Chapter 35 - 34

Harry carefully picked the lock on the outside door, then ghosted inside, before pick-pocketing the badge of the guard that came to investigate, making a copy, putting the original back, and making his way through the door of the office just as he had done many times before.

Now knowing where the guards are, he went through the hallway to the security office at the end, used his duplicated card a couple of times to get the security goons inside to open the door, made a noise down the stairs to get the guard to investigate so he could sneak through, before generating sleeping gas, and a gas mask for himself, before stealing the chalice and simply walking out.

He left the warehouse and walked back to where Annabeth and Silena were staring at a huge screen that hung in mid-air in front of them.

"This is what Mom called an 'exercise'?" Annabeth asked.

Harry nodded. "I was lucky that I was starting to get good at magic or I'd be in real trouble," he explained. "Mister Ares was disappointed I didn't use violent methods, though."

"I bet," Silena muttered quietly.

"Anyway, that was the original exercise, and contrary to what Miss Athena thinks, I didn't enjoy it at all," Harry said, putting the heavy chalice down. "Thankfully, I think Hermes and Mister Hephaestus had something to do with the fact that this area can now do other things as well."

The two girls looked at him. "Other things?" Annabeth asked.

Harry nodded. "I can design my own exercises," he said. "Or use a couple of things that have been preset into it, like the original exercise I showed just now." He grinned widely, and reached for the screen. With a few swipes of his hand, a list popped up. "I think Mister Hephaestus and Hermes were the ones that programmed these into it," he said, pointing to the list.

The two girls looked suitably impressed as they scrolled through the list of options available.

"Hey, what is 'doom'?" Silena asked, pointed to one entry. "Wasn't that a computer game?"

Annabeth nodded. "It is. It's a shooter, where you have to blow away hordes of demons and stuff."

Harry grinned; his upbringing hadn't exactly conferred a great deal of knowledge about things like computer games, so he was fine with trying it out. "Want to try?" he asked. "It sounds cool."

Annabeth and Silena looked at each other, and completely in sync, sighed. "Boys," they told each other.

"Hey!" Harry protested. "What does that mean?"

"Only a boy would go for a violent shooting game," Annabeth told him.

Harry pouted for a moment, then thought up a good excuse. "And we're demigods, so chances are, we'll need to fight hordes of monsters at some point."

The Daughter of Athena stopped and looked at the Daughter of Aphrodite. "I hate it when he makes sense," Annabeth told Silena.

Silena nodded. "Boys shouldn't win arguments against girls, it goes against the natural order of things."

Annabeth nodded seriously.

"Hey!" Harry protested playfully behind them.

"Oh, Harry, we're just messing with you," Silena said, giggling. "Of course boys can win arguments against girls."

As Harry's grin widened, she added, "Occasionally. When we're in a good mood."

As he pouted at his two female friends, Harry replied, "Artie would love you two. Maybe you should become Hunters. Then you have an excuse to browbeat boys. And sleep in the mud, in small tents, during long, cold, harsh, winter nights."

The two girls giggled again, although it was a bit less enthusiastic than before.

Silena, ever the social butterfly, realized they were straying closer to an actual argument than friendly teasing and so turned back to the list. "So, we're fighting demons?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I guess so," she replied, studying the screen intently. "How exactly does this work?" she asked Harry.

"If it's the same as the exercise-that-shall-not-be-named, you'll be given a quest or a task of some kind," he told his two friends. "And then it will be up to us to complete it, however we want. The simulation will adapt to our actions. For example, when I tried to take out a guard, it triggered the other guards into coming after me."

He looked the two of them in the eyes. "Thankfully, you can't die. Basically, if you are 'killed', you wake up right here, feeling a stinging sensation where you were hit."

"Annoying, but not lethal," Annabeth said. "The stinging will likely be to motivate you to do better."

Harry gave her a playfully dirty look. "Trust me, after waking up a couple dozen times because a certain Goddess of Wisdom neglected to tell you something, it's worse than just 'annoying'."

Annabeth's look turned playfully superior. "You probably needed to think deeper," she said, sticking her nose in the air with a huff. "You can't be expected to be given all the answers."

Harry pouted at her. Silene burst out laughing. "You should see the two of you!" she chortled. "You're bickering like an old married couple!"

Harry glanced at Annabeth. Annabeth glanced at Harry. Together, they raised an eyebrow, before a grin emerged on their lips.

"O-oh," Silena muttered, seeing their looks, before turning tail and breaking into a run.

"Come back here and take your punishment like a woman!" Annabeth screamed, chasing after her.

"No wa-ow," The Daughter of Aphrodite said, tripping over a root that stuck out of the ground, and face-planting into the grass.

"A-hah! Vindication!" the Daughter of Athena screamed, jumping on top of her friend and tickling her mercilessly.

Silena squealed with laughter, trying unsuccessfully to squirm herself free. "No-o-ho-ho a-ha-ha na-ha-ha-beth!" she laughed, giving up on freeing herself and trying to tickle her tormentor back.

Harry, grinning, approached the duo. "Surrender!" Annabeth shouted. "Say 'Aunt'!"

"'Aunt'?" Harry asked. "Shouldn't that be 'uncle'?"

"That's sexist," Annabeth declared. "We're both girls, so she needs to say 'aunt'."

Harry nodded. "Gotcha."

