I opened my eyes, only to find that it was still dark. It felt different though, and it took me a while to realise what had changed. No lights filtered in through the tent's walls, and the sound of thousands of others living in the camp was all gone.

Almost as an afterthought, I realised I was no longer laying in a bed, instead, I was curled up on cold, hard stone.

Wherever I was, it sure as hell wasn't the Roman camp.

"Oh gods, don't let this be a dream," I muttered, closing my eyes again. I'd never experienced a demigod dream thus far, so I counted myself amongst the incredibly lucky. Of course, my father had told me what to expect if I ever did get one, and while I had prepared myself for the worst every time I went to sleep, it wasn't exactly helping now.

Normal demigods would get dreams that could show them parts of the past, present or future. They can reopen old wounds, or help in making decisions. According to my father, I'd get nightmare versions of these dreams, visions that could drive most other people mad. He had told me even he wasn't sure how true that would be, but how wrong could the Lord of Creation really be?

I wasn't looking forward to this.

Nothing happened for what felt like forever, every second feeling like an hour in the endless darkness.

"Open your eyes." A deep voice rumbled all around me, one that I recognized instantly. It belonged to my father, Ragnos.

I slowly did what I had been told, white light now illuminating my surroundings. The walls and the floor I lay on were made out of black bricks, as for the roof... There was none to speak of. Replacing it was the infinite starry sky.

Sitting up, I looked around the chamber I was in, spotting the source of light... A gigantic metal throne. Black and emitting enough power to cause every hair on my body to stand on end, two large braziers glowed with white flames either side of it.

Everything around me was made out of chaos, I could feel it deep down. The gentle tug in my stomach with every small move, the tingling in my fingertips... The buzz of power in my ear suddenly grew louder, and my attention was drawn to the figure now sitting on the throne, having appeared there in the blink of an eye.

It was so big there were no words to describe its size, but its size could put mountains to shame.

Black eyes, black skin, black everything. Would it not have been for the light of the braziers, it would've blended in with its surroundings. Then again, its robes gave off the same faint white glow that my swords usually emitted, although that little detail was almost completely lost in the powerful light of the white flames.

"Welcome home, son," My father said, gesturing around himself, "We have much to discuss, and there is little time for it. Please... Follow me."

He got up from his throne and shrank in the blink of an eye, disappearing from sight. Before I could process what was happening, I felt the tugging sensation in my gut strengthen tenfold a split second before I was pulled across miles of terrain in the span of two breaths. I opened my eyes standing at the base of the Mount Everest-sized throne, my father regally waiting beside me, much smaller yet still towering over me by at least half a head.

"How in the-"

"Some other time. Let us go that way." He told me, pointing down a corridor that was relatively normal-sized.

"Where we going?" I asked once we had entered the corridor. Every step my father took looked precise and royal, his hands clutched behind his back. Compared to me, he looked like a nobleman. Then again, striding after him with hands stashed in my pockets wasn't exactly helping me look the part of a royal.

"Nowhere in particular, but I have never really been given the chance to walk side-by-side with my son thus far, and I fear there will be few times in the future where it will be possible." He looked at me with a smile, and I smiled back, though I quickly broke eye contact. Even after spending half a year with my father, talking to him through the mirror and learning the secrets of the world that were previously hidden from me, his features were still unnerving to look at.

"Sorry, dad, I'm trying my best to-"

"Do not worry about it... I hope this form of myself will be more comfortable to look at." He said and I looked over to see a normal-looking man.

He had black hair, strands of white dotted here and there seemingly at random, and he was lean, not like it meant much. He still had godly strength running through his veins, so no matter what he looked like, he'd still be able to send you into orbit with a simple flick.

Ever so slowly, I realised why his face looked so familiar. Every time I looked into the mirror, those features were what stared back at me more or less, without the godly perfection.

"Why do you look like me?"

"My face?" He smiled, "Thus far, what you have seen is how I prefer to look whenever I am in my realm, but it is in this form that I met your mother. She knew who I was, of course, but my true looks were too much for her, so this was how I made her feel comfortable."

"She knew that you were a god?"

"Yes. Mortals can always find new ways to surprise me, your mother singlehandedly responsible for many of those events. The knowledge that I was a primordial had shocked her, but she had taken it well. The reason she sacrificed herself to save you that fateful night... Besides motherly love, was because she knew how important you were."

I didn't want those memories to resurface, my face probably giving that away.

