Dominic woke up to the dreary light of snowy manhattan, cold and freezing wondering how he got here and the more important thing, whether what he had seen was a dream, or rather something that he wasn't sure he wanted to truly realize. Dominic had seen many monsters but they had never bothered him. Not the giant men blending in with humans or even the donkey-legged humanoids he sees every so often going to school. He had no problems, so why now?
Dominic had never given much thought as to why he could see these things and had adopted a kind of policy regarding the types of 'irregularities'. Don't ask questions and keep moving, out of sight out of mind, and all that. It had stemmed from his younger years when he had asked his mother before she left, was why were all these weird people looking at her and following them. He had received no answer but a chaste warning to not ask again. Naturally being the little kid he was, Dominic wanted to know why. He had asked my only friend at the school if he could see these jagged cuts of beings in reality.
In actuality, Dominic had asked him "You see big eye man there?" He replied no and that was that. Dominic had tried more with other people, slowly asking more and more until it both got out to the school that anyone close to him was never seen again, or never seen the same, and to Dominic that it was not the best to draw attraction to himself and his 'quirks'. From then on he became a social outcast and was fine with that. No one to bother him and no one that he could give his special little gift. But enough reminiscing about the good times where I could live without being attacked, besides from bullies of course.
Dominic slowly got up feeling aches and pains that were not there before, only after that experience with that devil of a dog, and that there cemented it within him. He might not be able to trust his memories, but his body? It was never wrong before, unlike the sights only he could see within his eyes. It hit Dominic fully then that he was no longer safe, if he could be attacked in the middle of walking home to his shitty home what could happen next? An attack in school? Where he was perfectly fine being the nobody? Not the kid who got his whole class killed by something they couldn't even see, much less understand. He began to run as fast as he could to his home, to pack his stuff. . .
But as he turned the corner the harsh reality of his situation hit him in the face with less subtlety than a baseball bat. Where would he go? What would he do? How was he supposed to do anything? Dominic had little to no money, much less than anything to hang on to. His father he had never known, his mother had left for reasons unknown, and everyone he had ever known on a personal level eventually went crazy, the only person he could even remotely ask was this newer guy at his school named Derek. Even though he never said it or revealed it explicitly Dominic knew he saw the same things that Dominic saw, With the tightening of his eyes whenever one of the monsters would come out or the fact that at every chance he tried to be Dominic's friend. No matter the bullying or rumors that were spread around Dominic, Derek had no care for the Crazy child rumors and tried to get to know Dominic. Dominic was better than that though. There wasn't anyone that wouldn't be affected by his curse. Even if Derek could see what Dominic saw he doubted that Derek would prevail where so many others had failed.
Dominic sighed and began to restart his run toward his home and slowed to a walk as he realized that he wouldn't see Derek anywhere else but school the next day. Dominic was not looking forward to it. How would Derek react? Dominic knew Derek would immediately dismiss him as crazy but what if he didn't believe that Dominic had gotten attacked or worse was set up to capture him if such a thing would happen? The more Dominic thought about going to Derek the more it seems like a bad idea. Nevertheless, Dominic shall go and if worse comes to worst he can always punch him. His legs always seem a bit rickety along with those crutches of his. What kind of super duper ultra-secret spy used crutches to blend in? Dominic thought that it would make them stand out. With his nervousness resolved and being at his front door, he jammed the key in and turned the lock opening the door with a quick wide swing catching the person halfway through Dominic's window with a surprised yelp.
" What the hell are you doing!" He yells surprised
"Well your door was locked so I went through the window but I got stuck halfway through" Derek replies with a sheepish smile that quickly turns to shame as he says "I probably could've waited for school but this was too important"
" What is so important that you have to break into my apartment? Never mind the fact that I never gave you my address you stalker!" Dominic shouts back at him brushing aside his reason of wanting to tell him something important, that could wait.
Derek flushes with indignation and tries to splutter out a reply but Dominic had already started to move around his apartment packing my stuff. What would he need to be escaping monsters that he had never faced before? A clean pair of undies? Probably. As Dominic packed and as Derek stood there confused something was itching Dominic's brain as to why he was attacked now and what exactly those things were. That's when it hit him. Cyclops, Telchines, Hellhounds, and the one thing that tied them all together was the unit his class was currently covering. Greek and Roman Mythology. For some of the monsters, there were counters but for most of them, heroes fell to their ungainly arms, legs, and even their gaze.
