CH 1 "Knight"
Percy Jackson just had a terrible week. First, his math teacher turned out to be a monster, and his best friend turned out to be a half-goat( make sure to get it right, or he will get offended). Then his mother, best friend, and himself ran away from the Minotaur, resulting in his mother getting killed by it.
That's when he found out that he was a demigod, a kid born of a mortal and god, A greek god. And it was explained why his mother ended up with the stray pug Gabriel Ugliano AKA " smelly Gabe." And was pretty sure that the saving grace for both him and his mother was the bean dip she knew how to make. As well as placing the final nail on the coffin, his father (according to myths) was not allowed to be with him due to some "ancient laws," which were to all half-bloods in this camp.
So by the appropriately named Camp Half-blood, the summer camp for all demi-humans, that in all of the 12 cabins ( Hera and Artemis received one out of respect to the title of their legend " The 12 Olympians"). Along with the activities director (who prefers to go by Mr.D) Dionysus, God of Wine. And his favorite 6th-grade teacher happened to be The Chiron, Trainer of Heroes.
So as far as surprises, this week had too many.
Within the 12 cabins, Percy slept in the Hermes' cabin because of his "unclaimed" status, and since Hermes is the God of Travelers, Percy was taken until his godly parent claimed him. In which the chances are low seeing how many unclaimed overcrowded the cabin.
But moving to the present, Percy was at the archery range training since the Half-bloods have to fight and go on quests the borderline myths, well enough to survive. And right now, he was getting a class with Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes and Counselor of the Cabin, a pretty cool dude.
Just one problem…
"Alright, Percy, let's try again," said Luke. "Though we can scratch off you being a child of Apollo, that aim is terrible."
With a sigh, Percy readied another arrow and was ready to shoot his target until a stray arrow dead center hit said target. Then, taking a quick pause, Percy looked around to see where the arrow came from; one more was in the range.
A camper was sitting down with his eyes closed and a quiver on the ground. He had raven hair spiked up, almost a badge of honor. He had fingerless gloves and a dark blue hoodie that the sleeves pulled back to the forearm and half-zipped, allowing an emerald green shirt. Also, he appeared to be wearing jean cargo pants that had tucked in the tan boots. At a quick glance, he seemed to be about just as tall as some of the Apollo kids, but the toned physique seemed more akin to some of the kids of Hermes. And to top it off, he had some black earphones that the cable went straight to one of his hoodie pockets.
The moment Percy was about to say something, the guy opened his eyes and picked up three arrows from the quiver with his right hand and saw his left had moved to the left and picked up…
"What kind of bow is that!?"
The bow did not seem like one that the range or anyone he had seen in the camp used. It was more akin to a compound bow, but its appearance seemed to scream one-word 'run'; a bow that had a sharp and spiked appearance with its coloring of black, it had an outline of a mix of both light green and blue that seemed to pulse, and the string shone with the light with a color of the same.
Knocking the three arrows on his bow, he pulled the string as he stood up. A very different way that Luke was trying to teach him. Once the bow was stretched at its limit, the arrows were released, hitting three targets at the bullseye and pushing the previous arrow to the side. It was the second time because Percy was practicing. There were two arrows on two other targets.
There were some seconds of silence, and the guy sat down in the same position as earlier, using his feet as a seat and closing his eyes, dropping his bow on his left and placing his hands on his lap. Again, seeming that he never moved in the first place.
Luke sighed.
"I should have known he would be here." Said Luke with an irritated tone.
"Who?' said Percy, turning back to Luke.
Luke was silent for a bit debating whether he should tell Percy. "That is one of the campers. His name is Dante Edmond Ferguson. The Knight of Olympus."
Percy looked at Luke in confusion. "Knight?"
"That title is what the gods gave him," said Luke with an exasperated tone. " We arrived together at camp, and he received that title after a year we were here."
"In which cabin is he?" Percy asked.
"If you're asking if he is claimed, he is not," Luke explained. "But if you're asking what cabin he is allowed to stay in, that would be in the Zeus cabin."
This confused Percy. Why would he be in Zeus' cabin if he was unclaimed? And the way Luke talked about Dante, it seemed he was just releasing he was here.
Dante seemed to repeat his earlier movement, but this time was done with 4 arrows, and two appeared to hit a new target along with the other three, a bullseye.
"Let's go, Percy…Percy?" said Luke, as he started to walk away, But Percy started to walk closer to Dante in hopes that he could help him, considering how he shot the multiple arrows and got all a perfect hit.
