Daedalus here! Just to clear some things up, in case you hadn't noticed, I'M NOT RICK RIORDAN AND THEREFOR DO NOT OWN ANY PART OF PERCY JACKSON. Now, that's better! This is my first attempt at a fanfic, so judge lightly, at least for now. I'm pretty proud of it, and I'm kind of curious to see where it goes. Enjoy!
Alright. Here we go. Some of you may have read Riordan's Percy Jackson books. You may think they're great. You also may be under the impression that they're all fake, just a made up story for his kid that got published.
That's not quite true.
The entire Percy Jackson legend is true. All up till the Prophecy of Seven pops up. Then it does actually turn into Riordan's imagination— kind of a 'what if' thing. Percy kept going to camp. He trained, and eventually died of old age and was accepted into Poseidon's kingdom as an immortal god. Don't worry, Annabeth was too. She married him while they were alive, and he brought her with him to be immortal. I've heard that their wedding ceremony was very beautiful, with bouquets of flowers, satyrs serving refreshments, and a nymph choir.
This story takes place a LONG time after all that. We did actually find the Roman camp. They didn't care for us much, but they respected the gods' wishes to not kill us. Not directly at least. See, the Romans sometimes send little presents our way. Monsters have suddenly appeared inside Camp boundaries once or twice, they've disrupted quests, and they just generally cause problems for us; but there's nothing we can do about it. However, the constant threat did have some unintended consequences. We all became much better fighters and heroes and questers than the Romans. Although they fought as a single unit, the system was flawed. And that's not to say ours wasn't either, but because we usually worked in small groups, the effect of our flaws was significantly less.
Because of their misguided attempts to weaken us, the Romans could never attack us, even if the gods allowed them. They just wouldn't win.
Huh. You still don't know my name, do you? Sorry about that. I ramble sometimes. I'm Nick. Son of Athena. This is my story. My memoirs, if you will.
~The First Story~
Or,
A Stroll through the Woods and a Fight to the Death
Ok, so here I am, wandering around town. I lived in a tiny town in Missouri, out in the Ozarks. My parents had a large house, two stories tall, and ten acres. We weren't rich by any means; my dad owned a small business and my mom taught 1st graders. I had a brother and a sister, but they don't come into the story much. My older brother was off in the army and my sister was running around the middle school. I'm fairly short, only five foot four, but I'm still the tallest in my family. I have short brown hair, and grey eyes. I had no idea I was a half-blood.
I was sitting in my math class, not really understanding what was going on. But that wasn't the teacher's fault, I was just too busy building a catapult out of straws and a spoon.
"Nick, if you would, please explain to us why x is 78 rather than 5." I glanced up, looking at the board, not comprehending a single number up there, and proceeded to spout out random mathematical gibberish, such as the Pythagorean theorem, trying to stall for time while I worked my way through the board. I gave up halfway through and shrugged. I had no idea why x was even in the equation, much less why it was 78 and not 5. Mr. Henry was not amused.
"Nick, I'll need you to stay after class today to see if we can riddle this out." He said. "Now, when y is over here on this side…" I stopped listening to him and went back to my catapult, finally making it work. Jordan, the class douchebag, leaned over to one of his other douchebag buddies and loudly whispered "Nick's a joke. He never pays attention or does much of anything. He just sits there by himself hoping he doesn't have to answer anything, 'cause he's so stupid. Why is he even in this class?" I glared at him, and took aim with my catapult, ready to launch and eraser at him.
Unfortunately, Mr. Henry took that moment to turn around and catch me hitting Jordan in the eye with an eraser. "Nick, I've had enough. Office. Now." So keeping my head down, I slowly picked up all of my stuff and shuffled out the door.
I didn't tell my parents. They'd be furious, and I'd never see the light of day again from the grounding I'd get. Back at school, I decided to do my best. I paid attention all through first, second and third hour, but by the time fourth hour came, my concentration was slipping. Fifth hour I slept through, and sixth hour, math, I paid no attention whatsoever in. Mr. Henry, of course, was unhappy. Anyways, near the end of class, I managed to tie Jordan's shoes together, causing him to trip on his way out the door, making him understandably angry. Of course, this ended in a short chase down the hallway, and him tackling me.
I couldn't fight him. I may not be a tiny guy, weighing in at a hundred and sixty four pounds, but Jordan had about twenty pounds on me, and stood at least three inches taller. No catapult would help me now, unless I could load myself into it and be launched away.
But all he did was breathe in my face with his nasty dog breath, and tell me he'd kill me after school. Great, just what I needed — an execution.
The last hour went by fast, and soon I was cornered by Jordan. Probably the first time I've ever wanted school to keep going. He grabbed my collar, dragged me down the hallways, and shoved me into the locker rooms, which were empty. "Alright Jordan. Look man, just leave me alone. I'm not gonna mess with you anymore, ok? Just let me be." I mumbled to the floor, not daring to look up at my death.
