Okay, so as the summary says, this is going to be about Zane Williams, the Son of Zeus. I'm writing a character who is the son of Zeus for two main reasons. One, Jason Grace, in my opinion, is a failure and a disappointment. When I first read the Heroes of Olympus books, it feels like Jason was relevant up until Mark of Athena, and then he became a side character. I haven't read the books in about 3-4 years and I haven't yet read Blood of Olympus, so if I'm wrong, then tell me. Second reason, I feel like there isn't enough fics on this site where a son of Zeus character isn't evil or Jason. I don't think I've ever run into a fic where a Son of Zeus is the lead. Well this is that fic.
Some general info and warnings about the story. So, I'm starting to reread the Percy Jackson series, and I'm going to write this alongside it. I'm only at around page 50 in Lightning Thief at the time of writing this sentence. Also, fair warning just about me, I'm very lazy and like to play video games a lot, so this story will have slow updates, if any updates at all. So don't expect lightning speed from me, please. Also, another warning, as of writing this, I haven't read Last Olympian, Blood of Olympus or any of the Trials of Apollo series. So if this fic seems a little off to you, that's probably why. Also there are going to be some anime influences in this, so if there are any major differences, that's why.
Anyway, enough bitching from me, lets blow this pop stand.
(EDIT [1/22/2022]: Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and say this right here. This chapter is bad. I know it's bad, you know it's probably going to be bad reading it. I've done a bit of editing to remove some of the worst cringe of the chapter, but the whole first chapter is kinda wack. So going to go ahead and ask that you give this story a chance beyond the first chapter, because it gets much better just in the second one alone. If you want to skip this first chapter, go ahead. All that really happens is that Zane's mom dies, Zane finds out about his father, kills a few monsters and goes to camp and asks Luke to train him. I would honestly rewrite the entire chapter if I had time, but I have to start work on schoolwork for college and continue on with the next chapters in the story. I'll probably give this a full rewrite one day, but today is not that day. Anyway, if you decide to give this story a chance beyond the first chapter, thank you. It honestly means a lot. Anyway, take care.)
(P.S. Sorry if the line cuts look a little weird, I have to make them manually and I am writing this on Microsoft Word on a Chromebook. If I see it is formatted weird on the site, I'll update it till it looks right.)
(New Orleans, Louisiana, September 9th, 2004)
So apparently just because it's your birthday, it doesn't mean it will be a good day.
Okay, it appears some context is in order. My name is Zane Williams. I am in the 5th grade and today I turned eleven years old. It unfortunately fell on a Thursday, which meant I had to go to school, on my actual birthday, which is still crap. I mean, why can't kids just get a free day off of school when it's their birthday? We get out of school for Christmas and that's Jesus' birthday or something.
Sorry, I'm rambling. So today started out great actually. My mother, whose name was Tracy, made waffles this morning for breakfast, which she knows I love waffles. After catching the bus and riding to school, I met up with my best and only friend, Jacob, a kid who walks with crutches because he's apparently born with some degenerative leg disease, and we walked to class.
The rest of the day was not so special, just some boring school work that I could barely understand. The words and letters on the page seemingly became scribbles when I looked at them. Like one of those locks with letters on them going at a hundred miles an hours. However, Mr. Brunner, my history and favorite teacher, his class was alright.
Mr. Brunner was a surprisingly understanding and nice teacher. While most teachers were rather unsympathetic towards my ADHD and Dyslexia and any other host of problems that I seem to have, Mr Brunner was always very patient with me.
His class was world history, which was rather weird, as we seemed to only ever study the Ancient Greek and Roman period. I was surprisingly good at that class. It's almost as if the answers just come to me in the middle of class when I am ever asked a question. It's also the only class I'm not really failing.
Anyway, after his class was P.E., in which we were getting a new teacher in. The old teacher, a bitter old man with a penchant for eating bagels, had retired last week. We finally were about to get a new teacher after sitting in the gym doing nothing for 3 days.
"Hey dude, what do you think our new teacher is going to be like?" My only friend, Jacob asked. Jacob was a guy who was rather tall, which could probably be attributed to the fact he looked like he had failed 3 times. He had curly blonde hair that was medium length, a face that could have been considered handsome if he didn't have so much acne and a gangly body, which probably came from not being able to exercise due to his medical condition. He was the only kid who didn't do anything in P.E., due to him walking on crutches.
"I don't know, man. I hope he's at least better that Mr. Aldrich." Mr. Aldrich, our last gym teacher, was a right asshole. He was mean, vicious and probably got off on making us suffer. We never played any games like other kids probably did in P.E. We always just did pushups, or sit ups or ran around the gym in circles. Yeah, we were all kinda glad he was gone.
Jacob chuckled. "That's not a high bar to reach, Zane." I mean, he wasn't exactly wrong about that. Aldrich was a mean old bastard.
"Alright, kids! Everyone shut up!" A loud, booming voice shouted out at us. All the talking that had previously been going on in the gym immediately ceased as we all turned our heads away from our conversation to the source of the voice.
The source, was an absolutely massive man, likely reaching over 7 feet in height. He was a mountain of muscle, which we could easily tell even in his baggy hoodie and sweatpants than he wore. He had brown hair that was styled into a crew cut. He was rather ugly, but not in a disproportionate way. His brown eyes went from person to person quickly before landing on me and narrowing. He seemed to smirk for a millisecond before his face returned to an impassive gaze he was sporting before.
"I'm Coach Crawford, your new gym teacher." He seemed to survey all of us again, however somehow I knew his attention was still on me. "Get up and do 50 jumping jacks, and we'll get some sports equipment out for you all to use."
After doing said jumping jacks, he actually let us play games. He quickly gained the affection of almost everyone in the gym, who had to deal with Mr. Aldrich ever since school started. However, I was still a little weirded out by this new teacher. Why had he looked at me like that? He looked at me the way that I probably look at waffles with syrup on them at breakfast time.
I tried to not let it get to me throughout the next fifty minutes of the class as I played kickball with a group of other kids, a game that might as well have been alien to us. I kinda sucked at it, which I could attribute to constantly feeling nervous that Coach Crawford was still looking at me at creepy like he had, which luckily, he didn't.
I had almost put it out of my mind as the bell ringed and told us to go to the last class on the day, which unfortunately was math. However as I was walking out with Jacob, Coach Crawford stopped us.
"Williams!" I froze as he called my name. Nervousness filled my gut as I turned around to meet his stonewall gaze. Jacob turned as well and looked at him, eyes narrowing, as if he was watching a wild animal approach him. "I need to talk to you. My office. Now." He turned and walked away, probably going to said office.
Jacob looked rather alarmed and he was tensed up. What was he so afraid of? "Don't worry Jay, I'll be fine. Just tell Mrs. Julia why I'm gonna be late for her class." He looked unsure for a second before nodding and telling me to be careful and leaving. Be careful about what?
I walked across the gym floor, nervous to the brim. What was Coach Crawford going to say to me? Did Mr. Aldrich tell him how much of a little shit I was in his class? Was Coach going to say that he wasn't going to take that from me? Well, looking at how massive and intimidating he was, I wasn't going to give the man any trouble.
Coach Crawford's office, which at formally been Mr. Aldrich's office, was spartan, meaning it had almost no extra decorations in it. Hell, it looked like it had been stripped clean. Mr. Aldrich wasn't exactly a clean person and his office had reflected that. But now the place was basically spotless.
I found Crawford standing in the middle of his modest office, with his arms crossed. His forearm muscles bulging through the hoodie. I gulped a little. "Uh, sir," I started nervously. God, he was so intimidating. "What did you need from me?"
Coach looked at me dead in the eye, his expression not changing, before he broke out into a wide, almost inhuman disturbing smile. "Your scent is strong, Half-Blood. Almost overpowering."
Half-Blood? What? Last time I checked, I was white. What did he mean by Half-Blood? Also what did he mean by scent? The way he said it was rather unsettling. "U-Uh, sir? What are you talking about?"
