Thanks for reading the other chapters if you made it this far. Drop a review sometime and enjoy. Also someone teach me how to do line breaks. Or at least a way to separate the author's note from the actual story.

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan has ownership of universe though I guess we could say the ancient greeks and romans had ownership of the legends that inspired this story too.

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I really didn't expect the city of demigods to be abandoned. I mean, it's a city of demigods. Children with godly superpowers. You'd expect they live in a stronghold, what with the monsters attacking them, but they didn't. Some buildings were well furnished, while others weren't. The ones that were furnished were furnished with outdated furniture and technology, as if a person from years ago decided to stage a comeback.

"What was this place called again?" I had to ask again. The name was hard to memorise since it was, I think, in greek.

"Epineio. Shouldn't be too hard to memorise. Take Haven and translate it, easy!" Franz laughed. His laughing offset my morbid interest in his eyepatch.

"Translate it to greek right?" Franz looked at me with one eye and blankly nodded. Interrupting his laughing fits made him strangely neutral. It was as if laughing was happiness to him. He loved it when he had it, but he wouldn't miss it much if it was taken away, as if he had become far too used to sadness to care.

"Flak," Cull said, "We are nearing the hearth. It should be almost lunchtime when we arrive so we'll eat first before introducing you to the facilities."

"We'll also be introducing you to the rest of the people here," Selena chimed in.

I looked back and nodded grimly. Introductions. You love them or hate them. Personally, I am of the latter opinion. It's always awkward when you meet new people and realise, 'Oh yeah, I gotta say something about myself.' And then you realise you don't have anything to say about yourself they already know. Especially with Selena around.

"You sure love thinking to yourself huh?" Selena retorted, proving my point. It's annoying that she could read minds, er, souls. Nothing you think is private when your thoughts are supposed to be a private thing. I'd appreciate it if Selena didn't read my mind all the time, but it seemed to be an unconscious ability. I think it's like automatically evaluating when you look at a person.

"It is." Thanks Selena and I don't suppose you'd say your welcome. She sent me a soul-message saying those exact words, but squeakily. Like a mouse. A cute mouse. The cutest. Ever.

Selena didn't blush, but I knew she was thinking about it. She looked in Cull's general direction, as always. Cull was like a dad, I guess. She always looked to him for support in any situation. Anyways, I have to wrap this part quick or Selena will be reading it again.

Oh, she already did. She just sent me a soul message to stop thinking. I looked to her and smirked, picking up a rose from the floor and giving it to her. Cull's eyes widened in surprise. He awkwardly nodded and looked out the window, as if he knew this would happen.

"We're here newbie! Welcome to town square, our very own hearth!" Franz shouted into my ear. We all got out the car and walked towards the hearth. I expected a big fireplace in the middle of a circle, but the real thing was way bigger than what I thought.

There were many people sitting around the fireplace all around tables. The tables were those traditional camp tables that you always see in movies. The tables were sparsely spread out and people were walking around. Some were animatedly chatting, while others were sitting down, waiting for food. Cull walked over and shouted to signal the beginning of lunch. His shout was like thunder and it made food appear on the tables like magic.

"This is our eating area. We eat near the hearth because the hearth is warm and good," Selena explained. "The hearth is a gift from Hestia to Cull. According to him, he accomplished a great quest for her and was given the hearth. With the hearth, he decided to fashion this place into a haven for demigods."

I whistled, nodding along to Selena. "That is some backstory. Does it cook pizza?"

"Yeah, of course it cooks pizza! You're Flak Tartrum right?" I looked over to the voice. It was a guy I'd already seen before. Galin, who was still in his chair.

"Yeah, we met already."

"Let's reintroduce ourselves. I'm Galin Repu, son of Hephaestus. I inherited his strong arms, amazing forging ability, but his weak legs too. As you can see, I'm stuck on a wheelchair," Galin said cheerfully.

"Oh. I'm-" I tried to apologise. All this time I thought he was in his chair by choice, not saddled onto it by life. He may have had superpowers, but were they even worth it when he has stuck on a wheelchair all his life?

"Don't pity me. If you're going to pity someone, pity Ramona. She's deaf." Galin pointed to a girl who was frantically signing to her friends. "Look, don't think any less of us Hephaestus children for having disabilities. As far as I see it, we have the best powers with just a few strings attached."

"But, still-" I had to say my condolences, but Galin wasn't taking none of that.

"Shush. Just shut up." I could see Galin dealt with this kind of thing everyday, and he hated it. He was beginning to wheel away, over to another table. I could tell he was frustrated, thought I'd be different. I had to call out to him.

