Chapter 3

Dominic woke up and blearily opened his eyes, he blessed his school sleep schedule as it got him up early and this was the only time he could get away from the chatterbox that was Lily. Sadly she always found him later, no matter the hiding spot. He shimmied off his bed and onto the cold hardwood floor with a thump, groaning in discomfort as he did so. He wiggled out of his sleeping with such ferocity one would think that he was an inchworm reincarnated. When he finally got free he started his walk towards breakfast.

Dominic wasn't sure if he liked this camp, sure the people were friendly, but there was an underlying tension and he couldn't place where it was coming from. But the more time he spent at camp the more he learned. He learned that you don't want to go out after curfew unless you want to get eaten, he learned that there was a lava wall and it had burned quite a few and he learned that Chiron wasn't actually an old man in a wheelchair but instead a legendary trainer of heroes. Dominic wasn't sure what to make of that though, how could a measly old wheelchair hide a horse body? It just didn't make sense. Possibly the most important thing Dominic had learned though was of the Hunters. As it was explained to Dominic by a random Ares camper "A bunch of woodland nerds who hate men for some junk or other" and from that one statement, Domonic was immediately wary of any explanation an Ares camper would give him.

Dominic also learned of the impressive win streak possessed by the Hunters over the campers. He didn't think it was possible to have that many losses against so few people but the kids at camp were living proof of it. He just hoped that for the game against the Hunters he would have an easy guard post, like guarding an unimportant creek or something along those lines.

Dominic finally got to the dining pavilion and quickly grabbed a plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes from the numerous differing plates of breakfast food. He then walked to the grand fire at the front and pushed the best, tastiest, and undoubtedly the most scrumptious part of his meal into the fire. All in all, Domonic wasn't sure why they did this but seeing all the other campers doing it coupled with the little to no guidance on camp, peer pressure won in his mind and he began to do the same thing. It always gave him an empty feeling though, as if something should be there with his sacrifice but wasn't. A void in his heart of sorts.

Dominic hurriedly went to the very edge of the Hermes table, a part that was somewhat hidden behind a large marble pillar. Due to a large influx of the unclaimed, the Hermes table swelled to accommodate more demigods. It never clicked with Dominic as to why this would happen though. The polished white marble table of Zeus was always empty, and the brownish wood table of Hera was also always devoid of people. He just couldn't understand why Gods were so stingy with tables. For goodness sake, it was their own family's children that were forced to sit cramped upon the Hermes table. Just another contributing factor as to why Dominic got there early, there wasn't any need to be rubbing shoulder to shoulder with someone you barely know.

Dominic tore into his food with a fervor one would expect of a starving man, he had no idea why he was hungry but it always seemed to be after great periods of rest rather than large amounts of physical activity. Contemplating the rest of his day as he ate his meal Dominic could only wonder. The Capture the flag game was set to be in the next few days against the Hunters and he was supposed to have his first weaponry class today. They wouldn't pit a useless person against the enemy of the Hunters, would they? Dominic sure hoped they wouldn't. Controversial to his feeling of dread at playing against the Hunters, Dominic was very excited to be handling an actual weapon. Sure he had used knives before but that was only for cooking, he had never played fought with swords as a kid on account of his curse but he was hopeful for something interesting. Perhaps a broadsword? It would probably be too impractical he thought. He finished his meal and put the dishes away to be cleaned. The weapons class was in the arena and Dominic still had some time to kill before going he tried to decide what to do before finally settling on slowly walking over to the arena on a long path.

Dominic calmly walked out of the dining pavilion and then onto the path that lead to the arena. While he didn't want to be late he was simply too excited to keep his original slow pace. Dominic quickly rounded a bend in the path and he was shoved to the side by a blur in a seemingly silver glow.

"Watch where you are going, Man!' said the blur, slowing down to reveal an enraged girl in a sliver parka "I won't hesitate to dismember you if the need be! Just give me an excuse! I would so like to see you bleed!"

