A/N: Well now, it has certainly been some time since I wrote a Fanfiction, hopefully, I manage to keep the drive to write this story and it's not something I just drop out of nowhere, now that being said this really is something I am writing when my muse strikes me, so don't expect a consistent upload schedule.

I don't know why, but I am currently on a Percy Jackson high, maybe due to the possibility of the Disney+ show.

Anyway enough wasting time, on with the story:

Chapter One: A New Life.

It was an odd feeling, falling asleep in your own bed, Safe and warm only to wake up in a separate bed. A separate body. Having lost over a foot in height and any semblance of manliness that I had managed to build up over my 25 years of life. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea how or why this had happened. It was obvious to me, as someone who reads Fanfiction and watches anime that this was the fabled Reincarnation, the process in which a soul moves from a deceased body into a new one, often depicted in anime or Fanfiction as the soul entering the afterlife, meeting a God or Goddess and being reborn into a universe completely separate from their original one.

Yet something nagged at me, I did not die at least as far as I knew, I did not see a God or Goddess, and looking around the bedroom I found myself in, I did not see any signs that I was in a separate universe. In fact, judging by the CRT monitor I saw on the desk and the old-style keyboard and mouse I would guess that I was somewhere in the early 2000s. Something that I was quite thankful for as while I would miss the comforts of 2022 such as a Smartphone and Netflix, I was certainly not going to miss the Virus that had popped up within the last few years.

Getting out of the bed and looking around the room, I noticed several toys scattered across the room. Some of them were familiar to me, An action figure of Luke Skywalker complete with Green Lightsaber, a PS2 and a copy of a Pokemon Red game cartridge. But out of all of the toys, the one that intrigued me most was a life-sized plushy of a Black Panther, not the superhero, the animal, this thing was massive, bigger than my body.

God, how cool would it have been to have one of those back when I was growing up as a kid ... Huh, I guess I am a kid again. It was such a weird feeling because it wasn't as if I did not have the mind of an adult, being shoved into the body of a child with an objectively less developed brain didn't seem to do anything to me as far as I could tell.

As I was walking around the room I glanced down at this kid's desk and sitting there was a framed picture of the Kid and a woman who I assumed to be his mother, though I could be wrong as they looked nothing alike. Despite the happy nature of the photo, it felt like the occupants were staring at me, Accusingly. All of a sudden I felt a tidal wave of emotion. I guess it hadn't clicked that I had somehow stolen this kid's life, the things I was bitching and moaning about no longer having, this kid would no longer be able to experience these things. Thanks to whoever or whatever ever placed me in this kid's body, He would no longer be able to get a girlfriend, drive a car, or graduate college, all of these pivotal life experiences that I had already had, we're now lost to this kid.

The hardest part about accepting this was that there was nothing I could do, I had never met a God or Goddess, whoever or whatever had done this had done it without either of our consent and judging by these photos and all the toys in the room this kid had a good home life. It angered me that someone would take it upon themselves to play God, even if it was an actual good who did this, the concept of fate or the possibility that I was not in control of my own life was something that I had hated since I first watched The Matrix. To have someone who could actually take away my control was a feeling I loathed.

But even worse was the fact that I had no idea what happened to this kid, did he die, and I was inserted into his body afterwards as was the plot for so many anime and Fanfics, was his soul ripped from his body to make way for mine or is it possible that he is now living in my body, completely unprepared for what life would throw at him.

I don't know, I am not really a religious person. It's not that I don't believe that something greater than us exists, but rather the fact that if one does, he/she/they, whatever, are completely uncaring of humanity. For the first time in my life I hoped that that was not the case, I offered a prayer to the boy whose name I didn't even know, whose body I now inhabited, that they would be safe and happy. I wish that there was more I could do for him, but there isn't and even if there was I am not sure I would take it. As painful as it is for me to admit, I am an inherently selfish person and given the option between continuing life in this body or facing the uncertainty of death, well, sorry kid, but I choose the body.

With my emotions now sorted, I decided that I would take a good look at my new body, walking up to the mirror on the sliding door, I took my first good look at myself. Standing before me was a boy of roughly 8 years old, standing at just over 4 feet, pale-skinned, jet black hair cut short and black eyes. If it were not for the fact that I was too young and wearing Scooby-Doo pyjamas I would not look that out of place at a Goth party.

