-Dining Pavilion, Camp Half-Blood; Breakfast Right After Kosmos' Reveal-

~Nyke's Point of View~

I sat in complete shock. Kosmos' name is Xander. 'Protector' my mind whispered. According to the documents that Chaos gave me, that was Kosmos' purpose. He was not only an assassin, he was the protector of the Chaos Army.

The question now is what Kosmos is protecting us from? And what in the name of Hades was with this war?

I groaned, letting my head fall onto the table next to my plate.

"What's wrong with you now?" Hesper's annoyed voice broke through the increasing pounding in my head.

"Why did I agree to become the head commander? Why was I given this position?" I asked myself in quiet dread.

There was scattered laughter from around the table.

"Hey." The monotone voice caused the laughter to fade. "That is the head commander of Lord Chaos' army that you are insulting." A tense silence followed those calm threatening words.

I lifted up my head, a bit weary on what Kosmos will do. "Kosmos- uh, Xander? That was only a joke. The unit leaders were messing around."

Kosmos stared at me for a long moment. "Was my joke not funny?" Milos choked. The rest of us weren't much better. "My apologies."

"Is it alright if I call you Xander?" Malantha - Bianca - asked, smiling softly at the assassin.

He nodded. "Of course. I am not here as an assassin. There is no need to call me by my assassin identity."

Her smile widened. "Then, Xander, it's a pleasure to officially meet you."

The other unit leaders looked uncomfortable and skeptical at the interaction. I was a bit nervous about where this was going.

Kosmos - Xander? - stared at her, silently sitting at the Chaos table. While us leaders were sitting at the main table, units 1 and 5 were sitting at a few tables outside of the pavilion as there wasn't enough room for everyone. "Please do not force yourself for my sake." He said at last. "If I make you uncomfortable, I am willing to leave."

Silence covered our table. We were all thinking over his words.

"No." I said not wanting to relapse this progress with the assassin. This was the most open Kosmos has been. He told us his name! He deserves a chance. To be open and himself. He deserves more than what the army accuses him of. Of what everyone around him says.

Reminds me of something from almost 1,000 years ago...

Sighing, I scrubbed tiredly at my eyes under my hood. Exiting the dining hall and closing the door to block out the noise of the soldiers' morning conversations. Yesterday, there was an incident with a peace treaty signing between Planet Gilori and Planet Floramia which resulted in several hundred casualties and close to a thousand injured.

Kosmos was involved and according to the reports his presence escalated the situation. Why did Chaos have to have a troublemaking assassin? One who doesn't listen to orders, disappears to go off on his own, won't work with others, and-

"I can't believe him!" Someone hissed with frustration.

"That assassin," Another spat. "He's the reason that mission went south! We were only there as a safety measure to make sure the treaty signing goes well! But he left us!"

"Rumor has it," A third voice spoke quietly. "Kosmos did it on purpose. His mission was to make sure that those from Planet Gilori were wiped out."

I knew of rumors surrounding Kosmos, and the accusations alone made it difficult for him to join high profile missions, but I haven't heard of this before now. To think that Kosmos' reason to be there was to take down Planet Gilori than why them? What did they do to face the power of Chaos' assassin?

Did Chaos know about this?

Before I could take a step towards the trio, another stepped in. "Soldiers from units 4 and 5," I froze hearing Kosmos' voice. "Please go enjoy your breakfast. You are scheduled for a joint training in less than an hour."

"How did-"

"Let's just go." The third soldier interrupted the second. "We don't want to be late for training."

"But-"

"Listen to your fellow unit comrade." The assassin's voice turned a bit colder.

I frowned, quickly moving forward in case I needed to intervene. It wasn't needed as once I turned right at the corner, I almost bumped into the three fleeing soldiers. "Ah! Head Commander." The third, a soldier from unit 4, yelped and bowed rapidly as he dragged the first soldier, who was a unit 5 member, towards the dining hall.