"I'm Flak Tartrum, son of Zeus, apparently. I can call down lightning and jump. I've been plagued with a lightning curse ever since I was 5," I introduced myself. Galin stopped on the spot, as if thinking what to do with me. He didn't turn around, but decided to give me a thumbs-up for understanding how he wanted to be treated.

"I would've dropped you off on Harry, if not for that last bit." Selena took my hand and dragged me to one of the tables. I noticed she still had the rose in hand and I debated telling her about it. In the end, I didn't.

Selena tapped the table twice and various foods began appearing out of nowhere. They came with plates, cutlery and empty glasses. She grabbed a piece of the apple pie and ravaged it. She ate fast, faster than I'd ever eaten. I noticed my favourite food on the table too, pizza. Pizza Margherita, just cheese and tomato sauce. My absolute favorite. And I had a whole box for myself too. I ate the slices fast, not forgetting to eat other food in between slices. Selena noticed my strategy and followed along.

Selena tapped her glass, whispering, "Green tea, from the can." I followed along by wishing for chocolate milkshake. What? Chocolate milkshakes are good.

If I had to sum up the meal, I would say it was beautiful. Nearly as good as a bite of golden apple, probably. I think. It had every food you could ever want, except for obscure ones that needed exotic ingredients or expensive food. I'd never eaten pizza that good before and I was definitely satisfied. Selena kept humming happily too, which was a sign of how good the meal was. She was even happily removing the thorns of the rose, which made me happy.

Selena's happy face was something to think about. Selena was very easy to read. When she's angry, she's pouting and when she's sad, her head hangs low like a dog's tail. She shows her emotions on her sleeve and I liked that. Made her feel less home invader and more acquaintance crashing over.

"So, what facilities do we have in this city?" I asked, interrupting Selena's humming. I was interested if the hearth had anything more to offer considering it could've been a big heater. I was also thinking about where I'd live and places for training. I mean, I was attacked by a monster, I want to be able to train.

"Well, let's see. Let's start with the hearth." I realised Selena could read my soul and that I'd essentially planned out the rest of our day.

"The hearth was special to the ancient greeks. It was the ultimate safe haven for strangers. You used to be able to run into a town and hide away in front of the local hearth and no one could hurt you. Hearths are especially important to us. It deters monsters from chasing us. Hearths are symbols of Hestia and Hestia is an Olympian. Monsters are scared of them."

"So, can't we bring portable hearths?" I thought it was a smart idea but Selena looked at me as if I was an idiot.

"No, it needs to be a permanent fireplace area. Anyway, the city hearth covers the entire city and protects it from any monsters. Monsters love demigod blood, since it contains diluted ichor."

"Ichor is what again?" I had an idea of what it was, but I wasn't sure. This time, I wasn't being an idiot.

"God blood. They love god blood, but it's hard killing a god, though technically gods can't die. So, they go for the next best thing, demigods." I perked up, remembering the boar.

"That was what the boar was after?"

"Yes, and not bacon and truffles like you thought. Though it probably does eat bacon from time to time." She nodded and I nodded along with her. We were in silent agreement that the boar was probably a cannibal.

"Knew it. On to my new home?" That was what I guessed where we were headed next, but Selena shook her head.

"Training grounds first."

The training grounds were an area of buildings that were sectioned off. Keep in mind that the buildings were mostly abandoned, so the others were free to renovate and destroy as they wished. We came to an area that was still on ground floor. It was a standard fighting arena on an empty lot and apparently Selena had rented it out for us.

"Here, take your pick. There are swords, spears, axes, bows and other weapons. You've seen my weapon, a mace, though I use two maces instead of one."

I looked through the weapons. I didn't have any preferences, since my only fight was me using lightning like my life depended on it, which it did. I could try the mace again?

Selena had to tell me this. "Don't think about trying maces. You were horrible back there."

"I was trying, and the important part was that it worked." I walked over to the table and picked out a nice-looking wooden sword. "Fine, I'll try swords."

Selena shrugged and picked out two blunt wooden maces. She walked over to one side of the arena and I, to the other. I looked at Selena, studying her. She kept her arms away from each other, so as to not hit the other. She had a blank look on her face. What I noticed most, was how the rose was nicely placed behind her ear. It had a nice contrast to her blonde hair.

We were both standing there, waiting for some signal to begin. I realised that Selena wanted me to strike first, maybe to gauge my skill. So, I did.

It went horribly. I lunged at her, but she shoved her mace into my stomach and with her other mace, smacked my head. Within seconds, I was sprawled out on the floor. I groaned and tried to reach for the sword, but Selena put it back on the table.