Dominic after being shoved to the ground and insulted to his face took it the typical way a teenager raging with hormones would, yelling back subsequently making the problem worse. He got up in a huff and was about to yell about the situation when the girl found the winning argument.

A swift kick to Dominic's family jewels.

Dominic crumpled to the ground in a fetal position trying to save himself from pain but to no avail. The pain just continued coming and with a new passenger as time went on. The urge to both cry out in pain and vomit was overwhelming but Dominic was shocked by a new pain in his head. The same girl was crouched next to his face grasping his hair tightly within her hands to pull his head to her current eye level.

" Don't ever touch me again you misogynistic pig of a human being. I am personally going to hunt you down in the games. Take this as your warning." with that statement she slammed his head into the ground and resumed her sprint onto the path that lead to the dining pavilion.

Dominic was dazed, confused, and discombobulated. He wasn't sure what exactly just happened yet he was deeply afraid of the future. He would be hunted in an already dangerous game! How was he supposed to find peace here as even while walking he seemed to be unlucky!

Dominic shakily started crawling along the path while the pain subsided. He knew now that the Hunters were no joke. Seriously, punishing him for a problem she created? So hypocritical. Dominic slowly forged on ahead to his class, following the beaten path through the woods.

Unbeknownst to him, dark eyes tracked Dominic through the woods. She had seen his type before. Ones that had driven thousands into despair, joy, and fanaticism. She had hunted his kind before, but there wasn't anything truly special about them. This one though was different. She had a feeling that he would be more. Something to truly shake the threads of fate.

AT THE ARENA (OF DOOOOOOM!)

As it turns out Dominic was hopeless with swords. And spears. And bows. And somehow with the door to the armory as well because he nearly gave himself a concussion when he accidentally walked into it. It was truly a travesty as maybe one of the cool things about ancient mythology and that time was the weapons, and Dominic couldn't use any of them.

As Dominic got up from the ground after banging his head against the door he spotted a gleam of metal hidden away in the corner of the armory. He walked toward it to investigate and saw something that astounded him. A beautiful celestial bronze knife. It wasn't just any knife though as it seemed out of place in the reality that it sat in. A possible explanation for this would be its design. It was a kukri knife. Not a traditional greek kopis but a knife from an entirely different area, the Indian subcontinent. It was a recurve knife that possessed engraved designs that somehow inspired Dominic with confidence as he saw them. It wasn't anything Dominic had expected to see in a greek armory, but it looked cool and he decided to try it out. Dominic walked out of the armory admiring his new knife, tossing the grip back and forth between his hands, tracing his fingers down the blade, and overall admiring it.

When he got to the training area slightly away from the armory the person holding the training looked at Dominic a little strangely but eventually shrugged and gave Dominic the basic instruction on how to handle a knife.

Dominic approached the training dummy with intent, the dummy would not live to tell the tale of this encounter. Dominic held his knife in an icepick grip in his right hand and with a mighty wind up struck the dummy right in the side surprisingly earning a large slash in the dummy's side for his efforts. Dominic yelled in joy at his accomplishment and began to further slash and hack at the training dummy. In time the dummy went from being new and pristine to something that looked like it had been used rigorously for quite some years. Slash marks across the face, torso, and a particularly deep stab into the liver region. Dominic was getting quite the feel for his weapon when he was once again interrupted by an annoying innocent voice.

"DOMINIC! WHERE ARE YOOOOU!" Lily's loud voice trampled through his training area. Disturbing both Dominic and any other people training there. A sudden rocket into Dominic's side answered Lily's question as both she and Dominic crashed onto the dusty floor of the arena. Lily then grappled on top of Dominic pushing his chest onto the ground and sitting on his back with Dominic's face firmly smushed into the floor with her domineering hands.

"Where have you been? I looked all over camp for you" She similarly yelled in the excitement of finding him. She slowly got off him and let Dominic get up.

