A/N So I decided to start the story in a different place, starting just after Percy and Grover get to Camp-Half Blood. Percy has just gotten to the infirmary.
It was a stormy night, with flashes of lightning piercing through the darkness occasionally. The infirmary was empty except for one bed, where a particular black-haired, green-eyed 12-year-old lay. Percy was tossing and turning in his sleep, his hands curling around a jagged bone-like horn about the size of a knife.
A thick blue mist started forming in the infirmary, coalescing into the form of a man. The man had light-coloured hair and purple eyes with concentric rings. He laid his hands on Percy's forehead and paused, his form glowing a light green. "To think, my descendant would have stooped so low. This leaves me no choice".
The man slowly dissolved back into the mist, surrounding Percy. Percy's body started absorbing the fog, glowing a bluish-green colour. This went on throughout the night, only ending when the last of the mist had been absorbed.
Percy opened his eyes and slowly wiped away the dust. He stretched around and yawned, feeling great: no headache, no cramps and no drowsiness. His eyes slowly took in his surroundings, not yet comprehending what they were seeing.
Suddenly, a rush of memories hit Percy, visions of a towering bull-man and Percy's mother disappearing in a flash of golden light.
"I must have had a bad dream", he thought, "Mom is ok, we just stopped at this place on the way to wherever we are going for some reason".
He looked around, noticing that he was in some kind of infirmary or something, when suddenly a blue box with black letters appeared in front of him.
It said :
You have slept in your own bed, HP, CP, and MP have been restored 100% each. All ailments and negative status effects have been cured.
Percy tried moving his head, but the text stayed in one place, exactly 1 foot away from him. He then moved forward and tried to touch it, only for his hand to go through the screen and the box to disappear.
Percy quickly took his hand back and watched as the box disappeared. Did that actually happen? He blinked and decided to find out where he was first.
He looked down at the bed where he had been sleeping and saw the black and white horn that had fallen there. "So it was real", he thought, "My mother is really gone".
Percy felt a calm settle over his mind, blocking his grief and making him look at the situation logically. "If she were really gone, she would still be here. Maybe she's just somewhere else, and the light was someone taking her away!"
Percy shook his head, "I have to find out where I am" he thought, getting up to leave the infirmary.
As he left the building, his eyes were instantly assaulted with sunlight. When that cleared, he saw a sprawling meadow with some hills and a forest in the distance. He turned around and saw that he had just come out from a big blue farmhouse.
He turned back to the meadow, recognizing the big pine tree where the fight with the Minotaur had taken place. He remembered dragging himself and Grover towards this house, as well as some bearded guy and a blonde haired girl appearing above them.
Suddenly, he saw Grover appear from behind the farmhouse, heading towards the entrance.
He shouted out, "Grover! Over here!".
Grover ran over to Percy. He was dressed in blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD.
"Percy! What are you doing out here?" he said.
Percy just asked back "Where are we? What is this place?"
"Yeah, about that. Come with me, Chiron and Mr.D are waiting."
Grover nervously led Percy back around the porch of the farmhouse, and as they came around the opposite side of the house, Percy caught his breath.
They must've been on the north shore of Long Island because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance.
The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture; an open-air pavilion, an amphitheatre, a circular arena, except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball.
Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless Percy was hallucinating, some of the horses had wings!
Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The man facing Percy was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple.
"That's Mr D," Grover murmured. "He's the camp director. Be polite. And you already know Chiron... ."
Grover pointed at the guy whose back was to them.
Percy was about to answer before he noticed something that he hadn't before. Above everyone's heads were these floating blue boxes with names and numbers on them.
The one above Grover's head read [ Grover Underwood, Lvl 30 ].
The others were:
[Chiron "Mr Brunner", Lvl ?]
[Dionysis "Mr.D", Lvl ?]
"Mr Brunner?" Percy thought, "What's he doing here?"
"Mr Brunner!"
The Latin teacher turned and smiled at Percy. "Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."
He pointed to a chair to the right of Mr D, who looked at Percy with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh.
"Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."
Percy nodded dumbly, still not sure where he was exactly, and took a seat.
