Harry looked around. The snow underneath his feet was crunchy, letting him sink up to his ankles. The air was cold and as clean as only air in the mountains could be. His breath steamed with every exhale.
Surrounding him were tall mountains, their peaks reaching for the skies.
Curiously, he turned to his companion. "High-altitude survival, Miss Zoë?" he asked.
The Lieutenant to Artemis' Hunters looked amused. "'T would be a wasted effort, since thou can now conjure food and drink from thin air."
Harry nodded softly, feeling oddly embarrassed about those skills. "Yeah, but 'what if', you know?"
Zoë seemed to think about that. "True. However, wouldst thou actually practice those skills, or wouldst thou learn them, and then forget them?"
Harry looked embarrassed again.
"As I thought," Zoë said, looking amused again. "As such, I devised a new… game."
Harry blinked. "A game, Miss Zoë?"
The Lieutenant gave a decisive nod. "A game. I have taken thee somewhere."
Harry looked around. "This is certainly 'somewhere'," he said. "Do I get any hints?"
Zoë's lips twitched into a smile. "'T is part of the game. Now thou must find thy way back to civilization within the next 4 days. Since thou can conjure food and drink, 't will be a challenge of navigation rather than anything else."
"Oh," the young demigod said, looking around. He could definitely see the challenge. But then again… he looked at her. "Does that mean I need to find the nearest tree?" he asked.
Zoë looked at him with a surprised look on her face. "What doest thou mean?" she requested.
Harry shrugged. "I build a fire and fire-travel to Olympus, or Camp Half-Blood, or the Hunters' Camp, or anywhere else, really," he said.
For a moment, Zoë looked shocked. Then embarrassed. Then she looked… crafty. That look lasted only a split second, before she looked distraught; distraught in a way Harry had never seen her be.
"So thou art refusing to spend a few days with thine teacher?" she asked. "How heartless thou art!" Harry's heart sank in his shoes, that wasn't his intention at all! Panic swept through his and he started to reach out to her.
"It's not like that at all!" Harry shouted, "I was just asking, that's all! You wanted me to find civilization; the quickest way for me to find civilization is though the fire. You know I love camping, I'd never miss a chance for it, you know that, Miss Zoë."
The immortal girl turn away, putting her hand in front of her eyes. "Oh, the agony of being a teacher so repulsive that her own student turns away from her at the first possibility!"
Harry blinked, gaped, then put his hands on his hips. "You're just trolling me now, Miss Zoë," he said. He didn't really mind that she had initially gotten to him. It wasn't often that Zoë was in a good enough mood to joke around like that.
The girl spun back, grinning widely. "Thy reaction was quite amusing. Thou looked so panicked."
Harry pouted at her. "Bad Miss Zoë. Bad," he scolded, still not really caring but determined to keep the game going.
The girl laughed again. "In truth, I had not counted on thy fast-travel abilities. Perhaps 't is not such a good game after all," she admitted, looking vaguely embarrassed. "'T has been a while since My Lady would fully trust me with thee again."
"It could still be fun," Harry said, honestly feeling bad for her. The Gobi hadn't been that bad, and he still felt like Artie and Hestia overreacted. Deciding not to dwell on those thoughts, he said,"I mean, what if Hestia ever takes her boon away from me? These skills come in very handy."
Zoë looked serious. "True. However, in that case, I would expect thee to be intelligent enough to not get thyself lost in the wilderness."
Harry nodded softly.
"Now, regarding thy earlier exclamation," Zoë went on. "From context, I can assume it's meaning, but I am assuming that thy use of the world trolling hath nothing to do with trolls living under a bridge and extorting toll from people crossing it?"
Harry grinned and shook his head. "No, it's about internet trolls who make statements designed to provoke emotional responses, usually to provoke a fight or an argument, but in your case you were trying to make me feel really bad. You oversold it on the second statement, though."
Zoë grinned. "I shall keep that in mind for when I need to make thee panic a next time."
"Bad Miss Zoë," Harry scolded again, softly. Zoë must have been in an exceptional mood. Perhaps she was relieved to be trusted by Artie and Hestia again?
The Lieutenant laughed. "Now, thou hast 4 days to find thy way to civilization, and thou art not allowed to use thy fast-travel abilities."
Harry grinned, and nodded. He looked around. "Uphill," he said, pointing to the mountains on his right. "Uphill," he repeated, motioning to the mountains in front of him. "Uphill," he ended, pointing to the mountains behind him. "Downhill," he finally said, pointing to his left. "Guess I'll go left."
Zoë shook her head as her young charge started walking.
A few hours later, Harry had managed to descend far enough to have reached the treeline, however the sun was already sinking towards the horizon. Wherever they were, it must be far to the north to get dark this early. It wasn't that late in the year. They stopped to make camp; it was never a good idea to keep trekking through the wilderness in total darkness.
Harry quickly had a fire going, and he jealously watched Zoë throw out her magical pack of gum that transformed into a full tent. He pouted cutely at her, in the hopes of her having a spare he could borrow.
She merely eyed him, as if wondering what he was doing. With a sigh, he built himself a quick lean-to, the best he could do with darkness quickly descending.
