Sophia

"He's done it!" Nico muttered as I shoved his head back to face forwards, "Ow!"

"What he's doing is taking a big risk for us. Don't get distracted."

He nodded sheepishly and picked up the pace. Behind the cover of abandoned carts and wares, it was easy to hide from monsters. A cynocephalus sprinted past us as if we weren't even there, heading towards the trouble that Daniel was creating for them.

Finally, we stood before the market hall.

"Umm... How do I get to the roof?"

"There's a flag pole at the very top, so there must be a way to climb up there... Probably from the inside. Find some stairs and keep going upwards."

An arrow clattered off of the hall's stone base, and my head spun around to look at the new threat. One of the side streets was vomiting out enemy reinforcements, some of whom had spotted us and were rapidly approaching.

"Shit," Nico muttered, twisting the ring on his finger, and holding the shield up in front of both of us. Its surface was still speckled with holes, much like mine was.

"You need to get up there as fast as you can, or we're screwed!"

"What about you? No matter how good you are with the sword, you can't expect to deal with all of them by yourself."

"Of course not... But I've got this." I jabbed at the lion's pelt draped over me, "And Daniel's still dragging most of them away from us."

A steel-tipped arrow clattered off of Nico's celestial bronze shield, and he frowned.

"I-"

"No! Just go, for fuck's sake!" I shouted, pushing him towards the door. He took one last look towards the enemy, then charged at the flame-charred doors, smashing through them easily.

Despite what I had said, I knew I wasn't in the best of positions. Too much of my skin was left uncovered by the pelt for me to feel safe, and as I watched, more and more monsters were closing in. My only real chance was if Daniel managed to rip free from the fight he was currently embroiled in to join my side.

Pulling the lion's mane over my head, I finally understood why Daniel liked his cloak as much as he did. I felt stronger than ever, knowing that my entire upper body was invulnerable.

Two dog-headed men were the first to reach me, bearing down on me with blades drawn. The first strike bounced off of my shoulder, feeling as if I had been gently brushed by the thing, while the other stabbed at my stomach. That one I deflected to the side, stepping deep into the monster's guard, and thrusting my xiphos through the semi-canine man's chest.

As it disintegrated into dust and minor war trophies, I turned to the side so that the bite from the other dog would once again hit my armour. Though I felt nothing of the actual bite, I knew it had clamped onto me, its sword already moving to cut at me. Without thinking, I violently shoved my shoulder upwards, hearing the crack of teeth and a yelp of pain.

The strike it had prepared lost its momentum and, bashing it away from my abdomen, I stuck my blade through the creature's neck.

Giving me no time to rest, the next group of monsters arrived, though they soon joined the dust pile that remained of their dead comrades. The rest backed away a bit after, unsure of how to continue. Marching straight towards me through the middle of the Forum, were two dozen two-headed men, led by a man carrying a massive scar that ran from his forehead to his chin, disappearing under his coat.

Their leader flicked his hand, not even opening his mouth to issue an order, and six of them split off from the rest, targeting the hall's doors.

Shit.

Nico

Stopping for a minute, I took two deep breaths, looking up through the small gap between the two flights of steps, trying my best to make out how much more I had to go. Who the hell had designed this building, and decided against installing an elevator?

Or maybe I had just been blind when I had searched the bottom floor.

Quite a few of the steps looked unstable, blackened by flames or cracked by something heavier than what they had been designed to hold. One wrong step and I'd go crashing back down to the ground floor, destroying my only way up and maybe killing myself in the process.

Oh, how nice it would be to not have to worry about anything for once.

Over the howling of wind straining in from outside, I could hear the muted clatter of weapons. Sophia was still down there, covering for me, and though she was far from incompetent with a blade, she was alone and this time, her opponents were out to kill her. This was no game of capture the flag.

With a grunt, I continued sprinting up the flight of stairs, realising that maybe Daniel had managed to join her. With Pandora by his side he's unstoppable, even if he'd disagree with that statement would I ever say it to him in person.

"Help..." It was barely discernable from the creak of one of the wooden steps, yet it was enough to stop my thought process and my feet in their tracks.

"Anyone there?" I called out, unsheathing my blade.

"Please... Help me!" That was clearly the voice of a human. A child, in fact.

Striding through the door into the warehouse, I looked around. Half of the floor had collapsed, and I could see more than a few splatters of crimson highlighted by the faint glow of my sword. Was this a trap?

"Where are you?"

"You have a weapon like those Graeci..." It was no more than a whisper, yet I couldn't pinpoint where it had come from.

"I can try to help you, but I can't do so unless you tell me where you are!" Something touched my leg, and I jumped back, swinging my sword up to chop into whatever it had been. A pale arm was illuminated on the ground for a moment before it darted back behind the pile of boxes beside me.

"Are- Are you one of... Them?" It asked.

"Them? You mean a monster?"

I took two steps back as an eye suddenly appeared in the crack between two boxes. It looked like she was shaking her head.

"Graeci."

"You're asking if I'm greek?" This time a nod, "Yes, I am. I don't want to hurt you." I sheathed my sword, "Sorry if I scared you. What's the problem?"

"I'm stuck... And lost. Please." Her voice was thick with emotion, and I wasted no time in rushing to free her of boxes. Throwing them to the side, coffee beans spilled across the floor as the contents of the boxes exploded in all directions. In no time at all she was free. A little girl no more than ten, thinner than what I could call healthy and covered in soot.