"Oh no, Nicholas Helman. That's not going to happen. I've finally got you all to myself, and I am NOT letting this opportunity go by! I am hungry, Nicholas! Hungry for YOU!" And with that, he sprang at me.
It was weird. He kept coming closer, but his feet never moved. In fact, it looked like his feet had melted together! His face had begun looking snakelike, and suddenly a scimitar flashed in his hands.
Now, I'm not an idiot. I'm not about to fight a giant half snake thing in the boys' locker room. I turned and ran for it. But the snake-Jordan was faster. He seemed to know what I was doing before I did, and moved to block me at lightning speeds. He raised his scimitar high, and hissed at me, taunting me. I was done. No way could I get away, and no way could I kill this thing. That's defeatist thinking, Nick! I said to myself. Think, man! It's fast and has a really big sword. Yeah, that's helpful, I argued. Nick, come on! What kind of weapon do you have? Weapon? Did I have a weapon? No, not unless you count a catapult made out of straws…
Jordan's sword flashed down as I threw myself aside, landing on my back. It sank into to concrete like it was butter, and Jordan seemed to have a hard time pulling it out. He gave up, and turned to me, baring his snake fangs. As he struck down, I kicked up, knocking out a fang, causing him to hiss in pain and reel back. Alright Nick! Now go grab that tooth and you've got a knife! While Jordan was recovering from his kick to the face, I scrambled up and snatched up the tooth. He punched at me, but I managed to deflect his hand, accidentally stabbing through it with his own tooth.
He screamed, jerking his hand off and away, leaking green blood. He began striking left and right with his head. I blocked every strike, falling back each time. Alright Nick! Now attack! It was weird, the voice I was arguing with didn't sound like mine anymore. It was a woman's voice. Kind of an odd thing to be hearing in your head while fighting a half snake with its own tooth. But I took the advice, slamming the tooth into Jordan's eye. He screamed, and reeled back. I pressed the advantage, stabbing him in the chest, and then striking a final blow in his throat. Jordan dissolved into dust, leaving the tooth I was holding, which had now formed a handle and a sharp edge.
I sank to the ground, the tooth falling from my nerveless hand. I sat, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. My classmate had turned into a snake and tried to eat me, but instead, I killed him with his own tooth. Nick, you are not safe here. Go. I will lead you. So I stood, left my backpack, took my knife, and left the school, not really knowing where I was going, but kept walking in a general north eastern direction.
My strategy for overcoming weirdness and pain has always been to ignore it. See, when the class jerk turns into a snake, forcing you to kill him and then run away, you ignore it. As soon as you concentrate on the little things, like hearing ladies' voices in your head, you forget about the giant death bringing snake.
But I digress.
Several hours later, I began to get hungry. Just ask, and it will come the woman's voice said in my head. "Well, alright, can I have some food?" I felt pretty ridiculous asking myself if I could eat something that I didn't have. Of course, my answer to myself was "Absolutely! Chow down man!" Unfortunately, this tactic didn't work, and I remained hungry. But about ten minutes later, a huge silvery-grey owl swooped down and dropped a rabbit at my feet, then flew off. I stared after it. Then down at the rabbit. Then back after the owl. "Umm… thanks?" I started collecting firewood, and even though I had no idea what I was doing, I managed to get a fire going using the bow drill method. I used one of my shoelaces for the string. Trust me, I could never make that work if I had been thinking about it. My hands just seemed to know automatically what to do. Thirty minutes later, I was well rested with a full stomach. Only then did it sink in what had happened to me that day. I had picked a fight with a jerk, almost been killed by the jerk, who apparently was half snake, killed the jerk with his own tooth, and been brought dinner by an owl. Also, to top it all off, I was hearing voices in my head that weren't mine.
In other words, I was nutso, and oh-so-screwed.
Nick, do not fear. This is only the beginning. Follow your head, and you will find others like you. Oh, lovely, if I keep going the way I'm going I'll meet other screwed up crazies. Yeah, let's do that! I muttered to myself. To go back is death, Nick. The others you know would not understand. You would be put in an institution and eventually killed by monsters will you are defenseless. "I was pretty defenseless today and I did alright" I argued. Today was an exception. Forward, Nick. You must go to camp. I gave up. I had no idea what 'camp' was, where it was, or how to get there. I didn't even know if I wanted to go. I decided to just let Madame Cuckoo's voice win. Besides, you can't win an argument with yourself. It just doesn't work.
I walked for weeks. When I was hungry, owls brought me food. When I was thirsty, water happened to be right nearby. No wild animals bothered me. Wolves howled in the distance every so often, but they would be answered by a screech owl, and the wolves always shut up pretty fast. Even the weather was fine. It got hot, but never unbearably so, and at nights I never froze.
