Hey, what's up, I am the author of this here story and I just wanted to talk and give some background information on me, my motivations, etc.

You can all call me Valentino or Val for short, I am a young writer who is not really experienced in writing fiction, at least like this. I read the two series in junior high and I was a huge fan of both and I still appreciate them now. I decided that I wanted to improve my writing skills and develop some confidence in my ability to write by making this and publishing this for consumption. I chose these two series because I thought I might have some fun ideas or interesting ideas that would help me develop a style. I want to publish a chapter once every week and a half. I will have a section at the end to explain what I'm trying to do and why I used certain ideas and also things I took out (Along with things I wasn't happy with) So enjoy and see you at the end.

Gregor the Demigod

Chapter 1

THIRD-PERSON GREGOR

Gregor walked through the park aimlessly, thoughts of the recent revelation filling his mind. Thoughts of the words swirled in his mind, repeating on an endless loop. "When we were younger, your mother and I chose to foster a child, we didn't expect to adopt but we couldn't help but love the child, that was you Gregor" at that time the rest of what was said didn't matter, those words changed everything. Gregor still loved his family but despite his whole life, Gregor couldn't help but feel alone.

First-person following Gregor

I spent the evening walking through central park, I just needed time to myself, to think, I should've gone home when it started to get dark, but I just needed the time to myself. My mind began to drift to the Underland. I thought of the friends I had made, of Luxa whom I had grown to love in a way, of Ares who had died fighting; but the more I thought about the Underland, the more I thought about the horrors I had to endure. I thoughts of the beasts that I had to fight, I thought of the lifeless bodies of the mice which had been slaughtered, I thought of the Bane and the scars that he had given me. I did my best to push the memories out of my head, I've spent the last here years trying to move on and forget, to just forget it all.

As I walked through the park, I couldn't help but feel like something was deeply wrong. There was an eerie silence to the park, no sounds other than the crunch of snow under my feet, I hadn't even seen a single person since the sun went down and there was so much tension in the air you just about feel it, I couldn't understand why everything felt so wrong, and then I saw him. He stood underneath a street lamp, standing perfectly still as if he was a statue. He was the tallest man I had ever seen and just as wide as if the bane had been reborn as a human. The lamp illuminated him, but it didn't matter, he wore a long brown coat, that somehow covered his entire body, and a hat that helped to obscure his face. I stopped walking entirely, something about him shook me to my core, something about him was deeply wrong; but aside from his unnatural size, I couldn't figure out what bothered me so much about him. "Has anyone ever told you that you reek of death?" The man said sounding almost disgusted, he continued "I've had worse to eat, but you certainly won't be my best meal, that would be that young daughter of Demeter, she had a very natural taste to her" he said with a casual tone that betrayed the seriousness of what he had said. I wanted to say something, I wanted to yell or scream, or even just run away but I was trapped in place as if frozen, then the man started to walk forward. "are you scared? that's the smartest response I've ever seen, you understand that you should be absolutely terrified of me" the man said, as he now stood right in front of me. Something about the man's face was wrong as if it were a poor imitation of a human being, the more I looked at it, the more I noticed what was wrong. The man's skin was a disturbing and fleshy pink, his mouth which had formed into a crooked grin was lined with pointed teeth, his gums were a sickly yellow, and he lacked a nose, only having a bloody stump; but the worst of it all was his one, red eye that stared down at me. I had no idea what to do, this monster in front of me was talking about eating me, he wasn't human, at least not a normal one, he may have been a creature of the Underland, but no one down there had ever mentioned something like this. I had to do something, anything but running was not an option, and screaming was pointless, I had to go on the offense. I summoned all my bravery, balled up my fist, and exploded upward with an uppercut, practically jumping to land it, it connects with a hard thud and it bucks the monsters head back; but suddenly, I felt something ram into my sternum, it sent me flying backward, into a pile of snow and knocked the air out of me. "I take it back, you're an idiot, a very brave, little demigod idiot, but I'll give you this much, you pack quite a punch," The monster said to me, spitting one of his teeth out into the ground. As laid on the ground gasping for air, the monster slowly walked forward, like an animal that knows its prey is already dead. I began to stand up in defiance of everything my body was telling me, I stared at the behemoth that was walking me down, I knew at this moment he was going to kill me, there was absolutely nothing I could do to him, I wanted to run but I could barely stand. I never imagined that this is how it would end, but who could have. I did have one last question; did he call me a demigod? As I was coming to terms with my death there was a flash of light and a thunderous boom, as the monster was blown back and the snow exploded into thick steam all around the area, as I gained my bearing a figure began to walk out of the steam towards me, a pale girl with black hair, she wore a silver circlet on her hand and was clothed in black from head to toe, what struck me most about her appearance was her lighting blue eyes, strangely she carried a spear and shield. The girl looked at me and said simply "I'm here to save your life, save all questions for after I kill the cyclops,"

