Epilogue
Samuel was not having a good time. Water was his element. Where he felt the safest. Where he was the most powerful.
So why in the name of the ancient Olympians was he losing???
His crew of misfits (read: fellow Blessed troublemakers) were relying on Samuel to guide them and protect them. So why was he unable to do so??
Once again, he pulled up a wave of water to block an incoming attack. The feeling in his guts threatened to tear him apart, but if he relaxed, the monsters would tear him apart in other ways.
The monster he was facing didn’t even budge at his next attack, skillfully avoiding his spear strike. The Telkine was nimble and fast, which you couldn’t possibly know from its bulldog like appearance and the fact that these monsters usually worked in forges.
The battle was looking dire. The monster in front of him didn’t even notice the cuts Samuel had drawn on its skin, continuing to fight till the end. Samuel himself was panting hard and his strikes were slowing down, which allowed the Telkine to get more hits on him.
Samuel’s friends, Alice and Kiko, were also not doing too great. Alice was tearing the monsters apart, but her recklessness was wearing her down. Kiko on the other hand was not doing too well. His use of powers was similarly taking a toll on his body, and he looked sickly green as the shadows around him began to ensnare his opponents. Samuel allowed himself a moment of relief as he looked at Kiko, before the Telkine had to rudely remind him that while Kiko was very pretty, he wasn’t worth dying for just yet.
But even as the fight went on and more and more telkines came into their boat, Samuel refused to call his patron. Yes, he had promised to come whenever he was in danger. Yes, he had done many things for Samuel before and would probably do it again.
But Samuel was nothing if not stubborn.
He wasn’t gonna call his patron on simple things like a Telkine attack.
Or not.
His opponent swiped at his feet, and Samuel tumbled to the ground when he couldn’t evade fast enough.
The monsters put a dog like leg on his stomach and growled.
“I’m only here for one thing, little mortal.” The monster snarled. Behind him, both his friends had been knocked down. The weight on his stomach increased.
“See, a few millennia back, my crew and I got wiped out by your patron. We were babies,” the monsters continued. “But he didn’t care. He just killed us ruthlessly by awakening the volcano we were in. He destroyed our home!”
The other telkines roared, supporting the leader’s story.
“But we can’t go after him now, sadly.” The leader said, pushing his leg even more into Samuel’s stomach. He cried out in pain.
“But you… oh, we can go after you all we want… we can kill you, or even hurt you, and we will make sure we have our revenge.”
Samuel didn’t care anymore. It hurt too much. He was also pretty sure he was bleeding. So, he prayed.
A wave of water crashed into the monsters, yet left Samuel and his friends alone. The telkines hissed and cursed, before dissipating into golden dust.
Samuel turned to thank his patron before stopping dead in his tracks.
This wasn’t his patron. Samuel had met the guy a few times since he was blessed, and he can accurately tell you that he kept his beard short and almost nonexistent. He also preferred a more youthful appearance, appearing like a 20 years old man.
This guy looked to be around 40. He had a well fleshed out beard.
He also had the worst sense of fashion Samuel had ever seen. Like, who even wore Hawaiian print shirts anymore? That was so 2000’s.
The man smiled kindly before lifting his hand up. Samuel barely had time to think before a wave crashed into him, knocking him down again.
His friends ran up to him, shielding him from the man with their bodies. They glared at him, daring him with their eyes to do that again.
However, Samuel was more preoccupied by the fact that the water was continuing to swirl around him, wrapping around his wounds like bandages. In a few seconds, the bruises disappeared, leaving only some faint white scars here and there.
The man spoke up.
“Please, call down. I come here in peace.” He raised his hands up in the air.
Even after the sight of the healing water and the obvious peace sign from the man, Samuel was suspicious. Why did this man appear when he prayed to his patron?
“How can we trust you?” Alice demanded, twin swords pointed at the man. He sighed before locking eyes with Samuel. He tensed under the gaze of the man.
“Perseus sent me.”
