silver armor and thrust into a bloody war. A man looked at him with a scrutinizing gave, he wore armor and a purple cloak. Purple, the color of kings, this man is a king. Percy realized and bowed to the man, the king looked at him in surprise before waving his hand,
"Rise, soldier you are here to bring the Greek king Perseus of Macedonia to me. He has to be captured and nothing else. Take a legion with you and don't get distracted!" Percy stood straight and tall,
"Yes King Eumenes!" He bellowed loudly and realized he was in the Battle of Pydna and was with the legendary Eumenes ll who had taken over this part of Greece. Artemis had taught him all of the Roman and Greek wars, his favorite part was learning of the kings who ruled Rome. He quickly gathered a legion and recognized one of them to be Lucious Aemilius Paullus, he was the capturer of Perseus in the original war. He felt nervous for he had never led part of an army in battle before. Lucious gave Percy a smile and put a hand on his shoulder,
"I know your worried but calm yourself. We shall destroy those wretched Greeks, you will lead us, just follow your instincts." Percy smiled at Lucious and let out a sigh before standing up even taller,
"Let's move!" He yelled. He felt better as he and Lucious walked side by side. Percy was glad the consul was so understanding about the situation. He felt as though this was a simulation and it probably was, they marched to Perseus's palace and were quickly assaulted by guards. Percy and his men easily defeated the Greeks because they lacked battle strategy and team work, they had helped cause their own downfall as they began to fight amongst themselves rather then with the enemy. They broke down the heavy wooden doors and were bombarded with more warriors.
Percy ducked as a blade was aimed for his head and stabbed the Greek in the chest making him fall. Lucious defended Percy and Percy defended him as well, together they were back to back slicing through Greeks.
"Circular formation! Do not let them get through!" He ordered and the soldiers got into a circle and shielded each other from the Greeks, they stayed on defense while the Greeks fought to defeat them all. Percy sliced through a mans chest plate and ran his blade through his stomach. The Greeks were no match for the Romans who were far superior and under a better leader. A few of the Roman soldiers fell in battle but Percy focused on the main task at hand, it was easier to fight in a war when he was not attached to anyone. Greeks fled the scene and Percy looked at a small group of Romans who were hardly touched by a weapon,
"After them, we must make sure they do not run and get help." The Romans nodded and chased after the Greeks. Percy turned to Lucious and five other warriors,
"Come with me, we must capture Perseus. The rest of you, secure the castle. Make sure it is empty and then burn it, this place is for Rome now. If anyone is alive that isn't a Greek warrior then get them out of here, any warriors then you know what to do." The Romans smirked and began. To run around the castle,
"For Rome!" They bellowed. Percy gestured for his troops to follow him and they entered the kings chambers. He was sitting on his bed while grasping a sword tightly, five guards stood there and Percy grinned at the king wickedly,
"Your Highness! Sorry to intrude but our king would like a couple of words with you." Lucious laughed and charged at one of the guards, he began to battle him while the rest of Percy's soldiers attacked the remaining Greek defenders. Percy slowly walked towards the king while he idly twirled his sword around,
"Well Perseus, you have a silver tongue I'll give you that. Your alliance with Epirus was well done, but fruitless if you thought you could take on an Empire as magnificent as Rome. Are you good with a sword? Can your fighting skills possibly compare with your politics and charm?" Percy mocked and didn't know what was going on with him, he felt powerful with a legion under his command and he knew how to lead them wisely. He felt wiser as though Minerva was guiding him, he knew that it wasn't true since she hated Romans. Maybe it was because he found his true place, his true home. He belonged with the Romans, not the Greeks at camp Halfblood. Though he cared for some of the Greeks he knew that he was supposed to be here at camp Jupiter. Perseus stood shakily and raised his sword over his head and charged, Percy thought it was funny that he was fighting a Greek that had the same name as him. He side stepped the king and easily tripped him, Perseus fell flat on his face and his sword clattered to the floor. Perseus jumped back up and grabbed his sword quickly before sloppily slashing his sword at Percy. Percy easily parried the poor strike and brought the butt of his sword down on the kings face. Perseus cried out in pain before he crumpled to the ground. Percy rolled his eyes and capped Anaklumos for he knew the fight with Perseus was over and it was far to easy. He grabbed the feeble king by his red robes and looked to Lucious the consul of Rome,
"It has been an honor sir, we have captured Perseus." The consul smiled and wiped his bloody sword on a dead warriors clothes,