As he approached him, Percy started to hear a faint rumbling. He guessed that Dante had his music at full blast. Against his better judgment, he tapped his shoulder a moment after he started to repeat his movement to shoot his bow, making the fourth arrow shatter the arrow that was the before but still was a bullseye.
"That is some impressive shots," Percy said as Dante removed his headphones. And was able to slightly hear his music, Rock, by its sound.
Dante turned, having his full attention on Percy, and it caught Percy off guard because the moment Percy got a good look into his eyes, they were Heterochromic. One blue while the left eye was a red, a ruby red.
"Who?" said Dante, surprised, getting him off guard. He had an accent, something akin to the accents in Texas. "Again, who are you?'' The question was repeated in an irritated tone after a bit of Percy not responding.
Snapping himself back to reality, " I-Im Percy Jackson. I'm new here," said Percy.
Dante responds after some seconds, " I'm guessing you're unclaimed?"
"Yeah," said Percy in a quiet tone.
"Hello there, Dante," said Luke as he finally approached.
"Sup, Luke." Dante simply said as he walked toward the targets, ready to pick up the arrows.
"So, is Zeus your godly parent?" Percy asked his mouth faster than his brain.
"Nah," said Dante while giving a yawn. And after collecting his arrows, he placed them in his quiver. Leaving the place in an awkward atmosphere.
"Well, we will be practicing over there," said Luke as he started to walk away and urged Percy to follow him. "Sorry for bothering you."
As Percy started to walk away, "Your breathing is erratic. as you pull the arrow, breath in 3 seconds, aim and hold for 7, and as you fire, breath out." said Dante as advice.
This thew Percy for a loop. Dante was paying attention to him firing his bow?
Once back to their original spot, "Don't bother with him. He tends to be a recluse, but never mind that we still need to train you for a bit more. Now that he knows we are here, I'm sure he won't shoot at our target anymore," said Luke as he set up the arrow.
Percy nodded and he tried the advice that Dante gave him.
Breath in 3 seconds, Percy pulls the arrow back.
Hold for 7, Aim.
Breath out, Fire.
"That was better than other times," Luke said as he saw the arrow hit the rim of the target.
It worked?! Well, this is progress.
A few hours later
At this moment, Percy is at the Hermes cabin, it has gotten late, and it is lights out. He usually would protest, but those who stayed awake got attacked by harpies.
Overkill, if anyone asks.
'I guess it is time to ask,' Percy thought. "Hey, Luke, why does Dante sleep in the Zeus cabin if he is not claimed? Shouldn't he be sleeping here?"
Luke was about to answer, but other campers interrupted. "Hey, thank the gods if he slept here, I don't think I could get a wink of sleep."
"Yeah, it's better this way. That guy gives me the creeps."
Luke sighed at that. "Look, guys, he stays to himself. You really should not be talking about him like that."
"Easy for you to say."
"Yeah, you two are buddies.'
This caught Percy off guard. From what he saw, they seemed to just tolerate each other.
Luke irritated, "How many times do I have to say this, we only arrived at the same time at the camp, and that is it. And also go to bed."
And as if reading Percy's mind. "Like I said, he tends to be a recluse. However, he struck a deal with Zeus, and even before we arrived at the camp were just acquaintances," said Luke.
Percy did have one last thought. "I do have one last question, if that is ok?"
"Shoot"
"What was that bow he used?" Percy asked
There were some moments of silence as if he was debating if he should tell him or not.
" He calls his weapon lostvayne, one of his quests, Hephestus give him that bow," Luke said with a tone of finality.
With that, Percy decided to drop the subject either way; he was tired, and sleep started to take over.
And a lot happened after a few days, and the highlight was the game of capture the flag, Ares vs. Athena, and some extras.
And Dante was not anywhere to be found.
Also, Poseidon claimed Percy after the game, explaining a few things. Now that would have been all good if it didn't turn out that Zeus and Hades took an oath to not sier any more kids after WWII.
And as it turns out, the master bolt has been stolen, and he blames Poseidon. And since gods can't act on their own against other gods, they use others. So now Percy was receiving blame from Zeus since he was blaming his dad and believing that he used him to seal the bolt.
Despite that, he learned that "all gods and myths are real" until arriving at camp a few days ago.
Yeah, Percy's luck is just great.
And now, he has received a quest to find the master bolt, clear his father's name, and prove his innocence. And a creepy oracle gave him a prophecy that he would succeed, but he would fail to save what matters the most.
