My name is Holt Medford, and I am a Demigod. My Father is Apollo, and my mom is a professional shooter from San Antonio, Texas. I used to be a normal camper. Now, I fight eldritch abominations and death cults.

It started after a normal day at Camp Half Blood. The day was going great. Me and the rest of the Apollo cabin had kicked ass in capture the flag. I used my new rifle that my friend Harley from the Hephaestus Cabin modified to lay waste to the Ares and Nike Cabins at capture the flag (don't worry, I used rubber bullets). I impressed my siblings, I even got one of the Athena Kids, Cara, to complement me. It was my dreams that screwed it up. Bad dreams weren't exactly uncommon for demigods like me, but this one would be different, and not in a good way.

The dream began over a small seaside town. I didn't recognize it, but it looked like a town somewhere in the New England Region. It was raining, and I could tell from the drainage in the streets it had been for some time. The vision changed to a dark room, illuminated by candlelight. A table stood at the center, with a world map laid on top of it. Serrated daggers stuck into random points in the table. Two men stood across from one another, one, a tall, older man bald, the other, a short, almost fish-like man in a suit with a large beer belly, obviously discussing something.

"The time has come, Abbot. The Old One has appeared in my dreams. He demands we begin. He only needs enough power. We need another one" the older man says.

"This is ridiculous. We've kept that girl in stasis for years. And now the old one says we need another? How?" The short one says. "If the others hadn't cocked up, and not killed the rest of-"

"Have faith, Abbot. He has spoken. He has already provided a means"

"And how has he done that?"

"He has brought a visitor." The tall man looks straight toward me, and it is then I noticed the man's most striking feature: His eyes, or specifically, the lack thereof. It was…slightly terrifying. "Demigod. We need to talk. My master and I have unfinished business with…" He pauses "Your kind"

His face had a sort of uncanny feel to it. He reminded me of a televangelist my grandmother used to watch named Kenny or Christopher or something, who would perform fake miracles on people then ask for money. "Come to Wellmist, Massachusetts, my friend. Appear at Dagon Manor, and you shall be received with great celebration. Oh, and don't bring any friends."

And with that, I woke in a pool of my own sweat

I went straight to the big house. There, Chiron and Dionysis sat at the round table, playing poker with a bunch of nymphs,

"Harry" Dionysus said, looking up from his cards.

"Uh, it's Holt."

Mr. D has a habit of "forgetting" people's names. I think he does it intentionally to annoy us. He's a bit of an asshole.

"Whatever. Can't you see we are in the middle of something?"

"I had a strange dream. I need to talk to Chiron."

Chiron "stood up" (meaning he converted his wheelchair into his real body) and put down his cards. "Come"

I followed Chiron up the stairs to his office.

"Tell me all about this dream" Chiron told Me

So I did.

"I don't recall any stories of anything like that, or any prophecies" Chiron said. "That invitation sounds like a trap. At the same time, it's clear something is happening in that Manor. Whatever it is, it needs to be stopped. Alas, we must consult the oracle."

As we walked to her cave, my friend Harley ran up to me, holding my rifle I had given to him after capture the flag the night earlier. The rifle was my signature weapon. It was a M14 rifle, my Grandfathers, with a crazy scope Harley made and a celestial bronze bayonet for close range.

"Holt! I fixed the zero, and added a second laser! It's super bright! I tried to make it powerful enough to cut through steel, but there were…issues. Check it out!" He pressed a button on the scope, and a bright beam shot off into the forest. I heard some kind of commotion in the forest, probably a dryad Harley had just blinded.

Harley is a fairly short 14 year old boy from the Hephaestus cabin. He makes up for his height by being built as fuck. Like most of the hephaestus campers, he has large muscles and callused hands. Harley has a…reputation around camp, to say the least. When he was younger, he used to make these crazy obstacle courses in the labyrinth that he would somehow force all the other campers to run. He stopped after an incident (something to do with talking trees? It was before my time), but he still makes crazy, over the top, contraptions for whoever asks, usually with unintended consequences. He's slightly crazy, and I love him for it.

"I gotta consult the oracle. I had a weird ass dream"

"-bout what?" He asks, cocking his head inquisitively.

"In due time, Harley." Chiron says. "Me and your friend here need to speak to Rachel"

"Ooh? A quest?" He asks.

"In due time." Chiron repeats, raising his voice slightly.

Harley seemed to get the memo. He started walking back to the cabins. "I'll leave the gun with Kayla!" He yells, looking back.

Kayla is the Apollo Cabin's counselor. She's pretty cool. Apparently she and a few others were there during Apollo's quest to restore the oracles. I wish I had been around to see that.

Chiron and I soon arrive at Rachel's cave. You'd expect an oracle's cave to be full of strange mists and crystal balls, but in reality it was more like a lounge area where Rachel worked on various things while she stayed at camp.

The oracle used to be a mummy. Then, six years ago, the titan war ended and we got a new one, a ginger named Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I think she's some oil tycoon or something's daughter. She's a bit strange. She paints a lot, and is involved with all sorts of mortal advocacy groups (don't ask me which ones). She actually painted a mural of the Demigods of the Argo II on the side of the big house a year ago.

"Chiron" She says, looking up from the painting she was working on. "Need something?"

"Go on" Chiron tells me.

So I did. I told Rachel about my dream

"Sounds like a trap" She says. "I can have some of my father's people look into that town-" She lurches forward, going into some kind of stupor. She opens her mouth, and an otherworldly voice speaks,

Three shall go to the town of perpetual rain

To the house where morality has no reign

Campers bear witness to Praetor's bane

Retrieve the fallen in Virtue's Name

Combined Half-blood and Shield prevail

Wicked efforts of man and Scaled ones fail

And thus humanity obtain reprise

But fail to stop the Sleeping God's rise

With the word "rise", Rachel collapses onto a couch. Her eyes flickered open a moment later.

I looked at Chiron. His expression looked grave. Clearly whatever that prophecy referred to wasn't good.

"Who is the Sleeping God?" I asked.

"Could be an old enemy. I don't know for sure." It was clear from his expression that he knew more than he was letting on, although I figured that I wouldn't get anything from him by asking. "One thing is clear, though. There will be a quest, and you will lead it."