"I am sorry." He sighed, "I did not mean to go into such detail... Let us leave this topic, it is not why I brought you here anyway."

"Then why?"

"I know you have been looking at newspapers, trying to find clues about what is going on in the mythological world, however, things have yet to become bad enough for the mortals to pick up on it. Today, the Lord of the Underworld's army was defeated, Hades himself retreating from his lost realm to Olympus. Unfortunately, the other inhabitants of the underworld weren't so lucky. Be careful whose name you use, because you can never know where their allegiances stand. Remember, names have power."

"I've heard that one before," I muttered, "What am I to do with this information?"

"It may still come useful in the future, especially when I tell you that the souls of the damned have escaped the underworld and have flooded the streets of Los Angeles, the fighting still going on even as you sleep. There is little the mortals can do against those that are already supposedly dead."

"Fucking hell..." I muttered, rubbing my bristly face absentmindedly, "There must be something... or someone behind all of this! Titans? Giants? Maybe Gaia again?"

"No... He is a much bigger threat than Kronos ever was, or Gaia for that matter. He is fuelled by revenge, pulling himself straight from the depths of the earth and bringing with him every enemy of the gods ever banished to there."

Sophia

Sleep came unsurprisingly easily as I felt varying parts of my body groan in response to even the smallest of movements, bruised and exhausted from the events of the past few days. Not just the fighting, but the weight of losing so many people I had known. People who had decades of life before them had this civil war never happened.

I couldn't let my brain start thinking about that, otherwise, I'd not get a wink of sleep.

My eyes fluttered open suddenly, only for them to snap shut once more, my surroundings blindingly white. No longer was I laying in a bed, but rather on cold, hard stone.

With a grunt and a muted curse, I slowly opened them once more, grimacing at the painfully bright light.

"Get up, Sophia." The voice was familiar, and I sat up, squinting for a few seconds as I got used to the lighting, only to find myself staring at the empty throne of Demeter, "We're over here." This time, my eyes snapped onto my mother, standing beside the King of the Gods and...

"What's Lord Hades doing here?" The ruler of the Underworld turned around on his stone chair, sullenly looking in my direction with sunken eyes. He looked depressed, even more so than what was normal for him. Without saying anything else, he spun back around to face Zeus.

As I got up, I realised I wasn't wearing the clothes I had gone to bed in. Rather than some comfortable jeans and a typical orange Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt, a flowery pink gown reaching down to the ground was draped around me.

Taking a step forward, I felt my feet lose traction with the ground, and before I could react to what was happening, I was staring at the roof. Stone was far from the softest material to fall onto, something which a stream of curses confirmed for the other members in the chamber. A tingling sensation intensified all over my skin, and I shuddered.

"Sophia..." My mother warned, and an invisible force lifted me up off of the ground, "Remember... You are in the throne room of the gods, behave accordingly..." She sighed as I was pulled closer, "Then again, I do have to agree with your reaction. Slippers are far from the best footwear you can wear here."

"Whose idea was this get-up anyway?" I asked, indignantly pulling at the gown.

"Aphrodite. Normally it'd be Apollo's duty, but... Well, no matter the circumstances he'd have similarly terrible ideas on how to dress up those demigods that are brought here during sleep."

Compared to the two other deities in the chamber, my mother was human-sized, though still very much elegantly dressed, her brown hair tied neatly in a bun.

That always annoyed me every time I saw her. Almost all children of Athena that I knew had blonde hair, while our Mother was generally a brunette. The few times I had ever left the camp borders for some reason or other, I had always met at least one person that had to adhere to the dumb blonde stereotype... And that's not even talking about the new kids that didn't take me seriously until I kicked their ass in at least one duel.

Save for Daniel. Then again, he had seen me fly in on pegasus-back to kill a drakon... That, if anything, had a fantastic effect on dispelling all stereotypes that could surround me.

"There must be a reason as to why I was called here... Why?"

"We have to discuss some complications that have arisen..." Athena said, walking towards the two brothers.

"Like?"

"I will leave it to Lord Zeus and Lord Hades to explain." She replied, "It is they who wished to speak with you, personally."

Personally...

I wasn't sure whether to feel honoured or terrified.

Striding over to stand before the two of them, I bowed, taking deep breaths to calm myself.

