A heavy hand rested on my shoulder. Through the dark tinted windows I could see crowds beginning to form around the car. Some were shouting, some were crying; some angry, others in disbelief.
"Don't be scared little one", cooed the man who had his hand lain on me.
Scared of what? I was nothing more than a ten year old boy. A ten year old boy who had experienced a more tragic scene then any one person in the crowd had seen. I had seen my parents brutally murdered before my eyes.
The car door opened to my right, a rush of noise filled the air around me.
It had been a late summer evening. We were supposed to be going to the beach for the sunset. It was supposed to be happy trip, though nothing ever was in my family. My parents fought constantly; every argument ended with one of them bleeding. They claim that they stuck together for me, that I'm some kind of super glue that was going to make them a better person.
We had just passed a sign. My dad didn't see it, he was too busy arguing with my mom.
"Sharp turn ahead", I read quietly to myself. This is it, hopefully he'd keep his word.
The road took a sudden veer to the left; my father jerked the wheel to the side in an effort to save his precious vehicle from its demise.
We hit the guard rail with a deafening sound of metal ripping against metal. The bolts groaned and the screws we jostled, but they weren't built to hold a car barreling down on them at thirty over of the speed limit. With a sharp crack, the guardrail broke loose, letting the car bounce and skip down the side of the mountain like a tumbling rock.
We hit the bottom, sliding for almost a hundred yards before the car came to a stop on its hood.
I slid out of my car window unscathed, just like he promised. Looking down at the wreck, I could see the blood of my parents flowing from the car and filling the parched ground. I didn't crack a smile, nor did I cry. What was done was done.
Lights were flashing now as I stepped out of the car. Reporters were shoving their microphones in my face; shouting asking one question of another. I was the miracle child; the child who had been saved from the jaws of hell.
Nobody could explain why I was still alive. Top experts from around the world had examined my case. How could a boy escape a quarter of a mile drop unscathed while his parents remains lay scattered, thrown from the car during the fall, and be almost impossible to identify. A miracle they proclaim; nothing short of a miracle. God has plans for you they said, you're alive for a reason. You have a guardian angel. Someone must have been looking down on you that day.
I'm the only one who knows the truth.
All of the sudden the flashing stopped; people froze in their place. It was if all time had stopped. A cool breeze rustled across the back of my neck sending shivers up my spine. A man in a hooded black robe stood in front of me. Shadows flowed from around him, nothing but empty filled my soul as I looked at him. He had come to talk again.
"I can make them all go away", he whispered gently, his words bringing comfort to me comforting my aching body.
"I wish they would. I wish everybody would leave me alone", I said softly as I clenched my fist.
"As you wish", he spoke softly, a small grin moving from underneath his cloaked face. With a wave of his hand, the reporters vanished, the crowd was dispersed, and my reassuring friend from the car was gone.
I gazed around at the emptiness. I had no happiness, no excitement. I was saddened, I was not angered. I was just alone. Alone with myself and the man I had sworn myself to in blood.
"Anything else that you wish", he whispered softly, though his words echoed deeply into my body.
I gazed into the darkness beside him. Had I really wanted this loneliness?
Three months ago he came to me in the night. He eased my nightmares, he eased my worries. My parents had been fighting worse than usual that night. My dad had cut my mother's arm open with one of his hunting knifes. Fearing for the worse, he took her to the hospital and try to cover up the best he could.
They left me alone, in a dark house. I wasn't a brave kid, the slightest creak in the house would send me reeling.
I was scared. I sat in the corner of my bedroom holding the hunting knife, my mother's blood still glistened on the blade. A harsh wind blew through my room, though my window was closed. I closed my eyes wishing it would go away, wishing my problems would go away, wishing that my parents… my parents were gone. When I opened my eyes he was standing there in his black robe. He spoke softly and gently, like a siren's song. He told me that he could fix things; that I didn't have to suffer. That all I had to do was to take the knife I was holding with my mother's blood, and slide it across my arm and make a blood sacrificing; to swear fealty to him. With no other option, I did. And like a man to his word, he got rid of them. He killed them. He brutally murdered them in front of me.
