DA : Chapter 58: New Home IV

"I pity the idiot that tries to pick a fight with him," Rhea said as they got close enough to pet some of his heads. She marveled at how warm and smooth his scales felt now as the dragon purred contently making the ground shake slightly around them.

...

They remained like that for a few minutes simply chatting on trivial things and giving Ladon some attention before they noticed a portal of darkness opening up not too far away.

Rhea smiled as she approached it but then her eyes widened when her nephew shout out of it. Her hand lashed in reflex as she stepped aside, catching Atlas by the scruff of his worn shirt stopping him dead.

She then dropped him and waited as he got his bearings as he stood up. He towered over her at eight foot but she wasn't the slightest bit intimidated especially when he finally noticed her and paled.

"I guess you feel my increase in power," she said offhandedly while resting her hands on her hips. "So I believe you have some orders to fulfill."

"Aunt Rhea," he said through grit teeth before he slowly dropped to one knee and bowed his head. "I … I swear myself, Oras Atlas, to Lady Rhea on the Styx to serve … faithfully and without fail until she sees fit to release me."

A loud thunder crack followed to sealing the oath but unlike before, a green energy seemed to form a collar around Atlas' neck before fading into his skin. 'Looks like Styx's new higher authority on oaths is coming into play now,' Rhea thought before she smiled as she rested a hand on her nephew's shoulder.

"I accept your oath Atlas. Now stand," she ordered and he did so before they all looked as his daughters came through the portal before it closed behind them.

"Man, everyone is showing up now," Thalia commented as she and Hestia approached making Atlas and his daughters start as they noticed yet another former heroine of Olympus before them radiating similar power to Percy.

"And now we have to get to our part," Rhea replied as they returned to the pond with the others following.

"Did they have wings before?" one of the Hesperides whispered making Rhea chuckle.

"They're markers for us," she replied while looking over her shoulder.

"Markers for what?" Atlas asked as he then noted that Hestia had willed her wings to appear as well.

"For the new Protogenoi," Thalia answered with a wide grin at the stunned faces of Atlas and his daughters.

"Thalia," Rhea said to get the girl's attention.

"Right."

They both stood side by side as they faced the island centered at the pond. Together they took a deep breath before aiming their hands at the island and concentrating. Soon their hands started to glow their respective green and pale blue auras.

Rhea could feel the shift of the Earth and the ley-lines of natural energy and power move in accordance to her will and centering at their mountain. The mountain started to trembled as the winds picked up around Thalia with some storm clouds forming overhead.

Then the island started to shake and crack as tendrils of white bark crawled out before fusing in the center. It started to form into a massive oak with a trunk nearly six meters across.

Then thunder crackled overhead before lightning actually struck the tree but left no damage, if anything it seemed to help with the growth. Instead with every strike the oak seemed to form veins glowing in colors of light blues and greens while the tree's branches sprouted golden leaves and the dirt at the tree's roots became as black as obsidian.

While all that was happening Rhea could feel an immense pressure begin to weigh down on the tree but the oak remained firm in its growth as it took the burden of the skies. The storm remained around them as the tree finished growing to nearly five stories tall of magnificent white bark and golden leaves.

After they finished both primordial goddesses sighed as they dropped their hands to their sides. Thalia then wiped her brow as she snapped her fingers to make a glass of nectar appear in her hands before downing the entire thing in one go.

"Stupid Olympians," Thalia muttered as she snapped her fingers again to make the glass disappear. "Having to fix a destabilized sky of all things."

"Well now the Earth and Sky are reconnected properly," Hestia chimed as the other stepped closer to admire the tree.

"And it looks wonderful," a male voice said making all whirl around to see Percy and Medusa having just formed out of shadow.

"It is pretty," Medusa added as she looked at the tree curiously before she glanced at the skies.

"He'll get here later," Percy said to her probably knowing what Medusa was waiting for before he looked at the others. "So … want to break in those thrones?" he asked with a smirk.

"Lead the way honey," Rhea said in a teasing tone as she and Hestia each took one of Percy's arms and started walking back into the main temple and completely ignoring the currently spluttering Atlas.

They could hear the others following behind them as they walked, the large hallways illuminated by the celestial bronze torches that ignited as they got close and remained on while warming up the atmosphere around them.

It took a few minutes until they arrived in the largest chamber being large enough to house a football stadium with their currently plain thrones.

Rhea heard the group behind them pause as she along with Percy, Hestia, and Thalia kept moving forward to their thrones. With each step they started to group taller and taller, their footfalls soon becoming echoing booms causing a slight tremble to pass through the temple.

