Chapter IV

Time to Train, Good Night!

I opened my eyes and found myself in a palace with a haze surrounding the outside of my vision, standing before a throne made up of fluffy pillows, looking up at a pale, black haired, middle-aged man with swirling, cloudy eyes. He seemed to be an older version of me. I instantly recognized who this was and bowed, as my father smiled and said "Welcome to the dream world, my son."

I just stared uncomprehendingly at my father, who came down off of his throne and stood before me, smiling. "I am sorry that I have not been there for you," he said with a sigh "I am bound by the ancient laws not to interfere with my children's live, until they learn of their heritage. Since you know who I am now, I can come to you in dreams" I didn't respond to that, I just stayed silent and tried to come up with an appropriate response.

My father took my silence the wrong way and said "If you do not wish it, I will not come to you." And started to head back to his throne with a look of defeat in his eyes.

"No no no, I was just trying to think of how to respond" I said hurriedly, hoping I had not ruined everything "It is kind of hard to think of a response to your father when he is also a god"

Hypnos just smiled and said "Just treat me as a father, not as a god. As my son, you needn't worry yourself with trying to stay respectful to me as a god, just as your father. Now, time for some explanations. Chiron should have explained that I would handle your training, correct?" I had a strange feeling that my previous dream where i was in a room similar to this would be coming soon, and relate to what I was about to be told.

"Yes, so can I guess that I will train here when I sleep?" I asked the god and his smile grew wider.

"You're a sharp one" he said "Usually takes me awhile to get you kids to get it. Walk with me." We started out from what seemed to be his throne room, with a throne made out of what looked like silver and we passed out of the throne room and through a grand hall, than out of the palace and looked out upon a landscape that amazed me. The whole landscape was one of picturesque beauty, with mountains in the background, topped by snow, a deep valley that led into a river that wound through the whole world. Surrounding the palace, which looked like a cross between a gothic fortress and a Roman cathedral, there was a small village.

"This world is a world that is mine and mine alone to fully and completely control. It is something that amounts to being my very flesh and blood, with all dreams steming from here. But as my son, you also have almost infinite control here." As he said this the scene changed as the village suddenly morphed into a bustling city, filled with peopl, all of them looking as though they weren't really there, with displays that showed how malleable this reality was. "Whenever humans sleep, they come here. This world is where all dreams, and nightmares, happen. But sometimes, people don't wake up from sleep. Any who die with the knowledge of this world have the chance to come here instead of the Underworld. These are all real people, and here they are powerful."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I asked, truly wondering how this could relate to my training. He smirked, probably knowing I would ask that.

"Because it is hardly proper for a Prince not to understand his kingdom" He said with a laugh. "Whenever you are here, you are in complete control, you can do as you wish. And many in the city are experts of their trade, especially the older ones, who have been here as long as many remember. This is where your training will be."

"How can I become physically stronger if all i do is sleep?" i asked, but he just laughed. It seems as though my siblings always ask the same questions. He explained that whenever anything that is beneficial for my body happens in the dream world, my body experiences. I was satisfied with this and we went down into the city to meet the people I would train with.

As we walked through the streets, anyone walking by us would stop and bow, making me realize the huge difference in the way my life was and how it will be. We entered a large coliseum and I was introduced to one of the greatest of heroes- Theseus, Son of Poseidon. The man was dark haired, with tanned skiin, as though he spent his days at the beach. His eyes were a sea green that looked almost like the ocean.

"My lords, welcome to my arena." The king of Ithica said. I looked around to see the walls of the arena covered in weapons of all kinds, with people around the room sparring and constantly switchingh around their weapons, and whenever they "Died" in the sparring, they came back as though they had lost a life in a video game.

"Theseus, this is my son Cooper and he is in need of training. I trust you will be able to handle that" he spoke as though Theseus was an old friend, and i just then registered what was being said.

"I'm going to train with THE Theseus?" I questioned excitedly, knowing that this would cause me to be one of the tougher guys at camp. "The one that was a legendary sword fighter, that is so cool!"

