Camp Half-Blood. - twelve minutes later...
Cedmi hated meetings with the Olympian gods. That might have been because they did nothing other than bicker about irrelevant stuff during those meetings.
"Arty, come on!" Apollo said, grinning widely at his sister. "You know I'm older."
Will Solace pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, as he sat next to his father. He hated when the gods were like this.
Artemis, who sat on the other side of the ping-pong table, glared at Apollo so hard that he would have flinched, but he was used to her glares by now.
Cedmi sighed. It had only been two minutes since the meeting started, and they have been the worst two minutes of his life.
And Cedmi had a lot of crap stuff happen during his life. He kept on listening to the bickering between the gods.
The meeting room, in the big house which of course was the Rec. room, still had a ping-pong table used as the actual council meeting table, but the one thing that changed about the room was the size.
It was much bigger. Now all of the Olympians plus their children, and some children of the Minor gods, not to exclude Chiron, were able to fit in there, and sit around the ping-pong table which was bigger as well.
Cedmi had his own chair materialise out of thin air the second he walked into the room about two minutes ago, and he sat in it ever since, trying to not yell at the gods.
The chair was positioned between, Nico, who sat next to Hades, and Thalia, who sat next to Artemis.
Cedmi was quite happy to be sitting next to those two. At least they were able to whisper to each other quietly.
"I did not cheat on you!" Zeus shouted at Hera, as she glared at him.
Jason Grace couldn't help but secretly roll his eyes as he looked down so that no one would see. He knew his father was lying so badly.
"Really?" Hera questioned with an raised eyebrow. "Then who was it that I saw making out with that mortal..." She ranted on as she kept glaring at Zeus.
Ares grinned. "I love war." He sat next to his daughter, Clarisse, who polished her spear as she tried to ingnore the talking.
Aphrodite frowned. "I don't." She summoned a mirror out of nowhere as she looked into it. "War ruins my makeup."
Aphrodite then stared applying more lipstick, which she also summoned, on her lips.
Piper, who sat next to her, had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at her mother. Although she knew she would have been more embarrassed by her only if the other gods weren't acting embarrassing as well.
Ares ignored Aphrodite's comment as him and Hephaestus seemed to start arguing for no reason.
Frank really was embarrassed to call Ares or Mars his father at the moment. Scratch that, he had no idea how the war god was his father at all.
Leo just sighed and took his mind off of the conversations by tinkering with some stuff that he took out of his tool belt.
Demeter was telling everyone off for not eating healthy enough. "You should all eat more cereal!" she announced.
Katie felt like groaning and putting her head in her hands. The only thing that stopped her was the understanding glance of Travis Stoll from the opposite side of the table.
The two had been dating for a long time, and they really loved each other.
Hermes and Dionysus were talking about some party, and cool pranks that they could pull, how get people drunk or most importantly, how to get blackmail.
Travis sighed. He caught Katie's gaze and they both stared at each other wordlessly, but an understanding passed through them: They wanted to be anywhere but here.
At least Annabeth didn't have to be too embarrassed by her mother in this bickering between the gods.
Athena was actually just reading a book, as she too tried to keep out the racket of the other talking gods.
The only actual other peaceful gods in the meeting room were Poseidon, Hades and Hestia, who were all talking to each other over the arguing of the other gods.
"You look better, Poseidon," Hades observed, who gave his brother a smile. "And the seas have turned a better looking colour."
Poseidon nodded. "I know. I was able to find out some information about Percy." Hestia and Hades both perked up at the news.
"When? From whom?" Hestia asked her brother immediately.
Poseidon gestured to Commander Cedmi, who wasn't actually listening into their conversations as he was too busy by trying not to loose his temper.
"From Commander Cedmi and not so long ago," Poseidon said. "He told me Percy was alive, happy and well."
Hestia and Hades sighed a bit in relief. They were both still worried about Percy along with Poseidon, but at least they knew he was alive, well and happy.
"Commander Cedmi also said that he knows Percy pretty well," told them the sea god.