"Hey... What's your name?" I knelt down to her level, "I'm Nico." I smiled.

"Emma." She whispered.

"Can you walk, Emma?" She nodded, tears streaking down her sooty face as she shakily stepped over the remainder of the boxes that had trapped her. Her eyes were a pretty green colour and given a nice wash, her hair would be golden, like a field of wheat. A daughter of Demeter? It felt like I was staring at my sister, except Emma was by far not as annoying, "I have to leave you Emma... Can you be brave for me?"

"Where are you going?"

"To the roof, I've got something to do there. You, on the other hand, should go downstairs and wait for me there. It's safe, I checked, so don't you worry about that."

"But what if the monsters come inside?"

"My friends are fighting outside to keep them out of the building. They know what they're doing." I smiled.

"I'm- I'm scared..." She cried, her hand moving to a small hilt I only just noticed, poking out of her waistband. A small knife.

"I'm scared too... It's okay to be scared. Bravery isn't about not feeling fear, it's about overcoming it." I gave her a smirk, standing up, "Plus, you're still alive. For the amount of time you've been trapped... Heck, you're probably stronger than I am."

"Really?" She looked up at me with wide eyes.

"I don't like lying. Plus, with that near you to protect you-" I pointed at the hilt, which she promptly pulled out. The blade, under all the dirt, glittered gold, "Holy crap, that's a sick weapon." I nudged her towards the steps, "You'll do just fine while I'm gone. I'll be with you before you know it."

She nodded vigorously, and sprinted down the stairs, gone in the blink of an eye. Making sure she wouldn't follow me, I let out a sigh before continuing my journey upwards. After leaving behind the fifth floor, the stairs continued upwards by one more flight, before coming to an end with a small landing. A ladder leading to a padlocked hatch in the roof... That was where I had to go.

The lock sparked as I smashed the point of my xiphos into the keyhole, the iron cracking and crumbling into tiny pieces. As I climbed up the ladder and my head cleared the ceiling, I felt just how powerful the wind was, nearly all my concentration going into keeping myself in one place.

Quickly jumping up, I tried my best to fight against the gust, but I found each step to be harder than the last. Stabbing my sword into the roof and twisting it sideways was the only way I could stay put.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" I muttered through gritted teeth as I held on for my life.

As sudden as its arrival had been, so quickly did it settle down, and I wasted no time sprinting forward, looking out for the glittering patches of ice that were dotted over the place. Sliding down the roof wouldn't be a fun ride, and neither would the five-storey drop at the end.

My outstretch fingers finally brushed against the cold surface of the flagpole I had been running towards and grabbing onto it for dear life, I once again took in my surroundings. In the distance, reflecting the glowing image of the city aflame, was the lake. Positioning myself so that another sudden gust of wind wouldn't instantly send me cartwheeling off the side, I reached toward the grand mass of water, concentrating on it as best as I could.

I could feel just how much water I was trying to lift, in my neck, my stomach and my arms.

This was beyond me, and I knew it, but my friends were risking their lives for this plan to work, and I'd sure as hell try my best. Once the first drips of sweat streaked down my cheek, I stopped and took a few deep breaths, the strain in my limbs and stomach dissipating as if I had just dropped a large weight. Had it always been this hard?

Steadying myself, I got ready for round two, trying my best to picture the water, and willing it to form a funnel.

"And what in the name of pondweed do you think you are doing?!" A feminine voice exclaimed out of nowhere, surprising me so much that I nearly pushed myself away from the building's edge.

"Fuck me!" I muttered, looking behind me only to find no one there, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Serene, and I don't take kindly to you trying to drain my lake! Just who do you think you are?!"

"So she's a naiad..." I thought.

"You bet your ass I am, Son of Poseidon." I was taken aback by the fact that she was responding to my inner monologue, "Now explain yourself fast, before I decide to command all the pikes in my lake to bite you in uncomfortable places the next time you take a dip."

That seemed like an easily circumventable inconvenience and was about to dismiss the Naiad when I realised I could actually use her help.

"Look, Serene, the city is on fire and I need your water to save as much of it as I can. Things aren't looking good up here, I'm not sure if you can see."

"Of course I can see! Tell me about it... I've been finding more and more dead bodies and monster ash in my normally clear waters. A right pain in the behind to keep my waters clean with all that junk floating about..."

"Listen! We don't have much time, I need your help, I can't do this without you!"

"Why would I want to help you? To help them?"

"They're Romans, for crying out loud! They've lived here for generations, don't you feel some sort of affection towards them?"

"I do! Oh, I always love the children and how they play in my waters during summer... But they never sacrificed anything for me! No thanks for all my work! All I can do is look helplessly at the fresh selection of young legionary men running around with tops off and-"

"Please!" I shut her up, "I don't want to hear your fantasies. I didn't want to do this, but as the son of Poseidon, I command you to obey me." Pulling that card is never something I want to do, however, too many lives rested in the hands of this one naiad and her help.

"Or what?" I could hear a waver in her voice. She had been confident until now, but the name of my father had the power to cause her to falter.

"You help me, or I inform Poseidon that you're the reason New Rome burned to the ground and my friends died. I'm sure there are plenty of places in the world that make your current lake feel like paradise."

"Umm..."

"I hear Antarctica is nice all year round."

"Alright, alright! I'll help!" She croaked.

Letting out a small sigh, I lifted my arms into the air, "Thank you."