He didn't seem to hear me, or at least, he didn't care about answering me. "I bet you'll taste amazing!" That set off alarms in my mind. So either he was a weird creepy guy who touches kids and it going to touch me all weird or he's some sort of crazy nutcase, or both. Probably both.
However, he seemed to change in front of me. His teeth, which were previously white, clean and normal looking, became yellow, stained and sharp. His eyes shifted from brown to yellow. His muscles, which were already massive, seemed to grow even larger. His black hoodie that he had been wearing was ripped apart by his expanding muscle, which only left him in his grey sweatpants. He stood at a massive nine feet tall, much larger than his previous 7 feet.
"Time to die, Half-Blood." He then lunged for me at inhuman speeds. I don't know how or why but my body moved back on my own, just barely avoiding his grasp. I immediately turned tail and ran away straight out off his office. Yeah he was nine feet tall and had muscles on muscles. I'm just a scrawny kid who barely topped five feet, I was outta there.
I ran across the gym floor as I had an inhuman roar behind me before I heard the sound of stone shattering. You know how you break a cinderblock on something? Yeah, imagine that but times the sound by a thousand. I turned around to see the wall off his office was completely gone, destroyed wall everywhere and the massive Coach racing towards me in a blur. I was frozen in fear.
He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me in the air with one arm as if I was a sack of potatoes. It was certainly jarring to go from being 5'1 to being higher than the rim on a basketball goal in 2 seconds, but it had happened. The man's grip was ironclad and locked around my neck like a manacle. I couldn't breath at all and everything was starting to go blurry. The giant said something to me but I couldn't make anything out. He opened his jaw, which was inhumanly large and brought me closer to it. Guess I was done. He was going to bite my head off and that would be it.
All of a sudden the giant coach was knocked back by something and he dropped me. I felt air pour back into my lung and I greedily sucked in as much as possible, not caring what had just saved me. I felt my self being pulled by my shirt backwards. I tried to fight out of whatever had my shirt before sound finally returned to me.
"Zane! It's alright, stop struggling!" I turned and saw in was my friend, Jacob, only he didn't have his crutches. Well, he did, but holding both of them under his left arm and grasping on to me with his right. Also he wasn't wearing pants, but instead of seeing something I really didn't want to see, I just saw fur.
Fur? Jacob's legs didn't look right, they looked like a goat standing on it's hind legs. What the hell is going on? Why does my cripple friend look like he had goat legs?
Jacob saw my inquisitive look and waved me away. "I'll explain later, Zane. You need to get out of here now!" He took his crutches and dual wielded them like swords and approached the fallen giant, who didn't look quite fallen anymore.
The shirtless giant, chuckled, which caused his muscular body to ripple. "You believe you can defeat me, satyr trash?" His grin then dropped from his face before he looked angry, downright pissed. He assumed a battle stance and stomped the ground, creating cracks across half of the gym floor and produced a shock wave that almost knocked me down. "Insulting! I will eat you alive!"
Jacob, who wasn't at all phased by the force of the shock wave, didn't look afraid like I definitely did, hell I felt like I nearly pissed myself. He assumed his own stance and his crutches faded away into two scimitar like bronze swords. "I'd like to see you try, giant."
That apparently made the giant even angrier, as he charged at Jacob like a bull. Jacob avoided the charge by jumping over him, spining in the air, before slicing at the giant exposed back, which caused the giant to roar in pain and blood to splash on the ground. The giant turned and ripped a massive chunk of the ground out and chucked it at Jacob who narrowly avoided it. The chunk smashed into the wall and shattered into a dozen pieces.
The giant charged him again, however more cautiously this time, and swung his massive fist down towards Jacob, who again avoided it by jumping in the air and springboarding off of the giant's shoulder. Jacob then turned mid jump and raced towards the ground with his sword outstretched, hoping to pierce the giant's back.
However, with inhuman speed, the giant turned and swatted Jacob out of the air with his backhand, causing Jacob to slam into the ground in pain. Jacob shakily stood and just barely avoided a kicked from the giant which would have killed him, dropping on off his swords in the process. The giant launched a quick assault on Jacob which consisted of a series of power downward strikes and kicks, which Jacob barely avoided once more.
The giant finally ended it's attack series with a front kick, which Jacob, now fully recovered from the backhand from earlier, dodged to the side under the kick expertly, and shoved his remaining sword in the thigh of the giant, who howled in pain. Jacob tried to capitalize by shoving his sword into the giant's chest, but he interrupted mid stroke by the giant grabbing his torso with his massive hand and slamming him in the ground, causing a crater to be created.
The giant laughed while Jacob groaned in pain and he dropped his massive foot into Jacob's torso, causing Jacob to yell in agony. Jacob let go of his last sword as he futilely tried to lift the giant's massive foot off of him. The giant chuckled at this and slammed his foot into Jacob's chest again. Jacob let out a gurgling sound before he stopped moving entirely.
While all of this was happening, I had been frozen in fear. This looked like a fight scene straight out of Dragon Ball Z, with the ground all shattered and the shock waves. Jacob had fought like Future Trunks with two swords and shit. But when I saw Jacob being grabbed by the coach, I knew he was done for. He was directly in the grip of a nine foot tall giant who destroyed the gym floor with a stomp. He was finished.
And I was right, because the coach then crushed his torso with a stomp. Hearing Jacob's chest cave in like that was something I would never unhear. Seeing Jacob try to uselessly lift the coach's size 50 something shoe off of him was just depressing. and seeing the coach smash his foot into Jacob's chest again was terrifying.
I looked at my defeated best friend and I knew from the second I looked at him, he was dead. Blood was leaking from his mouth like he had just eaten a sandwich which only had ketchup in it. His torso was pretty much destroyed. it looked like someone had gotten play dough and just mashed it for five minutes.
My best and only friend was dead. Killed by a giant gym teacher who stomped him to death. Like a bug. Rage filled me as I shook. Tears dripping done my face as I lamented about being to useless to do anything against the giant.
The giant looked at me and smirked. "Aw, was he your friend?" He laughed deeply before fully turning to me after finally stepping off of Jacob. "Don't worry Half-Blood. You'll be joining him soon enough." His inhuman smile returned. "In my stomach." He started to walk towards me.
"You..." I could barely get the words out, I was so angry. "K-Killed...m-my best friend..." I heard thunder in the distance as the windows in the gym started to darken. The wind picked up outside, howling like a banshee. The giant stopped, finally realizing what was going on. "You..." I looked up at the giant, rage all over my face as tears ran down my face. "MOTHERFUCKER!"
I raced towards the giant so fast he didn't even register it. His eyes didn't even track me as time seemed to stand still. I landed a punch right into his chiseled abdomen, which practically turned into play dough as a shock wave knocked him backwards. Time resumed as normal and he roared in pain, clutching his obliterated abs. I didn't give him any time to do anything else.
Time stopped again and I ran up in his face and uppercutted him. His jaw seemed to shatter into a million pieces. Time resumed as normal and he almost flew up into the air. He tried to let out a scream but it came out as loud garbling. I shoulder bashed the giant, knocking him back. I jumped up on his shoulders, yelling as I delivered a punch to his head. I heard a savage cracking sound as the giant slumped to his knees. I grabbed his head and jumped to the floor, bringing the giant on the ground completely. He seemed barely conscious but I didn't care.
I put my foot on his shoulder to pin him down and grabbed his head with both off my arms. I pulled up and heard a savage ripping sound. I held the giant's head in my hands as blood covered me and dripped to the destroyed floor. I was panting heavily looking at the giant's severed head in my hand. I thought gore like this would freak me out. But I was looking right into the giants dead eyes and his dazed expression and didn't feel a thing. Then again I didn't feel weird looking at Jacob's body.
Wait a minute, Jacob! I ran over to the crater he resided in the check him out, however, unfortunately he was dead. His torso was completely smashed and his eyes were rolled into the back of his head. He was gone. My best and only friend.