"It was a pleasure to fight along side you, what's your name soldier?" Percy hauled the king to his feet and grabbed shackles from one of his men, he shackled Perseus before turning back to Lucious,
"Sir, ironically my name is Perseus." He felt the need to be formal around the legendary consul of Rome. Lucious's eyes widened before he gave out a hearty laugh,
"Well Perseus, let us take this almighty Greek and give him to our King Eumenes." Perseus smiled before gently pushing the prisoner along, though he was roman and felt merciless he could feel his mothers characteristics of peace and kindness start to work through him. Yes he had slaughtered a plethora of men but it was because he was ordered to, obedience and discipline were essential for a roman, he did not want the king to suffer because of his defeat. He actually thought the foolish king was rather brave for trying to take a stand against him. The legion made their way back to their king leaving behind a burning castle. Percy and Lucious had taken the lead, Percy had quickly taken a liking to the consul of Rome for he was a easy guy to be around. They spoke of battle strategy and how great the Roman Empire would become, once they made it back to Eumenes Percy kneeled to him as did Lucious before handing Perseus over. Lucious kicked Perseus's calves making him fall on his knees with his head down in defeat. Eumenes smirked and plucked the crown from the fallen king's head. He then handed it to Perseus,
"Good work soldier, destroy this." Percy smiled widely and handed it to Lucious who looked at him in surprise but Percy put a hand on his shoulder,
"Lucious was the key to Perseus's capture. He helped assure me when I was nervous and stood by me when we were in battle. He should do it for this was his victory as well as all of Rome's." Eumenes smiled and the Romans cheered once Lucious crushed the crown under his foot. Lucious smiled at Percy's modesty while the Roman king gestured for Percy to step forward,
"That was most honorable of you, I want you to be the one who slays Perseus. Kill him." Percy uncapped Anaklumos and felt a little remorse for killing the Greek king, he knew he had to if he was to pass this test. This is all just a test, a simulation, this isn't really happening. He chided himself, he was only following orders and he knew it wasn't real. He could feel hope leaving Perseus and he felt sad, his mother had told him that hope made them strong, hope gave everyone something to believe in. He swallowed thickly and steeled himself. He lifted the blade and brought it down on the kings neck, he only saw black as darkness surrounded him.
He suddenly reappeared next to Lupa and her pack, she was giving him a wolfish smile,
"Welcome to camp Jupiter."
The camp was huge and even more beautiful then camp Halfblood. Farther away he could see tall temples dedicated to some of the gods. He could see new Rome which is what Artemis had told him about, a place for Roman demigods to marry and live a happy life. The Fields of Mars were currently being used to do drills in such as running, jumping, climbing, and fighting.
"Beautiful isn't it? Diana had explained your situation to me, you are a Roman who has only encountered Greek demigods. Your talents shan't be wasted with such lazy halfbloods." Percy bristled at Lupa for calling his friends lazy,
"With all do respect Lady Lupa, Greeks may not be as superior as Romans but my sister Lady Diana has many Greek hunters who are strong, brave, and work twice as hard as the Romans." He defended Zoe and his sisters for most of them were Greek. He knew they could take on any of these campers for they trained vigorously and in harsher environments then the demigods at camp Jupiter. Lupa glared at him but he stared at her dark eyes unfazed, he had endured man haters glaring at him all the time and her wolf glare couldn't touch Alpha's,
"I say this as respectfully as I possibly can, I will obey you and listen to your request with discipline. But you are not to mock Greeks in my presence, well you can mock the Greeks at camp Halfblood." Besides Annabeth, the Stolls, Nico, and Katie he couldn't stand the rest of those Greeks. He did however have a high level of respect for Clarisse for she was a good, strong warrior. She listened to her superiors and no one else, he knew she would like this camp better. Lupa's eyes widened before she nodded her head at him,
"Very good pup, you are fearless and strong yet you listen to orders and defend your beliefs, you will do well here." He grinned and bowed his head to her,
"Thank you Lady Lupa." A blonde boy ran up to them about Percy's age, he had electric blue eyes and apperared to be a bit less muscular then Percy,
"Who's this?" He asked curiously and Percy gave him a curt nod,
"My name is Percy Jackson, I see you are a son of Jupiter." Although he hated the king of the gods he wasn't going to go around and be rude to his children. Artemis and Apollo were his siblings while Thalia was his cousin. The blonde raised his eyebrows in surprise before nodding,
"Ya, my names Jason Grace. Who's your parent?" Percy froze once he heard his last name and realized that this was Thalia's full blooded brother she had "lost" when they were kids.