So seeing his chance, Percy went on a quest to save his mom, Sally Jackson.
Percy doesn't care about all this because he wants his mother back, and all clues point to Hades. This was his chance, and no one was stopping him from clearing this quest.
His friend Grover and Annabeth came with him. Grover, because he needs to get a special permit that would let him search for Pan, God of the Wild. And also being his best friend there was no way he was letting him go alone. As for Annabeth is to prove to Athena that she is more than capable.
But now, it seems the realm of sleep wanted to tell him something.
Percy saw ruin.
There was no other way to describe it.
Burning buildings, a darkened sky, and a bestial roar. That is what he witnessed.
And a purple six-legged monster was decimating everything in his path, but there was a cage of light around it, closing in on the creature. And that was when he heard it.
Seven yells, six different shadows standing behind Dante. His face was the same, but he had blond hair and sea-green eyes.
That's the chance he had to hear each shadow as they exclaimed something, words with power.
"Hunter fest: BANISHING KILL!"
"Percy."
Yelled the shadow bestial apperance simillar to a werewolf, throwing what seemed to be a three-segmented Nunchuk.
"Spirit Spear, Chastiefol Fourth Form: SUNFLOWER!"
"Percy!"
Yelled the boyish-looking shadow with a massive plant, true to its name, a sunflower, firing a beam of light towards the beast.
The giant of the shadows began to spin a hammer and slam it to the ground, and boulders as giant as cars lifted into the air as she yelled, "RUSH ROCK!"
"Percy, wake up!"
The rocks started to head into the creature at insane speeds.
The next shadow was more challenging to distinguish. It seemed like a boy in some aspects but, in others, reflected more than would be found in a girl. As Percy was trying to figure that shadow out, in front of it manifested a cross of electricity bending like a bow.
"BLACKOUT ARROW!" And true to those words, it fired an arrow made of the same material as the 'crossbow.'
"Annabeth, something is wrong!"
The next shadow was easter to tell, an adult woman. And with a figure that Percy could swear that women would kill just to have her body.
"EXTERMINATE RAY!" She yelled. As she raised her hand, a ball of energy manifested and was fired. Aimed towards the same target as the others.
"What is going on!"
The last one was the most suffocating of the six shadows, a hulking man, but that was not paid any mind. Instead, he was paying attention to a 'sun' manifested over a large ax he held with one hand.
"CRUEL SUN!" The man yelled as he 'threw' the 'sun' and 'kicked' it in the direction he was running.
"I don't know!"
The last to say something wasn't the shadows, but it was from 'Dante' himself.
"Percy, you need to wake up!"
"SACRED TREASURE RELEASED!" He held up a short sword in the shape of a crescent, colored green with multiple holes that lit up along the center of the blade. And six more of 'Dante' manifested before the attacks meant for the monster.
"FULL COUNTER!" all six clones said as all the attacks reached them, and now it seemed to be aimed towards 'Dante.'
"PERCY!."
As all the attacks reached him, he lifted up the sword and stopped all in their tracks. As this happened, he yelled something that Percy should have understood. Still, it sounded akin to pure static.'Dante' did a 'FULL COUNTER,' and all the attacks combined into a beam with the shape of a dragon racing towards the creature, decimating any obstacle on its path.
That's when Percy realized what this was.
It wasn't different attacks on the monster. It was one.
A single attack made of seven.
As the beam impacted the creature, the 'cage' closed, and the clouds covering the sky were blown away with the air blown away from the attack.
Someone was yelling, it was faint, but Percy understood what it said.
"DAM YOU, HOLY TRAITOR!"
"PERCY, WAKE UP!" Annabeth yelled as she delivered a royal slap toward a sleeping Percy.
"OW!" Percy exclaimed, nursing his redding cheek. "What is up with you!"
"What is up with me?! What is up with you!? I have been trying for you were thrashing around, and we were trying to wake you up for a while now!" Annabeth yelled
What?
Grover, standing next to Annabeth, "Yeah, you started mumbling about something called 'Indura'?"
"Percy, you had a dream, didn't you," Annabeth said, as certainty, not a question.
Percy nodded and started to tell them what he saw in that 'dream.'
A few minutes later
"Dante with blond hair and eyes like yours?" Grover questioned.
Percy nodded.
"Percy, Dante never had blond hair, and even if he changed his eye color, I met him. He had blue eyes." Annabeth said as she was getting ready to move. "Though I wouldn't scratch off,."
"Wait, why?" This was news to Percy.
