A/N Sorry this took so long, I got writers block and I couldn't make up my mind about what Percy tells the first person he meets in Alegasia. This chapter is a bit shorter than the last one but I'm going to try and update a bit more often. I can't make any promises but I'm hoping the next chapter won't take as long.

Percy's Point of view

As I was trying to escape the cloud of smoke I quickly realized that backtracking wasn't getting me anywhere since the smoke seemed to be ascending with me. I changed directions trying to find somewhere in the mountains that was clear of smoke. When I finally reached a ledge that was clear of smoke I breathed heavily to get fresh air into my lungs.

I silently cursed myself when I stepped on a twig making it snap loudly. Only moments after that I was face to face with the man I'd noticed earlier. I would have been okay with that, but what wasn't so good was the fact that held a bow notched and aiming right at me. I raised my hands in what could be described as either an attempt to show him that I meant him no harm or a weak attempt at protecting myself in case he decided to release that arrow.

" Did the Empire send you here?" the guy asked, I could hear anger in his voice when he asked me that, but I guessed that it wasn't directed at me but at the empire, whatever that was.

"No," I replied hoping he would believe me. Since I didn't know who or what the empire was I could only guess at why he had asked me that, clearly the empire had done something to make him angry at them but I had no clue what.

"Give me your word," the guy said clearly still suspicious.

I contemplated swearing on the river Styx, but I quickly thought better of it when I considered the fact that the people in this place might not know about the gods and everything else mythological. Instead I said, "I give you my word that the empire didn't send me here, for that matter I don't even know what the empire is."

The guy slowly lowered his bow surprise and confusion crossing his face.

" If the empire didn't send you then what are you doing here?" he asked, his confusion clear in his voice and on his face.

I knew I couldn't tell this guy the whole truth, not yet at least, maybe later if this turns out alright and he trusts me I might tell him the truth but right now isn't the time. I felt as though someone was helping me by giving me some information and a cover story that might be believable. I was kind of apprehensive about that at first since it kind of reminded me of when the Eildon possessed me but I knew this didn't feel quite the same. Using the story, I had gotten from whoever was helping me I replied, "My family has lived in these mountains for many years, I am the last and I have chosen to leave the mountains behind in hopes of a fresh start,"

" You lived in the Spine?" the guy asked giving me an odd look.

I nodded before saying, "Yes, for several generations my family has lived in the mountains, however I am the last, and I have chosen to leave the mountains behind in hopes of finding a new life,"

I continued giving the story that whoever was in my head was giving me. Partially because I couldn't come up with anything better, and I was pretty sure that whatever, or whoever was helping me didn't seem threatening, it just seemed like it was trying to help me by giving me a story that would convince the guy to trust me and giving me more information about this place that I had been banished to. Now I knew that the country was called Alegasia, but I hadn't yet learned much else.

The guy was silent for a moment probably trying to decide whether to trust me or not. I wondered what was on fire, but I didn't want to risk turning my back on this guy in order to look around. Instead, I decided to get a better look at him. He appeared to be around my age,  or maybe a bit older, he had brown hair and gray eyes. He seemed to be average height and was rather muscular, by muscular I mean that his muscles were quite obvious like many of the Hephaestus and Ares kids at camp.

I was pretty sure he wasn't someone I wanted to piss off, so I waited, fidgeting slightly due to my ADHD until he seemed to make a decision. He asked, "Where were you headed then if you aren't from the empire?"

I replied, pointing toward the town that wasn't too far away, "That town, I thought that even if I couldn't find a new start there, I could at least get supplies to continue my travels elsewhere,"

I was still getting those prompts from whoever was helping me and that made me slightly uneasy, but I saw no better option than to use the story I was given so I used it making things quite a bit easier for me, "What's your name," The guy asked. For whatever reason, I felt like I should tell the complete truth, so I said, "Perseus Jackson, but I prefer to be called Percy rather than Perseus,"

"What's yours?" I asked thinking that if the guy really did trust me he would give me that information. I also wondered why the guy was in the mountains in the first place after all we were the only two people there as far as I could tell so it certainly didn't seem like a popular place to be. The guy replied after seeming to hesitate for a bit, "Roran Garrowsson,"

After that Roran's gaze shifted away from me as something else caught his eye. He'd spotted the source of the smoke and to me he looked extremely worried, He was looking at a large barn that was obviously on fire, I wanted to help put it out, but I didn't know if I could get there before I would pass out from smoke inhalation, and even if I did I didn't want to reveal my powers to these people yet since I didn't really know them, or how they would react to learning about my abilities. It dawned on me that the smoke might not affect me as much due to Hestia's blessing, regardless I didn't want to make Roran or any of the townspeople suspicious of me, so I knew I had to stay put.

I saw no other option but to stay and watch as the barn burned. before long the fire started to spread to some of the nearby houses which made it even harder for me to stand back and do nothing but eventually the flames were either extinguished by the townspeople or burned out on their own. Once we knew the fire was out Roran and I went back to where we had been camped before the fire started. I thought I might try and talk to Roran more to see if he might be able to help me out somehow. Before I did that though I decided I should try and get more sleep, after all, I'd been awake most of the night due to the fire and Roran. As I was trying to fall asleep I was pretty sure that Roran had the same Idea at his campsite, I decided I would try to talk to him again once we were both awake. I didn't know why he was out there in the mountains, but I got the feeling I could trust him as long as he came to the same conclusion about me.

I came to the conclusion that whoever had been helping me when I was talking to Roran must have been a god or goddess since I realized they had done more than just giving me a story and some information. I wasn't sure how I hadn't realized it earlier, but they must have changed my clothes, considering the powers they probably have they might have just changed the clothes I'd been wearing into the clothes I was wearing now without actually undressing me but still it left me feeling rather uncomfortable. Especially since I was pretty sure that even my underwear was different.

Whoever it was must have done it before I ran into Roran, otherwise, he probably would have asked questions about my strange clothing since I knew that his clothes as well as the ones I was wearing looked a lot more old-fashioned than the ones I'd been wearing before. Truthfully practically everything about this place seemed old fashioned.

For instance, the road was dirt rather than asphalt, and the way the houses were built also looked old fashioned. Clearly, this place, Alegasia, hadn't advanced much. I made a mental note that if Roran did trust me and I eventually told him the truth about myself I wouldn't say too much about all the luxuries available back home.

I also knew that once I found out who had been trying to help me I would something to say to them about changing my clothes. Before too long I dozed off again, I knew I needed to be rested since I really didn't know what might happen here since I still didn't know much about this place. Hopefully, I would have some good luck for once but I kind of doubted it.

It was kind of a relief to realize that I hadn't had any demigod dreams since I got here but I wasn't going to get my hopes up about them being gone for good.