At that moment the gym door busted open and in came Mr. Brunner, impossibly fast on his wheelchair, holding a bow with a quiver in his lap. "Jacob! Zane! What has happened!? Are you two okay?" He stopped as he surveyed the destruction in the gym and and his eyes rested upon me and Jacob's body. He saw the dead corpse of both Jacob and the giant and me covered in blood carrying the giant's severed head.
Sorrow filled his face as he slowly rolled over to Jacob's body. "No..." he reached Jacob's corpse and picked him up, Jacob's obliterated torso shifted as he did so. He closed Jacob's open dead eyes and had himself a moment of silence, which I joined him in, covered in blood and holding a giant head and all.
Mr. Brunner gently set Jacob down and turned his wheelchair to me, suddenly looking 20 years older than he should. He sighed and looked me in the eye. "I suppose I have a lot of explaining to do..."
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he does.
(10 minutes later)
"So, that is the gist of it." Mr. Brunner, or now known as Chiron, finished.
So, apparently, the Greek gods exist. So do Greek monsters, and Greek heroes and all that jazz. Apparently my world history teacher was the legendary Centaur, Chiron.
I didn't really believe him at first. Not about the Greek gods thing, considering I brutally killed what was apparently a Laestrygonian Giant, who killed my satyr best friend. After I did that, Greek gods being real was a real possibility.
What I didn't believe him on was him being Chiron. I mean, Chiron existed back in the Mycenaean Greek period and he was a centaur for crying out aloud. Mr. Brunner was a middle aged dude in a wheelchair.
But he then just...walked out of his chair. Like his centaur lower half just appeared from inside the wheelchair. I didn't really understand what I had just seen, so Chiron explained it to me. He told me that his wheelchair was a vessel for a pocket dimension that he used to disguise himself as a teacher when he had to infiltrate a school. The human legs he seemingly had were just illusions created by the chair.
So I believed him after that of course. I asked him if Jacob was working with him or for him or something like that. He told me Jacob had been a satyr protector, and his job was to make sure that people like me weren't killed or eaten by monster similar to Coach Crawford. Unfortunately, he was one of the few satyrs who perished in his duties, protecting me.
When I asked him what 'people like you' meant, he told me I wasn't any regular person. I knew that, not just from having ADHD and Dyslexia, but also apparently having the strength to easily brutalize and rip the head off a nine foot giant. He told me I was a demigod, a child of one of the Greek gods, half mortal and half god.
When I thought about, it made sense. The strength I had, coupled with the fact I knew next to nothing about my father, definitely made sense. My mother, when I asked about who my father was, didn't even know herself. He went by the name, Adrian, and they had only known each other very briefly. So, I was basically an accident.
After asking Chiron about all that stuff, he simply started to explain that there was a place that demigods like myself could go and be safe. Camp Half-Blood. Basically a pseudo-summer camp which doubled as a safehouse. He also told me about my scent, which was why monsters came after me and how they found me, and the Mist, which hid the supernatural world from mortals.
"So what happens now?" I asked. Was I going to have to leave New Orleans to go to this Camp Half-Blood? I couldn't leave my mother. I was the only person in her life. She worked a 12 hour shift everyday and only spent time with me. If I suddenly left, she wouldn't have anyone to talk to.
"You're not safe here anymore, Zane. You'll need to come back with me to go to camp. I'll be able to protect you there." My fears were confirmed. I wanted to shout and say I wasn't going to go, and how I could protect myself, but after seeing that monster in action, and after Chiron told me Laestrygonians were rather weak monsters, I knew that I would probably be dead within a week if I tried to go it on my own.
I couldn't look Chiron in the eye. I glanced at my blood soaked hands before asking, "What about my mother?" It wasn't just my hands that were soaked in blood. My whole body was covered in it. Apparently you bleed a lot when you lose your head.
He looked as if he was expecting this question. "She is aware of the divine world, Zane. She knew this day would come. In fact, she contacted me after she saw a large amount of monster activity in the area. She knew this was going to happen." Mom knew about the monsters? Why didn't she tell me? Maybe this entire situation could have been avoided and Jacob would still be alive.
Chiron didn't give me any time to answer. He trotted over to Jacob's body and lifted him gently into a bridle position. "If the circumstances weren't as...unfortunate, I would accompany you to your home to make sure you would be safe while you say goodbye to your mother. However, I must tend to young Jacob. After you have said your goodbyes, wait for me in your home. Do not leave." With that, he turned and left the gym out one of the side doors, ducking under the top due to his height his horse underbody gave him.
I stood there for a few minutes, in my head. I was going to have to leave my mother for who knows for how long. How was she going to get by without me? Would she be able to? I don't know if I'll be able to get by without her. But if I stayed here, I would put her in a lot of danger. Monsters would constantly be attacking me if I stayed around. If I, an apparent demigod, wouldn't be able to survive, then my mom, an ordinary mortal, would definitely not be able to.
With that on my mind, I left the gym, and consequently, the school, and began the journey towards my house, with a heavy mind.
(20 Minutes later)
So apparently going on foot through a large metropolitan area wasn't exactly the fastest way to get back to my house.
I didn't seem to retain my insane speed I had suddenly gained from my fight with the Laestrygonian, so I just jogged as fast as my now 11 year old scrawny legs could take me.
The events of the gym weighed heavily on my mind. I could barely believe that it had even happened at all. My new gym teacher turned into a cannibalistic giant and tried to eat me, then my satyr friend, who was actually 30 years old from what Chiron told me, fought to defend me and died for it. Somehow I was a demigod, and now I had to leave everything I knew and go off to some magical Greek summer camp to be safe.
This apparently was my life now, huh?
I found myself surveying the city as I ran through it to my house. It wasn't exactly New York City or Chicago in terms of size or skyscraper count, but it was still considered a city. Much more akin to a city like Atlanta.
I'd lived here my entire life. Grew up here. Played in these streets. Yeah I've almost been hit by a couple of cars but everyone who has actually had a decent childhood has, too.
It took me over twenty minutes of running, but I finally reached my house. It was a simple thing. I lived in a suburb, so every two houses the designs and building layout repeated. The only thing that differentiates one from another is the paint job. Our house was painted a dark brown, so it stood out from all the other houses, which had their own unique color.
I knew something was wrong before I even reached the driveway. The front door area of the house was completely demolished. Like something had punched it away. It was too quiet. There wasn't even any static noise outside. As if everything had frozen in a bubble around the house.
I stopped running and slowly walked up the driveway. Was mom alright? Did some kind of monster attack her? But she wasn't even a demigod. Why would a monster target her? Chiron told me only demigods were targeted by monsters.
I finally reached the destroyed doorway, which looked more like a cave entrance now than an actual door. Rubble laid about on the ground around the entrance that seems to have been part of the wall at some point. Something must of hit this area really hard. Hopefully mom could escape before whatever had done this reached her.
Tip toeing throughout the house, looking for anything out of the ordinary, I could say the whole place was a wreck. Pictures and other wall decorations lined the ground, cracked and damaged. There were small bits of rubble everywhere, no doubt leftovers from whatever did that to the doorway. Something large and powerful had to have come through here.
Suddenly, I heard something. It sounded like...chewing. Like a dog gnawing on a bone. I followed the source of the sound to the kitchen, slowly, to not make too much noise. In the kitchen I saw three massive shapes huddled around something. I gave the shapes a lookover and found they looked very similar to the Laestrygonian I had killed in the gym. Only they were wearing primitive leathers, rather than actual clothes. They also were already at their full height, standing at nine feet, although they were crouched over something, looking much smaller.
Then I saw it. The source of the chewing, the gnawing and the hunching. Mom. She was dead. Without a doubt. Her neck was turned at an odd angle. Her eyes were open, lifeless. However she wasn't in one piece. Her left arm was gone, nothing but blood remained where it used to be. Both of her legs were being chewed on like chicken legs. Blood stained the ground under them and were dripping from the Laestrygonian's mouths.
The giants killed my mother. They were...eating her. The giants not only killed my best friend, but they also killed my mother. She was the only person I had left. She was gone.
Bastards. Those FUCKING BASTARDS! They killed her! They ruined my life! They ruined everything! They are going to pay!
