CHAPTER 3 – Noah

Noah was enjoying his time at camp, but that quickly changed for the worse when he was claimed by his divine parent, and he received his first quest.

He had been at the camp for about a month, bunking in the Hermes cabin, and he was picking up most aspects of camp life easily. He had the routine down to a T, and the activities were fun; it was far better than any mortal summer camp. He liked the rock wall, with its flowing lava and earthquake simulations; he liked the archery range, and it turned out that he was good at archery, as he hit the bullseye, or close to it, almost every time; he liked the forges, and he'd made his own celestial bronze broadsword; he liked the canoe lake, as he was a strong swimmer and a good kayaker; he liked the sports courts, as he liked to play basketball and volleyball; he liked riding pegasi, he found that he could control them quite easily, and he liked the arena, and because of his small size, lightning fast mind and razor sharp senses, he was usually able to outwit and beat almost any opponent. He was changing. He could see the definition in his muscles as he worked his body day after day, his features were becoming more set and chiselled as he overcame barriers both physically and mentally, and he was alot more sociable, after making friends with most of the Hermes cabin.

He woke up before the rest of his cabin mates, and he usually did, and always took the morning alone to wander the camp, admiring its beauty and exploring the places he didn't know much about. He didn't really have a set routine, he just wandered until the others woke up, and then he went to breakfast.

Breakfast was probably the best meal of the day, because he loved breakfast food: bacon, sausages, eggs, beans, fried toast, pancakes with maple syrup, waffles, and everything else you could possibly eat for breakfast. He sat with the Hermes cabin and dug in. It was amazing. Today he had a bit of everything on his plate and he was not regretting it – everything went together perfectly, especially the sausage, pancakes and maple syrup. It was great.

That morning, he practised swordfighting with the Ares cabin. He liked swordfighting, but it wasn't his strong suit, as he put up a good fight, but usually got bested by his sparring partner, a skilled son of Ares called Marc.

He fought with Marc for an hour before he'd had enough of getting beaten, and he went to do some archery – that was something he was good at. He hit the bullseye 7 out of 10 times for an hour and a half before lunch. Lunch was good, you could get almost any sandwich you could think of, and you just needed to create it in your mind and you could have it. His culinary creation involved chicken, bacon, pork, lettuce and sweet chilli sauce, and it was amazing. It didn't take him long to finish it, and when his cabin mates were done, it was time for the afternoon's activities.

He chose to go to the canoe lake for canoeing, swimming races and naval battles. He loved the canoe lake, it was big and spacious and full of great things to do. He thought he'd go swimming this time, and then join a mock naval battle with the triremes they kept in the lake.

He'd changed into his swimming shorts after lunch, and he stood on the edge of the lake with some other demigods, and they were about to race. One of them shouted a countdown, then a "GO!" and they all leapt into the freezing lake. The aim was to swim around the triremes that were parked in the middle of the lake, and back to the start. He didn't really think it was fair that a daughter of Poseidon got to race, since she could control the water, but he didn't complain, since it was just for fun.

The daughter of Poseidon reached the triremes before anyone else, since she'd manipulated the water to shoot her straight through the water like a rocket. The other kids were all swimming together, knocking each other out of the way, and generally having fun. Noah was at the front of the pack, quickly swimming away from the two sons of Ares that were trying to pull him back. Then Poseidon's daughter decided to come back in style. Propelling herself under the water, she leapt up just in front of Noah, spreading her arms and bringing a large wave up with her. She stood on the wave, rode it over their heads, and landed on the edge of the lake like a seasoned gymnast. Everyone else got the wave on their heads and were somehow even more soaked than they already were, which was weird because they were swimming.

After that, the other kids swam to the triremes for a naval battle, but Noah decided not to join them. He was spent. He thought he'd head back to the Hermes cabin and just relax for a little while. He looked at himself in a mirror in the Hermes cabin with his top off, marvelling at his defined muscles. This camp was good for him, he thought as he poked an ab. It had definitely changed him. He was becoming stronger, still lean and small, but he definitely had muscles now. He smiled at himself, and noticed the change in his face too. His eyes were bright and hopeful, and his features were more chiselled. He reckoned he was growing up, both mentally and physically.

Then at the campfire that night, he got the confirmation he was both hoping for and dreading. His father finally claimed him.

He was sitting with the Hermes cabin at the Apollo sing-along after dinner, the campfire roaring away a bright orange. The campfire changed colours and intensities depending on the mood. Tonight's mood was happy and festive, so it reflected that. He was staring at the beautiful flames when he began to glow.

It was minor at first, his skin become a little bit luminous, and he began to light up the space around him. In a few seconds it had grown to a healthy glow, causing nearby campers to avert their eyes from the light, and a few panicked, drawing their weapons. A few seconds after that it was an angelic glow that lit up the whole area in bright white light. Nobody could look at him. It wasn't hot, at least not to him. He couldn't feel it at all, and he couldn't look because the light was blinding. He wondered if he was disintegrating painlessly…

And then it was over. Just like that, the light shut off. He still had his eyes scrunched up because he didn't want to risk a glance until he was sure he wasn't glowing anymore, and when he opened his eyes, every single person in the pavilion was looking right at him.

Then he noticed that he was holding a bow in his right hand. It was made of a dark wood with intricately carved laurel branches covering it, and it had a celestial bronze bow string that glowed slightly. He had a quiver on his back made of the same dark wood with the same pattern of laurel branches. The arrows inside were made of the same dark wood with glowing celestial bronze arrowheads. He was also wearing a laurel wreath on his head.

Everyone stared at him and the bow that had magically appeared in his hand. Chiron saw the bow and his eyes widened dramatically. He started towards Noah, clearly alarmed.

One by one, the campers started to applaud. He wasn't sure why until the kid next to him whispered,

"Wow, so you're a son of Apollo. Nice! And nice bow,"

Noah regarded himself and smiled slightly. He knew who his father was, at long last. He looked over at the Apollo campers, who were applauding and grinning – he had a family, at long last. He was going to like it even more here, he thought.

Chiron was almost to Noah, but just before he reached him, an explosion ripped through the world around him, and threw him back forcefully against his seat. The Apollo campers were thrown through the air to land on top of other demigods thrown against their seats. The fire grew by dozens of feet until it was level with the tops of the trees, and an enormous figure walked out of it. A man wearing ceremonial Greek armour stepped awkwardly out of the fire, before shrinking to human size and collapsing to his knees on the ground.

"Ares...?" Chiron asked groggily, disentangling himself from a column he had fallen against.

The campers were up and walking towards the fallen war god. Ares was kneeling, panting heavily, ichor, the golden blood of the immortals, dripped from several spots on his body. Noah could only see one of his arms, and he didn't want to know what had happened to the other one.

After Ares recovered, he stood and his form flickered. One moment he was an armoured soldier with one arm, the next he was a muscle-bound biker in a blood-red leather jacket, all limbs present and accounted for. He looked around and grunted at the devastated pavilion.

"Chiron. We've got a big problem." Ares declared.

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