Hades and Hestia nodded, as they both made a mental note to talk to Chaos's first commander.
Meanwhile, Chiron sat in his wheelchair and as he looked around the ping-pong table and he sighed. He had no idea what to do.
He didn't want to explode and tell them all to shut up, because he knew he won't be able to do that due to his peaceful personality, but they called this meeting for a reason.
Cedmi was really getting irritated now. He stopped listening to certain conversations a while back, and now all he heard was meaningless chatter.
He had, had enough. That's it. Cedmi thought.
He stood up and slammed his hand on the ping-pong table, which caused a little earthquake, which he had not intended to make but he made sure not to act surprised.
Everyone around the ping-pong table instantly went silent and stared at the commander who straightened up and looked at all of them with his hood up.
"Now that we're all quiet, we can start the meeting," Cedmi said. "Shall we?"
Chiron was impressed, he smiled slightly. Sometimes Cedmi reminded him of one of his students that has disappeared a long time ago and he had not seen him since.
Cedmi reminded him of Percy Jackson.
The seven of the prophecy stared at Cedmi in awe, as to how he managed to shut up all of the bickering Olympians at once, just by slamming his hand on the ping-pong table.
All of the other children of the gods in the Rec. room stared at Cedmi with awe as well. Even Clarisse.
Thalia and Nico mentally smirked as they acted surprised by Cedmi's outburst. They both knew that Percy hated council meetings with the gods.
The Olympians were a bit embarrassed as they realised they must have looked like kindergarten children arguing in front of the universe famous assassin.
Well, not all of them, but most.
Cedmi looked at the gods expectedly as he stood straight. "Well?" he said as he raised an eyebrow under his hood. "I wasn't the one to call this meeting."
Athena immediately composed herself as she cleared her throat and put her book away. She turned to Zeus. "Father."
Zeus nodded, and he cleared his throat as well. Cedmi sat down, a bit satisfied with himself for shutting up the Olympians.
"We have more news and obvious facts about the upcoming war" Zeus stated.
The sky god then looked at over Cedmi who nodded his head, much to his surprise. "Yes, we— the commanders, already know about this all as well."
Hera, who was no longer glaring at Zeus, looked at Cedmi curiously. "Well, is there anything that you know, that we don't?"
Cedmi unnoticeably by the others in the Rec. room clenched his jaw in anger, before he let it relax. He had to keep calm when he told them this information. "Yes, we do."
Athena leaned slightly forward in her chair. "What might you tell us then?"
Cedmi swallowed down slightly. "Well... we know of a certain person being on Void's side. You might know of them."
Chiron looked shocked. "We have a spy?" His thoughts went sadly to Silena Beauregard who was a spy for Kronos, but also a great Hero.
The first commander shook his head. "No," he said. "We would have known already and done something about it if there was a spy at camp. I'm talking about another alai that Void has in the war."
Annabeth looked around the meeting/ Rec. room. "Well, who is it, Commander Cedmi?" she asked politely.
Cedmi spoke. "A person by the name of William Barrow." Gasps were heard around the room, and Cedmi acted surprised by that.
Thalia and Nico stared at Cedmi with a bit of pity and sadness, before they composed themselves and their faces went to shock. Thankfully no one noticed.
"Do you mind filling me in, about who this person is?" Cedmi asked everyone as he looked around. He acted calmly.
Everyone around the ping-pong table shared sad glances.
"Because of him, we lost a hero," Hazel said quietly, yet everyone heard. "You were not there at story telling so you don't know."
Cedmi nodded, and he shot Nico and Thalia secret and unnoticed by other glances. They both nodded at him.
Athena sighed. "Because of that traitor, most of us chased the hero under the name Perseus Jackson away from camp."
Cedmi tensed as Athena said his full real name, before he could control himself as he still hated his full name. Everyone saw.
Piper looked at the commander curiously with a slight frown on her face. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Cedmi answered a but too quickly. He mentally cursed himself. Everyone was staring at him now.
