User blog:GamerNerd i/Dei et Viri - Book I: Graecum Est, Non Potest Legi (Part 2)

Aaaaaand here's another one! Only took half a year.

I'm now realizing that my original plan for this series is probably really unrealistic, so it might be changing. Either way, I need to set up exposition somehow, and since Trial By Fire's exposition took two posts, I think the next part will be where the good stuff starts. As for the plan... Well, if the next installment isn't (Part 3), the plan probably changed. Because quite frankly that plan was more ambitious than Caesar, and he got killed.

Pandora II
I follow Chiron to the Big House in silence. I’m sure that we both had things to ponder.

I definitely had a lot on my mind. Apparently, I’m the collective child of every single Greek, Norse, and Egyptian god in existence. There’s no way that’s possible. I don’t want to know what it would take to actually have that happen. And those characters who were the “perfect being”... Never turned out well for them. I don’t want to be that girl who releases a plague of unpleasantries into the world. It has enough to deal with already.

Chiron had to back into his wheelchair thing again to enter the Big House. As he did, I wondered how it felt to have about three-fourths of your body mass compressed into an area about one-third of its actual size.

Inside, he leads me to a room, where people are seated around a ping-pong table. I recognize a few faces: Nico, Percy, Leo, and Annabeth. The others are new. Chiron seats himself at one end of the table and instructs me to sit at the other.

I don’t want to talk about what was said at the meeting. It was basically a huge argument about what to do with me, and quite frankly I was so dazed that I don’t remember much of it. I do remember the end of the meeting, though. That was kind of important, although it might not seem like it right now.

“Well, I would suggest that we all get to bed,” Chiron recommended, after calming the room. “We’re not getting answers, just riled up. You may go.” The others get up to leave and Chiron turns to me. “As for you, Ms. Nadia, I suppose you may stay here in the Big House if you wish.”

“Actually,” I start, “I... I need a little time alone. Rachel told me that she has a cave somewhere. May I rest there instead?”

Chiron raises an eyebrow. “An unusual request, but I suppose it’s alright.” He beckons for me to follow as he wheels his way out of the house.

A Teacher’s Sorrows
Naturally, Chiron leaves his wheelchair behind as he leads me to Rachel’s cave. I’m briefly tempted to ask if I may examine it.

“It would appear that you may become quite a topic in this camp, Nadia,” He says as we walk. “The last time I saw the council that divided was during our battle against Gaea’s army.”

Like I said, I don’t remember much of the meeting, so I can’t really say how bad that divided was. But the name strikes me. “Gaea... Mother Earth?” I ask. “Gaea led an army? For what reason?”

Chiron shakes his head. “Mother Earth isn’t as kind as many would like to believe. She’s full of hate for the gods, bent on revenge for her children.” He pauses before correcting himself. “Well, was.”

“Was? You... Killed her?” I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. Killing a deity, much less Mother Earth herself?

“Me? No, no,” he laughs. “Even in my younger days, I could not have killed her. Leo Valdez did, although he died in the process.”

Things just kept getting more jumbled. “Leo... Died? But he’s...” I stop myself. “This is a long story short thing, isn’t it?”

“You can put it that way, I suppose. If you are here for long enough, you will no doubt hear the whole thing eventually. It’s quite a tale, worthy of my old pupils.”

I remembered that Chiron had trained all the ancient Greek heroes. Heracles (who would be renamed as Hercules when the Romans took over), Odysseus, Jason...

“Do you miss any of your former students?” It’s an odd question, but one that I’m sure he’s heard before. Most teachers hear something along those lines at least once. With Chiron’s age, he probably hears it at least once a decade.

“The legendary ones? Sometimes, yes. As for the rest...” Chiron shakes his head. “I’ve seen many of my students meet a variety of fates. Some have become legendary in their own right, without connecting their names to gods. Others have met with terrible ends. Still others are out there still, trying to live normally.”

