Ab Aeterno
Copyright 2016, LilacLilyFlower
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own ideas and characters.
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Chapter 1
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"Happy seventh birthday!"
It was January 17, 2001. Chae-Seon Lee opened her eyes to her mother's grinning face.
"Wake up, honey!" her mother, Mina Lee, cheered. "Take a look at your presents! Come on! Get out of bed!"
Chae-Seon pulled the covers back over her head.
Mina yanked the covers down. "Chae-Seon," she said sweetly, "I mean it. It's time for breakfast and presents."
Chae-Seon oozed out of bed to the floor, mumbling. "Sleepy," she muttered. But she got up and made her way to the kitchen, sitting down at the table and blinking blearily at the wrapped present in front of her.
Her mother slid a bowl of rice over to her. "Eat, and make sure you finish your soup."
She ate mechanically, mind numb to the world. But slowly, she woke up. Chae-Seon finished her food and reached for the present.
It was a small package, about the size of a pencil case. She carefully unwrapped it, folding the wrapping paper to reuse. Then, she opened the box, and blinked at the item inside.
It was a watch. The face was copper-colored, the numbers Roman numerals, and the straps were of interwoven brown leather, allowing for easy size adjustment. It was simple, sleek, and minimalistic.
Mina smiled tentatively. "Do you like it? Your father told me to give it to you when the time was right. Before he…left."
That jolted her to attention. "Dad?" she asked, the word foreign in her mouth. "He did? How do you know now is the right time?"
"Things are becoming stranger out there," her mother mused, eyes flicking to the kitchen's single window.
Chae-Seon frowned. "Mommy? What?"
Mina seemed to snap out of her ponderings, shaking her head and looking back at her daughter. "It's about time you got it," she said, smiling again. She reached out and plucked the watch out of the box. "Here, I'll put it on for you."
Chae-Seon stretched out her arm, and her mother fastened the watch on her wrist. She must have imagined it, but for a moment, it felt as if there had been another pair of hands over her mother's. The watch seemed to warm, and she examined how it looked on her wrist. "I like it," she announced.
Some of the tension around her mother's eyes disappeared. "I'm glad. Your father would be happy to hear that."
She frowned again as she heard that. "Mommy," she ventured. "Is Dad…dead?"
Mina laughed. "No, that's impossible. It's not possible for someone like him to be dead."
"Who is he?"
The question sobered Mina up. She glanced out the window again, sighing. "I'll tell you when the time is right."
"I thought now was the right time."
Mina reached out and tucked Chae-Seon's shoulder-length hair behind her ear. "My bright, bright Chae-Seon. Not for this, sweetie. It's not the right time." She brought her hand back and rested her chin on it.
"Not for this."
-O-O-O-O-
After school, Chae-Seon got in her mother's car. She tilted her head to the side when she saw the bags in the backseat of the car. "Are we going somewhere?"
"You're going to a summer camp that your father wanted to send you to," Mina replied, buckling her in and getting into the driver's seat. She started the engine and began to drive.
"But it's winter." Chae-Seon furrowed her brows, irritated at the sudden mentions of her father that seemed to crop up for the entire day. "Besides, he's not here. He can't tell me what to do!"
"You'll go," Mina said sharply, so different from her usual tone that Chae-Seon fell silent. After a silence, she added more softly, "It's important. You'll realize later. Please understand, baby."
Chae-Seon petulantly looked out the window. But soon, the pout left her lips, and she dozed off, dreaming of fields of clover and sunsets.
She came to when the car stopped moving and the engine ceased its rumble. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked out the window.
And her jaw dropped.
Stretching out in front of her, below the hill that the car was on, were fields and fields of undisturbed, pristine snow. There was a large cabin with smoke rising from the chimney, a lake that had frozen over, and if she squinted, a cluster of more cabins.
She unbuckled herself and opened the car door, shivering as the winter air swept into the car. She followed the sound of her mother's voice, and found her standing in front of a pair of pillars, talking with a man in a wheelchair. They stopped talking when they saw her, Mina smiling sadly.
"You must be Chae-Seon," the man said. He presented her with his hand. She shook it. "My name is Chiron. I'm the activities director of Camp Half-Blood."
"Chiren?" she said, stumbling over his name.
"Chiron," he gently corrected. He looked at her mother. "You didn't tell her anything? Not even any of the old stories?"