Pulling as hard as I could, I felt next to nothing in terms of strain as a dark funnel rose from the water, splitting into multiple smaller ones and floating through the air to loom above the streets of New Rome.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

I let go of the water and watched as it hung in the air for an incredibly drawn-out second. It felt like nature itself went silent as the multi-tonne mass of water started its journey downwards.

As it touched down, crashing against houses and quenching the flames eating at the structures instantly, it washed with it the ruins of the buildings, causing them to crumble and flow down the streets. It spread across the forum as it spilled out of the side streets, washing monsters along with it. Peering over the edge, I could see the flow of water lick the sides of the market hall vigorously. That wasn't good.

Striding back towards the hatch, the wind mysteriously absent, I felt the building shudder underneath my feet.

Fuck.

As if agreeing with me, the building rumbled once more.

"Shit..." I yelled, wasting no time jumping down the hole. The wood planks under me cracked as they took the brunt of my weight, and as I tried to keep my balance, it complained once more. Before I could understand what was happening, I felt the sensation of falling, quickly followed by my body crashing through the flight of stairs below me, and coming to a stop on the one under that.

Grunting, I jumped up and thanked Tyche that I was still alive somehow. My ribs hurt like hell, but I'd worry about that later.

As I sprinted down the rest of the steps, my journey was accompanied by the constant groaning of the wooden structure as it slowly gave up on itself.

"Emma!" I yelled as I reached the ground floor, "Where are you?!"

No response came, and my eyes started peering over the contents of the floor more and more erratically, the only source of light coming from a hole in the back and through the front doors.

Outside, I could see Sophia clad in the lion's skin dancing an intricate sword dance with a figure wielding a lightning-bolt-shaped golden blade. And it was there I spotted a tiny figure with dirty blonde hair darting past Sophia.

As I sprinted straight for the door, the building finally had enough of groaning and with an almighty crack, something exploded behind me, followed by yet more sounds of destruction. Slamming through what remained of the doors, I shoulder-barged straight into the daughter of Athena whilst twisting my ring and holding it above us, hoping that Emma had enough common sense to hide behind it.

My eyes met hers for a split second, and I could see the fear in her eyes as splinters pelted my shield.

As the building's pieces came to a rest on the ground floor, she kicked me off of herself and held up her blade, eyes wide and breathing rapidly.

Finally, recognition spread across her face, though she lowered her blade only slightly.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

Sophia

Turning two more monsters to dust, I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose at the acrid mix of sulphur and the pungent odour of the two-headed men as it wafted over me. The monsters had given me little problems other than having to fight on multiple fronts and forcing me to move closer to the door to stop them from going after Nico.

As the remaining eight monsters backed off slightly, I saw the man finally unsheath his sword and step closer. Pushing one of the cynocephali out of the way, the beast stumbled forward in surprise, its eyes widening even further right before it turned to dust, my xiphos sticking through its ribs.

There was a guttural roar, and thrusting through the dust came the man, my blade only just coming up to parry his blow. His sword was jagged, just like a bolt of lightning, and it glinted like gold. Imperial gold.

An overhead strike followed up his previous attack, the sheer power in it enough to cause my wrists to ache as I deflected it away from myself, kicking at his shin in response. He was fast, jumping backwards just as my boot was about to connect with his leg.

I raised my weapon, ready to defend against his next blow, but it never came. Rather, he took a few more steps backwards and motioned with his hand for his goons to close in once again.

Two of them got too close as they spread out around me, bursting into sulfurous dust before they could make amends for their mistake. The remaining six wearily watched my sword, waiting for my attention to waver, for an opening to appear.

They could wait for that moment, for eternity, for all I cared. Leaning down low, I punched my sword into the stomach of the first surprised monster, ripping it through its body sideways to chop into the next beast.

A two-headed man struck at my back, and though it was a jarring sensation, I deflected it into the brickwork of the Forum's ground, sending tiny sparks into the air. Pressing just a step forward was enough for me to smash my handguard into the monster's right face, chopping deep into its neck as it reared backwards.

The three that remained approached at once, one of their powerful sword swings bouncing off of my pelt, while I dodged a second strike and stabbed my blade through the foot of the third. Not wanting to pull out yet, I kicked backwards and caught one of my attackers in the ankle, causing it to scream in pain as they went down.

A flash of metal, and I was pushing myself across the ground, just getting out of the spread eagle position before a gladius could thrust into my unprotected abdomen. Righting myself, I struck at my next opponent, my weapon skittering off of his, but a quick change of the blade's direction and I was embedding the sharp tip into his chest.

Taking a few deep breaths, I quickly finished off the final enemy laying on the ground, clutching his ankle. My well-earned time-out was quickly ripped from me as the man stepped forward once again and landed half a dozen fast-paced swings each one harder and harder to deflect, the last one slipping past my guard and landing harmlessly against my armour, eliciting a grunt of annoyance and anger from my aggressor.

Just as I was about to counter his attack with some of my own, he lunged into action once again, pressing me backwards towards the market hall as I struggled against his never-ending assault. Even in the chilling air, he was sweating, tiring.

Only problem was that so was I.

What I wouldn't give to get some help. The last time I had seen Daniel and Pandora, they had been standing amidst a whirlwind of monster dust, the Son of Ragnos' black cloak stained grey and a determined look plastered across his face. He had his hands full, that much was certain.

But Nico? Where the hell was he?

My unspoken question was left without an answer as the man's attacks increased in intensity as he tried his very best to end the fight.

As I was about to try my luck with a lunge of desperation, I saw it. The tiniest of openings, the slight overstretching of a thrust.