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" I shouted out, alerting the Laestrygonians too my presence. They looked like kids with their hands caught in the cookie jar. Like deer in in someone's headlights. I raced forward, my speed returning to me, and kicked the first Laestrygonian I saw in the face. He flew right through the wall as if it was paper, shock wave stumbling the other Laestrygonians. In my rage, I barely noticed that sparks seem to jet from my arm slightly. The other two giants charged me, both slamming their arms down towards me in a double ax handle. I caught all for of their arms in my own, one arm for each giant. They were really strong. I could barely hold back both of them. However, my rage was fueling me. I felt as if I was getting stronger by the second. I slowly began to push the Laestrygonians back, their eyes widening as they felt they were being overpowered.
I was suddenly sent sprawling away into the wall by an unknown force. My entire left side screamed in agony as I shakily tried to stand up from the blow that had blindsided me. I looked up from the ground to see the third Laestrygonian, with his fist outstretched, a bloody smirk on his face. The three began to encircle me, knowing I was stronger than they were individually, but together they could put up a fight. It seems they weren't as stupid as they looked.
The blood on their mouths was my mothers blood.
Rage poured through me again like a coke into a wine glass and I stood to face them, feeling my strength return to me. I knew they were going to try and surround me. Gang up on me and beat me into a bloody pile of gore on my kitchen floor. I had to try and separate them.
I raced forwards to the one on the right. I jumped in the air, and faster than he could react, I kicked him in the chest, stunning him and sending him through the other wall of the kitchen. I somehow maneuvered my way in the air over towards the giant on the left. I threw a jab in his chest, which made him stumble. I turned to the final giant, redirecting a downward punch from him and backhanding him in the jaw, violently knocking his head to the side and making him lose his footing.
I prepared to finish the giant off by ripping his head right from his neck, but a pain in my back that send me stumbling away. Must of been that one giant I kicked from the start. I tried to stand but I punch from the giant I was about to kill sent me back to the ground.
This was not going the way I planned. I had to gather myself and attack again, this time, do it quicker. I stood up, legs shaking, to see the giants encircling me again, this time prepared for my attacks. I tried to attack the giant on the left, to separate them again, but the middle giant came to his allies aid and both of the giants block my punch I attempted.
While I struggled against the strength of two Laestrygonians, the third on hit my right side with a side kick, no doubt shattering all of my ribs, and sent me flying away. I tried to stand again, but my body was too injured. I could barely move.
The Laestrygonians then surrounded me. They started to beat me like a dog. Pain exploded everywhere as fists and feet assaulted me from every angle. I could feel my body breaking even more than it had before.
Was this the end? Was I just going to die here to a bunch of ancient cannibal giants? Was I going to share my mother's fate, and end up as giant shit? I'm useless. I was the only one who could have protected my mother. I failed and she was gone. I couldn't even avenge her. I had just been beaten by monsters that Chiron considered rather weak.
Suddenly, I felt it. Power. Unbridled, raw power run through me, mine for the taking. My injuries mended, as if there was no harm done at all. I had no idea where the sudden rush of power had come from, but right now I certainly wasn't going to complain.
Lightning surrounded my entire body. As if I was a living energy battery. It ran down my limbs and my body, sparkling with power. An outer shell of lightning appeared as well, creating some sort of lightning shield. The weakling giants who were attacking be were immediately shocked, and sent back several feet. They looked at my electrifying figure in fear and awe. I turned my eyes, glowing with power, away from my form, to the giants.
Disgust filled my being as I looked at them. The ones who killed my mother. They shook in fear, terrified of my newfound power. I looked away from them, to my hand. I focused, closing my eyes, thinking of my power appearing in my hand. Suddenly, they thought became reality, as pure energy of the clouds filled my hand, more so than the rest of my body.
Deciding I was done with this, I raised my hand, the giants slowly began backing up. Energy crackled of my hand as I brought it down on the bloody floor.
When the white light of the lightning left my eyes, I could see the entire house was gone. Erased of the face of the earth. As if it were a drawling on a piece of paper. The only thing that remained were the ashes of the foundation. The giants were obviously gone, as was the corpse of my mother.
The thought of my mother made my knees go weak. The power and lightning of my form evaporated, leaving me exhausted. I fell to my knees. What just happened? What was that voice, and what was that power? I looked at the spot I remembered my mother, or what was left of her, had laid. There wasn't even anything left to bury, just ash. Tears welled up in my eyes.
I heard the sound of a horse walking. I knew who it was, Chiron. I didn't even bother turning around to look at him. I simply sat there, on my knees, it silence. Chiron didn't even bother asking what had happened, I knew he knew. He didn't say anything just allowing me to grieve. He let me sit there for a few minutes, not disturbing me, or offering any empty condolences. He understood.
"We have to go now, Zane. More will be coming after your show with the lightning." I wordlessly nodded and stood up. He motioned for me to follow him. I did so, not knowing what was awaiting for me next.
(The Next Day, Long Island, New York)
The Taxi was quiet.
It had been a day since my birthday. The day where my mother and best friend died because of me. We had taken a plane to Long Island, apparently where Camp Half-Blood presided. It was weirdly the safest I'd ever felt in my entire life. In the air, on the plane. I felt more safe then I have ever felt in my own home or my mothers arms.
On the flight, I had asked Chiron how and why the Laestrygonians found and killed my mother. Chiron explained to me earlier that demigods like myself give off an aura, or a scent, that monsters can track. Since I lived at that house and stayed there more than I did at school, my scent was already over the place. I then asked him why there was a giant who infiltrated the school then. He said he wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he believed they had already tracked me to the school and sent that one giant, who was called Coach Crawford, to kidnap me so they could all eat me.
I asked him why the giants ate my mother then. He tried to explain it gently, but I understood what he was saying. He basically told me the giants, when they didn't hear back from their friend, probably decided to attack my house in a panic. A better reason than anything I could probably think of.
After landing at the airport in New York City, Chiron seemingly Jedi mind tricked a taxi driver to take us to some place on the north shore of long island, to where I assumed Camp Half-Blood was. The entire time, at both airports in New Orleans and New York, Chiron had his bow out and the arrow knocked, surveying the area. He was back in his wheelchair, some vessel for a pocket dimension he hides his centaur bottom half with.
I asked if him having his bow out would attract attention, especially from airport security. He told me that the mist would hide the bow, making it appear as a harp. Oddly specific, but okay then. We got in the taxi and began a long, several hour drive to Camp Half-Blood, which wasn't helped by New York traffic, which made Chiron look anxious.
Currently we were riding in the taxi down a dark, shadowy road. I was rather bored if I was being honest. The forest that surrounded the road almost seeming to repeat itself. Chiron seemed on constant watch, while the taxi driver seemed only half conscious, yet he was still somehow driving expertly. A thought popped up in my mind.
"Uh, Chiron?" The centaur teacher turned his gaze to me, but I could feel him still watching for any threats that could attack us.
"Yes, Zane? What do you need?" Chiron asked.
"What do you do with Jacob's body?" He didn't tell me anything earlier about it, just saying that he would attend to Jacob. What did he mean by that? He had only been gone for around 20 minutes after Jacob's and my mother's death. Did he build an entire grave for him that quickly?
Chiron's attentive gaze softened and he sighed. "I planted his remains in a nearby garden, so he could be one with nature, like the rest of his fallen kin." What did that mean? Be with nature?
I asked Chiron about this. He told me that when Satyrs die, they turn into a certain type of plant or flower. It was their way of returning to nature, or so they said. Chiron told me that Jacob had turned into a patch of sunflowers. That was kinda odd. When I saw Chiron take Jacob's body away, he was still a person, or well, satyr. Did Jacob not immediately die after Crawford smashed his torso?
My thoughts were interrupted by a large thud off in the distance. 'It's probably thunder.' I thought. But there isn't any clouds nearby. I couldn't explain how I knew that, but I just did. Now that was definitely odd. So what was that thud?
It happened again. This time it was closer. Chiron looked spooked. He frantically looked in every direction, looking for any threat that presented itself. But the darkness of the night clouded his vision, and he could see nothing.
