"Intense personal loyalty to the ones you love will be your fatal flaw. A hero of the prophecy cannot afford that..."   

 "You're not the hero of the prophecy.." 

"Seven shall answer the call,  to storm or fire the world must fall, an oath to keep with a final breath, foes bear arms on the doors of death. "

"Do not let it happen again. Promise me." 

"Promise me you'll keep Bianca safe..."

"You're a coward! That's what you are! 

 "If it wasn't for him, our realm would have been saved!''

"Family Luke, you promised..."

"He has a duty to this realm as much as I do. He's as much as your son as I am."

"You helped him save his world and now he helps you save yours!"

"Stop it!!" Percy screamed, already on his knees as the words keep circling him, ghosts of the speakers along with them. His wish was soon granted as a unsettling quite settled overtime. 

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Percy couldn't see a thing here. But one of the voices did sound familiar to him. "You have your prisoners, giant. Our deal ends here. Get going.."

"The city has 'The Gift' hidden here!! It was taken from the giants unrighteously, I want it returned. " 

"The city and all of its treasures belong to the Titans now."

 " Trecheary!"

"The gift isn't in the treasury, dumbo. The whelp had it hidden somewhere. Make it  spill the beans, and if it's inside the city, half of it is ours. If it isn't, you can hunt it out and have it all for yourself. One more word from you.. "

"And what? What will you threaten me with, you little fool!"

"Oh,  I don't know, I might just mistakenly slip out yours and your prisoners' whereabouts to win his Grace's favor..." 

"You wouldn't dare.." 

"I might,  if you don't leave my sight right now." And then, his dream shifted.

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It was a dark cave. Might have been underwater, but Percy felt suffocated and choked all the same. A small body hung limp at the far corner, it's hands and legs chained.

 An old man whispered, "You aren't healing anymore." his voice hoarse from the lack of use. "And what good was that doing me anyway?", the prisoner rasped. "To heal, only to bleed the next day! And the coward wouldn't even hand me a sword to defend myself!"

 "Now now, you must not lose-" "Hope?" the prisoner laughed. "Does the word even have it's meaning here? You do not feel the seas like I do, commander. This place signifies everything that isn't Poseidon. There is only so much I can do to not let the poison touch you. The poison is burning me inside out, commander. For thousands of miles I can feel no magic, no power in the ocean."  the prisoner whispers. "You mustn't speak so loudly, he might get angry..."  "You're the one who has lost hope. Cowering in fear of a gaint who is too scared to arm an opponent who is not even as long as his arm!"

"Is that so, my dear... Take it then," he tossed the prisoner his sword. He snapped his fingers and the chains gave out. No sooner had the prisoner lifter his sword, a green mist encircled him, making the prisoner choke. He threw a giant ball of Greek fire at the prisoner, and he screamed. He threw another, he screamed. Another, another, another, until the prisoners' knee buckled and he collapsed, sobbing in a would-up ball. 

The giant came forward and kicked him again and again, until he finally lost consciousness. 

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Percy woke up suddenly in a dimly lit wagon pulled by hippocampus. He immediately tried sitting up, only for a wave of nausea to hit him hard. His head felt like it had been banged to a boulder a hundred times. A hand gently pushed him back. "Lay down now. You'll not be helping anyone by getting more sick." The voice was slightly familiar. 

Percy obliged and took in deep breaths. He tried making sense of his dream, but it was already fading in his mind's eye. But he couldn't forget the prisoners' screams of pure agony. After a few minutes, the pain in his head had slightly subsided. He could faintly hear few more people around him. He opened his eyes only to find Deniz beside him. "Hey there stranger." Deniz weakly called out. "Where am I?" Percy asked, looking around. "You're in the sickly wagon." he replied, grimacing at the name. "But what happened?" Percy persisted, confusion evident in this voice.

"You just got very very lucky, young man." said another merman who just then entered the wagon. Denizen softly whistled. "Major General" he said, giving him a casual salute. "Hello Colonel lieutenant." the other merman nodded in greeting.

He turned his attention back to him. "I'm Major General Storm of Cohort VI, and you are Caspian, if I am right. Any last names?" he enquired. Percy had thought of this long and hard when he was having his lunch. Guessing surnames was a lot risky than making up first names, as it could be verified by other sources. "I don't know. I was never told anything about it." he lied.

Deniz and Storm exchanged looks. "Must have been a bastard kid." Denis suggested casually. Without meaning to, Percy's face burnt with humiliation. This wasn't the first time he had been teased as a bastard kid. It happened a lot in all the elementary schools he had attended, one of the main catalyst for a fight to escalate. Though he now knew the truth behind his parentage, the word still stung. But he kept his quite. 

Storm moved on though, "Plain and clear kid, you were poisoned. Apparently, the poison that had been unleashed during the war hadn't completely subsided yet. It's a miracle that you actually survived after being exposed to it for more than twelve hours. Deep had thought of bringing in an healer after you had freshened up, but when they found you, you had collapsed in your bed, struggling to breathe.

