Henosis: Chapter 2
A/N: Yup forgot to do this in Chapter one but anyways welcome to Henosis! This Story is rated M as future chapters will contain mentions and usage of drugs as well as suicide. If these topics bother you don't read this and if you struggle with these sort of things then please seek out help!
Anyways Like, comment, subscribe (is this YouTube?) and enjoy the story. I'll probably upload this once or twice a week so keep your beady little eyeballs on the lookout!
Summer 1963, With Samson
Man, growing up sure was weird at my new home. Well, I'm not really grown yet since I'm only 13 at the current moment. Anyways as I found out, my mother actually is Athena. I mean, I've been aware of this for a while but It's nice knowing for sure.
It was kind of strange as apparently the camp director knows that she is my mother since she 'claimed' me by having a giant owl image appear over me after I arrived at this magic camp called Camp Half-blood; and from what I've learned about this place during my introduction by a funny looking centaur It's been around for a pretty good while. It is apparently a haven/ training grounds for Greek demigods of which I now know I am. I still don't like owls though.
As I spend more time here, I learned that there's a decent number of other demigods from all sorts of gods and goddesses around as well. It is unfortunate for them since most are smushed into only one of the cabins, number eleven if I remember and then die horrible deaths later. Too bad they don't have a number to call to complain to about the housing and murder. They'd probably be disintegrated by a god if they did though, god's are kind of evil like that sometimes.
Thankfully I don't have to worry about anything like overcrowding as being an Olympians' child means that we have cabins just for us. Only the Olympians have cabins though, the rest are fucked.
Currently I have four younger brothers by only a year and a few months. It is a little peculiar as they all share the same birth-date. From what they told me, they were the result of Athena taking godly migraine pills and accidentally pushing off their births. Apparently she forgot about her coupling with their fathers and just kicked them out of her head at the same time when she remembered they existed.
They're a bit upset about that since they were gestating around eight months when between all of them, and 'regular' Athena kids are born in a couple months on average.
I suppose the overcooking of my brothers is why they're quite varied and a bit, off mentally for the most part.
They're devilishly smart, don't get me wrong, but each is a little quirky and kind of idiotic while being a prodigy in their own right.
Steven, my second youngest brother, is sort of brutish in a way. He's bigger than the rest of us and definitely stronger, but is the most careful and controlled. He takes after mother in the way that he enjoys weaving and sewing. He makes a decent sum of money selling clothing to the camp store, but never charges near enough for his items. He's humble in that way. I've heard some of his works have changed enough hands that a few have ended up on Olympus in the hands of minor gods and even an Olympian or two. Everyone loves him around camp which is good since our band of idiots have a reputation for being psychos and not well appreciated.
Robert, the second oldest of my younger brothers, is the business mind of our little Cabin Six family. He's a bit scrawny and not too tall, but is a genius when it comes to the popular market. He's actually been working closely with the Demeter kids to grow this funny little plant called 'Marijuana'. I don't like how it smells but he tells me that it'll be a huge hit in the coming decades. He likes to chastise the Demeter kids about 'never getting high on their own supply' when he catches them slaking off and smoking the cigarettes they make out of the funny plants. I don't know what a high is, but it sounds kind of groovy.
Thomas, the oldest of my brothers, is just a straight up psychopath. He's skinny, almost unhealthily so, but is ridiculously strong; nearly as strong as Steven. He has a habit of breaking bones of others a lot. Even the Ares jocks keep a wide birth around him. I'm convinced he's a Dhampir, no one can be that skinny and pale while also being so strong.
Apparently, he was inside mothers head for around eight months, almost three times longer than what is 'healthy', which makes a great deal of sense to me since he's fucking crazy. He talks to himself most of the time and I am almost certain his eyes are dilated 24/7. He's the painter of our family and probably the best in the camp. It's not the largest of problems except for the fact that his painting are really gruesome and disturbing. They most who see them nightmares, even me a few times. I'm almost certain he uses real blood in his paintings, maybe that's why there's not many rabbits and squirrels in camp? I love him regardless.
