A Talk

I smiled at their answer, which seemed to unsettle them. I guess not many Demigods expect new people to like the idea of training.

"Train, eh?" I said. "I can do that."

Nick spoke up. "Well, first you'll need a weapon-"

"Do you guys have any stygian iron swords laying around?" I asked, cutting him off.

"How do you even know what that is?" Alya asked.

I turned to her. "I'm not exactly 'new' to being a demigod per se."

"How long?" Bella asked.

"Huh?" I said. What's she talking about?

"How long have you known you're a demigod?"

I looked down. "It… doesn't matter."

"What're you saying?" Nick asked. "Of course it matters."

"The important thing is I know. Not how long I knew."

"Um… okay," Ash said. "Sorry, but we don't have any stygian iron."

I sighed, "That's too bad. Celestial bronze will do then."

"Seriously how do you-" Alya started, then suddenly stopped. "Right. Sorry, forgot."

"Wait..." I said. "Are you saying that not all demigods know their true nature from birth?"

"No one does," Kayla answered. "We usually find out at the age of 10."

I sighed. "That's just cruel. I'd rather live in a world where I think I'm mortal. But to have that stripped away from you without asking? Must've been hard. I'm sorry."

Bella spoke up. "It's alright. Not like we can do anything about it now."

"Wait, you knew from birth?" Nick asked. "Where are you from exactly?"

"Realm of Thanatos," I said. "Very unique spot in the Underworld."

Nick smiled, but the rest looked uneasy.

"Dude that's awesome!" He said.

I looked down, trying to stop the flow of some bad memories. I saw flashes of me with a stygian iron sword, slashing at monsters, undead... and the living down there. I think I have what's called PTSD.

"Not so," I said. I looked back up to them with a clear smile on my face. Hiding my true emotions is one of my specialties. Wow... that sounds really sad...

"So, do you guys have an arena or something?" I asked.

Ash nodded. "We do. It's just behind the Demeter House."

"And just in front of the arena we have an armory." Bella said.

"Sweet," I said, standing up. "Shall we go then?"

The next thing I knew, I was at the arena with a wooden practice sword in my hand. I had already tested the weight, balance, and length of the sword. I swung and flourished the sword a few times to get a feel of it. It was perfect.

Nick also grabbed a sword. "So," he asked. "ever sparred before?"

"Um..." I said. "I don't really spar against… Demigods."

The others looked at me with clear confusion. But, Nick seemed to understand.

"I get it." He said. "You don't like fighting against other people, because… of your own reasons I'm guessing?"

I nodded, "exactly."

"So what do you train against?" Alya asked.

A smile spread across my face.

Realization seemed to hit Kayla like a brick and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Don't tell me you fight against-" She started.

"Oh, I do." I said. "They don't have a brain to process pain so, whatever I do to them, they can't feel. No harm here."

"Wait, what?" Bella asked.

If your confused on who or what I'm talking about you've clearly never heard of children of Hades or Thanatos. We tend to stay away from the living, me especially, meaning we train against... well, hopefully you get it by now.

I knelt down, placing my hand on the ground and closing my eye, trying to focus.

Nick started to speak but immediately stopped as he saw what I was doing.

I uttered one word, opening my eye. "Rise."

A black mist began to ooze from my body. The black mist sunk into the ground. Then, the ground began to crack, ever so slightly. And a skeleton's hand shot into the air out of the ground. It grabbed the edge and climbed out from the earth.

I smiled. "Hello, Ace."

The others looked at me strangely, not with horror on their faces, but interest. There aren't many Demigods that aren't afraid of me. This place was very strange indeed.

"I've located a service skeleton." I said. "He has some fighting experience and does what I ask of him. He won't try to 'harm' anyone but me. 'Kay?"

"All good here," Nick said. The others nodded and they all backed up a bit.

I nodded and turned my back to them, facing the skeleton.

"Shall we begin?" I asked it. It nodded in response. "Good."

I dropped my sword and the skeleton threw a boxing-like punch at me.

"Wait N what are you-" Alya started. But she stopped at the sight of me swiftly ducking under the skeleton's fist and grabbing its forearm. This is what I do to my targets, or whoever I'm fighting. I usually counter-attack, rather just just attack, if you get what I mean.

I suddenly became very tired, then, realization struck. "Wait, I didn't mean to-"

The skeleton began to tremble. Then turned to nothing but dust. My vision began to blur, I was beginning to see darkness creep around the edges of my eye, I heard voices, whispers, but I couldn't understand them, and that's when I passed out.

