"Ryan Wolfe," a voice called through the darkness.
"The hell do you want n—" Ryan began. He sat up in bed and looked over at something in the doorway. The figure before him wasn't exactly what he was expecting. "You're not… How did you…? Who the hell are you?"
A girl, about sixteen, was standing in the doorway to his bedroom. She had shoulder length spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. "My name is Thalia, I'm one of—"
"Artemis's Hunters?" he guessed. He got out of bed, grabbed his t-shirt in the floor, and put it on.
She studied him curiously as he got out of bed and put a shirt on. "What gave it away?" she asked.
He glanced over at her, and then walked to his closet. "Your eyes. You're the daughter of Zeus I've heard so much about."
Thalia gave him a death glare. "I am a Hunter of Artemis before I am a daughter of Zeus."
"Whatever…" he mumbled. He was digging around the back of his closet for something. When he remained silent, Thalia spoke up.
"What are you looking for?"
He continued to rummage through his closet, not paying her any attention. Finally, a smile crossed his face, telling Thalia he found what he was looking for. "This," was all he said. In his hand was, what appeared to be, a black ring box. A white crescent moon was on top, followed by words written in a strange language.
"What is that?" she asked.
He opened the ring box and, not to her surprise, there was a ring in it. He slipped it on, threw the box on his bed, and held out his hand. "A gift from the gods," he replied. Suddenly, a bright light filled the room. And not just any kind of light, either; moonlight. The light died down not a second later. Thalia's eyes widened.
"Impressive, huh?" he asked.
Thalia couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Why…? How…?" She couldn't figure out which questions to ask first. They made eye contact for a brief second and she knew what her first question should be. "Just who are you?"
In his right hand was a sword that Thalia had only heard of in legend. A black blade, so dark it almost blended in with the surrounding darkness. If it wasn't for the moonlight, she wouldn't have been able to see it. The blade itself was curved, resembling the crescent moon. There was something carved on both sides: on one side was the same writing as from the box, which was completely illegible to Thalia; the other side, however, had writing on it that Thalia could translate – Greek.
She read the words over and over in her mind, trying to convince herself that really was what it said it was. The more she thought about it, the more she realized it had never crossed her mind to ask her dad, nor her uncle, if the blade truly existed.
"Mind if I ask a question, Thalia?"
With that, her concentration broke. "You never answered mine," was her response. "And it is Lieutenant Thalia, to you."
Lowering his blade, he sighed. "Well, that answers that." He looked down at the blade, his eyes scanning it like he'd never seen it before. "Guess that's what she gets for acting so high, mighty, and bi—"
"Do NOT finish that sentence," Thalia warned, holding her spear less than a half inch from his throat. "Zoë was one of the best. I will not tolerate anyone who speaks ill of her."
He just stared at the weapon. "A spear, huh?" he mused. "Haven't fought a spear-user in quite some time." He continued to stare at it, as if a lost memory was slowly coming back to him. "Ah ha!"
He backed up, threw the blade on the bed, and began going through his closet again. It didn't take long, and this time he pulled out a necklace box. "I had almost forgotten about this thing," he said to himself.
Thalia cocked her head in amusement. "Now what in the gods name do you have now?"
He held it up and smiled. It looked just a simple dog-tag, but with a simple Greek symbol on it. Thalia pulled back her spear and watched in amusement. He put it on, moved back about a foot from Thalia, unclipped it from the chain, and held his hand out in the same manner as before. This time, he held a six foot spear in his hand.
Thalia's jaw dropped. Not one, but TWO legendary weapons that history had forgotten about. TWO! And he has them? Thalia said to herself. "Just who in Hades are you?"
He released the spear and it turned back into a dog-tag, and then clipped it to the chain on his neck. He glanced over at his bed—Thalia's gaze followed—and then looked back at Thalia. In that brief time, the crescent blade returned to his hands. Thalia was almost speechless. Almost.
"That's right, I never formally introduced myself." He cleared his throat. "The name's Ryan. I'm the guardian of Vana'diel."
A/N: So, whatcha think? I'm gonna be updating soon, hopefully. I'm almost done reading The Lost Hero, so as soon as i finish that, I'm gonna update! Hope everyone enjoyed!