"Next weapon, Flak. Swords are even more horrible on you, so maybe you should try bows," Selena suggested. I nodded and shakily got up.

She handed me a bow and quiver and brought out a shooting target. The target was at the other hand of the arena, but Selena assured me if I was any good, I'd at least hit it first try. I put on the quiver over to my waist. I was pretty sure it was called a field quiver when I put it on my hip. I couldn't see the arrows without looking back, which could be dangerous in a battle. I also couldn't keep count of arrows, but it should be easy memorising how many I had at a time.

I took out an arrow and spun it. It didn't fall, so that's a good sign. I managed to nock the arrow quickly. I didn't know how far back to pull the bow string, a bad sign. I kind of pulled it back to where it felt right, so I pulled it to under my ear. I think this bow form was Japanese, but I couldn't be too sure. I realised the bow wasn't built for this type of shooting, so I slowly let the string go back to its neutral position. I pulled it back again, but this time to my chin.

I aimed. I could see the target clearly. When you had no practice, you had to shoot with feeling. I couldn't tell where my shot would go or even whether I was shooting correctly. Selena wasn't telling me, so I had to guess everything. I let go of the string and the arrow went sailing. It soared through the air, shooting straight towards the target. I thought I had enough power, so I didn't aim higher. The arrow would hit, though.

"Nice shot. You might be good with bows, you should try that again," Selena complimented me. She waved to me and left to do other things. Before I could ask her about what she was going to do, she sent me a soul message saying when she was coming back. She was coming back in 2 hours.

"Yeah, that's pretty good." I looked at the shooting target, riddled with black spots. They were, had to be magic. The shooting targets repaired the arrow holes in them while having a black spot over the hole. This allowed me to see where I shot yet it wouldn't interfere with the arrow when it hit it.

"90 out of 100! Nice, nice, nice!" I heard someone come into the arena. It was a guy who looked a little younger than me. 13, 14 maybe?

"Thanks. Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter, you'll find out soon enough. Anyway, you're good at this, and by that I mean really good!" He complimented me again. I smiled a little bit.

The guy, who had shining blond hair, tapped his bracelet. The bracelet turned into a bow. He smirked and tapped his back, where a quiver then appeared. I looked at him weirdly, then I realised my quiver was being filled up with arrows.

"Let's have a little bet, you and me."

"Alright. Nothing too big though." I nodded. If he put out a big bet out of nowhere, I don't think I would've been able to refuse. I was feeling more competitive, I wanted to compete with this guy and I didn't even want to win. I just wanted to see how I matched up with him.

"That's okay, that's okay. How about the loser owes the winner a favour? If we draw, I'll let you win. Let's swear over the River Styx on it." Thankfully, a favour wasn't too big, even if it was over the River Styx. What was he going to do, make me eat snake?

"We will shoot at the same time, at the same target. That will make things more challenging." It certainly would. We could be shooting at the same spot, and our arrows could meet mid-flight. That would be a loss on both our sides.

"Reset!" Blond guy shouted. The shooting target's black spots disappeared. "Let's start!"

We nocked our arrows. He was faster. We would only shoot at the same time, so he had to wait while I focused. I closed my eyes, and focused. I was feeling competitive after all, I'd do my best. We shot.

We hit the bullseye. The arrows didn't hit each other in mid-flight. 1 each. I focused again, feeling that my arms were tired. I had just shot 100 times, and I would have to do it 100 more. Yet, I was feeling energised. I didn't care about my arms until about 30 shots in.

My arms were feeling tired. I felt like I couldn't shoot anymore. The blond guy was good, he didn't miss a single shot. I could tell just by shooting with him that if he wanted to, he could've shot my arrow in midair. Though, of course, he wouldn't get a bullseye that way. He knew I wouldn't be able to go on, and began to egg me on by repetitively nocking his arrow.

If I was being rational, I would've just proclaimed that I lost. A favour wasn't much. Then again, I wanted to compete and at this point I wanted to win. I knew I was being irrational. I knew I wasn't controlling my feelings right. I knew it, so why couldn't I stop it?

I shook my head hard, trying to think of a way to snap out of it. The guy's presence leaked out for a second. I knew this feeling. Yeah, I definitely knew this feeling.

Arty. Though, not her, her brother.

"Apollo? Why are you here?" He smiled devilishly. I didn't like that smile, he seemed he was up to mischief, like picking on a demigod.

"You figured it out, good job! It's too late to back out of this competition anyway, so what're you gonna do?" I prepared to trade blows.

"Draw with you. A favour to a god has to be bad," I answered.

"Nah, I wouldn't ask for much. Just your golden apple," he said, as if the golden apple wasn't worth anything. It was from Arty, after all.

