A Gathering of Heroes

Riordanverse

Traveling between dimensions will never lose its novelty, thinks Rhaenys as their location shifts from Dragonstone to a desert filled with trash. Before her a massive bronze statue reminiscent of the Titan of Braavos swings a giant arm at her dragon, Silver, causing her to abruptly dive in order to avoid being swatted out of the air.

As Silver readjusts herself in the air she can hear Simon's voice calling out over the wind.

"Look, Percy's under attack." he says as he points to the ground.

Trusting Silver to navigate, Rhaenys looks towards where Simon points and sure enough Perseus and a group of other children seem to be under siege from all manner of beasts. It seems that the assault has been going on for quite a while for Perseus and his allies seem to be exhausted. The presence of the bronze giant seems to worsen their situation for every once in a while it would attempt to stomp on Perseus' group, only missing due to the group's impeccable awareness.

As Rhaenys decides to lend help, Caraxes' enraged screech resounds throughout the sky. Rhaenys recognises that screech. It is the same screech that the Blood Wyrm releases when someone's or something's presence offends it. It is a warning at best and an indication of an incoming assault at worst. More worrying is the bloodthirst that she can feel coming from the dragon in waves, almost as if it cannot wait to turn all before him into ash.

Sure enough once the Blood Wyrm notices the group of beasts it encircles over Perseus' group twice as if contemplating his victims before turning the monsters surrounding them into ash.

With a victorious screech filled with pride, the dragon turns his attention to the bronze statue and lets out a challenging roar, or as much of a roar that the slightly deformed dragon can muster.

"Come, Silver, let us help Caraxes." says Rhaenys, receiving a roar of acknowledgement in return.

Seemingly possessing the same thought, Daenerys, Aegon, and Jaehaerys lead their dragons towards the bronze statue.

"Rhaenys, target the legs. Melt it into place." Aegon commands

With a nod Rhaenys leads Silver towards the legs, dousing the feet in dragonfire even as they swerve and dodge kicks from the statue.

The bronze must be a magical one, for it takes Rhaenys longer than she would like to melt the feet, and even then it merely slows it down as opposed to completely immobilizing it.

Relishing the power of her dragon, Rhaeny targets the knees of the statue. This is what it feels to be a Dragonlord. To feel the wind in her hair, the magic coursing through her veins, and the power of one's dragon. Her ancestors had the right of it, with their dragons Targaryens are closer to gods than men. And after ingesting that pill from Aemon that saying now holds more truth. In her current state to kill an Other without Silver would be trivial at worst.

As Silver completely melts one of the knees, the statue stumbles forward and falls on its face. It attempts to prop itself up with its arms, but unfortunately the joints of its arms have been melted at the shoulder causing them to fall off.

With it now defenseless, it's a trivial matter for them to melt its head into slag and cause it to malfunction.

With giant slain, Rhaenys and her siblings land near Perseus and his allies while Caraxes continues to impatiently circle overhead.

"Percy!" calls out Simon from his position on Winter, Jaehaerys' dragon. "Dude are you ok?" asks.

"Simon? Holy Hades you're riding a dragon." says Perseus as he walks towards them while cradling his shield arm.

"Perseus, you know these people?" asks one of his companions, the oldest one present and one of two girls who wear silver.

"Yeah, he's a friend." Perseus says as he approaches Winter before quickly scrambling back when the dragon snarls at him.

"Careful, she does not appreciate being approached after a battle." warns Jaehaerys.

"Right." replies Perseus as he warily regards the dragon.

Before Simon or Perseus can continue with their conversation, Rhaenys intervenes for if it is up to them they may be here all night and her already thin patience is quite close to snapping; not to mention Caraxes' own fraying nerves. If they remain here for too long the Blood Wyrm is liable to go on his own and depending on Aemon's situation it may cause more harm than good.

"Where is my brother, Perseus?" Rhaenys asks.

"Uh, call me Percy, please. Only people, or monsters, who want to kill me call me Perseus." Perseus, Percy replies.

Feeling her impatience, Silver snarls at the demigod.