I looked up at Chiron. The two of us must have created a stark contrast, walking side by side. Besides the obvious difference in biology, Chiron is essentially immortal. He has been gathering wisdom and experience for centuries. It would be difficult to find something that would surprise him. I’m a girl who fell from the sky and has no memory of herself. I don’t even know how old I am exactly. At this point, anything would surprise me. I still couldn’t believe what had happened today.

We walk through some woods and come near to what is basically a curtained alcove in a rock wall. Chiron pulls back the tattered purple curtain. The cave is rather well furnished, even if the couches and cushions looked like a dog had gotten into them. The only other seat is a tripod.

“I ask you to stay away from that stool,” Chiron says as I look around at the space. “It’s for when Rachel wishes to force a prophecy from the Oracle.”

I nod and run my hand over the whitewashed walls. Something had been here before, but it was covered up for some reason. The destroyed furniture and curtains didn’t seem right either. “What happened here?”

“Rachel had originally decorated these walls with paintings. She’s a rather artistic girl.” Chiron shakes his head. “Unfortunately, the Oracle went silent some time ago. When that happened, she covered up her drawings. Her frustration built until...” he gestures at the rest of the room. “Well, I don’t think I need to tell you.”

He too begins tracing barely visible lines. “We took your arrival as something great because it was the first time in months that Rachel heard the Oracle speak to her.”

Another way that I’m special, apparently. I really don’t like how all these things seem to be revolving around me. It feels... Unnatural, even though I rather enjoy having the spotlight. This spotlight In particular... I’m not sure how much I like it.

Chiron turns to leave. “I must go now. Rest well. I will notify the harpies of your presence here so that they won’t bother you during their curfew check.”

I gave him one last confused look. “You have harpies as curfew patrollers?”

Chiron laughs. “That is just one of their many duties.” He raises a hand in farewell. “Good night!”

I decide not to think about it. My mind had enough to review from today. I grab a nearby pillow and lay down on one of the tattered couches. Eventually, I nod off to sleep.

The Dream
I dreamt. That doesn’t feel right. Not that I would know anymore...

I found myself in the dark, shadowy place I had slipped into after losing hold of Mrs. O’Leary. The same being I’d met was there. I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was there.

“I’ve had a rough day,” I say flatly. “I’ve seen things that shouldn’t be seen by people like me. My mind needs to rest. Can’t you grant me that?”

The area ripples with laughter, like a mother laughing at a child. “People like you? There aren’t many people like you. And people like you see stranger things than this.”

I frown. “Look, if you’re just going to be cryptic, then just leave me alone. I don’t have any memories if you haven’t noticed. I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

Her position shifts. I can feel it. “Well, I apologize, but the rules of this world require me to be cryptic.” This world? “But decipher this verse, and you will surely find your purpose.”

My purpose? This must be a part of being “special.” I don’t think I like being special anymore. Regardless, I respond openly. “I’m listening.”

The being clears her throat, because beings without a physical form apparently have throats anyway.

Master performing, through and through, And words of power shall come to you The spectrum of feeling you must attune, Each blazing like the smith’s plume Replicate the heroes of this world Tracing every story that unfurled The ocean’s boy, the son of the sea The Titans, unable to leave man be The twins of magic, the gods within Preventing the rise of Chaos’ kin An ancient legacy, long held tight United, withstands the Giants’ might Long lost family, found anew Thwarted Ragnarok and Loki’s crew In the face of death you shall not cower, So long you remember that words have power.

I frown. A poem as my hint? Being cryptic is one thing. A poem is something else entirely. And a long poem, at that.

“Does it really have to be this complicated?” I ask. I really hope it doesn’t.

The voice chuckles. “Oh, my child, I knew you would ask that. I warned you.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

The words did seem very familiar. Neither was its style reminiscent of any authors I knew.

A vague suspicion embeds itself in my mind. The thought terrified me. “Wait... You don’t mean...”

The being giggles again. “I meant what I said. I said I warned you, and nothing more.”

I’m silent. That really hadn’t answered my question, but I suspected that I wouldn’t get another response.

