Summary:
Veko travels over the Atlantic and meets the first Greek.
I want to thank my brother, who proofread the whole thing 3
Notes:
Thoughts
"English"
Ukrainian/українська
Polish
Chapter 5: The first encounter
The ship slowly pulled away from the pier, and the salty spray of the ocean kissed Veko's face as he stood at the railing, feeling its gentle caress. The wind picked up, whipping his long, black hair into a frenzy around his face. He could see gulls circling above, their cries piercing the air as they searched for scraps of food. The horizon was dotted with other vessels, some large and imposing like their own, others smaller and more delicate.
"You better keep that falcon under control, I don't want his shit all over the place", muttered a man in Polish as he passed Veko. Atesh huffed at being called a falcon, and Veko took a moment to realize that the Veil would portray Atesh as another bird to the mortals, not as a phoenix.
Veko felt Atesh's talons digging into his shoulder lightly, alerting him to the fact that he was getting impatient to explore this ship they would be calling home for around 20 days.
After the coast was no longer visible, Veko turned around and entered the belly of the cruise ship. Inside, it was chaotic - people rushing back and forth, luggage being tossed about by crew members, and smells that assaulted his senses: sweat mixed with seaweed and saltwater mixed with something metallic that he couldn't quite place yet. He followed a group of passengers who looked similarly lost as he did until they reached a staircase leading below deck. A sign pointed towards 'passenger cabins'.
Looking at his ticket, Veko followed the signs until he reached his cabin, with the number 984.
Entering it, he found that he couldn't complain about it.
A soft hum of activity echoed through the ship as it started to pick up speed, the engines throbbing underneath their feet. Veko's cabin wasn't huge, but he found it to be adequate for his needs during the voyage.
The faint smell of disinfectant lingered in the air, masking any musty odors that might have lingered from previous passengers. As he stepped inside his quarters, closing the door behind him, he was hit with a cool blast from an air-conditioning-unit.
The room felt cold compared to the sweltering heat outside; goosebumps rose on Veko's skin as he shrugged off his backpack and sat it on the desk. He glanced around, taking in the space - it was cozy yet confining at the same time.
There was a wooden wardrobe next to the door for storing clothes, a dresser with drawers for personal items, and a nightstand with a tiny lamp. In an adjacent room was a large, comfy bed with fluffy blue pillows and blankets. Mounted on the wall was a large TV.
He took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief; this would do just fine for now. A window gave him a view of the outside, enabling him to see the coast of polish moved further and further away.
His eyes fell upon an envelope taped to the dresser drawer handle which read 'Welcome Aboard!', containing information about dining times and rules aboard the ship.
Not that he ever cared about rules.
They were more like 'guidelines' to him.
Veko jumped onto the bed and started looking through the Library of the TV, wanting to know what movies or shows he could watch.
He was not disappointed with the selection. Star Wars Episodes 1-6, Star Wars the Clone Wars seasons 1-3, Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3, Dune, Star Trek, Clone Wars from 2003, the Dune 2000 miniseries, the Harry Potter films, Phineas and Ferb seasons 1 & 2, and so much more to watch.
While Veko was intrigued by all the movie options, surprisingly, he did a reasonable thing, and took out his book on Greek mythology.
"Gotta fresh up my knowledge, where was I, ah yes, page 394…"
And so, for several hours, Veko allowed himself to become fully immersed in the pages of the book. He eagerly devoured tales of gods and goddesses (damn, Hera sounded like a real Bitch), heroic deeds, monsters, and pivotal events like the battle of troy. Despite his enthusiasm, he knew that no amount of theoretical knowledge could truly prepare him for the brutal realities of a demigod's life.
As Veko engrossed himself in his studies, Atesh took advantage of the open window and soared outside, circling gracefully around the ship. At least, Veko was fairly certain his fire-breathing companion was doing so.
The distant sounds of waves crashing against the ship's hull provided a soothing backdrop to Veko's reading, transporting him into another world entirely.
Hours later, just as Veko had read about Calypso (he liked her version form Pirates of the Caribbean more), a voice sounded outside his room. "Room Service! Your ordered food is here".
Veko, who had just perked up, food sounded really nice. He hopped from his bed and made his way towards the door; he was looking forward to finally devour his…
… His what exactly?
Why couldn't he remember what he had ordered?
And why was the voice in Ukrainian, and not in Polish or English?
Why would a random member from the staff talk to him in Ukrainian?
The person wouldn't know he spoke it...
Unless…
It was a stalker…
And then it clicked.
Or a monster.
It was a trap.