The days following I was overcame with regret. But he silenced the emotions inside of me, I felt nothing. No happiness, no sorrow, no anger filled my veins. He had what he wanted, a defeated ten year old that now had nowhere else to go, he had me.
"Anything else demigod", he laughed menacingly as he ran through my thoughts with evil laughter.
"I want you to leave me alone. I want to start over. I want my life back."
He smiled, giving me a cold chill down my back.
"Of course, of course", he laughed, "If that is what you wish."
"It is", I said with more confidence then I had in me.
"Very well. But I will return one day. I will return to collect. Remember you gave me your blood as an oath. I will collect the debt."
With a snap of his fingers everything went black.
I woke up drenched with sweat. Light flickered across the dark cabin, as thunder rumbled overhead.
"Another nightmare", I whispered to myself as I tried to shake the dream from my head.
The dreams had been getting worse in the past weeks. Night after night, I was waking up sweating, cold, and feeling alone. Chiron diagnosed the problem as just being a son of Hades. He said it was if the spirits around me were trying to talk to me; that a child of the dead should expect these kinds of things.
I know spirits. I talk with such often, and none compare to such dreams.
I know the dreams aren't real. Dreams are just fabrications of the imagination. My parents, that is mother and step father, were killed in a freak car accident when I was ten. That year of my life is a blur. I was moved from foster home to foster home. Each family claiming I was different, that something wasn't right with me. It wasn't until I was attacked by a Cyclops and saved by a satyr that I ever believed I was different.
Since I was twelve, I have lived at Half-Blood Hill. Claimed by Hades, I was a natural outcast at first. But with experiences I've had in my life, I didn't hold grudges. Gradually people have warmed up to me and now I tend to be one of the more popular kids around.
At fifteen, I'm a teenager at heart. But there's been rumors flying, myths, legends, prophecies that when I hit sixteen I have to power to destroy the Gods. See prophecy says that the next child of the Big Three will have the power to save or destroy Olympus. Prophecies aren't for me though; I'll take whatever life throws at me.
Lighting flashed outside. Rain slammed itself against the windows. I haven't seen storms this bad in a while.
The lights flickered.
"That's weird", I muttered out loud to myself as the lights flickered again and thunder boomed overhead.
The lights flickered for a final time before it went dark inside the cabin. I grabbed my celestial bronze sword I kept next to my bed, something wasn't right.
As I sat huddled in the corner of my bed, sword at the ready, a cool breeze flowed through the cabin. Shivers running down my spine, the situation seemed all too familiar.
Lightning flashed across the dark room. Through the brief flash of light, I saw a figure standing ten feet away from me. The figure was in a hooded black robe, his face cloaked from view. A deep rumbling laugh filled the room as I trembled with fear, dropping my celestial bronze sword.
"I've come to collect", he cooed softly as he reached for the sword which had clattered to the ground.
"I owe you nothing", I spat at his feet, "Be gone spirit. Haunt me no longer."
"Spirit!", the voice shouted outraged as the entire cabin shook.
"No, no, no. You should remember me well", he laughed as he touched my leg with his cold, harsh hands.
Images flooded back. My parents. The car wreck. The crowd. The hooded figure. The knife. The deal.
"I won't pay", I groaned weakly as the memories repeatedly attacked my brain.
"You gave me a blood oath, Son of Hades. Now fulfill your debt", he spoke harshly as he removed a vial from underneath his robe.
Uncapping it, the smell of blood filled the air.
"Behold your blood. A binding oath you took, you have refused to willingly serve. For that, I will now call upon my body, my flesh to become one with you. From this moment you are a part of me, a part of Kronos!", he yelled as the blood touched his lips, a shockwave of pain ripped through my body like a wild animal.
