Death Notice (Chapter 35)

Quote: "The depressed dwell in the past, and the anxious exist in the future. Only the ones at peace live in the moment."

"What do you mean he DECLARED war?!"

  I cried, full of surprise and immediate shock at the unexpected news. This morning, I had planned to find Nico and meet up with him, but I was interrupted as Chiron brought up some urgent news to me. Apparently something about Pontus came up.

Chiron sighed and shifted his shoulders as he handed me the letter.

"I don't know. The gods have received this, and they said it was aimed at you. Pontus's actions have been...abrupt to say the least." He shrugged, somewhat discouraged. He looked at the worn paper with uncertainty, but was mostly just anguished.

"So what you're telling me is that Pontus wants to war. Right here, right now, with no punches pulled?" I said with unbelief. I grabbed the paper and looked closer at it, and what I saw astounded me on so many levels. There was literally only one sentence on the entire piece of paper, and half of it was just blank.

Olympus will fall. Do not be foolish, surrender at once, or face my wrath.

-Pontus

"...what?" I looked at Chiron to see if he had read the same thing I was, and he looked just as clueless as me.

"This is ridiculous..." The horsemen sighed, rubbing his face with his palms.

"What kind of war declaration is this?" I stated plainly. 

Pontus wasn't stupid...at least I think he's not. After what had happened in the past, he should know he can't just expect us to give up so quickly. This was a letter that declared war, and demanded a surrender at the same time. I couldn't believe my eyes, how could a being nearly as old as time have written this?

"Does he really think we'll just lie down and roll over?" I said.

"No...I would think not. This doesn't seem like a logical move for Pontus at all. Surely he is arrogant, but not ignorant." Chiron implied.

"Are you even sure this is Pontus? Tyson could come up with a better threat letter, and I think he's still learning to write in English." I noted.

"There are very few beings that could have sent this to Olympus to the gods directly. Most of those beings are irrelevant or aren't against us, so it's very unlikely it's a fraud." Chiron explained. That made sense at least, but that made the situation a bit more complicated than it already is.

"That doesn't sit very well with me. Something isn't right about this. Tell the campers to stay within the barriers at all times and be alert of any unusual activities. I'm gonna have to confirm this for myself." I told Chiron, and he nodded agreeably. 

He left for the Big House, and I was left stunned at this peculiar revelation. Pontus actually expects us to raise the white flag. The thought was absurd anyway it could be looked at. Why was he doing this? What is he thinking? Did he even write this thing?

Is there some form of godly marijuana that I don't know about that he uses?

I needed to get to the bottom of this. 

We hadn't expected to war so quickly at this time. After all, we expected some time off for him to build his army and same for us. Tactically, this was a very dangerous move. He could be trying to catch us off guard and overrun us while we thought we were safe, but I doubted that greatly. I don't think Pontus has the power or resources to overpower the godly world, not even close. Does he not know that Chaos is on my side as well?

The Tsar Bomba of the Greek mythos? 

With this knowledge, I warped to Olympus. Specifically, the council room.

Luckily, all the Olympians were present, which was unusual for a change. I guess war brought them somewhat closer. They all looked pretty bored, with Zeus sitting on his grand throne with his fist under his chin, slouched backwards in a unwavering form. Hera was reading some sort of newspaper next to him, and looked mildly disinterested. Poseidon was playing with a ball of water in his hands, twirling it around like a juggling ball. Hades and Demeter were both sleeping silently in their thrones, which actually looked pretty comfortable. Artemis and Apollo were arguing about whether red or blue was a better color, very intensely might I add. Ares was looking at some sort manual about how to assemble a modern machine gun, and was mumbling about something being so complicated and troublesome. Surprisingly, Hephaestus and Hermes were both playing "Go Fish" next to each other, with Poseidon glaring at the both of them as he twiddled his fingers. Hestia was talking with Aphrodite, both discussing about how love is a mechanism that connects family and strangers together, which sounded interesting enough. Athena was fiddling with some sort of small contraption made of metal in her hands, something I had no idea about at all. Dionysus was wasted in his chair, as usual.