“Is that it?” I ask. “Because I don’t want to wake up with dream fatigue.”

“One last thing,” she says. “You will find something in your pockets and a staff in the room when you wake. Keep them with you at all times.”

I don’t know what I’ll find in my pockets, but I guess the staff is a good thing. If something happens, I’ll have some kind of weapon.

The presence feels as if it’s smiling. A genuine one, too, although I’m not sure what she’s feeling. “Good luck, my child.”

“Thank you.... I guess.”

The being leaves, but my vision remains. I feel something under my feet as reality shifts. Something has changed behind me... I know it.

I turn around and come face to face with a boy. Behind him is a blinding light, intensified by the fact that I’ve been in complete darkness for the last few minutes.

We stare at each other for a few seconds.

“I know you.”

We stare at each other a little longer. We’d said it at the same time. That’s not something that just happens.

“I saw you in my original vision,” I say, “but that wouldn’t have been the first time I’d seen you, either.”

“I can say the same thing,” the boy responds. “In which case...”

We both knew what would happen that time. “Why can’t I remember your name?” We ask in unison.

We stare at each other a moment longer. I hear someone calling me. The boy also perks up tilting his head. I assume that he was hearing someone as well.

“Well, it looks like we’ll need to chat another time,” I say. “See you on the other side.”

Rude Awakening
I sit bolt upright on the couch. At least, I would have if I hadn’t been sitting upright already. I lurched forward and fell onto the stone, an inch away from someone’s sneakers. I really don’t want to keep having these visions it if always ends with me flat on the floor.

I look up at the person whose shoes I’d almost kissed. It’s Rachel. She’s giving me a skeptical look.

“I won’t ask why you decided to sleep here,” she says, helping me up. “I will ask why you were sitting asleep on the Oracle’s tripod.”

“I was?” I look behind me. She was right. I had been sitting on the tripod. “Oh... Oh god. But I was over there when I fell asleep!” I pointed to the couch where I had fallen asleep on the other end of the cave.

Rachel shrugs. “One more helping of weird for you, I guess. Speaking of helpings, breakfast started about ten minutes ago.” She hands me an orange T-shirt like what Percy was wearing yesterday. “Put on your camp shirt and head to the pavilion. Chiron will meet you there. I’ll tell him about... That.” She points to the tripod.

“Thanks,” I tell her as she turns to leave. “And... Sorry about sitting there.”

“I mean, you haven’t been vaporized, and the Oracle is still quiet, so it’s probably not a big deal. I’m not really the one you should be apologizing to. I’m just the host.”

I wondered how Rachel dealt with these revelations as a purely mortal girl. She wasn’t even born into this world, and now she holds a pretty high office as the Oracle. I’m even not sure how I’m even taking this whole thing.

I change into the shirt and notice something leaning against a wall. It’s a staff, as promised by my guardian. It looks odd, to say the least. The shape and texture appear wooden, with a twisted knot at the top, coming to a point like a wet paintbrush. The color is a faded lavender—the color of no natural wood that I knew. A bright, indigo gem is set caged in the head, reminiscent of an antique street lamp. As I grab it, I feel energy flow up my arm. The wooden stem is smooth to the touch, although not in the way that lacquered wood tends to be. It’s more like polished stone. The staff itself also feels warm, as if it were living. I swear that I can feel something pulsing. I’m not sure if it’s the gem or my own heartbeat.

I shrug it off as nothing and pull on the denim jacket that I’d fallen with. Somehow, it didn’t smell like the dumpster I’d landed in. Normally smells don’t go away that quickly, but I wasn’t arguing.

I hurry out of the cave and feel something jangling in the pockets of the jacket. Sure enough, the second part of the promise was fulfilled. I reach in and pull out a literal rainbow of rings. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, each emblazoned with a different, unusual symbol. The only color missing is indigo, but I had a vague suspicion that my staff filled in that slot.