He was still across the room, but I could feel him inside of me. I could feel the Titan running up and down every vein in my body. Looking at the window, I could see my reflection. My skin was going wild, almost a bubbling sensation. My heart was beating faster, faster, faster. My teeth became sharper, wilder like and animal. My eyes sunk into my head and glistened with a yellowish tint. My fingers bent and flexed as my hand snapped back to touch my wrist. When they snapped down again, my finger were made of steel. My arms became ripped, my chest immense, and abs that put bodybuilders to shame. My feet ripped into claws, sharp and deadly. The final change was my back. Burning and ripping, my skin gave way to leathery wings.
"What am I!", I hissed.
"You are now a warrior of Kronos", he cackled, "Strength of ten men, agility as fast as the Gods, and a natural borne killer. There's just one thing left."
"And what's that", I hissed through my razor sharp teeth.
"Me", he cackled as he slammed his entire strength through my conscious, through my mind.
I could feel myself slipping. It was like holding on to an edge of a cliff with someone pulling at your ankles. One finger went, then the next.
Screaming in pain, I fought back. I rip at him with my thoughts, my hopes, my dreams. Anything that would keep me sane, keep me …well myself.
Kronos teetered back, not ready for the sudden blow that escaped his victim. With an evil glint in his eye, he attacked again doubling the force in his strike.
The hands that were holding on to the cliff was now nothing more than a finger. With a smile and a quick laugh he stopped on the remaining finger, leaving me to tumble down into a dark chasm of emptiness.
I could feel his presence surrounding me everywhere; he had taken control of my body.
Reaching down, he picked me up and placed me in a cage, a sort of a mental cage that I could not escape. There he trapped my being. I could no longer control my own body; I had to sit and watch from the sideline.
"Don't worry young one", he whispered, "I've still left part of you intact. But let's just say I added something."
Anger welled up inside of me, I wanted to lash out. I wanted to kill. I had to get rid of him, but he had locked that part of my conscious tight, and the leash wasn't going to budge.
"Thank you demigod", he cackled, "I now have a way into camp, and I have away to end everyone there."
"I'll never do it", I grunted. Struggling with the conscious he left me to fight back.
"You will", he smiled.
"You doubt me", I laughed, "I know what you did to me. I won't let anyone near."
"I'm sure you won't", he cackled, "That is, if you can remember what I did."
With a wave of his hand, my body healed its wounds. My wings folded into my back; my eyes resurfaced from their shrunken in state. Skin crawled back across my steel laced fingers and knotted itself back together as if it was always whole.
My mind started to blur. Kronos ravaged through my thoughts, destroying any memory, any evidence that this had occurred.
"You are whole again, Zach", he whispered through my thoughts.
"Who's there?", I questioned as I felt an unfamiliar presence in my thoughts.
With one final laugh, he fled into the night. Leaving me with nothing more than an extreme headache, and leaving me to puzzle my continuing nightmares.
"You're late", she said disapprovingly and I strolled across the beach, "I thought you had forgotten."
"Forgot?", I laughed, "How could I possibly forget our date?"
"It's not just a date dork", she said sticking her tongue out at me.
"I remember. It's our three months", I smiled as I sat down next to her and gave her a kiss.
"You bet it is", she smiled back as she rested her head against my shoulder.
Her golden, blonde hair blew ever so softly through the wind. She, Ashley Peglato, was from the Aphrodite cabin. And boy did she show it. She looked as if Aphrodite herself had picked the best qualities a woman could have and gently laced them across Ashley. I was lucky to have this girl.
"I love you", she whispered as she pushed my back down onto the sandy beach.
"I love you too", I smiled back.
She lowered herself inches from my face, smiling; her eyes sparkling in the sun. Geez, she was beautiful. How did I ever get so lucky? How did I ever deserve her?