Wasting no time, I stepped sideways and struck at it, but the man was already reacting and moving to counter me. I lightly touched his blade, then switched directions and chopped at his hand, which he snatched out of the way a second before it could connect. Letting my momentum carry me to the ground, I rolled forward once and thrust upwards into his thigh.

The tip of my xiphos passed through cloth, moving deeper and deeper before a jarring sensation stopped it from travelling into flesh.

At a loss for my next move, I twisted the weapon sideways and brought the pommel upwards as hard as I could. Instantly, he was stumbling backwards and grunting in pain, letting me get a few breaths in.

A dirty move, but it was either that or death, and I didn't fancy the latter. Knowing I had to press forward while I had the advantage, I pushed back against the tiny voice in my head begging for a pause in the fight and charged at my adversary.

He held up his sword just as my first swing could connect, but following up with three more fast moves, I saw him take his first step backwards, his confidence wavering. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear crashes, as if dozens of houses were in the process of collapsing, but looking away now could quickly tip the scales of the duel back to favour the enemy.

"Just give up! If you surrender-" I locked swords with him, "We can work things out!"

No reply came, rather he tried pushing back against me to no avail when a sudden pain erupted in my shin. He kicked me a second time with his boots, and his blade slipped past me and bounced off of my shoulder. Barging into me without waiting to swing again, I found myself sprawling on the floor once more, the lion skin cloak a jumbled mess, revealing my unprotected stomach.

As if time itself had slowed down, the jagged, golden blade flipped over once, before it approached me agonisingly slowly.

Was this really going to be how it ended?

Suddenly, his hand jerked to the side, and the blade completely wobbled off target, sparking against the stones beside me. The raspy voice of my enemy stringing together Latin and English curses overlapped the beating of my heart ringing in my ear, and I wasted no time getting onto my feet once again.

Sticking out of his leg was a knife, crimson soaking the area around it as it smoked. Wearing a proud smile on her face, and standing behind the warrior was a young, painfully thin and blonde-haired girl.

"You little-" I kicked at the other leg of the distracted man, making the warrior fall onto the weapon lodged in him, pushing it deeper amidst his screams of pain.

"Give up!" I shouted, pointing my blade at his throat while ignoring his yowls, "I won't say this again!"

A rumble made me look towards the hall for a moment, and that was enough of a distraction for him to slap my blade to the side, get up and limp to a safe distance. I followed without waiting for him to gain his balance, motioning for the girl to get behind me, whoever she was.

Our weapons met a few times, but my enemy was starting to realise his forces were quickly getting overwhelmed and staying would mean death. Still, he thrust forward once again, all while the hall rumbled ominously.

All of a sudden, amidst yet another deep groan, came a roar.

"SOPHIA!"

And before I could react, I was getting tackled to the floor like a sack of flour, my opponent simply turning around and limping off as I crashed to the ground.

Nico was laying on me, shield held high as splinters flew in all directions.

My eyes met with his, and the worry I had felt as to where he was quickly turned to anger.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" I exclaimed, pushing him off of me and standing up, "And what the hell took you so long?!"

"What about a thank you, Soph? I didn't exactly think I'd have to bargain with a bloody naiad to get things rolling." He too stood up.

"You brought down an entire building in your wake! How the fuck did you do that?"

"How am I supposed to know? It just happened, as shit normally does."

I sighed irritably and looked at the little girl, who was shuffling to stand behind Nico.

"And who in the name of Zeus are you?"

"Her name is Emma, and I found her trapped inside. Though I thought I told her to stay inside until I came back downstairs." He aimed that last part at her.

"I'm sorry, but-" She started sheepishly.

"No! This isn't a game Emma, you could've gotten seriously-"

I cut Nico off with a look and knelt down in front of her.

"What you did was dangerous, reckless, and some people might call it stupid," I could see her deflate at my words, "However, that's exactly what it's like to be a demigod. If not for you, Emma, and for what you did, I would be dead." Clasping her hands in one of mine, I shook them a bit, "Thank you."

I hugged her, feeling just how horrifically thin she was. She must've gone without food for days by now. Maybe we still had some leftovers in one of the bags that we could give her. She sure as hell needed it more than we did.

"Holy shit guys!" Daniel said, jogging up to us, "We fucking did it! It felt like forever, but it worked!" In the distance, a bronze-coloured bird twice the normal size of a phoenix was bobbing in and out of sight as it dive-bombed the retreating monsters, "Nico, man! Good job with the dramatic effects! I mean, taking down an entire building?! Awesome shit!" He laughed, high-fiving him, before turning towards me, "And Sophia, I saw that duel and can I just- What the fuck, that's a kid."

He stopped in his tracks, confused, before slowly sheathing his swords and wiping some of the monster soot off of his face. I glared at him, hoping that what I was trying to convey was coming through to him.

"Her name is Emma," I said, putting a caring hand on her shoulder. I could see that the black-cloaked boy was thinking hard about what next to say.

"You're safe now." He finally uttered, smiling.

Daniel

After eating a few crumbs of ambrosia each, and handing all of our food to the newest member of our group, the four of us set off down one of the many streets, away from the direction that Pandora was currently hunting the stragglers. Maybe we could bump into people that were much friendlier than the last bunch, and much less monstrous while we were at it.

It'd take a lifetime of washing to get all the monster dust out of my cloak, my pockets practically filled with the stuff. Like sand, it got everywhere, only this stuff smelled of rotten eggs and was grittier than the stuff you'd find on beaches.

