Chapter 8:
Percy moved his head and the spear missed him by centimeters. He pulled up Riptide and cut the ropes holding him and broke free.

Percy tried to grab the spear, but the moment he touched it, the spear disappeared into ashes.
"You cannot use what is not yours Perseus," came Athenas voice. Percy turned around and saw that she had disappeared into the field of spears in front of him.

Percy on gaurd entered the field. As he took each step in, he felt something inside him.

Something which was telling him to get out of there. But before he could Athena's voice rung out again, "lesson one, never let the opponent choose the battlefield!"

Percy ducked and rolled away from the spot he was, just in time to avoid Athena from stabbing him with a spear.

Percy turned and swung down Riptide. Athena dodged the attack, she then parried each strike of Percy's with her spear.

"You should give up Athena, even Ares didn't win against me in close contact."

Athena smirked, "Ares also lost to me when with this spear when we fought."

Percy gritted his teeth and continued the attack. He was slowly pushing Athena back, and the only reason he still had a head was because of his survival instincts.

"Enough of this!" cried Athena, she kicked Percy in the ribs and jumped, landing on one of the spears. Balancing like a cat Athena stood straight and started attacking Percy from above.
It was like fighting an enemy that could attack him with ease, but Percy couldn't even touch. Athena started jumping from one spear to another all the will thrusting at Percy.

Just then Percy remembered something Athena said, 'I can't use something I don't have.'

Precy reached out and touched the spear Athena was standing on, and after a moment praying to god that his plan would work, the spear disappeared. Athena saw this and jumped away, but the chase was on.

Percy kept touching the spear and Athena kept jumping away. Just as she landed on her 5th spear, Percy was already there waiting for her. He reached out and grabbed the spear, and before Athena could get jump, she fell down on the ground.

As Athena was getting up Percy held Riptide at her throat, "stay down Athena."

Athena smiled as she knew something Percy did not. The ground was uneven from when Athena struck the ground with her many spears, and Percy was standing right behind a raised platform. So Athena kicked Percy and when Percy took a step back he tripped.

Athena jumped up again onto her spears, she grabbed the closest one and jumped again, the point o the spear pointed at Percy as she came done with the weight of knowledge.

Percy saw her jump, but just as he was about to roll away he thought of something. All this will Athena had been giving him clues, clues to win. She told him about how the spears disappeared, so maybe she had helped him out before. 'What did she say I have to do to win?' wondered Percy, 'To accept knowledge, so that means…...'

And so Percy didn't move, as the spear got closer and closer down, no one could stop what was about to happen now. Not Athena, not Percy or any other god. Just as the spear almost pierced him, Percy closed his eyes and prayed to god that this would work.

The spear cut through Percy and Athena stood over the demigod. She looked down at him, her grey eyes narrowed, and then she smiled.

"I see you have figured it out Percy," she let go of the spear which vanished into dust and all the other remaining spears, that were plunged into the ground, did as well.

Percy smiled as he opened his eyes. He stood up and patted himself down, "I had to accept knowledge to win, and you said that the spear represented knowledge, it's just like putting two and two together."

"And yet you still need so many clues kelp head," grinned Athena as she laughed. Percy just blushed red.

After her laughter died down Athena looked at Percy, "Percy do you know what this place is?"
Percy looked around the city, "it is a greek city of some kind?"

Athena nodded, "yes Percy this is the city of Athens, or atleast how I remembered it. You remembered that giant sea you found yourself in yes?" Percy nodded, "well this is my version. Every god and goddess has one and you will fight in their minds, that is where we are."

Athena looked at him, now all traces of humor disappeared, "Percy I have a quest for you. You will conquer all the gods in you, and by doing so release their spirits from you. You will then return these spirits to the gods of your time. Do you accept?"

Percy got on one leg and bowed to the goddess, "I do Lady Athena."

Athena smiled, "good Percy. Now for your reward for besting me. I grant you a gift, a gift of learning."

Percy's head suddenly felt clear. Clearer than he had ever felt in his entire life. It was like his mind was a city covered in fog, but know the fog had finally cleared up and he could see everything. he remembered every detail in his life, when he was born. His first cycle. The feeling of the cat he had when he was a kid, even the taste of his moms breast milk, yuck!

