I'm sure Percy Jackson already explained this to you, but being a demigod isn't easy. Of course from my perspective, his troubles seem laughable. At least he's well liked by gods and mortals alike. I guess I should explain. For privacy reasons, I can't share my full name. My name is Eric, and I'm a son of Gaea. Don't ask me how a primordial goddess managed to have a demigod child, because I also have no idea. I never knew my father, assuming I had one. A couple consisting of a mortal woman and a son of Apollo raised me until I was 12. During that time, my father cheated on my mom with Aphrodite. After that, they became distant from each other, but eventually made up. My sister's name was Alexis, and she was born when I was four. My parents knew I was a son of Gaea, but they took pity on me. We lived in eastern Pennsylvania, which would mean that I would go to camp half-blood when I became of age. When I turned twelve, I took Alexis, who was eight then, to camp. My father took us there and told Chiron that I was a son of Hermes. He did this because he said that children of Hermes didn't have a distinct look or skill, which would help me blend in. My "half-siblings" were welcoming and accepted me. My sister also was widely accepted. Also, I should explain that I was born in 2005 and I came to camp in 2017, two years after the war with Gaea ended. I excelled in knife fighting, and for the most part melee fighting in general. Ares was really pushing for celestial bronze shooting firearms, which we created. I had better accuracy than most of the Apollo kids. I shot best with a standard M16 assault rifle, although I was good with most guns. Because of my godly parent, I had exceptional strength and speed while I was on the ground. On the summer of my second year in camp, the seven who traveled to Greece to fight Gaea came to camp for a reunion. Once I heard the stories, I immediately despised my mother, my real mother mind you, for the pain she had caused. My older cabin mates often compared me to Percy because of my personality and looks. I had a pretty good sense of humor, I fought extremely well, and I was loyal to my friends. My eyes also resembled his. Well, I should say eye, as in the singular sense. My right eye was a deep sea green, while my left eye was a light brown. The Aphrodite girls thought it was cute. My hair was a dark brown and I had some muscle from the time I had spent training. During his time there, Percy took a liking to me. He said that I reminded him of himself when he was younger. After he said that, I became extremely well liked around camp, not that I wasn't already. That was until my sixteenth birthday, which was July 2nd. A Demeter girl I had been dating for about a year asked me about my eyes. She had treated me well, and I decided to show my gratitude by telling the truth. She dumped me on the spot and ran back to her cabin to spread the news. I made the mistake that the campers would accept me regardless of my godly parent, like they had done with Chiron. During that time, I was attacked multiple times. A few scratches and bruises, nothing I couldn't handle. It was when they started harassing my sister that I lost any sense of peace. A group of Ares boys broke into the Aphrodite Cabin to hurt her during the night. When I heard the scream of one of her half-sisters, I immediately followed the sound, finding my sister in between two Ares boys, who were pushing her around and yelling at her, despite the protest of her sisters. I stood in the door way with my knife not equipped, not wanting to hurt anyone unless I had to.

"Let her go and get the hell out." I demanded in a calm, yet terrifying voice.

"Or what?" one of the boys said. "Are you going to throw dirt at us?"

"Take my offer or leave it," I replied, trying to resist myself from burying them alive.

I guess they decided to leave it when one of them pulled a sword and threatened Alexis with it. That was my breaking point. I willed the earth underneath the cabin to break through the floor and drag the armed camper beneath the surface. The other attacker charged at me with his sword drawn and I equipped my knife, preparing to fight back. He swiped at me, but due to my skill in combat, I easily dodged the sword and stabbed the attacker in the thigh with my knife. One problem with fighting a child of Ares is A.) They have heightened combat abilities and 2.) When fighting, minor injuries don't affect them. While I retrieved my knife from his leg, he put his sword into my shoulder. I fell back into a growing pool of my own blood. I was still alive, and that was enough. He turned away to confront the other campers when I threw my knife aimed at his back to try and divert his attention away from the other campers. I aimed too high and hit his jugular. He turned around to face me, his eyes wide in shock. He fell to the ground, holding his neck as he bled out. I hadn't actually killed the first attacker, just subdued him, so when I saw what I had done to one of my fellow campers, I felt incredible guilt. I was still seriously wounded, so along with the first attacker, I brought some dirt through the hole in the ground. I placed it on my wound an the bleeding stopped almost immediately. I ran over to the boy I had nearly killed and summoned dirt around the cut in his neck. The bleeding stopped, and I felt relieved until I flipped him over and saw his eyes. When I saw his face, I was sure that I'd killed him. Out of all the times Chiron could've appeared, now was one of the worst. His eyes were wide in shock. It was also just my luck that Percy Jackson, my idol, appeared behind him.

"Why did you do this?" Percy asked with concern.

"He-" was all I could muster before everything went black.