Powerless, yet Winning
I own nothing.
Some people are born with power. Some people are born with advantages. Some people take things for granted,
David Oblivar, was not "some people". His whole life has been his own crusade to prove that he could do just as much as "some people". To say he worked hard would be an understatement. He went out of his way to learn as much as possible, he learned from his peers, and from old textbooks. He ate healthily, and was always training, or doing something. He would never be found lazing around. He was a perfect example of a good Roman.
Yet no one ever noticed. Percy Jackson comes in and everyone meets him, he even becomes a preator! Of course, David admitted that Percy was very skilled, and a genuine good person. But as a son of Neptune, he did have advantages, big ones.
David had no natural advantages. His dad was always distant; his mom was the goddess of door hinges. He never had awesome powers, he could only make hinges move on a door, and if it was locked, he couldn't do anything.
David took it upon himself to succeed on his own. He trained with every handheld Roman weapon he could find. He pushed his body to extreme limits, meditation, martial arts, languages, tactics, history, everything that you could think of to make himself a better fighter, strategist, anything he could think of. He self-taught himself how to build war machines, ride horses, elephants, many kinds of weapons. The list of his ambitions went on and on. But it wasn't enough.
The Roman politics (from his eyes) was corrupt and disgusting. Was he a member of the senate? No, of course not. He was no son of any war god, major god, or important god. He was stuck in the background. He made the picture nice, but he wasn't in any spotlight. He never showcased his skills, and he never planned to.
The day that the Greek warship landed in camp was the day David's life would change forever.
David was among the people in the crowd that watched in awe as the ship remained hovering of the Roman town. Except he wasn't, he glared up at the ship hoping that it would combust, more Greeks. Greeks sickened David; they cared more of their art and gods than they did anything else, and had the laziness to prove it.
After a minute of watching the ship hover (Terminus was apparently slapping the Greeks, serves them right) David turned and stalked away.
He had had it with this place; he made his way to the exit, shoving people out of the way. As he passed the border he picked up his weapon, an imperial gold gladius. He made his way through the camp, memories of training, arriving, training, eating, training, learning, and most of all, training, filled his mind. He angrily pushed them out, they meant nothing to him, he didn't need this place anymore, he would prove to the world, and more importantly to himself, that he could survive without having supernatural powers.
As he reached the Tiber River, he began to feel extremely weary, regardless; he pushed through the current, which was pushing him back towards camp. When he finished crossing, he was confronted.
Lupa stood before him in all her savage glory. Her legs were set in battle stance. Her jaws were open and displaying razor sharp canines. For the first time in months, David felt the cold hand of fear grasp his heart. He tried to hide it, but he knew she could sense it in him.
David drew his gladius, he sensed a fight coming, and if he backed down, Lupa would tear him to shreds. His feet shifted, he held the gladius with one hand, while the other was clenched in a fist.
Lupa towered over him, her red fur was standing on end, and the silver eyes glared. For the longest of moments, David stated straight back.
Lupa made the first move. She lunged with blinding speed and snapped at him. Her teeth just missed his head and instead made deep cuts in his arm.
"You are weak, and those who are weak are devoured!" Her voice rang in his head. At the mention of weak, David thought of his mother. He was her only son, if he were to fail and die weak, she would lose all honor.
Anger surged in his mind like a tidal wave. He charged Lupa and made a wild slash; Lupa easily caught the sword and wrenched it out of his grasp. She roared at him, the force of which replaced the anger with absolute terror. He hadn't trained to fight Lupa, she was the wolf goddess, he was just a son of Cardea.
Lupa lunged again, claws outstretched and jaws open, David knew he couldn't dodge fast enough; he closed his eyes, and waited. After a moment of nothing happening, he slowly opened his eyes.
He jumped back, Lupa was in lunging position, yet she was not moving at all, he looked around, the current of the Tiber was halted, droplets of water floated in midair.
"What happened?" He asked himself in disbelief. The last thing he expected was an answer.
"Oh, nothing much, I just got an old primordial to do me a favor." Said a deep and powerful voice behind him. David spun around to see the strangest thing ever. It was a six foot tall man, he was very muscular, and had stormy grey hair that flowed from his head and beard. He wore a pinstriped suit, and his eyes shown like a storm.