William is pretty average when compared to the rest of us. He was easy baked the shortest out of my brain siblings. He likes pottery and jewelry the most between us and is an excellent handicrafts-man. The pieces he crafts out of the scrap metals from the Hephaestus are some of the most beautiful and renowned in the demigod world. He works closely with the Aphrodite cabin and has even made some pieces for Aphrodite herself. His sanity is stable for the most part except for when he gets negative feedback on his work. When that happens he tends to lock himself in our closet for a day or so and refuses to come out. I chiseled a small hole at the base so we can slide him food, wouldn't want our dear brother getting hungry now.
I myself enjoy smithing, quite a lot actually. Metalworking and gadgetry has been one of my favorite hobbies at camp aside from learning about science and philosophy. I get quite a few jokes from other campers about how I fit more as a Hephaestus child than an Athena one. I never understood these jokes that much, I enjoy learning all kinds of things instead of what my parent is known for. I felt the same way about other campers too, they all limit themselves by just following the status quo of their heritage.
I suppose being vocal about my thoughts is why I'm not the most popular or respected camper. It's not my fault the Aphrodite cabin hates be because I said they all looked the same, they asked me what I thought and I answered truthfully. Or that the Hephaestus kids hate me because I can forge just as well as they can. Man, being surrounded by kids sucks. Then there's the Ares campers whom fit better into a film than real life, each of them could play a convincing bully in movies if they bothered to learn about anything beside combat. What a bunch of dicks.
I remember the first time we all met our mother Athena, it was kind of unpleasant.
We were all asleep early in the morning when this terrible aura passed through our cabin. It felt as though an ancient demon from the deepest pits of Tartarus crashes through our door and tried to rip our very souls apart.
Instead of a demon though it was our displeased mother telling us that our cabin is filthy, and we needed to clean it. So, I suppose a demon from hell was an accurate comparison.
After we tidied our cabin mother calmed down a fair margin and asked us to gather outside. Being the Head-Councilor of our cabin, I was the one in charge of my little brothers, so I was the one who would ask the questions my brothers were desperate to know.
"Mother," I asked, interrupting her mid-rant about the architecture of our cabin. "Not to be rude- "
"As you are being now." She cuts me off with a sharp voice and a dangerous narrowing of her gaze. Gods she is frightening, but a notorious Athena rant can take several weeks to end and we have a schedule to keep.
She gives me a disappointed look and ouch, that hurts. Like, it really hurts. Her grey eyes are intense, and I can tell she is evaluating every aspect of my being almost as if her eyes can see into every aspect of my soul. There's a glint in her eyes though, she looks at me like how one appraises a valuable jewel, scrubbing it for flaws to see it's true worth. I take slight comfort in the knowledge that I am worthy of being evaluated like this by her, it makes my heart burns just a bit warmer.
"- my brothers and myself are just slightly curious as to the nature of your visit. We have it on good knowledge that it is forbidden for Godly parents to have interactions with their children." I stand at attention before her, head high and hands behind my back as though she were a general and my brothers and myself are lieutenants.
She stands tall above us, at least a few heads. She is dressed in a nice suit and practically radiates her authority over us. We all stand side by side, me in the middle, waiting like well-trained dogs. We're quiet and still, we've never met her before but we all know the stories. Her temper and fury are legendary to those whom have passed along the stories.
I can tell she appreciates our attempts at being cordial and decides to humor us with a small smile. "At ease, children. I am here because father is otherwise occupied with a large series of civil disobedience amongst the Olympian council."
Her smile warms my heart whilst also giving myself a sense of dread. I can't feel her emotions like I can with everyone else, it's as if her body is a void in the sea of emotion that is humankind. My greatest nervousness, however, comes from her piercing gaze. She has a plan and it's something special, something big. Her eyes can't lie to me. She notices my stare and her eyes soften and become neutral, damn she figured me out.
"Rest easy, it will not affect demigods significantly." She attempts reassurance, the pit in my stomach only grows larger instead. I can tell my brothers feel the same.
"The only change will be godly parents having some more, liberties, in their children's lives." Huh, that's a curious statement. I've heard that Zeus keeps his rule strict and unwavering. For him not to have total control is, frightening. Gods going rogue for lack of a better word is dangerous.