He conjured food and drink, remembering from his earlier survival lessons that one needed to pay extra attention to keeping hydrated while in the cold.
He made sure there was plenty of hot stew for the both of them, and the large pot of tea went very well with it. As they ate and drank, Harry resisted the urge to tease Zoë about the fact that he had no problems sharing. He knew it wouldn't go over well, despite the levity earlier in the day. Likely, it would trigger another request for him to accept Artie's offer and being turned into a girl to join the Hunters.
After dinner was eaten, and Harry had vanished the dishes, they sat and drank the tea. It was warm, and staved off the cold.
Harry sighed happily; the warmth of the tea, coupled with the cozy heat of the fire, made him relax. Despite it being freezing, and the snow around them; he was happy to be here. There was something extremely liberating about being out in nature, away from civilization.
He glanced at Zoë, who was staring into the fire, apparently lost in thought. For a moment, he wondered what she was thinking about. It was probably some ancient Hunt of some kind.
He looked away, casting his eyes toward the sky. For a few minutes, he let his eyes adjust from the brightness of the fire to the darkness of the night, waiting for the stars to re-appear as his pupils widened to allow in more light.
Suddenly, he remembered once thinking about navigating by the stars, and how he had decided to ask Zoë how it was done. He'd forgotten about it, but now was his chance.
"Miss Zoë?" he asked.
"Hmm?" the Lieutenant asked, blinking as she looked away from the fire.
"Do you know how to navigate using the stars?" he asked.
She looked up at the stars, probably not seeing many thanks to her night vision being completely gone due to staring into the fire.
She nodded. "Yes, I do," she said. "'T was once the most prevalent method of navigation. Extremely precise, once one knew what one was doing."
"Could you teach me?" he asked, hopefully.
She looked amused. "Art thou attempting to ease thy passage in the game by gaining navigational skills?" she asked.
Harry shook his head quickly. "No, not at all," he said. "I remember thinking about it when I was camping once, but then I forgot about it. Now that I'm here, I remembered. And since you're here, I may as well ask you immediately."
Zoë continued to look amused, but amused in a thoughtful manner. "Very well," she said. "I shall teach thee the basics. Once you know, 't is like riding a bicycle."
Harry smiled widely. "Thanks, Miss Zoë!"
Artie's Lieutenant looked even more amused. "'T will be the basics. Properly navigating by the stars takes years to learn. I shall teach thee enough to ensure thou knows how to find the cardinal points, and we shall see how interested thou still art after that."
Harry just kept grinning; all his teachers had been doing the same after all.
"Very well," Zoë continued when she saw she hadn't managed to scare him off, then stood up. "We shall try and find some hill or exposed area, away from the fire. We need an uninterrupted sight of the sky, and the fire will dull our eyesight."
Harry nodded eagerly, and bounced after her when she simply turned and started walking in a particular direction. He didn't know how she had determined said direction, but he trusted her implicitly.
Not ten minutes later, she had found her exposed hill, and sat down at the top of it. Harry obediently sat down without being asked, making sure there was enough distance between them to ensure she was comfortable. Zoë didn't like it when he entered her personal space, after all.
For a few moments, Zoë simply gazed upwards, silent and lost in thought. Harry kept his silence, for a moment wondering what she was thinking about but determined to let her be. She shook herself, and looked at him.
"The first star that thou should know is Stella Polaris," she instructed. "'T is almost perfectly aligned with north, so if thou art traveling in its direction, thou art traveling north."
Harry nodded obediently, he'd heard of the North Star.
Zoë pointed to one of the pinpricks in the sky. "'T is that one."
Harry looked at her, then at the sky, then back at her, drawing a small laugh from her. "That was unkind of me," she said. "Yet, funny."
Harry pouted outrageously.
Zoe laughed again, and patted the snow next to her. "I shall promise not to bite," she said. "Come closer, and I shall teach thee how to find it."
Harry shuffled closer, suddenly feeling warmer than back when he had been drinking tea next to the fire.
"Good. The first important constellation that thou should know is Ursa Major," she explained, pronouncing it the old Latin way. She put seven dots representing stars in the snow in front of her, before drawing small lines between the dots she had made to show the constellation. "Ursa Major, the Large Bear, is found there," she then instructed, and pointed.
Harry looked at the constellation, then leaned closer and tracked along Zoë's arm. Inexplicably, he felt even warmer. Ignoring the curious sensation, he focused on the stars.
"There it is! There it is!" Harry said with loud whoop. "I found it, Miss Zoë!"
Zoë smiled widely. "'T is amusing how exciting thou art," she commented. "Good. Now, in order to find Stella Polaris, thou should track from the two front stars of Ursa Major. Continue this line to the upper right, and the first bright star on this line is Polaris."
Harry blinked at her, and nodded. "Ehm, Ursa Major," he said, trying to match her pronunciation, "two front stars, draw a line, continue, first bright star…" he tried not to lose his way through the many many stars out there.
"I… think I have it?" he asked, pointing.
"Luckily, there is a test," Zoë explained. "Polaris itself is the last star in the 'handle' of Ursa Minor, the Small Bear." She got up to once more draw in the snow. The Small Bear looked like the Large Bear, only inverted, and… well… smaller. She had to take a few steps, and Harry dutifully got up and followed her. He shivered slightly; the night felt very cold all of a sudden.