"Who are you?" Was all David could say.
The man sighed in frustration. "I am known in this form as Zeus, though you may know me as Jupiter." David held back a remark about Greeks, instead he asked.
"Why do you appear to me as Zeus then" The fear was slowly being replaced by curiosity.
"Because I come on Greek business." He stated curtly. "Listen now, Your destiny in this war is playing ours now, and if you die now, it will make things considerably more difficult." Zeus sounded like he didn't want to be here. "You are more powerful than you think, if you channel this power, you have a chance at besting her." Zeus gestured towards Lupa.
"You want me to use door hinges?" David asked incredulously, whatever the god planned, David was sure it had anything but door hinges involved.
"No, of course not!" Zeus exclaimed. He smacked his hand against his forehead in irritation. He sighed, then continued. "I'm talking about the power on your father's side."
"My father is a mortal" David said.
"Wrong again! Your father is a demigod child of Hecate, but more importantly, your great ancestor on his father's side, was the one and only Palaemon, child of Heracles, who is my son." Zeus left a twinge of smugness in his voice on that last part.
"So what?"
Zeus looked like he was going to explode. "As you may know!" He was getting increasingly annoyed. "There are three aspects of my power, manipulation of air, Lightning, and electromagnetism."
"Wha-" David questioned but he was cut off by Zeus.
"But there is a forth, it is great strength. Now, since you are not a direct child of mine, that power isn't nearly as great, however, I can unlock that potential in you, and you would have enough strength to defeat her." Zeus gestured to Lupa's frozen form.
"What's the catch?"
For the first time Zeus smirked. "You will accept a quest, the prophecy will be delivered in your dream, you will play a part in this war, and we may win, however, it will end in your death, but you will be glorified, as a son of Cardea.
If you choose not to accept, you will die at the paws of Lupa and be remembered for how bad you tasted." Zeus smiled at his own joke, and then fixed David with a cold and official stare. "Do you accept?!" His voice boomed.
David considered it, he could have a tiny bit of extra strength, and the ability to do magic and make his mother proud, or he could refuse to swallow his pride and die here.
After long moments of thinking, David made his choice. "I accept"
Upon speaking the words, Zeus snapped his fingers and an arc of lighting shot from his hand and blasted David. David could feel the electricity coursing through his body. The godly energy shocked his bones and jump started his heart. Just when he though the electricity might destroy him, it stopped.
David had a millisecond to roll out of the way as time began moving again. To his amazement, he was fast enough to accomplish it. He dove and grabbed the gladius. He then pivoted and faced Lupa, who glared angrily before pacing in a large circle around him.
David stood absolutely still; his arm was killing him from when Lupa's jaw had nearly decapitated him. His Gladius was now gripped in his good hand.
This time, David made the first move. He feinted with his gladius. Lupa took the bait and swiped at it with her claws. David rolled under the wolf's belly and came up at the other side. In quick succession he swiped three times at Lupa's flank.
This was when he realized something, Lupa's fur was like armor, and his three attacks didn't even faze her. Lupa turned her head around to snap at him again. Thinking fast, he crashed the hilt of the sword into her head. The strength sent Lupa to the ground, her two back legs were at odd angles, and her eyes were closed.
David stared down at the unconscious she-wolf. Had he really done it? Had he beaten the guardian of Rome?
No.
Lupa used one of her front paws to swipe at his ankles. Her claws raked his skin and drew huge amounts of blood. His skin was in shreds as Lupa kept up the barrage. She finished by clamping her massive jaws around his ankles. With a vicious jerk, she snapped them in half.
David screamed in pain! He fell to the ground. Blood poured from his legs, his screaming was so loud, and it drew the attention of a few campers.
Lupa got up, painfully; she walked until she was standing over him. She lowered her maw to his face, and began to open her mouth.
"Pity, you used to be a strong one, this is what bitterness does to you." She said in his head.
David, summoned up his last reserves, and brought his fist into the side of her head. She gave a whimper and he could feel her skull caving in. She was thrown to the ground beside him. David was panting hard, and losing consciousness. As he heard the approaching sounds of campers, he only wished he was far away.