Twice Blessed Son

Deep in the bottom of the sea, where no man has ever visited, lies an underwater kingdom that many have speculated about, yet none have ever seen proof of its existence. The Kingdom is made up of multiple moderately sized cities spread out around the ocean floor, and a large city serving as the capital. To many the name of the kingdom is Atlantis, however Atlantis isn't the true name of said kingdom, rather it's the name of the capital city.

Unlike the myths however, Atlantis is not a mortal kingdom that sunk to the bottom of the sea. It is in fact a supernatural kingdom made up of all seafaring life, such as merpeople and water spirits, that started out as a group of independent kingdoms. However, when Neptune took over as the lord of the sea, he united them into one kingdom and made Atlantis the capital.

Atlantis, as a city, is about the size of New York. It is separated into three different quadrants, with each quadrant dedicated to a certain area of the city.

The first quadrant is in the form of a ring that surrounds the second quadrant. It's the largest one in terms of land and is where the army is located. There one can find the training grounds, the barracks, and anything else the military uses.

The second quadrant is the biggest one in terms of population and, similar to the first quadrant, is sized like a ring around the third quadrant. It is where the majority of the citizens live and where the majority of businesses are.

The third quadrant is located in the center of the city, and is where the royal palace can be found. It's where any citizen of importance, such as senators and generals, are housed.

Currently in the training grounds of the royal palace, a young boy of the age of ten can be found facing off against four warriors clad in armor. The boy stands at an average height of 4.5 feet tall, has a brown skin tone, curly midnight black hair, and sea green eyes that seem to glow. Unlike the warriors who wear full armor, the boy wears nothing but a black sleeveless turtleneck under a simple roman cuirass, a pair of vambraces over his forearms, black pants under a pair of greaves, and nothing on his feet. In his right hand he holds a trident which he uses to parry attacks with expert precision.

Floating to the right, the boy dodges a stab aimed at his neck. Without giving the soldier time to react, the boy grabs his opponent's arm with his unoccupied hand and throws him at a soldier behind him, giving him room to move forward. Without missing a beat, the boy proceeds to swim at the remaining soldier with blinding speed stabs at him with his trident. This soldier, unlike the other three, is a veteran and manages to bring his shield up just in time to block. The resulting collision however sends the soldier flying out of the ring and into a wall.

The boy looks around waiting for his next opponent, only to realize that he is the last one standing.

With a sigh he turns to the sole spectator and awaits for his evaluation.

The spectator is a seven feet tall young merman with two tails who bears a striking resemblance to the boy. From the black hair, to the slightly glowing sea green eyes, to the high cheekbones that give him aristocratic features, the boy and the merman are like a pair of older and younger brothers. Unlike the boy however, the merman possesses green skin and a bigger, bulkier build as opposed to the boy's slimer build. Over his body, the merman wears armor studded in pearls and carries a trident in his right hand.

"Adequate performance. Skill wise there is nothing that needs to be improved, you are absurdly unmatched in a competition of skills, even for a child of Bellona. The current conjecture is that you were a powerful warrior in your past life and somehow some of those skills are bleeding through despite the fact that you have been reborn and any attribute that ties you to your past life has been erased in the rebirth process. It's the only explanation for not only the strength of your soul, but also your ridiculous learning speed in anything combat and politics related." says Triden.

Before the boy can even show a hint of pride Triden continues.

"However, you still have a tendency to use moves that are unnecessary just to show off. I suggest that you desist from these acts. The Legion does not take well to showboating, and being the son of Neptune will already put you in an unfavorable position."

"Yes brother." replies the boy with a nod.

"Good. Now go change, father would like to see you before you depart"

After returning the trident back to its place on the weapon rack, Ambrosius swims out of the training field and into the corridor that leads to his room.

The royal palace is divided into different wings. The royal wing, where members of the royal family are housed, the guest wing, where all guests are housed, the servant wing, where the servants are housed, and the central wing, where one can find the throne room, the war room, the training fields etc…

As a member of the royal family, even though he's a bastard one, Ambrosius' room is located in the royal wing. The room itself is painted blue, large with a large bed, a nightstand, a dresser with a mirror, and a closet full of clothes.