"Lord Zeus... Lord Hades." Zeus acknowledged my greeting with a slight tip of the head, but Hades only looked at me with an unfocused and distant gaze. He'd always looked gloomy and pale but this was on another level. He looked sickly, "Lord Hades?" I asked, concerned.

He finally looked at me, "I lost everything. I'm powerless." He muttered, staring at his hands.

"What happened?" I glanced between the two of them and my mother.

"The end, that's what!" He whispered like a crazed lunatic, Zeus putting a calming hand on his shoulder.

"She has to be told. The mortals must know." Mom told the King of the Gods. So maybe it hadn't been Zeus' idea after all.

"That boy of Ragnos probably already knows..." He grumbled. Athena glared at Zeus in a way that would've caused anyone else to piss themselves in terror, "Alright, alright... Since you're so insistent. Sophia Whitefield, you were brought here before us so we can inform you that everyone... Every single mortal, whether living or dead, is in danger."

"I'm sorry?" A chill ran down my spine, and I took a hesitant step backwards.

"The happenings of the solstice were no feat of petty magic, the images projected through the flames no illusion..." Zeus sighed, "Half a day ago, the underworld was overrun by a vast horde of monsters. This was no phalanx of dracaenae or even a battalion of drakons, no... Our enemies have combined arms to bring Olympus down."

"Has Kronos returned, or the giants or-"

"Tartarus has risen."

I choked on my spittle, completely cutting me off from voicing the rest of my thoughts. Through teary eyes, in a fit of coughing, I looked between the immortal members of my family, waiting for one of them to crack up.

"Hah... This- This- How... I-I-" I couldn't find the proper words to form a coherent sentence. My mind was a mess, multiple trains of thought racing down various tracks, only to crash and burn as they collided violently in a blaze of glory.

"This is the truth, I'm-"

"This isn't something to take lightly!" Hades suddenly roared, standing up and pacing between Ares' and Poseidon's throne, "Every single monster, every Titan, Primordial and Giant, every mortal that we've wronged in some way have joined his side. My beautiful wife, Persephone, has been reduced to the personal slave of Alcyoneus, while Hypnos tries his best to keep out of harm's way and Thanatos remains in hiding, an eternity of pain and suffering waiting for him if he is ever caught. And to top it all off, even your daughters are in captivity, Zeus!" He finished, pointing a bony finger at him.

"Don't call them that!" Zeus quickly blurted out, before looking around at the rest of the room and composing himself.

"Ah, right, you prefer the name Moirae. No matter, Clotho, Atropos and Lachesis, all three of them are locked up, effectively allowing Tartarus to control Fate the moment the three old women are broken. My Furies have gone from jailers to being in jail themselves, and all of the new prisoners of the Fields of Punishment are guarded by Kampê, so escape is impossible."

"Fuck..."

"Indeed." Athena agreed, her face neutral, even after all the things Hades had mentioned.

"But what am I to do with this information? I can't deal with one primordial on my own, much less multiple! No matter how many demigods we can gather against them, or however many swords and shields we can forge, we'd simply be swept away by the first wave they send against us. Gaia was only defeated because she was taken by surprise, had only just awoken and luck had been on our side. Tartarus has an army backing him up, and he's playing things smart. We could fight, but it'd be like a gnat biting the hide of a drakon."

"We take things one step at a time... I'm afraid Ella's knowledge about prophecies has run dry, and we have no other oracles to work with, so we are completely blind going into this. Right now, we want you to stop Christopher Stevens and his plans to take over New Rome. If the Romans are free from this problem, then can the next step come." Zeus said.

"This is all too much... I'm no leader- I'm-I'm."

A strong palm grabbed each of my shoulders and turned me around. I was looking into my mother's striking grey eyes.

"You are my daughter. That alone should qualify you for the job."

"Come on! How can you, the goddess of wisdom, think that?! I couldn't even take care of a fucking hat. Generations of counsellors before me had managed to do so just fine, and then along come I." I wiped away a tear angrily, trying to shrug off my Athena's hands, but her grip was strong.

"You still have much to learn, Sophia. That hat was as much a tool as a sword or shield. A tool, that had no special history..."

"What?" I focused back on her.

"Think back... Did the other counsellors before you have that cap?"

"No... But you said it had been lost for some time, and now it's time it was found again. Those were the exact words you used when you handed it to me."

