"I see..." Percy nodded looking around, "and why exactly did he decide to go crazy?"
"Watch your tongue boy!" Nemesis yelled out as she slammed her hand into the table. She looked around 50 with a leather jacket and a bandana tied around her grey straw like hair. She wore red sunglasses behind which her eyes glowed like two ball of fire, "Morpheus is one of us! He most certainly did not go crazy!"
Percy narrowed his eyes at the goddess, "he made all the children of the Gods fall asleep. Some of them were working on something, he'll just a few minutes before my friends fell asleep we was fighting a demon, imagine if they had all dropped to the ground, they wouldn't have lasted a second. The demon would have ripped them into pieces."
Nemesis growled, "he isn't crazy."
"Yes, he is."
"Enough," Eirene, the goddess of peace whispered. Her voice was small and gentle, but everyone heard it. Slowly the anger that took over Nemesis's face went away as she sat back down. "We have not come here to discuss Morpheus's actions. We have come to try and save our children."
"And we must stay focused on target," Eunomia finished.
Percy sighed, "fine. Why did he do this in the first place?"
"Because he believed it was the only way to keep the demigod's safe," Harmonia spoke. She was the goddess of harmony, and unlike the other humanoid deities in the room she wasn't exactly normal. Harmonia took on the form of a snake with a pair of 60's purple shades stuck over her eyes and a rainbow bandana over her crown. Percy would have been freaked out a little bit, but after seeing talkings dog's, underwater monsters that could end planets and an interdimensional warlord his standards of freakyness was set pretty high.
"You see Kronos came to us with an offer," Harmonia continued, "he said that if we join him and support his war when he wins he would give us and our children a place in the new world he makes."
"And you denied him......right?"
"Not at first," Nemesis growled. Perry shot her a look and she shoot one back, "what? Don't look at me like that kid! Don't tell me it wasn't a reasonable request! The Gods have never valued us! Our official title is minor Gods! Do you think we owed them anything?!"
Percy shrugged, "I'm not one to judge, after all I can't stand half the Olympian's myself. But, they are still family, and one doesn't abandon family."
"Which is preciously why we denied their request," Eunomia spoke up. The way she acted and the way everyone shut up when she talked told Percy that the goddess was the leader, and if this council was lead by the goddess of good law you know they were in the right hands.
"Kronos didn't like being denied," Triton schooled, "he told us once the Olympians were defeated we would be next. Most of us took it as an ideal threat, but Morpheus...."
"But Morpheus disagreed," Iris picked up the story, "he believed that the Olympians were arrogant and uncaring enough to sacrifice their own children if it meant they would win the war. And if they sacrificed their children, ours would soon follow. We didn't know what to do, and that's where you came in."
Percy blinked, "me? Why me?"
"Simple," Tyche spoke up eating from a box of thai take out, "you are kind of like the leader of the Greek demigods, and while you aren't Roman, the Romans still respect you. We wanted to meet up with you before, ask you to stay out of this war, let the Titans and the Olympians sort their own mess out."
"You wanted me to make the demigods betray the gods?" Percy asked a little startled.
"Betray?" Eunomia raised an eyebrow, "why do you think it's betrayal to not want to die?"
"They are family Eunomia, we can't just-"
"-Precisely, they are family, you are their family. And they would send their own children into battle to die for them."
"So you would just let them die?"
The goddess shock her head, "they wouldn't die. Kronos may be powerful, but Zeus and the other's could still take them. No, the Olympians would not die, they would win and send the titan's back to Tartarus, and hundreds of demigods would have wasted their lives for nothing."
"And why should the demigods obey them anyway?" Nemesis asked, "the only reason I could guess is because of the protection they provide in their little camps. But what you don't understand is that we can provide the same protection, and we wouldn't want you to due for the privilege."
"The Olympians are flawed Percy," Triton spoke, "even our father is not....all there. They try, but in the end they see themselves as better than everyone else. Better than humans and better than minor gods."
"Enough!" Percy snapped, "I didn't come here to argue philosophy, I came here to get my friends back. So are you going to tell me how to do that or am I on my own?!"
The council of minor gods looked at each other as unspoken words were shared. Percy knew they were talking about him, he didn't like being ignored, but he dealt with it. Percy waited and soon Eunomia stood up and spoke.
