In the middle of a desert somewhere
I was in pain. A lot of pain.
I groggily sat up and took in my surroundings.
It was very bright where I was. The sun shone harshly, and the wasn't a single cloud in sight. I was sitting on rocky, dusty and flat terrain. A few half dead shrubs decorated the desert like expanse that surrounded me.
And there was the other thing. Its HOT. Like really hot. Next to me was a canvas bag.
I looked quizzically at it and then did the human thing. I opened it.
Inside of it was an 1860s black powder style revolver made of celestial bronze. There was a spare bit of paper in it as well.
Leo would've wanted you to have this. Stay alive. - H
I looked to the sky and thanked Hephaestus.
The weapons made me think of something rather important. I checked my pockets and my trusty blade was missing.
"Shit..." I muttered as I fell back down into the ground.
I looked up and saw the skeletal bird that was promised by Hades. It flew off in... a direction. Not too sure where north is actually.
I reluctantly got up and began following it at a walking pace.
Olympus
Zeus sat on his throne with his head in his hands. He didn't want to banish the boy, but there was significant evidence that he was at least a sympathizer to kronis during the second titanomachy.
Though it was a tad suspicious. Poseidon, in the past had claimed that the boy Perseus, was his favorite son (much to triton's displeasure).
So why would he now come to Zeus and show him a silver sythe pendant and claim he found it in Perseus' cabin? Something just didn't add up.
But in the mean time, Zeus had to rule the gods and that meant he had to banish the son of Poseidon for the mean time. But Zeus was still suspicious. He decided he'd look further into this troubling... mystery.
Five years later
A hunter of Artemis, a young boy and an equally young girl who look too be around 14 or 15 years old trudged down a for road in southern New Mexico.
The trio soon found themselves surrounded.
Several hellhounds, Cyclopes and of course the minotaur circled them.
The hunter was out of arrows and was armed with only hunting knives. The boy who was also armed only with a bow was running low on ammunition. The girl though she had a sword, ended to be in inexperienced with the weapon in question.
They fought valiantly. The boy had shot most of the hellhounds and they disintegrated. The girl and the huntress managed to take down two out of three Cyclops. However they were exhausted and the minotaur hadn't even stepped into the ring yet.
Suddenly a gunshot was heard and the Cyclops immediately disintegrated into good old fashioned monster dust. They children turned to the minotaur that looked confused as well.
A second shot rang out and green fire spread across the torso of the giant monster. Greek fire.
The minotaur was dead in a matter of seconds.
A figure steeped into the light. It was a man. He was fairly tall, looked maybe around 22. He had the scruffy beginnings of a messy goatee, like he hasn't shaved in a few days.
He wore a dark navy blue knee length coat, and a bandolier across his chest. Atop his head was a brown leather wide brimmed hat. He holstered a large, ornate, celestial bronze, black-powder revolver across his chest and drew to smaller standard western style revolvers. He then cocked them both and leveled then at the trio.
With a cocky smile he said in a confident tone of voice, "Demigods, please hand over any and all celestial bronze or imperial gold materials, as well as any nectar!"
"Are you serious?! You're gonna save us and then rob us anyway?!" the boy yelled in disbelief.
"listen kid--"
"Andrew."
"Alright, listen Andrew. Do you know what ammunition is, hmm? Do you know why its important? Because it is what allows me to kill monsters. And if it means I have to rob a fellow demigod every once and a while, I'll do it. I won't be losing any sleep over it. Now hand over your metals and the nectar." The man said.
"Wait please, we're on a quest. We need our weapons to complete it!" the girl begged.
"Kid, you should get it through your head that your nothing but a pawn to the people who sent you on the quest. What quest is so important anyway?"
The girl sighed. "We-we are all on a quest to find a banished hero. Though we don't know who he is exactly."
The man scoffed and holstered his twin pistols. "A fools errand."
"And why, its that boy?" the hunter asked, venom laced in her words.
"Ahh, a hunter of Artemis. Now, please -" he drew a pistol and - BANG - shot the ground an inch from her toe.
"- don't call me that." He said.
She flinched at this, and promptly shut up.
However the girl spoke again, "Please! We need to find him. He is the one who is supposed to help the demigods and Olympus in the war against Poseidon!"
The man went wide eyed and and choked on his own words. "Th-The war against... Poseidon?! What the hell happened to Olympus after I left." he finished the last sentence muttering however the hunter with her own ears heard it nonetheless.
"Since you left? Just who are you exactly?" the hunter pressed.
"Hmm... Well you can call me James." He said with another crooked smile.
The hunter looked more than skeptical. "that is not a real name."
"Oh its a real name all right. Maybe not my name, but nevertheless, it is a real name."
The hunter huffed indignantly.
The man - James - looked lost in thought. After what seemed like ages he spoke again. "You can tell me more about this little first in the way back to Long Island."
"What?!" Andrew said with a confused face.
"I was banished, ohhh, just over five years ago. I do believe that I am your quest."
At this the trio just looked at him with wide eyes...
A/N
I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed. It gave me alot of good input and I hope that this chapter was... enlightening to say the least. Thanks again and please, Please REVEIW!
Catch you all next chapter,
- home-made-pipe-bombs