"It was a white lie... You looked up to her just as much as your siblings did. She wasn't born a hero, but rather through time and triumph became one. She did have a cap similar to yours, but history has a way of leaving out the tiny details, for instance, which baseball team's hat it was." The tiniest of smiles played across her lips, and I couldn't help but smirk along, "Yes, it wasn't Annabeth's cap... It was yours, and yours alone. True, it has now been lost, but as I mentioned, it is just a tool, nothing more. You don't cry after a sword, a shield or a helmet, therefore the hat is no different."

"All this time, I thought I had some great heirloom. Every time I put it on, I was scared I'd rip it or break it..." I shook my head, the last of my tears drying up.

"You are my daughter, with or without a hat, just like Annabeth was... But you aren't Annabeth, you are Sophia... Minerva Whitefield. You've got your own story to write and your own triumphs to be victorious over."

The use of my middle name shocked me. I never used it, not since dad had passed away, the name too close of a connection to him for me to use it during every introduction. It'd only just unearth memories I was trying my best to keep buried.

I hugged her, and though hesitantly at first, she returned the gesture.

As I pulled away from the embrace, feeling sad as her warm body stepped away from mine, I couldn't help but think about the rough journey I still had waiting for me to complete. The rough journey we'd have, for that matter, because if anyone, Daniel most probably had a role to play in all this.

"Best of luck to you, Sophia Whitefield, daughter of Athena," Zeus said whilst patting the shoulder of an agitated Hades, who had once again taken a seat.

Athena's finger snapped once, and everything went dark.

Daniel

"But-" I felt my mouth dry up.

What could you even say to that?

"He had helped Gaia during the Second Giant War, but due to the intervention of Perseus Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Damasen the Giant and Iapetus, the Doors of Death were unchained, causing Tartarus to fail his significant other. Her destruction and the failure of the war was enough of an incentive for him to leave his realm to defeat the Olympians himself."

I gulped, "So what can we do?"

"On your own... Not much. Tartarus is a primordial, with an army which can back him up. He'll try his best to split the gods up by attacking their individual realms. Hades has already lost to him, and with the control of the Underworld returning to Erebus and Alcyoneus, all his power has dissipated to the point where a mortal could put up a good fight against him. As we speak, Poseidon and the army of the sea are following in Hades' footsteps, their last battle creeping ever closer. Once the two brothers are lost, the third will be targeted. Zeus will not be safe for long, especially if he loses further members of his family to skirmishes."

"So are we just going to watch? Put on the 3D glasses, grab a bag of popcorn, and look at the lovely explosions as a primordial, who is technically my brother, turns everything I've ever known and loved to dust?!"

"I did not say anything along those lines. Fate has long ago spoken about your accomplishments... You will unite everyone. The allies of Olympus against the enemies of the gods. A final battle, one that the world has never seen to this date. The journey to it will not be easy, and neither will the last of your trials."

"I'm seventeen, not a god who has lived for aeons! I can't unify jack, yet you ask me to get the goodies to work together against the baddies." My hands flapped in the air angrily, "Fucking hell..."

"Fate has foretold everything, I assure you, but I cannot reveal anything important. She is a fickle force, and should you know what she has decreed before it is to happen, it would not come to fruition. Remember, however, that good and bad can and will blur into one. Just because someone fights for the same reason you do, it doesn't make them good... And the opposite is true for what you just called baddies. As your progress down your path, you will figure this out for yourself."

I never knew my father to be such a philosopher. What he was telling me was terrifying. I mean, he had just informed me that the world was going to end, and everything depended on me. Who wouldn't want to curl up into a ball, and cry themselves to sleep?

Yet I felt nothing, other than a small quickening of my heartbeat. It sounded so absurd, so out of my league that I couldn't process what it all meant.

As I walked silently beside the primordial deity that was my father, a dark figure emerged from a side hallway.

Two and a half meters tall at least, clad in black plate armour from head to toe and carrying a large jagged sword on its back, its two white eyes peered out from small slits in its helmet.

It stopped before us, and dad looked at it.

"Yes, Jarion?" Came the voice of Ragnos in my head. It sounded different to how he spoke, though I couldn't put a finger on what the actual difference was.

"Lord, I bring ill news. A contingent of troops was attacked as they marched to defensive positions. None survived." The being, who was clearly a man by the sound of his voice, boomed.

"I am going at once. Dismissed."

"Who-" I asked as the man disappeared into black smoke.