Silena squealed and squirmed. "He-he-he-he-lp me-he-he-he!"

Harry grinned, and theatrically crossed his arms. "Did you try saying 'aunt'?"

"Aunt! Aunt! Aunt!" Silena screamed, her voice slightly hoarse now.

Annabeth immediately released her victim. "Was that so hard?" the blonde teased.

"You are evil," Silena declared. "Vicious and evil!"

"Yes," Annabeth said, sticking her nose in the air again. "Yes, I am."

Harry laughed and held up a hand. Annabeth, without looking, high-fived him.

Silena pulled herself off the ground, pouting. "My joke wasn't that bad."

"Yes, it was," Harry and Annabeth said simultaneously, causing both to look at each other and burst out laughing.

"Yeah, and I'm the one punished for suggesting they're a married couple," the Daughter of Aphrodite muttered softly. Louder, she blatantly changed the subject. "Where did that root come from, anyway?"

Harry grinned, and pointed over his shoulder to the computer screen that still hung in the air. "I just added a little bit to the programming."

Silena kept pouting. "That's cheating."

"As Clarisse's dad would say, 'it's only cheating when the other guy does it'," Harry said.

"I don't think that the God of War is a good choice of quotes," Silena replied, a smile reappearing on her lips.

Harry grinned. "He's an excellent source of quotes when you're in a fight or want to annoy someone," he answered.

"I can't argue with that," Silena pouted some more while Annabeth giggled.

"Come on, let's go fight Harry's demons," Annabeth said, grabbing each of them by the hand and starting to drag them back to the console.

"My demons?" Harry asked, surprised.

"It's your simulator, so they're your demons," Annabeth explained seriously.

Harry chuckled and Silena giggled. "Cool, I have demons," he said then, causing both girls to laugh harder.

"By the way, Harry," Annabeth said as she deposited her two friends in front of the console, "does that key of yours work in every door?"

Harry blinked, for a moment having to think to remember which key she was talking about. "You mean the key to get into this place?" he asked, which got a nod from his blonde friend. "Yes, Hermes said that it would work in any door with a key. I assume it would change form to fit the keyway, so that I can click the lock and get the door to open to this place."

Annabeth nodded seriously, obviously thinking about something. "Harry, that's probably one of the most powerful artifacts I've ever heard of."

Harry blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Any door, anywhere," the Daughter of Athena said, half to herself and half to her friends. "Think about it. As long as you have that key on you, you can travel through any door, no matter what kind, to the simulator. Imagine you're locked up somewhere. You take out the key, and open the door to the simulator, allowing you to escape."

Harry thought it over. So did Silena, apparently, as their eyes widened simultaneously. "That's incredible," he said, taking out the key that hung on a small keychain. "This is even more awesome than I thought."

"The only downside is that," Annabeth said, pointing to the vague outline of a door that stood where they had arrived. "The way out connects back to the door you came in from. That makes this a safe room or a panic room, but it would also mean you're stuck here until you're rescued."

Harry's smile widened. "I can build a fire here, and use that to travel to Olympus, or anywhere else," he said. "I've done it before."

Silena let out an impressed whistle. "So you can get out of jail and into the simulator via the key, and travel from the simulator to wherever you want through the fire. Harry, you're the ultimate escape artist!"

Harry laughed, as did Annabeth. "Unless they tie me up so I can't use the key," he said, sobering.

"Or take it from you," Annabeth added. "That would be really bad, especially if some mortals came here."

Harry shuddered. "I think there are no words in the English language to describe what Miss Athena's look of disappointment would be like."

The girls nodded, although they both seemed to think that the Goddess of Wisdom's reaction would be a fair bit worse than merely a 'look of disappointment'.

"I'll need to talk it over with Marduk, see if there's a way to have the key come back to me. That Evil Rabbit's Foot stalked me until I 'lost' it to Hermes, so maybe there are ways to have the key stalk me, as well. That way, if someone takes it, it comes back to me."

Silena giggled, but Annabeth groaned. "Harry, your spoil wasn't stalking you."

Harry huffed playfully, knowing that she was just trying to pull his leg. "I tried getting rid of it and it always came back. I call that stalking."

Annabeth patted his shoulder in an overly dramatic fashion. "Yes, Harry. The inanimate object was stalking you. Of course it was," she said, trying to fight a rising grin, before looking at Silena and mouthing 'no, it wasn't' and shaking her head sadly.

Silena burst out laughing, which triggered Harry and Annabeth into laughing as well.

It felt good to laugh, and when they finally snickered out, Harry turned back to the console window. "So, demons?" he asked. The two girls nodded.

Harry pressed the entry on the screen, and the simulator's simulated environment shimmered, to be replaced with the insides of a high-tech building.

Silena let out an impressed whistle, while Annabeth seemed to be vibrating in place to start exploring.

"It's only a simulation, so it's like a TV show," Harry told the Daughter of Athena, who let out a sigh of disappointment.

Arm yourselves, a female voice announced through the simulator.

The three young demigods looked at each other, before Annabeth pointed to a door set into one of the walls, labeled 'armory'. She didn't even have to say anything, as the trio made their way to it.

They emerged into a new high-tech room, this one filled with racks upon racks of weapons. Silena let out another impressed whistle at the sight.

"Jack and Jim will be sorry they missed this," Annabeth said with a grin, showing that she would have fun teasing Apollo's twins.