"This feels.. this feels so-"

"Amazing."

"Is this how you feel like every day?"

Athena nodded,"indeed it is young Perseus. You will now know everything you know, no longer will there be anything blocking you from becoming the best thing that you are, education wise. I will also give you some language skill, you are lucky that Artemis spoke greek, which you knew. And the druids seems to know greek as well, that is good to, but your luck could run out."

"I thank you my Lady for these gifts," Percy then bowed his head.

"These are no gifts Percy, they are your right. I can not take them away from you, nor can any god, they are changes made into the very core of your soul. they will be with you till the day you die. Now I am free and I can go from here. But remember there are 11 other to face, and I am but the weakest. This is because I am the furthest away from your core, from your soul. Hence I take the least amount of energy from you. Remember this Perseus."

Percy nodded and bowed once more. Athena then slowly started to disappear into dust and the dust flew through the city. But as she was disappearing, Athena said, "remember these words Percy, Knowledge is victory."

Percy did, an when he blinked he appeared back to his body. Suddenly Percy's body felt hot. He could feel something from deep inside him rummble, wanting to get out. Then Percy's body started glowing grey, and a grey outline of Athena appeared over Percy.

The demigod coughed and coughed until dust started to come out of him. the dust slowly gathered and formed a small bead. The bead was purple and had a grey owl carved into it.

'Is this Athena's soul?' though Percy. He was wondering what to do, just then had an idea. He took of the camp half blood bead necklace that he still had around his neck and put Athena's bead on it.

Percy looked around and noticed it was night time. Brain must have left. Percy remembered the way back and so set off to find the huts.

On the way back the forest was light up by the moon. Percy looked up to see the diamond in the sky shining bright in the sky. Artemis must be happy.

'I swear Artemis I will find you again one day. I promise.'

As Percy reached the outskirts of the huts he noticed Gerald out waiting for Percy.

As Percy approached Gerald looked up, "so you did it?"

Percy nodded, "I concurred Athena."

"Pfft only Athena? But then again you did just defeat a god. Why not go for two in a row?"

"Athena gave me a sort of gift. I need to get used to it before I try again, because if during battle suddenly my body starts acting different I will die."

Gerard nodded, "fair enough. Brain told me to me to show you to a hut for you to sleep the night. This is it," he pointed to the one next to Percy, "good night greek." Gerald then walked away into the night.

"Good night to you to brooding ass," Percy whispered.

Gerald stopped and turned,"I have very sharp hearing you know."

Percy quickly went inside and quickly got to bed.

The next day when Percy woke up he found Cora who offered to teach him how to cook the soup he had last night and where to find the ingredients. Needless to say Percy was very enthusiastic.

The rest of the morning Percy and Cora spent in the forest. cora taught Percy the names of the plants and Percy soaked up all the knowledge like a sponge. By the time they were done Percy knew all the ingredients needed, where to get them, their name and even how to tell which ones were good and which were bad.

"My goodness Percy you are a quick study, you are almost as fast as my husband," exclaimed Cora.

Percy rubbed his head, "yeah it's a perk."

When the got back Percy helped Cora prepare dinner and lunch, which was soup.
During that meal Coar told everyone of how quick Percy knew each and every plant taught and how she never had to repeat herself.

"In that case Percy, how about I teach you a thing or two about druids?"Obviously Percy agreed. And that was how Percy spent his days with the Druids. He learnt from them, ate with them, he even became a part of the family.

---

Two weeks later:
Percy just came from the forest carrying a basket of flowers for a portion he was trying out when he spotted Kim.

Kim saw Percy and ran up to him, "Percy Percy want to play?"

Percy smiled at the little girl, "afraid not Kim I have a lot to do," at that Kim's face frowned in disappointment, looking at such a sad face Percy could not take any more, "but I can do this," he then pulled out several flowers he picked and made them into a crown and placed it on Kim's head.

Kim giggled, "thanks Percy!" she hugged him and then ran off to show her mother her new crown.