Arriving in his room, Ambrosius takes off his clothes before he makes his way to his nightstand where he takes a sand coin which he promptly crushes, cleaning his entire body in the process.

That done, he makes his way to his closet where he dons clothes from the surface. A pair of black dress shoes, black trousers, and white dress shirt that he rolls up the sleeves to his elbow and leaves untucked.

Dressed at last, he makes his way to the hallway once more and quickly swims to the throne room ignoring the bowing servants and guards.

Arriving in front of the throne room's open massive double doors, Ambrosius nods to the pair of guards and floats there while waiting to be announced.

Soon enough the royal steward screams out his arrival and he swims in.

The throne room of Atlantis is completely different in style compared to the rest of the royal palace. Unlike the royal palace, which is heavily based on roman architecture with some minor greek influences, the throne room takes most of its designs from european throne rooms. The dais is taller, the thrones themselves are larger, and the decorations a bit more lavish.

At this time of day the throne room is completely empty save for a man and a woman who sit on a pair of thrones on the raised dais.

The man stands at about ten feet tall, has black hair, a neatly trimmed black beard, a deep tan, high cheekbones, a strong jaw, and slightly glowing sea-green eyes. He wears a small crown on his head, a white toga, sandals and holds a trident in his right hand. Like his sons, he is well built with big and defined muscles. Unlike his sons however, his build seems to be a perfect blend of bulky and slim, favoring neither over the other. He is Neptune, God of Earthquakes and Horses, God of Hurricanes, Storms, the Seas and Water

To his right sits a beautiful woman, with flowing black hair, well defined cheekbones, full lips, and brown eyes. She is crowned with seaweed, and dressed in queenly robes. She is Salacia Queen of the Sea, and the personification of the calm and sunlit aspect of the sea.

Ambrosius stops a few feet away from the dais and bows before speaking.

"My king, my queen, you wished to see me?" asks the boy.

"Indeed. I have a few things for you." says Neptune.

"Before that however, I would like to let you know that in the short three months that you have been here you have made us proud."

"Your father is correct. While we wish that you could stay here with us, the ancient laws forbids your father from interacting with you. It is the reason why you are only interacting with him now a few minutes before your departure.We also believe that it is time you learn the truth of your birth." says Salacia

"As you know you are the child of my husband and the war goddess Bellona. What you don't know however is that you are also the child of a demigod daughter of Apollo. It is the reason for your mortality and your healing factor. We don't know why, but as a legacy of Apollo the power you received was healing that manifested itself in a healing factor." explains Salacia

"The reason for your special conception is because of the upcoming trials." begins Salacia

"Some time after the second world, Apollo had a vision of war, death, and destruction. Naturally he wasn't able to specifically tell what he saw, and even if he could it wouldn't have done much good as the only thing he was able to make out was an upcoming war and that a child of Neptune or Jupiter would be instrumental in Rome's victory."

"If the situation became that bad then an ordinary demigod wouldn't do. So you stacked the odds in your favor." interrupts Ambrosius.

"That is correct. We couldn't leave the outcome of whether the demigod would be powerful enough to chance, so we intervened. What we needed was a demigod that not only had the raw power of a big three demigod, but also the skills needed to lead an army to victory, or more specifically a child of a war god." explains Salacia

"But there was no way to guarantee that a child of the big three would have the necessary skills to lead an army. Being powerful doesn't equate to being a good general. Gideon Pillow being the perfect example that comes to mind." says Ambrosius

Hearing that name Salacia's nose crunches in distaste as she venomously spoke "That disgrace was somehow the demigod child of Venus with the most powerful charmspeak seen in centuries, yet was perhaps the dumbest general Rome has ever seen."

Neptune seeing his wife's agitation gently pats her hand.

"Peace beloved, that time is over. We need to get back on topic. You are correct, power does not equate skill and intelligence. To counter this, we mixed the essence of your mother Bellona to give you the skills needed to be a general, and my essence to give you the power. However that would make you a god, what we needed was a demigod. So we took the mixed essence and inserted it into a fertile demigod daughter of Apollo. Unfortunately she didn't survive the pregnancy so you ended up being raised by Lupa."