"That will teach them not to come," Harry chuckled as he walked past the various racks, inspecting the different weapons on offer.

"It's not really their fault, though," Silena offered. "Apollo Cabin lost that bet and they were stuck on shower cleaning duty."

"I hope you don't hold it against me that I don't like that part of Camp Half-Blood," Harry said. "I may have to do all the chores, but at least I can schedule when I do them."

Annabeth nodded thoughtfully while Silena simply shrugged. The two girls were eyeing the various weapons as well, and soon they were all wondering what to take.

"This place is incredible," Silena muttered as she picked up a 40-watt phased plasma rifle and started studying it.

"It's so life-like," Annabeth agreed as she picked up a BFG-9000 from a nearby rack and carefully inspected its operation.

"The gods do good work," Harry confirmed, and considered how his two friends had gone for long-range weaponry, so he looked over a rack of close-in-combat weapons and picked up a phaser pistol and a lightsaber. After making his selection, he turned back to the girls and saw them both twisting and turning their chosen weapon.

He realized that, despite this being just a simulation, he should tell them how to handle firearms, and started walking towards the two. "Maybe I should tell you about gun safe-" he started to say, just as he saw the barrel of Silena's plasma rifle come up in his direction. He made an effort to slap it away, only for the weapon to give out an ominous hum.

He blinked and woke up on his back, facing the dull gray ceiling of the high-tech facility.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, Harry!" Silena wailed as she pulled him to his feet and gave him a crushing hug, proving that she was indeed a demigod and therefore quite strong.

"Ugh, Silena," Harry muttered, his chest still stinging and feeling rather crushed in her bearhug. "I'm fine."

"I shot you, I shot you, I shot you," she wailed, sobbing into his shoulder. "I'm sooorrry!"

"'S my fault," he managed, trying to catch a breath through the enormous grip she had on him. Holding and comforting a devastated friend was an excellent reminder not to skip the gun safety lectures.

"I should have told you about gun safety first," he managed to say, just as she somewhat eased her grip on him. "This may be just a simulation, but I still should have done it properly."

He looked over at Annabeth, who was pasty white and trembling. "I'm fine, Annabeth. It just stings, that's all." He extricated one arm and held it out to her.

The Daughter of Athena jumped, and suddenly he found himself hugged by his second friend. A friend who, after making sure he really was alright, started lambasting Silena.

"You SHOT him!"

"It was an accident!" the Daughter of Aphrodite wailed back. "I didn't mean to!"

"You still SHOT him!" Annabeth shouted.

Harry tightened his grip on the two of them. "It way my fault entirely," he cut through the impending argument. "I should have explained gun safety first. This may be a simulation, just a game, but the weapons certainly looked and handle the same as the real ones," he said. "If we'd done this in the real world, I wouldn't have just handed you a weapon, so I shouldn't have just let you pick those up in here, either. It's completely my fault." He looked guilty, and suddenly seemed to shrink. "Please don't tell Mister Ares, he'd kill me."

Annabeth looked only halfway convinced, but did manage a nod when he certainly looked nervous enough when realization hit. Silena's eyes were still puffy from crying, and she still clung to him as if afraid he would disappear if she let go.

"You're sure you're not hurt, though?" Annabeth asked, one hand touching his chest as if making sure there wasn't secretly a hole there.

"It just stings," Harry confirmed.

"Because for us, it certainly looked real enough," Annabeth went on, as if she didn't hear him. "That bolt of energy hit your chest and… it… you…"

"There was so much blood!" Silena sobbed. "And bone! A-and w-we saw s-stuff..."

"And then you shimmered and vanished," Annabeth finished. Her voice was thick, still, and a tear made its way down her cheek.

Harry whistled. "I'm glad I didn't feel all of that… I just woke up at the start location with a stinging sensation. I guess it's an excellent reminded not to skip the basics."

"C-can we just get out of here?" Silena asked, stepping back and drawing a breath, obviously trying to compose herself.

Harry nodded. "Of course," he said, gently, and went to the console to enter a few commands. The room around them shimmered, to be replaced with a wide-open grassland. The high-tech weapons vanished at the same time, leaving them with the clothes and equipment they had come in with.

Not far away was a circular target. "This way, I can teach you how to handle a firearm safely," Harry explained.

Annabeth looked ready to explode, but Silena beat her to it. "No!" she screamed. "No way! I'm not touching a gun ever again in my life!"

"What she said," Annabeth said with a sharp nod and folded arms.

Harry was silent for a few moments, thinking on what the best solution was. He could give in, but then his friends would like end up with a lifelong fear of firearms – and knowing the average life of a demigod, they were likely to encounter such weapons at some point, even if it was only as the target of one. On the other hand, convincing them to learn would be very difficult.

Finally, he had an idea. Looking straight at Silena, he asked, "If I had gotten on a pegasus, and fell off, what would you tell me to do?"

Silena's face twisted, and Annabeth didn't look much better. Both girls realized the point he was making, but neither seemed happy about it. "I would have told you to get on again because otherwise you'd be too afraid to ever get back on," the Daughter of Aphrodite muttered. "I don't like it."

"I know," Harry said, softly, approaching her and touching her shoulder. "But I do think it's something that you don't want to be afraid of for the rest of your lives."

"Fine," Silena said. "Let's get on with it."

