Hey guys CasualGryphon here saying thanks for taking the time to read this and hope you enjoy. I did write this Fic with this website in mind since you guys never fail to entertain me or make me cry or laugh. Mostly inspire which is why this is going up. Hope you like and without further ado I hope you enjoy my first fic! (No flames Please!)

Obviously I do not own PJAO or HOO cause I ain't Rick Riordan. I only own my OC's and plot.

Once Awake

Prologue:

Have you ever considered what makes something a being? Is it their intelligence? Their consciousness? The very fact that they are?

Truthfully the definition of a being has long since been debated but none know the answer. So be wary when you address something not of the same origin as yourself. That Being may very well be older than you; by seconds, by years, by millennia, or by Eternities on end. For some things are without ever having the intention of doing so. Without consent, without their own will being involved, some Beings Are. And They despise that to their very core; absolutely despise what they were born to, what they were born as.

For these beings there is no rest, no death or life for that matter, as they simply are. They are incontestably…Absolute.

Chapter 1: Liquid Platinum

Artemis POV

The woods were alive. Birds were singing, the trees were rustling as the wind whipped through them, and the air…It was crisp, cool, and serene.

She let loose a long sigh as she continued forward through the underbrush. Her brother was lazily making his way across the sky, the light straining through the trees only adding to the mellow atmosphere. Along with the mild temperature, it was perfect. A stark contrast to Artemis who was currently slightly numb to the great day around her.

Zoë's death was still fresh in her mind and she couldn't even find it in herself to blame that male as he had become her friend. If anything, she respected him. She could at least tolerate his presence, which is more than she could say for the rest of the male populace, and it was not only Zoë's acceptance of him, but the genuine heart break in his eyes as she died, that added to her view of him. Add him holding the sky and admitting he could never do this without her? The humility in him was something unique.

She sighed again as she continued looking for lunch for the remainder of the Hunt. She had seen deer tracks a ways back but in her thoughts she seemed to have lost them. She huffed, deflated at the loss of prey and hoped she would be able to scrounge at least a rabbit and possibly some grouse on the way back to the camp. She could, of course, just summon food but where is the fun in that? She still continued on hoping to stumble across something edible.

Then, she heard a rustle, barely audible to anyone without godly hearing but it was a rustle nonetheless. The sound reminded her of something brushing past a bush. She nocked an arrow and gently crept towards the area where she perceived the sound to have originated from and noticed that it seemed to come from a copse of wide trunked Pines. As she crept around the corner and drew her arrow, prepared to skewer whatever creature had been unfortunate to cross her path as either predator or prey. Instead she found herself frozen, unable to do anything except breathe.

Her eyes widened at the sight of a wolf. A pure black wolf, as if Erebus himself had come and torn the color from every strand of the creature's lush fur. That wasn't the issue however. The issue was the fact that the beast towered ten feet on all fours as it held its head regally upwards, eyes closed. The light of the falling sun caught the features of his muzzle and ears, revealing how absolutely pristine the appearance of the beast was. It was only made more unbelievable as she saw the mass of shadows that continued to writhe around behind the massive canine.

"1… 2… 3… 4…" she counted off. It was hard to place how many of the long tails the beast had as they continued to simply flow as if independently conscious.

And that was her mistake.

The beast turned and looked directly at her and she felt her jaw drop. How could it not? He, she presumed, had silver eyes. Not her slightly yellow, silver eyes, but radiant, liquid platinum eyes that screamed of regality, demanded it. Then she realized she had not yet lowered her bow as the wolf seemed to look on cautiously, unmoving as he fixed her with his brilliant eyes.

She carefully and slowly pulled the arrow away from the bow and slid it back into her quiver. The wolf raised its head and its ears perked up in curiosity, as if realizing there was no longer a threat in front of him. She slowly stood as she had no idea what the beast was capable of and was most definitely not a mortal wolf. The elegance and power it held itself with when it had seen her bow showed he was a veteran; a skilled one at that, she noted as she saw not so much as a scratch on the beast.

She had merely blinked when the beast appeared centimeters from her face, head lowered to meet her eyes as he towered over her meager 5'5" stature in her 12 year old form. All of her instincts screamed for her to pull her knives but the eyes of the beast quickly shot that thought down as she saw no ill will within them. Only… curiosity and slight amusement directed at the goddess. She heard Thalia calling out for her in the distance and turned her head to see if she was within view range. She turned back to the wolf who was looking off in Thalia's presumed direction. Without warning he neared her face again and quickly sniffed at her and around the frame of her face as if memorizing her scent. Then he met her eyes once more before letting show what she could only presume was a wolfish grin and licked her nose. Too shocked to move, much less splutter in outrage, she barely had time to register the wolf slipping past her and bounding away in the opposite direction of Thalia. By the time she turned to follow he was already a good forty feet away. How had he moved that fast? Rather than being able to race after the beast it simply inclined his head at her confused expression and then bowed; much to her surprise.

He lifted his head, turned, and vanished off into the fading afternoon.

Thalia arrived shortly after his departure, obviously not having seen the beast and came to stand next to her.

"I see you already caught dinner, not to mention this looks like a cozy place to regroup and reset camp in." She noted, gesturing to the copse she had found the beast in.

"Wait. What do you mean dinner?" Thalia chuckled at her mistress' antics as she turned and gestured to the very large, and very dead, bear that was lying at the far side of the copse.

"Brilliant shot by the way Lady Artemis." Thalia said as Artemis only then registered the silver arrow sprouting from the bears left eye. Quickly she sent Thalia to grab the rest of the hunters from their temporary camp of sorts and bring them over while she would take care of dinner. Thalia nodded and sprinted of in the direction of the Hunters while Artemis approached the bear. The kill was clean, indefinitely fresh, and that was most definitely her arrow.

There was only one thing was sure of; that was definitely not your average wolf.