Deep immediately called back all the soldiers who had been assigned to scout the area. Thanks to you, we were able to save a lot of soldiers from being poisoned. Only five of them had been exposed to it long enough to have gotten really sick." he said, gesturing at the five people around him, which included Deniz and four others who were sound asleep. "A few others just had a light headache." he added. Unsure what to say, Percy just nodded. He wanted to have nothing to do with Storm if he judged and favoured people based on their parentage.

"So, why were you all alone?" he questioned. So he told him the story he had weaved during his journey alone. 

He had come from the western region of the Atlantic Ocean. He was a simple farm boy who used to live with his mother  isolated from the rest of the society, farming and eating their own produce. They had largely been unaffected by the war. But his mother had been sick for years and had finally passed away a month ago. Then, he had heard the news that his majesty had announced that all all those above fifteen years were to sign up to help rebuild the kingdom and had set course to the capital.

 Storm and Deniz had no idea about the new announcement, since they had been out of contact with the kingdom ever since the war ended. This information only got them more worried. Before Storm could get into a deep conversation with Daniz, Percy interrupted. "How long was I out?" 

"You were out for almost half a day. We will be reaching the capital in a few hours. Get as much sleep as you can. Things will get a lot rougher once you enter the capital." he said, ruffling his hair as though they had known each other forever, which further increased his mixed feelings for the Major General. 

But his brain was in no condition to think too much as staying consciousness itself was taking a lot of his energy. So he just slipped back to his bed and closed his eyes, the soft murmuring behind him helping him relax and soon he had fallen asleep again. 

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Percy woke up to the sound of the a trumpet being blown somewhere in the distance. His head felt a lot lighter than it did the last time he had woken up and sitting up did not feel as difficult as the last time he had woken up. 

Everyone around him had woken up and dressing. Deniz gave him some clothes. "We've reached the capital. Leave those rags out here and wear these. You've got to make a good first  impression." and left soon afterwards. 

After lifting the clothes did he realize that it was a dress! It was deep cream coloured, with a tying thread at the waist and sleeveless! A toga, it was called, if he recalled correctly. A dress worn by Gods while they were posing for their statues and ancient Romans. Percy felt terribly uncomfortable in his dress, but didn't complain about it. The soldiers were all clad in their armours, with a minimum of two weapons on themselves. He was guided by one of the soldiers to the place where all the civilians were gathered. 

 The youngest among the seemed to be a child of around four years old while the oldest were around seventy. There seemed to be people older and younger than them, but they had been given a provision to ride on a cart.  

The other civilians were also wearing the same dress. The toga for females was slightly different, it had only one sleeve to the left. Their dresses were more fitting too, while the males had their dresses loose. He didn't have much time to mingle around with them. They were herded into rows and columns of ten and in no time, they were marching with the soldiers flanking them on either sides. The soldier columns were ahead of them and were marching in perfect unison. Drums were played somewhere ahead whose sounds didn't even reach Percy. The civilians were marching at the very end, if it could be called marching. Most of them were just walking, so Percy didn't bother about it much either. 

Instead he tried to get a view of the fabled city of Atlantis. There was nothing fabulous about it at the moment though, all he could see was ruins and half fallen buildings. The plants that might have lined the ways were mostly dead. Though most of the remainder of the battle had been removed, one could still see a broken arrow, dented helmet and splashes of blood sunk deep into the walls and soil, giving the city which was once breathtaking a haunted look. There were barely any other people walking around, mostly soldiers and sometimes medics, if he was to judge by their pale blue togas. 

All because of you, a dark thought whispered in his mind. Not all, he tried feebly justifying himself. What difference would a 'most of it',  or even 'half of it', do to replace 'all of it'? The dark thoughts questioned back,  for which he had no answer to. But his attention was diverted to the source of all the ohhs and ahhs around him. Before him stood Poseidon's palace, the 'Jewel of Seven Seas', the only building to be standing in the entire city. Though not yet restored to its original glory, it was still a magnificent architecture to behold, spanning the surface of an entire plateau. 

The mermen and mermaids around him were just as taken aback by the palace as he was. They were soon led to a huge ground where the soldiers came around separating those who were able enough to become soldiers and those who were good at medicine, weapon making and other things. Percy was categorized with the soldiers. Just as they were leaving, Daniz greets him, "Hey there Stranger, you're a tough guy to find." before grabbing his wrist and directing him into a small group where Major General Storm was present. 

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There were about fifteen to eighteen teens standing solemnly around Storm,  who was telling them to choose a surname from a list of highly insignificant surnames he had, as this was their last chance to do so. Bastardy was highly frowned down upon in the military units, and they'd be condemning themselves to a life of humiliations and discriminations, not receiving credit due for them due to this taint. He told them that it was better to have an insignificant surname than to not have a surname at all, which signified bastardy in the underwater realm. He concluded by telling how dangerous it was to take up a false name and all of them could get in serious trouble for it, hence they must never disclose it to anyone. 

The girls went ahead first, soon the boys followed. His turn came at the very end, but Percy didn't move forward to pick the list though. "Take a name and get going, Stranger." Deniz urged. 

Percy couldn't bring himself to take the lists. He just shook his head in refusal.

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