A/N: Hey guys back with another chapter! This one is fun since I get to write some cool scenes and -what is this? Samson's getting a girlfriend! Oh snap, wonder how that's gonna pan out since he's nearly socially incompetent! Fair warning, there's going to be some sexualization in this chapter and references of sex, close your virgin eyes if stuff like that ruffles your jimmies.


With Samson, Summer 1966

"What do you mean he's dating a goddess?"

"Exactly as I said, he looked at her and said some pretty words. Now I'm spying on them across the street at this little Mom and Pop diner they're eating at."

"The Hades, why are you spying on them? That's kinda creepy, Samson."

I roll my eyes in dismissal, "Max's dating the goddess of discord and doesn't even fully appreciate that fact. Fool practically swore an oath to her after she kissed him on the cheek."

Mori puts her head in her hands through the wavy Iris Message and groans comically, "Uugh! What is it with you boys and wanting to hump anything that gives you a pretty smile!"

I shrug my shoulders and look back into my binoculars, "Hormones probably. Max is a growing teenage boy and she's a pretty girl. It's nature at its most pure, horny things fucking."

She starts snickering, "Guess we can only wish him luck now. He kinda rushed into this but you can't back out after gaining the fancy of a god, they fall in love quickly and are pretty devoted until a baby pops out. I'm telling you, he's gonna end up with a psychopath for a kid!"

"You're not wrong about that, Eris children end up crazy often. Hearing voices telling them they'll be a king and stuff like that. I swear I'll flip if he actually names the theoretical kid Sam."

Mori starts laughing and I look back at her, "That's so sweet of him! I guess your bromance runs pretty deep, huh? Listen, I've got to go, some weird stuff has been happening in Husavik and papa is getting all weird."

I say my goodbyes and she swipes the IM away. I look back in my binoculars and Max and Eris and my skin nearly jumps when Eris suddenly turns and looks at me, drawing her finger across her throat and then points at me.

Taking the hint, I quickly pack up my belongings and use my mirror and skedaddle the fuck right out of there!


Forging is always a relaxing past time of mine. The heat and the thrill of crafting beautiful equipment and weapons always gives me a pleasant adrenaline rush.

Talking with Joseph we decided I should change my fighting style some. I've generally used my sword and dagger to parry and counter attack, but my only defense has been to dodge. While that's perfectly okay he recommended I give myself some other means of defense besides relying on my silver jacket and jumping from harm.

After I finished a pair of gifts for Mori when she returns back to camp I started working on a special enchanted shield.

In its disguised form, the shield appears as a metal engraving wrapped around the left sleeve of my silver jacket. When activated it turns into an elaborate Ghisi shield with a unique ability aside from transformation. When you assume a defensive position, an invisible shimmering barrier forms around your body that protects from projectiles of any kind.

The down side is that something of sufficient strength or consistent strikes can break the barrier and that forces the spell into a cool down mode of sorts for a short time until you can use it again.

I added the spell because of the Cockatrice incident, I have little range against targets and I can only dodge projectiles so much. With this enchantment I can defend against projectiles and still advance into sword range.

After a few days of hard work and enchanting my shield is finally complete. I graft the metal into the sleeve and give it a few tugs to make sure the bindings hold and it's not uncomfortable around my arm.

I move my arm and turn it in a few directions. I don't feel any resistance or tugging from the engraving, so now it's time for the next test.

I stand in a defensive position and will the shield to expand. Instantly the engravings pop to life and a small shield, two feet in diameter pops around my arm, leather straps hold it snug against my arm. I wave the shield around and mimic blocking and riposting maneuvers.

The shield doesn't jiggle or feel loose one bit, and the weight is perfectly balanced and comfortable on my arm.

I smile at my latest creation, a few of the Hephaestus kids give me looks ranging from anger to jealousy, some seem like an amalgamation of both. I give them a cheeky grin and they huff and go back to their own works. Ha, sucks to be them!


It's been about a week since I last talked with Mori, she told me she'll contact me if something comes up, but that she otherwise wants privacy.

I understand why she wants her privacy, I'm just worried about what she told me when we last spoke. Strange things happening around demigods means monsters almost ninety percent of the time.