The thud was getting closer, and this time they were repeating. Chiron looked downright terrified, even I, who didn't know what was going on, felt rather scared. Chiron leaned from his wheelchair and said to the mind controlled driver, "Drive. Drive as fast as possible, right now!" The driver did as Chiron said and floored it.
We raced down the road, for the road was straight and from what I could tell, there were no turns for quite a while. Hopefully, at least. However, even as the taxi pushed itself to it's limits in speed, the thuds were not getting any further away. In fact, they seemed to be getting even closer.
When the thuds seemed right on top of us, Chiron turned quickly to me. "We have to get out of the car, now!" Acting quickly, I summoned the strength I used against the Laestrygonians. I punched the door out of it's frame, grabbed Chiron's chair, with him in it, and flung him and myself out of the car.
I looked back mid jump to see a massive shape, towering over the trees in the forest, crush the car with it's massive foot. I had no time to feel guilty about leaving the taxi driver to die in the car, as I smashed back first into a tree. Chiron, who has fallen from his wheelchair mid flight, somehow landed correctly, even with his horse underbody.
I stood up, my superhuman durability having protected me from the harm smashing into a tree in mid air would do to you. The massive frame that smashed the car noticed us, and began walking over to where me and Chiron stood.
Now able to see it up close, as it stood barely twenty feet from us, still marching, I saw it was at the bare minimum twenty five feet tall, towering over the trees in the forest. It's skin was a rough, course grey looking color. It was even more muscular than the Laestrygonian giants I had killed. It wore nothing, literally. Had a big ol' giant penis just dangling there. However, the most eye catching feature, no pun intended, was it's singular eye.
Three guesses what this thing was. If you guessed anything other than cyclops, I question your probably rather low intelligence.
Chiron, who had his bowstring knocked with an arrow, had a grim expression on his face. "I knew you were powerful, considering who your father is, Zane. But to send such a massive cyclops over you..." Chiron trailed off. He pulled back his bowstring. "Lord Poseidon must be very angry about the fact there is another child..." He seemed to say that more to himself rather than to me.
"My father? Who is my father?" I knew I was a demigod, that much was certain, considering my incredible strength and speed. But Chiron knew who my father was?
Chiron looked at me, disappointment clear on his face. "Considering your powers over lightning, it should be quite obvious, Zane." Realization struck me. He couldn't be taking about... "Your father is lord of the skies, god of thunder and lightning, king of the gods. Zeus Panhellenios." Zeus of All the Greaks. Chiron's declaration seemingly changed something. A thunderstorm that wasn't there before suddenly was there now. Everything now made sense.
"But that doesn't matter right now." Chiron's voice pulled me from my head. The massive cyclops was about to charge. "I'll handle this, Zane. You must find your way to Camp Half-Blood. Reach out with your senses. You'll be able to find their location." Chiron prepared himself for the battle of his life.
Yeah, no. That wasn't happening. "I'm not leaving you here to fight by yourself, Chiron! You'll die!" I'm pretty sure I didn't know what I was talking about, but I wasn't going to sit back at let someone else get killed because of me.
Chiron almost looked amused. "Zane, I've beaten monsters you could hardly even imagine. Trust me, I'll be fine. Go!" With that, Chiron raced off. The cyclops tried to bring it's massive foot down on top of him, much like it did with the taxi. Chiron raced in between the cyclops' legs with inhuman speed, firing arrows into the cyclops' tough hide.
The cyclops slammed it's powerful arm down down at it's feet, creating a shock wave, which Chiron expertly dodged. Chiron let loose three arrows, all in quick succession, into the head of the cyclops. It didn't seem to do anything however, as the cyclops was too large for Chiron's small arrows to do any real, lethal damage. I knew he was going to need help taking it down.
While the cyclops was swinging and grabbing at his legs, trying and failing to catch Chiron, who bolted around the cyclops like a cheetah who just injected thirty syringes of heroin, I raced to the cyclops right ankle, and threw a haymaker right into his ankle bone. I heard a crack and a anguished roar from the cyclops. It looked down and instead of swiping at me like I had prepared for, it slowly brought both of it's massive arms into the air. Kinda like it was going to...
"Zane! Get out of there!" Chiron yelled to me. I just barely got out of the way of one of the cyclops' arms, which smashed the ground with lightning speed. I, however, did not get out of the way of the force the arms created, which sent me sprawling dozens of feet away. Everything was ringing and blurry. I'm thankful Chiron manage to yell out to me when he did, otherwise I'm pretty sure I'd be paste right now.
As I was standing up, I heard growling to my left. The source of the sound was in some bushes in a clutter of trees. I was dozens of feet away from the fight, which meant I wasn't in any immediate danger, so I had a little time to catch my breath. But this sound definitely meant something else was here.
The savage roar of a massive, golden six thousand pound lion shook me to my bones as it jumped from the bushes, jaws open wide ready to crush my head. I reacted, sliding under the lion, lifting it from it's torso, and throwing it to where I came from. The lion, not expecting this, slammed into the ground and tumbled for a few feet before recovering and preparing to pounce once more.
My mind racked at me, trying to remember what monster this could be. A memory from a few months ago, in Chiron's class came to mind. "The Nemean Lion, a large, powerful golden lion whose fur made it invulnerable to all weapons. Heracles, unable to kill it with any weapon he possessed, strangled the beast to death." So that's how I was going to kill it. I had to strangle it, like Heracles did. I didn't even have a weapon to try and kill it the other way regardless.
I jumped at the lion, trying to fake it out and bait it. It worked and the lion jumped out to try and meet my own pounce, but I pulled back at the last second. I let the lion go past me and then I grabbed it in a headlock, and put every bit off my demigod strength into trying to strangle the beast.
However, it seemed to known what I was doing, probably from getting killed this way before. It thrashed around, tried to throw me off of it. I tried to keep the beats in my grip, but I wasn't strong enough and it send me flying away.
I caught myself mid air, somehow, and landed rightly on my feet. Me and the lion encircled one another, the beast waiting to see my next move. However, I didn't have a next move. I wasn't strong enough to kill the lion by strangling it, so I was pretty sure punching it to death wasn't going to work either. I guess Heracles didn't try killing this thing at eleven years old, so I probably wasn't going to do what he barely accomplished as an adult.
'Father.' I reached out with my mind. 'I need help. I'm not strong enough to kill this monster with my bare hands. I'm too young. I need more power. Help me, please.' The lord of the skies seemed to hear my prayers. Strength filled my every pore, much like it had against the Laestrygonians.
Thunder struck and I felt the same power return. I looked at my arms, same lightning danced around it, as well my entire body. The Nemean Lion, stood frozen, almost shocked. Well, if a mindless monster could be shocked.
I blurred out of the beasts view, appearing by it's side and kicking in right in it's belly. It flew to the left, roaring. Whether in pain or surprise, I'm not sure. I didn't allow it to recover. I blurred in front of it, landing a savage knee to it's jaw. I feel the jawbone crumble under my knee. It seems the pelt didn't exactly protect it from physical damage was well as it did from damage via weapons.
I knew Chiron needed my help with the cyclops, so I wasn't going to waste any time with this monster. I charged the power of my father into my hands. I aimed at the stunned and injured lion, and immediately hit it with millions of volts of electricity. Lightning danced of my hands as it struck the golden lion, causing it to shake and contract in on itself.
However it didn't seem to die. It was stunned in place and couldn't move thanks to my electric assault, however I didn't seem to be doing any damage with my lightning either. A shame, I felt like the emperor from that Star Wars movie. I released my lightning, but didn't give the lion any time to recover. I ran right up in it's face and hit the beast with a powerful uppercut, knocking it's front half in the air.
I caught the beast by it's neck before it could return all the way to the ground. I wasn't going to give it anytime to try and fight me. I moved my hands to the sides of the lion's head and twisted. The lion's head turned savagely like a steering wheel with a loud brutal crack. Any movement the Lion had been doing before immediately ceased as the beast died and went limp. I dropped the beast's corpse and said corpse crumbled away in a golden dust. The only thing that remained after a few seconds of crumbling was a golden pelt, head and all.