My brothers and myself couldn't mull over our thoughts for very long. Mother quickly explained that her reason for visiting us was evaluate our work. She wished to know what we all were working towards and how we were doing it. Simple and innocent enough I suppose. Her eyes still left me nervous although. There was just something about them. It felt like she was rummaging through an old pile of rubbish to find something valuable. I still for a second.
'What if that's why she is here? To find out which of us is the most useful. To find which child has the most value.'
My thoughts become selfish. I don't want to lose! I can't, I love Mother and I want her to love me in return. That feeling, being valued. I crave it, I crave Mother's pride in me, so I can't let her down! I will win, even against my brothers. I can feel their emotions rolling over me, they share the same selfish feelings as I do. I am thankful that they don't know about my empathy ability and can't feel my emotions as I do theirs.
For a long time, I've been drawing blueprints to a special device. I've spent many years working on its design and function. It'll be a true masterpiece if I can build it. Maybe the blueprints could be enough? Maybe she will be impressed, after all it's not a concept but a nearly complete schematic. I take my documents and notes from my chest and stand behind my brothers in the line she had us form. Save the best for last, right?
After about forty minutes or so of my brothers presenting their best works it's finally my turn. She raises an eyebrow when I hand her a bunch of loose papers in place of a beautiful piece of art like my brothers. I keep my face stony and calm, but my eyes betray my facade. Lying with my eyes is not something I have mastered yet.
She mulls over my designs for a long while. I can feel my brother's eyes on the back of my head and their emotion are even more clear to me. I feel their curiosity and, jealousy? I've never felt them like this before, perhaps I shouldn't have used this as my offering. I can't let them win, though. It must be me, I need too!
As the minutes pass mothers face stays passive. Her eyes remain neutral besides an odd glint here and there. Eventually the papers shuffle back to the start of the pile and she hands them back to me. Her eyes seem hungry now, like they were wolves and I am their prey.
"Take my hand, Samson." It's an order. She extends a hand out to me, so I take it. I won't disobey mother or upset her. I like not being a spider monster thank you very much! She wraps her hand gently around mine and we disappear in a flash of brilliant light. That light, there was something curious about it. It felt old and wise, like it knew something greater than I could comprehend. Curious, very curious.
When the light fades and I can see again I find myself in the most wonderful hall I have ever seen! The walls are brilliant and beautifully decorated and engraved, the statues placed around that are so beautiful and lifelike that one would think they are people painted white. There's a peculiar aura in the air, like this temple that must be mother's home is alive and watching me in curiosity.
I turn to face mother and see that she has changed her outfit. She's wearing a beautiful white chiton and has a Corinthian helmet balanced curiously on top of her head. I briefly wonder if it ever falls off if she moves her head too fast or gets clipped on the top of doorways.
She faces me and begins to speak, she didn't get very far though as the ground shook with a powerful tremor and a screech of rage rang through the halls from somewhere far away. Mother whips her head in the direction it came from, her helmet flying off her head and narrowly missing me as it clanks to the ground behind me some distance away.
She is majestic and stoic when she turns back to face me, maybe just a bit more than before, and clears her throat before continuing,
"Samson, tell me please, what is the name of this device you wish to create. What would it be used for?" I'm excited now, I've never spoken with anyone about this before. I always kept it secret.
"It is called the Mana Pool, Lady Athena." I keep my voice respectful, I don't want to come off the wrong way like a psycho! I can't ruin this moment!
"It would theoretically allow a person to perform great feats magic by acting as a source of power." Her eyes widen, and she pulls her lips into a small smile. My heart pumps fast and a warmth spreads through me. I feel happy now, loved. She asks me more about my device. Why would I create? How does it work? I tell her about my gadgetry, and how if I could enchant devices with magic than I could create wonderful items with amazing uses for demigods on their quests. Maybe if they were better equipped fewer would have to die. She asks me to continue and so I tell her about how most demigods perform rituals to generate the mana to power their spells and how I theorized that Hecate children don't need rituals or specific enchanted items because they can generate mana naturally and store it inside their bodies somehow
"Please, Samson. Call me Mother. Now tell me, how would this device generate it's magic then," she inquires of me with a proud smile. She knows me so well already.