Dominic had no chance, and he felt it. The anxiety that he felt going against monsters that killed hundreds of heroes was immense but also the sheer rage that he felt that it was him of all people. It wasn't enough that his father abandoned him, it wasn't enough that his mother disappeared, it wasn't enough that everyone he knew went mad, it was almost like the Gods were playing a cruel joke on him.
"Hey uh, sorry to bother you and your packing but we should probably go," said Derek "It isn't the best idea to stay here, you know where your scent is the strongest."
"My scent? I don't smell!" Dominic replied indignantly
"No not that, never mind, I will explain on the way there."
Dominic, while still wondering where he was going, followed Derek out the door and down the flights of stairs leading to the front door of the apartmental building. Then as he went outside he saw it. A large white van marked with the letters 'Delphi Strawberry Service' it was one of the worst-looking vehicles he's seen in a while and he has seen his fare share. It looked as if it had gotten in five accidents at the same time, while impossible this van brought it into reality. Its paint was faded and worn, some letters on the slogan weren't there and it seemed that a great deal of care was put into making it function, but not any other luxuries that one would think of when thinking of a van. Its wheels were visibly patched and crooked but as Dominic got in with Derek and it peeled away from the curb it seem to drive just fine.
As they sped down the road and to wherever they were going Derek chose this opportunity to fully explain what was happening to Dominic.
"So basically you are a demigod. A son of a greek god or goddess and a mortal, fated to fight evil for the sake of the world" He intoned respectfully "I do sometimes envy you though, you get to go on all sorts of quests while people like me only get to find you and that's it, except for the seekers of Pan but nevermind that"
Then for Dominic, it all made sense, the reason his father was never there was that he was a god, and the reason he could see or be attacked by monsters was that he was a demigod. At the same time though it didn't make sense. If his father was such a god why couldn't he be there to help him and his mom? Why couldn't he provide for them? Even if there were rules family was family, didn't he love them?
"The reason why they didn't appear before you were the ancient laws, they prohibit any god from directly interfering in their child's life if they are a demigod. These laws were put into place after the gods moved from Greece to other more populated areas." said Derek " they were most likely put in to stop favoritism from gods or another god crushing the demigod for some reason or another. The gods then put in a camp for demigods like you called Camp Half-blood, to mainly stop their children from being eaten or killed in a gruesome fashion."
Dominic chose not to comment on that and decided to look out the window tuning out Derek and his further explanations of what Camb Half-blood was like. As the urban area turned more into the country Dominic wondered what he would be doing there. Most likely he would be training like a hero to fight monsters, but he didn't want that, he wanted a more peaceful life to blend into the shadows. While he didn't hate the limelight and attention of others he found that it was easier to be forgotten. To gain everything for yourself. To not have to rely on others and to make your own strength.
The van pulled up to a sign saying camp half blood without much of anything at all, sadly this did not last as the van swerved to avoid a groan of metal and a vague bull shape. Dominic looked out of the back of the van and saw a huge dent in the ground with a huge monstrosity of a metal bull angrily pulling its head out of the ruined ground. The bull was massive, it was bigger than anything Dominic had seen before. Its metal chassis was gleaming and shining as much as the gold in the fabled city of gold. The shining brilliance of this creation from the heavens astounded Dominic. He held no chance against something seemingly crafted to kill beings such as himself. The faint glow of machinery whirring and whizzing inside was magnificent, even beautiful.
The bull charged again at the van this time successfully hitting it and tipping it over on its side. Dominic now knew why the van had looked to beyond repair as a hit from the bull turned the car even more into a pile of scrap. Dominic slowly got up from his position on the ground of the van and opened the side doors to hopefully avoid another crushing attack from the bull, but that's when he realized the van wasn't after the van, it was after him and it was already looking at Dominic angrily. The bull scratched its hooves against the ground and began to charge straight at Dominic. As the bull reared its horns ever closer toward Dominic, a new feeling other than surprise appeared, fear, and as the bull charged toward him he was frozen in place.