"Where are we?" he asked.
Chiron looked at him with sad eyes, "Percy, did your mother tell you nothing?"
"She said ..." Percy remembered her sad eyes as she looked out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."
"Typical," Mr D said. "That's how they usually get killed."
Percy jumped, wanting to defend his mother, but before he could, Chiron intervened.
"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."
"Orientation film?" Percy asked.
"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"-he pointed to the horn in Percy's hand "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods, the forces you call the Greek gods, are very much alive."
Percy was about to ask how that was possible when another blue box popped up in front of him.
[ Congratulations! You have discovered your heritage! You can now collect the XP from all the monsters you have killed]
Before he could respond, the box disappeared, and another took its' place.
[To claim XP, as well as access the tutorial, say or think "Status"]
The box then disappeared, leaving him confused and staring at Chiron's face.
"Are you ok Perseus?" asked Chiron.
"Oh yeah, I'm just…. trying to process everything".
"I must say, you're taking this way better than I thought you would. Let's call for someone to give you a tour around camp".
With that said, Chiron turned around and rose out of his wheelchair. Percy's mouth gaped open as Chiron just kept rising, his body taller than that of any man. The Latin teacher rose until his entire body had exited the wheelchair, but instead of the shape of a man, his body took the form of a white stallion.
"Well come along then," Chiron turned around and started going down the hill, Percy dumbly following him along. "I'll explain along the way."
As Percy followed Chiron and listened to all his explanations, he couldn't help but overhear all the whispers from the other campers. People were pointing at the minotaur horn in his hand and saying "That's him".
Most of the campers were older than Percy, and all of them were wearing orange T-shirts with CAMP HALF-BLOOD on them. He realized now that that must be the name of this place.
They also had the floating titles above their heads, the levels going from Level 10 to Level 30, not that it meant anything to Percy without a reference.
As they walked, Percy decided to ask Chiron about what happened to his mother. If anyone would know, it must be him, right?
"Mr Brun- Chiron," he asked, "If the Gods and Olympus are real, does that mean that the Underworld is real too?"
Chiron stopped walking, causing Percy to bump into him.
"Yes, child." He paused as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."
"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"
"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."
Percy was suspicious, but followed along anyway, filing that knowledge in the back of his mind.
As they got closer, another blue box popped up in front of Percy:
[You are about to enter a Lvl 10 Dungeon]
[ Do you wish to proceed? ]
[ [Y/N] ]
Percy pressed the No button, causing the box to disappear and leave him there with his hand outstretched. He quickly pulled it back, looking around to see if anyone had seen it. People didn't seem to see the boxes, which was weird.
Percy started to admire the forest in front of him. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees much taller and thicker than any he had seen.
Chiron said, "The woods are stocked if you care to try your luck, but go armed."
"Stocked with what?" Percy asked. "Armed with what?"
"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"
"My own-?"
"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armoury later."
Percy wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armoury, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. They saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.
They soon got to the cabins, but before they could go any further, a camper approached Chiron and started whispering to him.
Chiron turned to Percy and said "I'm afraid I have to go. Do you see that cabin over there?"
He pointed to a grey cabin with the number 6 on the door, where the blond girl Percy had seen before was sitting on the steps.
Percy nodded, and Chiron continued, "Just go over there, and Annabeth will take care of the rest" before running off.
Percy nodded, confused, and decided to take a look around first.
He then remembered that weird box that had shown up when he first met Chiron and Mr.D.
He steeled himself and called out "Status."
A window popped up, much larger than the previous two:
Name: Percy Jackson
Hp [1200 / 1200]
CP [500 / 500]
Mp [1300 / 1300]
Title: Son of ?
Race: Demigod
Level: 5 [0 / 200] (1)
Str: 5
Vit: 9 (3 + 6)
Agi: 7 (2 + 6)
Int: 3
Wis: 2
Lck: ?
Chkr: 5
Points: 0
Perks : (? Heir) = You are the only demigod heir of ?, so you get +1 Vit, +1 Agi, as well as + 20 Mp every Lvl
(Demigod (Big Three)) = You are the son of one of the Big Three, so you get +5 Vit & +5 Agi.