Percy smiled at the sight and went into his hut. Inside it was filled with bottle of ingredients and a cauldron or two. Percy put his ingredients there and began his work.

He was preparing a potion which should show him where he was. It was based on the vitamins in the flowers. The stronger the flower, the more vitamins, and the potion will show how strong the flower is by changing the colour. Red is low vitamins, blue is high and every other color is in between. If all goes well Percy will atleast be able to tell where the plants are from, thereby giving a guess to the location of this circle of druids.

After the potions was finished Percy let it simmer as it would take a few hours to complete. He went out of his hunt and decided to go for a walk.

He walked into the forest and soon he heard the sound of swords clashing. Hearing the sound of battle Percy took out Riptide, his finger on the cap and he slowly walked to the noise.

He crept slowly and using a tree as cover he looked to see where the noise was coming from. There in front of him was what looked like a training field. On the field was Gerald and Mila sparring with their swords. They both had roman gladius as their weapon and though the battle was fierce, it was pretty…. well pathetic. It was like none of them had any sort of idea what to do with the sword and was just swinging that thing around. Percy was no expert but in this case compared to them he was.

After a good minute they stopped to catch their breath. Gerald then looked right at Percy, "well greek are you just going to hid or are you going to come out?"

Percy was surprised that Gerald could see him, but then again he was a werewolf. Percy walked out and smiled at the four werewolves. During his stay here he had never really talked to them, except a little to Gerald and Kila.

"So you guys were sword fighting huh?" asked Percy smiling at them.

"Yes greek, why can't you see?" asked Gerald.

"Now now Gerald be nice, he was just curios," said Hector who smiled at Percy. Gerald simply huffed and sat down drinking some water from his waterskin.

"Hey Percy do you know how to use a sword?" asked Kila, curious.

"Yup and I'm pretty good to, if I do say so myself. I managed to defeat Ares, I mean Mars once, though it was kind of a fluke."

At this Kila looked in shock and Gerald let out a bark in laughter, "ha! Yeah right you beat Mars? Now I heard everything!"

"He did say he managed to hold of Saturn for as long as he did," said Mila.

"Then where is his sword?" asked Hector curios.

To that Percy pulled out Riptide as a pen and said, "here it is."

"That is not a sword you stupid greek, that is a nothing," said Gerald.

"This is a pen moron," replied Percy pissed off, "and here let me show you how much of a sword it is." Then with his thumb he threw off the pen cap and Riptide grew into a sword again. Percy then swung it over his shoulder, "or are you to scared?"

Gerald growled, showing his teeth, he walked up and charged Percy without thinking ahead.

Percy moved to the side avoiding Geralds' oncoming swing and tripping the wolf in the process.
"Lesson one, never charge blindly," said Percy. Gerald picked himself of the ground. He growled at Percy he charged again, only to have Percy block him with Riptide and punch him him the face with his free hand. "What did I just say?"

Gerald held his face and took a few steps back. He looked up, his eyes then flashed red. He threw his sword away and clenched his fists. When the opened then again they had claws. His face grew hair and his jaw became more angular. He looked at Percy with rage, and roared.
"Gerald no!" cried Hector as he grabbed Gerald trying to hold him back, so did Mila and Kila.

But Gerald pushed them all to the ground and charged at Percy fangs sharp.

Percy's legs gave out just before gerald was about to grab him, Percy kicked Gerald right in the face sending the wolf back a few steps.

At that point Mila, Kila and Hector grabbed Gerald and Hector reached into Gerald's shirt and pulled out a medallion in it. It had was looke like three spirals connected at the center. Hecto pressed it into Gerard's hand, "Gerald, say the words! Alpha Beta Omega! Say it! Alpha Beta Omega! Alpha Beta Omega. Come one Gerald don't let it control you!"

Slowly Gerald grabbed hold of the medallion and began the chant "Alpha Beta Omega! Alpha Beta Omega! Alpha Beta Omega. Sigh." With every chant he became calmer and calmer until his feature went back to normal.

Gerald looked at Percy, he put his medallion under his shirt again and quickly disappeared into the forest.

"Don't take it personally Percy," said Mila snapping Percy out of his shock, "he just has anger issues."