Walking in the darkness, the only source of light coming from the two celestial bronze weapons we had, I knew just how easy it would be to ambush us from any of the hollowed-out and abandoned buildings we passed. Sophia had quickly come to the same conclusion, if not sooner, and had voiced her idea to continue our journey back to back, with Emma in the middle of our triangle.

It felt like ages, walking slowly down the road when a new sound was introduced into the half a dozen other background noises. Metal clinking together.

"You guys hear that?" I asked, stopping as I tightened my grip around the hilts of my blades.

"Yes," Sophia whispered back after staying in complete silence for a good minute, even our breathing slowing down. I wasn't exactly calm about our next fight, but I had two swords in my hand, a shape-shifting bird that was a call away from returning, and a cloak that was close to impenetrable. I also had some skills that I could boast about, and my companions weren't exactly lacking in powers and special items either.

But Emma didn't know all this.

However tough she was, having heard Sophia mention that she'd have died without the little girl's help, I could only imagine how terrified she must be feeling right now. Nevertheless, she stood her ground in the middle of it all, clutching the knife I had given her to temporarily replace the one she had lost. She was braver than some trained demigods three or four years older than her.

We braced ourselves, ready for whatever was to come.

A rustle gave away their position half a second before they jumped from the shadows with a battle cry. I was expecting to see multiple heads on one body and growling dogs.

But that wasn't the case at all.

Roman soldiers, dressed just as you'd expect them to dress, emerged in the dozens, some of them wearing only poorly-fitting gear, yet even that was better than nothing. At the very back of the group, were three floating figures, similarly dressed in legionary gear, only they were slightly transparent and outlined by a purple aura.

"HALT! If you value your life, put down your weapons and surrender!" One person shouted from the crowd of soldiers once we were surrounded. A young man emerged from the ranks of soldiers, his face glowing thanks to a golden badge hanging from a cloth sash on his upper body. He wore a helmet that made him look like a comically large paintbrush.

"Stay put guys, who knows who these fuckers are," I muttered and watched as the others nodded from the corner of my eye.

"In the name of New Rome, or whatever's left of it, surrender!" He shouted once more, slightly quieter this time, whilst staring at me pointedly. I returned the stare, not yet ready to trust him.

We weren't allies... Who knew if this wasn't some sort of trap? My friends had similar thoughts and all three of us didn't even so much as lower our weapons as we continued to ready ourselves for the charge.

With a sigh, the man waved his hand, and they lowered their spears and swords hesitantly as if they didn't understand the command.

"You aren't fighting for the Augur, are you?"

"Who? We're here to help the Romans."

"Good, we could use some help. Where are you from, strangers?"

Before I could reply, someone else answered from the crowd.

"They're from Camp Half-Blood. I thought I recognized them, but that voice was what convinced me. Olympus, Winter Solstice."

"Really?" The officer asked, raising an eyebrow, before turning towards us, "In that case, we mean no harm. He bowed slightly, "Please excuse our actions, we're wary of everyone that we don't recognize out on the streets."

"Centurion..." Sophia started, slightly lowering her blade, looking at the officer's features. He had strange blue eyes and bristles that told a story of many days without shaving.

"Viscount. Drake Viscount."

"Centurion Viscount. What on earth happened here?" She asked.

"Oh, that's easy enough to answer. Civil war did, miss."

I finally lowered my weapons. Something told me these people were not going to be a threat. Nico noticed what I was doing and followed suit, while Sophia reacted more slowly. Was she still suspicious of them?

"We saw the aftermath of what had happened when we arrived. I offer my condolences to all of you." I told them.

"Thank you, but what's passed has passed. We need to make do with what we have now, not get bogged down by thinking of what we've lost. I assume you came with something more than just an intent to help. This isn't a place where we can safely discuss things, however, so I'll lead you back to our camp. Before we go, may I get your names?"

"My name is Daniel Greenfield, I'm the leader of the quest. My companions are Sophia Whitefield and Nicholas Jackson. We also saved a little girl, her name is Emma."

He frowned, "Emma?" Stepping closer, he took a closer look at the little girl, who had peeked out from behind Nico at the mention of her name, "Emma Hirsch?"

"Yes?"

"It's me! Don't you recognize me?"

"Mister Viscount?"

"Yes, yes! By the gods! We thought you were... Where did you find her?" He looked at us once again.

"She was trapped in the market hall when I found her, though I assume she's got quite the tale to tell about how she got there," Nico answered.

"I can only agree," The centurion chuckled, "So that was you guys over there? The floods, the battle?"

"We wanted to stop the city from getting burned to the ground, maybe save some unlucky people still stuck in the city."

"There's little you can do to save the city, unfortunately, hell we were nearly caught up in the flood ourselves while out on patrol."

"Sorry about that." The son of Poseidon winced, "I might've gone a bit overboard."

Viscount only smiled, "Don't worry about it, the gesture isn't lost on us, though it's best you don't waste your energy on pointless tasks. Tomorrow, more monsters will come to finish the job. Though I'm pretty sure you put the jitters into them and that'll waste a bunch of their resources. Now come, the praetor will surely want to speak with you."

"Where even are you stationed? Camp Jupiter was destroyed when we walked through it." Sophia asked.

"As was everything else when we were attacked. We set up a fortress north of New Rome, on the field of Mars. We'll discuss this all properly once we can sit down." The centurion said, already walking away.

As I followed the man, I found myself walking side by side with the legionary who had recognized us.