"My father is Pluto," he then smirked at the blonde,"I hope to face you tonight once I'm put into a cohort." He decided to test the son of Jupiter and see if he was pompous like his father. Jason smirked back at him,
"Your on Jackson."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world Grace." Jason decided that he liked Percy, Percy had this air of self confidence and seemed to have a fun personality. He just hoped that the son of Pluto wasn't arrogant. Jason spoke up again,
"Lady Lupa, may I show Percy around?" The wolf goddess nodded before leaving the demigods alone. As they walked around Jason started to question Percy,
"So, if you don't mind me asking where were you before you came here?" Percy smiled at Jason's politeness,
"I was living in the woods with my family, we've been surviving." Jason looked at him impressed,
"Didn't your powerful scent attract monsters?" Truth be told his scent did not attract many monsters at all, since he was made from the hearth he smelled like fire, at least that's what Alpha had told him.
"Not really, we were around fire a lot and it masked our scent." Jason shot out another question,
"Who is your family?" Percy shook his head,
"No one important." Jason could tell that Percy wanted to drop the conversation so he let it go. They walked in silence before Percy began to sense an escaped soul, he looked around wildly but only saw Venus girls staring at him. He then saw a mixed girl with brown, wavy hair walk by. He could feel that she wasn't alive and cast a quick glance at Jason,
"Give me two seconds." He walked up to the girl who appeared to be thirteen, she was pretty and had blonde highlights through her hair. He pulled her aside and looked at her suspiciously,
"How are you...here? You should be dead." She looked panicked before she looked at him calmly,
"I don't know what your talking about." His eyes narrowed in frustration,
"Stop playing stupid, my father is Pluto and your dead I can feel it." Her eyes widened before she gave him a hug. He looked shocked and froze, she pulled away before smiling sheepishly at him,
"Sorry, I'm a Pluto's daughter, my names Hazel Levesque. Nico brought me back alive so I could have a second chance, he's our brother." His eyes narrowed even more, did Nico know about the Romans? Did Hazel know about the Greeks?
"And Nico is a son of Pluto?" He asked suspiciously and she nodded,
"Of course! Who else could walk around in the underworld?" He let out a sigh of relief and crushed her into a hug,
"Nice to meet ya sis." He muttered and she hugged him back. He felt hesitant about having another little sister, what if he failed her as well? Having Grace as a little sister in the hunt was great but he knew for sure she was safe. Would Hazel be? Once they pulled away from the embrace she smiled up at him,
"Have you met Nico." He grinned,
"Of course! He's my little brother...who might be mad at me for letting dad give him the talk..." He trailed off and realized he forgot to apologize for that. Hazel laughed and he couldn't help but marvel at how much she sounded like Bianca, how much she acted like her.
"Sis, out of curiosity what cohort are you in?"