"I wasn't the only one was I? A general can easily be intercepted by politicians. If they wanted to, the senators can easily make a general's job painfully difficult to accomplish. So you needed a politician."

Speaking with pride in her voice Salacia answers "Yes, and that's where your friend Azula comes in. How did you figure it out?"

"She's been at Wolf House as long as I have, and her charmspeak is far too powerful for a normal child of Venus. Not only is it far too powerful but it's also so subtle that sometimes I don't know whether I am willingly obeying her or if I'm under her charspeak."

"Indeed. She is also a child of Jupiter, giving her not only the power, but also the godly support she will need to have those stuck up senators eating from the palm of her hands." says Salacia

"Now that you know, I hope that you will take your position in the legions of Rome seriously. Since we cannot directly interfere in mortal affairs it is up to you to make your way up the ranks and prepare Rome for the upcoming trial." says Poseidon

Ambrosius gives them the Roman salute by placing his fist over his heart and says "I won't fail you."

"Good" says Neptune as he and Salacia stand from their throne, reduce their size to six feet tall, and swim their way next to the child.

Neptune brings his hand up and places a ring in Ambrosius' palm. The ring is a simple black band with an aquamarine gem in the middle.

"This is my gift to you. Put it on and press the gem"

Ambrosius puts the ring on his middle finger with the gem on the inside of his palm. Pressing the gem with his thumb, Ambrosius is completely surprised when the ring turns into a trident.

Like Neptune and Triden's trident, it looks like it's made of gold. Unlike Triden and Neptune's tridents however, this trident's outward most prongs are curved inward towards the middle prong, and instead of the side of the prongs being blunted, they are sharpened like a blade.

With an awestruck expression on his face, Ambrosius swims away from the gods and immediately begins to twirl the weapon once he has enough space.

"This trident is a perfect replica of my trident. It has all of the abilities that my trident has. Your mother Bellona has cursed it to never be able to be removed from your finger in ring form and to always return to you in weapon form whether it is called upon or after a certain amount of time has passed, and will always be the perfect size for you." explains Neptune as he amusedly watches his son show off the weapon.

Seemingly satisfied with the weapon's performance, Ambrosius wills the weapon back into its ring form and turns to face the gods.

"While I don't have a gift for you, you will see me quite often. I will be in charge of training you in the usage of yours and the trident's powers." says Salacia with a smile.

"Now come, we don't want to keep Lupa waiting." beckons Salacia

Swimming over to Neptune, Ambrosius salutes and says "It was nice meeting you father."

Neptune simply nods and makes his way back to his throne as Salacia places her hand on Ambrosius's shoulder and teleports them to the Wolf House.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Lady Lupa!" Julia exclaims in surprise. Immediately all present legionnaires look up from whatever they had been working on. Most of them hadn't seen Lupa in years, just after their trial when she sent them to Camp Jupiter. The She-Wolf was standing tall and proud as usual, a boy standing by her side. He looks to be about ten years old, and his eyes scan the Campus Martius for any threats. While many legionnaires had been the same when they first arrived, the boy's scan seems to go far deeper than simply looking for threats.

"To what do we owe the honour?"

"I bring a new recruit for the legion," she says, "consider my word to be his recommendations."

"Of course, Lady Lupa," Julia bows slightly, "and who is the recruit?"

By now, a large majority of the legion has stopped what they were doing to watch the proceedings. Alex, co-praetor walks over, her fingers tapping the pommel of her gladius.

"This is Ambrosius Malphas, son of Neptune," Lupa says, and someone in the back gasps in shock.

"Son of Neptune…" whispers Alex.

"Is that going to be a problem" demands Lupa as her eyes narrow dangerously.

"Forgive our reaction. It's just the last time the legion had a son of Neptune it was disastrous. How long have you trained him, Lady Lupa?" says Julia as she steps in to defuse the situation.

"Ten years," the wolf-goddess replies "But it is past time he joins the legion. I can teach him no more."

"Ten years? By Mars! How is the kid still alive?" someone whispers, causing several others to snicker. Lupa's ears flick, a sign that she has heard whatever has been said. The son of Neptune simply looks in the direction of the whisper and raises an eyebrow.