"I'm sorry, do we know each other?" I asked after a few minutes of silence, and the man turned slightly towards me to answer.

"I might be a bit hard to recognize in the darkness, but it's me, Flavius."

I smirked, remembering the centurion that had been a part of the small group of demigods visiting Olympus from Camp Jupiter.

"Aren't you a centurion though?" He nodded, "What're you doing without one of those paintbrush helmets then?"

"It's back home. Normally, I'd be wearing it too, but I joined a Viscount-led scouting party today. He doesn't want anyone else to become a high-priority target in case we're attacked."

"That's very noble of him, but why doesn't he just take it off as well?"

"Tradition, I guess," He shrugged, "Even during hard times, we need something that reminds us of the past when things were still somewhat normal."

I nodded along with that, filling the remainder of the walk to the Roman camp with small talk. It didn't take long to reach the borders of the camp, and we stopped before a gate in about a quarter of an hour's walk. The wall itself was about four meters high, made out of wood, with slightly downwards pointing stakes across its outer face, making scaling it a much harder task. On top of the wall, equipment clattered as a guard patrol walked over the planks. There were soldiers all over the wall, as indicated by the glow of torches.

As we stood in front of the gate, a legionary peered over the edge, noticing the centurion's transverse plume amidst the group almost immediately. Retracting his head, he let down a bucket.

While it was coming down, Viscount got out a pen and a scrap of paper from his pockets and wrote something down. I could make only one word out of the entire sentence.

Pater.

While I wasn't fluent in Latin, even I knew its meaning.

He placed his message into the bucket, shook the rope, and it slowly ascended back up. A few moments later the gates creaked open, slamming shut shortly after we had entered. Hundreds of tents were set up in tidy rows, a few bigger ones towering over the rest near what was probably the centre of the camp. The camp was alive with movement, people covered in dirt, wounds and bandages made the place feel like an ant's nest. This was what remained of New Rome?

I thought we'd be entering a military camp, not a refugee one. This was a sight a million times more depressing. As we headed straight for the large tents in the middle, we passed by quite a few of the citizens of the destroyed city, all of them staring us over warily, though some smiled in surprise as they spotted Emma amongst us.

We reached the entrance of one of the larger tents, two legionaries standing guard on either side of it. One of them was tall, his dark skin making the sky blue colour of his eyes stand out starkly, while his black hair was cut short. His partner, on the other hand, was two heads shorter and pale with ginger hair, the cold giving his skin a red tinge. The taller man held up his hand, his transverse crest wobbling slightly at the sudden movement.

"Viscount, you can't just take anyone into the briefing room. You of all people should know this."

"Grawon, these people are from Camp Half-Blood-"

"Yes, as is an entire tent's worth of people already at camp. It doesn't exactly give them clearance."

"Stop interrupting me for fuc-" Viscount took a deep breath, stopping himself from cursing out the other centurion, "They arrived from Camp Half-Blood today, and they bring important news."

The barrel-chested man thought for a moment.

"Fine. Gavin, call together the war council." He ordered, letting us through as the other guard ran off. Emma was stopped by Grawon before she could follow us inside, "It's good to see you Emma dear, however, you can't take part in this." He pointed at a tent nearby, "That's the canteen. Mister Veres is there, he's in my cohort. Tell him I sent you and he'll give you some food. You need it."

The girl's eyes widened at the sound of food, and she was gone before I could blink. The centurion was smiling, but as he noticed I was watching him, the smile disappeared.

Entering the large tent, a mostly empty interior greeted us. Only a long table surrounded by chairs and multiple blackboards filled the void. Some of those blackboards had plans scribbled upon them, maps of the city pinned to them and redrawn dozens of times as buildings fell into ruin. On another one was a list, upon closer inspection revealing itself to be a list of names.

There were dozens, if not hundreds on it as I scanned the document, each name unknown.

Except for one.

There, in big letters was someone who I had not so long ago seen.

Praetor Harrison Trainor.

"Sophia..." I muttered anxiously, and the daughter of Athena picked up on that. She strode over and looked at me.

"What did you find?" She asked.

Saying nothing, I pointed at the name, and she frowned. Then she realized what she was looking at.

"Viscount! What-"

We both turned towards the centurion, only to find him clutching his helmet in his hand, staring at us solemnly.

"We lost many people on the first day... But please, wait until everyone is here before you ask questions. Everything will be explained, and topics like that are best brought up only once."

A tear welled up in the corner of the daughter of Athena's eye, but she wiped it away before it could drop. Nico could only raise an eyebrow in confusion as he walked over and I showed him what I had found.

Ten minutes passed by slowly, made worse by the questions bouncing around in my head, just waiting to be answered. Sophia was tapping her foot impatiently, while I counted how many taps she did. Losing count at a hundred and twenty-six, I had to start again. While we waited, men and women of various ages trickled into the room, all of them wearing the same expression. Sadness.

The very last person to enter the tent was Gloria. Her glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, slightly lopsided, and her Camp Jupiter shirt was roughly mended in places, but she still held herself with pride.

"Welcome, officers and guests." Viscount said once the praetor took her seat, "Praetor Gloria Krinster, the floor is yours."

"Thank you, centurion." Gloria said, holding her head for a bit, "These past few days have been incredibly trying, and I thank all of you for working together with each other to get defences set up, and to turn this place into a functional camp. Friends from Camp Half-Blood, I welcome you... But do tell me why you arrived. We're not exactly in the best of positions to receive guests right now."