Annabeth gave a supporting nod, but stayed close to her friend nonetheless. That entire episode had been horrific, and she hoped that Harry's insistence on teaching them to handle the weapons safely would help them get over the trauma.

Harry tapped the console screen again, and a rack of weapons appeared not too far away. Coincidentally, it was the same rack of weapons that had been in that shooting range Ares had taken him to; Harry suspected that a certain God of War had slipped a few assets into the simulator.

He tried to appear confident while striding to the rack. Inwardly, however, he was trembling with nerves and second-guessing his decision. Was he doing the right thing? Maybe it would be better to not… but then, if they ever faced firearms, so… but then again…

He reached the weapons rack and had no more time to debate his own decisions. Instead, he picked up the same 22-caliber pistol Ares had used to teach him to shoot, and walked back to his two friends.

Annabeth had an arm around Silena; the Daughter of Aphrodite was leaning into her friend's touch. Obviously, Annabeth no longer held it against her for shooting Harry.

Harry put the gun on a table, happy to see that his two friends hadn't come to lasting blows over an accident.

Remembering the speech given by the God of War, Harry pointed to the barrel of the gun. "First of all, this part is the barrel. The bullet comes out here." He dutifully ignored the eye-rolls from the two girls. "You never, ever, point this at someone unless you intend to kill them." Suddenly, his audience was a lot more attentive.

0000

Harry sighed and opened his eyes, automatically closing his connection to the outside magic. Around him, the world dimmed, seemingly a duller place. Marduk gave a patient smile and shift to sit next to his student instead of in front of him.

Drawing a deep breath, the young boy leaned against a tree, momentarily basking in its shade. Not far away, down the hill, he watched a small heard of reebok passed by. The skittish animals darted by, completely ignoring the boy and his teacher, completely sure neither meant them harm.

"I love Africa," Harry told Marduk, gaze never leaving the animals, blatantly not speaking of his problems with magic.

Marduk chuckled. "You wouldn't be the first to say that," the big man answered with his deep, bass voice. "Personally, I think it's a distant genetic memory."

The reebok had passed and Harry turned his head to look at his teacher. "How so, Marduk?" he asked curiously.

"Humans first evolved in Africa. This is, as near as possible, our species' natural habitat. Hence, my personal opinion is that Humans will always be drawn here because of that," the ancient mage replied with a grin.

Harry returned the grin. "That makes sense," he said.

"Of course it does, I said it," Marduk stated with carefully placed arrogance. Harry blinked, surprised at the uncharacteristic reply. His teacher kept a perfectly straight poker-face for a few more moments, before chuckling.

Harry laughed as well, accepting he'd been had by his teacher.

"Now, shall we return to magic?" Marduk asked.

Harry nodded half-heartedly. "Alright," he answered.

"Do not lose heart. You have made tremendous progress in a short amount of time," Marduk told him once more, sitting down in front of his student so they were facing each other.

"But even with my senses open, I still don't really get it," Harry answered with a dejected sigh.

"You must have the correct visualization," Marduk said. "You have opened your eyes, now you must learn to see the colors."

"So you've told me before," Harry replied with a pout.

"And it was as true then as it is now," Marduk stated patiently. "Come, open your senses, and study what I do."

Harry nodded and re-opened his senses to the outside magic. The world snapped into hyper-focus and with the ease of practice, he dismissed the feelings and sensations and instead focused on his teacher.

Marduk, either being theatrical or wanting to be helpful, raised a hand. The magic of the man made a curious kind of swirl and latched onto reality. On Marduk's outstretched palm, a single strawberry appeared.

Harry blinked. "All I see are swirls," he complained. "It's like your magic gives a half-swirl in a blue direction, before pulling green."

Marduk laughed. "You have the most curious visualization," he told his student. "Perhaps you want to focus on something different and try and find an easier way for your to comprehend magic."

"I wish I knew how," Harry muttered, shutting off his magical senses.

Once more, Marduk shifted to sight next to his student. "You once told me that you visualized yourself standing on top a cliff, battered by magic."

The young boy fell silent, nodding thoughtfully. Finally, he said, "I haven't seen that since your brought me around. Ever since then, all I'm seeing is magic twisting and turning when you use it, and I've been trying to replicate those."

Marduk nodded silently, rubbing his chin. "That is a most unusual way of visualizing things," he said. "Perhaps we should work on understanding how you perceive magic, rather than at magic itself."

Harry nodded dejectedly. Why was it that he was so bad at this stuff?

Marduk put a hand on his shoulder. "Stop it," he said, sternly yet kindly.

Harry blinked, looking up at his teacher with confusion. "Stop what, Marduk?" he asked.

His big teacher grinned. "I told you, you have made tremendous progress. I have also told you that you would make a great mage in ten to twenty years. Stop trying to run before you can walk. Magic takes time. Lots of it."

Harry nodded silently. Marduk had told him that repeatedly. But still, he wanted to do magic.

"I've been told a little story about a certain student of mine," the ancient mage said mysteriously. "Something about a reckless student who pressed on, and did something very dangerous in order to advance in magic, and ended up with a few of his other teachers arranging for a little lesson in how to think before acting."

Harry felt his cheeks heat up. Marduk pressed on ruthlessly. "And this particular student of mine actually figured out invisibility during that lesson. A clear indication if there ever was any that he is quite talented at magic."