"We don't know how you were not affected by Morpheus's speak, technically every demigod should be asleep right now. But if it turns out you are immune somehow to mis mental magic then you are probably the best one to help save the other demigods."
Ping!
Quest Alert!
Enter Morpheus's realm and save all the demigods!
Rewards,
300,000 Exp
One random gift from the minor Gods
?
Failure,
All the greek and roman demigods in the world will die from brain damage
Kronos will win
Do you accept?
YES/NO?
Percy pressed on yes and pushed the notification away. "Okay, so now I know who did, why they did it and why I wasn't affected. Now I have one more question," Percy glared, "how do I get this son of a bitch?"
"Hypnos, the god of sleep can help us there," Triton spoke up as he and Iris got up and approached Percy. "He is weaker than Morpheus, true, but they share similar abilities. We get him to take us to Morpheus realm and you should be able to reached the demigods trapped within no problem."
Percy nodded, "great, are you two coming?"
"Hypnos is....dangerous," Iris hummed, "he is not very easy to work with. Triton and I will accompany you to him and will help get his services, after that though it will be up to you."
"Why can't you guys help?"
"Morpheus's realm is very unstable," Harmonia answered, "you see like his domain suggests it is a literal dream land. If one isn't careful they could destroy the entire place by making it collapse in on itself. That was why we were apposed to his plan in the first place, we won't risk trapping our children inside their own heads."
Percy nodded, "okay...makes sense."
"Come," Iris raised her hands summoning a rainbow coloured portal in front of Percy, "we have much to do."
Percy and Triton walked into the portal with Iris following behind. The portal closed leaving the remaining 9 gods by themselves.
"I don't like him," Nemesis growled as she sank into her chair.
"You don't like anyone," Harmonia replied.
"He's a good kid," Tyche spoke up finishing her food and tossing the empty take out cup away, "plus you hate everyone."
"Indeed, Percy Jackson has my faith," Eunomia nodded in acceptance, "he's smart and caring, a perfect combination for the kind of person we need to save our children."
"Oh please, you just like him because he works in a police station!" Nemesis yelled.
"True," Eunomia nodded, "and anyone who is so dedicated to serving justice at this age is deserving of respect."
"Either way nothing we say now will change what is about to happen," Eirene said as ashe walked out of the room and into the open air. She looked down at the sea and immediately the raging storm that was building died down giving way to calm winds and steady waves, "all we can do now is wait and see what the son of Poseidon does."
With Percy,
Percy stepped out of the portal and found himself once again in an unfamiliar place. He was in the middle of a city, dusty, very windy. The street he was on looked abandoned and very poor, there was trash flowing freely on the street and graffiti on the wall.
From the short palm tree planted on the sidewalk Percy figured they were somewhere south, from the humid temperature he figured they were somewhere near the sea.
"Where are we?" Percy asked.
"Florida," Triton replied as he and Iris stepped out of the rainbow portal and started walking. Percy followed and the group quickly arrived in front of a old abandoned mattress store that seemed to be over run by dust bunnies and the occasional cockroach.
"Okay, that's both disgusting and unhygienic," Percy shivered.
"Hypnos isn't one for hygiene," Iris snapped her fingers causing the door to unlock. They walked into the dark building, Percy could barely see, but after Iris summoned a floating ball of light and rainbows the room burst into colour.
It was run down and very old. The wallpaper was coming off the wall with mold growing on the wood. The goddess and god walked forward uncaring but Percy was creeped out. He swore he saw a rat scurrying about in the shadows somewhere, he may be able to take on monsters, but this was another thing completely.
As Percy continued walking he remembered his latest adventure and what they had found inside. Percy looked at Triton, "Triton, after this we need to talk. I found something of dad's, I think he might want it back."
Triton turned back and raised an eyebrow, "what is that?"
"You remember the Roman's have the Eagle for Zeus? Well I discovered the symbol of Neptune, the 11th Legion Pegasus."
"What?!" Triton stopped dead on his tracks and turned to Percy, "where did you find it?!"
"Under my school," Percy shrugged.
"Why was it there?!"
"Well it seems my school was built by Churchill and he was apparently a son of Poseidon. He wanted a place for it be safe, so he decided to move it to US and build a school around it for protection."
