The Son of the Deep

Chapter 9

"Well then Harry, would you describe the things that took the crew?" Harry still looked suspicious of him. "I'll answer your questions if you answer mine." He put his stick into his back pocket. 

"Alright. You ask first." 

"What are you?"

"I'm a demigod." 

"Whats a demigod?" Perseus could see Harry's walls recede. "A question for a question Mr. Potter." 

"Whats with the stick?" He gestured to the bit that was poking out from behind his back. 

Harry raised an eyebrow. "It's my wand. Now whats a demigod?" 

"The offspring of a godly being and a mortal. Are you Egyptian?"

Harry looked contemplative for a second. "I don't believe so. But I do know someone who has family that works in Egypt. Why'd you ask?" 

Perseus looked at the kid. He certainly seemed magical. Perseus could feel a weak field of power surrounding the kid, almost like he was a powerful demigod. But the only wizards that he knew of where Egyptian and this kid was clearly not a descendant of the Pharaohs . Perseus gestured to the railing of the ship. Harry followed him over to the railing. 

"I asked because the only wizards that I know of are descended from the Egyptian Pharaohs. Those Pharaohs where given the ability to use Magic by the Gods of Egypt."

"Is your godly parent Egyptian?" Harry asked. He was looking at him with this fascinated look in his eyes. 

Perseus chuckled. "No, my father is the Greek god of the sea Poseidon."

Harry looked down at the water, confused. "So, there's multiple, gods?" His voice was confused, trying to figure out how their could be multiple pantheons. 

Perseus nodded. "Yes. Most of the pagan gods where or are alive. The Greek Pantheon is going strong as is the Norse, Egyptian, Celtic and Roman. Those are the gods that I have had contact with. I've heard of the Aztecs, but I believe they are on the decline. Their end of the world is coming up." 

Harry stood there, silent for a long while. He had this dumbstruck look on his face. "I have so many questions." He whispered. Perseus smiled down at the kid. "Shoot." 

Harry spun on his heel, a looked him dead in the eye. "Don't all gods have their own creation story? How do that many gods exist, doesn't their mere existence contradict each other? If your a demigod what kind of powers do you have? Have you meet the Christian God?"

Perseus laughed. "Y-you remind me,  of my friend, Annabeth. She loves learning things." 

Harry shook his head. "Oh no, I'm sure that if my friend Hermione was here, you wouldn't even be able to answer all her questions." The two looked at each other and broke down laughing. Perseus wiped a tear out of his eye. 

"Whoa. Now to answer your question, I don't know how all the different pantheons exist at the same time. Gods and Goddess are only as strong as our belief for them is, its why there is so few of them alive still."

"But aren't they immortal? Your talking about them as if they can die."

Perseus felt his shoulders stoop with the weight of the question. "Because in a way they can. Its called Fading. It can happen one of two ways. One way is if that gods domain is so corrupted they cant draw anymore power from it and Fade. We've lost many nature gods that way. But its hard for the ones with the more powerful domains to fade that way. The other way is if people stop believing in them. If there is no more belief in them then they lose the will to carry on and Fade, no matter their domains. It's every demigods worst nightmare to have their parents Fade."