"Oh," Harry whispered. He didn't feel that invisiblity was all that special, to be honest; he had just wrapped himself in his own magic, and blocked out sight and sound and smell… okay, now that he thought about it, it was a bit impressive after all.

"So you see, Harry. You are making progress. You just need to calm down, take a breath, and let it comes naturally. You can't force this," Marduk explained.

"But all I do is temporary," Harry answered. "Without this, I can't make any permanent changes, like turning a stone into a lion or conjuring real items that don't disappear when I stop feeding them power."

Marduk smiled gently. "You will need to have some lessons on accessing the Akashic Records before you are able to transmogrify a lion, and conjuring real items requires focus and visualization, both of which we are still working on."

Harry pouted at his teacher.

"Pouting is unbecoming," Marduk admonished with a chuckle. "Come, let me show you some exercises to hone your focus."

The young boy nodded. "And the visualization?" he asked.

Marduk gave a tiny sigh. "As I have said before, everyone visualizes differently. If I were to tell you what to do, it would be no better than me teaching you the wand-wavers' cookie-dough magic spells."

Harry nodded softly, despite wishing that for once his teacher would tell him what to do. It would certainly make this easier, even if it meant that he would be more limited. Then again, he wanted to learn magic properly, the way Marduk wanted him to.

"Let's go with a focus exercise instead," Harry's teacher said. "Close your eyes, focus on your magic, and draw some outside magic in, then try and hold it steady."

Harry nodded, and closed his eyes. Dropping into his meditative state was old hat by now, and soon harry had his energy network visualized, his physical body having fallen away from his senses.

Focusing on his Shen energy center, located up in his head, he attempted to draw in outside magic, following that strange non-direction that had flummoxed him when he had first attempted to access outside magic.

His focus shattered, his entire energy network falling away. Soon, he was back on top of that cliff, staring out over the raging, tumultuous ocean of outside magic, sweeping towards him, battering his consciousnesses.

Marduk blinked when his student started glowing. "Interesting," the ancient mage muttered, leaning closer to study what was happening.

Harry's focus blinked, taking a metaphysical step back when confronted by the furious energy of the Magic of the Universe leaping towards him. Caught in a semi-panic, he raised his metaphysical hands in this strange land of non-existence, attempting to ward off the torrent of energy exploding towards him.

The next moment, he became aware that the charge had been blunted, and he slowly opened one metaphysical eye.

He found himself in a circular tower, like an ancient lighthouse gutted of insides. The tower's circular stone walls stretched out above him, culminating in a roof that seemed constructed out of timber and metal.

Harry's mind blinked in confusion.

Marduk grinned when his glowing student stopped glowing, yet retained the magic he had drawn in. It seems that his student had achieved both a balance and a shield of sorts.

Harry stared at his tower from the inside. The walls were smooth stone blocks of tremendous size, yet fitting together so closely that not a sheet of paper could be pushed between them.

Beneath his feet was a smooth sandstone-like floor, with a circle engraved in the exact center of it. Recognizing an invitation when he saw one, Harry walked over and stepped into it, before looking up again, studying the smooth megalithic walls and wood-and-metal roof.

He finally noticed that the 'air' in the wide-open center of the tower was moving.

He blinked, and looked again.

The air actually was moving. For a moment, he wondered how he was able to see the actual air moving, but then ignored that question for the more urgent one. Why was the air moving?

Then, he realized the answer to his question. That must be the magic that Marduk had told him to draw in and hold. For a moment, Harry stared at the moving air, thinking about what this meant for his magical studies.

Still, this was a rather large tower, and the magic didn't seem all that much compared to it. On top of that, moving air wasn't all that visible by itself; he'd completely missed it when he first studied his new tower construct, and it wasn't until later that he actually noticed it.

He wondered if there was a way to make it more visible.

Suddenly, the air seemed to tremble, followed immediately by the moving air turning a bluish-purple kind of color that made it extremely visible.

Harry blinked up, seeing the strangely colored 'fog' of magic tumble through the air of his open tower.

"It's certainly visible now," he muttered to himself. "Although, it still seems like it's not that much, compared to the rest of the tower. I wonder if I can hold more? And if I can do something with it?"

The purplish fog moved in a way that seemed like it was laughing at him. Harry crossed his arms. "Now that isn't very nice," he admonished. The fog went back to its game of catch-with-itself, completely ignoring his statement.

Well, it seemed like the magic he'd gathered wasn't listening to him.

Other than the fact that it had turned purple when he asked, so that blew that theory off. Oh, and it had laughed at him, so it was definitely hearing him, it just wasn't listening to him. Except for that time it turned purple. So maybe it only listened when it wanted to?

The concept that magic would only listen to him when it felt like it made Harry's head hurt. This definitely wasn't going the way he had expected it.

He stared at the magic for a few moments more, then decided to shelve the question. He was here to draw in magic, and to hold it in for as long as possible. The amount of magic currently 'captured' by his tower wasn't very much, and he felt like he could hold it indefinitely.

Time to draw in some more, he decided, before asking himself how he would go about doing that. He had 'built' this tower, and it had somehow captured the magic currently in it, but he had no idea how he was going to go about the business of capturing more.

Spreading his awareness through the tower, Harry tried to figure out its secrets. Thankfully, that didn't take very long at all.