I didn't have time to process that. I had to help Chiron and help him now. Turning from the pelt, I faced towards the area where the massive cyclops was fighting Chiron. I moved towards them, the wind almost seeming to carry me. When I arrived, which was in less than a second, I found the cyclops still, sweeping between it's own legs, trying the futilely hit Chiron.
The cyclops was filled with arrows, however it didn't seem to even register them. Chiron, who was out of arrows by this point, was still expertly dodging everything the cyclops was throwing at him. However, I could tell by the slight sluggishness in his dodging, he was getting tired. He probably hadn't fought a monster of this caliber in decades, if not centuries. He had likely defeated monsters this strong, but not for a long while.
Chiron, narrowly dodging the most recent stomp of the cyclops, pulled his bowstring back. However he didn't have any arrows left. It appears he didn't need any arrows, as a golden energy filled the bowstring. He let the energy loose and it took the form of a golden arrow mid flight. After it hit the cyclops, who stumbled, it dispersed, as if it didn't even exist at all.
The cyclops barely seemed fazed, while the effort clearly took it's toll on Chiron. Sweat dripped down his face, as he began to fall to the effects of exhaustion. I knew I had to step in right here, otherwise this cyclops was going to kill Chiron. "Hey! Ugly!" Yeah, I know. That was as cliche as it could have possibly been, but I had to say something that would get it's attention.
The cyclops at first barely glanced at me, believing Chiron to be more of a threat, but when it saw my lightning surrounded form, it's singular eye focused in on me. Chiron seemed in awe of my form but his protective persona sprouted to life. "Zane! You need to leave now! Let me handle this." But he was exhausted. I was the only one who had the power to fight this big bastard, so I was going to do it.
I didn't bother to answer Chiron. I knew nothing I could say would convince him otherwise. I stared the cyclops down. It's eye focused on me. It had already turned his whole body towards me and seemed ready for my every move. 'Enough of this.' I charged the monster, while it slammed it's foot down on top of me. I caught his massive foot above my head, lifting it like an overhead squat. This dude was strong. I could barely stop his foot from crushing me and I was in my lightning thing form. I could feel my energy starting to fade. This form was on a time limit, it seems.
I charged lightning into the cyclops' foot, sending electricity all throughout the monster's body. The monster lifted his foot off me and shook, his body twitching and he began roaring in pain. I summoned lightning from my fading power, and threw it like a spear into the cyclops' chest, immobilizing it even further. Now that it was stunned, I had an opportunity to finish it off. I charged what was left of my strength into my right arm, and jumped towards the cyclops' chest.
My jump created a shock wave that uprooted several trees in the close vicinity. Even Chiron was sent flying. My fist landed into the cyclop's chest. Nothing stopped my momentum. Not the cyclops' skin, not his muscles, nor his bones, nothing. I flew out the other side, covered in the cyclops' dark blood. I landed on the ground, not to gracefully and glanced back to see my handiwork. The cyclops' was clutching at it's torso, which now had a massive hole in it. The cyclops' let out a final gurgle before collapsing, crumbling into golden dust before whisking away in the wind.
My lightning form, name pending, had vanished with the final punch I finished the cyclops' with. I suddenly was filled with a sea of exhaustion. I felt like I could sleep for an entire century, wake up, and then sleep for another one. Darkness began to fill my vision, and I collapsed. Before I lost consciousness, I heard the sounds of muffled voices and hooves trotting.
(One Week Later, Big House Infirmary, Camp Half-Blood)
Well, I can officially say I feel like shit.
Waking up in a room with a bunch of cots and a bunch of other unknown people whose ages ranged from childhood to teenager was a little suspicious if I was going to be honest. I initially reacted rather violently, but I was held down by a few of the teenagers around me. After realizing that I wasn't in danger, I took the room in.
The room I was an infirmary or some kind of healing room. It was rather large, with the room almost as big as my entire suburban house in New Orleans. Yeah, the one I blew up. There were a group of people standing above me on my cot. I could recognize Chiron, as his entire lower body was a horse, but he was wearing a rather formal pink dress shirt with a sleek black vest worn over it
Standing to his left was a girl around my age. She was was blonde, her hair reaching down to her upper back. She wore a baggy, orange shirt with the words "Camp Half-Blood" written in black. She wore jean shorts with a dagger in a sheathe at her waist. Her stormy grey eyes trying to analyse me.
To Chiron's right stood a girl, who looked more like a dude than I probably did. She had dirty blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail. Her angry gaze watched me like I was some sort of threat. She wore the same orange shirt the other girl did, but it was larger. She also wore an open black vest, which was nowhere near as nice as the one Chiron wore. Instead of jean shorts like the other one, she wore black cargo pants. She also carried a spear at here side.
To my right, one of the people holding me down, was a blonde haired man who looked around eighteen years old. He wore the same orange shirt, although his sleeves were ripped, making his shirt look more like a tank top. He had a scar over his right eye. He carried a sword in a sheathe at his side.
To my left was a lanky looking guy, with curly brown hair and a goatee. He wore the same orange shirt, although he wore no pants, as there was fur there. A satyr then. He looked about fourteen but from what Chiron told me, satyrs are often double the age of what the look.
"Zane. Calm down. It is alright." I stopped struggling against the two on my right and left before I started to use my demigod strength. Good thing too, I probably would have thrown them against the wall. The two stopped holding me back and allowed me to sit up.
"Chiron? How long have I been out? Is this Camp Half-Blood?" I felt much better than I had after killing that cyclops, but considering I had passed out from exhaustion, It wasn't really a high bar to reach. I couldn't have been out very long.
"You've been unconscious for a week, Zane. And yes. This is Camp Half-Blood, or more specifically, the Infirmary, where demigods are taken to heal their injuries." A week? Damn I must have been tired then. Killing cyclops' is an exhausting hobby. Chiron saw my inquisitive look to the four unknown people in front of me. "Ah, where are my manner? Zane this is here," Chiron gestured towards the stormy eyed girl. "Is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena." Said girl didn't react to her introduction, she just continued to analyse me.
Chiron motioned towards the two boys beside me. "The one on your right is Luke Castellan. Son of Hermes." The son of Hermes nodded to me, a slight smirk on his face. "To your left is Grover Underwood, a satyr." Grover gave me a slight smile and a nod.
Chiron motioned towards the final person, the angry looking girl. "This is Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares. She will be the one who will give you the tour of camp after you meet our Camp Director, Mr. D." Clarisse looked somehow angrier after that was said. "Are you feeling well enough for that meeting now, Zane?"
Well, I felt better than I did earlier, so I guess that was a yes. "I guess so." I said, not really ready for what I was about to get myself into. Chiron then motioned me up, which I follow him and Clarisse through the doorway of the Infirmary.
The Big House looked light a luxurious Victorian England house decorated with Greek art. Expensive paintings and tapestries lined the walls as they told the stories of Greek myth. Several figures such as Heracles and Theseus were depicted in their classic stories such as slaying the Nemean Lion, which I remembered I had done the same thing, and Theseus killing the Minotaur.
Chiron lead me and Clarisse, who still looked a little angry at me for some reason, outside to the deck of the Big House, which I later learned it was called this. The deck looked like classical Victorian architecture, which I thought was weird, considering this was a camp for Greek demigods. I thought there would be Greek style buildings here. Chiron led me over to a small table, which some kind of card game covered.
The man sitting at the singular chair was well...someone who was difficult to explain. He was about six feet tall, wearing a purple toga, which showed off his lithe yet defined frame. He had brown curly medium length hair and a smooth, youthful face. In fact, he didn't look a day over twenty. However, somehow I could tell he was much, much older than that. He was looking over the cards with a bored expression over his face, carrying a diet coke in his hand. Honestly this guy was probably the most beautiful person I'd ever seen.
The man looked up from the cards he was going over. "Ah. Chiron. A new camper I see." The man looked at me in disdain, his gaze seeming to pierce my soul. This guy, while good looking, was also really scary looking.
