"Hey"

Poc Poc

"Heey"

Poc Poc

"Wakey wakey"

The cold slugging my thought was substituted by a welcoming warmth, the type you would feel laying in the sun on a spring afternoon. I started coughing water like crazy, desperate for a breath of air. The last I remembered was drowning and laughter. If I see those girls again I'm gutting them.

"Well champ, that's your fault. The naiads back in camp are nice, but in the wild they can get pretty crazy"- said the voice from above. -" Didn't Chiron teach you not to make deals carelessly? Kids these days, in my times when we had a problem we took our weapons and started slaughtering, like with that pesky snake.

"And, come on, is this the best weapon you have?- continued the voice before throwing the claw in front of me.

I slowly turned towards the voice, slowly because I felt like I had the biggest hangover in the world. The voice belonged to a blond man with blue eyes, dressed with a tee-shirt and jeans. He continued monologuing about the old times, how a hero should behave and what a disappointment I was. His voice was beautiful, melodic in a way few voices could be, but with the killer headache I had it just sounded obnoxious, especially because he just wouldn't shut up.

"..."

Uh? Why is he silent now? Well, maybe I could rest a bit.

"You know I could kill you easily, right?"

The weight of the voice, the sudden stillness of the air, the increase of pressure, if I were in normal conditions I would have been trembling with fear. However, I was pretty sure I was dying and you can't threaten a dying man, or at least not effectively. I promised to myself in the mountains that I would always fight to keep being alive only I had also made peace with myself. There was no use fighting the inevitable. At least I didn't regret anything, I did my best.

"You're such a drama queen, I'm not letting you die. It would be pathetic being the God of Healing and not being able to cure this, so stop crying."- He said crouching next to me.

Warmth expanded from his finger through all my body, healing all injuries and finally leaving my mind crystal clear. At that point, life was punching me in the face with the truth. I had no excuses, no waking from death, no being tired and no almost drowning. And yet, I couldn't help but remain confused.

"Mmm? What is this?"-He firmly grabbed my head with his two hands -"Oh boy, amnesia. How interesting"

I wasn't comfortable with the men even though he sounded friendly. Something in my gut told me I shouldn't trust him, even though he saved my life.

I gently removed his hands from my head and stood up. -"I thank you for your help, I wouldn't be alive without your assistance. You have my deepest gratitude."

"I'm sure I have them, the thing is that, even if you don't remember it, you failed your quest for atonement"- He stopped me from moving with a just glance -"And yet, you have forgotten your life, almost as if you had drunk in the Lete. Normally that is enough to forgive all sins"

"What quest? And what do you mean wit…"

"Honestly, were it my decision I would have already just killed you. You have hurted my poor sister."- He took the claw from my lap and put it on my neck- "However, you are kinda of her soft spot. So, as I'm an emissary, I'm letting you go alive"

"Your sister?"

From nowhere appeared a haversack into the men's hands, who threw it to me

"Yes, my sister who sent you this"- He then added as an afterthought- "and who, by the way, is your mother."

"My mother? Look, can't you simply tell me what the fuck is happening?"-I responded to him. I didn't even shout or anything, albeit I didn't use my best language. I hate being ignored.

He glared at me, and when I say glared I mean his eyes were bright in anger and temperature rose by twenty degrees. He then breathed deeply and everything came back to normal, like nothing had changed. He smiled.

"It seems you are still the same brat as before, all right, let this be a lesson. From now onwards if you step on the sun you will burn, like a very uncool vampire. The curse ends when you truly end your quest. So, chop chop, the Nemean Lion isn't killing himself"

"What?"- I responded- "Can you expla…"

"No, goodnight"

After his punch everything turned dark.


A blond guy calling himself God of Healing ranting about heroes and quests, and I just realize now? You surely must believe I had a mental problem or something very bad going for me.

"It was so obvious" you may think. Well, yes. It was obvious, but cut me some slack. Until Apollo came it was hard to really say that I had been reborn in the pjo universe, a hellhound just looked like an enormous black dog and naiads appeared like normal girls, albeit in the water. What had no justification was being rude at a God, even if I hadn't realized he was one. If someone tells you he can kill you and heals you from death, don't be like me. Be polite and thankful, and hope things go right.

Anyway, continuing the story, I woke up inside a dumpster, surrounded by pizza crust and all the trash a pizza restaurant can produce. It took me a while to orient myself and open the dumpster, bringing a bit of the light from the streetlights nearby. I climbed out of the dumpster, tripping over and falling into a puddle. Taking a deep breath to avoid cursing Apollo, I rose from the floor when I once again tripped.

The haversack Apollo had thrown me before I was knocked unconscious was there, the one he said his sister told him to give me, sitting inocently next to me. At least I had someone on my corner. My mother in this life wasn't going to leave to the wolves. Probably.

I opened the fastener. Within the green bag I found a variety of trinkets and some food, all of which would normally be useful but in my situation was pretty useless. Killing the Nemean Lion is not something easily done. Two packs of Oreos, a bar of chocolate, a canteen, a pocket knife, a matchbook, some rope and a battered box were all I had to complete my quest.