"Darkness imprisoning me. All that I see, absolute horror." Gods fucking damn! I nearly jump out of my skin when Thomas sneaks up on me again. I turn to him, he's currently holding a twitching rabbit in his hands.

"Hello, Thomas. What was that about Richard?"

He hacks into his hand, "Rich does he call ye, over yonder and through the windows. In home, stories to be told."

"Ah, thank you very much. I'll go with you." Thomas and I start walking back to the Athena cabin to meet with Richard. Apparently he has news for us.

When we arrive at the cabin a strange smell fills my nose. It smells salty with the strange scent of fish. We open the door and see a beautiful woman with flowing black hair and tanned skin deep in conversation with Richard. She's wearing a beautifully embroidered dress with flowing designs depicting sea life and other ocean-based imagery.

I idly recognize the design as one Steven wove last year. My heart aches in remembrance but I shake off the feeling as the woman gives us her attention.

She turns to Thomas and Me after she finishes whatever Richard was with her about. The lady nods to Richard and he walks out of the cabin taking Thomas with him, leaving me alone with the strange lady whose beautiful brown eyes bore into my light grey ones.

She sizes me up for a few moments before she speaks in a soft and kind voice, "Hello, Samson. My name is Amphitrite and I am in need of your assistance."

I give her a respectful bow. Gods what is it with me and running into goddesses! At least Amphitrite has a reputation for being nice compared to most other goddesses. I'm just worried about pissing her off since she's the wife of Poseidon and him and my mother hate each other.

He seemed fine with me when we met last winter, so he doesn't hate her children automatically, which is good. It's just that if I piss off his wife he's going to be pissed off at me. I like the water, so I REALLY can't afford to fuck this up!

"Lady Amphitrite, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

She rubs the back of her neck nervously, "Look, usually gods are more formal about this kind of stuff but I'm in a hurry here. A few days ago, I let my husband's favorite pet out to use the bathroom and he swam away. You can probably guess gods don't keep small things as a pet, and he's rather fond of sea serpents."

I gulp nervously, does she want me to fight and capture a sea serpent! How the Hades am I going to do that?

She takes not of my disposition, "You're nervous, I get it. Don't worry about killing him, he reforms pretty quickly so I can keep it a secret until then."

She walks over puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder, "If you accept, I'll greatly appreciate it and owe you a favor later. I believe you can do this. Your mother gave me her recommendation and you've already proven yourself an accomplished hero!"

I'm flabbergasted, this is a dangerous task she's asking of me. But at the same time, having a favor from a goddess is incredibly useful, especially from a sea goddess since eventually one of the places I have to travel in is an incredibly dangerous patch of ocean.

I take a shaky breath, my decision already made, "Lady Amphitrite, I accept your quest."

She smiles warmly, and my heart skips a beat. "Excellent! I'll send you to the place you need to be, and don't worry, your friend there will be invaluable with your quest. Oh, and don't worry about camp, I'll tell them you're doing something important for me, kay?

Before I can respond she snaps her fingers and what looks like bubbles swarm around me, distorting my vision as flashes of imagery race around me and the world feels like it's spinning crazy fast.

Then suddenly it's over and everything settles down and the bubbles start popping, revealing I'm in an entirely different country based on the people speaking in a language I don't understand and the signs are in an entirely different alphabet.

I look around at the town I'm in, everything seems like it's old and made of wood. The smell of sea salt and brine water fills my nose.

The air bites my face in cold and a faint drizzle falls from the cloudy sky. Overall, wherever I am seems like a pretty shitty place. As I start to wander a voice calls out from behind me, incredibly in English.

"Samson?"


HATCHAA!

"Oh, for fucks sake, Samson! I gave you a tissue box for a reason!"

"…I'm sorry."

Mori sighs in exasperation. She stands and walks to the kitchen before coming back with a bowl of hot soup. I wrap the blanket around my shoulders snugger and take the hot bowl she offers me.

"What in the world are you doing here? Better yet, why were you out in the cold without a hat or anything warm?"

I spoon hot soup down my throat, the heat comfortably burning its way down. "Amphitrite sent me here, a sea monster of hers is running loose and she wants me to kill it."

Mori bites her lip and looks away, "…I see."

Silence overtakes the room. I look around the old living space, creaky wood boards and old-fashioned wall paper covers the wall. Picture frames and knickknacks fill the shelf space. The room is dark as there's no overhead light, only candles and the faint evening light illuminates anything.