I woke up to the sight of Kayla looking at me, sitting in a chair.

"You're awake."

"Yeah." I said groggily, shielding my eye from a light up above. I looked around. I was in a section of the Main House, sitting in a bed. An infirmary?

I sat up, which I immediately regretted. The room began to spin, I felt so dizzy. I layed back down.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"A day." Kayla said. "It's 11 AM right now." She looked worried.

I chuckled, "Heh, at least it was less than last time."

"N, what the Hades happened there?" Alya asked. I jumped in fright once again and sat up. She was quietly sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. I hadn't even seen her.

Does everyone in this place do that?! I thought.

Kayla snapped her fingers in front of me, taking me out of my head. "Hey, answer the question."

I sighed. "Do you know why I have Haphephobia?" They both shook their heads.

"Does it have something to do with what happened to that skeleton?" Alya asked.

I nodded. "Indeed." I looked at Kayla. "You should sit down. This is gonna be a long story."

So, I explained to them how the Touch of Death worked. How it made it hard to talk to the dead since, if I touched them, skeletons, spirits, ghouls, you name it, they'd be sent to the Realm of Thanatos. It also made it much harder to talk to people. Since at an early age, many innocent lives were sent there. Unfortunately most of them died. I also explained my job. A bounty hunter for those (specifically demigods) who somehow escape the underworld. The dead called me The Agent of Death. Which I find terrifying. I don't want to be known for killing people. I also explained to them that I'm still in, and so ashamed to be in, the said profession.

"I get that you have a few powers related to death..." Alya said.

Have they just accepted me for who I am? I thought.

"...but how do you have abilities like Umbrakinesis?"

"I… I don't think that should be answered."

"You just answered some tough questions about your past." Kayla said. "And when you get asked a simple question like that you clam up?"

"Yes, the question may be simple, but the answer isn't." I said.

"Well, can you at least show us your Umbrakinesis?" Alya asked.

I nodded. "That I can do."

I pointed my finger at the wall behind Kayla and shot a precise and powerful beam of darkness from my fingertips. Once it made impact, a small shockwave could be felt from even over here, and there was a large hole in the wall, with the edges smoldering and black residue spread out as if a grenade had exploded there.

"How precise is your aim?" Alya asked excitedly. "Also, what else can you do?"

"Why are you so intrigued with my abilities?" I asked.

"She studies every Demigod, new and old to find any weak points so she can either exploit them, or help them improve." Kayla said, not taking her eyes off the hole.

"That kind of sounds more like-" I started.

"-something a Child of Athena would do?" Alya said, finishing my statement.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Athena and Ares are more alike than they themselves like to admit," she said

"Well, in that case… I can create a ball of darkness, I can create specific weapons from darkness alone, I can shadow travel, as you saw I can create beams of darkness, and I can create shockwaves of darkness."

"Any passive abilities?" Alya asked.

"Which ones? Death or Umbrakinesis?" I asked.

"Both." She said.

I nodded. "Got it. I have a few. I can sense shadows of living beings, I can sense the dead. I can also speak to the dead, I know when someone is dying, I have night vision, and when it's dark, my Umbrakinesis is much more powerful."

"And what would you say is your most powerful move?"

"Either the beam of darkness or the shockwave of darkness." I answered.

"I have a question, N." Kayla said.

"Ask away."

"If your father is the God of Death, how come you also have extreme Umbrakinesis? Thanatos isn't known for the darkness. I know you don't want to talk about it, but if we want to improve your abilities you have to tell us."

I sighed. "Fine. Yes, Thanatos isn't known for Umbrakinesis, but his father is."

"Your grandfather?" Alya asked. "Isn't he..."

"Erebus." I said. "The God of Darkness. I have his blessing."

"Ah," Kayla said. "That explains a lot."

"Out of everyone here I think you're one of the most powerful." Alya said.

I looked down and sighed. "Power is overrated. It can twist your mind. Corrupt your heart. It can turn you evil."

"And yet, you're not. Well, not now anyway." Kayla said.

There was a knock on the door. I looked up. "Come in!" Kayla shouted. The door opened and out walked Nick, Ash, and Bella.

"Zeus Almighty, you're finally awake." Nick said.

"Are you okay N?" Bella asked.

"I'm fine."

After a few minutes of silence Ash asked, "What's with the hole in the wall?"