Check out Naomi's gift by MikaRauch on Wattpad to see an awesome Original Story I am writing. Here is the Synopsis.
Cursed with mortality among a sea of demigod and legacies, Naomi struggles the shine. Desperate to matter, to gain a fraction of the power and influence of her peers, Naomi applies herself to become a heroine unlike any other. One powered by ingenuity and strength of character instead of divinity and nepotism. She seeks the only form of immortality available to mere mortals like her,that which came from being remembered forever in the stories of men. Nothing will get in her way,... except maybe her nephilim brother and those that see that her place was as a breeder for the gods.
As it turned out, Modern Myths got a lot of things wrong about werewolves. For one they were never incredibly strong, in fact the only enhancement they kept into their human force was enhanced senses( Mainly olfactory) which was sort of a double edged sword. Aaron found, over the last month since he turned into a were... dog? Weredog, that he often got headaches from the various scents and stenches. A useful feature of his newly tuned senses was the mystical part of his senses, allowing him to detect magic on a whole new level. He could tell demigods and legacies apart by scent alone! Jason for example smelled of Ozone and a sort of chariness. Octavian smelled of laurel leaves, however faintly. Lenore smelled of the raw earth, water ( which yes, now had a scent to him) and what he now knew was the rich stench of magic.
Aaron could hear from insanely far away now, which was also hard to deal with in it's own way. He was often distracted by the whispers and page turns of the mages in the library, or the thunder of Jupiter's temple. That mixed with the scents of the Temples, which radiated the stenches and auras of the gods, made it hard to focus. It took a solid week before he could focus enough to just start studying full time again and even then he had trouble at times.
However the oddest change to his life, via his new status, was the empathy link to his pack. He could feel them at all times, a dull buzz at the back of his mind that when focused on became a raging storm of emotions no matter how weak. He tried to ignore it, but it was hard during training, be it with the pack or with Jason as they felt his pain and he felt theirs. It was an odd mixture of sensations that left him distracted to nothingness, however it came with perks! He could summon a specific dog with ease, or be called by any in question. This made life far easier... they tested it from various distances, including miles from camp and realized it was a near infinitely expansive power. That was cool! However, after studying it longer, they realized a fatal issue. If Aaron died, his beloved pack would suffer immesurably and many might die or lose their minds due to his link to them. That is why he needed a beta, to allow the power of Alpha to pass naturally to when he died.
Dylan was a great Beta, loyal and kind and powerful. He helped Aaron learn to fight as a dog, taking advantage of his senses and claws and fangs and speed. As a dog he could run at tremendous speeds, he was far stronger then his human form, and his senses were far more expansive. His magic changed though, in dog form, being more primative and simplistic, making complex spells harder to cast. This was,.. interesting to learn but made sense. Dog form made emotions simpler, easier to navigate and express as Dogs had a limited range of expression.
Agnes loved this, all of it and showed it by doubling down on Aaron's lessons allowing him to expand his magic at high speeds. In three weeks he filled in many of the gaps he had before, becoming average in enchantments and an amateur at protective spells. Speaking of which, Terminus finally worked with Aaron on these, allowing him to journal a few protective spells the god of Boundaries knew for posterity. There were spells that Agnes knew and some the Roman scrolls had, which he was learning as well, but Terminus had special insight as the God of Boundaries that made his spells very interesting.
The old witch also started him on the coolest and most epic piece of magic... one that would change everything, as she had divined his true reason for being in the Roman Camp and thus figured out what he needed to learn...
Empathy and telepathy! She was an expert at this type of magic, it was key to her interrogation skills...
"It is all about focus, Telepathy cannot be mastered until one taps into the more basic empathy. Unlike a Saytrs magic, this is not ever going to be automatic. One must master it until it becomes second nature. It will always be stressful as the human mind is not designed for this sense. Telepathy is even harder, especially near gods as their minds exist on an entirely different level and is incredible stressful for human minds to comprehend. You will find this with demigods on some level, the more divine they are, the harder it will be to tap into them. Theri strong emotions make it harder to tolerate as well, so keep that in mind.
The principle is actually really strong and like Telekensis, it does not require an actual spell to cast. All you must do is expand your aura into theirs, dive into their auras and read it. That is the first step, then you act as if you are channeling them. As you are doing so, you should be able to taste their emotions. Focus on this until you are so familar with that path, you need not the other steps. Soon you can follow the path of emotions into their mind directly, though I should also say there are shortcut spells to reading minds and emotions as well but they are not needed. I will teach you them anyway, though as you are gifted with quick draw spell creation I am sure you can figure it out on your own."
Nodding, Aaron turned his focus towards Lenore, who was reading carefully a scroll on using runes for defensive purposes. She looked excited, digging into the book with a fervant energy that made him smile. He was curious if she was really as happy as she was acting and so he channeled his power and pushed it towards her. Like divination, it was an automatic process, the rush of energy washing through him when his power made contact with hers. She didn't even notice, her senses far too weak to notice his intrusion. Slowly, he started to draw on her, only to feel a rush of emotions, excitement and pride mostly. He channeled them, as if he was turning into a wolf, and he followed them to their source. Slowly he was being immersed in her full self...