"Jarion, my right hand. It is not important right now. You have to return to your sleep, but you must know that everything that is happening, does so for a reason. Tartarus is behind it all, it was he who gave the command for Dolos to hunt you, but the fool was unused to demigods and paid for it with a wound that hurt both his physical form and his pride. This civil war in Rome is the doing of your brother as well. Assaulting the Fortress of the Augur is necessary, but it would end in bloodshed for the Romans. As we speak, I have ordered Pandora to bring help. They will arrive in due time, but until then, you know what to do."

"No... And who will arrive?"

He simply smiled, "Goodbye, son. Until next time." He waved his hand before my face, and I was tumbling backwards, unable to move my limbs. Preparing myself for a sickening crunch as my head cracked open on the black stone floor, I was surprised when nothing happened for minutes on end, just weightlessness as I fell endlessly.

I closed my eyes, and just like that, I was asleep once more.

Nico

"Fuck!" I exclaimed, bolting upright as a rumble rocked the foundation of the very earth I was laying on. My voice sounded different. In fact, everything around me felt different.

For starters, I was underwater wearing blue-green pyjamas. A small shoal of fish swam through the window of the abalone hut I had woken up in, frantic, and talking incoherently.

I knew where I was, the sensation of power and the design of this house, it was all very familiar.

Poseidon's domain.

Almost everything was the same from previous visits, save for one detail. Carried along with the water's current was the sound of battle. A roar bounced off of the multitude of abalone huts as I climbed through the window, accompanied by the shaking of the ground.

"What the hell..." I trailed off, finally managing to take a good look at what was happening.

Many of the huts that had served as homes for merfolk were destroyed or burning green. My father's palace was in the same state, with a part of it already turned into loose rubble.

I had seen this picture in the flames during the solstice, but up until this point, I had pushed it to the back of my mind hoping for it all to just be an illusion.

A sea serpent of mindboggling size swam past two dozen chariots pulled by sharks and hippocampi and filled with merpeople. It made an oil tanker look like a toy, and of course, it made the sea-creature-drawn vehicles look like specks of dust.

Its head was elongated, much like a crocodile's and a single horn stuck up from above its nose, making it look like a demented underwater unicorn. Its entire body was covered in such a thick layer of moss that if it would've laid on the ocean floor without moving, I would've mistaken it for an inanimate rock face or an underwater forest.

Instead of front legs, it had large fins, the other end of its body splitting up into a forest of tentacles. It propelled itself forward with one strong kick of its back limbs, and all chariots within a half-kilometre radius were turned into debris.

Its new target was the palace, and with a terrifying roar, it opened its mouth to the point where it could've swallowed the building in two gulps. Hundreds of teeth glinted in its maw, each one serrated and the size of a blue whale.

I felt my teeth clench as the monster raced towards the home of my father with astonishing speed, when suddenly a blue light erupted through the roof, and down the throat of the beast, lighting it up from the inside like a budget lava lamp. In a matter of seconds, the godly ray of light passed through the far side of the monster, tearing gigantic tentacles off and creating a cloud of golden ichor before the entire creature dissolved into hundreds of tonnes of dust, curtain-sized bits of skin and smaller teeth the size of pick-up trucks, all of which slowly settled on the palace and its surroundings.

Clearing my mind with a shake of the head, I propelled myself forward, using my powers to speed through the water.

Passing medical areas which had been frantically set up for treating merpeople and cyclopes, I finally entered the palace, quickly remembering which direction his throne room was. As I swam inside, my heart fell even more.

The commanders of Poseidon's forces stood around a table, a live map of the battle raging around us spread out on the abalone surface. Triton was the first figure I focused on, his distinctive twin tails similarly covered in celestial bronze plates as was the rest of his body.

Delphin, the god of the Dolphins, floated beside him, in deep conversation with a merman who I didn't recognize. Between Amphitrite and the conversing deities were two more... Well, I didn't know what to call them.

Both of them were bluish-green-skinned humans from the waist up, with a similarly green-skinned body of a horse from the waist down and a large fishtail for hind legs. One of them was tall, with muscles that would put any Ares or Hephaestus camper to shame. A large broadsword was sheathed on his back, and a strange-looking helmet was set before him. I didn't understand the purpose of the protective gear, as his afro seemed thick enough to stop any blow. From the jungle of hair, two lobster claws stood out like strange horns. The water's gentle current moved them around in such a way that it looked like they were begging for freedom, and it took all of my willpower to not swim over to him to help free them.

The other fish-centaur was much shorter and less muscled, his long, wavy hair tied back with a bandana and a sword and shield were strapped to his back.