While I was staring at my reflection, my thoughts turned to why. Why this Body? Why Earth in the early 2000s? What is it that is so interesting about THIS version of earth, that something or someone felt the need to rip my soul out of my body and place it in this one? The only possibility that I could think of was that this world was in some way not ordinary, whether it be a world where Superheroes exist or a world of secluded Magic users, there had to be something that made it special.

I refused to believe that someone or something put in so much effort only to place me in a world that was incredibly close to my original world. There was a reason that this happened and I did no-

"Daniel, breakfast is ready." a mature female voice, that I am guessing is my new mother, called out, interrupting my thoughts. Interesting, at last, I had a name to put to this face, however, this presented its own problems. I did not know these people, I did not know how Daniel usually reacted and I most certainly did not know the most basic things such as where he went to school or who his friends were.

This was a problem, if I came down and did things in a way that Daniel would not do, then alarm bells would be set off in His… My parents' heads. Oh, certainly they would never guess that someone else now lived in his body but it could lead to further questions that I did not want to deal with, even if I came downstairs and said that I could not remember anything, it would most likely be brushed aside or be seen as a kid trying to get out of school.

As I continued to internally debate what to do, I exited the door and took my first step onto the stairs before looking down and having a stupid idea that could help with my problem. I would fall down the stairs, it was such a simple but incredibly dumb idea because for this to truly work I would need to fall down the entire flight of stairs and make sure that I hit my head on the last step. Ensuring that I would blackout and hopefully be taken to the hospital.

On one hand, it would give me the perfect excuse for losing my memories, on the other head trauma was no joke and it was possible that in the process of creating an alibi, I might inadvertently lose my memories for real, not to mention that doing so would hurt like a bitch, but I didn't really have an alternative option, at least not one that I could think of in the few seconds it would take me to walk down the stairs.

Seeing no alternatives I knew what I had to do, and I knew that it was going to hurt. Hopefully, I didn't really lose my memories but if I did then that would not be so bad, I would be a new man, so to speak, unburdened by the knowledge and skills that would set me apart from the other kids at school.

So as I stood there on the top step of the stairs, I offered a quick prayer to any god who may be listening and flung myself towards the bottom.

While I was in the air time seemed to almost come to a standstill, intellectually I knew that it was my brain realising what I had done and administering adrenaline through my body heightening my reflexes to an insane degree, making every moment feel like a thousand. Unfortunately, this was not to last as the cruel hand of gravity ripped me from this moment of bliss and all I knew was darkness.

Everything returned to me slowly, my hearing was the first of my senses that I registered, although everything was muffled As if I was underwater. Sight returned not long after as I managed to force my heavy eyelids open. The sudden influx of light caused me to force them close again, though not a second later I opened them again, slowly allowing my eyes to get used to the light after spending who knows how long in the dark.

It was not long before I could see clearly and knew where I was, a hospital of some kind, I stared at the blank white walls in confusion, before my memories came flooding back to me. My plan had worked though not without cost as I saw my arms covered in bruises. They would heal in time, but my goal had been achieved. After the fall, I had been hospitalised and judging by the tight bandage I could feel around my head, I had indeed managed to land an injury to my head.

I turned as I heard the door open and a young nurse popped her head in before quickly popping back out and, I assume running to get the doctor who took care of me. It was not a minute later when an old man in a white lab coat stepped through the door and made his way over to my bedside, "Hello Daniel, it's good to see you are awake, my name is Dr Michael Keens." he introduced himself.

He sat down on the stool next to me and took out a light, he said "I am sure you have some questions, but I need to run a few tests first, is that ok with you?"

Knowing that this might be the only time I had to sell my story, I asked him "Uh, Who is Daniel? Where am I?"

Huh, that was something to file away for later, apparently, I was British.

The old man looked taken aback, this clearly wasn't something that he had expected. It was also clear that while he did not know if I was joking or not, he did not truly believe me. Thankfully for me, there is an easy way to tell if someone is faking losing their memories or not.

It is near impossible to stop the signs of your brain recognizing something or someone familiar, especially an 8-year-old child and especially to a professional trained to look for these signs. I was glad when this is exactly what he started to do. Mentioning names and places that I am sure meant something to Daniel but meant absolutely nothing to me.

By the time he had finished his test, Dr Keens was convinced that I had Long Term memory loss. Finishing up with his more usual tests, ensuring my pupils reacted to light and that I was capable of following his finger with both of my eyes, the Doctor stepped out of the room, I presume to inform my new parents about this latest development.