"I was simply trying to find a weapon" he groused, not pleased at all with her finding him "now if you could please-"

"Stay and show you how it's done? Of course! Now first you go like this. And this and give them some of that and then you go for a sneaky elbow to the face!" She made several gestures and actions, all of which Dominic ignored in favor of looking for an escape path. The main way out of the arena was out at the large entrance would give him away with no hiding spots. Perhaps around the side? Or maybe a side entrance?

Dominic drifted back into reality at the end of Lily's enthusiastic tirade on "How to beat up some booger-eaters" and before she got onto her next tangent he swiftly tried to direct her on going somewhere else.

"Have you eaten already I'm sure the dining hall hasn't closed yet."

"Ok! Bye!" With those parting words, Lily bounded away to the dining pavilion to hound plates of food away from their owners. Frankly, Dominic was slowly warming up to her, no matter what had happened she was always positive. It was like an excitable puppy, always eager to please and easily distracted. Dominic grabbed his knife again to fully demolish the dummy in preparation for the game in the next few days. Dominic didn't know what would happen, but he was hoping for the best.

THE DAY OF CAPTURE THE FLAG, JUST OUTSIDE THE HERMES CABIN

"BROTHERS AND SISTERS! TODAY WE FIGHT! TODAY WE TAKE THE WIN HOME FOR THE CAMPERS! THEY MAY HAVE HUMILIATED US THE LAST TIME BUT NO LONGER! WE SHALL TAKE THE FLAG AND WIN!" Screamed a particularly enthusiastic Ares member as he led the small demigod army away from the main pavilion of cabins to the forest where the game was set. The gathered crowd roared back in agreement as they rushed to their posts to await the start of the game. Dominic was a part of this group and he ran to his given post by the creek. It seemed that most newbies were given this post as Lily was with him too, almost clinging to his heels in her haste to get there. As Dominic ran he remembered the rules that Chiron had given them, ones that would keep them safe for the game.

(Every camper who is not injured has to play. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is considered "fair game." All magic items are allowed. The flags must be prominently displayed and can have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. Killing or maiming is NOT allowed. The punishment for breaking this rule is the loss of dessert for one week. Guards aren't allowed to stand within ten yards of the flag.)

Overall Dominic thought it covered things pretty well even if there were things he was apprehensive about. No maiming or killing? With only punishment being banned from dessert for a week? How did that make any sense? Dominic slowed to a jog as he neared his post and quickly looked around for a spot to stand guard for the next few hours. It would have to be comfortable. But his thoughts were interrupted by the loud baritone of the conch shell starting the game.

Dominic quickly looked over himself. He was lightly armored with a leather chest piece to enhance his maneuverability with his knife so he wasn't weighted down by heavy armor. When he went to get armored he almost laughed in the face of the people who wanted him to wear the large bronze pieces of armor and that gaudy falling apart helmet. It just didn't fit his type of fighting. Quick slashes, stabs, and kicks before moving outside of the enemy's range. He had practiced with Lily and soundly beat her, but then again she wasn't exactly the smartest. As he thought of Lily he looked around his little guard post. A nice bubbling creek, large majestic oak trees that have stood for years, and grass aplenty with many native plants. Tranquility within his memory, but it wasn't right, something that should be there wasn't. Lily. Where was she? He couldn't find her, how had he already lost his partner? He may have said he wanted her gone at one point but he wasn't being realistic, he was kidding wasn't he? Dominic began to frantically look around, wildly whipping his head in every direction for even a hint of the rambunctious youngster. There wasn't a clue.

That's when it hit him, literally in fact as a sharp pain in the back of his head rapidly pushed him into unconsciousness. He felt his head hit the floor and as he was lying there darkness slowly encroaching upon his vision he saw a familiar color of silver with a ringing laugh in his ears.

"I truly didn't think it would be this easy, but yet again I am disappointed by the mere fodder the camp provides. A haven for demigods? Don't make me laugh!"

AN: Sorry about the long wait. Read and Review, it helps me out. Have a good day!