"Fourth, why? My friend Frank is in the fifth." That was random he thought, he grinned and shrugged,
"Just curious." Just then a burly asian appeared and was glaring at Percy,
"What do you think your doing newbie?" He snarled and Percy glared back at him before he let out a laugh,
"Are you supposed to be scary? I know some girls that make you look like a stupid kitten. I'm not afraid to take you on." The asian looked surprised then offended,
"Watch your arrogance newbie I am Frank Zhang of the fifth cohort." Percy rolled his eyes at him,
"It's not arrogance if I know I can easily defeat you in battle." Frank looked murderous and Hazel was about to intervene but Frank spoke again,
"Just keep your hands off her." Percy let out another laugh. He then lightly tapped Frank's cheek multiple times,
"Son of Mars you misunderstand, I can hug Hazel all I want because she's my sister. Gods forbid that Hazel gets hugged by her brother. Get over yourself, I only listen to Lady Lupa or the praetor and you are none of them." Frank's mouth fell open and his face turned red in embarrassment. Hazel laughed and hugged Percy again,
"Watch out Frank! My brothers making a move!" The siblings laughed and Percy turned to see Jason talking to a Venus girl,
"Gotta go, later Hazel by Frank. And Frank, if you hurt Hazel you'll find yourself in the deepest pits of Tartuarus." Frank paled and nodded while Hazel smiled at her brother for being protective of her. Percy smiled back and walked over to Jason, the girl looked part Cherokee and had brown choppy hair. She was extremely beautiful and had kaleidoscope eyes. Defiantly a daughter of Venus, he mused in his head. She turned to him and her eyebrows shot up,
"Hi, I'm Piper McLean daughter of Venus." She thrust out her hand, Percy smiled at her and shook it. She blushed making Percy's smile falter for a second before he smiled even wider,
"Nice to meet you Piper, though it was easy to tell you were a daughter of Venus because of your beauty and your eyes. I'm Percy Jackson son of Pluto." She blushed even harder when he called her beautiful, Percy was very good looking with jet black hair and sea green eyes. He had more muscle then Jason and had the charisma of a child of Venus. He had this red ring in his eyes which made them look even more beautiful, he was gorgeous and she wouldn't be surprised if her mother tried to snatch him up. His scar made him look even more dangerous as it was wickedly slashed across his eye, it showed he had been in challenging battles. He had a grey streak through his hair that added to the appeal.
Jason looked at Percy with jealousy and Percy rolled his eyes,
"Chill out Jace." He didn't continue, he didn't need to be a child of Venus to tell that Jason liked Piper. Though Piper was very beautiful he liked Zoe to much to even think of looking at another girl, not that he would anyway. Piper looked at them questioningly but Percy shook his head and she shrugged before she flashed him a dazzling smile,
"Nice meeting you Percy, hope to see you tonight." She walked away and Jason glared at Percy who laughed,
"My goodness your territorial, don't have to worry about me friend I've got a girlfriend." Who's probably going to kill me for not saying goodbye, he thought nervously and silently cursed Jupiter for his own forgetfulness. Jason relaxed and grinned at Percy mischievously,
"Is it Hazel?" Percy face palmed and made gagging noises,
"No! She's my sister remember! Ewwwwwww! You are such a blonde." Jason's face turned red with embarrassment making Percy laugh. Why does everyone think he was with Hazel or Bianca? Could he not a hug a girl without people getting the wrong idea?
"Well, I'll lead you to Praetor Reyna now." Jason said still embarrassed about the sister thing.
Jason led Percy to the Garden of Bacchus because he knew it was Reyna's favorite spot. Percy was surrounded with beautiful plants and vegetation, he saw children of Ceres working in the fields along with children of Bacchus. He thought the garden was beautiful and soon saw a girl sitting on a bench, she had two wolf like creatures that sat by her and growled as the demigods approached, one was gold while the other was silver. She looked in their direction and stood, she wore purple robes and had brown hair.
"Aurum, Argentum sit!" She ordered, Percy thought it was humorous that their names were gold and silver in Latin. The guard dogs looked at Percy curiously and he smiled at them, they approached him slowly and sniffed him. He began to pat their heads even though they were automations, Aurum leaned into Percy's hand while Argentum wagged his tail. Reyna's eyebrows shot up in surprise, her dogs never liked anyone. Percy thought the dogs were far nicer then Alpha, he stopped petting them and closed Jason's agape mouth.
"I apologize Praetor, I have a strong connection with wolves and seeing as dogs are their descendants then I guess I have a connection with them as well." The dogs sat by their master again and Reyna snapped out of her confusion,
"Well, who are you?"
"Percy Jackson son of Pluto." She nodded and the dogs barked happily, Percy didn't know they were lie detectors. He grinned at them before he gave a slight bow to Reyna, she was happy that he had discipline,
"Are you ready to join a cohort?"
"Yes ma'am." He bellowed and she smiled at him,
"We shall see if you are worthy."
And there you guys have it. Another chapter already you may ask. It's because I'm on Fall Break so I have some free time. I will be updating on Thursday. Peace out and have fun.