Percy took the center throne with Hestia and Rhea at his left and right sides respectively, the backrests being especially thin along their backs to not bother their wings.

As each primordial sat their throne changed to their element or domains. Percy's became obsidian with cool mist and shadows seeping off it whereas Rhea's turned to emerald with depictions of nature carved into it.

Hestia's became ruby with steam and even small bouts of fire coming off it. Thalia's on the other hand remained as marble but gained carved depictions of storm clouds and literally crackled with lightning along the borders.

As they sat Rhea could feel their thrones become tied to their domains and become their focal points, filling each primordial god with energy making them sigh contently while expanding their senses to the farthest reaches of their domains.

Rhea still found it overwhelming at times being able to feel all life on and in the Earth, even to the Underworld though Tartarus still belonged to its namesake god.

She could only imagine what Percy and Hestia were feeling, the pair having equally extensive domains that were beyond physical representations and judging by their focused expressions they were trying to organize all the input as well. She was broken out of her mussing through with several arrivals.

Jason, showing that he did have his moments of flare for the dramatic, appeared in a strike of white lightning through one of the open windows while Andromeda appeared in a poof of pink and purple smoke making her cough slightly. Phoebe seemed to simply phase into existence while green water condensed in the air to form Styx. Nico appeared in a burst of Hellfire.

"Yo," Percy greeted as the others walked to their thrones while growing to Primordial heights of a hundred feet and took their seats.

Andromeda quickly moved to her throne and upon sitting the throne it turned into a blue shade of opal with the slightest accents of pink and lavender. Jason's remained as marble like Thalia but his seat glowed more along with having white lightning trailing off the frame.

Styx's throne turned into Stygian Iron of all things and Phoebe's became a sort of quartz if Rhea had to guess but otherwise remained plain. Then all the seated protogenoi looked together to Nico as the boy stood before his throne and craning his head back just to look up at it.

Percy and Jason tried to hide their slight snickers as Nico thought on a way to get around being human sized and needing to sit on a throne reaching five stories in height.

After a moment of scratching his chin he snapped his fingers before closing his eyes and directing his hand at his throne. Rhea leaned forward curiously before she felt the slight shake and displacement of rock as marble steps formed from Nico all the way up to the seat of his throne.

They all watched in silence as Nico took his time ascending the steps looking perfectly relaxed until he reached the actual seat. Then with another wave of his hand a new, properly sized throne formed on the seat of the actual throne and Nico took a seat.

He looked quite comfortable as he even crossed one leg over the other, laced his hands together before setting them on a knee, and turning his attention to the council … while sending a barely hidden glare at the still snickering Percy and Jason. Rhea herself giggled slightly at the sight of Nico sitting on a throne on another throne.

"Alright then," Percy said once he reigned himself in thanks to Hestia poking at his side. "So is everyone already assimilated to their thrones?" He got a wave of nods before he continued on. "Great! Now we have to actually get this city ready if we want our allies to move in and feel welcome."

"Oh! Before I forget," Hestia cut in as she waved her hand.

At her command a dip the size of a community pool formed in the center of the throne room with logs of white marble appeared. Then, in a roaring flare of power, a fire sprang into existence, immediately warming the entire chamber and the temple alike with the healthy glow of the nearly golden flame.

"Our hearth of home," Hestia said gently to the many smiles of the council.

Percy leaned over and gave her a kiss of the cheek before returning his attention to the council proper.

"Back to making the gods feel welcome we need set up a small temple for each god so they don't lose too much power once they renounce their ties to the 'West'," Jason started up again while looking at Percy intently.

"Even the minor gods we already have allied to us will need it to safely separate from Olympus, otherwise they will be as defenseless as an Olympian coming here."

"I could handle setting up the smaller temples," Rhea offered, knowing the some of her fellow protogenoi had more pressing matters to attend tomorrow whereas she only needed to be on the mountain and slowly enriching the nature around them.

"Sounds good," Styx spoke up before she glanced to Nico. "And Nico, tomorrow we have our little project to work on."

"Agreed," Nico replied with a firm nod getting several curious looks.

"No rest for the wicked," Thalia sighed getting a playful glare from her tiny cousin before she gave a more predatory grin. "But once everything is set … the hunting begins …"

The others gave agreeing grins as their eyes seemed to glow with power before Percy chuckled drawing attention to himself.

"Oh trust me …" Percy said as his grin broadened while his fangs seemed to grow making him look feral. "… I've already been tracking my target but first … I'm going to need my pack."

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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.

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