Percy Jackson: The Firstborn

Chapter 183: Chapter 183: I will make you Greek

"Of course I can!"

"Okay, okay, kid. I get it," Damon replied, raising one hand slightly in response to all the energy Marcos was giving off. The boy reminded him a little of the Uzumaki, at least in attitude.

"By the way, my name is Damon. That’s my brother Hades, and these two are my nephew and niece, Nico and Bianca," he explained while briefly pointing toward each of them.

"Ohhh..." Marcos replied as he looked over the small group with obvious curiosity.

Damon waited for some kind of additional reaction, especially after mentioning Hades, but Marcos simply kept smiling as though he had just been introduced to four ordinary humans. Thinking about it, though, that really shouldn’t have surprised him. These were children from other pantheons. Why the hell would they care about knowing the Greek gods? Some of them probably didn’t even know who their own divine parents were.

"I appreciate the help and all that, Marcos," Damon continued after a few seconds. "But what I’m really interested in knowing is how a demigod like you ended up here. Or, more specifically, how you and all your companions ended up in this place."

It was as if Damon’s words had traveled through the entire room.

Suddenly, the conversations around the room began to die down as children who had been playing at arcade machines only moments earlier turned their heads. Several simply abandoned whatever they had been doing and looked directly toward the redhead.

Marcos opened his eyes slightly. "Huh? How do you know that I’m a—?"

"How do you know we’re demigods?"

The new voice made Damon turn his head.

A girl around the same age as Marcos was approaching. She was practically his female reflection: brown skin, slightly messy dark hair, and another straw hat sitting on top of her head. Her clothes were just as old and worn, although her expression was far more suspicious than her brother’s.

Marcos immediately raised a hand. "Ah! That’s María. My sister."

"His twin," the girl corrected without taking her eyes off Damon.

"That’s what I said," Marcos replied, frowning at his sister.

María pressed her lips together slightly before deciding that arguing with Marcos probably wasn’t worth the effort. Damon had to suppress a small smile.

"How do you know we’re demigods?" María repeated, this time looking directly at the redhead.

The question seemed to open the floodgates and break the ice in the room, because suddenly a barrage of questions began raining down on Damon.

"Who are you?"

"Are you a demigod too?"

"Are you friends with our parents?"

"Do you know who my dad is?"

"Do we have to leave?!"

The questions began coming from every direction until practically the entire room was talking at the same time. Nico watched the scene with wide eyes while Bianca moved a little closer to Damon. Hades, meanwhile, remained behind everyone with his arms crossed. Damon silently asked him for help with a look, but the God of the Underworld simply glanced away, making it perfectly clear that Damon had caused this, so now he could deal with it.

Damon raised a hand. "Okay. Everyone calm down."

His voice wasn’t especially loud, but it carried enough authority to cut through the noise immediately. Little by little, the voices began to fade until most of the children fell silent.

Damon took several steps toward the center of the room.

Dozens of curious eyes fixed on him, but there was also distrust. Clearly not just because he was a stranger; life had already taught these children more than once that trusting someone too easily could end badly.

Seeing those looks, Damon’s expression softened slightly. "First, let me properly introduce myself. My name is Damon, and I’m the King of Olympus."

Damon expected that surely someone would recognize him now.

He only received blank stares... A massive sweatdrop practically appeared behind the redhead’s head.

Of course...

Why the hell had he expected a group of young demigods from other pantheons to know who the King of Olympus was? In fact, considering the ages of some of them, it was probably already impressive that they even knew they were demigods.

Marcos suddenly raised his hand. "Ahhh! So you’re..."

Damon looked at him, finally expecting some recognition.

Marcos narrowed his eyes as though squeezing every last thought out of his brain. "...the owner of Olympus?"

Damon pressed his lips together, his patience already being tested. "Yeah..... More or less, kid," the god finally replied.

"Ahhh, I knew it!" the boy shouted at the top of his lungs.

"What do you know? You can barely count to ten," María muttered.

Before Marcos could defend himself, one of the older boys stepped slightly out of the group. He looked to be around thirteen, with light brown skin and short black hair. Unlike Marcos, his expression was much sharper and more calculating.

"Don’t be stupid," he told Marcos before looking toward Damon. "You’re kind of like a president, right, sir?"

Damon immediately pointed at the boy. "Exactly. Good job, kid."

The boy smirked, clearly pleased with himself. "My name’s Mateo."