"We will introduce him to the centurions shortly, my lady," Alex says, "but if we may first get a glimpse at his skills?"

Lupa didn't reply, instead turning to Ambrosius who simply nods.

"Very well," she says, "he will fight Azula. They are of an age."

Alex nods and turns to the pair. "Grab two rudii and—"

No," interrupts Lupa "they both have weapons. Let them use them."

Ambrosius turns to Lupa with a grin on his face and asks "Is that permission to use my trident?"

Lupa simply rolls her eyes and says "Yes child, that is permission to use your new toy"

With a bigger grin on his face, Ambrosius walks over to the training pit as the ring on his finger turns into a trident.

Lupa watches the boy she has come to consider a son walk away and whispers with a fond tone in her voice.

"Honestly between him and the twins, Romulus and Remus, I have no idea which one is the most in love with battle"

Seeing his friend for the first time in a year, the son of Neptune can't help the smile that comes to his face as he says "It looks like we're competing again Azula"

Azula merely rolls her eyes as she answers "We're always competing against each other Aquaman."

"You call me Aquaman as if I am supposed to take that as an insult." replies Ambrosius as he twirls his trident around him.

"Take it how you want to, it doesn't matter. Just know that I'm far more skilled than I was a year ago." she says while her ring turns into a gladius hispaniensis.

Ambrosius looks at the weapon intrigued, only for his eyes to widen when his powers inform him about everything pertaining to the weapon.

Looking at Azula, Ambrosius wants to question her on how she got her hands on Crocea Mors.

Before he can however, Julia walks in between them and speaks "The rules are simple. No maiming and definitely no killing. This fight will be fought using skills only. When I or my co-praetor say that the fight is over, that means stop and return to your corner. Understand?"

The two nod and immediately fall into their fighting stances.

Julia steps out of the ring and orders them to begin.

Immediately Azula shoots off towards her opponent at a speed that most of the present demigods can't follow. She opens her assault with a downward slash which is redirected widely to the left by Ambrosius' spear. Before he can counter attack however, she immediately steps back and changes her stance to a more defensive one.

Seeing this Ambrosius smirks and goes on the offensive. His first strike is a simple stab, followed by a sweep when Azula dodges to the right, then a slash to her sword arm that she dodges. The following exchange can only be described as phenomenal as the two twice blessed demigods exchange blows and the sound of metal striking metal echoes throughout the yard.

To many of the spectators it seems as if they are even, however Alex, Julia, Lupa, and a few of the centurions can easily tell that Ambrosius is holding back. Many times he went for an opening, only to force himself to stop when he realized that the inflicted injury may prove lethal. They also notice that Ambrosius is quickly adapting to the battle's non lethal terms and is quickly starting to gain the upper hand.

Before he can firmly gain the upper hand however, Alex brings an end to the spar.

"All right, cease!" Alex calls out, and they both step back. "Good job, both of you. That was an impressive battle."

Turning to her co-praetor, Alex nods.

"Centurions!" Julia calls out. The crowd parts as five men and women make their way to the front.

Olivia Haley is the Primus Pilus, the Centurion of the First Cohort, and the legions most senior officer under the Praetors. Norman Osborn is the Pilus Posterior, the Centurion of the Second. Then there's Kyle Tan, the Princeps Prior, Centurion of the Third. He is followed by Lucas Charles, the Centurion of the Fourth, also known as the Princeps Posterior. Finally, there is Ava Thomas, the Hastatus Prior, the Centurion of the Fifth, and lowest ranking officer in the legion.

"We have a potential recruit here, Ambrosius Malphas, Son of Neptune," Julia said, "you just watched him fight our very own Azula, Daughter of Jupiter. Now, the choice must be made for which cohort he is to join. Bear in mind, in lieu of recommendation letters, we instead have Lady Lupa's endorsement of the potential legionary. You have five minutes to discuss and decide."

Before five seconds can even pass Lucas Charles, Centurion of the Fourth, steps forward.

"We made our decision already, Praetor," he says "the Fourth will take Ambrosius Malphas into our cohort as a probatio tirone. Once his first year is up, we will induct him into the legion proper."

"And you all agree to this?" Alex asks the others, who nod. "Very well, probatio Malphas goes to the Fourth."