Luckily there were some clothes. Talking from experience, being nude in a forest is an uncomfortable situation. Being easily cut by branches, the cold, they were all bad on their own, but without any doubt the worst was having your bits outside, swinging with the wind and exposed to the wild. Imagine what would had happened if the dog had bitten me down there.

Dressed up with a pair of jeans, a hawaian shirt, a jacket and a pair of boots I walked out of the alley. I found the jeans and the jacket in the haversack, they were normal clothes you could find anywhere, but the baby blue hawaiian shirt with parrots and the purple camouflage boots I found in the mouth of the alley, screaming divine intervention.

Thus, I walked dressed like a clown in the middle of the night searching for a refuge once again. This time around I was in a best condition to survive but I was quickly getting sick of it, always with my life on the line, always in search of the next refuge. And it would get worse before it gets better. There was no denying, I was in the pjo universe and I was the son of Artemis, as cringy as that sounds. Every monster in Greek mythology was making a queue to kill me and I was weak. I was lucky to survive the hellhound and it was a little one, the ones in the book get to the size of a truck.

I needed to get training and for that I needed to travel, and I won't be travelling until I kill the Nemean Lion. It wasn't feasible to simply live in the dark, sooner or later I would need to be under the sun and when that time came I'd better have already killed the Lion.

To the sides the were closed comercial locals, according to some pamphlets I found about Yellowstone, I was in Jackson, Wyoming. If I had any doubt on whether or not to do the quest that killed it, there was no way I was reaching Long Island without touching the sun.

In the end, I spent an hour walking around until I reached the conclusion that I wasn't going to find an easy refuge, so I decided to break into a house. Before you judge me, I didn't have any intention to hurt any one, I just wanted some a cieling for the day, and I was going to die if I stayed on the street.

In the end, I chose to break into a wood cottage on the perifery of the town, isolated enough that if someone shouted I would be able to explain myself before the neighbours came knocking. The cottage seemed empty, which was the main reason I chose it, and it didn't seem hard to break in.

I entered from one of those fancy sliding glass doors luxury cottages have. It was gaudy and gave the cottage a strange appearance, but it also was silent when sliding, only creaking when I closed them. Within the cottage was no warmth, the heating wasn't on, meaning there probably wasn't anyone, I had been lucky to have entered a vocational house or something similar.

My nerves calmed when I realized no alarm had sounded. It was safe. Now I just needed a place where I could rest without the sunrays touching me the next day. Obviously, the coach next to the glass was a no-no, so I walked upstairs, the steps creaking under me, in search of a bedroom.

I opened the door next to the stairs and turned the lights on. Warm, a covered window, lots of banquets, the room was perfect. Without any care in the world I threw myself to the bed, colliding against a hard bump in the banquets and falling to the floor.

"Aaahhhhh, mommy" - came the cry from the other side of the floor.

My heart started beating faster, I was danger. There was people in the house. The door exploded open and entered a man with a shotgun. Quickly, I grabbed the bedside lamp, ripping off the cable from the wall and I threw it against him. The lamp smashed into the men's face, making his face bleed and the shotgun fall. I runned towards the shotgun, failing to grab it when the man threw himself onto the shotgun.

I couldn't allow him to use it. I kicked him in the face, the increase of cries coming from the bed ignored. The man fell on his back, the shotgun still in his hands and ready to shoot me but I jumped against him, fighting for the weapon.

A pair of hands started pulling on my back. My heart throbbing so hard it hurted, I kicked him in the balls, taking the shotgun and hitting my other assailant with butt. The woman fell to the floor, where I quickly shooted her before turning to the stunned men and finished him.

"Mum, dad!" -wailed the kid under the bed.

What had I done? I had just killed the boy's parents, inocent people. What should I do? My heartbeat was so strong it could even draught thoughts. And what was I going to do with the boy? I had just entered his house and killed his parents! I'm going to end in prison for life, maybe even dead.

The shotgun fell to the floor. I walked to the bed, my footsteps leaving crimsom footprints in the white carpet, and laid down. Tears started falling from my eyes and I blindly reached for the haversack that had falled in the bed. I took the Oreos, accidentally throwing the bag into the floor and spilling it's contents.

"Do you want some Oreos?" -came from me without even realising, my voice calm in complete contrast to my inner turmoil.

God knows why, the kid came out from under the bed, red eyes a full of snot, dressed in teddy bear pajamas. With shaking hands he tried to take an Oreo, accidentally throwing it to the floor. The Oreo fell next to the rope and the boy broke down crying once again.

I crouched to get the Oreo, but I couldn't help but to think about what my fate would be; Prison or death. I had died and suddenly I was alive again. Was it so bad to want a good life? Then why did this happen to me? I didn't deserve to die again. My heartbeat slowed to a standstill, the world turning calm.

I looked at the boy and I grabbed the rope.


Hey, I hope you liked the chapter. Apollo makes an appearance and announces to us that the protagonist may have a mysterious past. *insert wiggling fingers* I believe that I have made a more or less good work on portraying my Apollo personality. He has that funny laughing cool guy vibe, but it is pretty obvious that he has no love lost for the protagonist (Duh, he is now cursed).

And a dark hard ending for this chapter. How will this affect the protagonist in the future? Where will his character arc go?