The house is tiny and compacted, a few steps take you to the kitchen and a few more to the stairs leading to the second floor.

"Hey, Samson?" Her voice is quiet and soft, almost like she's a small child in trouble. "Can I ask you something?"

I move over and she sits next to me on the soft couch. She twiddles her thumbs in her lap nervously, so I throw some of my blanket over her shoulder. Mori blushes a little and turns to me, "Samson, I-I like you."

I tilt my head to the side, "I like you too, Mori. You're a really good friend."

Something between a hiccup and a laugh escapes her lips, "Oh my gods, dude. I mean, like, I really -really like you."

Before I can ask her what she means she leans forward and her lips meet mine. My eyes widen as a strange feeling rushes through me. She pulls back and I'm frozen in place, I don't know what to do. This feeling was entirely different from kissing the Aphrodite girls.

She walks over to the stairs and stops at the base, blushing wildly but still maintaining a coy smile, "Good night, Samson. We need to talk more in the morning." And then she's gone.

…Holy shit.


Artemis is giving me a weird look as we stand outside in the empty streets, the moon high in the sky. She's currently in her 'adult' body.

"Nephew… I'm a virgin goddess. This is something for Aphrodite to handle, not me."

I scratch my head, still flustered from earlier, "I didn't know who else to ask. You're the only woman beside Mori I can trust with this stuff."

Her ego seems boosted for a second before she tilts her head to the side, "Why didn't you ask Athena? She's your mother and dates people I think."

I give her a weird look and she understands, raising her hands in defeat. "Right, definitely shouldn't go to a parent about dating advice."

"You've been around for millennia, I figured you'd know about this. I mean surely you've dated someone before?"

She crosses her arms and looks up at the moon, "…okay there's been a few. Like, five maybe. It just didn't really pan out well, they were sweet I'm just not ready for that stuff."

We're quiet for a minute then Artemis speaks up, "All I can say treat her like a god, or queen. Devotion is important too, at least I think it is."

I nod my head vigorously, her wisdom bouncing around in my head. Goddess, queen, devotion. She looks back at me, "I don't say this often, but take what I'm saying with a side of salt, I don't actually know what I'm talking about."

I turn away as she flashes out in a burst of silver light, leaving me alone in the streets to consider everything that's happened in the past few hours.

Turning around I walk back inside Mori's house and freeze in the entrance way. Should I sleep on the couch or… should I join Mori upstairs? I'm really confused, and I still don't know what to do.

I fumble with the hem of my shirt for a few minutes as paranoid thoughts race through my mind. Does she like me? What's next? How do I make her happy? They race through my mind for several minutes until a hand wraps around my own.

I flinch a little and look up to see a sleepy-eyed Mori in a long nightgown. When did she get here, how did I not hear her?

She gives me a soft smile and I feel my face heat up a little. Her fingers intertwine with mine and she leads me upstairs and towards her room. I'm full on blushing now as she takes off my jacket and invites me to lay on her bed.

Mori snuggles up to my side and pulls the blankets over us. I release a mental sigh of relief that we're only napping with each other right now, I don't think I'm ready for what usually happens when a girl brings a boy into her room.

I wrap an arm around her and she does the same with me. I close my eyes as my beating heart slows down and my flustered panic levels out until peace fills my being.

Hypnos soon overtakes both of us as we sleep in each other's arms.


The following morning Mori took me around town and showed me the sights. I found out that this town is Husavik and is her birth place. It's a small harbor town in northern Iceland. Fishing and tourism is really it's only call to fame.

The weather sucks and the people seem very rugged, but it has a quaintness to it. There's a charm in the air, everyone is happy here even if it's a very boring fishing town. I can see Poseidon being quite happy here.

We walk around for a few hours until Mori pulls us into a nice small-time restaurant. Mori and I order some nice coffee and Mori continues with the topic she hinted at last night.

"Samson, my father and his fishing vessel have gone missing. They've been gone for a few days, and the coast guard won't investigate until they miss their check in a few days from now."

I give her a curious look, "It sounds like boats are gone for a week at a time then, are you sure they just aren't busy? Not missing?"

She shakes her head sadly, "I'm sure, I have these feelings when things go wrong. I can feel when a disaster of some kind has happened, and right now that feeling is practically clawing my chest open!"