I looked at Sophia, as did Nico, and she nodded, stepping forward.

"Shortly after our return to Camp Half-Blood, we held a war council. After some deliberation and following the orders coming from Olympus, we were sent to help out. Daniel-" She pointed at me, "He's the leader of this quest." And with that, all focus was now on me, much to my pleasure.

"Daniel Greenfield, it's good to see you here, though I'd be happier if the reason for this encounter wouldn't be because of the civil war."

"As would I, Praetor," I smirked sadly.

"Tell us about your journey."

"We started out from New York, travelling by bus that was meant to arrive today, possibly tomorrow. Things, however, didn't go the way we wanted them to. During our trip, we were attacked by Dolos, who held both the Nemean Lion and the Stymphalian birds under his command. We were badly wounded, but we managed to barely pull through. Unfortunately, we lost the weapons we were bringing with us to aid you, but we managed to salvage the medical supplies from it, so tell us who we should give the supplies to, and we'll hand them off."

"Thank you, we desperately need everything we can get. We'll talk with Vespasian, and you can give him the supplies tomorrow... Now, please continue."

"We continued our journey after that without incident. That reminds me... I have a pet, a gift from my father, that might return at any moment. She'll fly overhead, probably silently, but I'd rather she not set off any alarms unnecessarily."

"We'll inform the guards, Flavius?"

"On it!" The centurion said, jogging out of the tent.

"Thank you!" I called after him, remembering where I had left off, "We arrived at the Caldecott tunnel entrance..." I sighed, remembering the sights, "I'd rather not speak about what we saw there, I assume everyone can figure that out for themselves. As the city came into view, we noticed it was alight and rushed to help. Our first plan had been to climb to the top of the Colosseum, and Nico, who is the son of Poseidon, could smother the flames with the lake's water. However, we met resistance at the Forum Romanum, so he was forced to climb the market hall instead, from where he successfully extinguished the flames."

"I made a deal with the lake's nymph, but I don't know how much we have to worry about that."

"Serene? I'm surprised after everything that's happened you could even talk with her. The deal will be a bridge we'll cross when we get there."

"Ah, we also saved a little girl, Emma Hirsch, I think Viscount called her. She's currently at the canteen."

"Gavin has already informed her parents, and last I saw them they were happily reunited..." She smiled, "We need all the hope we can get. I think I speak for everyone when I say that your arrival has already done us a massive favour."

All three of us bowed our heads slightly in acknowledgement, before Sophia spoke again, "But what happened? There's a lot that I don't understand."

"Where to begin?" She thought, her eyes tearing up, "What you saw on Olympus was happening in real-time. The moment we returned, all five of us rushed to join in the defence of the city. The battle was bloody, we were overwhelmed and wholly unprepared from the beginning. Not to mention that we were betrayed."

"The Augur."

Gloria nodded once more, "I'm guessing Viscount already mentioned him. Christopher Stevens' name is one we avoid now, calling him only The Augur. He is not the same person that we knew before... He was the one who started the civil war, tricking Terminus and trapping him, then detonating a bomb in the senate house, killing most of the senators who had been inside. That had been the signal to attack, after which thousands of monsters breached our borders and struck against the defences of our camp, pouring through the tunnel and over the hills like a flood. Cynocephali, the dog-headed men, and the two-headed warriors who we've come to call the bicephali made up the bulk of the main force, led by the exiles of our camp and mercenaries. We lost a good portion of the legion trying to hold them off, finally evacuating the city and retreating to the field. We were ignored after that, the monsters instead razing the city and killing all those that had been too slow to leave. Harrison was just one of the many losses that day, I guess it's somewhat of a blessing that they captured several of our people as prisoners. As far as we know, they're being held in the Augur's fort on Temple Hill." She balled up her fists, and I saw her struggle to hold back from punching the table. Finally, her fist unclenched, "How the Gods haven't struck him down yet for his insolence, I'm not sure. That day, we lost a portion of our armoury, our entire unicorn stock and the few horses we had. Food has also gotten scarce, a problem we hope to overcome by contacting our sponsors, but so far we've failed to reach them."

"Where can we help?" I asked, determined to give them more than just a few squares of ambrosia.

"For a few more days we'll be constructing this camp. Latrines, showers and watchtowers, plus whatever else is needed. The aqueduct is pretty much intact, and the Augur's troops are far from it, so I'm sure our engineers can hook it up to our camp."

"If holes are what you need us to dig, we'll do just that. Sophia over here has dabbled in engineering so I'm sure she can help out there."

"The legion is more than capable of doing these tasks, if anything it'll keep their minds off of our situation if they're allowed to build a bit. I could, however, picture you helping us with training the troops." Viscount got up from his seat, Gloria giving him a quizzical look.

"What do you mean?"

"As the praetor mentioned, a lot of our troops were captured and taken to Temple Hill. The Ambassador of Pluto, some of the college students and Centurion Julius Mrowski are all held there. Along with the losses suffered during the battle, few of us remain who were in active service before the war. I hope I offend no one when I say that we're out of shape, and I haven't even talked about the civilians and veterans that rejoined the legion out of desperation. We'd have easily managed to take The Augur's fortress half a week ago, but... That was a long time ago and a lot has happened since then."

"How bad is the situation?"