Meanwhile, Marduk had kept vigil over his student, who didn't seem to have any trouble with the amount of magic he had drawn in earlier. Suddenly, something within the young demigod seemed to shift.

Magic swirled around, making him glow once more, as energy was drawn into Harry. To Marduk's senses, he could see how the magic was being siphoned off into his student, and that the sheer force of it was creating currents in the magic of the world.

Currents which, in turn, caused physical effects on the material level of the world. In effect, the sheer amount of magic being pulled was enough to have physical side-effects.

"Interesting," Marduk stated empathically.

Harry looked up at the ceiling of his 'tower', where magic was now pouring in. Apparently, in the construction of the circular ceiling, a sort of gates or portals had been built by his subconscious, which could be opened to allow more magic in.

And it was certainly a torrent of magic that was now streaming in. So much of it, in fact, that Harry no longer felt confident about being able to contain the flood.

And, of course, the moment he no longer felt confident, he no longer believed. And without belief, things tended not to work very well when dealing with magic.

Harry blinked his eyes open in the stark, harsh world of reality.

"Welcome back," Marduk said, holding out a cup of the licorice-flavored energy drink he'd given Harry before. "You drew in so much magic that it overwhelmed you. Next time, you may want to gauge your ability to contain it better."

Harry nodded silently, and shuffled into an upright position before accepting the cup. He drained it quickly, the condensed energy of it making its way through his body. "Things started being very strange," he confided.

"Oh?" Marduk asked. "Strange how?"

Harry, still staring at the empty cup, explained what he had seen and experienced. It felt easier, somehow, to speak to the cup rather than to his teacher. When he was done with his tale, he looked up.

Marduk was grinning. "Finally," he said.

The young demigod blinked in surprise. "Sorry?" he asked, confused out of his mind.

"You're finally starting to think for yourself," his ancient teacher answered calmly. "You're starting to visualize on your own, throwing away what you know and letting your subconscious guide you. Good!" he finished, clapping the boy on the shoulder. "You're making progress."

Harry gaped up at Marduk. "Thanks?" he finally managed.

"You're welcome," his teacher replied casually, standing up and seeming to take a moment to decide on a direction to walk in. "Come, let's try the lesson again." Harry blinked; the cup in his hands had vanished. Slowly, he stood up, following his teacher, who had made up his mind and was now walking away.

"Perhaps conjuration isn't your best subject," Marduk said, rubbing his chin. A stone lifted itself off the ground and floated into the ancient mage's hand. "Perhaps alteration is more your cup of tea," he added as he lightly chucked the stone. It floated in mid-air, seemingly keeping pace with them.

Harry stared at it; his magical senses gave a jumbled mess of information that made absolutely zero sense.

"Ehm..." he tried.

Marduk glanced over at his student, raising an eyebrow.

"All I get is a jumbled mess," Harry confessed.

His teacher gave a long, slow nod in understanding. "I basically gave it an upwards thrust and a tracking motion," he explained. "It will float, and it will follow us. Because of the first, the second isn't very powerful."

"Ah," Harry said, staring at the stone. It still didn't make sense to him, and his mind felt stuffed full with what he had experienced just now. "You once said you could make a floating city. Is that the same thing?" he asked, trying to change the subject away from him doing magic.

Marduk chuckled. "Considering your blatant change of subject, I don't think you will be doing more learning today," he replied, still chuckling heartily. "Very well, then. I guess I can give you a break." He scanned the surrounding area. "Let's have a seat under that tree next to the river," he added, pointing to a tree not far away.

The young boy just nodded and followed his teacher. "Harry," Marduk began, "you have to understand that Humanity, as a whole, has amnesia."

Harry looked surprised. "Amnesia? How so, Marduk?"

"Humanity as we know it, that is to say, the species colloquially known as Homo Sapiens, has been around for 200,000 years or so. Conventional wisdom would have you believe that for 190,000 of that years, all Humanity did was hunt, fish, trap, and gather roots, berries, and edible plants."

Harry nodded, that was what Miss Athena's books had told him.

"Don't you think that's weird?" Marduk asked with a grin. "For one hundred and ninety thousand years, Humanity hunted and gathered, and not a single one ever noticed how to grow grain and start a settlement? Until someone did and suddenly, within ten thousand years, we have a civilization that can get us to the moon?"

Harry blinked. Now that he thought about it, that was strange.

"What if," Marduk said, drawing it out, "just what if, this wasn't Humanity's first civilization?"

"Huh," the demigod said, thinking about it. "Wouldn't there be traces of it?"

Marduk grinned. "Excellent question. Now, first, you have to realize I'm not talking about a super-advanced civilization like you read in the novels. No space-flight with super-spaceships and stuff like that. Think instead of a civilization like the Ancient Greeks. Or the Ancient Romans. We can see now, even only a couple thousand years after the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans, how much has been destroyed, and how little of it is left. Now imagine what would be left after 20,000 years. Or 50,000 years."

Harry nodded softly. That made sense.

"Now, my second point," Marduk said. "Back then, there was an ice-age. Ice covered much of the northern hemisphere. Sea levels were over 120 meters lower than they are today. Imagine what would happen if the sea rose over 120 meters – how many cities would be under water?"

Harry nodded again. "So most of it is gone because of age, and what isn't gone, is under the sea?" he ventured.

Marduk smiled widely. "Exactly!"

The demigod nodded once more. "And what does this have to do with floating cities?"