THIRD PERSON FOLLOWING THALIA

"I told you not to take unnecessary risks, maybe if you had listened none of this would have happened" Artemis had said with subdued anger. Thalia had been called into her tent after everything had settled and the wounded had been tended to. The tent was larger on the inside than it seemed on the outside, the size of a loft, various candles were scattered throughout to keep it illuminated, it was scarcely decorated, most of the space was used for various supplies and equipment, a small simple bed was pushed into a corner which was currently where Artemis sat, carving a piece of wood. "I wanted to finish the monster quickly so we could come and help you," Thalia said hoping that Artemis would understand the good intentions, but Artemis wasn't convinced. "My battle with Echidna was my own, if I had wanted any of you to be there, then I would have brought you, I wanted you to find and eliminate her son and then return," Artemis said without looking up

"and we found it, and we did manage to kill it, just not without some problems" Thalia responded

"You found it sound asleep, out in the open, you could have silently approached and killed it without incident, but instead you fired an arrow at it, not a volley with your fellow huntresses, one arrow- "

"If I hadn't missed- "

"and there's the problem, your entire plan revolved around your success, you had six huntresses there with you, but instead of working with them or planning with them, you acted on your own and ended up getting them hurt, if they had died what then?" Thalia had no answer for what was said. After a few seconds of unbearable silence, Artemis finally stood up, and said "You have so much potential, you're already such a capable warrior and no one would ever deny your courage, but you lack the maturity needed to be my lieutenant"

"You're demoting me?" Thalia asked in disbelief

"No, I want you to leave, go spend some time at Camp half-blood, be a leader to the demigods there, the stakes there are low, especially compared to this" and again an uncomfortable silence hung in the air, Thalia was in disbelief, she had been with them for years, she had made mistakes, but to her, this felt extreme.

First person-Thalia – three hours later

After leaving the huntresses camp, I managed to hitchhike as far as Manhattan, but I wasn't so lucky as to get to long island. After that, I just walked vaguely in the direction of long island, but when I got close to central park, something began speaking to me, literally

"500 meters southwest of you, a demigod in the park, cyclops, save him" the voice whispered in the back of my mind. I couldn't identify the voice; I couldn't even tell whether it came from a male or female. After hearing this, I had to debate whether to follow it, if it was real then, of course, I had to save him, but there was a chance that it was a trap. A mysterious voice inside my head calls me into central park at night, me a mortal daughter of Zeus, and the lieutenant of the hunters of Artemis, the chances of it being a trap are high. I debated with myself what to do but in the end, the idea that there might very well be a demigod being attacked and killed by a cyclops was enough to convince me, despite the possibility of a trap, so I set off as quickly as possible. I ran as quickly as I could, but It would have never felt fast enough, every second it took, was a second that the demigod could die, and I couldn't let that happen, no one else gets hurt, not on my watch. From afar I see the outline of two people, one loomed over the other menacingly, I watched as one launched forward and hit the other clean in the face, but get knocked a few yards away for his effort, and then the presumable cyclops began to walk the demigod down. They were still too far away for me to do anything, so I made the choice to try and call down lightning. Honestly, I wasn't sure if it would work, smaller electrical attacks are already draining and take an insane focus but calling down a focused lightning strike, that takes a lot, but I had to try. I began to focus on it, I could feel the air around me begin to change, it began to charge and pop with energy, the hair on my body rose and I could feel an overwhelming pressure throughout my body, I took a deep breath, saw the target in front of me, and when I breathed out, it struck. A fierce bolt of lightning struck down in front of the cyclops, knocking It back and sending out a plume of steam into the air. I saw my opportunity, with a tap to the bracer on my wrist, it was a shield, I pulled out a small hunting knife from my pocket, and with three taps on the blade, it was a spear. I needed to get to the demigod, from there I could make sure they were safe and then make an offensive plan. I rushed down quickly, getting through the steam, and getting right up to the demigod. When I got close enough to make out his appearance, I was surprised. He was a lot older than I expected, he looked around the same age as me, he had, with medium length black hair, emerald green eyes, and milky white skin, he was bundled up in multiple layers of clothes which all looked old and raggedy. "I'm here to save your life, save all questions for after I kill the cyclops," I said, it was a little cheesy, but it got the point across, he looked like he wanted to say something but before he could speak, a voice yelled out at them "FINE, THAT'S JUST FINE, I'LL GET TWO DECENT MEALS TONIGHT AT LEAST". He didn't sound happy, I wanted to move forward but I couldn't see past the steam, so I had to wait for the right opportunity, I put myself in front of the demigod, shield raised, waiting.