The waitress drops off our coffee and Mori takes a healthy gulp from hers, "Samson, I'd appreciate it if you can help me find my father. I have a hunch that this serpent you're hunting is related in some way."

Oh gods, boats and sea monsters don't get along or leave survivors often. I give Mori a sad look of pity, "Mori, you might not like what you'll learn if we search for your father. He might not… you may be able to bring him back."

She shakes her head, "It doesn't matter, if I have to I will. There's a chance they're on a raft or something. Maybe they never sank at all and they're stuck dead in the water. Samson, no matter what I have to know!"

Her eyes dazzling emerald gemstone eyes stare at me with resolution sparkling in them. I almost feel like I can get lost in them, but she snaps her fingers and I'm drawn out of my hypnosis.

Shaking my head clear I reach into my pocket and pull out a small jewelry box. Mori's eyes widen as she brings her hands to her mouth to cover her gasp. I open the box to show two rings inside, one a golden color and the other silver.

Her eyes start to water as I hand her the silver band which she quickly slides onto her finger.

"Samson, I-I..."

I give her a coy smile, "Rub the ring with your thumb."

She does, and her eyes widen as the ring transforms into a long silver Naval Cutlass, the word 'Razor' is engraved in beautiful calligraphy along the blade.

I put the gold ring on and it turns long golden Spanish Cutlass, 'Shear' is engraved along mine in equally beautiful calligraphy.

Tears roll down her cheeks as she stares at our weapons in shock.

"Surprise? I made these for us when you came back, they're companion blades in a way. When you open your hand it transform back into a ring on your finger, so you'll never lose it!"

She runs her hand down along the spine of her blade, appreciating the feeling of the cool metal under her finger tips, "They're beautiful! I don't know what to say!"

"That's not all, twist the handle with your hand." She raises an eyebrow at me but looks back down at the sword and twists the black leather handle.

Brilliant red flames erupt from the blade like it was dipped in oil and lit on fire. The magic flame is silent as it dances off the blade, yet the handle remains completely cooled in her hand.

I do the same with my blade and blue flame soon dances across mine. "The fire is like celestial bronze, it can't harm mortals, but it is completely deadly to monsters, they'll like up like Greek fire when hit with this."

We open our hands and the weapons turn into rings on our fingers. Mori quickly leans over the table and pulls me into an odd-looking hug.

"Samson, I love it so much, sister swords? It's so sweet!"

Compliments gush from her mouth and I practically turn red as a tomato. I'm not use to all this praise and I'm getting very flabbergasted.

We talk for a little longer before I bring us back to the most important topic of today, "Okay, how are we going to search for him then? Do we have a boat?"

She now has a Cheshire Cat style grin, "Oh, I know how to get one."


When she said she could get us a boat, I didn't expect her to brainwash the crew of a hundred-foot fishing vessel and enslave them to us. 'It's just temporary!' she tells me, but I'm just a bit uncomfortable controlling living human beings this way.

We've been out on the water for a few hours and we've seen no sign of her father's boat yet. Mori is having the captain call out on the radio to see if her father would answer but all we've gotten back is static.

The waves are choppy, and the winds are strong, but our boat, The Lusankya, runs through them with no issues.

I'm watching off the starboard side of the boat, keeping a lookout for signs of anything really, boats or sea monsters. One of the crewmen walks over and leans against the rail next to me.

His accent is as thick as his beard and arms when he speaks, "There's a bad wind in the air, this cruise is cursed."

I look to him, "Cursed? How so?"

He points with his head to the head mast and I see a large black raven resting high on the wooden beams. "Ravens' are harbingers O' death. Not good luck when they're around on a boat in the middle of the sea."

I gulp and return to my lookout, Amphitrite's pet sea monster combined with an Icelandic omen of death leaves me just a tad bit worried.

I decide to switch and look off the port side. Half an hour in I notice a strange flock of birds far off in the distance. It almost looks like a tornado of them as some rise from the ocean and others dive down. It takes me a second to realize but I've heard of this before.

"CAPTAIN!" I yell out over the crashing waves and the roaring gales. He opens the window and poke his head out and looks at me, "LOOK!" I point out at the swarm of birds off in the distance. He nods and disappears back into the command room, the boat then turns coarse and we start sailing towards the swarm.