Titon's green eyes looked completely stunned, "Churchill? Seriously? Damn...well it does make sense, bugger always was resourceful."
"We need to keep moving," Iris warned the son of Poseidon.
Triton nodded, "right," he looked at Percy, "come we can walk and talk."
They continued heading deeper into the building as Percy spoke up, "so you know him?"
Triton nodded, "yes. We were...well, not close as I would have liked, but it was enough. He had a giant weight on his shoulder, as we now know, so the Fates forbid anyone from our divine family to contact him. Father himself only had one chance to meet him, and that was only to tell him the truth. Sigh, maybe if we were closer...nevermind, that's all in the past now. You have it safe?"
Percy nodded, "it's in my inventory."
"Okay...do you plan on using it against Morpheus?"
Percy's eyes narrowed, "only if he threatens my friends."
Triton sighed, "fine...but please, use it only as a last resort. It's a very powerful object, if the other Gods knew off it they would remove it from your possession. It's your Trump card, keep it hidden for as long as possible, got that Percy?"
Percy nodded.
They walked deeper down the corridor eventually reaching a single steel door that was rusted all over. Iris walked up to the door and pressed her hand up against the door summoning a burst of rainbow light that destroyed the door blowing it off it's hinges;
BOOM!
Percy winced as he blinked his temporary blindness away. He looked up and saw Iris and Triton walk in, guessing this was his cue Percy did the same.
The grimly and dirty hallway gave way to a clean and pristine white marble coated room. Every single spot in the room looked like it had a micro brush passed through it removing it off all dirt. There was no light in the room, their only source of light was Iris's floating ball.
Iris walked around to the side wall and flipped a switch turning on the brightest light's Percy had ever seen in his entire life. Percy's eyes shut close on reflex alone nearly blinding him. It took him a few seconds but he was able to finally open them again. The lights were high powers and placed on the ceiling in such a way that they enlightened every corner of the room.
In the center of the room was a pile of pillows each the size of a full grown human being. And curled up into a little ball in the middle of the pillow pile was a young man with white hair wearing blue striped pyjamas.
Percy looked at his title;
Hypnos, God of Sleep
Lv— ?
Percy blinked, "is that little shrimp really Hypnos?"
Iris nodded, "indeed he is. Triton, please wake him up."
Triton nodded. He bent down and dug his fingers into the two iron door Iris had blasted into the room. He lifted them with ease and walked to Hypnos' body before smashing the two doors together like a pair of hit-mats.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
Percy's held his ears in pain, "how is he not awake yet?!" He yelled through the noise.
"He's a heavy sleeper," Iris told him as she closed her own ears.
Finally, after what seemed like minutes of continuous noise making on Triton's part, Hypnos started to stear. He got up and rubbed his eyes with one hand. Slowly he opened them revealing milky white eyes that seemed to be able to focus on everything and yet nothing.
Triton stepped back as the god of sleep looked at his guest. He gave a lazy smile with his eyes still half closed, "hello Iris, hello,yawn, Triton. And who is, yawn, this?"
Percy blinked, "I'm Percy...Percy Jackson."
"Yay," Hypnos yawned, "why are you all, yawn, here?"
"We need your help Hypnos," Iris told the God, "Morpheus has done it Hypnos...he actually went through with it. Right now every single demigod child in the world is unconscious, trapped in his realm. We need your help to bring them back."
Hypno's eyes looked just a little bit more awake, "I see. And how do you plan on doing that? Morpheus might have broken the rules allowing you Gods to interfere, but if anyone of you even steps into his realm you could potentially collapse it in on itself."
Triton nodded, "we know. That's why we're aren't going, we are sending Percy here to get back the demigods."
Hypnos turned his white gaze on Percy, "who exactly is Percy?"
Percy raised an eyebrow, "you don't know? I mean come on, everyone in Olympus has at least heard about me."
"Hypnos doesn't get out much," Iris explained before turning to Hypnos, "Percy is a son of Poseidon and very powerful one at that. He's somehow the only one who has survived Morpheus' attack."
"I see," Hypnos didn't take his eyes off Percy, "and how old are you Percy?"
"14," Percy replied evenly.
"I see...then just two more years until the world ends. Lovely. Now, how exactly are you immune?"