Immediately, Samuel’s shoulders sagged, and he saw his friends lowering their weapons. He stood up, and passed Kiko and Alice to stand tall in front of the man.
“Thank you for helping us, Mister…?” Samuel asked after bowing slightly. Contrary to his patron, the man didn’t seem flustered and simply gestured for him to get up. From up close, he looked weirdly symmetrical, as if he wasn’t supposed to exist. Under the bright sun reflecting on the waves, the man was a bit hard to look at.
“Poseidon. My name is Poseidon.”
In retellings of this story, Samuel would say that he had shaken the man’s extended hand, then proceeded to follow the man on his boat.
In reality, Samuel’s brain short-circuited. The words simply did not process. This man was named Poseidon? Like the god from Greek Mythology from all those years ago? The one that supposedly died?
Kiko gasped behind him.
“That’s what felt so off about you! You’re supposed to be dead!”
Alice gasped even louder.
“By the Ancients, Kiko! You can’t just say things like that! It’s rude!”
“Rude?! I’m just saying the truth!” Replied Kiko indignantly.
Samuel sighed and turned back to Poseidon.
“Please don’t mind them, they’re always like this.”
Poseidon simple waved his worries away.
“It’s fine, my siblings kept going that before.” He had an amused look on his face.
“The other Olympians? Are they back too?” Samuel asked carefully. He didn’t know if it was only Poseidon that had come back or if the others were too. Even if the Celestials kept them updated on any and all news on Celestis, Samuel wasn’t really into them.
Poseidon looked at him weirdly, then sighed.
“Yes. This is a long story kiddo. Come on, I’ll give you a lift wherever you need to go, and I’ll explain in the meantime.”
“Sir, we have a boat already!” Tried to reason Kiko from the back.
“I know,” replied Poseidon easily. “It’s coming with us, don’t worry.”
Poseidon’s boat was a small fishing vessel, with a total of two stories: one slightly higher than the deck and one slightly lower, which each respectively had the steering wheel and the living quarters. The name Fleeting Wave was painted on its hull.
Which, compared to the small Greek trireme Samuel’s group had, was definitely an improvement.
Poseidon’s voice echoed from upstairs as they placed their stuff in the living quarters.
“Where you heading, small fish?”
Samuel would have been offended if anyone else had tried to call him that, but Poseidon hasn’t seemed to mean anything bad with it.
Plus the fact that Kiko let out a soft chuckle at the nickname definitely helped.
He also ignored Alice’s muttering of being a third wheel.
“New Sparta!” Samuel screamed to make sure he was heard upstairs.
It wasn’t long however before Kiko and Alice feel asleep on the floor with their blankets and pillows. Samuel fixed up the last of their supplies, pushed Kiko’s blankets back on him and exited the room.
As he climbed up the small flight of stairs to the second deck, he noticed the sunset on the horizon. It was a true work of art, its colors fading from one to another seamlessly around Apollo’s chariot.
“True work of art, ain’t it kiddo?” Poseidon asked at the helm.
Samuel hummed as he stepped up next to the man. He realized how tall Poseidon actually was now that he was next to him. Perks of being a god?
“What’s got you heading for New Sparta?”
“Alice has to bring a weapon back to her patron, Lady Clarisse. She decided that journeying by sea was the fastest route, so I got to come too. Kiko is here because he’s friends with both of us, though you wouldn’t know that by how much they bicker.”
Poseidon redirected the boat before looking back at Samuel.
“You get anything in return?”
Samuel nodded.
“Yep.” He said, popping the “p”. “Alive will be rewarded with yet another sword. I swear she has too many at this point. Kiko’s reward has yet to be decided, but I think he’s aiming for some item of protection of some kind. I’ll be allowed to choose an object in Atlantis’s vault. Speaking of my patron, why was it that you appeared when I prayed to my patron?”
Poseidon’s face lit up.
“He received your message but was a bit busy, so he sent me a message asking if I could come get you guys.”