Within half an hour a putrid smell hits our nostrils. It smells like rotting meat and salt. Fifteen minutes later and our boat pulls up next to the shredded carcass of a whale, the sea water stained an eerie red color.

We all look at the body from the side and half the sailors form crosses with their fingers over their chests while others mumble prayers to god. I send a quick one to mother myself.

The captain pulls us away from the dead whale, but lingering dread fill the crew. That whale was killed by something, those bite marks belonged to something much bigger than a natural predator.


The sun was hitting the midday time when a crew member screams out at us to look at something off the starboard bow.

We all race to the side and look at what he's pointing out. It's hard to see from a distance but as we get closer it was clear that we're looking at the debris from an old boat.

Mori's face is that of devastation when she reads the name of the boat painted on the side of a large piece of floating debris, 'The Ragnarok', the name of the boat her father captained.

I pull her into a hug and we hold one another tight as she weeps into my shoulder. The crewman gives us looks of pity but continue about their duties. The captain signals everyone to hunker down and he turns the boat around and we start sailing back to Husavik.

About twenty minutes into our trip Mori has started to calm down as we rest in a cot in the lower deck. One of the biggest tragedies of demigod life is how quickly you have to move on from things.

Demigods have very short lifespans, we're forced to grow up far quicker than any regular person should. But as the gods like to remind us, we aren't normal, we're better. It doesn't help with the pain, unfortunately.

The boat suddenly jolts harshly and Mori and I are thrown from our cot. We stand to our feet and race to the top deck. The crew members are leaning over the sides, trying to see something in the water. I look over and see that the boat is stuck or something, we aren't moving anymore.

I turn around and yell, "Captain! What's happened!"

His window pops open, "We hit something, lad! The engines are shot, mechanics are on their way to the engine room!"

AAAGH!

We freeze at the blood curdling scream, but I quickly turn around and hear a splash, the crewman next to me is completely gone! My eyes widen, and I back up into the middle of the boat, my sword flashing to life in my hand.

Mori see's this and she follows suit, "Sailors! Back from the edges, arm yourselves! We're not alone out here!"

I hear them start yelling at each other as they run around to crates and start pulling out fire axes and machetes and get into a defensive position in the center of the boat.

Eerie silence hovers over us, the gentle waves and winds doing nothing to counter the horror of what we're about to face.

Another slam hits the boat and we're thrown to our feet. As we rise a sailor starts screaming in absolute bloody murder as he's raised high into the air by what looks like massive octopus tentacles.

I nearly hurl when they wrap around his waist and pull him in twine! His gargled screams fading as his two halves are pulled off either side of the boat.

Then the boat explodes in excitement. The men start screaming Krake as dozens more tentacles pour over the sides and onto the deck. I start swiping at the ones that slap at me, dodging the small piranha toothed mouths on the tips.

Mori launches a wave of fire from her sword and kills a half dozen tentacles, several others dive and wrap around the legs of four sailors and drag them overboard.

I duck under the bite of a stray tentacle and it snaps its jaws around the neck of the first mate behind me with lighting speed. I quickly severe the tentacle in two but I wasn't quick enough to save the man's life!

He falls back and his blood spills out across the deck. There's about twenty tentacles left snapping at us and only six of us left. The crewmen handle fairly well suffering only minor cuts as they huddle backs against each other in a defensive circle.

Several slam into the window of the command room and smash around until the pull the captain out and drag him underwater, the man screaming the entire time as he stabs the tentacle to no effect with a small pocket knife.

Mori and myself start working our way to the man pile, fending off eight snapping jaws as we backtrack. I rake my sword through four as several others simultaneously strike out at Mori, but she ducks under and draws her cutlass through all of them. Something shrieks under the water and the tentacles retract off the deck and disappear under the waves.

The surviving men raise their weapons and cheer in victory. Mori and I share a look, this doesn't feel right, that shouldn't have been easy.

The boat rocks violently again and a massive form raises itself in front of the boat. The thing is massive, it has what looks like a mix between a snake and a shark. Its head looks big enough to swallow an elephant whole and its teeth look like sword sized sharks teeth pulled in a bastardized smile.