I coughed.

"Hm? Oh, it's Perseus. Not that I'm upset, but what brings you to Mount Olympus?" Zeus straightened his sitting posture, and the others followed suit. It seems everybody was just really bored at the moment, and were desperate to find something to do.

"The note...from Pontus." I stated. I received mixed faces, but most were like "ugh, that thing". Like it was an annoyance or something.

"Ah, I see. So I assume you've read it already?" He yawned, which was unusual. This note possibly dictated whether he would stay in power, and I would've though Zeus would've had his man-panties in a twist, but he was quite calm. On another hand, I kinda understood why he would feel so unhinged, because this message from Pontus was pretty pathetic.

"Yes, I did. Is there some sort of deeper meaning?" I eluded to, and the gods seemingly shrugged in unison, as if simultaneously saying "Eh, does it really matter." 

"I don't believe so. Athena examined it first, and suggested that it really was quite arbitrary. At most, it is probably a red herring, to throw our attention off of Pontus as he builds his army. There is very little evidence to support that anything substantial had occurred with Pontus's threat. Perhaps age has gotten the best of the washed up celestial." Zeus inquired. 

Something felt weird, because the council room was very peaceful. I was always used to the sound of arguing, or some sort of distraction, but today seemed extravagantly mundane compared to days prior. I almost suspected that Pontus somehow replaced all the Olympians with fakes, but I highly doubted he had the power to do such things.

"That's what Chiron interpreted as well. I'm not sure whether to be relaxed or troubled at this cryptic message..." I said, and the gods nodded in unison, which freaked me out a little bit at how cooperative they were being.

"You're all acting weird today. Why are you all so dormant and...sleepy?" I spoke up, finally. 

The gods looked up and opened their eyes, glanced at one another slowly, and shrugged.

"Excuse us if you think we are not taking the matter too seriously, it is just that we are quite tired of war in general. These past few years have been very rampant compared to the millennia of somewhat peaceful rule. It is as if some terrible, unknown force from another dimension has cruelly influenced our world to war." Zeus said glumly, stretching his arm in his massive throne.

"Trust me, I get the same feeling. Whoever wrote this story is a terrible writer..." I mumbled as I rolled my eyes.

"What was that?" Zeus asked curiously, as he didn't quite hear me clearly.

"Nothing..." I sighed.

"Anyway, so you're all just really sick of fighting? Is that even possible? Didn't you guys used to fight all day and night back in the golden days? What about you, Ares? Don't you love war like a fat man loves doughnuts?" I exclaimed, as the idea was a bit farfetched. The gods, whom have existed and practically fought continuously for centuries...just decided that it was no longer their thing anymore?

"True...but we aren't as powerful as we once were, and most of our conflicts have been rectified. We fought wars for power, desperation and survival. None of those seem like prevalent threats as of these days. Most minor gods hold us in good favor, and we've changed our ways of treating lower-deities to encourage alliances and good faith. Pontus is fighting a war alone, as monsters aren't enough to simply win. Our past aggressor, Order, utilized an army of creatures we had never encountered before, yet he fell due to your actions. Pontus seems heavily outmatched in this situation, and while we do plan to fight...it seems rather petty than serious." Zeus explained, and I got the gist of it and nodded as well.

"Pfft, of course I endorse conflict of any kind, but Pontus cowardly expects us to just hand over all our power like it was his to begin with? That's an insult to war in general, kid." Ares snorted in disgust. I noticed that in his black leather jacket, he had one of those huge Cuban cigars, and I was a bit curious. Do gods smoke? 

"That's...understandable." I held my forehead, sighing loudly as I began getting a migraine from all this.

"Aye, it's true. A good fellow of mine, a cyclops found a sea-critter that was a spy of Pontus at an underwater forge up in Maine. It seems Pontus's forces are much weaker than we thought. " Hephaestus said dryly, ruffling his beard.