Veko became tense and focused, he was halfway across the room already, the potential killer outside his door had surely heard him, and knew he was in the room, so standing still and to pretend not being here wouldn't work anymore.
Fuck.
Veko's adrenaline surged as he grabbed his weapons. His dagger, Zertvu (Sacrifice), in his right hand and Zastupnik (Protector), his sword, in his left. He crept towards the door, positioning the sword defensively over his stomach with his right hand poised to strike. Slowly, he reached out with his left hand and carefully turned the doorknob, ready to face whatever danger lurked on the other side.
With a creak, the door swung open, revealing an abomination. It had a humanoid body, frog-like head, its strong hands ended in three sharp claws. Veko couldn't even tell if the thing was male or female, only that it was a demon that haunted all kinds of water bodies. Its appearance alone made him want to vomit.
Not wasting a moment, Veko stabbed forward with his dagger, but the Vodnik was surprisingly fast and thus able to dodge the dagger, and burst forward into the room, as Veko backed off into the room to get into a better a fighting position. Veko now had a clear view of the frog-human-hybrid. It was half a head taller than him, and broader than he was. In its hand it held a silver platter, which wasn't a frightful weapon, but Veko was well aware that Vodniks are easily able to rip a human apart.
"Your body will be tasty, son of Veles", it grumbled in a greedy voice, now entirely different from the voice who claimed that his food was here. Veko choose to not respond to that, as his focus was on surviving the encounter.
Veko decided to take the initiative, and with considerable speed, launched himself at the more exposed left flank of the monster, which responded by swinging its muscular arm at Veko.
Dropping down to the floor, Veko was able to dodge the swipe. He quickly got up again and swung his sword, managing to swipe over the Vodniks chest, who roared in anger and pain and stumbled back against the wall. A black mucus, the living essence of all Slavic monsters, started flowing out of the wound, staining the ground.
"You will pay for this, boy! DIE!"
The Vodnik, now VERY furious, charged at Veko again, determined to tear him to pieces this time.
However, it was not thinking clearly anymore due to the pain caused by Zastupnik. With his eyes narrowed, Veko rolled out of the way, letting the massive Human-Frog-hybrid hit the wall, which caused the room to shake so hard that Veko lost his balance and fell over again, but not before launching Zertvu with considerable speed at the backside of the still dazed and pained monsters' head.
The dagger embedded itself up to the hilt in the beasts' skull, causing it to let out a piercing scream that caused Veko's ears to ache.
The monster turned fully into black the black mucus, which slowly vanished into thin air. Leaving Zertvu on the ground, thankfully clean from the mucus.
As the dust settled and the echoes of the ambush faded, Veko picked up Zertvu, and sheathed his weapons. He was filled with a surge of adrenaline and an overwhelming sense of fury towards himself. He had survived, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he could have done better. He should have been quicker, more precise in his movements. He should have killed the Vodnik while it was still vulnerable in the hall! The taste of burning anger and disappointment lingered on his tongue, fueling his determination to improve, and to become a more formidable in the future.
Shit, he needed some food (and Alcohol).
Like, right now.
Hopefully he could slaughter some more monsters on the way to the dining room.
Meanwhile, on Olympus…
Hebe, the goddess of youth, vitality and forgiveness was, by all accounts, someone who wasn't noticed by a lot of gods. She was a daughter of Zeus and Hera, like her brother Ares, but she wasn't an Olympian herself.
Unlike her muscle-minded-tank-brain of a brother, she didn't really care about power, influence or glory brought to her by her demigod children. Instead, she liked to focus on her duties, such as spreading forgiveness and youth among mortals and non-mortals alike.
At times though, she was tasked to keep an eye on the border regions of the Greco-Roman pantheon, watch for transgressors from other pantheons, and if necessary, confront or eliminate them. This was an occurrence that happened sometimes, but it was nothing to worry about, as it was quite common that the borders of different pantheons weren't clearly defined or marked. Thus, it could happen that demigods from other pantheons would occasionally go on Greek territory, but leave soon after.
Though, when Hebe noticed someone who entered the Greek Territories in the Atlantic and was on a way straight to America for several days without Poseidon doing anything about it, she started to get suspicious about it. Either this person was flying and invited by Zeus (which was unlikely) or traveling by ship and was invited by Poseidon to Atlantis, which sounded more plausible to her.
And since she hadn't anything to do at the moment, she decided to investigate this anomaly by herself, and so she flashed herself to the location.
A moment later, a brown haired, purple-eyed woman of around 20 years appeared on the back half of a large cruise ship.