His ancient teacher grinned. "Remember the earliest lesson I gave you. Belief shapes reality. Back then, there were fewer people around, meaning less belief in a stable reality, remember?"

Harry smiled enthusiastically. "That was how the gods were formed! Because there were fewer people, you needed less belief to make things happen!"

"Exactly," Marduk said. "Now, that isn't to say there weren't a lot of people back then, because there were. After all, without people, you don't get cities. But what you have to understand is that the northern hemisphere was practically unlivable, so basically only half the planet was ready for habitation."

"Oh," Harry said. "So you had less people overall, but they were more concentrated in a small area?"

"Exactly," Marduk said, proud his student was following along. "So, you have less people in total, meaning a more malleable reality, but they were concentrated enough to form cities. So, of course, you get sorcerer-kings; and eventually, one of them looks at a bird and decides that he is going to learn how to fly. And once one person manages it..." he trailed off dramatically.

"Someone is going to become jealous and want it, too," Harry said.

Marduk laughed. "Close enough. Once it's known that one person manages it, the idea spreads. And, of course, at some point, you get enough people together to be able to affect an area of land. And presto, a floating city."

"Whoa," Harry answered. "So, what happened to that city?"

"It sank, of course," Marduk replied casually. "People gain power, and through power, arrogance. And once you get arrogance, you get over-confidence. And suddenly, you don't believe anymore. You just take things for granted. And that's when magic fails."

"Oh," the demigod whispered. That, unfortunately, made sense, too. Suddenly, he realized something. "But… didn't you say that magic can be permanent? I mean, like that floating rock, you don't need to feed it power, it just floats?"

Marduk winked at him. "Remember how I first explained it to you. There are properties and then there are effects. A color is a property. An effect requires continuous power – like that floating rock, it requires permanent upwards thrust in order to stay where it is. Yes, it is permanent, in that I don't need to feed it power. But, like your Greek Gods, the magic will fade if not enough people believe in it anymore."

"Oh," Harry said. "So people stopped believed, the floating magic faded, and the city crashed?"

"Exactly," Marduk said with a sharp nod.

They were silent for a few moments, simply admiring the scenery around them. "Does anything remain? From those earlier civilizations, I mean?" Harry asked.

"Tales," Marduk said. "Stories. Every civilization on Earth today has a flood-myth of some kind. It is a racial memory of the rise of the sea levels at the end of the ice age. And, of course, names. Tell me, Harry. Have you ever heard of the Continent of Mu?"

Harry shook his head. He had to admit that no, he hadn't heard of 'Mu'.

"It was a continent in the Pacific," Marduk said. "It's not as famous as some others, of course. It got destroyed due to a mishap with magic."

Harry gaped. "An entire continent?"

Marduk shrugged. "Well, they call it a continent these days. It was just a big island, really. Back then, they had the idea to join people together to do large-scale ritual magic. Get enough people together to believe in the same thing, and it's bound to happen, of course."

"What happened?" the demigod asked, astonished.

"There was a draught, so they wanted more drinking water, and were 'praying' to their god of rain. I don't really know why, but something they did triggered a change. In the end, it rained there for years on end, destabilizing the entire base of the island and it broke up and slid into the ocean."

Harry winced. "Magic isn't a toy," Marduk lectured. "Although, when faced with dying of thirst, I can't blame them for trying."

The young boy nodded.

"Perhaps you've heard of another lost civilization," his teacher said, as if trying to take his student's mind off of Mu. "Lemuria. Well, that's what humans call it today, of course."

Harry frowned, that sounded familiar. "Wasn't that a theory on how lemurs got scattered to different places?" he asked.

Marduk chuckled. "Of course, the Lemuria of reality wasn't as big or as important as theories made it out to be. It wasn't a land bridge for lemurs or other animals and it wasn't the ancestral home of Humanity, but it did exist. Well, most of it. It sank into the Indian Ocean."

"More magic?" Harry asked.

Marduk chuckled. "Not all disasters are man-made, Harry. No, this one was triggered by a major earthquake, I'm afraid. The earthquake triggered some major volcanic eruptions, as well as tsunamis, and this was right in the middle of a warming cycle of the ice age so sea levels were already on the rise, so..."

Harry stared at his teacher. "That sounds like the plot of a very bad disaster movie, where some scientist saves the world by dropping a nuclear bomb somewhere."

Marduk burst out laughing. "It wouldn't surprise me," he said, still chuckling. "There were no nukes around then, though, so while the rest of the world survived, Lemuria drowned."

"Too bad," the boy muttered.

"How about Atlantis? I'm sure you've heard of them!" Marduk said, going on with his lecture on lost civilizations.

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! That's where Mister Poseidon has his palace!"

Marduk looked surprised for one moment, then started laughing. "Atlantis, the original Atlantis, was around about 15,000 years ago," he explained. "I don't doubt that Poseidon named his capital after it; the knowledge of its existence never really died out, not even when the ice age ended. Of course, its legend has become highly inflated over time."

"How so?" Harry asked, practically vibrating at the thought of learning more about the actual Atlantis.

"While it was undoubtedly advanced for its time, having literacy, mathematics, and the basics of the sciences, it also had lots of magic due to the more malleable reality, and it didn't have gunpowder, the combustion engine, the airplane, or rockets. If anything, I would compare it to a Greek or Roman city. It had a sewer, heated baths, and public fountains, but that was about as far as its expertise went."

