Hereyo are readers, the first chapter of the first actual story arc. also:
realfan16: Argh plz answer this in PM. It's kinda heart breaking to expect a new chapter but then stare at pointless information. Good work with the story btw ; )
answer: review corner is so I'll be doing every tenth chapter to answer questions and give myself more time to finish the next actual chapter. its so i don't get burnt out.
Chapter 11: I start my first quest.
After the others had broken up me and Nico, Percy took me to Chiron and Mr. D, where we all showed him Leo's letter I told them both my idea to go on my first quest to bring him back.
Chiron put the letter down and stroked his chin. "And you're sure you want to do this? Quests can be tricky business, even the most mundane can turn deadly without warning."
"He's right." Percy chimed in. "I speak from experience."
I looked at both of them and nodded. "I'm sure. This is my chance to do what every demigod strives to do, be a hero. I mean everyone here has done at least one quest during their first time here, so why can't I?"
Mr. D seemed amused at that statement. "He has you there Chiron."
The centaur sighed as he shook his head. "I know, I know." He then looked at me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I won't stop you from doing something you want to do, just try to be careful."
"Chiron please, I hunt monsters as a hobby for Zeus sake, how bad can it be?" I laughed. This caused him to chuckle, then I along with him and Percy went to Elizabeth's cave, where I was left alone with the ginger headed oracle.
"Okay so how does this work exactly?" I asked.
Elizabeth sat down in a chair and then gestured for me to sit across from her. "Simple, I'll go into a trance and tell you your prophecy." She then handed me a pen and a small notepad. "Feel free to write it down just in case."
"Okay…" I nodded, holding both ready.
She was silent for a minute or two, before her eyes suddenly started to glow green as an odd green smoke surrounded her. Then she looked at me and spoke in an echoey tone.
"Listen, Son of Tartarus and hear my words. Your journey will be one through both sky and land, but beware the sea. To find who you seek you must take two with you, one to guide and one to defend. The first is who knows the hammer better than the hammer knows himself. The other, a calm minded hunter who's reason and strategy know no equal. Take them and take head, for if you take this burden on alone, the darkness will swallow you whole." She said before returning to normal, seemingly woozy and on the verge of a headache. Boy could I relate to that.
The redhead took some aspirin and then looked at me. "Did you get all that?" She asked.
I looked at my notepad again. "Yep. Word for word….hold on, spelled something wrong." I started fixing things as Percy and Chiron came in.
Percy looked over my shoulder. "Let me guess, got the spelling wrong?" He joked.
"Yeah, damn dyslexia." I said as I finished fixing things. Percy took a second to look it over, probably because of his own dyslexia. He then looked even more confused.
"One who knows the hammer more than he does himself?" Percy read aloud. "What does that mean? Is it talking about a kid of hephaestus?"
"No, that's too obvious…" I stated, I scratched my head for a second before it hit me. "I think it's referring to Leo. The hammer is Leo, so someone who knows him better than he does is-"
"One of his friends." Chiron finished. "Very good Nigel."
Now that I knew the first person I needed I bolted out of the cave and ran down towards the common area, where I bumped into Frank Zhang, a Son of Mars. I bounced off him like a marble off of a waterbed.
"Sorry Frank. Hey you seen Jason anywhere." I said as I got up after falling to the ground.
"I think he's over at the Zeus cabin." Frank told me, pointing in the direction of the Zeus cabin.
"Thanks." I said, dashing off towards the Zeus cabin. As I made my way up the stairs I saw Jason was there, he was in the middle of sharpening his sword. "Jason! Thank the gods I found you!"
The son of Jupiter looked at me as I tried to catch my breath. "And you found me, boy you look winded." He said.
"I..need.. you..to come..on..this quest..with me...oh whoo!" I said, trying to catch my breath mid sentence.
"Really, how come?" The blonde asked as he set his sword and sharpening tools down next to his bed.
"The prophecy says I need to bring someone who knows Leo better than even he does himself...and who better to ask than his best friend?" I explained, sitting down on the white marble floor of the cabin.
