I want give a big Thank You to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. This chapter feels relatively boring to me, but it's really important. Just as a forethought, I own nothing that appears in a book series or anime. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I did? One NPC is based off of Pirate101's Hawkules which is based on Hercules. I do own the character Conor Akeas, but he does not appear very often.
And a very special Thank You to TheSilenceIsVast for helping me find a new pen name. You rock dude.
Another announcement: this story has now passed the 750 views mark and the 250 visitors mark! I never expected so many people to read my work. Thank you to everyone. Sorry for my rambling, on with the story!
Chapter 7:
The Daughter of Love and The Son of Madness
The Boss Raiders were walking along a beach on floor 5 of Demigod Heroes Online, the sun setting over the water, turning the sky a beautiful orange. They were following Pollux, the player who had just single-handedly eliminated a fourth of the fourth Floor Boss' health out of anger for his twin's death. Walking with him was a young, pretty girl who had brown pigtails and dark blue clothes that the Heroes of Olympus (HOO) did not know the name of. Behind them were the HOO and the Beater. He was giving Nico 'son of Hades' tips on God-Power Skills he would unlock. One of them was called Shadow Travel; that Hades Skill was the reason Kibaou had such a hard time finding him. Another was called Raising of the Damned. That was the skill he had used in the previous battle to summon a total of seven Skeletal Warriors. They continued their trek until the Raiders arrived at the gate of a new city. As they entered a figure, much like Ares on floor 2, was standing there.
"Hello. My name is Heracles, Son of Zeus," the now identified Heracles said. "I would like to welcome you to Heraklion, the City of Heracles. That's me by the way. Did I mention my father is Zeus?" He continued to ramble on about how Heraklion was the capital of the island of Crete, the City of Heracles ("that's me by the way!"), and how his father was Zeus ("Zeus is king of the gods so that makes me a prince! Zeus is my father just so you know!").
"Would you SHUT UP?" shouted Thalia after about five minutes. "We get it. You're an arrogant prick whose father is a powerful god. Are you done talking yet?" Heracles looked at her for a few seconds before laughing.
"HAHAHA! I like this one's spirit! It almost rivals my own! You must be Claimed by now! Tell me, who is your sire?"
"I don't know," Thalia answered with a pout while crossing her arms. "I haven't been Claimed yet."
"Really? Well I'm sure it'll happen soon. I remember when I was Claimed by Zeus. He's my father by the way! And here," he said indicating Pollux who was standing to the side, "is the biggest Hero of the fight! Why, that reminded me of the time I killed the hydra! No one had told me not to behead it and it had 50 heads by the time I finished it off. I remember my father was so proud. My father is Zeus by the way."
"Whatever you say," said Kirito as he stepped forward. "I'm Kirito. Son of Hades. Which way to the inn?"
"Son of Hades you say? That makes you my cousin. I haven't met many of my cousins despite all my danger-filled, monster slaying adventures. Many of my adventures made my father very proud of me. My father is-"
"Your father is Zeus. We know," said Kirito, cutting off the NPC. "Which way to the inn?"
"Well aren't you impatient," Heracles said. "It's down the alley directly behind me. About three quarters down on the right." Kirito walked around the NPC before he had finished talking. "How rude of him. Oh, well. I'm not surprised since he's one of Uncle Hades' kids. Anyway, who would like to hear of my many heroic adventures?" The crowd quickly followed Kirito away from the talkative NPC.
"So, my name is Annabeth, daughter of Athena," said Annabeth, "and this is Percy, son of Poseidon, Nico-Hades, Thalia-unclaimed (Thalia pouted again at the reminder), Katie-Demeter, Travis and Connor-Hermes. Together we are the Heroes of Olympus." They were sitting around a table outside a café across from the town's inn with Pollux and the mysterious girl who had comforted him as the sun touched the sea in the distance.
"My name is Pollux, son of Dionysus."
"And I'm Silica," the girl responded with a bright smile. "Daughter of Aphrodite. I'm 13, so don't call me a kid."
"Really? You look like you're- aggh (Annabeth had stomped on his foot) old enough to care for yourself," he finished lamely. It didn't really hurt (the pain absorbers in the game prevented anything less than being stabbed from causing any sort of pain), but he gasped out of reflex.
"You really mean that? Thank you, Percy-kun." Silica obviously wasn't a child of Athena, but her use of the Japanese honorific hinted to those around her of Silica's home country.
"So where are you guys from?" Annabeth asked trying to change the subject. "All seven of us are from America: New York City. And I'm guessing that you're from Japan, Silica."
"Your right! I always wanted to visit New York, but I live in Tokyo (A/N I think? Feel free to correct me and I'll fix it later). Plus I don't know a lot of English."
"But you're speaking English right now," said Travis causing Annabeth to face palm as Katie whispered about the translator programmed into the game in his ear. How he went this long without knowing Annabeth had no idea.
"Anyway," Pollux cut in, "I'm from Kansas (A/N I don't know if he's actually from Kansas, but he is in my story)."
"Where is Kansas?" Silica asked.
"Kansas is in the United States like New York," Annabeth answered.
"Oh. So all of you are from America?"
"Yup," Percy said, popping the P.
"Oh cool! In my school I was taking English as a foreign language, but it's really hard."