"I didn't want to risk it," Mina replied. "You know how it is. Once they know, their scent gets stronger, and with the prophecy…"
Chae-Seon looked back and forth between Chiron and Mina, unable to follow the conversation. She smelled? She sniffed her sleeve, but all she smelled was fresh detergent.
Mina crouched down before her. "Sweetie, I'm going to have to leave you here. Chiron will explain everything. I," her voice wavered, and Chae-Seon finally noticed the unshed tears in her eyes. "I don't know how much I'll be able to see you."
Her heart plummeted.
"But," she began to protest. "Mommy—"
"Listen to Chiron," Mina interrupted. "I'll write you letters. And no matter what anyone says, your father is important. Believe in that. I love you." She drew her into a hug, but Chae-Seon's mind was whirring.
People here knew about her father, but she didn't? Her mother was leaving her? Tears began to well up in her eyes. "But," she blubbered, clutching her mother's jacket. "I can't read," she wailed, unable to focus on anything else. "I have dys-dis—"
"Dyslexia," her mother said. Mina detached her hands from her jacket. "I love you so much, honey. But I have to leave you here. For your own good. For your safety."
"I'm safe with you!" Chae-Seon sobbed, reaching out for her mother again.
Mina stepped back, face breaking. "You're not," she whispered. "I can't protect you anymore." She backed away, silently shedding tears. "I'm sorry," she cried out. "I love you!" She turned around and got into her car.
Chae-Seon screamed, running forwards as the car started, but a firm hand clasped her shoulder. She fell to her knees as the car drove away, and for several moments, sat in the snow, unmoving.
"Come along," Chiron said.
She raised her head and gazed at him mournfully, sniffing. "She took my stuff."
"It's been taken care of. It's cold, so let us go to where there is a fire," he suggested. She got up and sniffed again, brushing off the snow.
As they walked down the other side of the hill, Chiron asked her a question that changed her world.
"What do you know of the Greek gods?"
-O-O-O-O-
An hour later, head reeling, Chae-Seon stumbled after Chiron, who was in centaur form, to Cabin Eleven, Hermes' cabin. She had gaped when he had risen up, up, and up out of his wheelchair.
Centaurs were huge.
Chiron knocked on the door of the cabin. A few moments later, it was opened by a girl who seemed to be in middle school. She took one look at Chiron and called over her shoulder, "David!"
An older boy appeared in the doorway, looking to be about fifteen or sixteen. He bowed slightly to Chiron, then saw Chae-Seon peeking around him and raised his eyebrows.
"Well," he said. "You're a small one. Possibly the youngest camper we've ever gotten."
He got down on a knee and held his hand out. "I'm David Mercantin, Head Counselor of Cabin Eleven."
She shook his hand, ducking her head shyly. "I'm Chae-Seon Lee," she piped, voice trembling.
"Chey-Sun?" he repeated slowly. He thought for a moment. "Let's call you Chai. Like the tea. It'll be a nickname."
She thought about it. A new life, a new name. The pronunciation was different, but she nodded.
David looked up at Chiron. "Regular or undetermined?"
Chiron smiled sadly. "Undetermined." David's face fell, but he fixed another smile on his face when he looked down at her.
"Alright, well, let's get you settled," he said, standing up. "I'll take care of her," he told Chiron, who nodded and trotted off.
Chae-Seon—Chai—stood frozen in the doorway. David jerked his head, motioning for her to enter, so she did, carefully stepping over the doorframe and into her new cabin.
"Hermes is the god of messengers, thieves, merchants, the like," he explained. She nodded, remembering the brief rundown that Chiron had given her. "So we accept everyone, including the undetermined campers."
They stopped at the first bunk in a line of many. "Usually, undetermined kids go on the floor with sleeping bags, and regulars get beds. But you're so young, so I'd feel kinda bad making you sleep on the floor."
"But," she protested quietly, "whose bed is this?"
He shrugged. "It's mine, but don't worry about it. You can do my share of the chores. Did you bring any stuff?"
She wove her fingers together. "Thanks. Um, Chiron said it was in a locker in the camp store. He said I could keep it there as long as I needed…" She trailed off, wondering just how long she'd be at this camp.
David nodded. "Probably smart. My siblings tend to steal things." He grinned, quick and impish. "It runs in the family."
She didn't know how to respond, so she just nodded and looked down.