It wasn't long before Dr Keens re-entered the room, followed by a man and a woman. The man was tall, had brown hair, blue eyes and glasses, he was wearing a business suit and looked to all the world as if he had other places to be. The woman on the other hand was almost the complete opposite, dressed in a Black sundress, with flowing golden locks and piercing green eyes, her eyes were a mixture of loving and worried.

"Uh, So I guess you guys are my parents then?"

The woman who I assumed was my mother simply burst into tears, I wouldn't find this out until later, but for her, that was all the confirmation she needed. As, despite being young, Daniel had apparently known that he had lost his father not long after he was born, in a car crash, and that the man beside her was her latest Boyfriend, and judging by the disinterested look he was giving the whole scene, Soon to be her Ex. Apparently, we did not really get on, our relationship, such as it was, could have been best described as 'you keep out of my way and I'll keep out of yours'.

After my new mother was able to get herself together, it did not take long before I was discharged from the hospital and we took her car back home. As it turned out, we lived in a modest two-story house on the edge of London. Her boyfriend left as he said that he needed to get back to work and that he would see her later on tonight.

It was as we were turning the corner to the street that we lived on that I started to notice it, honestly, I was surprised it took me this long. But as I looked at the street sign, trying to memorise the name of the street I now lived on, The letters seemed all jumbled up, as if a cat had jumped onto the keyboard and they simply decided to print it onto a sign, wondering what the hell was wrong with me I turned to my mother and asked: "Um, mum, what does that sign say?"

She looked back at me with a complicated expression, "Right, you wouldn't remember." she said absentmindedly, "You have Dyslexia, a learning disorder that makes it more difficult for you to read".

Are you fucking kidding me, Why? Why would whoever or whatever put me, an avid reader, into the body of someone who could not read? Does my suffering amuse them? Shit, this pissed me off.

After the car pulled into the garage, my new mother took the time to show me around the house. She told me that I wouldn't have to worry about school for a while as I would be taking a couple of days off, in order to properly prepare me for school again. Wow, school, that was something I had actually forgotten about. Thank god I had a couple of days to adjust to my new body as I was sure that going to school would be a slog to get through.

After showing me around the house, she left me to my devices, telling me that she had to go to work and that she would be back by dinner time, with nothing else to do, I headed towards my new room and decided to play on the PS2, until she came home.

At 5:30 pm, I heard the garage door open and close, as my mother returned home from work. A few minutes later she called me downstairs, asking "Hey Daniel, could you help me peel these vegetables"

It looked like we were having a roast chicken for dinner, So I picked up a peeler and started to peel the vegetables. It was ... nice, to be standing there in the kitchen calmly peeling potatoes and carrots for my new mother, making small talk about her day, what she did for a living and what I did at home after she left. Through this, I learned that she was a Middle Manager of the London branch of Apple. Which was interesting, apparently my mother had Masters in Business Management and saw what Apple would one day become.

She truly has no idea how correct she was, while Apple was a big name now, in the Year 2002. Once the first iPhone is released, it would become gradually become the Tech Giant that I knew it would be. Deciding to go all in, she had actually purchased a lot of Apple stock, Not enough to make us Majority Shareholders or anything, but enough that if she sold it at the right time, would make her tens of millions.

It was actually how she met Brian, the man who was with her at the hospital and the first Boyfriend that she had had since my dad died, speaking of whom, He had just entered the front door. Apparently, she had given him a key, which was interesting as it meant that she was at least somewhat serious, odd after the care that she had shown me, as opposed to the disinterest he had shown after my hospitalization.

After I finished peeling the vegetables, I went back to my room, allowing the couple to talk. Not really interested in what they were going to say, I booted up my Gameboy and started a new playthrough of Pokemon Red.

I was just about to choose my first Pokemon when my mother called me down for dinner.

By the time I got down, the Table was set, and everything was ready. I sat down and started to eat my dinner, All of a sudden there was a massive bang at the door as if something heavy had collided with it. BANG, there it was again, something was clearly trying to get in. We all stood up from the table in shock, Brian, while still frightened like the rest of us, went to the door to see just what the hell was going on. Before he could even get half the distance there was another massive BANG, except with this one it was different, because this time the door flew off of its hinges and this massive hulking beast of a creature entered through the doorway, it was so big that it had to bow down to step through the doorway. But as it stood up straight and revealed its true height, I couldn't help but let out a scream of terror.