"Right, he's been captured by the Titans." Percy says quickly as he steps away from her dragon.

"Captured?" asks Jaehaerys skeptically while Rhaenys finds herself agreeing with her beloved's tone. For how can Aemon be so easily captured, not only is he more powerful than them but he is also quite adept at hiding and retreating through darkness. Even more unbelievable is that The Wild Hunt accompanied him to this world. They would rather perish than let anything happen to their Lord Commander.

Perhaps it

"And where was The Wild Hunt while this was happening?" asks Daenerys.

Before Percy can answer Caraxes screeches and lands behind them, prompting Rhaenys to turn to see what has caught the Blood Wyrm's attention.

"Ghost." Jaehaerys says as the direwolf bounds towards Caraxes, snapping his jaws here and there as if he were speaking and seemingly having forgotten his young passenger. Surprisingly the dragon seems to understand him perfectly for he snarls and screeches back before looking at the approaching Wild Hunt.

"Lady Rhaenys." says Evelynn as she appears before Silver, seemingly not worried of the dragon's reaction to her close proximity. Whether she is brave or foolish, Rhaenys has yet to decide.

"Evelynn." greets Rhaenys with a nod and an impassive expression on her face.

She has never liked the woman, finding her too fanatical in her love, no her obsession, of Aemon. If her brother were to command her to him a simple campfire, the woman would build him a pyre from the corpse of his enemies. Rhaenys would normally applaud such devotion, for it would mean that Evelynn would protect him at all cost. Yet her devotion is tainted by the memory of Cersei Lannister, the woman willing to become a paramour of Aegon merely due to his resemblance to their father, Rhaegar. Worse yet, the woman stands before her now, hale and healthy, while her brother no doubt suffers in the clutches of his captors.

"Where is your Lord Commander?" asks Rhaenys.

"Captured by the Titan Koios and forced to hold the sky." replies Evelynn.

"And where were you when this was happening?" Rhaenys asks with a raised eyebrow, causing the vampire to shamefully look away.

Before Rhaenys can continue to pressure her however, Aegon interjects "That is enough. Besides, I'm sure that she has a valid plan to rescue Aemon." Aegon says as he looks at Evelynn expectantly.

Before Evelynn can respond however the oldest girl dressed in silver interrupts.

"Thou say that he has been made to hold the sky, but that should not be possible. One must willingly take the burden of the sky." says the girl.

"Nightshade." sneers Evelynn as if the girl has committed her some great offense.

"Is this true Evelynn?" asks Rhaenys before Evelynn can curse the girl.

"Aye. According to this huntress that Ghost brought to us, he willingly took the burden in order to save her life." Evelynn replies by pointing towards the child who snuggles atop Ghost's fur while the direwolf seems to be silently snarling at Caraxes.

"Diane?!" exclaims the girl, Nightshade, bringing the child's attention to her.

"Zoë!" screams the child as she dismounts Ghost and runs towards Zoë.

"What are thou doing here? Why are thou not in The Hunt's campsite?" asks Zoë.

"There was an attack." Diane replies, her eyes misting over. "And I was captured by this huge man with black armor and a giant sword."

"Koios." says Evelynn, drawing Rhaenys' attention back to her.

"You know this man?" asks Aegon.

"Not man, Titan. The goddess Artemis called him Koios." Evelynn.

"This is bad." says Percy. "First The General, now Koios? That's two titans"

"Not just any two Titans, the two most dangerous after the Titan Lord himself." says Annabeth "Atlas is the greatest warrior among the Titans, and Koios strategies nearly cost the gods the first Titanomachy."

Annabeth's explanation brings an oppressive silence over the assembled group. One Titan is already ample enough cause for fear; unfortunately however they face two Titans.

Rhaenys remembers Aemon's tales of these Titans, they are mighty beyond compare and seeing their true forms will vaporize anyone not a god or titan.

"Aye, there is great danger." says Jaehaerys, bringing everyone's attention to him. "However, this is also an opportunity."