That fast? Samuel knew that Celestials had really cool abilities, but Poseidon had appeared immediately after his prayer. Were the gods that fast?
They cycled through topics throughout the night, talking about fish, their families and even Kiko before they went back to
“Why are you back? Kiko’s patron is Lord Nico, so if anything I trust him with knowing that you should be dead.”
Poseidon laughed.
“Y’know, I don’t really know why we’re back. Maybe the Fates wanted to have a funny moment or something! Yes, I should be dead, but I’m not, so here I am.”
That didn’t explain much but Samuel was going to take it anyways. They feel into a deep silence before Poseidon spoke up to break it.
“Y’know, I think you have a lot in common with Perseus. You’re stubborn, loyal to your friends and unafraid of authority. I like you kid.”
“Celestials tend to bless people that resemble them. By the way, why do you talk about my patron like you know him so well?”
Samuel couldn’t find a single reason why they would know each other so much. Maybe they had bonded over ruling the seas? But it had only been a few months that the Olympians had been back according to Poseidon, so he didn’t think that very likely.
“I’m his dad.”
What.
The.
H*ll?
Poseidon is his patron’s dad?! Huh?!
“Wait wait wait. I thought Lord Paul was his dad?”
Poseidon laughed but looked a bit offended.
“Don’t get me wrong, Paul is amazing for Perseus’s mother, but no, make no mistake, I am Perseus’ father. I couldn’t just go back to ruling Atlantis after all this time, and wasn’t feeling like it, so Perseus let me do whatever.”
Samuel frowned.
“What exactly do you do here?”
“I fish a lot, mainly. But the real purpose of this boat is to ferry and rescue anybody under Perseus’ care. As Blesseds and especially one of his, you are eligible for transportation aboard the Fleeting Wave!”
Leave it to his patron to have this sort of thing available for them. Samuel had already been privy to many privileges as one blessed by Perseus, but his patron made sure to help anyone who fell under his domain of heroes in general. He’d have to report this to Camp Olympus.
A sand dollar appeared in his vision.
“Huh?” Samuel said intelligently.
“It’s a sand dollar. Take it.” Poseidon replied.
“I know what it is. Why are you giving me this?” Asked Samuel. It was pretty, as pretty as a sand dollar could be, but in the end it was simply a sand dollar.
“It used to be used as currency down in the depths, but it still hold value to this day. If you break it, you summon water to aid you, and a call for help will be sent out to nearby water creatures.”
Wow.
—
As they disembarked and headed for New Sparta, they failed to notice the soft flash that appeared on the top deck next to Poseidon.
“You chose a good one, Perseus.” He said to the young man that had just teleported next to him.
“Many people have said that already, dad. But if it’s coming from you, I guess it solidifies that belief then.” Percy said, looking at Samuel from a distance.
“What’s got you so busy?”
Percy sighed as he slumped into the seat next to his dad.
“Ares was having a trial run today at New Sparta to see if he could be allowed next to Celestials yet. He did ok for the first part, until he started fighting with Clarisse and I had to restrict him.”
Poseidon looked down in shame.
“And the other ones?”
“Aphrodite has opened a beauty shop down in Atlantis, while Hephaestus has moved into an abandoned forge in an underwater volcano. Hermes is helping with messages and deliveries while Athena is teaching at Camp. Hera is still being cared for by mom and Aunty Hestia, Demeter is helping Grover and Katie in New Grove and Hades had taken over the management of the palace of Eternity. Dionysus is… somewhere. He pops up here and there looking all happy and drunk and then we don’t see him for days on end”
“Well, you gave him access to wine, so he’s doing what he did before his punishment. As for Hades, I’m not surprised he found more work. He’s a workaholic, I tell you.”
“Like father, like son then. Nico can never stop working apparently.”
“What about Zeus?”
“Still chained up to a rock with fire that eats his insides each day.” Percy said with a grin that flickered in and out of scary territory.
Poseidon shuddered.