“Really?” I ask the sky. “Jewelry?” No response. Not like I was expecting one.

My stomach growls in protest of the delays. I guess it’s breakfast time.

I get a lot of weird stares as I eat a bowl of Special K cereal with milk. It was probably the staff. Or maybe it was my choice of cereal. Special K isn’t exactly a teenager thing.

Chiron approaches me as I finish. He looks at my staff.

“I was about to comment that you had already visited the armory, but I don’t think we stock weapons like this,” Chiron says, picking it up.

I shake my head. “I wanted to talk to you about that. I found it by the bed this morning. Someone spoke to me about it in a dream.”

He raises an eyebrow in curiosity. “Dreaming already? My, you really must be something special.” He hands the staff to me. “I’d promised Sherman that he could test your combat prowess, but I think he can wait. Come with me.”

Poetic Prophecy
I really can’t stay away from the Big House, can I? I haven’t even been here for twenty-four hours and I’ve been back here three times already.

Rachel was already sitting in the living room. Apollo was also there, although he didn’t look happy about it.

“You sat on the Oracle’s seat after Chiron told you not to?” He demands as I walk in. “I gave that to Rachel, and Rachel alone.”

“Apollo, I already told you that Nadia said she didn’t do it on purpose,” Rachel says. “Shut up for once.”

Apollo glares at her, although he probably couldn’t do anything because of his predicament.

“Whatever,” he says finally. “Just tell us what happened, girl.”

I was tempted to smack him but figured that I shouldn’t just in case he returned to godhood sometime soon. I sat down and told them everything. Well, everything but the boy. That’s still a personal thing.

As I finish, everyone is deep in thought. Rachel breaks the silence with a laugh.

“I can’t blame you for asking why prophecies have to be so complex. That’s the hardest part about them.”

Apollo sputters. “I’ve told you, that’s the fun part about prophecies! Figuring them out!”

“Right,” Rachel says, her laughter slowing down, “And you’re going to insist that you still believe that after needing to decipher a few as a mortal.”

Apollo is silent. Wow, touched a nerve there.

“Anyway, I think we should bring in Percy and Annabeth at least. I have a feeling that they would see something in these verses.”

As if on cue, Annabeth walks in. “Chiron, the Council of Cloven Elders is looking for you.”

Chiron mutters something under his breath. “Thank you, Annabeth. I will go to them now.” He wheels himself to the door. “Also, would you mind staying here? I believe that these three which to consult you.”

Annabeth looks at us and nods to Chiron. She sits as Chiron goes out the door. “Rachel, Apollo, and... Nadia, right? And you have a staff now. This looks like a prophecy discussion.”

Rachel nods. “She’s has a dream already. Prophecy included.”

Annabeth looks at me and frowns. “This sounds bad. Tell me.”

I explain it to her while Apollo slaps his quiver, apparently trying to shut up his magic arrow.

When I’m done, Annabeth is as pale as her irises.

“I really hope I’m wrong,” she tells me, “because if I’m right, you’re in deep water.”

“How bad could it be?” I ask her. Too late, I realized how much karma I might have just given myself.

Annabeth frowns at me. She begins to write the poem down. “This is unusual for a prophecy. First, it’s asking for a lot—work that would usually span five or more prophecies, and that’s just going on what I know. Second, the task is stated directly, although it’s trying to be poetic about it.”

She points to the third couplet. “Replicate the heroes of this world / Retracing every story that unfurled. It’s asking you to copy everything that happened recently—relatively speaking.”

“Relatively?”

Annabeth points to the couplet immediately below. “‘Son of the sea’ and mentioning the Titans...”

Rachel catches on. “‘Son of the sea’ would obviously be Percy. The Titans would be referring to-” She too becomes pale. “You have to reenact the Titan War? That’s crazy! That whole thing spanned years!”

Annabeth nods grimly. “And that’s just the first task.” Her finger moves down a little more. “‘The twins of magic’... I think I know who that is. Percy and I met them once. They’re...” She seems to struggle with the words. “They’re Egyptian magicians.”

