I Don't Own Percy Jackson
Wait, before you get to the chapter, the end notes are sort of important if you read literally... any other story of mine, so stick around for that after reading this chapter.
Sleep was just as boring as I thought it would be, but I did in fact need it, well, more like my child body couldn't handle behind awake anymore and passed out on me without permission about four hours into the bus ride. Which, have to say, very rude of it to do so.
But when I woke up, I was two states over and was being kicked off by a very confused and pretty terrified old man who thought he might have accidently kidnapped me. I just waved him off and walked off the bus.
Illinois, being honest here, is kind of was boring.
Like, it wasn't horrible or anything, but when I got off the bus and started to look into seeing when the next route is, nothing happened, and that's boring.
Frankly it really didn't help that I was bored out of my mind in general, which would happen when you haven't had anything interesting happen in at least... six hours? Give or take. Anyways, I woke up about half an hour ago and it's already late afternoon meaning I've officially already ruined my sleep schedule. Second day alive, so I'm taking that as quite the accomplishment, my System didn't seem to agree with that though.
Anyways, all that aside, I'm hungry, have been for a while apparently, as eating only candy since I've come alive, is apparently not a good way of keeping keeping fed. Good to know for the future, not great to know right now when I was hungry.
So right now I'm looking around for somewhere I can get something to eat, without having the cops either called about the homeless child or the cops called because I was homeless, it was quite the conundrum. So like all the things that should be problems, I just decided that being all scared of something possibly happening was a waste of time, and just walked into the first restaurant that looked interesting.
It had a big chicken on the front, my first thought was to order a vegan meal, if only to see what would happen.
My protesting stomach vetoed the idea unfortunately.
Anyways, I got a weird look or two, but money is money, and in the end I had a sandwich all to myself, which I destroyed in a few minutes, then went up and got two more, and then destroyed them as well. I was very hungry as it turns out, I wasn't sure it was a homeless child thing, or a demigod thing, but either way, I was out nearly twenty bucks by the end of it and happy.
Oh, it turns out, I do in fact like mayo, so that's cool.
It was pretty late when I left the restaurant, but I was happy, so now I was just exploring around, seeing if there was anything interesting around that would make this state decidedly less boring.
Eventually, and through many mental gymnastics and trials to think of a way to get out of it... I unfortunately decided to head to the library. It was sad, but as it stood I did, in fact, need to do some research, and since three of the items on my list was to not die, I figured it would be, I don't know, important? To actually work on that, and knowledge is power, or at least, it is until I figure out how to have power be power, but since I don't have magic yet, I have to rely on my brain.
Which was stupid, cause it meant I had to do things like... reading, gross. Who reads for fun anyways?
Still, I found the publics library not to long later and... it was closed, right, of course. My luck is super weird isn't it? I mean, it's in the negative, but sometimes it seems like I'm super lucky in spite of that, but other times it literally does nothing for me, like a public library that closes before six! I should probably put some thought into that... Is there some god for luck? Probably, to bad I can't know since the library is closed!
Hmm... Maybe I should break in?
I mean, I'm already collecting a list of laws broken, might as well do my best to keep it up right? Besides, it's a library in the middle of no where. What's the worst that'll happen? Plus I even get a place to take a nap after I'm done, so I'll be all refreshed for the next time I hitch a ride on a bus tomorrow to keep on heading eastward.
With that, I looked at the medium sized building, it really wasn't that big, before moving around it, there wasn't exactly anyone near by, since, well, it's closed. So I just moved around, trying any handle I found along the way, they were all locked, which sucked, but whatever. I found a window around the back that technically was locked... but I found a rock, and after some genius level MacGyver trickery, the window was suddenly unlocked!
[Notice: 1 Strength; You threw a rock through it, don't give yourself a pat on the back]
Spoilsport, anyways, jumping up and carefully climbing over glass shards, I managed to pull myself up into the window and even managed to not go face first onto the ground where the rest of the glass had landed. I considered that a win in my book!