So, the boat theory seemed to be correct. Hebe reached out with her senses and found finally found the demigod's presence on the top of the ship.
Hebe climbed up a winding staircase, following the steady beat of laughter and chatter. Families lounged in the hallways and eating rooms, teenagers flocked to various activities offered by the ship. At last, she emerged onto the top deck, where a bustling pool welcomed her with open arms. The water shimmered invitingly under the bright sun, surrounded by a sea of beach chairs - each one taken by a passenger.
Hebe's eyes roamed over the scene before her, taking in the playful splashing from a group of teenagers, parents bonding with their children, and a mischievous infant boy relieving himself into the pool.
Hebe then started scanning the beach chairs, the intruder had to be here! She saw nothing unusual until…
…there !
On the far end at the row of chairs, close to a door that led into the ships belly, she saw it!
Or rather, she saw him.
Lounging comfortably on a chair, on leg draped over the other, lay a handsome boy, around 14, or 15 years old, with shoulder-length black hair, clad only in green swimming trunks. He was topless, and Hebe certainly enjoyed this view, as his trained, slightly tanned six-pack was on full display for her. His eyes were closed, however it seemed he wasn't sleeping, but rather concentrating on something.
Determined and intrigued to hear his reasons for being in Greek territory, Hebe made her way over to him. But after she had walked only 5 meters, his eyes suddenly snapped open, revealing them to be an almost glowing, light green. His eyes found hers, and he narrowed them a little bit in suspicion, but she could feel that he was curious too. Not breaking eye-contact with the boy, Hebe moved further towards him. She noticed that he seemed ready to bolt at any second, and one of his hands found its way into a backpack that stood next to him, no doubt grasping a weapon.
As Hebe now stood before him, there was a moment were the two just stared at each other, sizing each other up like predators before a strike.
Deciding to get this over with, Hebe spoke first, her arms folded over her chest.
„You better have a good explanation why you are still in Greek territory, foreigner. You should be gone if you know what's good for you. That is advice".
Her voice came out harsher than she thought.
His eyes widened before he muttered something in a language she didn't understand. She suspected he cussed at something. Or at her.
„Wait, you speak English?". His voice had an accent which sounded Eastern European, giving Hebe a suspicion what pantheon he came from.
That threw her a bit of balance, „Well, of course I do, why shouldn't I?",
The boy groaned audibly, „Усі ці години вивчення грецької мови дарма!" (1)
Hebe raised her eyebrows at the foreign language.
„You better weren't insulting me, boy!"
He raised his hands in surrender „Oh, no, no, no. I only complained that I spent hours and hours learning Greek, only to find out it was all for nothing! And besides, If I wanted to Insult you, I wouldn't hide behind a language barrier, I would have the balls to say it straight to your face". Hebe raised an intrigued eyebrow.
"This is not a… wise attitude when conversing with our gods". she warned him. „Be grateful that I will believe you, others wouldn't have hesitated to smite you".
But the fact that he had learned at least some Greek, meant that he would probably expect to stay for an extended period of time, wondering if Poseidon knew about this.
"All right, thanks for telling me".
"However, you still haven't given me an explanation as to why you are in our territory. Either you turn around and go back home, or you start explaining.", Hebe got back on track.
The boy reached into his backpack again, and, to Hebe's surprise, pulled out a letter made out of seaweed paper. Something she knew Poseidon used. He handed it to her, and she took it cautiously.
„I think you will find all the necessary information you need here".
The letter stated the boy's name, Vjekoslav Anatoly Volodymyr Fedychenko, a Slavic Demigod, and Son of the water god Veles. And Poseidon invited him to Greek Territory, for some reason.
This Itself wasn't that strange, it was widely known across Olympus that Poseidon had a good relationship with Veles, and with the water gods of multiple Pantheons. It was one of the things where Poseidon was significantly more skilled and more intelligent than Hades and Zeus, whose list of Allies or friendly relations could be counted on one hand.
„I will have to take this up to the Olympian council and-", she decided.
„Oh, I'm getting a Trip to Olympis right away? That sounds so cool, I didn't know I was THIS important, can I also go to Atlantis?", Vjekoslav interrupted her, bouncing in his seat.
Hebe chuckled softly at his excitement and shook her head. „No, Vjekoslav, you will not, the gods on OLYMPUS, not Olympis, will discuss if you should be allowed to stay, or be sent back home".
„Oh, okay, that sounds kind of nice, and please call me Veko …?". His face had an asking expression, and Hebe remembered that she hadn't even introduced herself to him.