Third Person – General scene

Thalia stood waiting for her opponent to come to her, Gregor stood back, confused as to what was going on, he wanted to ask a question or just say something, but he couldn't find the words, the situation before him was befuddling to him, to say the least. Thalia lowered her shield and spear as if she believed the threat had left, the second she did, the cyclops blitzed forward, faster than a charging bull and with even more force. In faster than a blink of the eye, Thalia's spear shot out and pierced through the neck of the cyclops, killing it instantly, it crashed into the ground, quickly turning into dust.

First-person – Thalia

There was indescribable satisfaction in killing the cyclops, watching it turn into dust was going to be the highlight of my week. I turned my attention to the demigod, who looked at me with a look of amazement and confusion. "What the hell, was any of that? who are you? what was he? Why do you have a spear? And how did you make an explosion?" He said rapidly, asking questions one after the other.

"I am Thalia, he was a cyclops, this spear is my weapon which I used to kill monsters like him, that explosion was a lightning bolt, I can do that because I am a daughter of Zeus, I am a demigod" With each answer his eyes got wider and wider.

"Zeus? Like the god of thunder, the one from Greek mythology, you're his daughter?" he said slowly, as if processing each word slowly

"If that's unbelievable, just wait until I tell you that either your mom or dad is a God, maybe not as important as Zeus but a god or goddess nonetheless" after hearing this, the demigod just slowly sat on the ground and said "Can't my life ever just be normal" part of me felt bad, after all of this, the last thing he needed was to hear all this.

First Person – Gregor

It must have been weird for her to see me just slump into the snow, but I didn't know what else to do. First, I discover I'm adopted, I take a walk in the park, I get attacked and now I'm being told that not only were the gods of Greek myth real but that the girl who saved me was a demigod and so was I. My mind turned to the Underland; the two things had to be related but I was hesitant to ask at this moment. "We need to go, the sooner we get to the camp, the better for you," she said

"What camp?" I asked

"a camp for demigods, they can take care of you and train you there to better handle monsters like that one, and you're going to need it, because that wasn't the last one" I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread with that last part she said

"I can't just leave, I have my family, I can't just leave, they'll be beyond worried, no I can't just- "

"You don't have much of a choice, as I said, these monsters will keep coming for you, you have a target on your back now, do you want to bring that back to your home, to your family?"

As much as I wanted to argue, she was right, I couldn't do this to them, I couldn't bring something like this home, not again. I couldn't help but wonder why this had to happen to me, the Underland and now this, it seemed like I was a magnet for odd events, and I was getting tired of it.

"Fine, I'll go, but only on the condition that I'm able to at least say goodbye to my family," I said as confidently as I could muster in this situation, I hoped she would at least give me this. She signed and looked at the ground for a second, at first, she looked annoyed by what I had said, but then her expression softened, she looked back up at me and said "Fine, but we need to hurry up" I was happy I could at least do this, but I had no idea how to tell my family about this whole situation, or at least how to get them to let me go somewhere for an indiscriminate amount of time. "My family's apartment isn't too far from the park, my name is Gregor by the way".