He observed her, eyes drawn tight. "You'll adjust," he said. "The campers here are great. We're all family, right?"
"So was Mommy," she whispered. "But she left me."
"So you could learn to protect yourselves from the monsters," he said. "She's a smart woman, your mother."
"Really smart," Chai agreed. "The best." She smiled up at him.
David eyes crinkled as he smiled back. "There we go."
"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. By the way, did you always have one brown and one orange eye?"
-O-O-O-O-
She settled into an uneasy routine at camp.
She'd tag along with Hermes' cabin on most activities, learning the basics of demigod life. Chiron took charge of her Ancient Greek education, history and language. He also taught her regular mortal subjects. But even though she was told over and over that her brain was "hardwired for Ancient Greek", the letters made no instinctive sense to her like the other campers said they would.
Chai also met Mr. D. He'd taken one look at her, frowned, and told her, "What is someone like you doing here?"
She didn't like him very much.
Her favorite part of camp was the bonfire, when everyone would sing and she could stare into the fire and just think. But David had told her that there were more campers in the summer, so she wouldn't get to think then.
She loved camp. She really did. But somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice wondered why it seemed to simple. So relaxed. Because there was a world out there, of monsters and gods and murderous beings, so why weren't they doing anything about it? Why was the pace so slow?
And so time passed, winter melting into spring and bringing letters from her mother. She had several realizations then.
First: her watch wasn't copper, it was bronze. Celestial bronze. She accidentally pulled the adjusting knob too hard one day, and it came apart in her hands. But instead of a broken watch, she had two celestial bronze sabres sitting in her lap.
She didn't quite know what to do.
But eventually, she figured it out, and hit the pommels together, returning them to her watch.
Second: she was a demigod. She'd already known this, but she finally realized what this meant when she witnessed the Demeter kids sing plants to life. It meant that she had powers too. Powers that she didn't know about yet, but she had them. She just had to figure out what they were, and hopefully figure out who her father was too.
Third: she was absolutely terrible at keeping the little "Y" shaped mark on the back of her neck a secret.
Within the first week of camp, everyone had heard about the little undetermined seven-year old with a tattoo on her neck. Random campers snuck up behind her to brush her hair to the side, and this unnerved her so much that when it happened again, she lashed out at the Apollo kid who had tried, twin sabres twirled and pressed against his neck.
Everyone left it alone after that.
"It's just a birthmark," she grumbled to David, who had adopted her as a sort of little sister. "I don't know what the big deal is."
"Don't you mean," David began, "why the big deal is?"
He dodged her swipe and ran out of the cabin laughing.
But time passed relatively peacefully, with the usual bouts of boisterousness. Then, summer came, and with it, her first demigod dream.
She opened her eyes to a large, open, circular room. It was white, majestic, with huge thrones and a fountain in the center. Chai realized that she was on Mount Olympus, in the throne room.
She walked over to the fountain and looked into the water, staring at her reflection. She hadn't changed much since she'd arrived at camp. Same shoulder-length straight black hair. Same mismatched eyes. Maybe she was slightly leaner, a little more tan, but she was unchanged.
"Good, you're here," a voice grumbled.
She whipped around, surprised. No one had been in the room when she'd arrived. But now, there was a man in a pinstriped suit, standing in front of the biggest throne and surrounded by the thickest, jitteriest aura she'd ever felt.
"You're Zeus," she said. "Lord of the Sky."
"That's right." He eyed her, and she felt like curling in on herself. But somehow, she knew this was a test, so she squared her shoulders and looked him in the eyes, noting their electrifying blue.
"You're a pipsqueak," he decided, pacing towards her. She blinked, unsure of what to say, because yeah, of course she was small, she was seven.
"None of that backtalk," Zeus (the god, the actual god, her mind chanted) said. "I'd choose someone else, but it will have to be you, due to your heritage."
"You know my dad?" Chai interrupted, which was probably not a good idea. But he knew who her father was. He knew.
"I cannot tell you, if that is what you are asking," Zeus replied, seemingly irritated at her interruption. "He cannot tell you either for reasons beyond you. But I was not talking about solely your father. Your father's blood, in combination with your mother's, yielded results far greater than expected." He examined her again, and she bristled.
Results. He'd called her results.
But she held her tongue, remembering what Chiron had said about gods' tempers. She waited for him to elaborate, and he did.
