Chiron walked nervously beside Damon, trying to maintain his composure while guiding the way toward the hill. Behind them, the demigods were running from one place to another. The camp was full of life. When they reached the tree, Chiron stopped in front of the pine and tightened his grip around the cup of nectar.
"Thalia Grace," he said quietly. "Daughter of Zeus."
"I already heard that," Damon replied, observing the bark. "I want to know how she ended up here."
The centaur took a deep breath. "Years ago, Thalia arrived at camp with Luke and Annabeth. They were chased by monsters for days. They were tired, injured, and very close to the border, but they couldn't make it in time. Thalia decided to stay behind to give them a chance."
Damon said nothing.
Chiron continued, his voice lower. "Zeus turned her into this pine tree, and since then, her presence has strengthened the magical borders of the camp."
Damon placed a hand on the trunk. "Turning your daughter into a tree… what was Zeus thinking?" he finally said.
Chiron closed his eyes for a moment. "He saved her. She was hurt, and—"
"Don't confuse saving someone with finding a useful way to not let them die," the redhead interrupted the centaur.
The centaur did not know how to respond. He did not completely agree, but he also did not really have anything to say that would sound right out loud.
Damon turned his attention back to the tree. "I can definitely feel that the barrier depends on her."
"Yes," Chiron admitted. "If something goes wrong…"
"Nothing is going to go wrong, Chiron."
"Damon, I understand that you are now the king of Olympus, but even so, this place—"
"Chiron."
The centaur stopped. The firmness in his tone left no room for discussion. "I'm not going to leave a girl trapped in a tree so the camp can sleep peacefully when there are other ways, and you know it. Zeus did this just to prove a point, not to protect his daughter. The fact that she ended up protecting the camp is only an excuse."
Chiron lowered his gaze. Internally, he knew Damon was right. The god of lightning had no heart for anyone other than himself and his throne.
With a thought, several clones appeared silently around the camp. They moved to different parts of the camp's borders, kneeling beside the earth. Their hands touched the ground at the same time, and black lines began to spread.
They were Uzumaki seals surrounding the camp, the kanji sinking into the earth. They imposed a barrier similar to the one already existing, while reinforcing it and taking the weight off the magical pine.
Chiron opened his eyes when he felt it. "This…"
"A new barrier," Damon explained. "It won't depend on anyone anymore. The environment itself will make it stronger."
The centaur nodded, stunned. He had no idea how Damon had done it, but he had done it. Although honestly, Damon had always been a box full of surprises.
Damon placed his full palm against the pine. "Thalia Grace, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, don't be afraid to wake up."
The bark trembled.
Damon used his power to dismantle Zeus's power layer by layer. Little by little, the trunk began to crack. A golden-blue light escaped from inside the pine. The bark opened gently, and from within, a girl fell forward. Damon caught her before she touched the ground.
She was thin, pale, with messy black hair and the expression of someone who had just awakened from a nightmare that had lasted far too long. Her eyes were electric, the confusion clear in them.
For a few seconds, Thalia Grace only opened and closed her eyes, dazed, trying to get used to the light. Then she looked at Damon's face, realizing that the unknown redhead was holding her.
"Who the hell are you?" the demigod girl murmured.
Chiron let out a choked sound; the emotion in his voice was clear. Damon, on the other hand, let out a small laugh. "Yes. Definitely Zeus's daughter."
Thalia frowned. "That didn't answer my question."
"Calm down, girl. I just freed you after you were trapped in a tree for years. You have nothing to fear."
"How considerate," she muttered, trying to sit up.
Thalia noticed the centaur a few seconds later. It took her a moment to recognize him, as if she were searching through old, hazy memories.
"Chiron…" she murmured, more like a confirmation than a question.
The centaur nodded. "Welcome back, Thalia."
Thalia looked him up and down, still dazed. "Well… at least you still look the same."
"It is good to see you too," Chiron replied, clearly relieved.
"How long have I been out?"
"Time has passed, Thalia," the centaur answered slowly. "A lot of things have happened." Thalia clenched her jaw and looked toward the camp in the distance. "Years," she said, understanding before Chiron could confirm it.
"Yes."
Thalia cursed under her breath. "Great. I fall asleep being chased by monsters and wake up with neck pain and useless legs. Honestly, I'm surprised this place is still here. Did Zeus finally come to his senses?" the demigod girl said, already expecting a lightning bolt to fall on her head for mentioning her father's name so casually.
But to her surprise, nothing happened, making the demigod girl seriously wonder if Zeus was on vacation.
Reading her thoughts, Damon easily discovered the demigod girl's worries. "You don't need to worry. Zeus will never do to you what he did again. You can consider Zeus's government over."
Thalia's eyes widened at the news; her gaze locked onto Chiron, searching for confirmation. At the same time, the centaur nodded, confirming the demigod girl's doubts.
"Now, if you want to go back into the tree, I have no problem putting you back."
Thalia glared at him, but the small smile on her face betrayed her. "I don't like you, Red."
"I'm not surprised," Damon said flatly. "I imagine you inherited that from your father."
Chiron coughed softly, clearly trying to bring some seriousness back to the matter.
Damon ignored the centaur and looked at Thalia more seriously. "Right now, your legs still aren't used to being legs, so don't try to act tougher than necessary. Beyond that, you can curse all you want."
Thalia opened her mouth to respond with something, probably an insult, but her knees trembled at that exact moment. She muttered a string of curses under her breath, annoyed, but did not pull away when Damon kept a firm hand on her shoulder to help her walk.