"Nice to meet you, Mateo." Damon exhaled slowly before looking over all the children again. "Yes. To keep things simple, you can think of me as something like a president. And I came here because of all of you."

A small hand immediately rose from the group. Damon looked toward a girl who couldn’t have been older than eleven. "So, sir..." she asked with obvious concern. "Are you going to deport us?"

The entire room fell silent..... And one second later, it exploded again.

"WHAAAAAAAT?!"

The collective scream of horror echoed throughout the room..... Damon’s eyes widened. "Wait, I didn’t—"

"NAH, NAH, NAH! I’m not going back!" another boy shouted quickly as he took several steps backward. "I have food here and at least somewhere to sleep!"

"hell no, me neither!"

"That boy Marcos is the one who causes all the problems here! Take him instead!"

"Hey!" Marcos shouted, glaring around as he tried to figure out who the hell had said that.

Damon slowly brought one hand to his forehead, already feeling a headache forming. That said, the children’s reaction had at least made one thing fairly clear: there was a very real possibility that some of them had come to the Lotus willingly.

The problem was that Damon had no idea how much real time had passed since these children entered the Lotus.

Hades had said that when he left Nico and Bianca in the Lotus, there hadn’t been any other demigods inside the casino, and approximately seventy years had passed in the outside world since then. That meant every child in this room had arrived at some point during those seven decades.

But how long ago exactly???? And more importantly, did the circumstances these children were so afraid of returning to even still exist?

Damon pushed those thoughts aside for the moment and raised both hands. "Relax. No one is deporting anyone."

The voices slowly began to die down. "Are you sure?" the same girl asked.

"I’m sure," Damon confirmed. "Unless one of you gives me a really good reason to."

Damon waited a few seconds to make sure everyone was listening before continuing. "Look, I’m going to get straight to the point. I know you’re demigods because I’m a god. It’s that simple."

Several eyes widened in surprise as murmurs began spreading through the children. Marcos looked at Damon as though he had just revealed the greatest secret in the universe, while María tightened her grip on her brother’s hand without taking her eyes off the redhead.

"But that’s not all," Damon continued. "You’re children of gods, yes, but not Greek gods, which is the Pantheon I belong to. Most of you are Aztec."

More murmurs filled the room. Damon then directed his gaze toward a small group of three children standing slightly apart from the rest. "And you three are Norse."

The three exchanged looks, clearly surprised that the redhead could tell so easily. Damon noticed that they at least seemed to understand more about their own situation than the others.

"Now, the reason I’m here talking to you is fairly simple." Damon crossed his arms as he looked at everyone more seriously. "In simple terms, you’re not supposed to be here. This place is inside Greek territory. It isn’t a region where your parents have power, jurisdiction, or even the authority to act freely."

Damon noticed several of the children’s expressions sour and softened his tone slightly. "That doesn’t mean you’re in trouble. It also doesn’t mean I’m going to throw you out and send you back somewhere you don’t want to go. In fact, I’m going to assume that many of you don’t even know who your divine parents are."

The silence was more than enough of an answer for Damon, confirming that his assumption had been right. Some of the children lowered their eyes. Marcos simply scratched the side of his head while María became much more thoughtful.

"The fact that so many of you don’t want to leave this casino already tells me that you have your own reasons for staying," Damon continued. "And believe me, I can understand that."

Damon didn’t need to ask to know he had struck a nerve with more than one of them. "That’s why I’m going to make you an offer." The redhead extended one hand slightly. "Come with me."

The children looked at him again. "I’ll take you somewhere better. Somewhere you can meet others like yourselves, learn what you are, and, more importantly, learn how to defend yourselves."

María tightened her grip on Marcos’s hand. She seemed more uncertain than suspicious now, but she still wasn’t willing to blindly jump at the offer. "But..." the girl began slowly. "How can we trust you, sir?"

Damon remained silent for a moment before nodding slightly. It was a fair question. "You’re going to have to trust me a little, kid," he replied calmly. "But if you want some proof of what I’m saying..."

Damon pointed toward Nico and Bianca. "Those two are demigods as well. Greek demigods." Nico raised one hand slightly while Bianca remained close beside him.

"We’re taking them to Camp Half-Blood," Damon continued. "It’s a place where demigods can train, learn to control their abilities, defend themselves, and become capable of standing on their own."

María looked toward Nico and Bianca. She knew them; in fact, everyone in the casino did. They were the two pale children who were always wandering around or spending most of their time locked inside their room.