Chiron nodded to the man. "Yes, Mr. D. I believe he is the son of your father, Zeus." A slight rumbling could be heard off in the distance, as if my father was listening to the conversation.
The man, or should I say probably not, scoffed. "Apparently oaths mean nothing these days. Second child of Zeus and it hasn't even been ten years." The not man chuckled morbidly. "At least this one actually made it into camp before dying." The not man chuckled again as he went back to looking at his cards on the table.
Chiron looked almost pained as the not man said that, while Clarisse looked indifferent. It seems the daughter of Ares knows about my parentage. I guess Chiron must have told her. The not man looked back to me after nodding to himself and setting the cards down. "Your name, boy?"
Irritation filled me but I knew better than to show it in front of this guy. "Zane Williams, sir. Who are you?" This guy was not human. He held an aura to him that seemed almost...maddening. He felt like he could outstrip anything I could ever do with his pinky finger. Who was this guy?
The not man rolled his eyes. "You can call me Mr. D. Everyone here already does." Mr. D said as he motioned around himself. "That probably doesn't answer your question." Mr. D. lifted his hand, vines seeming to manifest and encircle his arm. "Does this?" Grapevines. Dionysus then. My new camp director was Dionysus. The Greek god of wine. Also madness. And other things I don't really care to remember.
"Oh." Was my intelligent reply. The god looked amused before he motioned to me with his free hand. "Chiron claims you are the son of my father. Perhaps you can show me some truth to his claim?" Was he asking me to use my lightning powers? Here? Usually when I used them, they created a crater where I would be standing. So I tried to summon the power of my father, but only a little bit. A tiny pulling feeling came into being in my stomach.
A little sliver of lightning jutted out of my hand and smashed into the floor of the deck, breaking the wood. Mr. D dryly looked at me. "Not much control yet, huh? I once commanded the same abilities when I was your age. It will come to you." As he said that, a ethereal lightning bolt manifested above my head. "So you are his son. Guess that makes you my brother." He smirked a little before waving his hand to Clarisse.
"Give him the tour of the place and then get him settled into his cabin. Just get out of my sight." Clarisse nodded to Mr. D and motioned to me to follow her, growling a little bit. What did I do to piss her off so much? As we walked away I heard Mr. D. ask Chiron, "A game of Pinochle, Chiron?" I couldn't see Chiron, but since he paused a little I assumed he put on a contemplative expression before answering, "Alright Mr. D. But only one round, I have many duties to attend to.
Camp Half-Blood actually looked really cool.
The place actually looked like a Greek city, with the building being of classical Greek design, although I could tell modern influences still made it into the building process.
Clarisse took me on a half assed tour of the place. She explained the basic function of the buildings, which cabins were which, where the dining pavilion was located, where the arena was, all that jazz. I felt like there were already gaps in what she told me. She apparently couldn't be bothered to actually explain in detail which places in camp actually were important.
When she showed me the climbing wall, a massive wall filled with many traps and lavafalls, yes lavafalls, she actually explained everything in detail. She definitely enjoyed the climbing wall quite a bit, from what I could tell from her impassioned explanation. She actually looked like she didn't want to murder me for a little bit. Progress.
When she showed me the archery range and told me, "Only Pussies use bows, so I had a feeling you would fit right in." Wow bitch, you don't even know me yet.
When our pathetic excuse for a tour ended, she roughly handed me a schedule. She told me I had to choose several classes to take while I stay here, which was pretty much indefinitely. She didn't even give me anytime to respond before she told me there was one last place she had to show me.
When we stopped, I recognized this place as the bathroom, as Clarisse showed me this during the tour. After we went in, I decided to call her out on it. "Uh, Clarisse, this is the bathroom. You've already shown this to me."
Her manlike face took on a dark grin. "I know Pussy." Guess that was my new nickname from her. Creative. "I have to show you what we do to all the newcomers here." Two pairs off arms both of mine and locked them behind my back. Where did these two come from? I looked back, seeing a tall kid with a crew cut, similar to the Laestrygonian, Crawford. The other one was a red haired girl with freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. Both held my arms back.
Clarisse opened one of the stalls and lifted the toilet seat up. "Hope you like jacuzzis, Pussy. Your face is on a one way trip to one." They were going to give me a swirly? Really? Is this some cliche 1980s movie or something? Yeah no, this shit wasn't going to slide.
I headbutted the crew cut guy, which knocked him clean out. I easily wrestled my arm from the girl, she tried to stop me and keep my arm pined, but I was too strong for her. I elbowed her in the side and she was sent to the ground, the wind knocked out of her.
Clarisse wasn't just sitting there watching me beat up her siblings. After I was free, she threw a punch right at my jaw. My incredible speed allowed me to catch her punch mid strike and grab her by the throat. I lifted her up from the ground as if she was a sack of potatoes. She tried to pry my hand from her neck, however my grip was ironclad. She tried to punch my arm, hoping she would knock my arm away and she could escape. She might as well have punched a brick wall. Well, considering she was a demigod she would probably punch through a brick wall so maybe that metaphor breaks down a little.
I could imagine this looked pretty funny. A five foot, scrawny kid lifting a girl who was closer to six feet rather than five. Yeah that was pretty funny.
"Listen, Clarissa or whatever the hell your name is. Don't mess with me and I won't mess with you. Understand?" I didn't bother trying to get an answer out of her as I threw her to the side. I looked back at the two idiots that Clarisse had gotten to jump me. The crew cut guy was still knocked out, although otherwise he looked fine. The girl was still breathing rather weird and holding her left side. Damn, I didn't think I hit her that hard.
"Yo, girl. You alright?" I asked as I reached my hand up to help her up. I felt kinda bad now. The girl on the ground in front of me was even shorter than me, although she looked my age. Her shoulder length red hair was brushed to perfection, which was weird for who was probably a daughter of Ares, I'm assuming. She was lithe with soft hands. If Ares was this girls father, He probably knocked up an ugly bitch for Clarrise, considering the two looked completely different. Clarisse was ugly with this girl was rather beautiful looking.
The girl slowly recovered and looked at my hand. However, she just seemed to register my words. She smacked my hand away and got up and ran out the bathroom, not before yelling,"I'm not a girl!" before proceeding the squeal like a girl and run away.
Wait. That was a dude? What the hell? That was definitely the most girly looking person I had ever met. A dude. Huh. Anyway, nonplussed, I shook my head and left the bathroom, looking for something interesting to do.
The arena was cool as hell, no question.
While it looked like a rip off of the Roman Colosseum, It was definitely different in some ways. For one, it didn't look like a superhero punched the roof off of it, but the Colosseum didn't look like that originally either. However, it had a Greek design to it rather than a Roman one. Also it looked way smaller than the actual Colosseum.
Inside the arena, people were training. They were training in groups, classes and some where training alone. Makeshift mini fighting squares dotted the arena, which had demigods training in them. Weapon racked were seated alongside these fight squares, with tons of different types of swords, axes, spears and shield aligned on them.
I walked through the arena, gazing at the demigods who were training. Their skillful attacks and deflections imprinted into my mind. One kid was fight a dude with a bo staff, and was thoroughly kicking his ass. Another fought a ax wielding kid with a xiphos and a small shield. One rather large teen brandished a large great hammer at another, only to be kicked in the face and dropped to the ground.
However the most eye catching feature of the whole pace was the same guy who held me down earlier, Luke Castellan, fighting off four other demigods with varying weapons. Luke wielded a long xiphos, which he expertly defended every attack against him from the four demigods who fought him. He looked like he was barely trying, a grin adorned on his face. In that same minute I came upon his fighting square, he disarmed and defeated every demigod against him.
The defeated demigods were sweating and out of breath, their hands on their knees. Luke took them in and chuckled. "Take five, guys." Said guys immediately did so and shuffled out of the arena, groaning in pain, which made Luke chuckle even more. After he did so, he finally noticed me standing there, enraptured by the entire fight. "Oh, it's you. Uh...Zane? Right?"