Zoë did her best to make her ground-map reflect the reality above, and Harry stared at her improvised star-map for a few moments, trying to commit it to memory, before gazing up again.
"Ursa Major," he said, "Two stars, draw a line, continue it, that should be Polaris." His finger traced stars. "And that's Ursa Minor! I did it, Miss Zoë! I did it! That's the North Star!"
Zoë smiled at him, clearly proud at him and glad to see his excitement. "Well done. Now, we shall move on to the next constellation."
Harry nodded happily.
0000
Harry emerged from the fire somewhere in Africa. "Hi Marduk!" he cheerfully greeted his teacher of all things magical, happy to see the man.
"Hello Harry," the ancient man replied calmly. "Today, I have something special planned for you. This way, please," he said, indicating a direction.
Used to following the directions of his teachers, Harry didn't even think about it and just started walking. "What are we doing?" he asked. "It's been a while, after all."
"That is a surprise," Marduk answered with a secretive grin. "And yes, it has been. Unfortunately, I was… occupied."
Harry looked at his teacher, wondering what could have occupied him. Usually, he met with Marduk once a week, maybe once every two weeks, but this time it had been nearly two months.
"Since you are very loudly not asking what occupied me," Marduk said, grinning, "I'll just say that this planet sometimes has need of me, and that such need can last for some time."
Harry blinked. "What happened?" he asked. "If I can ask, that is."
The ancient mage nodded. "You can always ask, I can always refuse to answer," he said. "In this case, it is best that you do not know any particulars. Simply knowing will infer power."
"Because belief shapes reality," Harry said.
"Exactly," Marduk replied. "As such, let me phrase it this way. You are aware that I am the oldest human currently alive, correct?"
The demigod nodded obediently. "I am, for the lack of a better word, the oldest living being currently alive on this planet," Marduk said. "God, demon, spirit, or creature, I am the oldest living being on this world. As such, this confers to me a certain… status."
Harry nodded. That made sense; there was a reason why ancient peoples had a 'village elder', after all.
"As I quite like this world, and I would like to see it continue as it is now, it therefore falls to me to protect it," Marduk explained. "After all, if someone has something, there will always be others who will want to either take it for themselves, or to destroy it for the sheer sake of destroying it."
Harry frowned; sometimes, he really disliked people. But then again, who could do something to Marduk? Just as he said, he is the oldest being on the planet, and that made him extremely powerful.
"Now," Marduk said, "I explained my age before."
"Somewhere around 22 or 25,000 or so years," Harry replied.
The mage chuckled. "You're lucky I am not a woman. Never comment on a woman's age, Harry. It makes them extremely angry."
"Oh," Harry answered, filing that bit of knowledge away. It sounded like very good advice.
"I also explained to you before that humanity has been around for a couple hundred thousand years or so," Marduk said, as if the tangent had never happened. "Now, imagine if you will, a world older than ours, with people who found the same magical secrets that I have; only they made those discoveries a long, long time ago. Imagine a being ten times my age."
Harry swallowed. That sounded bad.
"Now, thankfully, gaining power and knowledge comes with a certain price. A concept of patience and a concept of balance. It takes time, effort, and energy to learn these skills, and when accessing the Akashic Records, one gains… perspective. Learning the history of the universe confers a certain point of view regarding one's own world that is simply impossible to describe."
Harry nodded, it definitely sounded like it.
"As such, beings of power and skill rarely use those abilities to conquer, and even less to outright destroy. However, that does not mean that those beings aren't above establishing the pecking order," Marduk explained. "And, as I said, I quite like this world so it falls to me to weather the attempts of others to establish their dominance over it."
"That sounds really bad," Harry said.
Marduk shrugged. "It was no more than a contest to establish who was the stronger," he said. "Have you never engaged in a fight where the sole purpose was to establish who was the stronger?" he asked.
Harry started to shake his head, before a memory came to him. "Mark," he said. "He is a Son of Ares, and he insulted Hestia, and he wouldn't apologize. So I beat him."
"And you didn't kill him", Marduk said. Harry looked aghast at the mere thought and shook his head fiercely. "Nor did you take any of Mark's possessions, or hurt his family, or done any of the myriad of other things that would come from conquest or destruction. You merely wanted to show who was the stronger, and once established, left it at that. Correct?"
Harry nodded, still feeling a bit ashamed over it nonetheless. "It is quite normal," Marduk said. "It was the same thing here. This being challenged me, and I responded."
"But… you said this being was ten times older than you!" Harry said.
"Exactly, and luckily there is another thing I have taught you. Belief is stronger at the center of its believers, and it loses strength the further away from its center of belief that you go. Which is why you would be more powerful on the Moon, as reality is less stable there, and you'd be even more powerful on Mars. And, should you ever find yourself in interstellar space, feel free to experiment with creating pocket realities, because you would be so far from any center of belief that you would probably be able to create your own pocket reality."
"Whoa," Harry said. "Would that mean that this being would also get more powerful, though?"