"Poseidon said you know Perseus." Everyone looked at Hestia, and then at Cedmi with wide eyes. "Is it true?"
Thalia and Nico kept quiet, as they waited to see what Cedmj will tell them all.
Cedmi tensed again before he relaxed and he sighed. "Yes, I know Percy. But now is not the time to talk about this. We need to talk about the war."
Everyone snapped out of their shock, and they quickly nodded.
"Alright," Hades started. "From what we gather as all of you saw, Atlas himself was on the battlefield today."
The room suddenly felt a bit colder as if the temperature had somehow drastically dropped and Cedmi winced.
"I really apologise everyone for... you know..." Cedmi trailed off.
Thalia nodded as she knew Cedmi felt extremely uncomfortable. "It's alright, Commander Cedmi."
Cedmi shook his head. "It's just Cedmi, and thank you." He nodded with a smile and then sighed, looking at everyone else. "And yes, we all saw Atlas which means that he is no longer bearing the weight of the sky, so that concludes that someone else is."
Everyone in in the meeting room nodded along with that as they understood and all of them were thinking hard.
"But who can it possibly be?" Jason asked with furrowed eyebrows. "I mean, who would want to take the weight of the sky?"
Nico shook his head. "Titans don't have to want to take the weight, someone can trick them into bearing it. Only gods and demigods have to want to take it."
Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, like Percy, Lady Artemis and I did." She winced slightly at the memory, and so did Artemis.
Cedmi managed to keep himself from wincing as he knew that it would be suspicious, and he also manage to ignore the looks Thalia and Nico sent him.
Clarisse looked up from polishing her spear. "So you all are saying that either another Titan was tricked to bear the weight of the sky, or a demigod or a god took it from Atlas willingly?"
Cedmi nodded. "Thats exactly what we're saying. But also now that Void joined Gaia's and Kronos's side, it means that now he is in charge of Gaia's and Kronos's armies."
Apollo looked dead serious. "What other allies do they have in the war?" he asked.
Cedmi looked at the ceiling for a while, and everyone thought that he didn't hear the question. Then he suddenly looked at Apollo. "The giants are slowly reforming."
Then suddenly shouting and out raged talking filled the Rec. room as everyone heard the news. This was not something they were exactly prepared for.
Last time most of the giants were defeated by Perseus Jackson, and now that he was 'nowhere to be seen' the gods and most of the demigods thought that they were doomed.
Heck, Percy Jackson was the one to defeat Gaia in the first place in the Second Giant War.
Chiron tried to calm everyone down, but he knew it was no use. Cedmi was sitting calmly in his chair. Chiron looked at him pleadingly.
Cedmi nodded in understanding. He stood up, and for the second time during that meeting, he slammed his hand on the ping-pong table causing another earthquake.
Everyone fell quiet again, as they knew better than to anger Chaos's first commander.
"The giants may be rising and they'll probably be able to help Gaia, Kronos and Void in the war, but we also have lots of allies," Cedmi stated, as he sat down in his seat again.
"What kind of allies?" Pollux asked curiously after a second of thought as he sat next to his father, Dionysus.
Cedmi tapped his fingers on the ping-pong table. "Well... you um... have us." It felt kind of painful and weird saying that he was helping the Olympians once again.
Everyone stared at him still, expecting the commander to say something more.
Cedmi shifted a bit in his seat. "The Chaos army will help you in this war with no objections and also— though maybe not..."
"What is it?" Artemis asked. She saw the fact that the commander didn't know if it was right to speak of the subject or not.
Cedmi sighed. "If the war gets as bad as Lord Chaos thinks it might, then the primordial council might possibly get involved."
"The primordial council?" Will Solace asked slowly. He, just like everyone else stared at Cedmi with wide eyes.
Cedmi nodded. "All of the primordials in the council might need to decide which side they are on, if the war indeed gets that bad."
"What if none of them join our side?" Hera questioned instantly. She looked scared at the thought.