Heading on into the building, I just kept an eye out, it was pretty dark and there was no reason to go stumbling around after all, and it's not like I could just turn on the building lights without someone outside noticing and then calling the police about a break in, which frankly would be to big a pain to deal with right now. Unfortunately for this time period, smartphones weren't really a thing, my own was just a flip phone, meaning it didn't really give off much light, so I had to go looking around for a bit in some of the back rooms, ignoring the actual library section, before I found what I was looking for a solid half an hour of looking later.
It was hidden in a small kitchen area in the back, under the sink and behind a bunch of cleaning products, a small hand held flashlight. Flickering it on, I nearly blinded myself with the thing before pulling the bright side away from my eyes as I looked around, now with actual light.
I decided after a moment of thought on the matter, of the sharp contrasting shadows bouncing off the walls and cabinets in the small room, that I both thought this was pretty cool and creepy, in about equal measure.
I stopped thinking about that when I realized there was a fridge in here, and instead moved to raid it, pulling out a soda of some knock off brand I didn't know, and what looked like a half eaten sandwich, I smiled to myself and cracked the can open as I moved around, the flashlight wedged between my elbow and my side as I walked around and ate, being careful of the light, while moving to the book sections.
It took a while, cause, dyslexia is like that, but I eventually tracked down the mythology section of the library, there were some computers that I had tried to get on first, but they were stupid and required a password, which I didn't have, an looking through the help desk hadn't got me anything. The passwords were probably online as well or something annoying like that.
See what I mean? Terrible luck, but sometimes it isn't? Weird huh? Normally it wouldn't even be noticeable, but with my stat Luck being what it is, it probably means something important right?
With that in mind, I started to work through the Greek myth books, but being honest, it was just a lot of boring stories about either demigods killing monsters or Zeus fucking new ones into existence. Not to mention the freaking indexes hurt my eyes to look at for to long, books fucking suck, but I did manage to get a few things from them, mostly just names and stuff about monsters, but that was more I had before I guess?
After that, I sort of gave up on the big boy books, and looked around to see if there were any kid books on the matter, without a single shred of shame. They had pictures ok? That instantly just makes them better in every conceivable way.
So I was quite happen when I found a simple children's book with cartoon pictures of a few dozen important figures through Greek mythology, you know, monsters, kings, titans, gods, heroes, that sort of thing.
It was much more entertaining and it didn't have that stupid index thing, and the letters were real big so it was easier to read them as well.
I learned a lot more from this one than the big stupid ones, didn't get any big story or anything, but this did have cliff notes and that's all my brain could handle in terms of having to learn stuff, so it worked out great.
In the end, I didn't really learn much more than I had before in terms of getting some information on just who my godparent is, since the book mostly just named the main thirteen and a few others, like the four winds, boring, I know. Why should I care about some god name Notus? That's a stupid name. Almost as bad as Charon, it's to close to Chiron and it keeps messing me up when either are mentioned.
Still, it was handy to know, and it was beginning to get close to midnight by the time I had finished bothering with the reading stuff and instead went exploring around the place some more. I could read some more later, my sleep schedule was messed up enough that I wouldn't be feeling tired until about noon tomorrow anyways, though I was planning on a nap at some point, being all tired and sleeping on a bus is weird, and I want to see if I can just stop that since apparently I can't just not sleep.
Which I still think is stupid, but whatever!
Moving on with my existence, I looked around for a while, but sadly this public library didn't, in fact, any any weapons in it, unless you counted the pends, which while would be cool, just wouldn't be very effective.
So I just gave up after a while, nothing really to find, as instead I eventually found myself in a small bathroom, using the wink to wash my face up and to get rid of some of the grime I felt all over, it was kind of gross.
I was just going to leave it at that, but then I caught my reflection in the mirror. The long hair was taunting me, falling over my eyes and my face, getting everywhere.
I'm going to stab it.
That was about the only real thought I gave the matter as I pulled my hair back, so it was all in one hand, as the other came out and grabbed my lovely knife, and with a bit of sawing, to get through the thickness of it, the hair came off my head without issue, as it fell back on my head uneven as all hell, but shorter than it had been by a large margin, as I just grinned at my reflection for a moment, before repeating the process a few times, shortening my bangs to get them out of my eyes.
In the end, my hair looked like a slasher victim, and judging by the insane smile on my face and the knife in my hands, you'd think I was the slasher...