"The magic children of Hecate use come from their relation to her. She is their source after all." I smile at this. It took me a while to figure out a reliable source of energy, but I am a clever lad. Reading through my collection of astronomy and physics textbooks I learned of a form of energy that my device could use and convert into mana. Radiation.
"My device isn't just a pool of energy, mother. It is also an energy converter. It would take radiation, Non-Ionizing and Ionizing radiation, and convert it into mana; and since radiation is everywhere and near infinite the device would never have difficulties charging or any worries about places that it couldn't be charged at."
Mother's proud smile becomes even greater and my heart feels like it's going to burst. I'm so happy. She still has a glint to her eye, but I ignore it. I won't let anything ruin this moment for me! Parental love has been missing from my life for a long time now, maybe I'm being greedy but right now I don't care. Mother loves me and that's all that matters. She puts a hand on my shoulder and leads me out of her temple.
Olympus is the most beautiful thing I have seen, even if half of it is smoking while the other half is rioting. Huh, strange place, this must be what she meant when she said grandfather is busy. Mother takes my hand and walks with me a little quicker towards whatever destination she has in mind. Thankfully we are higher up from the violence and what I guess to be the Olympus Police are keeping the rioters from traveling further up the mountain. Being so high up I can see many beautiful temples, structures and mansions around. Olympus is a amazing city by itself with what I assume to be the Olympian's temples high above the rest.
Mother is navigating us through beautifully carved walkways, we pass by several other wondrous temples and amazing statues. I gratefully soak in the beauty of Olympus and make note to thank mother later for letting us walk to wherever we are going instead of just teleporting us there.
Eventually she stops us in front of a giant statue of a pretty lady and pulls me so that we are hiding out of view behind it. A magnificent temple lies further back behind the statue we're hiding at, I guess this to be Hephaestus's temple as gorgeous metal monuments litter the courtyard, several are of whom I guess to be Aphrodite and one very unflattering one of whom I guess to be Ares, the metal statue is kind of fat and the face looks like it has been beaten up by something blunt. A hammer maybe? I give Mother a questioning look but she ignores me while looking at the entrance to the temple.
"Samson, I have a slight, favor to ask of you." The glint in her eyes is back. "Inside this temple is a specific book, I want you to go inside, grab it and bring it back out to me." I'm very nervous now, maybe even scared. But mother has asked me, so this must be very important. She explains to me a bit more about the book and how to get to it and navigate the temple. The most important thing she stressed to me was DON'T GET CAUGHT. Apparently, I'd die.
After sneaking into the temple like a professional ninja, I only fell like a couple of times, I hide behind a wall and peek around the corner. As I had been sneaking through the temple I could hear loud yelling and arguing. Looking past the corner I see that the ones arguing are two people completely opposite beauty-wise of one another. 'Aphrodite and Hephaestus' I muse in my thoughts. No way that they aren't. I wait behind the wall for a minute and listen to their argument, I'm sort of curious. That and Aphrodite is nice to look at, I don't really know why.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" she yells at Hephaestus, her voice is shrill like a banshee and her face is red in fury while he looks completely unbothered, his gruff voice is cool and tempered.
"I really don't get why you care at all." Her anger shakes the whole temple in response. Must be what caused the tremor earlier.
"YOU BUILT A SEX ROBOT!" Ah that's why she's angry. I don't know what a sex is but the robot sounds really cool, much more than an angry pretty lady.
"So? S.A.M. loves me! Unlike you!" Oh that's harsh, wish I had snacks.
"YOU NAMED IT? I AM YOUR WIFE!"
"The last time you touched me was 40 years ago! It wasn't even that good!"
"ARE YOU SAYING I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"
"Lady, you gave me a shitty hand job! Hades, you stopped half way through when Ares broke my fucking door in and asked for one!" What's a handy?
"I did?" She pauses and looks to the side trying to remember the memory. Then she snaps her fingers with a half-surprised look on her face. "Oh Yeah! I did" She giggles a little in fondness at the memory.
