Ancient times - the first club of Demigods

Chiron was standing outside his cave. In his arms, he held the three- month-old Asclepius. The baby was happily cooing up at him. Chiron sighed. 'Not crying now, huh, small one?' He sighed. Asclepius had been crying through most of the night, making it impossible to sleep.

Suddenly, he sensed something. It felt like other demigods entering the forest. He stepped closer to the edge of the forest and looked around. There was seemingly no-one. Chiron stepped closer to his cave again. He did not know whether the demigods were new or not.

While he was tucking Asklepius into his crib, so that the baby would not be outside if it did come to fighting, someone threw the door open. 'Chiron!' a familiar voice yelled. Asclepius started crying. Chiron sighed and looked at the door.

'Hello, Perseus,' He said, while softly rocking Asclepius around. 'Shh. It's alright. What's wrong, Perce?'

'Something is going on on the farm!' Chiron smiled at him.

'I'll help you figure it out. Just wait a few minutes, please,' He answered, while still trying to get Asclepius to quiet down.

After a few minutes, Asclepius stopped crying. Chiron tucked him into his crib. After that, he walked to his living room. Perseus was sitting at the dinner table. When Chiron opened his mouth to ask what was going on, his door flew open again and Dionysus bursted inside.

'Chiron! Something is going on in the forests around mount Nyssa!' he yelled.

'Be quiet!' Chiron sissed. He pointed at the nursery. Dionysus nodded. 'Yeah. But...'

'I'll listen to Perseus first, alright?' Chiron said.

'But...'

'Dionysus, please.' Chiron turned to Perseus again. 'So, Perseus, tell me.'

'Well, I was sitting by the beach with my mom, when I saw something bubbling under the water surface. For a few seconds, I thought I saw something swimming around, but it disappeared. That evening, it suddenly turned completely dark, earlier than it was supposed to be. The night after that too. So I thought I might come and ask you if you knew what was going on...' Chiron slowly nodded.

'Hm. Dionysus, have you seen anything like that or something completely different?'

'Same thing. But, eh, I was in the village when it went dark. I decided to go back - I know the forest in and out, so finding my way was no trouble. When I passed a tree, I heard someone cry and I found this boy that... I had seen around the village, sometimes. I brought him along when I decided to go your way, because I wanted to leave as quick as possible. So...' Chiron bit his lip.

'Where is he?' Dionysus motioned for him to come outside. Chiron walked past him. Perseus stepped next to Dionysus. 'So now you're just bringing along boys, aren't you?' he whispered. Dionysus shrugged. 'I mean, he is not, eh... alright, maybe, but...' Perseus snickered.

'How sweet.' Dionysus blushed.

'Shut up.' They stepped outside.

Chiron was talking to a boy who was about Dionysus' age outside. Perseus knocked Dionysus on the arm. 'What's his name? What's his name!?'

'Ampelos.' Perseus snickered again.

'Really?'

'Wasn't there this girl in your village called Agatha?' he asked, absolutely innocent (Of course). Perseus smiled faded. He shrugged. 'Maybe. You know, he's kinda cute.'

'Perseus, please stop.' Dionysus hid part of his face behind his hands. Perseus laughed out loud.

'Yeah, Agatha is cute, but I can't see her a lot of the time. She has to stay inside, you know?' Dionysus shook his head and raised an eyebrow. 'I find that weird, to be honest.' Perseus sighed. 'Why?' Dionysus shrugged.

'I just seems weird, you know? For woman and girls to Always be inside. I mean, there is no real reason for it.' Perseus shrugged as well.

'I guess you're right. Yet, as I was saying...' At that moment, Dionysus got tackled by Ampelos.

'Dio! I can stay!' the new kid kissed him on the cheek. Dionysus blushed even worse than before. Perseus laughed. '''Yeah, Yeah, it's nothing, Perseus.''' Chiron sighed again.

'Quiet down, please. We need to find out what causes the early nights. I haven't noticed it yet. Get inside and please tell me everything you know.'

They did. By Perseus' beach, the early darkness had started earlier than at mount Nyssa. At both settlements, people had quickly started to panic. 'I hope they haven't started sacrificing humans,' Perseus muttered. Ampelos shivered and clutched Dionysus' arm.

Chiron slowly nodded. 'Hm. I'll take a look in my books, because I do not know what this all is about. I think Apollo could have something to do with it, but I am not sure. Yet' - he took a small pause - 'We cannot neglect your training. Come on, go to the training grounds. Yes, Ampelos, you too.'

All three of them left. Chiron coughed and walked to his kitchen to take a small drink of water. Just when he wanted to take a sip, he heard crying coming from the nursery. He sighed again. 'Why did I ever start working with children?' he muttered.

With Asclepius in his arms and a book clenched under his armpit, he walked to the training square. Perseus had already taken out his sword (He had a real one now - no more wooden training swords). Dionysus and Ampelos were just standing by the side, watching. Perseus knocked the head of his strawman clear off. Ampelos yelped and ducked behind his boyfri... I mean Dionysus' back.

Chiron slowly nodded. 'Well, Perseus, very well done. You've really been training.' Perseus nodded enthusiastically. 'Of course! I want to be the best!' He dropped the sword and looked at Chiron with stars in his eyes. 'Do you think I'll be the best?' Chiron shrugged.

'If you train enough.' He patted Perseus on his shoulder. Perseus nodded with such a serious expression that Chiron had trouble keeping a straight face. 'I will, Chiron.' Chiron nodded and then had to turn around before Perseus saw him laugh. He trotted over to Dionysus. 'Come on, he's only twelve, Chiron,' the older demigod said. Chiron rolled his eyes.