"Hard?" Connor asked. "I don't think it's that hard. Could you say something for us in English without the translator?"
"The game we is on are peoples dead making," she said slowly in what was an even thicker Japanese accent than the translator before giving them a bright smile, obviously proud of herself.
"Uh . . . that's right, Silica. You know some English," Annabeth said while patting her head; she didn't want the cute girl's good mood disappear. "Hey, Pollux, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"What was that skill you unlocked at the end of the Boss Fight?"
"That? I think it was called Dionysus Skill: Insane Fury. Apparently it's a skill linked with the emotion simulators in the system, specifically anger. If I get overcome by a blinding rage the skill activates, increasing my attack power, speed, and pain absorber levels, but my defense gets cuts in half and I lose some of my mental capacities for the time being."
"Remind me not to get on his bad side." Connor whispered to Travis.
"Well," said Thalia, speaking for the first time since they sat down. "I'm tired, and I'd bet a hundred Drachma you guys are too. What do you say we crash for the night? You two can room with us. One room for the girls and two rooms for the guys. We'll grind for EXP in the morning."
"I think that's a good idea," said Percy. He was still recovering all his energy after using everything he had in the Boss Fight. The group walked across the alley to the inn, ordered three rooms (each room could hold four and they had a total of four girls and five guys), and said goodnight before splitting up and going to bed.
The Heroes of Olympus, Pollux, and Silica were on the beach just outside the city of Heraklion. They had come to relax before heading to the fields to farm for EXP, but had stumbled upon a Sea Monster that did not seem happy to see them. Pollux and Katie were standing on the beach with their hands in the air, calling plants to wrap the beast. Thalia was shooting at it with her bow, but it wasn't doing much, if any, damage. Annabeth was shouting orders to Percy, who was literally swimming circles around their opponent.
Apparently he could breathe underwater and control the currents with his Poseidon Skills. Who knew?
Everyone else was just standing on the beach. They couldn't do anything except give verbal support. Eventually Thalia got angry; she never was a patient person. Thalia growled as she notched another arrow. "I wish this thing would just DIE already." She fired the arrow hoping to hit the monster in the eye, but the Sea Monster dodged at the last second.
After five minutes of Aim, Shoot, Miss, Growl, Try Again Thalia was fed up. "GRRRAAAHHH!" she screamed. A bolt of lightning suddenly arched out of the black-haired girl and struck the monster, frying it and causing a sonic boom that forced Percy into the air and away from their convulsing enemy. The Sea Monster gave a strangled cry before bursting.
"Uh . . . what just happened?" asked Nico, who had blinked and missed the lightning that ended the fight.
"I think Thalia was just Claimed," Annabeth responded as a sky blue glow surrounded the black-haired girl and the symbol of a lightning bolt appeared over her head. Her Claimed message read Congratulations! You have been Claimed! Your parent is Zeus, Lord of the Skies! She closed the message only to receive another. This one read Congratulations! Skill Unlocked: Electrokinesis.
"Yes! Finally!" Thalia whooped. "I'm not the unclaimed one anymore!"
"Yeah, and you're the sister of Heracles." Nico pointed out. "Have fun with that."
"Shut up Death Breath!"
"Make me Airhead!"
"Dude," said Percy, coming to a realization and stopping the oncoming argument, "we now have children of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades in our small Guild. We have members who can unlock some of the strongest God-Power Skills in the game! Plus we have Katie for Demeter's Plant Skills and the Stolls as our Jack-of-all-trades. We are probably the strongest small Guild in Demigod Heroes Online!"
"But we can't stop getting stronger," said Thalia who was making static electricity spark off of her fingertips to get used to her new God-Power Skill. "Maybe we should start growing by adding more members."
"I think that's a great idea!" exclaimed Percy who was excited by the thought. "Pollux! Silica! Would you two like to join the Heroes of Olympus? We could use your help."
"I don't know," Pollux said slowly, weighing the pros and cons. On one hand he would have people to protect him, but he would have to watch out for them as well. What if they died like his brother had? Could he go through that again?
"Come on Pollux-kun. Please?" Pollux was forced to agree after Silica looked at him with her Puppy-Dog Eyes (an Aphrodite Skill).
"Alright, fine. I'll join. Just stop it with the eyes." He turned away from Silica's cuteness as she cheered. Percy, being the official leader, scrolled through his Player Menu until he found the buttons he was looking for. A 'join Guild?' request appeared in front of Pollux and Silica. Silica accepted quickly; Pollux accepted after she showed him her Puppy-Dog Eyes again.
"Well," said Annabeth after breaking up the Stolls from a wrestling match they had started in their boredom. "I think we should head to the Fields of Crete on the other side of town. It's almost lunchtime, so we can stop to eat and regain our energy on the way. I hear there are dragons in the fields and lucky people are able to tame them. The class of people who tame monsters in the game are called Beast Tamers."
"Ooohhh! I want to try!" exclaimed Silica. "I always wanted a pet dragon after the movie How to Train Your Dragon came out in Japan!"
"Sounds like we have a plan," Percy said. "Good thing it involves food. I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry," Thalia mumbled as they began their trek into Heraklion.
End of Chapter 7
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-SwordOfTheGods