Jason was quiet for a minute or two, I saw him look at a desk he had next to his bed, which had a picture of him, Piper and Leo on it. Then he looked at the floor before letting out a long sigh. "You're sure?" He asked.
I smiled as I nodded. "Positive. I'm one hundred percent sure that you're the man for the job."
That seemed to cheer him up, as he sat up with a smile on his face. "Okay then, looks like you got yourself a teammate."
I got up as I popped my back. "Okay, now I need to find the third and final member of our team."
"And who's that?" Jason asked.
I pulled out the prophecy and read it aloud. "A calm minded Hunter who's reason and strategy know no equal."
Jason's face immediately lit up. "I know just who to call."
"Who?" I asked.
"One of the best strategists I know. A great voice of reason, and she just so happens to be a Hunter of Artemis." Jason said, but then he smirked. "And you've already met."
It took me a second or two to put the clues together, which caused my face to heat up for some reason. "Don't tell me…"
Jason smiled as he pulled out a drachma from his pocket and walked out to the lake, the sun was shining off the water, making a rainbow effect on the surface. He gave the coin a toss and then spoke. "Oh Iris goddess of the rainbow, please accept show my offering and show me the Hunter of Artemis Reyna Ramírez-Arellano."
There was a brief flash of light before an image of her working on her weapons appeared.
A second or two later she turned and saw us, she ran over and I noticed that on her end we were appearing through a waterfall of some sort.
"Jason? Nigel? What's going on? Why are you sending me an Iris message?" She asked.
Jason gave me a nudge and I stumbled forward into her full view. I tried to clear my throat, but it wasn't really helping me.
"Uh, well actually I was the one who was trying to call you. I, uh, need your help with something. Something important." I explained.
That's when Jason finally decided to step in. "Our boy Nigel here just got his first quest, and it seems he needs to enlist the help of a Hunter of Artemis, particularly one with top notch strategy skills?" He directed the question part at me, all the while using his height advantage on me to ruffle my faux hawk.
"Yeah...yeah that's right." I nodded, shoving him off me. "My prophecy mentioned that I'd need a hunter who's an unmatched strategist."
Reyna was quiet for a moment. "I'll have to make sure that lady Artemis is alright with this. I'll get back to you in a second."
She left and we were left alone as I punched Jason in the stomach. "Dude! What the actual hell?!" I snapped at him as he laughed.
"Well I couldn't just let you embarrass yourself by stuttering the whole time now could I?" He asked.
"I-i was not stuttering!" I retorted.
"Sure you weren't." Jason chuckled.
I growled as I put my hands in my pockets. "Shut up, she's coming back now."
Reyna came back and looked like the conversation went well. "I spoke to lady Artemis and, after a little bit of convincing, she's allowed me to go with you on your quest."
I sighed in relief. "Good. Any idea why she didn't want you to go?"
"I believe her exact words were, 'A quest with not only a boy but a boy who's a son of Tartarus and one that nearly killed you? I don't think so." She explained.
"Great, so as it turns out I did manage to piss off olympus." I groaned, then I looked back at her. "We'll meet you as soon as possible." I then turned to Jason. "Jason, you two decide on a meet up place, I'm gonna go get my gear."
The blonde nodded as I left, once I got to the Poseidon cabin I started rummaging around my stuff, looking for something I needed for this quest.
Percy, who was reading a copy of Olympus People magazine, looked at me in confusion. "Lose something?" He asked.
"Can't find my bag of holding." I answered, chucking a pair of pants across the room. "Chiron gave it to me a week ago and I can't find it. I need it for this quest."
"Is it a small black sack with tiny white stars on it?" Percy questioned.
"Yes!" I nodded.
Percy reached under his bed and pulled out a sack, which was my bag of holding, he then tossed it to me. "You dropped it last night."
"Thanks." I said, checking inside, everything was still there. "This is going to make the quest so much easier." I said as I tied the bag to my belt. Everything was ready, now my first quest as a hero, could begin.