A/N: ZOMG, GUYS. AN UPDATE. YOU'RE SO LUCKY. I never update anything anymore... but I'm using Anisa a lot more again, so I'll try and be a little more frequent and pick this back up. Teehee. Ooh, ominous warning. Sorry it's such a short chapter, they probably will be a bit shorter in an attempt to update more.Scrunching her face in displeasure, Anisa covered her face to try and block out the sun streaming in the window. "Ugh. I hate mornings," she muttered to herself. The ginger pulled herself out of her sleeping bag, accidentally stepping on a person, and yelping in shock. She stumbled back onto her sleeping bag, making sure to take a careful look at the path she was treading before stepping anywhere. Forgetting her clothes was a problem; Anisa quickly slipped back to her sleeping bag and changed before heading back to the edge of the cabin.
Finally making it to the door, Anisa grabbed the handle and yanked it open, stepping out into the dawn air. She breathed a sigh of relief; fresh air at last.
Taking a look back at the Hermes cabin, she couldn't help feeling again the strange sense of wrongness that had been dogging her ever since she had arrived. No matter what she did, however much she tried to convince herself that this was now home, something felt a little off about it. Its inhabitants were nice enough, minus Taylor, and she had already made a few good friends in the week and a half she had been here: namely Caleb Sandstrom, a son of Athena, and Daine Krea, a daughter of Hecate. Caleb had volunteered to give her a tour after she'd spent the night in the Big House healing; Daine had been her partner in her first ever sword lesson. Surprisingly, Anisa was decent at sword fighting; a natural, some even said. Compared to the others she had seen, though, she was merely decent, she knew.
All the same, a lesson every day for ten days, had made her more aware of the weaknesses she had. For example, Anisa was a leftie. Which meant that, naturally, her right side was weaker than her left. Not by much, but enough that if she tried switching hands, she had a bit of difficulty. So Anisa was spending half her time with technique on her left hand, and the other half strengthening her right and making it more cooperative when it came to fending someone off.
Arriving at the arena, Anisa peered in; no one was there, not even the earliest risers. Today was, apparently, a day everyone wanted to sleep in. Oh well, it didn't matter; more room for her to develop her technique. Entering quickly, she sprinted over to the weapons shed and pulled open the door. The sword she had been using was sitting in the far back; Anisa rolled her eyes and started for it, only to have her path blocked by- someone who hadn't been there a moment ago.
"Hi," Anisa blinked, stepping back to take a good look at the man. "Can I help you?"
He looked about in his mid-thirties, with salt-and-pepper hair, and twinkling copper eyes; he wore a simple track suit, and was holding an iPhone, tapping it a few times. The phone morphed into a caduceus, and he smiled. "Ah, that's better. George, Martha, say hello to Anisa, will you?"
The ginger stared as the snakes seemed to hiss into her thoughts, hello, Anisa."I... Lord Hermes?" She stammered, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Instead of answering her, the god said to his snakes, "Spit it out, will you? The sword, George! The marker! Not the non-magical sword, that's for someone else!" The snake coughed up an Expo dry-erase marker, and Hermes took it and handed it to Anisa. "This, daughter, is Kidemonas. More commonly known as Guardian. It is a gift for you, to help you on your journey. You will be a great swordsman someday. Just keep working."
Anisa accepted the marker with an awed look an her face. Gently uncapping it, she examined the sword: Celestial Bronze, with a slight glow to it. The hilt was decorated with a twining pattern of snakes that seemed to slither around, and the blade was perfectly balanced in her hand. "Thank you," she replied sincerely. "I'll make good use of it, I promise."
"I know you will," Hermes smiled. His smile faded and was replaced with a serious look as he said, "I also come with a warning, Anisa. You will understand it when time comes, but it won't make sense until then." Taking a deep breath, he said, "When it feels like you've lost everything, remember that I am watching." With that, the god disappeared, leaving Anisa alone in the shed.