A short time later, at Gregor apartment, First-person – Gregor

We arrived at my family's apartment, on the way Thalia had told me everything about the Greek gods and how everything works, admittedly I was still a little confused, but it was a start. At the door, I spoke up to Thalia "Look I can't tell my family about all this, they have enough going on without all of this, so just follow my lead" she looked like she was about to say something, but I quickly knocked on the door, and almost as quickly the door opened. My mother had answered the door, she looked tired, despite my father working again, it was still barely enough to support our family and things had recently gotten a lot harder with my grandmother's medical bills getting ridiculously expensive, things had been getting very stressful for our family. "Gregor, I need your help with boots, she is-" My mother paused when she saw Thalia. My mom had looked surprised at first, but she put on a smile and said "oh, I wasn't expecting you to bring home a guest, please come in, dinner should be ready soon" My mom said with false enthusiasm, she ushered us both into the house. The house was messy and disorganized, with random books and children's toys scattered around, Lizzie sat at the dinner table working on a puzzle book, boots sat in front of the TV, she was covered in dust and dirt, no doubt from her latest adventures, my dad was keeping busy, stirring a stew. "My name is Grace Alard, what's your name dear?" my mom said

"Thalia" she responded simply and quickly, which took my mother back, I couldn't blame Thalia, for the short response, we were in a rush.

"Mom I have to tell you

"Gregor has been accepted to a very prestigious boarding school in long island, I'm here to act as the school's student representative, and tell the parents everything about the school," Thalia said interrupting me, I was annoyed with her about this, I had a plan but now that was off the table, this made things difficult, to say the least. My mom looked surprised when hearing this, and for just a split second a wave of concern flashed over her face, she was worried about how we were going to pay for a school like this. Even still my mom waved Thalia over to the couch to talk about the school, now It was my turn to be concerned, Thalia and I would have to make up a lot of details about an imaginary school, very quickly.

"So, tell me everything about this school," My mother said

"Well, it's one of the best boarding schools in the country, it is based out of long island and looks great on college applications," Thalia said, each word came slowly and awkwardly as if she had to think each word through, which in this circumstance she did

"you mentioned that, but I would like some more information, tuition, cost of room and board, even just a name would be nice," My mother said exasperated

"well, it's called Chiron's Academy for future leaders!" Thalia said sounding Triumphant, at this moment, I thought we were doomed.

"Chiron's academy?!" my dad piped from the kitchen, he turned off the stove and rushed over

"You've heard of its Thom?" My mom asked my dad

"Of course, I had a few of my former students attend, they run a lottery for poorer income households, full scholarship with room and board from acceptance till graduation," my dad said, he had a huge smile on his face and each word was as happier than I had seen in a very long time.

"So, it is free, and it is a legitimate prestigious school, that our son has been invited too" With each word, my mom's smile grew, and her voice got louder and more enthusiastic. I couldn't believe our luck; I also couldn't believe that this school was real, and my father knew about it. My mother couldn't have helped me pack faster, goodbyes were exchanged quickly, and I was practically rushed out of the door, my father handed me a few dollars for Taxi fair, and we were on our way.

Right outside my apartment, I said to Thalia "I was worried there when you started saying all that, but I shouldn't have been, I guess the academy is a common cover for this"

"No, it isn't, your dad just went along with it, so let's thank the Gods and get out of here"

Two hours later at Camp Half-blood- First-person – Gregor

After a lengthy Taxi ride, we arrived at a dirt road which I assumed led to the camp, it seemed like it would take a minute to arrive, so I decided to make conversation

"So, what's it like?"

"what do you mean"

"Being the daughter of Zeus" as I said the name, she immediately shushed me

"Here is a quick rule to remember, try not to use the names of Gods in casual conversation, otherwise you might get their attention and you don't want that if they're having a bad day" She looked down for a moment, and then said

"To answer your question, it's not like much of anything beyond having his powers, it's not like him or any of the gods can be very attentive parents, which you'll learn soon enough"

"I would think being the daughter of the king of gods has its benefits"

"Half of the Olympians could make the same claim, and also he is king but that doesn't hold as much weight as you'd think, his siblings, especially his brothers act mostly independently of him, and speaking of his brothers, one of them did put a hit on me which eventually led to me becoming a tree" I stopped in my tracks after hearing that and all I could say was "what?"