"It was before we met, he was fighting a monster, Luke and I helped on defeating it, but when we asked him questions, he only said he was looking for someone and to protect someone dear."
"Why is one of his eyes red?" Percy questioned.
"He gained the red-eye when I, him, and Luke arrived at the camp two years ago," Annabeth said in a sad tone, seeming to remember a bad memory.
"How?"
"No Idea, he won't say. We only know what he told us, ' this red eye is redemption,'" Grover said, quoting something Dante said.
Redemption?
"Let's just drop the topic for now. The memory is still uncomfortable to talk about," Annabeth said as she gave Grover his bag.
Percy reluctantly started to get ready himself.
And resumed his quest, even after all that happened. His name was cleared. It turns out Ares tried to pin the blame on him by stealing the bolt, He Also got to meet his dad, and his mom returned from the dead.
But like always, Percy's luck bit him back.
As it turns out, Luke manipulated Ares to steal the bolt.
On top of that, it also turns out that they were both manipulated by Kronos, King of the Titans. And Percy was in his sights.
Luke and Percy later had a confrontation, where Percy was poisoned and left to die.
When Percy came back to reality, he tasted chocolate chips, Nectar.
The son of Poseidon woke up and saw Annabeth, putting away the glass of nectar, some serious deja vu.
"Do you remember the time I told you, "you drool in your sleep.'" Annabeth teased.
"Of course, how could I forget." Percy smiled back at her.
"Good." as Annabeth slapped him on the shoulder.
"Ow!"
"You idiot, you are lucky. If it wasn't for Chiron's healing…."
"Now, now. Give Percy some credit," said Chiron from his wheelchair, the perfect disguise for a centaur. " but she is right. If Dante wasn't there, you would be dead."
Dante saved me?
"Yo."
Speaking of the devil, he was leaning at the door frame. And now he can get better details and notice something he should have seen the first time around, he is missing his left arm.
"You saved me?" with this, it seems he can get a better idea of his character.
"Well, considering I bumped into you when I finished a quest, I wasn't going to leave you to your luck," Dante said in a yawn.
"And he brought you back, so we could heal you," explained Chiron.
Percy turned to Dante. He seemed like a good guy. Then he remembered that dream.
What is the nature of Dante Edmond Ferguson?
"Percy, do you mind telling us what happened?" Chiron asked.
Percy explained everything. Luke's betrayal, Kronos' involvement, how both manipulated Ares to steal the master bolt, and how he ended up poisoned.
"Welp figures, since you are fine, I will be on my way, later teach," said Dante nonchalantly, as Chiron nodded.
Wait?
Did he expect Luke's betrayal?
"I should also be on my way. There are some long reports that I have to give to the gods." Chiron said as he wheeled himself out.
Both Percy and Annabeth were alone in the room.
"You are curious, aren't you?" Said Annabeth looking at Percy.
"That obvious"
"Yeah"
"... How did he lose the arm, and how come I just noticed it, and what was that reaction to Luke's betrayal?" Percy asked the questions in his mind.
"That answer needs you to hear how we arrived at the camp."
Percy Nodded.
Annabeth, taking a breath in, began to tell the story of Thalia Grace.
Percy, Dante wasn't always the anti-social that everyone makes it be. He used to be more animated. Causing us to crack a smile even in the worst of situations.
I always laughed at a bad pun.
Grover, by talking about nature.
Getting Luke to get competitive when they fought monsters.
And Thalia Grace, just by talking about music.
And he seemed to enjoy it. He smiled and told us every time, " Hey, smiling still proves that you are not done yet!"
He and Thalia were close.
Those two seemed unstoppable and inseparable, always ready to take care of each other back.
And it seemed so for a while. But everything went south when we arrived at the camp.
Hades found out about Thalia's heritage. A daughter of Zeus.
"STAY WITH ME!" I was injured.
Dante was carrying me and running into camp where Gover was waiting for us at the gate.
Once, he dropped me into Luke's arms. Then, he ran back to help Thalia.
I passed out.
But once I woke up, I was here getting healed.
And that is when I saw Dante all bandaged up.
He was on the same bed you are right now.
Both his left side and his left eye are covered.
His left eye could be saved, but not his arm.
Dante lost his arm due to a cyclops cutting it and a hellhound burning the wound.
He came back a few moments after I woke up.
I never saw anyone get up with his injuries so fast and with a panicked look in his eyes.
He started to ask, 'Where was Thalia?'
She was killed by the same cyclops that cut his arm off.