Cedmi shook his head. "Lord Chaos, the other commanders and I know which primordials will definitely join our side, as we already discussed this matter with them a while back."
Zesu frowned. "And for how long have you known about this war?"
Cedmi thought about it. "Well, I with the rest of the commanders only found out about it a day before we interrupted your meeting on Olympus," he replied.
Athena raised an eyebrow. "Then how do you know that the primordials that are apparently on our side are actually on our side in this particular war?"
Cedmi raised an eyebrow under his hood as well, not that anyone could see him doing it.
"Because we knew that eventually, Void would start a war and Lord Chaos wanted to know who was on his side," he told them. "Those that are on our side have sworn their loyalty to Lord Chaos. The others were either not sure which side to pick or they were going to definitely join Void."
"So the ones that were not sure which side they want to pick..." Frank spoke.
Cedmi nodded. "There is a possibility that they might join our side and it is quite high since most of them love this planet. But there are also some other primordials from out of the council that have sworn their loyalty to Lord Chaos."
"Which primordials are on our side from the council?" Hestia asked curiously.
Cedmi leaned back in his chair as he crossed his arms. "We for sure know that from the council to join our side are Aether, Hemera, Eros, Ananke and Nyx."
Annabeth gasped. "Nyx?" she asked with a slight tremble in her voice as even the mention of the primordial made her shake.
Cedmi nodded. "Yes, Lady Nyx, the protogenos of Night." He acted like he had no idea why Annabeth seemed scared of the primordial.
Annabeth seemed to hug herself as she remembered how her and Percy had to pass through the said primordial's mansion.
Piper who sat next to her hugged her in comfort. She knew what Annabeth went through when her and Percy went through Tartarus.
Poseidon nodded. "And who do we have on our side outside of the council?"
Cedmi answered, "Morpheus, Aion and Ourea."
Athena nodded. "The primordial god of dreams, the primordial god of eternity and the primordial goddess of mountains."
Cedmi nodded. "Correct."
Demeter frowned. "Who is against us?"
Cedmi thought about it again. "There are... Gaia of course, then Tartarus, Akhlys and Erebus."
"Wait," Travis said. "I may not be the smartest person here, but I know that Erebus and Nyx are married. How is that they are on opposite sides of war?"
Cedmi sighed deeply as he leaned forward in his chair. "Erebus and Nyx has been fighting for decades to be honest."
Everyone perked up at that now and listened in properly to the explanation.
Cedmi continued, "They both disagreed on which side they want to be on as Lady Nyx is forever loyal to Lord Chaos because of a reason which I am forbidden to speak of, and Erebus is drawn towards darkness, which of course emits from Void."
Everyone seemed surprised by Nyx being forever loyal to Chaos and that Cedmi knew why, but they didn't ask because he said he was forbidden to speak of it.
Athena scribbled every word that Cedmi said down into a notebook. She had been doing this since Cedmi started explaining everything.
"So who does that leave in the primordial council that hasn't decided on their side?" Aphrodite asked who was actually listening.
"There are Pontos, Thalassa, Chronos, Elpis and Ouranus," Cedmi answered.
"I thought that Ouranus was in the sky?" Artemis asked instantly in shock.
Cedmi nodded. "He is most of the time. That does not mean that he can't come down from there. He is a primordial god after all."
Everyone in the Rec./meeting room was shocked to hear this, even all of the gods who shared glances.
Cedmi looked down at his watch, which Zoë gave him for one of his birthdays and he saw that the meeting had already lasted forty minutes and that it was nearing dinner time.
Cedmi then looked up at everyone in the meeting room. They were all talking quietly to each other.
"I think that is all said and done for this meeting. Unless anyone else wants to add anything?" Cedmi spoke up.
Everyone shook their heads. Cedmi nodded, and he stood up. "Then thats the end of the meeting. I will be in my cabin if anyone needs my assistance until dinner."
Cedmi then turned and walked out of the Rec./meeting room doors, shortly followed by everyone else.