"it's complicated, eventually I got turned back into a human, and then there was this prophecy, but I joined the huntresses which meant it got pushed onto Percy"

"Son of the trident god, you mentioned him before" Thalia laughed at that and then said

"Sea god, but it's close enough" there was a brief silence, and I thought about prophecies, and my own experience with them, I murmured to myself "can't escape prophesies I guess"

"I mean I did, but I got lucky because- "

"Stop, whose there!?" A voice yelled out to us, a boy who couldn't have been older than 13 approached, he had had copper-colored hair, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin, he wore armor that looked several sizes too big for him, he carried a small oil lantern. The boy came to a stop, he held up the oil lantern to see us better, he peered at us for a second, then he focused on Thalia

"Chiron sent me to watch out for you, Thalia, not you, I don't know who you are," he said pointing at me. Thalia pushed his hand away and spoke up "this is Gregor, he's a stray I picked up along" the kid peered at me for a second, and then smiled at me. "well Chiron is waiting, at the gate, he's actually been waiting for a while, you weren't supposed to take this long" he said and then proceeded to quickly walk down the trail, and we followed. Eventually we reached the end of the trail, where who I presumed was Chiron was waiting. I should have been more surprised to see Centaurs for the first time although, but after today and my experiences in the Underland, I would have been more surprised to not see a Centaur waiting for me. He stood tall and trotted forward to meet us, he addressed Thalia first "Thalia, it is good to see you, lady Artemis sent word ahead of your arrival, although I expected you to be here much sooner than this, although I presume it might have something to do with this young man," he said looking at me, he had a gentle smile and intelligent eyes, he reminded me of Vikus.

"You presumed correctly; this is Gregor" Thalia responded

"yeah, sorry she took time to save my life, and then to help convince my family to let me leave," I said, I hoped maybe it would look better on her if I mentioned this.

"Well, I'm glad she did, my name is Chiron, I oversee the training, and- "he paused, and stared at something above my head, I looked over to Thalia and she stared at something above my head.

"That can't be right, give him that, he keeps his word, he would follow the oath," Thalia said in disbelief

"The other two didn't keep their oaths, why would he bother too, although it is rare that he has children at all" Chiron responded, I looked above my head, just in time to watch a dark purple symbol of a skull disappear

"What does that mean?" I asked

Chiron looked at me and said "Your parentage, you are the son of the silent one, the king of the underworld, your father is Hades, the god of the dead"

So the first chapter is over, so overall I am okay with how this turned out, I felt like I did rush through things and I felt I didn't really get the level of characterization I wanted but I also wanted to get this chapter over with, along with some technical stuff like Point of view. So now I want to talk about certain things I've done with this story and why

1. Percy will not be in the story, FOR NOW. I want to stay focused on the characters I'm using right now (And in all honesty, I don't know how to ever have tense scenes with a character who is practically invulnerable to all damage) he will have a role in the story later on, same with Nico and Annabeth

2. I'm using Thalia as one of the main characters because I thought it would provide for some interesting moments later on

3. I know a lot of people would have assumed that Ares would be the literal God parent of Gregor but I didn't like the idea of it. Gregor is a good fighter but he isn't a violent character and children of the big three are supposed to be more powerful than the average demigod, I picked Hades because Hades is the god of basically everything underground, so I thought the connection would be interesting especially when they get to the Underland

4. The story will get progressively darker, I wanted to start off with something more lighthearted (Except for the actual monster) and get darker as the story goes on

so some ideas I decided not to include or use and why

A scene with Thalias screwup that injured the other huntresses - I couldn't figure out how to make it work and I felt like it would drag things out and it was just difficult to write

Originally I was going to have a much longer introduction and a lot more monologuing from Gregor about being sad- I thought it was too melodramatic for what had happened and I want to avoid melodrama (for now)

If you couldn't tell, I had no idea how to write Gregor's family, that's why the scene zipped by.