The second soldier from unit 4 tensely followed, giving a bow to me as he passed by. I watched their small group go stumbling along, a bit confused by the turn of events. "What-"

"Head Commander." Kosmos greeted me.

"Kosmos?" I blinked, rubbing my eyes.

"Yes, Head Commander?" He asked.

"Uh-" My eyes widened as I realized that Kosmos was the person I wanted to see. "Come with me." I demanded, brushing past him to head to my room. That would be the best place for this private conversation.

I sighed. I don't know why I was reminded of that. Maybe because when I was reading those files on Kosmos, I came across a mention of that mission. Written was the truth. Kosmos had overheard some of the officials from Planet Gilori talk about using Floramia's sudden drought as a way to exchange resources. A peace treaty came into talk. Because of the bloody history between the two planets, Chaos sent a team as a precaution.

The bad past was settling down in the recent generations at the time. No one thought much of it. Kosmos had heard whispers of foul play. Gilori's people blackmailed and manipulated Floramia into the treaty. It was more of a contract of slavery. Floramia would belong to Gilori once the signing was complete.

There was a second goal as well. Gilori planned to kill the 14 soldiers that were sent from units 4 and 5 along with Charis. They wanted to make their deaths look like it was caused by Floramia.

Honestly, the whole situation was a big headache. Thinking about it now, I don't blame Kosmos for killing the Gilori officials like he did. His actions saved more than one planet. He saved 15 members of the Chaos' Army. Kosmos - Xander - is the true protector of the army.

"Stay." I told Xander. "You are more than welcomed at this table. You are a part of the army too. You deserve to be here." That was the honest truth.

Looking over to Hesper, I recalled her concerns. Now I know for sure that the voice she heard warning her about Chaos keeping things from us when we first came here was from the enemy. The only thing that remained was who was the enemy we were facing?

And, if I'm a demigod and so is Malantha, who else in the army is one?

Hesper sighed heavily. "Nyke is right." She gritted out causing several of us at the table to choke and sputter. Did she really vocally say I was right? "Kos-Xander, you may be an assassin, however, you are still a part of the army. Sit down and eat."

"Uh, Kosmos' never eaten with us before." Milos voiced. "Has anyone even seen him eat." He wondered.

"I eat." Kosmos stated before taking a seat and making a plate.

We all stared as he lowered the cloth over his mouth, revealing pale skin that held various scares.

I tried not to react. There were sharp intakes of breath and stifled gasps from the table. Desperately trying to think of a way to relieve the tension, I open my mouth.

Only for nothing to come out as walking into the dining pavilion was none other than Percy Jackson himself.

Hello. I am a day late in updating this. Yesterday was my sister's wedding shower and things were crazy.

I tried to finish chapter 19 today, but I was quite busy with some many things that needed to get done before I go back to work tomorrow after two days off. I'm actually supposed to be asleep right now at 8:18 PM as I wake up at 4:45 AM for work.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (truthfully I don't remember what happened in this chapter. A few reveals maybe?). Next chapter has some interesting things happening. Chapter 19 is a little short, however, it sets up what might be a start of learning the unit leaders backstories of how they came to the army. Plus I will be including Kosmos' point of view with his thoughts on what is happening. Because of course the assassin knows about the reveals that are happening around him.

The assassin is the protector of the Chaos Army. He needs to know things to be able to protect them more effectively.

Speaking of next chapter, I might be late in publishing it as I have a birthday party on Saturday. And I barely wrote 300 words for chapter 19 before I finally sat down and wrote the rest today (more like about two hours ago). So I don't know when chapter 20 will be done. I haven't even started it.

I'm finishing this, publishing it, and then going to bed.

Work was exhausting this past week and the wedding is starting to feel real now (even though I've had my bridesmaid dress and shoes for months now). Stress is my life now. I need a vacation. A good one.

I will leave this here now.

Until next chapter.

~MsPenguingirl1234.

Published: May 21, 2023.