"In empty space? Sure," Marduk answered. "However, he came to challenge me here, in my center of belief, while he was far away from his."
"Ooh," Harry answered, getting it. "So he was weak because he was far from his belief center, but you were strong because you were close to yours."
"Exactly," Marduk said. "In empty space, the distance from your center hardly matters, but when engaged another being of power? That's when things like that can come and bite you."
Harry nodded. "I don't really have a center of belief, though," he said. "And I thought you were a human, not a god, meaning that you don't really have people worshipping you, either."
Marduk grinned. "Your home, Harry. Your home is your center of belief. It is where you feel safest, where you return to when you feel threatened or need to heal. In essence, it is the center around which you anchor your being, and therefore, your personal belief."
"Oh," Harry said. That made sense. A lot of it. He suddenly thought of something and looked up. "If there's anything I can do to help, will you let me know?" he asked.
Marduk looked surprised. "I just told you about an extremely powerful being and your reaction is to offer help?" he asked.
Harry nodded. "Well, I won't be able to help fight, but maybe there's something else I can do, so I thought 'why not?' you know? Even if it's something like keeping an eye on something while you're busy so you don't have to worry about it."
Marduk grinned widely. "Whenever I tell this same thing to my students, they always seem exceedingly happy to leave the duty to me. I do believe this is the first time someone offered assistance." He put his huge hand on Harry's young shoulder. "Thank you, my young apprentice. I shall keep your offer in mind."
Harry grinned; sometimes his teacher could be delightfully old-fashioned.
"Now, we still have a bit of time before we reach our destination," Marduk said. "Why don't you tell me what you have been up to while I was occupied?"
Harry nodded and launched into the tale of the trip to Mexico, including how he saved Mrs Loveg – Pandora.
Marduk stopped him. "You built a magical equivalent of a heart-lung machine?" he asked.
Harry nodded. "But it wouldn't have lasted long, and Mister Apollo said I got really lucky or I could have fried her brain if I didn't get the blood-pressure correct. And because I was basically recirculating blood through her brain, there were lots and lots of waste products not being removed by liver and kidneys and stuff."
The ancient mage smiled as Harry babbled about his spell not being all that impressive. "Harry," he said, cutting the young boy off. "You saved a woman's life. You kept her alive long enough for competent help to get to her, and you did it by creating a very impressive piece of magic, on the go, under pressure, and without time to think it out. It is a very impressive display. I am very proud of you."
Harry blushed; he didn't often hear things like that. It felt… nice.
"There is one thing I don't understand, though," he said, trying not to let it show just how much Marduk's words meant to him.
"And what's that," Marduk asked, kindly, as Harry tried to organize his thoughts.
"When Mrs Love – when Pandora was injured, I just thought about a heart-lung machine, and then reached out and just did it, you know?"
Marduk nodded encouragingly.
"But later, when I tried to figure out the how, well… I couldn't. I couldn't cast the spell again, and I couldn't figure out how I did it. I mean, I know what a heart-lung machine does. But I don't know how it works, not really, and so I don't know how the spell works, either," Harry explained. "So how can I cast a spell when I don't know how it works or what it does?"
His dark-skinned teacher grinned widely. "Because you, my young apprentice, unknowingly and instinctively, reached out to magic. And magic, as I have said, has a sort of awareness. You asked for help, and were granted knowledge from the Akashic Records in return. Basically, magic cast the enchantment for you."
Harry gaped. Marduk just kept grinning. "You provided the energy and the basic, high-level overview of what you wanted to have happen, and magic – sort of – filled in the blanks for you."
"Whoa," the young demigod breathed.
"Now, as you have seen, it's not wise to rely on instincts and magic's benevolence. As you said, you weren't able to recreate the spell, and you don't even know the particulars of how it worked. I will need to teach you how to access the Akashic Records yourself, so you can pull the required knowledge from there yourself, rather than rely on magic to do it for you. But that will be for later; accessing the records requires finesse and a steady mind, and despite everything you're still a young boy," Marduk said.
Harry pouted at him.
"And an impulsive one at that," Marduk went on as if he didn't see Harry's pout. "And impulsiveness can be a bad thing when accessing the Akashic Records. Access the wrong memory and you can drive yourself insane before you realize what's happened, remember that."
The young boy pouted further but nodded nonetheless. Marduk had warned him of that before, and he had to admit that Marduk was right. He was rather impulsive at times. And curious. And impatient. Harry sighed; it was that impatience that had gotten him in trouble before. And now he was caught in a catch-22; he wanted to access the Akashic Records, but he couldn't because he was impatient to access them. That part sucked.
Marduk chuckled when he saw the myriad of thoughts display on Harry's face. "You will get there eventually," the ancient mage said, putting a hand on his apprentice's shoulder. "You are very young, still, and what's a decade or two, anyway?"
Harry gaped up at him, as if he couldn't believe his teacher had just said that.
Marduk just laughed, deeply and amusedly. "You'll get there, eventually," he said, patting Harry's shoulder. "Come, we're almost there."
The demigod nodded and followed his teacher.
Careful, twolegs. I've got fangs and poison and am not afraid to use them.