In Illinois, I was forced to go directly across a lake, or spend hours going around it. I began gathering materials, eventually finding enough to make an extremely crude raft. My chosen are always clever, Nick. Do you have what it takes? Yeah, thanks for the help, lady. And I didn't want to be your 'chosen one'. I'm not Harry Potter.
In Tennessee, I found a music festival. Bluegrass bands were playing, and bar-b-q was everywhere. Are you talented, Nick? Show me that you are a multi-use man. My talents include sleeping, eating, ignoring math lessons, building catapults out of straws, and killing half snake monsters. No cooking or musical ability at all. I did however win first place at the Bearden County BBQ Eating Contest. See? I knew that skill would come in handy one day!
In Kentucky, I went through a small town where a rodeo was taking place. Seek the challenges, Nick. Prove your strength. Oh, yeah, cause I need to go looking for challenges. It's not like I don't have enough that find me.
In Pennsylvania, I wandered through an Amish community. Great people, the Amish. Stay awhile, Nick. These people have much to teach, and you will need all the help you can get. And so, like a good little chosen one, I did as the crazy lady said, and stayed with the Amish for a few nights, learning all I could.
I passed through several states, eventually ending up on a hill. Once there, I stopped, and looked at the view. I had no idea what city it was, but it was huge and very bright. I felt drawn to it, even though I hated big I realized I was being pulled slightly away from the city, not directly to it. It was mid morning when I suddenly heard my disembodied buddy in my head.
Hurry Nick! The monsters have been following you all through your journey, and I have kept them at bay for now, but I cannot do so any longer! Run Nick! You cannot face so many alone! Go to camp! They will protect you there! I must leave you. Know that I am proud, but do not tell anyone of me. Now go!
Wolves howled. I opened my eyes and ran.
I couldn't keep it up forever, but I did a pretty good job of making it over the next few hills. As I stopped to catch my breath, I looked back. Maybe a mile away, I saw three huge half snake people. They held huge wolves on iron chains, and the wolves seemed to be leading them somewhere. I realized that that somewhere was where I was. I took my crazy schizophrenic voice's advice and ran.
Several hours later, I was still running. I would stop every once in a while to catch my breath, and the snakes and wolves were never far behind me. I eventually made it to the bottom of a hill. It was all wooded, with a huge pine tree growing on top. There seemed to be a mass of twisted cables around the tree, and a gleaming yellow bath mat hanging from a branch. I was understandably nervous, but when the wolves howled, closer than ever, I began scrambling up the steep slope.
There was heavy breathing and hissing behind me. I knew what it was without looking, and I doubled my pace. But it didn't seem to matter how fast I went, because the snakes and wolves were faster. Chains rattled, and the wolves screamed in joy.
They had let the wolves loose. I turned and drew my tooth. The snakes hissed in either anger or fear, I couldn't tell which, but the wolves continued unabated. As the first one leapt at me, I dodged to the right and sliced at it, scratching him lightly on his side. The cut wasn't deep or serious, but the wolf fell, rolling down the hill a ways, screaming. His side was smoking. The other two wolves cautiously circled me, snarling with their teeth bared. The snakes hissed below, and waved their scimitars threateningly, but kept their distance for now. While I was distracted, the two wolves ran at me, snapping and growling.
I dropped to the ground, rolling under one, and lashed out at the other with the tooth. He fell, smoking, and rolled down the hill. The last, and biggest, sprang at me again and again, trying to wear me out.
Wanna know a secret? It was working.
I started backing up, trying to get to the top of the hill, trying to keep the wolf below me. The snakes came closer now, moving slowly up in a line at me, their lower bodies wriggling along the wet grass. At last I reached the crest of the hill. What I saw was so incredible that I took my eyes off the wolf and snakes. At once, the wolf pounced, and the snakes struck, moving blindingly fast up to me, striking with sword and teeth and claw. I felt warm blood seep out of me, staining the ground. The bite marks from the snakes burned like fire, and bubbled with a greenish goo. The sword cuts stung, and the claw marks left deep gashes. I fell to the ground, sure that I was gone.
But as they all drew in for a second round of killing me, the wires at the base of the tree moved, striking the wolf and all three snakes at the same time. The mass of wires roared its victory, as all four monsters dissolved into dust. I realized that the mass of wires was a dragon. I couldn't stay awake any longer, and I blacked out, listening to alarm bells ring in the camp below me, and glimpsing several figures sprinting towards me.
So that's my first story, what'd y'all think? I'm pretty proud of it, but my opinion is SLIGHTLY biased. So leave me a review! Suggestions? Ideas? Thoughts? I'll even accept criticism, if I have to! Tell me what you think of this!
Always,
Daedalus