And then Agnes screamed in his head, making him jump. "You must be careful, when you are tapping into emotions there are three inherit risks. Like with Ghosts, you give access to your mind when you enter another. Ghosts, as you know, pry into your mind and channel your power to make themselves more alive. That is the key to our power. Second, channeling emotions can come at the risk of being overwhelmed by the essence of your victim, taken over by their personality and emotions. Lastly, you can channel your own emotions into them as well, not unlike charmspeech, and strip them of their free will. This power is just a form of divination, but it is a strong one, so never take it lightly. I should also mention, this magic will help you with controlling the dead, for it can allow you to stem and control their attempts to channel your powers..."
It was then that Aaron realized how much of an apology this was, for Agnes had just given him the tools he needed to control her. 'Thank you...' Was all he could manage to say to her.
She scoffed at him and he almost felt her turn away in shame. "I only taught you this so you can study the gods better, for it is by channeling mortal mentality and emotions that they gained this split personality. You can use it to overcome Kronos better and for that I am willing to do anything. I have divined the past when he ruled, a simple task, and learned a great deal of how evil he was towards our people. Towards all humans, never doubt his vileness... but I also remember him as the ruler of Elysium, I would like to see his goodness helping Lord Hades once more. It would take a great strain from the god and make his life far easier, something that serves all of us in the Underworld."
'I see.' Aaron whispered mentally to the Ghost Witch. 'This will be a useful tool... I think I will be offering a sacrifice to Lord Hades and Pluto today, to see if you can be placed in Elysium for this. This alone is the biggest advantage I have now to discovering the key to saving the good side of Lord K...'
For the moment there was no reply, just a sensation of awe and thanks from her aura that moved him far more then words ever could. Then he heard her shyly say. "I would work on your oaths to Neptune and Pluto... if you want to not be destroyed... just saying."
He almost laughed at her attempt to distract him from her embarasment, even if she wasn't wrong in the slightest. He really he had neglected the gods in that...
"""
"There it is." Juno muttered as the future finally flooded into her senses, a viable future that had been denied her since she allowed Aaron to enter New Rome. She had been unable to see the boy's future, if he even had a chance to succeed in saving her father's supposed good side... the future had been blocked by the Fates themselves, to her annoyance. However now it was clearer to her then ever before, making her eyes widen and heart sing. "He actually has a chance to succed... it is not set in stone though. He must make the right choices."
Frowning, she stood from her temple's throne room and walked to her personal Scrying bowl. Waving her hand over it, she saw her Champion and saw him communing with the dead, with Agnes specifically. She listened in to the conversation, an easy task for her powers, and smiled.
"That is what changed his future, a new path has opened up due to learning the power of empathy. Interesting... I wonder if his future will become even clearer as time progresses..." Smirking, she heard Agnes attempt to change the conversation over by reminding of his oath to Neptune and Pluto. She froze then, and realized Agnes may have had a wonderful point. "He does need to do this, otherwise he will lose his important allies and end up in danger... this is quite serious."
To her pleasure, she saw the boy stand up from his desk and move out of the library and move towards the Shrine of Pluto. He pulled out a scroll and wrote something down, which made her eyes widen.
"Lord Pluto, this is a suggestion that popped into my head thanks to seeing Terminus and the Lares among the Romans. The real kicker was Anges mentioning your father as the King of Elysium and how it will help you. I think this will really help you, it is a brillaint idea! Employ retired gods to work for you, give them a chance to be better and more then they are. Like Leto.. or Latona I guess she's called here, I heard she doesn't do anything now... so why not have her work for you, to watch over the dead children in Asphodel and help them be reborn. She is a powerful Titanness, she counts as many employees since she can be in multiple places as once. Why not have her work for you to do this and it should ease your struggles... just a thought."
He tossed the paper into a brazier, sending it to Pluto directly.
"I was adapting to my wolf form and fulfilling my oath to Juno... but I have not forgotten you or Lord Neptune... I will be there to make you more respected. I swear it..."
With that the boy left, and with that she felt the presence of Pluto watching over the boy and she knew that he very well may take up his suggestion.
Standing back, Juno wondered. "Can he help us more then we thought... what will he come up with next?"
Excited and curious, she turned her attention fully to him as he entered the Shrine of Neptune... and heard him make one big question.
" Lord Neptune, I will be simple. You deserve a bigger, better Shrine. I need permission to do it, I need you to publically display that you need and want this... please give me your blessing when I make my statement to the Romans at Dinner tonight."
She smiled. "A smart choice... I am sure Neptune will do as you ask. The Romans have neglected him for far too long... let us see how this progresses."
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reivews.
This was odd but fun. I wanted to show that Aaron has not forgotten his oaths... and that he had the key to his power to save Kronos all along. In a way anyway.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.