I have so many plans for this story, it is rare I am so collected.
Let's do this!
The Winter Solstice, Two Hours before the Annual Meeting
A Year Before the Lightning Thief
Hera rarely, if ever, paid attention to male prayers. To mortal prayers, it just wasn't her thing. She felt it beneath her, what could a mortal do that she could not? How could they repay her for her kindly gifts? How could they be of value? Besides, after the Original Jason all those eons ago, she no longer trusted the mortal players. That being said, did she envy her divine family, desiring the sort of connection and influence over the mortal realm? Most definitely.
So, when she felt a prayer specifically made to her, filled with tremendous intellect and passion and youth, she could not help but turn her gaze through the midnight clouds, passing through space until she reached a small boy, wrapped in newspapers in the cold of winter. He was turning blue, his life force fading fast, and yet she felt a will of Stygian iron, pure spite kept the boy alive.
He was far from beautiful, entirely average in all ways with his brown hair and eyes and fair skin. However, it was his aura that kept her looking, in fact it was near impossible to turn away.
'It's been eons since I saw such passion, potent intelligence and warmth in a heart... and never in such a mortal youth. Why are you so cold, my dear boy, and without the connection of family to keep you warm and safe and loved?' Oddly, for her, Hera felt her heart open up as she read his soul. 'Beaten and abandoned, hated and mistreated by so many... the fools, they have no idea what they gave up. A soul so bright should be cherished... but why did you call out to me specifically, only those of Ancient Blood remember me now?'
She peered deeper and what she saw made her smile, despite the suffering she felt.
'A lover of the old stories, you have long since admired me, you think my cruelties repugnant but you still find admiration in the fact that I would actually fight back against my abusive husband... yes... I do believe a blessing is to come your way. You crave warmth, love and power, the power to ensure that you never suffer again, not as you have. That I can deliver, and I will deliver it, personally.'
Sending a fragment of her essence away, the majority of Hera focused on the meeting to come, while the other fragment found a place by the boy, appearing as a haggard elderly woman. She walked down the disgusting alley, finding the shivering spiteful boy and put a hand on his shoulder. Her magic flowed in him, offering the gift of a mother's love. It stabalized the boy's essence, making him look up with blerry eyes.
"Hello?" Hoarse and so near death, the boy still sounded strong.
She admired that. "My boy, my name is June. I could not help but hear your chattering teeth... there is a shelter a few streets over, It still has rooms."
He sighed. "I cannot go, they'll tell the police and my father will find me."
Hera, as June, kneeled. "Not if you do this!" She flicked her fingers at the nearest garbage cans, Mist gathering around them turning them into pillars of salt. The boy actually gaped, amazed, eyes wide and fully clear.
"How?"
"Magic, and the Mist! Use it to bend the mind of mortals to your will... prove yourself to me, and this book will open for you." She handed him a book, a grimoire. "This spell book contains the art of magic, but to access it you will need to tap into the core of magic, the Mist. Controlling the Mist requires a flexible will and a desire to see that will to reality. Can you do that? You will perish that much is clear to me, if you do not find safety before midnight.'"
The boy, gripping the book with strength of a mighty giant, stood tall as he could. "How do I start, Lady Hera?"
She actually laughed. "You saw through my disguise?"
"I read the Story of Jason, and how dumb he was betraying Medea. I wanted to be Medea, sans killing kids. Her power, her grace, her strength. Praying to you because of that myth... and then someone appears with tools of magic and warmth? I am not dumb, I am young. Maybe the cold is making me hallucinate, I don't care. My last breathe will be born in spite to survive despite this cold."
Brushing the hair from his head, she offered him her warmest smile. "Good... now... focus on your will, on bending the world to it. You now know of the Mist, so move it, warp it, and prove you are worth the warmth needed to survive."
To her complete and utter shock, the boy, in one motion, flicked his fingers at the bricks not far from the pillars of salt and actually managed to change them entirely. The magic born of his intense will and her Naturally magic drawing presence, shifted the air around the bricks turning them in a pair of shoes... or rather the image of shoes.
The boy stumbled back with wide eyes. "I did it... I did it!"
Hera laughed, a soft comfortable sort of laugh. "Yes, you did." The book in his hands creaked open, her spell broken. "Look at the survival section, there is a spell that will safely warm you up... but be swift and get to the shelter. After you eat, make sure to cast a ward around your book, to ensure you are not stolen from... and remember, i am always watching, my young champion. My young Aaron."
And so she vanished, returning to her other fraction, eager to share the knowledge that she now had her own mark in the mortal world...
Not that she would reveal that any time soon. Zeus would smite the boy any chance he got, the boy needed to be prepared before that...
And frankly, so did she...
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was a joy to write.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.