Harry looked around to try to find the source of the voice, only to find a large 4-meter snake, as black as the night, carefully camouflaged in between some rocks. It had lifted up its head and splayed its neck into a hood, almost like a cobra, which was the only reason Harry found it that quickly.
"Whoa," he said, looking at the animal.
Marduk blinked and carefully took a step away from it, giving the snake a respectful distance.
We're not here to hurt you, Harry told it.
The Black Mamba turned to him, and then seemed to shrink before lowering itself to the ground. Apologies, Lord. I didn't recognize you.
Hey now, I'm just Harry, Harry said, carefully inching closer.
"Careful, Harry, that snake is quite deadly," Marduk cautioned. "Although it may not be dangerous to you, considering you're a snake-speaker, you never know what happens when it feels threatened."
"He's not going to hurt me," Harry said, lowering himself to get a good look at the snake.
Ehm… I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me, the snake offered, obviously not knowing what to think of Harry coming closer. Your status tells me not to harm you, but I will defend myself.
I'm not going to hurt you, Harry repeated. I just want to get a good look at you.
Look at me? The snake asked. Why?
Because you're really beautiful, Harry said, honestly.
Reptiles in general and snakes in particular weren't blessed with faces that could make an expression, but if Harry had to guess then he guessed that the Black Mamba was staring at him with shock.
Twoleggers usually scream, and sometimes hurl things at me. Others catch me with awful tools, then stuff me in a sack and dump me somewhere. I don't believe any twolegs has ever called me 'beautiful', the snake explained.
That's because they're idiots, Harry answered. I mean, you have beautiful black scales, and you glisten in the sun.
If possible, the snake seemed to strike a pose. Thank you, Lord. I can see why you carry the blessing of the Feathered Serpent.
Harry grinned. He needed help, so I found him a good spot, he answered. Anyway, I will let you go on your way. It was nice talking with you.
The mamba dipped its head in what could be construed as a bow. It was good meeting you, too, Lord.
The demigod got up off the ground and wiped his knees, before turning to Marduk. "I just wanted to get a closer look," he explained to his teacher, who was grinning in that 'you-are-a-strange-being' kind of way of his. "Besides, Kukulkan said no snake would hurt me, and once Black Mamba recognized me, he was really nice and polite."
Marduk chuckled. "That seems a part of the tale you haven't told me yet," he said, putting a hand on Harry's back and guiding him. "Why don't you tell me about your encounter with a Mayan deity, and how you got him to bless you?"
"Well, it all started because it was end of August and my friends would be going back to school so I asked if they wanted to go on a trip," Harry started his tale.
"– And then Mister Kukulkan said no snake would ever harm me or my friends," Harry finished.
Marduk chuckled. "You have the weirdest form of luck I have ever seen," he said.
"I blame Mom," Harry muttered.
His teacher nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, blaming the Greek Goddess of Luck and Fortune would be a good bet," he said. "That was a nice thing you did, helping Kukulkan. He was never the most stable of gods, but you can't blame how he was worshipped into being. Still, at the core, he was decent."
"Which is why he gave us his blessing," Harry said.
"Exactly," Marduk confirmed. "You would be surprised how many beings of power, gods among them, will repay a good deed with a pat on the head. Some behave as even a simple 'thank you' would cause them to fade."
Harry thought of Zeus; he wouldn't be surprised if the King of the Greek gods fit that bill, he thought.
"Anyway, we are here," Marduk said, as he stopped, Harry halting right next to him. In front of them opened up a valley, nestled in between some tall hills. It was beautiful, lush green grass, a small lake, palm trees. Birds were chirping, and life seemed to thrive in this spot.
Marduk stopped Harry before taking another step, and placed his hand on the ground in front of him. "My apprentice and I ask your leave to enter; we promise to take nothing but memories and leave nothing but footprints."
Harry felt a curious sensation, followed by an overwhelming sense of welcome, as if the very air and the water and the life itself greeted them and bade them to enter.
Marduk smiled, and stepped forward. Silently, Harry followed.
"This is what I wanted to show you today," his teacher said.
"It feels…" Harry said, trailing. "It feels like the entire valley is welcoming us," he finally said, after collecting his thoughts.
"Exactly," Marduk confirmed with a pleased smile. "Remember when you first learned to open yourself up to outside magic? How even the rock had a presence, and a memory?"
Harry nodded silently, waiting to see where his teacher was going with this. They stepped carefully through the tall grass, to emerge on the shores of the small lake. A palm tree, conveniently located on the shores, provided shade. Marduk made a motion to Harry before sitting down underneath it. The demigod quietly followed.
For a few moments, they sat in silence, listening to the peace of nature around them, watching the wind dance with the tiny ripples on the surface of the lake.
"When a place is left long enough, undisturbed, it develops an awareness of itself," Marduk finally said. "Larger than its components, it becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Such a place is called a Genius Loci."
"The spirit of a place?" Harry asked.
Marduk nodded. "It is why I formally requested permission to enter, and promised basically to abide by the old rules of hospitality."
"Do no damage and take nothing with you," Harry said.
"Exactly," Marduk confirmed once more. "This entire valley has developed an awareness, a Genius Loci. Now that we have bound ourselves, it will consider us part of it – like guest rules. We promised to behave, and it in turn will protect us, just as it will protect everything else in this valley."