"That's a gift from Arty, so no," I firmly said. I said it so firmly, I felt thunder rumbling in the sky.

"Oh, Arty huh? I knew she'd give the apple to you, but to think she let you call her by my pet name?" The sun shone through the clouds, but the clouds came back.

"Yes, she did." The entire city was now covered in storm clouds. I could feel my anger rising. I didn't know why I got so angry, Arty wasn't anything to me. Yet, Apollo insinuating that I couldn't even say Arty's name made me mad.

"Oh, ho, ho! You think you're so close to little Arty, but little do you know-" The sun shone harder. The sky above the city became like an egg yolk, with the sun as the yolk and storm clouds as the whites. I knew I was summoning those clouds, I gathered lightning in them, prepared to strike.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get this over with." Lightning struck me. At the same time, lightning travelled from me into the clouds. A strong ray of sunlight shone over Apollo.

"Not scared of a god." We shot once.

"Neither scared for his life." We shot twice.

"How can this boy be?" We shot thrice.

"You're missing a syllable in the second line." Lightning struck my arrows as they traveled. Apollo's arrows grew fire. The shooting target was replaced with each shot. We shot fast, barely managing to talk while shooting.

"Just like Arty, huh? Lightning struck my bow. I used arrows of lightning instead of normal arrows.

"Trying to draw with a god." Apollo decided to use arrows of fire instead of normal arrows.

"You are not my match." At this point, we had shot 90 arrows.

"Next ten at the same time." My hands were truly tired at this point. I attempted to end this early and Apollo smirked.

"I agree, hero." His clothes caught fire.

"What a challenge, I like this." Rain started falling and doused his clothes.

"Let us finish this." He started exuding an aura of heat. It was scorching hot being near him, but an aura exuded from me too. Lightning began crackling from my bow and my body.

We shot our final arrows. Somehow we both managed to nock 10 separate arrows into our bows. The arrows were well on their way to hitting the shooting target. I wiped my head, knowing I'd won when suddenly Apollo's arrows converged into a single arrow. The arrow chased my arrows around, slowly eating them through. I sighed, expecting to lose.

"Hero. Don't take it personally, but I'll be changing my favour. I, sort of, need you to die." I grimly smiled, accepting my fate. After today, I just kind of short-circuited. Maybe after I die, I'd wake up on my bed.

"Great."

Apollo began to aim at me. "As I said, don't take it personally. I'm not angry with you anymore, even if you are an annoying little hero. I'll make sure you get to Elysium safe."

The rain stopped. The clouds gathered toward the middle, obscuring the sun. Suddenly, they funnelled towards us, obscuring both our vision. Apollo's arrow shined brightly, still aimed on me. I walked towards the arrow, feeling tired over today. He won, he should be able to kill me.

Apollo shot his arrow. The arrow traveled through the air. It was fast, faster than all the arrows we had shot. To me, it felt slow. My life flashed before my eyes. They were filled with memories of my mom, taking care of me. I felt warm, happy. I closed my eyes and stood in place, waiting for the arrow to pierce me.

I opened them a few seconds later. Apollo's arrow was stuck in place in front of me. A second later, the arrow dispersed. I looked over to the target, and I saw the result of our competition.

I won. All of our arrows hit, my arrows weren't eaten. That made it a draw, but Apollo said I'd win if we drew. A bolt of lightning struck me again before the clouds dispersed. Immediately, I collapsed. It was like the lightning bolt was an extension of me that did some work. Anything it did applied to me too.

"Your reward. Unfair hero." Apollo scowled at me. He didn't look angry at me, but more like he was angry at what I could do. Maybe he was envious that as a son of Zeus, he couldn't do that like I did.

"I want to be able to say Arty without you killing me," I managed to retort. I couldn't move my body, do anything. Apollo could've killed me right there if he wanted to, he didn't swear on the River Styx for that.

"Deal. Good deal. Great deal, in fact. Amazing deal..." Apollo began muttering. He paced around me, looking at me occasionally. He kept snapping his fingers as if he forgot something important. "There it is."

"What?" I managed to mutter.

"Prophecy, nothing to worry about. It doesn't-" Apollo stopped as if still reading the prophecy. "You'll see about the prophecy. Later. I'm make sure it gets to you. Don't let the beast out again, I have to go."

I shrugged, while still on the ground. Now would be a good time to wake up from this dream, but unfortunately I didn't. I thought about today, all the crazy things that happened in it. I probably wouldn't be able to do that thunderstorm thing ever again and that was okay. Before I could think about my situation more, I blacked out. I dreamt another dream.