Chapter 8: The Truth
Author's P.O.V
-16 years ago-
"I shall have all your attention!" The booming voice that can only be none other than the king of Gods itself could be heard in a wide room filled with Gods and Goddesses. The room that was filled with bickering and everyone throwing their opinion regarding a certain matter at each other suddenly turned quiet.
The rather pressing matter in hand is… something that no mortal allowed to know, and no Gods and Goddesses allowed to speak about. There was a prophecy, but this prophecy was very odd, very extraordinary.
It was only consisted of one line:
"Prepare to fight, the end might come if you don't do what's right, you are given 18 years."
Naturally, prophecies come with at least 3 to 4 lines. The Olympians might've thought that Apollo was just babbling nonsense if it was not for the blinding light emitting from his eyes.
And like every time a prophecy come, a meeting was held.
"This is just absurd! The prophecy didn't give us any hint about… well, anything!" said Hermes.
"Well, it did tell us that 'the end might come'… in 18 years or so" Came the voice of Dionysus.
"It looks more like a warning to me than a prophecy" Said the God of war.
"It doesn't even rhyme…" Apollo said.
"Maybe there is hidden meaning to it?" Demeter tried to give an input.
"I think it has a very clear message. We must prepare to fight or else everyone dies" Poseidon finally spoke up.
"I for once agree, a great disaster is most likely coming. And we must do all we can to stop it" Athena said.
"We shall train all capable demigods to their full potential. I leave that to you Dionysus" said Zeus, which is answered by a quiet grumble by the god of wine.
"I believe that's all we can do for the time being. This meeting is dismissed" said Zeus again.
"All this fuss is just for that?" complained Aphrodite as she left the room.
Everyone has left the room as quickly as they come, with the exception of Athena, Apollo, Artemis, and Zeus.
"Please stay for a bit Artemis, Apollo. Father, may I have a word?" said Athena, stopping the archer twins who are on their way out.
"What is it Athena?" asked Zeus.
"I was thinking. If all the prophecy wanted is for us to prepare to fight, train the half-bloods. Well, we've been doing that since a long time ago… But the prophecy specifically told us to do it now. Why is that?" Athena said.
"What are you getting at? My schedule is tight" asked Apollo lazily.
"What if 'the end' that the prophecy talked about is something that ordinary demigods won't be able to handle? What if it's nothing that we've ever faced before? What if, we need something more?" continued the Goddess of strategy.
"So, what do you say we supposed to do?" asked Zeus.
"Hunters of Artemis are undoubtedly the best fighter among the mortals. It's only natural since they got a multiple set of blessing from you Artemis" her words resulted in Artemis's look of pride.
"I know, hardly fair isn't it?" Apollo said.
"They have similar power to yours, but they don't exactly have YOUR power right?" asked Athena.
"True. Don't get me wrong, I trust my hunters, but I don't think giving a godly power to a mortal is a good idea" answered Artemis.
"Then, what if we create the perfect demigod, the ultimate weapon. We currently have a splendid set of demigods that ready to defend Olympus no matter what. But looking back, we have Perseus, Achilles, Hercules, if what our speculation about this prophecy are true, then we might need a hand." Athena stated.
"Then, what are you suggesting?" asked Zeus.
"It's simple, we create a child of Artemis" Athena said.
"WHAT?!" was the response from the other 3 gods in the room.
"Athena, this is nonsense! I'm the goddess of virginity, there is no way I'm going to give birth to a child!" Artemis said furiously, she can't believe the idea that the Goddess of wisdom just proposed.
"Who said anything about giving a birth? I said we create a child. You know I've never given birth, my children came from my thought alone. Artemis, you can do similar things, even greater in fact"
"What?! Is that true Arty? You can create your own child?" Apollo asked enthusiastically.
"It is true, I learned the skills to do it a long time ago, I just thought that it's not a good idea to create one…" Artemis said.
"Artemis, we might be facing against a force greater than we have encountered before. We should give Athena's plan a try." said Zeus.
"….Understood father, I'll see what I can do"
-Several days later-
"No. No! NO! This can't be real! How is this happening?!" Artemis was furious. She has done everything correctly, she has put the right charm, she was sure everything is right. But no, the baby she was holding is a mistake! It is flawed, an abomination!
The baby was a boy.