"That's...even more unexpected." I pointed out.

"War seems rather detestable in this case. Pontus may be extremely desperate to earn his domain back, but he is escalating this conflict to a scale in which it does not need to be brought to." Athena scowled, and for once, it wasn't at me. Surprisingly, she didn't seem bitter or sour at me, and was in a similar state to the other gods. Inactive.

"Yeah...I'm not really feeling it either." Apollo shrugged.

"Same here. I don't have the energy to be afraid of Pontus anymore. I wonder why he's begging for a fight he's gonna lose anyways." Hermes noted.

I can't tell if they were being arrogant, lazy, or actually right in this case....or maybe all of above.

"So...do you guys plan to do anything about it?" I motioned. The gods shifted uncomfortably in their thrones, and most sighed in fatigue, which freaked me out a bit.

"There's not much we can do right now. The Camp is flourishing, and it's better now than it's ever been before. Our domains are all controlled and static, as there's nothing to fight about anymore. Until Pontus knocks at our door, we literally have nothing to do here." Poseidon, my father, said. 

"It's not like we can just ask him what he meant by the declaration, after all." Hades added. I noticed Hades looking a bit paler than usual, which was saying a lot since his natural complexion was that of paper. His eyes were a bit darker, like he hadn't slept in well...forever.

"Yeah...I guess we can't do that." I sighed, crossing my arms in thought. I looked around the throne room, hoping a solution would come to mind, but nothing ever did come out.

"I think there's something we don't know about." Hestia said, and all eyes focused onto her. She was known as a reserved goddess, so when she spoke, everyone listened. The goddess of the hearth may as well be an oracle at how we all looked at her attentively.

"Such as?" Zeus asked, but not in a rude way. He actually was paying full attention to her, and I wondered if I was in some sort of mirrored-universe, or I was hallucinating a dream.

Knowing me, the universe had been taken over by a bunch of aliens that control people's minds, and only I'm not affected.

But I doubted that.

But you never know...

"I am not exactly certain of details in specific, but Pontus may not be fully in control of the situation as we believe..." Hestia said slowly. It seemed even she was uncertain of what she was implying, but her words seemingly guided the atmosphere, and we all began to think as one.

"That does seem like a possibility." Athena nodded, agreeing fully with the hearth goddess.

"So there's someone else pulling the strings here that we don't know about?" Ares grunted, like he was just as frustrated as I was. Now there was some third party that was unknown to all of us? 

"That could be half the truth. Pontus is as old as time, and I highly doubt he would be foolish enough to initiate a war he could not win with relative ease. Perhaps this third party is against Pontus as well? It could provide an explanation as to why Pontus's forces have been gathering and seemingly weaken at the same time, but not attacking us yet." Hera spoke, surprisingly.

"But he is a primordial, and a powerful one at that. If that theory were to be reality, then what possible being is out there that is capable of troubling him to that extent?" Zeus questioned, and practically a mutual sigh of irritation came out of everyone's throats, as if saying "Ugh, why can't we just straight up fight them instead?"

"Perseus, you last encountered Pontus. What was he like then?" Hestia said directly to me, and caught me by surprise.

"Well...he was angry that Oceanus and Dad ruled over the seas without him. Said something about retaking what was his, rather painfully might I add." I recalled the face of the primordial that impaled me with ice in the past.

"Hm....I do remember something in the previous prophecy that disclosed something about a traitor in our midst. We never did find a constituent that betrayed us...so is there a possibility that our missing convict is still out there?" Artemis said, with her hand behind her neck, struggling to remember events from a while ago.

"That is true, and worrying as well...prophecies do not lie. Now that you bring that up, I am inclined to think that the previous prophecy may have a hand in this matter." Zeus scratched his white beard, and let out a powerful yawn that almost shook the throne room.

"My apologies. Today is quite uneventful, as you can see." He responded.