"Forgive me my rudeness, I am Hebe, goddess of youth, vitality and forgiveness". she announced with a proud voice. She anticipated some question about if she could make people younger when Veko opened his mouth.
"Can you make girls grow a dick? Or could you cause me to have boobs and a pussy?" Veko asked in an interested, yet also innocent sounding voice.
Hebe was quite stunned by his inquiry.
"I, … pardon me?" What kind of question is that?! She had expected, well, certainly not this…
"Well,", began Veko, while rubbing the back of his neck. "You are the goddess of vitality, and doesn't that include being able to change the vitality of others?"
"No. You confuse Vitality with Physicality, which is more the domain of Aphrodite. Vitality could be seen as a life force, meaning I could drain the life out of living things. A painful process you certainly wouldn't want to experience."
"Oh, wow, that's, cool, I guess. When will you let me know if I can stay here or not?"
"Your journey will continue if you are allowed to stay. If not, you will be informed and probably asked to turn around".
Hebe took Veko's Entry Permission and made 15 copies of it, handing him back the original.
"Everything with your Permit seems to be in order, but this will have to be discussed. Farewell for now, Vjekoslav Fedychenko. You better divert your gaze".
"Okay, bye Hebe, it was nice talking to you!".
Veko then instantly looked away, as Hebe flashed out.
Picking up his stuff from the pool, Veko made his way back to his cabin.
Back on Olympus…
As Hebe was back on Olympus, the goddess made her way towards the Throne room, where she would ask her Aunt Hestia to call for a meeting, including Hades.
As she stepped into the opulent throne room, she found Hestia, in her eight-year-old form, sitting in front of the hearth, reading an ancient scripture about something.
"Hello Hebe, my dear, what is troubling you?". Hestia's soft voice carried a calming and soft tone.
"Please call for a meeting, Aunt Hestia, all Olympians including yourself and Hades. It is most Important that you are all here!"
Hestia raised her brown eyebrows but was intrigued. Hebe had never asked for a full meeting of 14 before. And considering that she was fairly a responsible goddess, it had to be important.
"If you say so, I will. Just a moment my dear".
Hestia then proceeded to conjure a fireball that she launched into the air, where it burst into 13 different shards, each flying to a different god.
3 minutes later, all Olympian gods, were seated on their respective thrones, while Hades, Hestia and Hebe had conjured seats for themselves.
Hera looked at her older sister expectantly.
"So, Hestia, why did you request all of us for a meeting, I hope it is something important, and not some foolish attempt at amusement". she shot an accusing look at Hermes and Apollo, who looked just as curious as she did.
"It wasn't me wo requested this meeting, Hebe did."
All eyes turned to the goddess in Question.
"Take a look at this". she said, waving her hand, causing the copies of Vjekoslav's Entry Permit to fly into the Hand of each present god.
Zeus' left eye twitched, Hera's face took on a look of disgust, Hades scowled, while Poseidon was suddenly very interested in his tridents shaft.
Artemis looked murderous, Apollo, Hermes and Hephaestus intrigued, Demeter and Aphrodite raised their eyebrows, Hestia smiled softly, Dionysos looked like he was paying attention for once, and Athena and Ares seemed slightly irritated, but also thoughtful.
All eyes turned to Poseidon, who looked calm, yet worried.
"Poseidon", whispered Zeus, "Explain yourself. Immediately!".
"Well, you see, I had this meeting between all the European water deities last month, and we were, well, we were discussing things."
"Let me guess, you only discussed these 'important topics' for like 10 minutes, and it all ended in a huge drinking orgy where you all shared godly drinks with each other, and in the end, you created a huge super-mega-death cocktail by mixing everything together?" Apollo interrupted him.
"Brother, do us a favor, and shut-" Artemis started.
"Wait, how did you know that?" Poseidon asked surprised.
"You aren't the only one who has regular 'meetings' with gods of other pantheons. I know very well how these meetings work. Us deities of the sun have them as well. This is how solar eclipses happen, after all". Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"Okay, anyway, yes I got quite drunk, and I ended up talking with Veles, where It might have slipped that we had some, well, difficulties with father". The temperature dropped in the room. Kronos was a… difficult topic, to say the least.
"And I said something among the lines of: 'Yeah, we could use some help, you have someone to spare and send over, pal?'. And then Veles started that his only son was currently looking for a purpose, and so he agreed to send him over to aid our children. I gave him an entry permit aaaand, yes. That's the story. I was very drunk and used my contacts".
All gods looked at him with different expressions and emotions, ranging from disbelief, anger and calculation to amusement.