"What did I do wrong?" Artemis said in distress. She had intended to create the perfect daughter, the one she would raise with the hunt, the one that would be her lieutenant, if something ever happened to Zoe. It should've been a perfect child…
It was as if fate is laughing at her face. And the worst part is, while looking at the boy, she has to be reminded by the fact that that thing is essentially her, it got her blood running in his vein. The thought that the boy would grow up to be looking like her disgust her to her very bone!
"Unless, of course… the boy never grows up." Artemis thought looking at the baby. So defenseless, so harmless, so cute…
She could just end it right there, she could just kill the disgrace, pretend nothing ever happened. But no, when she looked at those silver eyes, the baby stared back at her with an innocent look. It feels like she is looking at a mirror. When she heard its heartbeat, it was in sync with hers.
No, she couldn't do it. So instead, with the help of Athena, she abandons the baby in front of a random orphanage. With the help of the other gods, she put a restraint on him so it won't get any of her abilities, it is also won't be able to see through the mist or be sensed by any monsters alike.
The boy will grow as a normal child.
-Back to present time-
Aiden's P.O.V
No, this is not true, I'm in a dream. That's it! I am currently dreaming right now! Or maybe it is one of those state people get when they're dying? I should be dead after that clean shot after all…
"I can assure you that this is not a dream, and you are very much alive right now…" Artemis words broke my thought. It is obvious that she was reading my mind, but I chose to ignore it.
Everything becomes clear now, my archery skill, why I didn't get claimed by any gods, what Orion meant…
Right now, I don't know what to think, what to say or even what I should feel. By Gods, I want to be angry, I want to scream at her face after what she did… after what happened to me. I want to cry, I just want to bury my face in my hand and cry as loud as I can after knowing the truth, that I was nothing more than a mistake. But yet, I want to hug her, I want to know what a mother embrace feels like, I want to make up for all the times I went through without the presence of a real family.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know how long has it been, but I just sit there, quiet, no words coming out of my mouth, no tears rolling down my eyes.
At that moment, there's only one thing I can do. One thing that I always do. I decided burry all of these feelings I feel right now… for now anyway. 3… 2… 1… take a deep breath.
"I understand. Is the others made it?" It is pretty obvious from her surprised face that it was not the response she expected.
"Yes… fortunately all of my hunters make it back" Artemis said.
"You said that you put some restrain on me… then how can I be so good at archery? I even killed a Giant Scorpion with a single blow" I asked her. I figured that the restrain is probably why no one from Camp Half-Blood comes to get me.
"Even though it is true that the restrain is getting weaker for some reason, which is why monster start to feel your presence, your archery skill was not a gift, it's a talent" She answered while looking down, as if she's trying to avoid making eye contact with me.
"I heard about the scorpion from Thalia. And I think it's because of Orion's arrow. It's seems like his arrow has a sort of poison in it, it's only scratched my feet once and I immediately lost all of my power. When I lose my power, it is transferred to the next host most related to me. In short, you had my full power if you use a silver arrow up until you… got hit by one of Orion's arrows, making the power transferred back to me" She continued.
After that, there was another awkward silence until Apollo's head popped out from the door.
"I hate to ruin the moment, but dad called for a meeting. You need to come too Aiden" said Apollo.
And… as if my day wasn't crazy enough, apparently I'm going to be present in a meeting with all the gods.
"HOLY SH-COW they're big!" was my first thought when I entered the room (I obviously don't want to curse in front of this many gods). But didn't I just see Apollo and Artemis in normal size? Why do they need to be so big then? I thought it'll save the budget for the giant furniture.
"Aiden Alexander, thank you and congratulation in succeeding the quest trusted upon you. Now let's just cut to the point, I am sure you are now aware of the great prophecy?" Asked a giant, bearded guy wearing a suit, I can only assume that this is Zeus.
"Yes, I know about it." I answered.
"Then you must know the reason you were brought to the world in the first place" He stated.
"…Yes." I answered grimly.
"The prophecies that come to us about 16 years ago have warned about a great challenge that might come 2 years from now. You were created in preparation against that challenge, are you up for the tasks?" asked Zeus again.
"….Well, 'the end' means everyone dies right? I'm not really a big fan of being dead, so I guess I need to do this no matter what" I said.