"There are two, maybe three hundred legionaries left who were active before the war. Most have been regrouped in the first cohort, but the other four are filled with our new volunteers, giving us roughly a thousand soldiers to work with. We also have our lares, who've been useful for scouting, but ever since New Rome fell into ruin, they've slowly started disappearing. We're not sure if they're ever going to return, but we can't count on them for much longer if they continue to raze the city at the rate they're currently doing it. The fauns living in the city, along with about a hundred or so citizens tried escaping over the hills. We know that monsters patrol the border, so we're not sure if they managed to make it across safely. Hopefully, they did."

"The eagles? Lupa?"

"The eagles left, and Lupa hasn't sent us any aid. This is a civil war, they are unsure of which side they should take, no matter how obvious it might seem to us."

"And what exactly can we do that the centurions can't?"

"We need every officer we have to coordinate the camp's defences, plus it's best if they're actually a part of the cohort rather than standing before it. Maybe you can also teach us something new, that the enemy wouldn't expect from us."

I sighed, scratching my head. How the Romans fought was beyond me, and by the look on Nico's face, I wasn't alone. Maybe Sophia could help us out, "We'll try our best, I do have one request though."

"Yes?"

"The Greeks. I heard that some of them are in this camp. They shouldn't fight as a part of the legion. They've been training for way too long in a different sort of fighting style to suddenly retrain them to fight like Romans."

Viscount and Gloria looked at each other.

"If you can get your fellow campers to perform as well as our cohorts do, then I see no problem, but I'd rather not have them go their separate ways otherwise. I do not want them to be a hindrance to our legion's working order."

"We'll tell them this. Thank you." I smiled.

"It should be us thanking you." She said, smiling back, "We hope that we can get over this problem soon."

I didn't know how to reply, but there was no need, as one of the centurions, sensing the end of the conversation, launched into a report about what his scouting group had found. Two more centurions spoke up, including Viscount, Flavius returning to the tent mid-report. Centurion Grawon stuck pins into the map nearest to him, each colour symbolizing something.

There was a distressing amount of red pins, marking where the scouts had spotted enemies, while green pins showed safe buildings and the few yellow pins told everyone which areas were inaccessible because of rubble. A rough frontline was drawing itself out on the map, the occasional blue marker showing potential outpost locations.

The war council came to a close shortly after, the centurions quickly leaving as Gloria walked over to us. She said nothing as she embraced Sophia, a tear streaking down her grimy face. In a way, the two of them weren't so different. Both preferred showing a brave face in front of everyone, even if it meant ignoring their own emotions.

Nothing more was said as they let go of one another, and after a final grateful nod in our direction, she stepped outside. Flavius waited by the door, fiddling with his belt.

"Come, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."

He led us past tents that looked completely the same, down barely illuminated paths that twisted and turned at random, until we found ourselves in front of a tent. A dim light came from inside.

He turned around, ready to leave, but I saw his smile wither and his shoulders droop a bit.

"I'd like to thank you as well." He muttered, "Our situation doesn't look too bright right now, but we saw the water on patrol, and the guards also watched the scene in the camp. By tomorrow, everyone will know about you three, and with such an explosive entrance, who knows what more you'll be doing? Just your lineage alone-" He pointed at me, "I mean, son of the Lord of Chaos? The Augur'll be trembling in his boots once he hears about that." He chuckled, and I smiled along with him, "I've also had the pleasure to hear about the fantastic strategists that the children of Athena make, so you'll probably find yourself talking with Viscount and Grawon about our next moves. As for the son of Poseidon? You're a child of the big three! We don't worship Neptune the same way Greeks worship Poseidon, that much is true, but everyone knows about the last son of Poseidon who came to camp and knows how powerful he was. You are his legacy, and I assume you are no different."

We all smiled at him until I broke the silence.

"We'll surely try our best to help you, I just hope it'll be enough."

"Have faith in your powers, I sure as hell do. Now, have a good night's rest, and mingle a bit with your friends." He walked off into the darkness, leaving the three of us standing before the tent.

I looked at my companions.

"Who do you think is inside? Who made it?"

"Let's just rip it off like a bandaid... There's nothing we can do about it anyway." Nico croaked.

Zipping it open, familiar faces stared at us from inside. Faces from camp, though dirty and tired, but still very much alive.

"Guys?" Bob Kranit stood up from his bed, "What on earth are you doing here?"

Not everyone's name came to mind as they came over and greeted us, and some of the people who I had expected to be inside were absent. Alina Rowland from the Hebe cabin kissed me on the cheek before Felix slapped me heartily on the back.

We quickly brought them up to date on what was going on back home and why we were there before Nico asked the question on the three of our minds.

"Where are the others?"

Robert and Hector were just two of the people not amongst them who I knew for a fact were studying at the college.

"This is all of us that are left. Twelve Demigods." Bob muttered, "As far as I'm aware, nobody died, but everyone else was captured."

"Fuck... We've already spoken with the Romans... We'll try our damndest to get them back."

"We know you will, and we'll try to help out where we can." He grimaced, "But come, settle down, you're probably tired as all hell."

Setting our bags down on three empty bunks, we started unpacking and undressing. The tent wasn't the best in terms of heating, but it was surprisingly warm thanks to the others inside. A small fire danced in the very middle, giving off some heat, probably the work of the Hecate cabin counsellor.

As we lay down, the others also took their places, the occasional question coming our way, but silence slowly overcame the entire tent. Bob clicked his fingers once, and the fire dimmed until it was completely dark inside.

"Goodnight guys... We can do this." I muttered, hearing half a dozen replies, among them Nico and Sophia.

Before I even knew it, my eyelids were closing.