And you'd be right!
Running a hand through my hair, I had to say, I certainly like this better.
"Not bad at all... It's almost like I wanted to have my hair look like this from the start Jackass!" Talking angrily at a ceiling was surprisingly cathartic, I think I've been holding that one in for a while.
Nodding to myself with a smaller smile, I was about ready to turn and leave, when my ears twitched as they barely managed to pick up on the faint sound of voices in the distance.
"No, I'm serious man! It sounded like some kid being angry about hair or something I swear!" Ah... hmm, well isn't quite the predicament I've found myself in? Creeping out of the men's bathroom, I moved as quiet as I could manage along the wall, my ears tryin got pick up whatever was happening as the sound got a bit clearer as a second voice spoke up, this one sounding distinctly more female.
"You're an idiot, why would some kid be here at night?"
"Why are we dumbass? Maybe they know about the book?" Book? I don't like books, but this one sounds important... Great, now I'm interested, isn't this just a pain.
"Some kid isn't going to know about it, besides, it took us months to track it down here, ahead of everyone else I might add! If some kid managed it before us I'll eat my shoe. Now keep a proper look out alright? Let me know when something more dangerous than some brat manages to prick your pointy ears" The drama increases... I really want to know what those two are talking about now, but they also were clearly older than I am, and since it's clear they seem to be expecting a threat of some kind, it's obvious they are battle ready... But on the other hand, this was interesting...
Given the fact that I honestly have no idea if this whole situation is on my weirdly great luck, or my predictably shit luck, it really could go fifty-fifty on how this goes if I step out there and get their attention...
Eh, better odds than what I'm used to.
Plus, I have a knife, and so far, said knife has solved every problem I've put it up against.
"Hello there!" Walking into sight, I did the only obvious thing I could, I instantly shone my flashlight right into the taller one's face, that one happened to be the guy who heard me. He looked weird, though I was must to busy grinning as he let out a screechy sound and flung his hands in the air in terror. It was funny, I decided I liked him, and if it came to a fight, I'd kill the other one first.
"What the fuck!" As he continued to panic, I got a look at him, he was... normal enough looking.
Well, that's a lie, he was hot as fuck, which, wasn't that a sudden realization about myself, though maybe not...? He didn't really look... fair, every inch of his body looked like it was designed to be attractive no matter who was looking at him, with snow white skin with no sign of a blemish or marks to break the perfection. His hair was the perfect shade of blonde, that even under the harsh flashlight, it managed to somehow look incredible and flowing. His face looked near sculpted out of marble, but still looked soft somehow, with slanted piercing ocean blue for eyes. Trying to get a feel for his age was basically impossible.
Oh, he also had, like, pointed foot long ears breaking through his perfect hair, so... That's something.
"Ha! You were right Jor, you did hear a kid!" My eyes shifted to the other, she was... boring and franlky plain in comparison, which I felt sort of bad about, but it wasn't really my fault she looked like a standard default woman from a character customizer. Brown hair coming to her shoulders, with brown eyes, and fair skin, and at least late teens, there really wasn't much interesting there to look at.
Well, besides the footlong broadsword just chilling on her hip... That's also something. Though, speaking woman body to woman body, my knife obvious just shows I'm not compensating and therefore I am better.
"I- Gah! I think I'm about to have a heart attack!" My eyes shifted back to the clearly not human one, and tilted my head as he clutched his chest. As the woman just huffed before rolling her eyes.
"Oh suck it up!" Then her eyes spun around and stared at me, I just stared back, before giving a wave, cause I'm polite and shit, "So, twerp, what the hell you doing here for? In case you haven't noticed, the place is currently closed" She really was just acting like she didn't have a massive sword and the guy next to her wasn't clearly a elf, which I... think that's technically Norse in origin?
Isn't there suppose to be some barrier that's suppose to stop two mythologies from interacting? Is my luck that... Bad? Good? They aren't trying to kill me yet, so that's probably good right? Anyways, was my luck... whatever it was, so much that it just poked through that?
Cool!