As she went in to kiss me I noticed a black figure standing behind her. The figure seemed so familiar in his long black flowing robe. He smiled, one of those smiles that sends chills down your back. Then he gave a quick snap of his fingers, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Something inside of me snapped. It was like suddenly being jolted awake in a dream where it feels like your falling. I couldn't tell what was different inside of me. I just couldn't put a finger on it. But I felt so… alive.
Her lips brushed against mine ever so softly.
My senses flared and went wild inside of me. My eyes widened big and deep, my nostrils flared with delight, and hunger coursed through my veins with every pump of my speeding heart.
My mouth latched on to hers. To her, it may have felt like a deep passionate kiss. But something else inside of me was driving.
My hand slid up her back into her golden, blonde hair. And in an instant I wretched her head back, rolled over, and had her pinned to the ground underneath me.
Her eyes widened with fright as my other hand glided down the side of her face.
"You're going to rape me", she whimpered softly as tears came to her eyes.
"No, no darling", I hissed as the words seemed to flow out of my mouth without control.
"Please don't… please don't", she cried terrified as I raised my hand in the air.
"I'm going to do much worse", I laughed uncontrollably as the skin ripped away from my fingers revealing my steel clawed fingers.
With a rush of adrenaline, I thrust my clawed finger through her throat, ripping and tearing as I went.
Blood sprayed from her body, as my teeth went to work on her flesh.
Her blood filled my soul, it made me feel whole. Drinking, tearing, and eating I laid waste to her body.
Like a panicked animals she tried to break free of me. But in a quick flash, I had her by the head with my hands.
Looking into her pained eyes for the last time, I crushed her skull.
The sound of cracking bones filled the air, scattered birds and other wildlife. Slowly piece by piece I dismembered her body leaving them nothing more than a bloody mess.
As the last of her body was ripped apart, a sudden calmness flooded my soul.
Sitting back, I looked down at myself. My T-shirt was soaked with blood, my hair was caked back with fragments of bones stuck in it, my hands were stained with the blood of my kill and my teeth were slippery and sharp.
"What had happened here?", I whispered quietly to myself as I stood up and began to stagger back to camp.
There must be a beast in camp, there's danger. I must warn the other campers.
I had taken nearly five steps out of the tree line with the first camper saw me and shrieked. Within minutes I was on the backs of fellow campers, as I was carted toward the Big House.
"This is unreal", many muttered among themselves.
Many of them were frightened; others didn't know what to think.
"My word", Chiron stared in disbelief as he trotted over, "Quickly, some ambrosia and nectar!"
Within seconds a camper appeared with Chiron's request.
"You must tell us what happened. I fear we are in danger", he whispered as he prepared the ambrosia and nectar.
Slowly he lowered it down to my lips.
The energy was instant. I could feel everything inside my body realigning itself back up. Cuts were mended, bones strengthened, and my soul was very much alive. Very alive in fact. Alive enough for a kill.
"Chiron come closer", I spoke weakly, faking my sudden burst of energy.
"Yes my child what do you need", he said as he bent over.
In a fury, my hand ripped through the bottom of his jaw, my fingers wriggling around in the cavity of his mouth.
Chaos ensued as campers ran for their weapons.
Straightening myself I opened my powerful jaws and ripped through Chiron's forelegs with blinding speed. Choking down his bones, muscles, and other appendages the first of the campers began to return.
The first returned with his celestial bronze sword gleaming in the sunlight.
Swinging, he nearly caught my side with the sword. But with my speed and cunning, I quickly was able to rip the sword from his hands and skewer him through his stomach.
His intestines hung from his body, like garland from a Christmas tree. With one hand I latched on to it, and ripped it from his body.
The next two campers who approached were quicker than the first, but as easily defeated. With a quick dodge of both blades, I wrapped the intestines from the first camper around their necks and strangled them.
A fourth camper approached with a bow.
With a great ripping noise, I unfurled my hidden wings from under my skin. My eyes sunk into my head; my teeth grew twice their normal size. As I flapped my massive wings, I picked up the two dead campers who were still attached at the neck with the intestine.