"Protect us from what?" Harry asked.
Marduk grinned. "Anything that would want to do us harm," he answered. "Of course, we are capable of taking care of ourselves, nor do we have any active enemies tracking us here, so that promise is symbolic more than anything."
Harry nodded again. "But what if we got hungry?"
Marduk chuckled. "First of all, you can conjure food. And second, if we were to express hunger, I am sure that we would find, within short order, that there are edible plants around, enough to sate us. The promise, of course, is that we take no more than we need."
The young demigod nodded. "How about shelter?"
The ancient mage burst out laughing. "In that case, I feel that we would find a convenient cave located somewhere within the valley."
"That's awesome," Harry muttered.
"That is a Genius Loci," his teacher replied. "It will have perfect awareness of its location, everything that happens within it. It also has a limited form of omnipotence within its area. Within reason, it can shift things around, and create things as needed. Like a cave or a patch of vegetables."
"That's incredible," Harry said, feeling even more impressed now.
"I have brought you here for two reasons," Marduk said, getting to the meat of the lesson. "First of all, to teach you about genii locorum, and the second as a lesson on external magic. Considering we entered under promise, the Genius Loci of this valley will surround you. In a sense, you can open yourself to outside magic, and be partially shielded by the spirit of this place. It'll let you keep your sense open longer and will allow us to do some training with it, without running the risk of overwhelming you."
"Oh, wow," Harry said. It barely took a moment now to open his senses to the outside magic. He'd gotten quite good at it, and had been getting used to limiting its sight, but a chance to open it completely wasn't one he was going to say no to.
The valley shone with magic, and when Harry's gaze turned around, he felt, rather than saw, like something was watching him. Or rather, not watching, but more… beholding. He scanned around with his magical sight, aware of the magic in the soil, in the plants, the trees, the animals, even the very air.
And yet, the sensation of being watched persisted. As he looked deeper, trying to determine the past of the valley, knowledge suddenly slapped him right in the face. At once, he remembered Marduk's warning about the Akashic records, about alien things that were so alien they could drive a man mad with a single glance.
The Genius Loci was different. Very different. Like looking at an energy network, but an energy network that was an entire valley, with completely inhuman desires and needs and wants, focused on growing and nurturing and protecting. Only, the things it grew had very different needs to his own, things that sent his mind into a tailspin.
After all, how many people ever became aware of a plant's need for soil and water and sunlight on a fundamental level? For a moment, Harry wanted nothing else but to bury his roots in the nurturing soil to draw up the bountiful water and spread his leaves out to the sun – only to become aware of himself once more, aware that he had no roots to bury nor leaves to spread.
He shook himself awake in the physical world, a new and healthy respect for magic and determined to make doubly sure he was ready before he went to the Akashic Records. If this was something that Marduk considered safe, then he didn't want to know just what he thought of as dangerous.
"I see you've looked at the valley," Marduk said, smiling. "It's a bit disconcerting when you see it for the first time, isn't it?" he asked, and without waiting on a reply continued with, "shall we begin?"
0000
Harry emerged from the most unusual kind of underwater fire, into a large room decorated with mother-of-pearl and seashells. Despite the room being deep underwater, he found that he could see perfectly fine.
"Harry! Welcome," Triton said. "No problems breathing?"
"Hi Mister Triton," Harry said politely. "I swallowed that pearl you sent me, so no problems breathing." He grinned widely. "That's still awesome, by the way."
The Messenger of the Seas gave a grin. "For land-walkers, I suppose it would be," he replied, casually.
"I suppose it protects against the pressure, too, since I didn't get any problems last time either," Harry noted, suddenly remembering something from one of his lessons with Athena.
"Of course," Triton noted, as if that were completely self-evident.
Harry grinned and walked over to the table, delighting in actually walking despite being under water. He supposed he could swim, but the pearl made walking as easy as it was on land so why wouldn't he?
Putting a box on the table, he pulled the lid. Bubbles blew up as the air inside the container was released. "Cooking something for under water is a challenge," he noted, "but I think I pulled it off."
"Oh?" Triton asked, floating closer, looking curious.
"Food in a tube!" Harry said, turning the box slightly so Triton could see it. The god in question was staring with a gob-smacked expression at the box, filled with tubes of different colors. "Because the water would get in the flavor of the food, I focused on partially-liquid foods that could be drawn from a tube." He picked out a tube with a rather nice shade of brown. "This one, for example, is like peanut butter and raisin cookie, only liquid and in a tube."
"This I have to try," Triton declared.
"I should make you wait for the others," Harry said, but handed the tube over anyway. "But I think that'd be cruel."
The son of the Sea God gave Harry a look as he accepted the tube. "Quite right," he declared, before unscrewing the cap, locking his lips around the top and squeezing the contents of the tube into his mouth.
His face lit up. "Absolutely lovely," he said. "Well done, young man. Well done."
Harry felt his chest inflate. He so loved it when people liked the things he made. "Let's see what else you have here," Triton said, rifling through Harry's box.
"Please try to leave some for the others," Harry admonished, getting something of an affirmative grunt from his host.