This hulking beast of a thing was wearing nothing but a loincloth and holding a massive club, but it was its face that terrified me the most, the beast had a massive shit-eating grin, showing its sharp teeth and its single eye staring directly at me. Cyclops, the word came to me, a useless bit of trivia that I remembered from an old book that I had read as a kid.

I was frozen in place, its single eye holding me to the spot, Even as it came closer and closer, close enough that I could smell its rancid breath and see the chunks of flesh still stuck in the teeth of this Beast. "Get away from him!" I heard a voice cry out, snapping me out of my daze. Almost simultaneously, both the Cyclops and I turned our heads toward the voice.

The voice came from my new mother, who moved to stand in front of me, holding a sharp knife shakily. It was clear that although she, like us was terrified, she sought to protect me. I looked towards Brian, who was cowering in the corner, shaking in terror and quietly whimpering. It was then that we heard it.

A sound began to emanate from the beast, the sound rattled my bones and forced me to look back toward the beast, its shoulders were shaking and its mouth was open in a wide terrifying grin. It was laughing I realized, It believed that my mother was no threat to it. I understood, of course, I did, My mother was holding a knife that would barely be the size of its pinky. Something primal in me stirred as I looked back at the beast.

My mother, seeing what may be her best option to strike, stabbed her knife into the body of the beast, clearly aiming for its heart. "RUN!" she yelled as she did so. However before I could even move an inch, the beast grabbed onto her arms allowing the knife to slide right off of its skin, and in a move that was too fast for me to react, he lifted her up, Placed her head into its mouth and bit down. Blood and gore spurt out, covering the beast's head and chest with her blood.

Horrified, there was nothing I could do but stand there, Brian, however, showing his cowardly nature chose this time to try to run. Although he did not get far as the Cyclops, not taking his single eye off of me, moved with insane speed towards Brian and lifted his massive club. Crunch. The club hit Brian's body, his body was embedded into the drywall.

I don't know what it was, but something primal built up inside of my body. The Cyclops slowly walked towards me, no doubt believing that I would be as easy a kill as Brian or my mother. With every thundering step, the primal feeling built up more and more, Until at last, the Beast was standing right in front of me, the primal feeling was too much. It hurt my chest, the feeling was desperate to be released, and so with a painful cry, it was.

For some reason, with my cry, the Cyclops took a few steps back. He was no longer amused instead he looked fearful and he was not looking toward me anymore, instead he was looking at something behind me. I had no idea what it was that caused this, I turned to look behind me and was shocked at what I saw, a massive spear of what looked like pristine white bone was hovering just above my shoulder.

The spear shot forward like a bullet fired from a gun, its target, The massive eye. It was too fast for the Cyclops to react and so the first shot across the room and embedded itself into the eye of the beast. A massive roar was let out by the hulking creature as it clutched its wound hoping that it would alleviate some of the pain. A success but not a victory, not yet.

Hoping beyond all hope that this would work, I did possibly the worst thing to do in a battle and closed my eyes. Concentrating, feeling for that odd feeling I had felt when I first conjured the spear, it took me perhaps a second to find it again and not a millisecond too late as the Cyclops had started to ignore the pain in its eye and was now flailing around wildly, trying it's best to kill me.

I grasped that feeling and I could feel the connection between me and the spear still lodged in its eye. Reaching for that connection, I used all the power I had to will the spear to dig deeper, to move past the skull and shatter the brains of this evil creature. All of a sudden there was silence, the creature was dead. I looked towards the Cyclops, expecting to see a massive amount of gore, after all, I had just killed the beast, but what I saw instead would stay with me forever.

Instead of the house being covered in the blood of the creature, instead, all I saw was the body of the Cyclops, slumped over, slowly disintegrating into some sort of golden dust. Now that the creature was dead, I, at last, had a moment to think about everything that had happened within the past few minutes, The mother of this body was now gone, it might be cold of me to say, but I am glad that I did not really get to know her that well-given everything that had just happened.

Something nagged at me, a memory that I had almost forgotten about reminded me that all of this was somehow familiar... Holy shit.

Dyslexia, Cyclops, Golden Dust. I now had my answer as to what was so special about this world, This is the world of Percy Jackson, a book series I had read as a kid, in which the Greek gods were still very much alive and almost constantly creating new Demigods.

A Demigod, that's what I now was, and what was worse is the fact that there, due to the appearance of the spear, there could only be one option as to who my father was, Hades, God of the Underworld.

I'm so screwed.