"This will not be a walk in the park" Theseus said, and that brought down my excitement a bit, "If you train with me, you will work harder than ever before and you will have to work not only while you sleep, but also while awake. Learning swordplay takes dedication, and if you try to coast your way through it you will never learn. Will you accept my tutelage?" As he said this I noticed that everyone else in the arena had stopped their spar and were watching me, seemingly knowing that they would soon be sparring against one of their lords sons.

"I say lets get started" I responded, cracking a grin as Theseus smiled, knowing that with his training I could be great. But it seemed today was not the day to begin training. My dad had other plans.

""Let us return to the castle, Cooper, I have some gifts for you." He said as he pulled me away from the arena, and back towards his fortress. As we passed through the gates, I had a sudden thought.

"Father, why would you need a fortress, or walls surrounging the city if this is your world?" I asked with a frown, knowing that anything that could cause a problem in this world should be easy to deal with. So why would a fortress be necessary?

"That is a matter I had hoped not to bring up," he responded as we entered a dining hall and what looked like spirits served us a meal. "You know, I assume, that I have a few immortal children, correct? Well, those immortal children and I don't see eye-to-eye on many things, one of them being demigods. My immortal children cannot stand demigods, while I am the reason you all get dreams that help with quests, with battles and your lives as demigods. So whenever I have a demigod child, they can be a bit... violent." That was news to me, but now it made sense why the Sandmen had attacked.

"When you were born" He said as after I asked about why he needed walls in the dream world, "Your brothers Morpheus and Phobetor sent armies of Sandmen and other creatures of nightmare to attack the city, but these walls hald them back and prevented them from getting to the people. The other two, Ikelos and Phatasus, stayed out of the fighting but made it clear they were doing it for your sake, not mine. They could not kill their brother, even if he was not their full brother." So now my brothers want me dead, what a great thing for a dad to tell his son.

We then got up from our food and entered the throne room again, where he pulled a two small boxes from behind his throne. He handed them both to me and said "Happy late birthday, sorry I am months late."

I thanked him and ripped the bigger of the two open, to find a watch that had a face that swirledlike a cloud, made of what appeared to be the same metal as my fathers throne. I wondered what it was for when he said to tap the face. I did and it expanded into a small buckler with an onyx branch on the front, with what appeared to be drops of water coming form it. The buckler also had an edge like my laste one, meaning I wouldn't have to change anything I had started to figure out.

"That metal is Hypnotic Silver, forged here and only here in the Dream World. It works on all monsters, as well as mortals." My father said, than getured for me to tap the drops of water and the shield closed back into a watch when I did.

"What is that symbol I keep seeing everywhere?" I asked, refering to the branch and water. He explained that it was one of his symbols of power, a branch dipped in the waters of the Lethe, the River of Forgetfullness. That same river is the river that runs through this world, which is the reason humans sometimes forget their dreams. I was then directed to open my other gift, and found it was a ring that had his sigil on it, made of Hypnotic silver and onyx. I assumed it was similar to the watch, so I twisted the sigil and suddenly felt weighted down a bit. I realized that I was now wearing a set of layered armor, it was light and was made out of the same silver, as well as having inlaid onyx, making it more black than silver.

"I hope that armor will serve you well, when you are back at camp, go to the armory and get the sword you were entranced by, that is a weapon used by many generations of my children, and it will not stop it's use now. it is also made of Hypnotic Silver, but it has some more... Interesting properties. Now, my time is up, I will see you tommorrow night." As he said this, I felt the world falling away and woke suddenly, back in the Hermes cabin.

AN- I am a really terrible writer, I said i was goin to update, but than immediately didnt for months. Sorry to those who looked forward to it, but i promise now that I will work on this, even if it is slow going. For the Armor, imagine the Glass armor from The Elder Scrolls Skyrim, but replace the gold with silver and the green with black. I have also gone back through my othe chapters and edited them to be better than they were, so here is to a continued story