AN: Hey everyone! Appreciate the small support being shown so far. Would really love more reviews though as they would help me in future projects. I know it's a bit of a slow burn so far but rest assured things will get to happening soon enough.
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Suryakapoor continued on, "Or at least die with honor before you live in the throes of evil and damn your soul for the next 7 births. Please… You have to win for the sake of those that will come after you." He sniffed and placed his hands over my head, "Bless you child, may you live a long and happy life. Go now, there will be more waiting for me." He sadly smiled and motioned his head towards the curtains of the tent.

I'll be honest, I had no idea what to say or what to comment about Suryakapoor's little rant. I grabbed my weapon resolutely and bowed to him- don't ask me why, it felt right- and marched out of the curtains back into the sunlight.

It was at that point where I got pecked in the forehead by a very disgruntled Arasu. He tilted his head and squawked, "How did you spend so long in there without me?" To be honest, I didn't even notice he wasn't there. I don't know how, but I guess I was so engrossed in Suryakapoor's craftmanship I didn't notice my companion wasn't with me.

I bowed my head, "Alright man, I'm sorry, it's just that the guy inside was really keeping me occupied." I looked back and asked Arasu the question that would plaguing me for a while now, "How old is he by the way? Suryakapoor I mean."

Arasu cawed in laughter, "Ah, Ajay. I just realized you should have been 16 just a week sooner. Suryakapoor was celebrating his 456th birthday and it was crazy. Like he was raining down the saffron on everybody. Was a blast." So that's how Suryakapoor lost all his saffron. Hold up - did he just say he was 456 years old? I looked at Arasu like he was losing it, "You just said 456 years? 456?"

"Uh yeah, blessing from his dad. Come on, this is a camp full of supernatural beings and their children, immortality is going to be the least surprising power here."

I followed Arasu to a wide glade, far away from most of the cabins. Waiting for me was a group of 4 examining each other weapons. One of them, the older boy with the body armour already on him looked down at me and beckoned me towards him. He reached forward and shook my hand, "Stefano Di Azure. You are in our team, yes?"

He was taller than me by a couple of inches, so I had to look up to acknowledge him. He was wearing an Italian national team jersey; I would recognize the blue from anywhere. On top of that, bronze body armour with serpentine designs over the torso. The most striking part of his armour was the large ivory eye in the centre of his chest, so stark that I could see my own reflection in it. I nodded quickly, being only mildly intimidated by the warrior in front of me.

Man, I'm a terrible liar. I was one little jolt from Accident-In-My-Pants-Land.

"Uh, yep, your team. Yeah, that's me." I stammered, not really sure what to make of the muscular man in front of me. I noted the others in the group. There was that shell bracelet girl, with dark olive skin and striking emerald eyes. She had a simple hunting knife by the looks of it. Maybe Suryakapoor ran out of creative juices by the time he got to her. There was a tanned boy with bronze skin and wheat colored hair. He was carrying a bow, but without a quiver of arrows. Felt like a pretty useless weapon, but I digress.

Then there was another Indian boy who carried what seemed to be a small tablet, until it expanded into almost an oriental riot shield of sorts. I could definitely get behind him. Literally and maybe even figuratively!

Stefano motioned for my weapon and I timidly gave it to him, the sunlight glinting off the blades. He whistled, "This is a very nice looking weapon. I would almost trade my katana for it." He chuckled and handed it back to me, "I'm sorry, you must be very confused, I can see by your face."

Was I wearing my confusion on my face this whole time? For how long was I wearing it?

Stefano gestured around the glade, "This, us, uh, we will be your team for the war and other missions. We will eat together, sleep together, fight together and maybe even die together but I don't want to think ahead right now."

Yeah, neither do I. Continue.

"So let us introduce ourselves. My name is Stefano Di Azure and no, I am not an Italian, I'm from San Marino. People treat it as the same thing and that's annoying." The rest of us had formed up into a circle and sat down subconsciously. Stefano continued, "I am the son of Shiva and I have been here for the past 8 years. It will be an honor fighting alongside all of you." He looked me in the eye, like he wanted me to go next. I hate when people do that. Still, I begrudgingly carried on

"Hey... everyone... My name's Ajay Ramachandran-"

The olive girl spoke up, "But they called you a different name on that stage!"

Oh, they did, didn't they? yeah, my full name is a lot longer than people would like to know. Most people get bored after the 'Ramachandran' part so I kept it like that. I explained that my full name was Ajay Ramachandran Krishnakumar Singh. The girl looked a little overwhelmed by my mouthful of a name, but regained her composure and nodded to me to keep going. I talked about how I'm from India, Uttar Pradesh and saw the other Indian boy light up. I mentioned how I arrived here yesterday and that I was a branched son of Vishnu, still with no clue about what that meant.

The tanned boy carried on with a rich Australian accent, "Hello everyone, my name's Shawn Grayson and I'm from Australia. I've been here a couple of months and I'm the son of Indra. Hey, Ajay, you said you're a branched child of Vishnu? That's makes you quite rare, mate. Wonder which avatar's kid you are."

So now I had a bit more information. I'm a rare type of person. I remembered what Arasu told me about having a lot of cabin-mates. Did he mean that as a child of Vishnu in general?

The olive girl spoke, "I am Khadija Aboulay from Cameroon. I have been her for 3 years and I am a daughter of Bhoomi. I guess I'm the medic in this gang." She turned her head to the Indian boy, who shyly looked up at the rest of us.

"Hello, myself Daksh Khatri. I am from India, Gujarat. My father is Karthikeyan. I have been here for 4 years."

Stefano clapped and stood up after Daksh finished his introduction. He pulled out his weapon: A fearsome looking katana with a jet black hilt. It definitely looked like the kind of weapon that would mow down an army. "Right then," he began, "With all that out of the way I say we get down to business. We have 2 months to prepare and gather our forces for the inevitable Battle of Ragnarok. We are expected to move out by today evening to gather two of them."

I looked up, quite flustered about the rush, "Hold on, I haven't even trained-"

"Look Ajay, the end of the world doesn't run on a schedule, okay? Trust me, we will quickly brush you up on everything before we move out." And I knew that was my dismissal. I'm surrounded by far more experienced soldiers than I am, and it's best I knew my place.

"As I was saying, today evening we recruit two of, according to the briefing, some of the finest heroes to ever walk this earth. They have faced countless dangers, a war or two and are loyal to a fault. Both are fierce warriors and we should expect quite the challenge should they turn hostile." Stefano closed the file he'd been given, "They are known to be very close to one another so we must be careful: Should we harm one of them, both of them will definitely choose to desert us."

We listened to Stefano deliver our mission briefing with admiration for both of these mystery folks. I mean, if we're fighting a war, I wouldn't mind having two skilled and proclaimed 'heroes' on our side. Shawn piped up, "Alright, alright, so they're some hot topic for the camp. What are their names?"

"Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, son of Poseidon and daughter of Athena. Camp Half-Blood."
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Next chapter we get an epic training montage, Ajay figures out who his dad is and we go looking for Percy and Annabeth! Stay Tuned!