Her body was turned into a tree due to the grief of Zeus, creating a barrier to protect all the demigods within the camp.
After he heard that, his only visible eye lost all the light it had.
He disappeared the same night.
Two days later, he came back.
He hunted the cyclops that ended Thalia's life.
And according to what Luke and Chiron told me, he was carrying the heart of the cyclops.
And in tears.
He and Luke had a fallout after he told him what he did.
Once the nymphs said that the bandages could be removed, his eye was not the blue I was used to. It was red.
I tried to get him to talk about it, but he just told me that the red-eye is his road to redemption, not just for him.
After a while, he started to do random quests for the gods. Which one of them gave him Lostvayne, His arm.
A limb that could create a temporary weapon for him to use depending on what he needs. He usually keeps it as a stump, saying it's more convenient.
The only times he seems to have some semblance of happiness is when he gets to show what he can do, in both competitions and helping around the camp.
But that genuine smile that he had when we first met has not been seen since then.
"Now, after what you dreamt, it gave me a lot of questions, and he doesn't want to give the answers," said Annabeth, near tears.
Percy could not say anything. How could he?
After the nymphs told him that he was cleared, he walked into the beach, hoping to clear his mind of the story Annabeth had told him.
To his surprise, Dante was also there, and it seemed he was using his arm to manifest what appeared to be a flute, and he was playing a song that Percy swears he had heard before.
He sat next to him. Listening to the song, Percy started to feel calm but also… sorrow.
After a while, he stops playing, "Sup" that's all he says.
"Hey," said Percy, not knowing what to say.
After a while, Percy asked a question in sake to get a conversation.
"What instrument is that?"
"An ocarina."
An ocarina?
Wait.
"That song you played, that was from a game."
"Yeah, the song of healing, Legend of Zelda," Dante confirmed what Percy heard from kids at school when talking about games.
After that, they were left in awkward silence.
"It seems you followed the advice I gave you the other day," said Dante after a while.
"Yeah, it helped out a lot," Percy said happily.
"Hey, thanks for saving my life," Percy said in hopes of continuing to talk.
"No problem"
"Right," Percy said. "Do you come here often?"
"At dusk, in hopes to see a green flash."
"A green flash?"
"A small moment when the sun goes from that dusk red to green," Dante explained
After a bit of pondering Percy got a crazy idea as it started to get dark.
"There seems to be no green flash today," said Dante as he got up and started to walk away.
"Train Me," said Percy with no chance for recovery.
"Huh?" Dante turned around confused.
"Train me, Luke is after me, Kronos is as well, and the advice you gave me gave me more progress than what the Apollo kids gave me, and Olympus gave you the title of Knight, already putting you in a higher standard, Please?" Percy asked his mouth faster than his brain.
Dante looked at Percy for a while, after what seemed like an eternity. He gave his answer.
"Look, I have never trained anyone, I don't know how much help I will be but I will do what I can."
"Yes!"
"But you will start next summer, You still have someone to get back to if what I understood from your story." said Dante
That is right, Percy wants to spend the rest of summer with his mom, after the whole fiasco.
Suddenly a voice called out from next to the two. "Unless I'm interrupting something, it is time for dinner," said Chiron, galloping towards them.
"Oh, I just asked Dante if he can train me." Explained Percy.
Chiron just smiled. "You're actually going to train him? I'm surprised. You never attempted to train anyone."
"Hey he asked, I accepted, nothing more, nothing less" Dante seemed to be trying to avoid this conversation, and he started to walk away.
Chiron looked at Percy with a grateful smile. "Are you going to stay, or are you heading back with your mother?"
"I'm heading back after everything. I want to see her again," Percy stated with no hesitation.
"Ah and Percy, Thank you," Chiron said as he started to head in the direction where everyone else was at.
Percy followed. "Why?"
Dante has not been in the right emotional place since two years ago. He might return to his old self but has not been claimed. His heart is hurt, so the only way to heal is to open up.
That brought a question to Percy's mind. "What about his mortal parent?"
"He never talked about it," answered Chiron. "But for now, let's get ready to go back home."
Percy went to pack his things; he wanted to see his mother after all this time and was ready to learn more about this 'Knight' that saved his life.
But there was a nagging feeling that the story of Dante Edmond Ferguson is more complicated than just what seems to be a tragic story.
An: This is my first story so anything that I can do better tell me, also the first arc is based on Rage of A Demigod, a good story all around, but of course this is going to have certain twists that differ from that story
For now, KB is out.