"Just wandering about, trying to not die, all that good stuff. I don't suppose you have any extra weapon on hand?" She tensed as the elf yelped and... turned invisible? Ok, that's a new one, he just vanished, and the woman was pointing a fucking sword at me now. I just slipped a hand into my pocket, still holding the flashlight up, as my hand gripped tight onto the handle of my knife as she spoke up harshly, as my eyes scanned about, trying to find the elf... the light from my hand began to drift by the time I tuned into what she was saying.
"Who are you?!" Ah! Hey! This suddenly isn't so bad, I haven't had the chance to do this yet!
"Nicholas! My name is Nicholas King! You can call me Nick" I waited a moment, before adding on, "So, what do you think? Last opinion I got was from a jerk so that doesn't count" She just blinked, before asking.
"What do I think about your name?" I nodded, the flashlight hand still lightly waving around and ah, there you are elf-boy, you might be invisible, but you still have a shadow, meaning it isn't light refraction but something else, interesting, though if he get's closer then I'll stab him.
"Uh. It's fine?" Fine... I huffed a bit at that, before saying.
"Hey! I worked hard on that name you know!" She squinted her eyes at me, like she was actively trying to figure out if I was trying to do something. Eventually she answered slowly.
"No... No, I really don't. Uh, look! Just... Who sent you, and what are you! Stop avoiding the question"
"But you didn't ask me that!" She just glared at me, and I watched with faint interest and a tiny bit of worry as the sword glowed a bit, I could nearly feel the power pulsing off it now, which was wild, so I continued on with a pout, "Fine! Look, no one sent me, I just have really bi-polar luck. And I'm a demi-god, from the Greek side of the world, just moving on through here" She frowned for a long moment before glancing over and around before rolling her eyes.
"Jor! the out here, is the kid telling the truth?" I just turned to look right where I knew him to be, as he yelped and suddenly appeared, looking at me like he was scared to get any closer, I liked that expression, I wonder if it would get worse if I pulled my knife out... That's a really tempting thought to be honest.
"Uh, yeah, she's tell- Ah!" Ok, in my defense, I'm getting really annoyed about the pronoun thing, in his defense... he didn't know that... In my defense, part two, I flung my flashlight at his head before I really thought about it.
In his defense, part two, uh... He ducked?
"I'm a guy! Just... you know... Thought I should mention that" He gave me a look while the woman just barked out at me, her sword, which had almost started to lower was back up ant pointed at me.
"Hey! No attacking the elf!" I was ready to retort when said elf spoke up.
"Hey! I'm a albaz!" I blinked, everything forgotten, as I pointed at him and said
"But you have the ears?" He huffed at that.
"So! You're a human, would it be better to say human than... I don't know? Hispanic?" I just blinked before saying.
"Yes, cause that's incredibly racist, like, just... wow. Also, no, not Hispanic, in fact completely wrong side of the world" The woman snorted at that.
"Don't mind Jor, he's new to Midgard"
"I got dragged here because you dragged me here!"
"Details details, now, is the brat telling the truth!" Oh right, we've gotten off topic, that's something. Though in defense... part three? of all of us, this was pretty fucking confusing, and I have absolutely no idea what the hell is happening.
"Yes! Gods, sh- He! He's telling the truth, I don't know how, but the kids a demigod completely unrelated to our entire mythology and reason for being here" Could Jor also have a lie detecting ability on top of the invisibly?
"Really?"
"Yeah! So can we hurry the hell up so we can get out of here! We really don't have as big a lead as you think we do Bryja?" Bryja? Huh, they both have neat names that don't really sound real, but that's because even though I'm two days old, I've already become an ignorant American. This country has that effect on people.
"Ugh, yeah, fine, hey kid, want to help me find a misplaced tomb of warding magic?"
"Do I get to keep it if I find it?"
"Are you fluent in Old Norse and have a blessing to use Nordic fjolkyngi?"
"Uh, no" I... think fjolkyngi is the Nordic word for magic? Probably? Just, like, not modernized top just say magic to make it sound more fancy.
"Then no, still want to help?"
"Sure, not like I'm doing anything else"
"Cool" Jor let out a soft whining sound as I went to collect my flashlight.