"Everything about this entry permit seems to be all right, no loopholes can be used to legally deny him entry. Only if he can be charged with serious allegations, such as starting an Inter-Pantheon war, the intent to commit terrorism, or espionage. These also need solid proof that the person is repeat offender", Athena concluded.
"Who cares about what's legal and not. We should kill this brat or-"!". Ares growled.
"That is not a wise move, brother", Athena chimed in.
"We do not know how their gods will respond. Especially if the Slavs know he has permission to be here. Killing him instantly, and without a good reason, would make it seem suspicious, and it would give them a justification for war. And as much as this pains me to say it, currently we are in no position to fight a war, especially if we have issues in our own pantheon".
A silence followed. Despite Zeus' denial about Kronos' return, all the gods suspected that the next years would probably be tough, especially since Luke Castellan had convinced numerous demigods to defect from the god's side.
They couldn't understand why a demigod would turn away from them.
"Well, I think we should allow him to stay at Camp-Half-Blood for a while and find out what kind of person he is. He could prove to be a highly valuable ally if we play our cards right". Said Demeter, surprising everyone present.
Artemis, who still looked furious, found her voice first. "So, you want to send this male, a probably dangerous and deranged filthy Slavic barbarian to Camp-Half-Blood, which confidentially is also the place where the demigods reside. Do I need to remind you how many greek demigods they murdered back then? But yes, that's a good idea for sure".
Demeter, however, wasn't about to let this slide.
"Don't you use that sarcastic tone with me, Artemis. Only because you were once foolish enough to lose all but eight of yo-
"There is also the possibility that he could be a spy for the enemy. Should we really go along with Demeter's proposition, we would have to keep a very, very close eye on him". Ares interrupted the two, his voice having a thoughtful tone. "However, he could be... useful to us".
"If we find proof that he is indeed a spy, then we will have a reasonable justification for least sending him back to wherever he came from, if not even executing him." Athena added. "Though I think executing him would work better if he also broke a number of laws and rules that were set by his own pantheon".
"This seems fairly reasonable", said Hermes, "But Hebe, tell us what he was like when you met this boy, Vjekoslav, in person. How did he seem to you, what impression did he have, could you filter something out of his mind?"
"It was, interesting, to say the least. He seemed friendly, but also always on edge, also very ambitious and curious. There was also a sense of deep grief and sadness inside of him. And he was also quite surprised to learn that I spoke English. If he is to be believed, he started learning Greek. Overall, he seemed relatively friendly. But I only talked to him for about five minutes. However, I couldn't read his mind, and I tried to do so". Hebe said from her seat next to Hestia.
"But either the minds of other pantheon's demigods are closed, or not available to read for gods of other pantheons, . And he confused my domain of vitality with physicality".
Several gods raised an eyebrow at that "Define confused, sister". Apollo said.
"He wanted to know if I was able to give male genitalia to women and vice versa".
Some gods snorted at that, while Artemis rolled her eyes and muttered a quiet "males". Hera's tongue made a clicking noise, as she muttered something about uncivilized, barbaric animals.
„I think", Athena spoke up, „That we should Allow him access on a Probationary period, lasting, let's say 4 months. Then we shall decide if he can stay or go back to where he came from. Like Demeter said, he could be a valuable asset that could teach our children some things that might help them to become more proficient in combat. And the perspective of an outsider on Camp-Half-Blood could maybe help to improve the place itself".
„Oh, just great, one more brat to watch." muttered Dionysus under his breath.
„I don't care. Just make sure he doesn't bring Morana, or one of her children into my underworld.", mumbled Hades. The humiliating defeat that he had once suffered at the Hands of the Slavic goddess was still in his mind.
Zeus stroked his beard, deep in thought. While he certainly despised the Slavic gods, especially Perun, he couldn't deny the logic of Athena and Demeter.
„We shall vote on it. All 14 of us. Hebe, you are dismissed."
Said goddess flashed out.
„Raise your hands if you agree with Athenas proposition".
Poseidon, Hestia, Apollo, Demeter, Athena, and Hermes Raised their Hands.
„Who is opposed?"
Hera, Artemis, and Hades did so, while Zeus, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Dionysus had abstained from the Voting.
„It is decided then. This Slavic demigod Is allowed on Greek territory for a probation time of 4 months. At the end of this time, we shall determine if he can stay further, or leave. Dionysus, inform Chiron of this development.", announced Zeus. „Meeting adjourned".
And the gods flashed out.
(1) All those hours of studying Greek for nothing!
Next up:
Chapter 6: Arrival