"Yeah you would too if you had been through what he had," said Kila.

"What happened to Gerald? Why does he hate me so much? And was that his wolf form? It's unlike any werewolf I have ever seen."

Hector sighed, "we'll tell you Percy, but only because you are owed and explanation. This is not our story to tell, well not much of it anyway. It began when Gerald was a boy, his parents died and as a werewolf he was sent to the king, Lycaon. Lycaon made Gerald to do many terrible thing like eat humans, and kill children, but Gerald refused so Lycaon sold him off to a bunch of greek traders. There he met us. Together we managed to escape but not before we were all hurt by those men." at that Mila and Kila looked down at the ground at anger, their eyes turning yellow for a second.

"Why did your eyes turn yellow?" asked Percy.

"When a werewolf is angry they change uncontrollably. Like Gerald when he attacked you."

"But why are the eyes a different color?"

"And that is the second part of the story," said Hector, "you see there are three kinds of were wolves in this world Alphas, Betas and Omegas. And Alpha has red eyes and is the leader of a pack. The Betas have yellow eyes and is basically everyone else. And an Omega is a wolf with no pack, the runt if you will. Gerald is the Alpha, and we are his Beta's. But when Gerald saved us he was only a Beta and we were humans. Then came Mars."

At this Kila really got made, "that fucker captured us and made Gerald face many challenges. But through those challenges Gerald changed, he became an Alpha."

"You see," Hecto took over again, "there are two ways one can become an Alpha, you either steal it from some other Alpha by killing them or becoming on through sheer force of will. And Gerald became and Alpha via the latter, he became a true Alpha. And the moment he did Mars forced him to bite us and turn us. And when we all became werewolves we escaped Ares, only to be captured by Lycaon. He took an interest in Gerald because he was the only true Alpha in centuries. When we managed to escape again we went to Jupiter for help only for that ass hole to send us here."

"Gerald still feels guilty about what happened to us," said Mila, "he wanted us to live a normal life. And everytime he looses control, which happens rarely, he goes of and broods."

Percy the moment he heard this his took off, recapping Riptide.

"Hey where are you going?" asked Kila.

"To talk to him," came the reply.

When Percy found Gerald, the Alpha was sitting in the same rock Percy sat on when he fought Athena. Gerald was looking down and disgraces as Percy walked up to him.

"They told me your story,"said Percy as he sat down besides Gerald.

"They should learn to mind their own business."

"You are their business. They just want to be there for you."

Gerald was silent for a few minutes, "it should not be that way, I should be there for them."

"Hey you can't say that. Look you might be an Alpha but you don't have to be the only one to carry all the weight around here. A pack is there so that the responsibility can be divided."

"It's still me flaut they are here. I am supposed to be responsible, not this. I lose control every time I get angry, how am i supposed to help them if I can't help myself."

Percy gently laid his hand on Gerard's shoulder, "Gerald they care for you. They are not just your pack, they are also family. And family helps family. Let them help you. Let help you."

Gerald looked at Percy, "I suppose my sword skills could use a little work."

Percy raised an eyebrow, "a little?"

"Alright then a lot."

"That's my boy, now come on you can cry to your pack later right now I have half a day to begin your first day training to become half decent at swords."

Gerald smiled as he followed Percy back to the others. When they saw Percy and Gerald they thanked Percy and their first training session with Percy began.

At the end of the day the pack all thought one thing, 'I am so going to kill Percy.'

Percy was in other words a slave driver. He pushed the pack to the limit. 50 laps around the training ground and then push ups till they drop. Then running on the spot, the only reason they weren't pools of sweat on the ground was because of their werewolf stamina.

But that night after dinner Percy and the pack really got along well. Just before he went to sleep Percy was called by Hector.

"Thank you Percy," said Hector, "you helped out my friend, no my brother. But I'll warn you now if you ever do anything to cause harm to my family, I will kill you."

Percy in most cases would get pissed off at hearing something like that, but now he got it. It made sense and so all he did was nod and he retreated into his bed for the night.

Notes

For the full story check out my profile at fan fic-https://www.fanfiction.net/u/5380086/I-mjusttryingtofindmyway