Its mouth opens and it screams a loud guttural roars as several tentacle flail out of its mouth. The men behind us freeze in horror. I hear some scream jormungandr but I ignore them and pull a red flower from my jacket.

I give it a good chuck and it lands inside its mouth and explodes in a loud crack like a grenade. The monster doesn't react and slams its head down on the deck, causing the shock wave to destroy most of the floor and throw us to our feet.

"Samson!" Mori yells and pulls me to my feet. "Samson, what monster is this, do you know?" I get a good look at it, it's flesh is slimy and a very deep blue, almost like the deep ocean. The eyes are tiny and fogged over, like it's blind.

I quickly think back to ocean serpents I know of and only one pops into my mind, "It's Cetus, the one Perseus slew to save Andromeda!"

The beast roars and it feels like the boat shakes from the power of its voice. "How are we supposed to kill it? We don't have a gorgon's head!"

I think back to the tale of how Perseus slew Cetus, one account has it that he used Medusa's head, which I don't have, but a less known version is that he stabbed in in the neck and killed it that way.

"Mori! Keep it distracted, I've got a plan, but I can't be seen by it!"

She nods and throws what looks like a sparkling glob of red light that smashes into the serpent's snout. It screams and several dozen tentacles pool from the mouth like it's throwing up an octopus.

I jump off the side of the boat and start into the freezing cold water and start swimming under the water towards Cetus. Under the water I can see more of the body as it stretches so far into the deep I can't even see the end of it!

It must be five-hundred feet that I can see in the illuminated water, a horrible feeling grows in my gut at the thought of how massive this thing must truly be.

I shake my fear away and start swimming to the back of Cetus and to its vertebrae. Muffled sounds and crashes explode above water as debris and shredded corpses fall past me and sink into the black depths of the ocean.

After swimming painfully slow in the freezing water I grab loose bits of flesh on the monsters back to hold myself in place. I summon my new sword and stab into its spine and start pulling it across. I feel Cetus jolt in pain, but I continue cutting into the groove until I cut past the bone and into the muscle and nerves underneath.

I feel the Cetus twitch and convulse until the body starts to drop as I sever the nerves controlling the lower parts keeping it afloat. I let go of the flesh and start swimming to the surface as Cetus's horrifying mouth races past me like an anchor dropped in the sea.

I surface and swim over to a loose rope and pull myself back up to the deck. There's blood and body parts all over the surface and I nearly throw up when I slip on a severed arm.

I'm lifted to my feet and a sick relief fills me as I see the only survivor of our trip is Mori. She gives me a sad smile as tears stream down her cheek. Realization then hits me as she sets me down on a chair in the command room that at least forty men have died between two boats in the past few days.

Twenty on ours, and another twenty on her father's ship, her father being counted on that list. Mori pulls out a small hand mirror from her coat and wraps an arm around me as I start to shiver violently from the cold.

Then the world spins as she transports us away, leaving an old abandoned boat to sink under the Icelandic sea.


It's now late at night back at Mori's house, I just got done with a nice hot shower and Mori is taking hers right now.

I've switched into some old pajamas Mori loaned me as I relax on her bed. With that whole ordeal we just experienced, a night in a warm bed shared by two people is more than acceptable right now.

I hear the shower stop and after a few moments Mori enters the room wearing a puffy bathrobe. Her facial expression is unreadable, like a void almost. I can't see any life in her eyes or on her face and my heart aches in pity and sympathy. Both of us lost our fathers and neither of us could give them a proper burial.

"Samson," her voice is steady and soft, "-can you help me with something, please?"

I nod, "Anything you need, whatever it is I'll do, no complaints."

She gives me a grateful smile and her robe drops, leaving a very nude Mori in front of me. My eyes wander her body for a second before I remember my manners as I quickly turn away, my face red in embarrassment and shame. A soft hand snakes around my cheek and turns my head so I'm looking back at Mori.

A strange feeling passes over me that I can only think of as being my teenage hormones as she stares into my eyes with a look of lust on her reddened. Gods the look of her makes me feel faint, but she pulls me into a passionate kiss and energy flows back into my tired body.

This almost certainly isn't healthy. Mori's latching onto me after losing her father mere hours ago and this decision we're making isn't wise in any fashion, but we ignore logic and give in to our primal desires.

What happens now is a night I'll never forget, the night we first truly made love.