Leaving the Messenger of the Seas to his exploring, Harry walked over to the large window set into the wall of their maths-party-room. It looked out over the bottom of the sea, and once again Harry could see perfectly.
The vista was of the gorgeous grounds surrounding Poseidon's palace. Despite being at the bottom of the seas, there was ample light to showcase the vibrant corals and brightly colored fish that played between them.
Harry grinned as he pretended to be a fish. Now that he could temporarily breathe underwater, he took great delight in doing so.
Suddenly, he noticed a mermaid swimming by. He grinned widely and waved; the redheaded nature spirit noticed him, stopped, and grinned widely in answer. She had deep-red hair, sea-green eyes and a cute button nose, and Harry thought she was quite pretty.
He smiled widely at her, and she approached casually, as if she didn't have a care in the world.
Despite her being topless, Harry kept his eyes focused firmly on hers. He'd learned enough anatomy to know what breasts looked like; Athena's anatomy books were high on detail and Apollo's books, although less detailed on physiology, were more detailed in other places.
She burbled something at Harry, and despite the pearl allowing him to breathe he didn't understand what she was trying to say. He was about to mime that he didn't understand her when her eyes looked at something behind him. She looked incredibly surprised, a tad nervous, and sketched an awkward sort of bow before swimming off at rapid pace.
Harry made a sound of disappointment, not liking how he lost the chance to get to know someone new. When he looked over his shoulder at what could have spooked her, he saw Triton hanging there, fishy tails proudly on display now that he was in his native element.
"Naiads are flirts, Harry. And they're possessive. They're the sources of tales of mermaids dragging unsuspecting sailors to the bottom."
"Oh," Harry replied. "She looked nice. And she's pretty."
Triton grinned down at his young guest. "You have good taste, Harry," he answered casually. "Naiads are quite attractive, yes. But still, be careful with them."
He nodded thoughtfully. Before he could make a reply, a flash of light heralded the arrival of Hermes, an easy-going smile on his lips showing that he was quite ready for an evening's worth of tall tales and stacks of gold changing hands.
"Welcome, Hermes," Triton offered.
"Hi Hermes!" Harry said, enthusiastically at his grandfather.
"Triton, Harry," Hermes said with a nod to the two. "Oh! Treats from Harry?" he asked when he noticed the box on the table. "Don't mind if I do!"
Harry chuckled, but it was Triton who replied. "Cookies in a tube. Our young friend has the most unusual creations."
Hermes swallowed the contents of one tube before speaking. "Oatmeal and honey, delicious," he said. "And I totally agree, Triton.
Harry smiled wider. "I was thinking about opening a restaurant, you know, when I grow up."
"Dibs on opening night," two gods offered simultaneously, causing the two Messenger gods to look surprised at each other. Harry just laughed.
"Of course I'll invite my friends to the hypothetical opening night of my imaginary restaurant," he said.
"Oh? Is the kid opening a restaurant?" Bai asked, floating over from where he had – stealthily – arrived.
"I'm thinking about it, for when I grow up," Harry explained. "Hello, Bai!"
The other two gods offered their welcome. "Hello kid, guys," Bai said as he took one of the tubes.
"Try one of the red ones," Harry offered. "I made those with you in mind."
Bai shrugged, put down the tube he'd taken and looked for a red one. "Whoa, that's funky. And tasty. How did you get the flavor of Nian Gao into a tube?"
"It's a kind of cake wrapped in pastry," Harry explained to the two western gods, before turning to Bai. "And that's a secret."
Bai chuckled. "Put me down for opening night as well," he told the demigod. "If you can put the taste of top quality Nian Gao into a tube, I can't wait to see what crazy concoctions you'll think up for sale in an actual restaurant."
Harry grinned. "Thanks, Bai!" he said happily, feeling elated that his experiments had apparently turned out well.
They sat around, chatting, for a while. "Thor seems to be late," Harry eventually offered.
"Maybe he got held up," Hermes replied. "It happens sometimes. Gods are busy people."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "But usually you send a message, or let the others know beforehand that you can't make it. Thor just… isn't showing up and not letting anyone know. What if something's wrong?"
Hermes shrugged. "It happens, Harry. Don't worry about it. As gods, we don't interfere in each other's pantheons."
"Besides, Thor loves a good brawl, so he probably lost track of time beating something up," Bai added nonchalantly.
Harry nodded, not feeling completely reassured. Something felt off. Wrong. Like he was supposed to be doing something else.
"Why don't we start?" Triton offered, trying to take Harry's mind of things. He conjured a deck of card and slapped it down in front of Hermes. "Here, Hermes, you deal."
"Don't mind if I do!" the god of Thieves said, the cards already in his hand, while the perfectly sealed package was sitting on the table in front of him. Harry gaped for a moment, wondering how Hermes had managed to extract the cards from a cellophane-sealed box.
"God of thieves," he reminded himself.
"Exactly," Hermes chuckled as his nimble fingers shuffled, cut, shuffled again, riffled, then shuffled a final time before handing out cards. "Besides, what's this I hear about a visit to some Mayan ruins and a run-in with a god there?"