"You have to be kidding! I- I don't even know where to begin to describe just how horrible of an idea this is! That is a literal child! We have hunters on our ass alright! If they even get a whiff of another non-human being here, we're going to have a fight!" I spoke up as I walked over towards a side room I had found earlier where book returns and the sorting of the books took place before they were shelved, if it had been misplaced here, then it would be found there.
"Who is hunting you two? You said earlier that you all were tracking the same thing right?" She sighed before saying.
"Oh, right, explaining, uh... Simple terms? You know who Ullr is?" I shook my head, she just sighed, "Course, uh... They are the God of hunting, and they have a group of hunters who they send out with tasks to collect things for Odin, it's a whole thing, this is like, I don't know, the final exam of that, I'm hunting a book down with nothing more than an annoying elf and a vague idea about what it is, and I have to be the first one to both get it, and the one who held onto it long enough to offer to Ullr themself to prove myself worthy of becoming one of his trackers. So, that's what I'm doing"
Jor was making a bunch of offended noises and gestures as we began to search the small room, as I looked around for a bit before asking.
"And how coveted is the spot? Like, I don't know, if another tracker hopeful got here would they-" She answered before I could finished the question.
"They would try to kill every not normal being in this building just to make sure they got the book before someone else"
"Ah, fun. So if we don't find it soon, we could have a death squad moving in"
"Nah, they'd all start fighting each other first, and we only got one helper each, so it's just teams of two, but Jor here is worried if you helping out, that they'll think we got ourselves the biggest advantage so they'll try to take us out first"
"Well... that's nice?"
"Not in the slightest, demigod or not, all of us having some kind of blessing from Ullr to get us this far, and most of us are legacy brats, my great grandmother is the Goddess Skaoi. And all of us have way more training than you, and are a lot older. If we do get targeted... Well, sorry to get you killed I guess" I just hummed at that, it sounded about right, as I glanced over at her for a moment before trying to use Search.
It worked, though not... greatly.
Bryja
Age: 22
Level: 19
Mana Points: 2,700/2,700
Stamina Points: 5,520/5,520
Hmm, this told me nothing about her actual strength, gave me no details about her skills, and barely gave me a number for her level that I could quantify against my own.
Basically, Search was worthless for threat assessment at the moment, but it did still tell me enough, at the bare minimum, all of them were stronger than me in terms of pure strength, and was also way more skilled in a fight, since, you know, I had not a single combat skill yet. I admit, that seems like an oversight on my part, but in my defense, part four, I'm literally two days old... I think that's enough said really about this whole situation.
Anyways, I went back to looking, giving up real quick on actually looking over the books themselves, and just mass scanning them with Search, seeing if anything interesting popped up. There really wasn't any, until...
[Notice: [Search] used on special item, presenting information
Nordic Teaches of Seidr Runes
A detailed book written over mastery level runes based on the Seidr branch of Norse magic, focusing on the ability to predict events, the author is unknown but they clearly knew what they were doing
Rank: A]
Obviously the first thing I did when I saw that was instantly reach down and pick the thing up and stare at it, the thing was old, somehow still had a layer of dust on it, and was written in even worse scribbles than normal words were written in. But that's when more information popped up in front of me as I stared at the thing in the short moment I had before Bryja noticed.
[Notice: Skill book acquired! Would you like to unlock skill [Seidr Rune Mastery]?]
Huh, that was interesting and informative information that I'll give deep thought about the long term ramifications about how I can learn knew skills and- Yes! Fuck yes! Give me that Nordic magical goodness!
[Notice: Requirements unmet
Requirements needed:
Control- 125
Power- 100
Intelligence- 75
Wisdom- 75
Perk [Nordic Magical Affinity]]
And just like that, I want the world to burn, slowly and without remorse for the sin it has brought down upon me in this very moment.
For I will never trust a book again.
"Oh sweet! Hey Nick found it! Get over here!" The book was ripped from my clenched hands as I stared ahead with murder in my eyes as Bryja gave me a pat on the back as Jor moved over and looked at the book.
"Yeah, that's it, come on, let's get the hell out of here already"
"Geeze, we're find old man. Hey Nick, come on, let's blow this place" I blinked out of my thoughts of arson on the entire building in which we found ourselves in, as I looked over and was about to say something when-
Boom!