Flying high over the camp, I landed on the Aphrodite cabin room.
Shrieked filled the air, as the girls nearly peed themselves when I threw the two lifeless bodies through the front window.
All of them were unarmed, all of them needed to be slaughtered.
With a quick hiss I flew across the room, ripping the ribs out of the first girl. From there I feel to three more girls were I cracked their faces together, and used the ribs as knifes to rip through their delicate little necks.
One girl tried to run. With a quick beat of my wings, I created a sudden gush of wind that sent her flying into a beam, breaking her spine.
Cackling as I flew, I landed next to the beam and broke it with one kick. The cabin creaked and groaned as the building could no longer bear the weight of the roof. A quick flap of my wings and I was out, leaving the building to crumble and crush the remaining girls with a satisfied crunch.
I was not to be stopped. I laid waste to three more cabins; ripping off limbs, leaving people half eaten, and letting blood soak the ground of Half-Blood Hill.
When I was about to gorge out the eyes of my next victims, I suddenly felt a clawed foot pass cleanly through my back.
Blood poured through my wound as I reeled around to see my attacker.
Circling around me was the dragon who guarded the Golden Fleece. Through all the chaos, a camper had managed to cut his chains, allowing the beast to attack the intruder.
I was built to kill humans, not built to fight a dragon.
With a quick roll to his left the dragon avoided my clawed hand and let loose a blaze of fire that scorched my right wing.
Campers cheered from the ground, as anger built up inside of me.
The dragon dove out of the air at me, as I tucked my wings and went into free fall. The second before I hit the ground, I stretched out my wings and glided in front of a camper, picking them up into the air.
With a quick aerial flip, I found the dragons jaws wide and outstretched ready to consume me. In a moment, I broke the campers back and shoved it deep into the dragon's throat choking it.
The dragon crashed to ground, gasping for air but to no avail. With a satisfied smile, I casually flew down and clawed out its eyes and gorging open its stomach to let it bleed and suffer for the final moments in its life.
Victory was mine.
I was about to take flight, when an arrow ripped through my back. Pained, I turned to find another arrow hurtling toward me, puncturing my right lung.
Gasping for air, I fell to one knee. A camper approached me and placed a blade on my throat.
The cold iron clung to my skin, time seemed to slow. No, time did stop. Nobody was moving, the camper behind me was frozen. I couldn't move myself. The only thing moving was the black figure strolling toward me.
"I believe our debt is paid", he cackled as he kicked the arrow deeper into my chest causing me to cough up blood.
With a wave of his hand, memories flooded back into me. The wreck. The knife. The deal.
"Kronos", I struggled as I coughed up more blood.
"Such a good deal don't you think?", he smiled as he circled around me, "I take care of your parents, take them off your hands. I you give me your life and the destruction of Half-Blood Hill."
"It was never our deal for this to happen", I shouted as I look around at all my dead friends, "All I wanted was to be accepted. No more fighting, no more violence, just peace. That's all I ever wanted."
"And you got that with a price", he smiled, "Now your time is up."
Placing a cold hand on my body, he ripped through my conscious again. Going deep to my mental cage, he released me. He removed any trace of the monster I had been. He left me… me.
"That's it?", I exclaimed, "I'm not sealed with evil. No killer plans. Our deal is up?"
"No, your soul is still mine", he cackled, "You will help me rise once more. You're earthly days are up, but you will wander Tartarus with me for the rest of your days!"
He raised his own blade to strike me down, when a blinding flash of light occurred.
With my vision came to, Kronos was laying on the ground and a tall man was standing over him.
"Back to Tartarus", the man barked as he struck down Kronos with another blow.
"The boy is my property", Kronos hissed, "You will not deny me his blood!"
"The boy's debt is paid with the blood of his friends who you have killed", he yelled as he struck Kronos again.
"You will pay", Kronos hissed, "You and your brothers will pay."