The redhead continued before anyone could interrupt him. "I’ll promise you something else too. If you come with me, I’ll help you find the answers you’re looking for. If you don’t know who your parents are, we’ll find out. And I’m not going to settle for simply learning their names."

Several surprised gazes landed on the redhead, who simply smiled confidently. "That’s right. I’ll make your parents personally acknowledge you."

"Can you really do that...? What if they don’t want to?" one of the children asked, and the murmurs immediately began spreading through the room again.

"I just want to meet my mother," another said in a much quieter voice, followed by several children who already seemed more than willing to follow the redhead despite the doubts some of their companions still had.

Seeing another avalanche of questions about to begin, Damon raised one hand slightly. "I’m completely serious. It’s a promise, and I never break my promises. It doesn’t matter whether your parents want to acknowledge you or not; they’ll have to." The certainty in his voice left very little room for doubt. "And after that, if any of you decide to return to your lands, look for your family, or simply go off on your own, that will be your choice."

His gaze slowly swept over all the children before he continued. "But if you decide to stay with me, then I’ll make a place for you and for whatever future you want to build. I’ll give you a home, training, and the opportunity to decide for yourselves what you want to become." Damon paused briefly before adding with complete seriousness, "I’ll make you true Greeks."

A deep silence fell over the room... Hades watched his brother from several steps away, and by this point he had a fairly clear idea of what Damon was doing. And to be honest, it wasn’t a bad idea.

If these children grew up under Damon’s protection, learned to properly use their divine heritage, and eventually made names for themselves, Olympus would end up with demigods connected to other pantheons but personally loyal to the new King of the Gods. In the long run, that could not only greatly increase Damon’s forces but also expand his influence into regions where the Greek Pantheon would normally have very little presence.

After all, there was a reason gods had always shown such interest in claiming their children whenever those children accomplished great deeds..... Demigods carried the legacy of their parents.

If the child of a god developed an invention capable of changing the lives of millions of humans, founded a city, saved an entire population from famine, or simply became a figure admired for generations, part of that recognition inevitably found its way back to the deity behind them. All it took was for that demigod to attribute their accomplishments to the blessing or guidance of their parent for new people to begin learning that god’s name.

Sometimes it could begin with something as simple as food.

If someone arrived in a region devastated by famine, found a way to feed hundreds of people, and then claimed that they had accomplished it thanks to their god, Damon, it wouldn’t be strange for some of those humans to begin praying to him. If those stories continued growing over time, passing from one generation to another and spreading into other regions, they could eventually become something much greater.

That was how many beliefs began.... It was also how some religions had managed to spread across enormous parts of the world while others slowly disappeared under their influence. Christianity and the various Hindu traditions were obvious examples of religions capable of reaching regions far removed from their places of origin, while other religious systems had lost ground over the centuries.

The ancient Persian Pantheon was a particularly clear example of how a religious system could end up almost completely displaced after the spread of Islam across its former territories.

The Greeks were no exception. Heroes such as Achilles, Perseus, Heracles, and many others had helped keep the fame of the Greek Pantheon alive for generations. Their feats didn’t only elevate their own names, but also the names of the gods connected to them.

As long as those stories continued to be told, portrayed, and remembered by mortals, the influence of the Greek Pantheon would continue to exist long after the ancient cities that once worshiped them had disappeared.

That was why gods never completely ignored what their mortal descendants accomplished. A powerful demigod was useful. A demigod who became famous among mortals could be even more valuable.

Although Hades also knew perfectly well that this could go catastrophically wrong.... Just thinking about one of his own sons was enough to remind him of that.

Hitler... that boy....

The God of the Underworld’s expression tightened slightly at the memory. That was precisely the other side of allowing a divine child to gain too much influence among mortals. A great figure could strengthen a god’s name for generations, but they could just as easily drag that name through the mud if they ended up being remembered for the worst possible reasons.

Not every descendant ended up becoming another Perseus.

Still, if everything went well, an entire group of demigods from different pantheons, raised under Olympus and personally loyal to Damon, could eventually become a source of influence stretching throughout the Americas and beyond.

But Hades knew his brother well enough to understand that this probably wasn’t the main reason Damon had made the offer..... Damon had simply seen a group of homeless children without answers and without anyone willing to take responsibility for them.

You’re a good man, Damon.....

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Sorry for the wait guys, and for the constant random updates at random times....school has kept me busy. Things should be back to normal tomorrow. With that said thank you for reading and your support )

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