"Then, I hereby trusted you with a special task, you need to do whatever you can to stop 'the end'. You are free to choose your companion to help you do this task" He stated. Just remember guys, whenever you guys angry because your teacher gave you a big project, currently I am entrusted to stop the apocalypse.
"Understood. But one thing I wanna ask, how come Orion, Hippolytus, and all the men Lady Artemis have killed come back to life? I'm pretty sure they're in some way related to 'the end' no?" I asked.
Zeus then turns his head to Hades.
"Does the kid really need to know? Fine then…" said the God of the Underworld lazily.
"Here's the thing kid, do you know Cerberus? Not the dog, she's lovely. There is this guy who used to work for me, I called him Cerberus because you know… the moron have three heads. But anyway, way back before I replaced him with my dog, he's in charge with guarding the Underworld, know his way in and out. Several days ago I got a report from one of my workers that a big amount of soul has been missing. If anyone, Cerberus would be my first suspect" Hades continued.
"So far that's all we know, we still can't figure out what kind of poison he used" Zeus said.
"I understand." I said. Man, 3 months being a demigod and I'm already supposed to save the world with so little information in how to do that.
"Very well, this meeting is closed" stated Zeus. Most gods then stood up from their seat with a groan.
"Aww… I was expecting something excited to happen. Not every day I got to meet the son of Artemis" A very beautiful goddess who can only be Aphrodite said while winking at me.
"You know… sometimes I feel like most of us here just to fill the empty seat." said Mr. D just before teleporting away.
I saw Apollo shrinking to my size and walk up to me. "Ready to go back?" He said while taking my arm in his.
"That eye patch looks good on you by the way" He said before we teleport away.
The feeling was weird, very weird, there was a blinding light and when I opened my eye, we're already in the Camp Half-Blood gate.
"Here you go" He said, letting go of my arm.
"Uh… Thanks." I said.
Apollo nods just before he teleported away again.
"Ayy! You're back Aiden!" Gary was the first to greet me once I stepped in the camp area.
"Ouch, things got messy during the quest huh? I'm sorry, that happened in your first quest…" He said sympathetically, referring to the eye patch covering my left eye of course.
"Thanks man… I'll catch up to you later" I said as I walk to the archery range. Right now, I need to find a way to clear my mind, so I chose to do my favorite thing.
I aimed at the bullseye and… shit, I missed by a couple centimeters. It has been a while since I missed, seems like this whole one eyed thing needs to get used to, maybe Tyson can help me.
"Hey, Aiden" I heard Thalia's voice coming from behind me. I turned around to see Thalia and the rest of the Hunters behind her.
"Thank you, for saving our mistress… And sorry for your eye" Thalia said, I can sense the sincerity in her voice. It might be just my imagination, but I feel like most of the Hunters didn't see me with hatred in their eyes anymore.
"Don't mention it, I'm just doing what I need to do" I said.
"Also, don't worry about the eye, I always wanted to be a pirate." I joked and she cracked a smile. Gods she has a beautiful smile…
Honestly, right now as I'm looking at the group of Hunters… I feel a bit of jealousy in my heart. They're the people who've Artemis personally asked to join her Hunt, to be a part of her family, on the very first time they met! And here I am, her son, a.k.a the guy she thought about killing 5 minutes after I exist…
"I'm also sorry that I accused you of being a traitor before…" Her words broke my thought.
"It's okay, it HAS been one crazy adventure. So… friend?" I said stretching my arm for a handshake.
She cracked another smiled and shake my hand "Sure, why not"
"You have a nice smile" The word slipped out of my mouth and that earned me a vicious glare from the Hunters.
After I bid the Hunters goodbye, I decided to go back to my room in the Hermes Cabin. I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes... eye.
My first adventure ended quietly. At least it doesn't cost me an arm and a limb, just an eye.
"Ha-ha..." I laughed quietly at my own joke.
I guess the funniest part is, I feel like after a few months, this won't be my craziest adventure anymore.
That's it for the chapter folks. This is also would be the last chapter for the first arc, but the story is far from the end.
As you can see, Aiden and Thalia's relationship is just as friend right now. And Artemis still reluctant to accept Aiden as her descendant, that's why she hasn't claimed him yet.
Tell me what you guys thing about this chapter and about this Fict so far.
Bye for now.