"Your mother is a demigod as well. Daughter of the goddess of luck, Tyche," he explained, clasping his hands behind him and pacing yet again.
"But," she began again.
"She cannot enter camp boundaries for reasons that are, again, beyond you," Zeus cut her off. "There are many complications involving you, but you must return, so I will have you do what you are here for."
He strode to his throne, growing until he could reach for something on the arm of it. He picked it up, and as he returned to her, he shrank along with the object he'd picked up.
She looked at it. And her jaw dropped.
In front of her, the Master Bolt crackled and shimmered, encased in a coat of dancing spirals of electricity. As she watched, a varnish seemed to travel up and down the celestial bronze, gleaming with a divine shine that Hephaestus kids could only hope to achieve.
Zeus arched a brow. "Well?"
She stared at him.
He held it out to her. "Go on, take it."
Chai took a step back. "Wouldn't that…electrocute me?"
He looked at her as if she had a screw loose. "No, why would it?" And before she could protest, he placed it in her hands.
The first sensation she felt was, unexpectedly, a warmth that arched up her arm. It surged in an almost fluid wave, traveling throughout the rest of her body. Then, the hand holding onto the Master Bolt began to grow warmer. It tingled as she watched the electricity course around and through her hand.
Then, it began to burn.
Her hand flinched, but she tightened her grip, absolutely certain that if she let go now, something disastrous would occur.
The air filled with the noise of the crackling of the lightning, so rapid that it almost sounded like bird chirps. The Master Bolt glowed the same blue as Zeus' eyes, and the burning became almost unbearable. But still, she held on, flicking her eyes up and meeting Zeus'.
He scrutinized her, then snapped a finger. Immediately, the Master Bolt cooled, its shine disappearing, and it returned to its previous state of stasis.
Zeus reached out and took it back from her. "From henceforth, you shall be known throughout as Chai, champion of Zeus, the Lord of the Sky, King of Olympus, Master of Honor and Justice. Go forth in my name."
She woke up.
And when she raised her hand to her face, the hand that had held the Master Bolt, her heart fell. Because it was marked, clearly branding her as a tool of Zeus.
A jagged lightning bolt, brown like a henna tattoo, snaked its way across her palm.
She ran for Chiron.
-O-O-O-O-
An emergency meeting was called, with Chiron, Mr. D., and David, in the middle of the night.
"This is disconcerting," Chiron said, frowning and stroking his beard.
"Father is acting on a whim once again," Mr. D. said, finishing off a can of diet coke. "It's not that big of a deal."
"Chai is seven," David shot back. He placed a hand on her head, which would normally annoy her, but she just clutched at the hem of her shirt, enclosing the mark in her fist. "It is a big deal."
"She's just another demigod," Mr. D. replied, waving a hand. "She'll train hard then die early. It's what always happens."
"Your sons are also just demigods," David retorted. Then, he seemed to realize his mistake and took a step back.
Mr. D. stilled. "My sons," he said quietly, "are not reckless, idiotic, instinct-driven insects like the rest of you. Do not ever imply again that they are." He got up and crushed the diet coke can in one hand. "Do whatever you like with Claire," he said. "I could care less." And he left.
In the ensuing silence, Chiron sighed. "David, must you always anger him?"
"He always talks about us like we're disposable! Like we're some, some kind of weapon to throw out and abandon. Like we're consequences that they don't want to take responsibility for."
"They are your parents and family," Chiron chided. "The gods are bound by ancient laws and work in mysterious ways."
"I get that," David frowned. "Still, it's easy to resent them. But I do understand why."
They both looked at Chai, and she shrunk from their gazes. "Let me see the mark," Chiron requested. She gave him her hand, and he peered at the bolt. After a long silence, he released her hand.
"There's no avoiding it. You are an official champion, and the god of the skies is your patron. We'll have to accelerate your training," he said.
"So I'm just…an agent?" she asked, wanting to scratch the mark off of her hand. "I don't get anything out of it?"
"Champions get some kind of blessing from their patron, usually," David said. "You might have immunity to electricity, or have some level of flight, since your patron is Zeus."
"And you have a god's favor," Chiron added, staring at her intently. "But that is not always a good thing. Many heroes have been toyed with because a god favored them."
"Great," she said, staring at the ground. "Static shocks won't affect me and I have a chance of going insane."
"You were going to end up like that anyways," David said, cracking a smile, but she didn't miss the worried glance between him and Chiron.