How they could move in the water was a question that intrigued me quite a bit, but it seemed like it was not the best time to ask. My immortal stepmother stood beside a wrinkly old man, his back so bent that he could've been the living representation of a question mark.

With horror, it dawned on me who I was looking at.

Poseidon.

"Nicholas?" He croaked, the first person to notice me standing there.

"What in the name of Olympus happened here?" I asked, looking around the table.

"Where to begin?" He chuckled sadly, "I could go on and on to tell you about every minute of this infernal fight, but I'll get right to the point instead. We're facing a rebellion against me... Against Olympus itself, and we're not doing well with keeping it in check."

"First the Romans, and now here?"

"This is no simple mortal fight, brother." Triton grunted, "Oceanus, Polybotes, Ceto and Phorcys... You name any water entity that we've wronged and they're here. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Great Uncle Pontus himself didn't awake from his sleep to fight against us."

Amphitrite gave him an angry look as Poseidon deflated with every name.

"How-"

"We don't know, but it's not the how we're worried about right now," Delphin answered.

"We have a battle to join! Millions are dying right now, and we're here discussing semantics." Triton exclaimed, pulling out a trident which extended in his hand.

"Lord Poseidon, your son does make a good point. We need to join our troops. We can still make a difference." Said the thinner of the two fish-centaurs.

"You're right, Bythos... Join the rest of your heroes. Delphin, Triton, before you join the fight I want you two to coordinate the counter-attack."

"What do you want me to do, father?" He bowed his head.

"Tell General Tyson to leave the forges and to lead the remaining cyclopes to help Briares, after which get your sister to the northern ridge... Send Palaemon and his legions to protect her while she stirs up a storm big enough to help us."

"Yes, father." Triton nodded, swimming after Bythos. The other fish-centaur followed them at a distance, tagging along with the merman and Delphin.

"Let's show them that messing with us was a bad idea, huh Bill? We'll be back in time for brownies." The centaur said, slapping the merman on the shoulder.

"Why'd you not mention brownies before? That's bound to lift our spirits. Especially Weissmuller's."

All of them chuckled, before picking up the pace and leaving.

"Amphitrite, help me get my chariot ready," Poseidon said, looking at his wife.

"Poseidon, you are in no shape to fight! Look at-"

"DAMN IT, I WILL NOT LET MY KINGDOM FALL WHILE I WATCH FROM AFAR LIKE SOME SICKLY OLD MORTAL." He roared, and I couldn't figure out if the walls were shaking because of gargantuan creatures crashing against the seabed outside, or because my father had broken the sound barrier with his voice.

My stepmother simply frowned.

"Dad... Let me help, please." I said, swimming close to him.

"You can't." He spat, floating towards a corridor that was half-collapsed. I wasn't sure if he had meant it to sound the way he had, or if it was just the last trickle of anger from his previous outburst, but those words stung either way. He stopped, and his shoulder drooped a bit. "I didn't mean it like that." He said with a sigh, "You're an amazing fighter, but I want you out of harm's way. Your friends need you, especially those with you on this quest. However much it pains me to say this, but the child of Athena is probably better informed about things happening in the outside world than I am."

"Come on! Look at yourself! Gods don't look like this, let me help!"

He looked at me, annoyance flaring up on his face before he cracked a grin.

"You're like your mother, never wanting to back down. My empire is on the brink of destruction... I-I can feel it, and I'm not stupid. We're outnumbered... I'm not going to cower in a hole while my friends and people die for me. It's better that I take as many monsters to the bottom of Tartarus before I am lost. With any luck, they won't come back for millennia, that way the land will be safe from the wrath of the sea's new master."

He looked at the floor, before smiling, a minuscule bubble or two floating away from his eyes. The closest you could get to tears underwater.

I was looking at a god that knew he was going into a battle he wouldn't be winning, and he was okay with that. He had watched thousands of his children die across many centuries, yet he was putting on a brave face for both me and Amphitrite... And only for us. I wasn't going to be changing his mind about anything, and I knew it.

"Please-"

"No!" He said sternly, "Now... Sleep. Remember that deep down, you'll always have a connection to the sea."

He waved his hand in front of my face, and I was gone.

The last image I had of my father was his withered, battered face wearing a sad smile.

I felt tears run down my cheek as I lay in the darkness of the tent, warming my face up from the winter's cold seeping inside.