"Come on. I'm sure there will be people happy to see you."
The black-haired girl let herself be led reluctantly, her eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of the camp spread out below the hill. She had nearly died trying to reach this place. Damon also raised an eyebrow, but for a different reason.
Apparently, some gods and nymphs had appeared. Most were simply watching from afar, uncomfortable, as if they did not know whether they had the right to approach or not.
An ash-tree nymph was the first to do it. She approached a girl who wanted trees around her cabin, knelt beside her, and touched the earth. "What kind of tree do you want to see when you wake up?" she asked carefully.
The girl stared at her, not knowing how to answer. Then she lowered her gaze toward the ground. "I don't know… no one has ever asked me." The nymph pressed her lips together, clearly struck by that answer. Then she smiled with embarrassment. "Then we can choose it together."
On the other hand, near the training arena, Nike was arguing with one of her sons, who seemed far too excited about the idea of putting trophies at the entrance before they even had walls.
The goddess of victory listened to him with a proud smile, but in the end, she gave him a small flick on the forehead with two fingers. "First, we have to build something worthy. Then we can show off the trophies." The boy rubbed his forehead, but smiled anyway.
"So we can have a victory wall?" Nike lifted her chin. "Of course. But if you're going to brag, make sure you win something first." Several of her children began talking at the same time, already arguing over what counted as a victory and what did not.
Damon slowed his steps a little when he saw Nemesis with her children. The goddess watched as two campers argued over whether their cabin should be bigger to "command respect." Nemesis crossed her arms, her severe gaze moving from one to the other.
"Balance," she finally said. "No bigger than necessary, and no smaller than what is fair. A home should not feed the ego, but it also should not make you feel lesser than others."
Her children stayed silent for a moment, processing her words, before nodding with almost exaggerated seriousness. To them, apparently, it made perfect sense.
Damon watched the scene with a drop of sweat sliding down the back of his neck. "Well… I guess even arguing about square footage gets intense when your mother is Nemesis."
Meanwhile, Iris was still surrounded by her own children. Their hands were stained with colors, and around them, small rainbow lights floated as if the air itself were testing different tones.
One of her daughters, no older than ten, passed a line of color over a piece of pale wood and looked at her mother with doubt. "Like this?" Iris knelt beside her. "That's perfect. But tell me, what color do you want to see when you wake up?"
The girl looked a little unsure. Then she looked at the crystals, thinking seriously. "Blue… but with a little gold when the sun rises." Iris smiled, her eyes shining with colors that showed just how happy she was. "Then blue and gold it will be."
Athena appeared near Annabeth without making a sound. The daughter of Athena was kneeling over an improvised plan, arguing with two campers about the position of a future cabin. She had dirt on her hands, her hair was a little messy, and her eyes held absolute concentration.
"That path can't go there," Annabeth said. "If you put it in that direction, it cuts the flow between the arena and the dining pavilion."
"But it looks prettier," one of the children said.
"Pretty doesn't mean functional."
"But it can be both," a serene voice said behind her.
Annabeth froze. Slowly, she turned her head, seeing none other than Athena in all her glory, although her eyes shone with something Annabeth had not often seen directed toward her. Pride.
"Mother," Annabeth said, almost without a voice.
Athena inclined her head. "Your idea about symmetry is correct. But the child is right too. Look at New York. Not everything that makes a city work is in its straight streets or tall buildings. Sometimes it is a park in the middle of the chaos that keeps everything from feeling like a cage."
Annabeth lowered her gaze toward the plan, processing that in silence, then looked back at her mother. Her intelligence seemed to battle against an emotion too simple. "Then… will you help me?"
Athena's gaze softened slightly. "That is why I am here."
Damon watched the scene from a distance without interrupting. Around him, similar scenes were beginning to repeat throughout the camp. But at the same time, not everyone knew what to say. Some divine parents approached with guilt, and their children looked at them, unsure whether to be excited or suspicious. Even so, many stayed, for the simple fact that they wanted to hear for the first time what their children truly wanted.
As a result, divine help accelerated everything. Even Demeter was present, being a great help, as her presence made nature help or move aside without harming it, and little by little, the camp began to take shape. Built between parents and children, with hands, mistakes, and unspoken apologies shown through actions....
Damon was happy, seeing the gods and demigods working together, even awkwardly, made him feel that at least something was starting to move in the right direction. But at the same time, a small doubt appeared in his mind.
Everyone there seemed to have children. Even the minor gods, the nymphs, and the spirits.
Everyone except him.
Well, him and Hestia, although that was a different case.
"Heh, maybe it's time for you to have your own cubs, Damon," Kurama's voice said in his mind, clearly amused.
Damon did not respond. The worst part was that the fox was not completely wrong. It was not as if he were unfamiliar with that area. In his mortal lives, he had had children, families, people he had cared for and lost. But an immortal child… someone who could walk beside him without being taken by time as quickly as the others…
The idea did not sound as bad as he expected.
I'll have to talk about that with Amaterasu. That was the last thing Damon thought before the camp around him suddenly went quiet. One by one, the demigods stopped what they were doing, their eyes moving past Damon and toward the black-haired girl standing beside him.
Thalia Grace.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Assuming I make him have kids, I mean, surely the first one should be from Amaterasu, right?
lol stones please lol
https://discord.gg/V9tXgfsa8
P@treon : Brotato up to chapter 114