The words died in my throat, as the building around us shook as dust trickled down from the ceiling as I glanced up at it for a moment before saying something new.
"So... what are the chances that's just a normal earthquake?" Jor answered my question by instantly going invisible, while Bryja pulled out her sword, looking suddenly way more tense and serious than she had before.
"Got a weapon kid? Cause I have a feeling you're about to need one" I just pulled out my knife, she took one look at the thing before scoffing, and fine then, if she was going to die then I wasn't going to step in! No one insults my knife! "Great, you got a toothpick... Here, use this" Any and all thoughts about my knife went out the window as she handed over another knife from her thigh, it was longer and oh so much sharper, and by the gods do I think I have a knife fetish, as I snatched the thing from her hands with way to much excitement.
Alright, she could live!
[Notice: [Search] has been used, presenting information
Basic Bone Steel Scramaseax
A simple but strong Nordic styled short blade referred to as a Scramaseax, crafted out of a simple and not overly refined bar of Bone Steel, making it just effective enough to kill any monster, but not much more than that.
Damage with it is determined by Strength and Dexterity.
When used against a mythological creature, this weapon deals two times as much damage than normal.
Rank: C]
[Notice: Like all blessed metals, this weapon can not be used to harm a mortal]
[Notice: You have no standing with the Nordic Mythology, this weapon is 15% not as effective while you are using it]
Ah, this was a mix of joy and mild annoyance, on one hand I have a new knife! On the other... It's not a Greek based weapon, and since my body's DNA is kind of hardwired for only Greek weaponry, it's just not as good in my hands as it could be, so I'm not able to use it as well. Still, it was way better in terms of possible damage output, and while no offense to my first knife, since I love my children equally... but this one is my new favorite and if Bryja asks for it back, then I'm going to stab her with it and run!
Boom!
Oh, right, but for right now, time for a fight to the death...
Cheers?
First off, yes, somehow in a story primarily focused on Greek mythology, I willing made the decision for the first active event in the story to involve a completely different mythology. Cause... I thought about doing it, and then stopped thinking after that.
I've apparently committed to the unachievable goal of posting on this story daily, it's not bad, but fucking god has it gone from, ha ha, mild insanity I'm pulling out of my ass to an hour of researching norse mythology, their gods, creatures, and theology, just so I can make the stupid idea I came up with a reality just for this and next chapter, only for it to be a one off interaction for at least a dozen chapters. Don't believe me? Here's a fun fact, did you know that elves are actually Germanic in origin and got brought into the Norse religion through being in the same area while the Vikings were raiding places back then? I didn't, but now I do. Do you know the three leashes and the name of the rock that is used to old Fenrir down? I do and I didn't even need that information for this section of the story!
Look, I love mythology, but god damn is it a pain in the ass to research into and try to make something that makes sense out of it within the span of a single work filled day of other projects, when you literally only came up with the idea for the plot less than twenty four hours ago.
Anyways, besides that, here's something that's actually a bit important. This site fucking sucks. I've been here for about five years I think, or at least that's when I started posting stories, I've been reading for about three or so years before that, but my point is, I'm well away this place is kind of shitty sometimes, especially for the authors on this site. The reviews bug out half the time, the interaction with readers is horrible, and frankly, I haven't been able to use the mobile app in nearly five months to read anything on it. So I've kind of just shifted over to Ao3 for reading for the last year or so, and by god is it so much better. Do you lot have any idea of much bullshit I get for my summaries cause this site doesn't give me enough characters to use to explain everything? And the tags fucking suck so much to! Literally all of that is better on Ao3 in, like, every way, and it's mostly just me being stubborn that's stopped me from doing what I'm about to mention in the past.
Over the last year I've been getting used to ao3, even posted two stories over there that are way outside my normal range for what I write, just to see how it went, and besides getting less traffic over there than a deserted road, I think I'm going to start migrating all my works over there. Not leaving this site or anything, until it finally dies, I'll be posting on both places, but I want everything here over there as well, since this place has a habit of being a bit... unstable, it's under the same username so... there's that. I'll be working on that over the next few weeks, since I have, literally, I over a million words achieved on here between all my stories, and that's going to be such a massive pain in the ass to manage.