"Oh," Harry answered, feeling oddly disappointed.

"Of course," Marduk went on, as if he didn't notice Harry's mood, "their real strength lie in magic. Back then, it was quite possible to light the homes and streets with magic. They could erect buildings cheaply by using magic to support them, a bit like how modern humans build tall buildings by erecting a steel frame. Back then, steel was expensive, so they basically used sheets of it engraved with mystical runes to give it strength."

Harry chuckled at his teacher's scowl at mentioning runes. "Maybe it added to the belief?" the young boy offered tentatively, trying not to upset his teacher. "Everything to get more people to believe in it, right?"

Marduk scowled. "It's a shortcut," he declared, before drawing a breath. "Anyway, they had an island in the Atlantic and spread out along the coast of Africa, creating outposts and colonies."

"Because the North was still frozen," Harry said, to show he was paying attention.

"Exactly," Marduk said, proudly. "And then, the ice age ended and the sea rose over 120 meters in a very short amount of time. The island of Atlantis vanished under the waves. So did its colonies, situation along the shore as they were. People escaped, taking their knowledge with them, but as scattered as they were, the civilization was lost. Some of their knowledge was passed on to other peoples, allowing more, and new, civilizations to form. And that's where we are today."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder why none of this is in Miss Athena's books," he said thoughtfully. "It makes a lot of sense."

Marduk grinned. "Because, as a Goddess of Wisdom, Athena is only aware of the knowledge that she is exposed to; knowledge that must be accepted as true. For modern humans, these civilizations are myth and legend, lost to the mists of history. Perhaps you can find books on those theories in Athena's library, but they will be labeled as fiction."

"That makes a twisted sort of sense," Harry muttered. "So which one had the floating cities?" he asked, suddenly remembering the original topic of conversation.

Marduk grinned. "It was called Laputa," he said. "It wasn't very large, just a few thousand people, and, of course, it was the home to a king who ruled the lands below."

"Because of course a floating city would be where a king ruled from," Harry said with a nod.

Marduk grinned. "Exactly. Anyway, it didn't last for very long; like I said, stop believing and the effect-magic fades. The king died, so of course this created a crisis of belief in the people, and the city came tumbling down just a day or two after his death. It is where the idea came from in popular fiction, where the bad guy dies and his base explodes or gets destroyed the moment he dies."

Harry felt a laugh come up, and hurriedly hid his mouth behind his hand. A city that gets destroyed isn't a laughing manner, but Marduk's addition just made it funny.

"Anyway, enough of an old man talking about boring old things," his teacher said, standing up and brushing himself off. "I think it's about time for you to return home and get some rest."

Harry looked disappointed as he got up as well, but Marduk seemingly disagreed. "Despite what you may think, you made good progress today; you're finally starting to let your subconscious guide you. It's an important step."

The young demigod nodded, feeling somewhat better after the encouraging words. As he started to make his goodbyes, he stopped and remembered something.

"Marduk? Can I ask you something?" he asked.

Marduk, looking surprised, gave a nod. "You've been asking me questions ever since we met. Why the hesitation this time?"

Shyly, Harry pulled out the key to the simulator. "It's this key," he said, explaining its purpose.

His ancient teacher whistled. "Impressive piece of magic," he said, studying the key without ever taking it from Harry's hand. "So, why bring this up?"

"Well," Harry said, "It's really powerful. And, it basically means that I can escape from every room that has a door with a lock. But, I don't want to lose it; imagine what would happen if other people got hold of it?"

Marduk rubbed his chin and nodded. "I see," the man replied. "And what would you have me do about it?"

Harry looked shy again. "I was wondering if it were possible to make it stalk me."

Marduk blinked in surprise. "Stalk you?" he asked, as if making sure he heard correctly.

The demigod nodded, and explained how the Unlucky Rabbit's Foot had stalked him until he 'lost' it to Hermes.

"I see," Marduk said, laughing. "Stalk you. I get it now." He laughed harder. "That's a good one." After a final chuckle, he sobered and looked at the key, still in Harry's hand. "Well now, I could have it return to you, of course, but I think it would be a good exercise for you. How about we work at it and have you enchant the key?"

Harry looked surprised for a moment. "But that may take time, and what if I lose it in the mean time?" he asked, desperately. Ever since Annabeth had put the idea in his head, he'd been scared about losing the key. Maybe it would have been better if she hadn't brought up the possibility!

Marduk nodded again. "That is a good point," he said. "Let's make a deal. I will enchant the key. For now. In six months, that enchantment will vanish, and it will return to how it is now. After those six months are up, it is up to you to either enchant it yourself – or be very careful about losing it. How does that sound?"

Harry smiled widely. "That's great! Thank you so much, Marduk!"

The man grinned. "Such a wonderfully polite student," he commented. "It's done, by the way. You can lose the key and it will return to your pocket."

"Great," Harry said. "Thanks again, Marduk." He thought of something. "Do you want to come with me for a bite to eat? I made some Szechuan food, but as usual I have lots of leftovers."

Marduk grinned wider. "It's been a while, so I'll happily accept," he replied. "Lead the way."

Harry happily turned, and started looking for a good spot to make a fire. As he scanned, he wondered about something.

Considering Marduk's age, and how skewed his vision on the passage of time was, just how long was 'a while'?