"My brother speaks truth." agrees Aegon. "This is an opportunity for you and Olympus to remove two of your most dangerous foes from the war before it begins properly. The lost of their greatest warrior and greatest strategist will at the very least bye you time to properly prepare for the upcoming war."

"That is nothing but wishful thinking." argues Zoë. "We cannot hope to become victorious over Koios and Atlas without aid from one Olympian at the very least. And until such a time that the Shackles are found no Olympian would dare to spend time aiding us when the King has specifically ordered them all to find it and the thief."

"Besides, our quest is to find the Ophiotaurus, not aid thou in freeing thy brother." says Zoë.

The girl's dismissal of Aegon's attempt at a partnership and Aemon's predicament grates on Rhaenys' nerves, especially when he is in said predicament due to saving her hunter.

"Didn't Aemon help Artemis hunt the Ophiotaurus?" asks Percy.

"So?" replies Zoë irritatedly.

"So he probably knows where it is, or at the very least how to find it." adds Annabeth.

Zoë grits her teeth at Annabeth's words, and seems to consider her words carefully.

Rhaenys can see that the girl is close to agreeing, yet something seems to hold her back.

Before Rhaenys can make her own attempt at convincing Zoë, Thalia finally speaks "You shall find what you search for when you are not searching. That's one of the prophecy's line." she says.

With a reluctant sigh Zoë agrees.

"We shall aid in freeing thy brother in exchange for his aid in finding the Ophiotaurus." she says.

"Good." says Rhaenys before turning to Evelynn. "I assume that you at least know where my brother is being held?" she asks.

"Mount Tamalpais. It's also where the shackles are, according to the little huntress. The Lord Commander has been made powerless with their use." Evelynn says.

It takes Rhaenys a few moments to register the meaning of the vampire's words; and when she does her rage burns so hot that Silver roars into the night sky, scaring the demigods. Yet Rhaenys cannot bring herself to care much, for someone has chained her brother. As if a decade of slavery had not been enough.

Aemon has warned her and the others that dragonfire may not be a threat to Gods and Titans, and Rhaenys has never cared to put that theory to the test. Now. Now Rhaenys wishes to test that theory. And if one dragon proves not to be enough to burn these Titans to ashes then she shall see how many dragons they can withstand, for she brings five with her.

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Mount Tamalpais

He felt Caraxes' arrival in this realm as keenly as one might feel an explosion of wildfire, for his power grew twofold merely with his companion's presence in the realm. He may need to thank Koios for this before sending him to Tartarus, for had he not been chained with these restricting shackles he may never have known the effect of Caraxes' presence until much later in time.

Targaryens like Daemon and Visenya had the right of it, for their bond with their dragons is much more complex than it seems. It is akin to an iceberg and Aemon wagers that not even Visenya and Daemon themselves had delved deeper than the tip.

It may seem like an exaggeration, yet Aemon does not think so. For how else is he to explain his twofold increase in power merely by Caraxes being in the same dimension as him despite being hundreds of miles away.

The biggest proof however stands before him. Koios, the Titan who once stood proudly before his Conqueror's Haki, now kneels before him as the pressure intensifies.

With a grin on his face Aemon reaches out to Caraxes through bond, coaxing his fiery wrath into a cold, silent, and patient one; for as much as he would love Caraxes to come here and burn Mount Othrys to ashes, Aemon himself would be served best if Evelynn has an obedient dragon that she can make use of in her plans.

As the thought of dragons enters his mind, Aemon briefly entertains the hope of Aegon, Daenerys, Jaehaerys, and Rhaenys coming to his rescue before quickly dismissing it.

They may get along quite well and may treat each other as family, but Aemon does not think that they see him as one of them yet. More importantly however, he does not think that Aegon would lead his wife, brother and sister to a foreign world to fight Titans for him.

Not after the outcome of their Long Night. For while Aegon may try to hide it, Aemon can see his aversion towards leadership after his failure. It is why Aemon himself has been so successful in taking the role of family head. Still, he hopes one day that they will see him as one of them and Aegon will recover from his trauma

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Author's Note: What do you guys think about the chapter and the story so far? I also have a patreon if you guys want to support at: patreon.com/servantambrosius