We all hear a clanking in another room out of view and a crappy electronic voice calls out from wherever it is. "DADDY, WHERE HAVE YOU GONE DADDY?" Hephaestus looks a little flabbergasted, Aphrodite is furious and red again.
"I swear I didn't program it to say that." She only screams gibberish and starts smacking him. Huh, she's kind of pretty when she's angry.
"Damn, she's HOT when she's angry." I jump a mile in the air, figuratively, and turn around behind me where the voice came from. I look up and see a large man, almost certainly Ares. Damn, the statue outside looks exactly like him, the sculptor did an excellent job.
He didn't seem to notice me at first, but then he looks down and surprisingly jumps a little. He looks a little shook before he gains an angry scowl on his face. He's actually kind of pretty when he's angry too.
"The hell are you doing here, kid?" Yup, definitely Ares. His kids talk the exact same way.
"I'm stealing Hephaestus's stuff." I respond, I hope this works.
"Oh." His scowl lessens slightly before he grins. "Carry on then." Excellent, mother would be proud.
After navigating the temple for a short while, Aphrodite and Hephaestus still arguing in the distance while S.A.M. keeps making weird statements between them, I arrive at what appears to be some kind of library that was hit by a hurricane. Books are thrown everywhere and random bits of metal is scattered as well. After digging through a few piles of books I find the one mother described me. It looks like a large leather-bound textbook with a poorly written in title that says, 'How to forg'. It looks like the writer wrote too large and ran out of space for the last letter.
As I move to get up from the pile of book a colorful image crosses the corner of my eye. I dig it out and reveal a summer magazine of some kind, the title reads "Hottest Bods, Olympus Summer edition 1963". Looks weird, guess I'll take it too while I'm here.
After making my way back outside of Hephaestus's temple I meet back up with Mother at the statue where she quickly teleports us back to her own temple. I hand her the textbook which she takes greedily from my hands and flips through the pages at blinding speed. She has a slight manic grin before becoming stoic again and hands the book back to me. Holy shit she can read fast!
"Thank you, Samson. You have done myself a great service. As thanks I give you back this book." She gives me a smile. "That book is Hephaestus's guide on crafting mystical items. It is my gift to you, happy birthday, my dear son." Oh right, I forgot it was my birthday. I wonder if I still have time to celebrate with my brothers?
I eye the book in my hands, the possibilities with this are endless! Maybe though, I think back to that light that flashed when mother took me here. What was it, there was a power behind it, raw and precise, but there was more. Some kind of feeling of, understanding? It fascinates me, I must know more!
"Mother?" I ask, almost inaudible. She looks at me, I can see the curiosity on her face. "When you first teleported us here, what was that light I felt?" A look of knowing crosses her face.
"That was my true form Samson, something you must never look upon, it will kill you if you do." Her voice is grave and warning. I can't look at the true form of a god as I am now but maybe with this book I can? Perhaps all I need is something, mystic that will let me without destroying me.
Mother is watching me closely as I begin to ponder, her eyes shine with, something, in them. I can see a plan forming after her moment of realization.
"Samson, I have a quest for you." A quest? This is, AMAZING! Another chance to make mother proud. "I can see into your thoughts here, I know what you seek. I want you to speak with the oracle at your camp, she will set you upon the right path. I can and will help you through this, do you understand?" She takes a knee to be at my height and places both hands on my shoulders.
"Do this for me, Samson, but keep it secret. This will only be between us, understood?" I nod vigorously, this will be amazing! What can someone learn when they see the true form of a god? What understanding can they achieve by doing so?
"I accept, mother! I will create these items for you!" I'm almost trembling in excitement, maybe even a little madness? Nah, everything will be fine.
"You have made me very proud Samson, from this point on I name you The Mystic. Carry my title well for me, my son, my champion." She pulls me into a hug which I reciprocate without hesitance.
"I love you." I haven't heard these kinds of words in almost forever now. I won't fail her, I can do this! Besides, I've nothing to worry about with mother guiding me!
Everything will be fine in the end.