'Which makes you two years older than him and not really any wiser. Now, what'd you do?' Chiron noticed he sounded slightly annoyed. Dionysus sighed. 'Well...' without warning, a whole bush of ivy seemed to jump out of the forest. The plants grew around Dionysus's shoulders at a very quick rate. Chirons' eyes went wide.

'Good, good.'

'He once scared a few nymphs with it. I don't think they liked it very much,' Ampelos mumbeld. Dionysus shrugged. He gave Ampelos the side-eye. 'Those nymphs are afraid of everything.' Chiron sighed (again. These children steal all the air out of my body, he thought). 'You might not want to try and make enemies with these, Dionysus,' he said. Dionysus shrugged.

'Hm. It might be useful, since I am not really handy with physical weapons,' he muttered, while he inched closer to the forest. Chiron wanted to sigh again, but he hesitated. Instead, he rolled his eyes. 'Alright.' Dionysus shrugged and disappeared into the forest. Chiron stayed behind with the baby in his arms and Ampelos still standing next to him.

'Are you not going to follow him?' Chiron asked. He shook his head.

'In a while, maybe.' Ampelos grabbed his own arm. Chiron chuckled.

'Hm. Well, I that forest was not the first time you saw Di.' Ampelos blushed.

'Yeah, in the village. I was seeking Nys in the forest when I got lost.'

'Perce! Hold your sword higher! So, you just saw him around?' Chiron answered.

'Will do, Chiron!'

'Well...' Ampelos got redder. 'Maybe a little more than just... seeing.' Ampelos looked at Asclepius. 'Oh, he's adorable. Does he have magical powers yet?' Chiron shook his head.

'No, but I believe he is supposed to be a healer. At least, that is what Apollo thinks.' Chiron noticed that Ampelos was changing the subject, but he did not let the kid get away with that that easily. 'And what do you want to do later?'

'Don't know. But I know Nys is ambitious, so I might go along with him when he figures out what to do.'

'So you want to stay with him?' Ampelos covered his face.

'Yeah. Well... I was Always afraid of the forest. Until he showed me around the forest on mount Nyssa a little, then...' he stopped talking. 'I think I'll go find him know. Don't you need to figure out the darkness phenomenon?' before Chiron could answer, he darted into the forest.

Chiron sighed. 'Guess I do have to do that,' he muttered. 'Perseus?' the kid turned around.

'What?'

'Don't you think you'll need a shield someday?' Perseus' eyes went wide.

'I mean, yeah, but my trainer at home told me I wasn't ready yet...' Chiron shrugged.

'I think you can try it. Grab one of those training shields over there while I bring Asclepius away' (the baby had fallen asleep in his arms again), 'and I'll show you what to do.'

After two hours of training with Perseus, Chiron finally had time to look through his books (Ampelos had offered to make dinner for the four of them, so he did not have to worry about that). After half an hour, he sighed and closed the first one. 'Dinners' ready,' he heard Ampelos whisper behind him. Immediately, Perseus and Dionysus (who had previously been outside) stood in the room. Chiron sighed (For the tenth millionth time). 'Dinner' was apparently the magic word.

'So I haven't found anything yet,' Chiron told his pupils. Perseus sighed, while he put some potatoes into his mouth. 'Too bad.'

'Perseus, please speak without food in your mouth. Yet, yes, it is not exactly what I hoped the outcome to be. But...' Perseus suddenly yelped. Before Chiron had the time to ask why, he realised the room had gotten way darker than it was just a minute ago. Quickly, he opened the door.

'Hm. So this is what you three were talking about,' he mumbled, while stepping outside. Cautiously, the three kids followed him. 'Do... do you think it is serious?' Ampelos asked. He was holding on to Dionysus' arm for dear life. Chiron tilted his head. 'Could be, but I am not sure. Apollo acts... weird, sometimes.'

Like the sun god had waited for his que, he fell down from the sky. The demigods screamed. Chiron just rolled his eyes. 'Good morning, Apollo, my lord. Does this mean you do know something about the early edgin... I mean darkness?' Apollo turned his head towards him. Chiron raised an eyebrow. 'Is that a small line of coal on your eyelids, like a lot of ladies have been doing?'

Apollo rolled his eyes. 'It looks kinda fancy, don't you think? Anyway, I just wanted to kind of see what would happen if the sun went down... earlier.' Chiron took a deep breath.

'Well, it might look nice. Yet, I don't know how honest that explanation was, but you should stop it.' Apollo shrugged.

'Yeah.' He glanced at the children. Perseus had one eyebrow raised (they learn so fast, Chiron thought). 'Can't... can't they go inside?' Apollo asked Chiron. Chiron looked over his shoulder. 'Hey! Go inside, you three! Put some candles on!' Perseus saluted. They all walked inside.

'Chiron?'

'Hm?'

'So, I lost a bet against Hermes and he told me to make it dark earlier for a week. That's what happened.' He flipped his hair over his shoulder. Chiron sighed.

'Stop it. Tell Hermes that the mortals are killing each other.'

'Are they... killing each other!?'

'Not yet, but he doesn't know that. Just stop.' Apollo nodded and disappeared. Chiron walked back inside. 'I think it will be done tomorrow, kids. They listen to me sometimes.' The three older demigods nodded. The shine of the candles lit their faces up in a slightly creepy way. Ampelos looked pretty giddy. He kissed Dionysus on his cheek again. 'This isn't so bad!' Chiron stared at the children, and sighed again - Yep, they were really his own children now.

I know in some versions Ameplos is a satyr, but in others he is a regular human and that's what he is in this story, don't worry.