"He knows who my dad is," she said. Chai looked up at Chiron. "You know who my dad is. You know my mom. She must've told you."
"I have my suspicions, yes, but I did not meet you mother until the day you arrived," he replied.
She frowned. "But she's a demigod. Daughter of Tyche."
For a brief moment, his eyes widened, but the moment passed quickly and the expression left his face. "Many children of the minor gods and the less…blatant Olympians can often go undetected in terms of their aura. It's why many of them only come to camp for the summer." He shook his head. "But enough of that. Your training will intensify tomorrow. Go rest in Cabin Eleven for now."
She froze. "For now?"
David placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled weakly. "You're a champion of Zeus now," he said. "And we don't know your godly parent. You'll have to move to Cabin One."
"Oh." She bit her lip and looked down again, tears finally coming to her eyes. "Okay."
"Do not despair," Chiron said. "We will do everything in our power to prepare you for the path ahead."
But, she thought to herself, will I survive?
-O-O-O-O-
Chai parried a sword thrust aside, swiping at David with her left sabre and blocking him with her right. He swept his leg at her feet while simultaneously throwing her right arm back and twisting his sword to meet her left sabre with the hilt of his sword.
She dropped her right sabre, knowing that it would reappear on her wrist as a leather cord, and grabbed his leg, pulling hard, but she only fell down on her butt, losing balance.
"Whoa, there," David laughed, offering her a hand up. "Wait until you're bigger for that one." He readied his sword at her. "Again." They began again.
She was eight now, with one bead on her camp necklace, and the mark on her hand had grown, wrapping just beyond the edge of her palm like ivy, like a vine. Every now and then, she could feel a faint humming from it, as if it were alive. It was slightly concerning, to say the least, to have a mark on her body that Zeus could send messages, and, as she found out through some research, pain through. Even death, if he wished for it.
The spar ended again, this time with her right sabre pointed at his throat and her left sabre pointed at his heart. She breathed heavily, glaring at him, and he raised his hands. "I give, I give."
She lowered the sabres, hitting the pommels together and returning them to their watch form. Then, she sprawled out on the ground, scowling at the sky.
David joined her, spreading his arms out. "I can't believe you're already at this point in your training," he said. "You really threw yourself into it, didn't you?"
"I have to," she said. "I don't want to die."
He eyed her. "You're a bit too young to be thinking like that. It's weird. You're almost, well, Spartan."
"I have to be," she said again, scowl growing deeper.
"But what do you want to be?" he asked. "Who do you want to be? It's important for demigods to figure that out, since we're usually defined by who our parents are."
"I don't even know who I am right now!" Chai cried out. She flopped over onto her stomach. "At least the ones who know their parents have some kind of identity."
"Then, who were you before you learned you were a demigod?"
She turned her head to the side, resting her cheek on the cool dirt. "I was Chae-Seon," she said. "But now I'm Chai."
David sat up, brushing the dirt from his shirt. "Can't you be both?"
"No," she stated. "Chae-Seon would die. I don't know if Chai will, but she has a better chance."
Separating herself into a "before" personality and "after" personality probably wasn't the smartest choice, but it was how she dealt with her new life. She crafted Chai as a very specific kind of person. Chae-Seon wouldn't be able to bear this life. Chai was able to.
It helped with the hurting.
"You remind me of someone I know," David said. "My younger half-sister. Same mom. She's completely mortal, though. And two years older than you. But you're both kind of…prickly."
Chai blinked. "You're a year-round camper. Don't you miss her?" She disregarded his prickly comment. Prickly was going to be what got her through her new life.
"Of course I do," he mused. "But I'm not strong enough to protect her yet. So I have to stay here."
He turned to her. "So that's what you have to do too. Protect yourself, and protect your mom. Grow strong enough."
"But I'm a champion now," she sighed. "I'll never be left alone."
"Maybe not," David agreed. "But it never hurts to try." He got up, picking up his sword and offering her a hand. She took it, and readied her sabres again.
And so her life as a half-blood began. Abandoned. Toughened.
Marked.
-O-O-O-O-
A/N: Hi, guys!
Here I am, starting another story. During the week before finals. University finals.
I never claimed I made good decisions though :') Don't be like me. You'll regret it later.
I'll post this up for now, but I'll probably update again after finals are over.
See you next time!