"Such you have threatened us with before, and such we will deal with", the man spoke sternly, "And as the power us Gods hold we will shackle you again, fore you belong in Tartarus."
With a final blow, Kronos vanished leaving the man and Zach.
"Come my son", the man whispered, "You have spent your time in hell."
"Who are you?", I whispered quietly.
"Who am I?", he laughed with enjoyment, "I am your father. I am Hades."
A sense of calmness flowed through my body. Wounds deep within my heart were mending. Standing before me was my father for the first time. And for the first time, no hatred filled my heart.
"But I'm as good as dead", I said softly with a tear coming to my eye, "You've seen what I have done. I do not deserve any remorse."
"Yes my son", Hades answered, "The Gods and I have seen your struggles. We have felt your pain. We too know the sorrows that had filled your heart."
"Then you should also know you should strike me down right here", I spoke softly.
"No", Hades said sternly, "We would like to give a chance at a better life."
"You mean, I can start over", I spoke as happiness filled my voice.
"Yes. Start over with no memories of this. No pains of your formal life. You can be a kid with a normal family. You won't have to be a demigod. You won't have to worry about a Titan hunting you down and using you. You can be a mortal. You can have the life you've always wanted."
"And what if I decline the offer?"
The question caught Hades by surprise.
Looking around he spoke, "You will die no matter what today. That is certain. Blood has stained Half-Blood Hill; blood of my family. Zeus has been kind in his offering despite these events. But if you choose to forego the offer, then you will come to live with me in my kingdom. In the Underworld you will be safe with me. However, it is a lonely journey. Solemn does anyone join us for company. You could be a king, you could rule the dead. But you must choose what you want to do for yourself."
Looking around at all my dead friends, I sighed.
"I accept the offer."
With a smile on his face, Hades began to slowly fade from view.
"Remember", he spoke softly, "Mortal or not, you were always once my son. And I will always watch over you."
And just as quickly as he came, he was gone.
"Zach, how? Why?"
It was my best friend, Lance. Somehow through all the chaos, all the carnage he had managed to survive. Now as I lay here with an arrow through my lung, he held a knife for my throat with tears flowing from his eyes.
"I… made some… some bad choices", I struggled as each breath became harder and harder.
"Everyone's dead, dude", he said as he choked back tears.
"I know", I whispered back, "I know it… I know it doesn't… mean much now….."
"Take it easy. One breath at a time", he whispered.
"I know it doesn't mean much… but I'm… I'm sorry", he smiled back, "I'm sorry for all this."
"I know man, I know", he said with a reassuring pat on the back.
"Thanks", I sighed with the biggest breath I could manage.
"You going to kill that thing yet!", a camper yelled from across the way, "Or you going to let him work some kind of magic and let him kill the rest of us."
He shot the camper at disgusted look before he looked back down at me. I shrugged.
"You better watch out", I laughed as I choked up blood.
"Yeah, I will", he smiled with tears forming in his eyes.
"I mean bro", I said giving him a fist pump, "Take care of yourself."
"You too", he smiled as tears flowed down his face.
Standing up, he raised his blade high over his head.
With a final smile, I gave him a thumbs up and he plunged his blade cleanly through my heart. Then everything went black.
There were bright lights shining down on me as I struggled to open my eyes. With a big yawn, I began to cry.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Peglato", someone said as they picked me up, "It's a beautiful baby boy."
As my eyes finally came into focus for the first time, I saw my mother. Her beautiful blue eyes shining and her beautiful golden, blonde hair was softly blowing from small fan in the corner of the room.
This is home.
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Author's Note:
Well it's been a very long hiatus in my writing. It's been close to a year since I've written anything. However, I am back in full force as I have ideas oozing out my ears and boiling out of my eyes. Stay tuned for a lot more new stuff. Some will be one-shots like this one, and other may be updates on the stories I started. There is also rumor of a brand new story coming into view (you didn't hear that from me). Anyways, hope all of you readers enjoyed this. Thanks so much! And don't forget to… REVIEW!