I nodded. "You're Luke? The son of Hermes guy?" Unlike seemingly everyone else in the camp, Luke looked like an adult. I didn't ask how old he was, mainly cause I haven't talked to him yet, so I was assuming he was an adult, simply from how he looked.
Luke flashed me a grin. "Yeah. I'm "the son of Hermes guy." You finished with your tour of the camp from Clarisse?" You could hardly even call that pathetic venture a tour, considering she just told me bare bones of what everything was, then she tried to dump my head in a toilet. Yeah she was going to be one I knock down a peg.
"No one exactly told me she was going to try and give me a swirlie." Yeah, I'm still a little bitter over that, which I think is justified considering it happened not ten minutes ago.
Luke laughed. "She does that to every newbie in camp. Considering how not wet your hair is, I assume it didn't go too well for her." I shook my head and Luke let out a sigh. "I told her not to try that with you. From what Chiron told us, how you killed that elder cyclops and that Nemean Lion, you probably wouldn't take that kind of shit from her. I hope you didn't rough her up too badly."
I shook my head again. "Nah, she's fine. I just grabbed her by the neck and told her not to mess with me. The only ones I really roughed up were her two lackeys, a guy with a crew cut and a red haired dude who likes like a girl." I mentioned that specifically so I could try and fish for a name for the girly looking dude. Mr. Crew Cut was not important but if I ever met Mr. 'I'm not a girl' again, Knowing their name would at least be preferable.
"Well that sounds like Brian and Taylor, both sons of Ares." Well at least I got a name for the girly dude now. "Also, speaking of Nemean Lions, Chiron wanted me to give you this after your tour, since he was going to be busy." Luke walked over the the corner of the fighting square and picked up some sort of square thing wrapped in some Greek style linen wraps. He undid the wrapping and handed me a golden lion pelt.
"Three guesses what this thing is." Luke shook the pelt so it would unfold and be shown in it's full golden glory. It had the appearance of a winter cloak, but with the Nemean Lion's massive head serving as a hood. "Chiron said it's yours by rights, since you killed the damn thing, so here." Luke handed me the cloak, which I gently put on. It magically shrunk to fit my size, because the damn thing was larger than I was normally.
People from the other fighting circles glanced over as I put the Nemean Lion cloak on and started to whisper to themselves, quietly, so I couldn't hear them. I looked back to Luke and he smirked. "People are already calling you the Second Coming of Heracles. Hard not to after the story of you breaking the lion's neck and punching through an elder cyclops' chest spread around the camp." He twirled his sword, which he was still carrying by his side. "So what actually brings you here, Zane?"
I shrugged. "I just came to see the arena after taking care of Clarisse, and I saw you fighting here." An idea popped into my head. "Say Luke, what do they teach in the combat classes?" I would ask my question depending on the son of Hermes' answer.
Luke looked up as he thought to himself. "Well, they teach basic self defense with every weapon here. But in the classes, you can prioritize a certain weapon. Why?" An inquisitive look appeared on his face.
"I'll be honest. I want to be better than everyone else with a weapon. I almost got killed by three Laestrygonians after they murdered my mother. If I was the son of any other god other than Zeus, I'd probably be dead." I looked down and gripped my right hand into a fist. "I don't want that to ever happen again. I want to be able to protect the people I care about. I want to protect the people who can't help themselves. But right now I fall into that category. Luke, will you help me get stronger?" I looked the son of Hermes in the eyes. "Will you train me?"
Luke looked serious. He stood silent there for a few seconds, processing my request. I felt anticipation in my veins, preparing to be shot down. I mean, who would train an eleven year old kid they hardly even know?
"Sure."
What? "What?" That easy? No test? No questions asked? That was odd.
"I'll train you." Luke shrugged and had an easygoing look on his face. His sword swung lazily at his side and his right foot bobbed up and down a bit.
"Seriously? I thought I'd have to prove my worth or something cliche to you for you to train me or something." Was it really that easy? It couldn't have been. My knowledge of every fighting movie ever required the main character to do some montage style test that they will fail the first time and then succeed at later.
Luke smiled. "Yeah. I don't really do that much honestly, despite being the councilor to the Hermes cabin. During your combat training class, I'll tell Chiron you'll be training with me." I guess it was really that easy. "Come on, don't act so surprised. I would never pass up the opportunity to train a son of Zeus. Not one with the potential you have. I mean, you literally killed a Nemean Lion by breaking it's neck, at eleven! Just imagine how strong you'll be when you are my age."
Well I guess. he had a point. Luke wasn't done taking yet. "We can start right now actually."
My eyes widened. "Really?" Right now? Don't I have to get settled in my cabin first? Wait a minute, about settling in. My luggage must have been destroyed by the cyclops when he smashed the car. Guess I would have to ask Chiron for some new clothes.
Luke shrugged. "You can do that later. Besides, it won't take that long. All I'll be doing is showing you some basic footwork techniques and such." Huh. I guess we would be starting right now. "So go ahead and pick a weapon from the training rack. It's over there, to your left."
I walked over to where Luke had specified and surveyed the weapon rack. Several swords and spears were on the rack, all with slightly different types of designs to them. However, I saw one type of weapon that really caught my eye. A large, bronze two sided battleaxe. From what I remember from Chiron's history class, this thing was called a Labrys. A weapon my father used in myth to summon the storms. No better weapon for me to use then.
With the Labrys in hand, I walked back to the center for the fighting square. Luke raised an eyebrow over my chosen weapon. "A Labrys? Rather on the head don't you think?" Guess he knew about the symbolism of the weapon, too. "Also it is a really large weapon, compared to the others. You sure it isn't too heavy?"
I twirled the axe as if it was a dagger in my right hand. "Seems light enough." Thanks to my incredible strength, I was going to be able to use this thing one handed. Heh, monsters, look out. Guess whose ready to smash some head.
Luke chucked. "Guess I forgot how strong you were. Alright Let's start out with some basic footwork exercises with your new weapon in hand." Luke began to direct me in a series of exercises to improve my footwork and coordination. A grin lined my face as we began my first combat training exercise. This is where the fun begins.
Holy fuck this is long as shit. It's not my first ever fanfiction but it is definitely my longest. This shit took a week to write, Jesus Christ. Anyway a couple of stuff to address before I go.
1. Sorry the death scenes for Jacob and Zane's mom feel stale and pretty cringe. I'm not really good with death scenes and actually making them sound believable. So major character death isn't going to be a constant in this fic.
2. If Zane feels a little too op, let me tell you, he's not. Percy, at 12, literally went toe to toe with ARES. You could argue that Ares wasn't going all out, which is my belief, but still, a twelve year old demigod able to even stand in the same breath as one of the 12 Olympians is insane. Percy just barely ever feels that strong again due to Riordan's weird power scaling. Percy's strength never really stays consistent. That's not going to happen in this. Percy and Zane's power levels are going to be constant and they won't change based on the plot. There will probably be some forced change in some of the future chapters due to this. If you want to understand how strong I am scaling them, take a look at VsBattles, although I'll probably scale them at God of War level later.
3. What Zane looks like. I kinda forgot to add a scene where Zane looks in the mirror or any thing like that, so this is his description: Medium length wavy black hair. Blue eyes. Scrawny body type. Wears a grey shirt, jeans and whatever shoes you want him to have, I don't really care.
4. Zane's Powers
Current Ones: Super Strength, speed, durability, Lightning Manipulation and slight Wind Manipulation. These powers are subject to change in future chapters.
5. Update Speed. If you are following me or if you look at my profile, you can tell I haven't updated anything in like over half a year. I'm going to try to update this regularly. Keyword: try. Don't be surprised if this is the only chapter released for like a month. Or at all lol.
Anyway, with all that out of the way, I'm going to reread this shit and try to fix any spelling errors and such. If some get by, just tell me in the reviews and I'll fix it. If you find any major plotholes, tell me and I'll edit the chapter. Anyway, I see you motherfuckers later.
Post Edit: Okay, sorry if the second half of the chapter has some issues with grammar. This thing is really fucking long and I wanna play video games right now lol.