You also get +200 Mp per Lvl, as well as +1 Chkr every Lvl
Percy stepped back, his mouth wide open. This looked like those games that he'd seen people play. Did this happen to everyone? There had to be a reason he was seeing this now instead of before. He looked around, and to his surprise, everyone else seemed like they couldn't see it!
He decided to look back and actually read what the window said, but that just confused him even more. Why did he have two bars under health? Why was there a question mark where it talked about his father, and what were the Big Three?
He clicked on the (1) near the Exp bar, and another window popped up in front of the status:
[ ]
You have discovered your heritage, allowing you to claim all the rewards from events relating to it.
These events include :
Killing one of the Furies : +3300 Exp (Earns Perk [Wrath of Furies])
Killing the Minotaur : +2000 Exp (Earns Perk [Wrath of the Minotaur])
Total : 5300 Exp
[ ]
The window then disappeared, and another window took its' place:
[ You have leveled up x6 ]
[ Your Demigod bonus has updated ]
The window then disappeared, leaving the Status:
Name: Percy Jackson
Hp [1200 / 1200]
CP [1100 / 1100]
Mp [2620 / 2620]
Title: Son of ?
Race:Demigod
Level: 11 [1000 / 2000]
Str: 5
Vit: 13 (3 + 11)
Agi: 12 (2 + 11)
Int: 3
Wis: 2
Lck: ?
Chkr: 11
Points: 30
Perks : (? Heir) = You are the only demigod heir of ?, so you get +1 Vit, +1 Agi, as well as + 20 Mp every lvl
(Demigod (Big Three)) = You are the son of one of the Big Three, so you get+10 Vit & +10 Agi. You also get +200 Mp & +1 Chkr per Lvl
(Wrath of the Furies) = You have killed one of the Furies, earning their ire. They will be able to find you anywhere in the Underworld.
You have also earned the fear and respect of the inhabitants of the Underworld.
(Wrath of the Minotaur) = You have killed the Minotaur, earning you its' ire. It will be able to find you if you are within 500 ft of it.
You will now do +50% more damage to it in the future, and it will do the same
Percy didn't have anyone to compare to, but he was pretty sure that an Int and Wis of 3 and 2 respectively weren't good.
He realized that he was just standing in the middle of the camp, staring at nothing, so he swiped the window away and kept going. He approached the grey cabin with the number 6 on it, heading towards where he had last seen the blonde girl. She saw him coming, putting down the book she was reading to study him intensely with those stormy grey eyes.
Percy tried to see what book she was reading, but the title looked like greek to him. Not in a dyslexia sort of way, but literally Greek. There were pictures of temples and statues, and so on.
"You must be Percy," she said, "Chiron told me about you, follow me".
She took off, and Percy followed her to the cabin farthest on the left, Cabin 11. Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it...? A caduceus.
The cabin was full of people, boys and girls, way more than the bunk beds could fit in there, causing people to lay down sleeping bags on the floor of the cabin.
Percy stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They were staring at him, sizing him up. He was doing the same, and by the titles on their heads, most of them were around level 10, with a few exceptions. They were also mostly children of Hermes, but there was a large number of people who weren't.
"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."
So naturally, Percy tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of himself. There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.
Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven. "
"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.
Percy didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."
Everybody groaned. A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.
"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."
The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. The tag above his head read:
[Luke Castellan, Rebel, Lvl 50]
He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-coloured clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.
Percy was shocked. How powerful was this guy? He could probably crush him in a second if he wanted to.
"This is Luke," Annabeth said, her voice sounding different somehow.
Percy glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing. She saw him looking, and her expression hardened again.
"He's your counsellor for now."
"For now?" He asked.
"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travellers."
Percy nodded dumbly, still shocked at Luke's level. Luke showed Percy where he would sleep, pointing to a section of the floor where a sleeping bag and some toiletries were laid out.
Annabeth left, leaving Percy in the cabin. He thanked Luke for showing him where everything was and headed out to explore the camp.
A/N : Cutting it off here for now, Didn't want to stuff too much into one chapter. Please REVIEW, and tell me what you think.