Harry blinked, the feeling of wrongness increasing. He explained shortly how he'd taken some of his friends on a trip to Coba Ruins, and how they'd run into the half-faded Kukulkan.
"– and he's very happy there," Harry finished. "He's grown quite a bit, and looks a lot healthier. That's when Mister Kukulkan blessed me and the others, so no snake would ever harm us." He put his cards down. "Full House."
"Only you could turn a trip into an encounter with a half-faded deity," Hermes chuckled, while the other gods laughed.
Bai threw a look at Harry's cards. "Kid? You alright?" he asked.
Harry blinked, and nodded slowly. "I'm worried about Thor, I think," he said. "Something feels off about the whole situation."
"I thought so," the Chinese god said, pointing to the cards. "Because that isn't a full house."
Harry frowned, looked at his cards, and paled. A full house consisted of three cards of one rank and two cards of a second rank. What he had put down was a hand consisting of two sixes, one eight, and two nines. Obviously he's mistaking an 8 for a 6. "Guys, I'm so sorry!"
"That's an automatic loss," Hermes said, frowning. This wasn't like Harry.
"Of course," the demigod said, voice trembling slightly, obviously worried they were going to yell at him, or be angry at him.
"I think you'd better go home, kid," Bai said, kindly yet firmly. "You don't seem up to it tonight."
Harry nodded softly, dejectedly. The poker games were obviously at an end. Inadvertently or not, he'd cheated.
Recognizing the thought that was playing through Harry's head, Hermes said, "Hopefully you'll have your head on straight the next time."
Triton and Bai nodded.
Harry felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "Thanks guys. Sorry for the trouble."
"Meh, no worries," Hermes said. "If you worry that much for the big guy, you're only going to mess up again. You'd better go home and get some rest."
Harry nodded softly, made his goodbyes and traveled back to Olympus using that weird underwater-fire thing Triton had burning in the room.
He sunk into the couch, staring at the fire, trying to get the feeling of wrongness to leave him.
It didn't leave; instead it seemed to urge him on. It was almost as if his instincts wanted to tell him something, but ever since he had started mastering those skills, the instincts had left him.
Or maybe not?
He stood up, started pacing. Something was definitely up.
Nemmy entered the room, eyed him for a few moments, then jumped onto the couch and seemed content to watch him pace back and forth.
"I'm going to look," Harry finally decided. "I'll just go find Thor and see what's up. If he needs help, I can help. If he doesn't, then I'll be able to breathe easy knowing he's fine." He stopped. "But where is he?"
Nemmy yawned, now that Harry had stopped pacing.
Harry blinked. Of course! Walking to one of the cabinets, he extracted a small bag, before turning to leave. "I'm going to look in on Thor, don't break anything while I'm gone," he told Nemmy.
The Nemean Cat flicked his tail in annoyance, but Harry was already out of the room.
Quickly, he walked through the mid-evening streets of Olympus, carefully avoiding any beings that were out and about, until he entered Athena's Library.
Almost by instinct, he navigated the huge hall of knowledge, only to end in front of a case. He didn't even have to look, the first book his hand touched was the one he needed.
It was a thick, heavy, and above all large book, filled with maps of the world.
Taking the heavy tome to the reading table, he opened it to a map of the world.
Taking the small bag out of his pocket, he upended it, allowing various polyhedral dice to clatter out.
"What, may I ask, are you doing?" Athena asked, suddenly standing behind him in her full 3-meter-tall godly form, staring down at him.
"I think someone is in trouble, and I am going to find out where he is," Harry explained.
"Using dice and a ma- I see," Athena interrupted herself. "Your abilities gained from your mother."
Harry nodded.
"Carry on," Athena said with a tiny smile, turning and vanishing as if she had never been there. Harry shook his head, sometimes the Goddess of Wisdom made no sense at all.
Harry rolled the dice, and noted the number, and rolled them again, noting the second number. He rolled multiple times, forming perfect coordinates. He knew he would probably pay for it later, his luck would balance itself out somehow, but right now this was the quickest way to get what he needed.
Flipping through the atlas, he narrowed down on the coordinates he had determined using the dice, until he came to a large map of Iceland, and the coordinates landed him firmly in the north of the island.
Harry nodded to himself; that was where Thor was. Taking the piece of scrap paper with the coordinates, he carefully closed and replaced the giant atlas on its shelf, and silently made his way out of the library. "Thanks, Miss Athena," Harry whispered as he pulled the door closed behind him. It was a library after all.
He stopped at the closest brazier, and gazed at the fire, angling for the closest fire to the coordinates he had found.
And bit back a curseword, lest Hestia be disappointed in him. Despite the fact that he really wanted to curse.
The closest fire was a LONG way away. Iceland wasn't the most inhabited island at the best of times, and the coordinates he had found were for a particularly remote piece of the island. Already, he luck was turning against him, and Harry had a feeling it was only going to get worse.
He would need to find an alternative way to get there; traveling through the fire wouldn't be able to help him this time.
"If only I could do Miss Zoë's speed-walking trick," he muttered to himself, right before he face-palmed. Maybe he couldn't do the Hunters' speed-walking, but maybe he could ask Artie if she could spare a Hunter for five or ten minutes to walk him there?