"Agreed. I haven't felt this tired since I tried to recover my sun carriage during the London Fires a couple hundred years ago." Apollo said.

"I haven't been so exhausted since I went on an expedition across Africa and accidentally made elephants an endangered species.." Artemis said casually, pulling out an arrow out of the air and rolling it fluently along her fingers.

"The last time I was this tired was when-" Aphrodite started to speak, but I cut her off.

"STOP! We gotta keep this PG in here!" I cried, and everyone's eyes focused onto me at my uproar. I gave them a look that said "Don't ask." and the stares were washed away, as they all retreated back to their normal, dormant states. Aphrodite did a "hmpf" motion, and shrugged as she laid back onto her throne.

"Back to the situation at hand, there are concerns about what the future holds. Perseus I do not wish to give the impression that we lack devotion and care, because we do support your efforts...even Athena and I are not conceited enough to dismiss reality. You must understand, we are chaotic beings, so this peace is a change of the way we exist, so pardon us if we act a little discontent." Zeus said respectfully, which made me do a double-take.

The King of Gods...asked to be pardoned?

I should hurry to the nearest convenient store to buy a lottery ticket or invest in the nonexistent flying pig market right about now.

Something has gone terribly awry.

"I...guess I follow that notion. It has been an eventful year, looking back." I said nostalgically. I wasn't quite sure what to take from their behavior, because I don't think there was any ill intent or contrived force behind their actions, as I would have felt some sort of third party's influence existing. 

"The danger seems lacking. In the past ages, the times prior to war were quite terrifying. Back then, peace only meant war was to come soon, but that isn't the case as of now. Pontus's power is not very present, and there's a lot of uncertainty as to what may happen next. Frankly, I would say that it is a bit of a good sign of will that we are as calm as we are. Frenzy and such will only ensue disaster." Zeus explained, directing his message to me.

I started tapping my leg on the floor, making a quiet rhythm of the echoing sound of a small beat throughout the throne room as I started to think, with my finger against my chin.

"I'll have to check this out for myself, see what game Pontus is playing at. I don't like the feeling that there's a bigger picture we're not seeing here." I concluded.

The gods agreed, showing no signs of resistance or anything, which was good. This atmosphere was unusual though, because the Olympians were never this cozy and comfy next to each other.

I keep emphasizing this, because it's amazing, to be honest.

I mean, a few years ago, the gods and goddesses could argue over the sky was blue, or if water was wet, or even if grass was green. I'd have never seen them so united or controlled in my life. Imagine a room full of hungry bears and rabid lions, peacefully sitting next to each other, doing nothing at all.

"You may do what you choose to. We will attempt to aid you in any way we may, and we will keep our domains clear, and secure Poseidon's palace to the best of our ability. Let Chaos guide you, Perseus." Zeus complied, raising his arm to me. I almost wanted to trip and fall over, because this was something he would absolutely, never, EVER, do.

"Uh...thanks." I replied.

A moment later, I summoned a familiar flaming aura around my body, and I imagined myself leaving the halls of Olympus, and back to the mortal world. Flame Warping was such a useful ability, and I thanked Hestia for granting me that ability. Actually, I could use Water Travel, Air Travel, and Shadow Travel, but since Hestia's fire blessing gave me that variant first, it held a special place in my heart, thankfully.

I warped back to Camp Half-Blood, but I wouldn't stay very long, as I wanted to find something out about Pontus. His recent moves and activity don't make much logical sense, so there must be something going on behind the scenes here that I don't see.

The last thing I want is to pay a Chess game and end up losing a game of Checkers instead. 

But then again, I didn't even know if I was playing Chess at all. For all I know, there could be another person at play, a third party. Someone of equal or greater power to Pontus, and most essentially, a person I would be unaware of. That was the most worrying piece of information I needed answered. The detail that could possibly change the entire playing field out of my favor has yet to be played, so I needed to find out exactly what it was in order to stop it.

Time for a little...detective work, shall we?