Apollo spits out the lemonade he was drinking, almost soaking the paper and Annabeth’s hand. “Who?” He demands. Annabeth glances at him. “I meant what I said, Apollo. You aren’t the only sun god.”

“Well, yes, I’m aware of that.” Apollo sputters unconvincingly. “We encountered each other when Alexander the Great invaded Egypt. But their agents still exist?”

Annabeth shrugs in response. “I guess. I mean, we’ve been around here just as long as they have.”

Apollo slowly takes another sip of lemonade and is silent. Dude doesn’t seem to be taking this news well.

Rachel looks over at the next verse. “An ancient legacy and the Giants. That would be Rome, I assume.” She looks more concerned than scared now. “The Giants... That happened all over the place. Here, on the west coast, in Greece, in...” She clasps her hands over her mouth. “Annabeth, that means she needs to go to-“

“I know,” Annabeth responds grimly. “Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves.” I wondered why they both looked so scared for me. I mean, obviously I have a lot to do, but these people know what it’s like. If it’s still bad enough to scare them, I’m not sure how I feel about this whole thing.

She points to the second to last couplet. “Oh, Apollo’s going to love this one.”

“Who’s next?” He mutters sarcastically. “Christians?”

“Long lost family—that’s my cousin. “He’s... He’s dead.”

“That sounds promising,” I start, “If all I have to do is commit- Actually, that joke is in poor taste, forget I said anything.” Friendly reminder: Joking about death is never a good idea, especially when someone above you is the butt of the joke.

I get skeptical looks from everyone, but thankfully no one presses. “As I was saying, he’s dead. But when he died, he became an einherji and-"

Apollo chokes on his lemonade rather than spitting it all out. “Your cousin is in the Norse afterlife?” He coughs, eyes wide.

Annabeth nods. “Apparently the gods have a thing for my family. Magnus is a son of Frey.”

Apollo scowls. “That summer god? I don’t like him. They gave him too much credit. His sword is also really irritating.” I wonder how a sword can be irritating, but I guess I’ll find out for myself eventually.

Rachel checks the rest of the poem. “I have no idea what these other things mean.” She passes the sheet to me. “Do those ring any bells?”

I look at the poem Annabeth had copied from my story. It seemed a lot longer on paper (and would probably be even longer in real life). Performing, a spectrum and words of power. I remembered the rings that had appeared in my pocket, and something clicked about the spectrum.

“There’s a faint chime that’s getting lost in the wind, so to speak,” I say as I reach for the rings. “I didn’t just get this staff, I found these rings in my jacket pocket.” I toss them onto the table like rolling dice. “That spectrum thing... A spectrum implies a rainbow. With the staff, I have a complete ROYGBIV.”

Rachel laughs as Annabeth picks up the pink one, which I guess is supposed to be violet. “Don’t show the Aphrodite campers these, Nadia. They’ll go nuts.”

Apollo picks up the green ring and examines its symbol. “Haven’t I seen this somewhere before? A human invented it about a century ago, I think. Curse my lack of immortal memories...”

“Apollo is right. These aren’t any ancient symbols I know, but I’ve seen them before,” Annabeth says, comparing the yellow and orange. “This material also... What is it?”

I shrugged. “It’s some kind of stone, I think,” holding the blue one in my hand, it radiates a certain power. If the others noticed it, they didn’t say anything. “I’m not sure, but it’s not from earth. It’s something more... Cosmic.”

Apollo snorted. “What, like moon rocks? You think my sister gave them to you?”

“No. I get the feeling that they’re from even further. Beyond even the solar system, possibly.” Everyone started giving me weird looks. “I don’t know, okay? This is coming from somewhere.”

Annabeth handed the rings back to me. “Anyway, I need to go back to Olympus. When the prophecy starts fulfilling itself, good luck. Something tells me you’ll need it.”

Apollo whines about mortals being able to go to Olympus while he couldn’t. Annabeth smirked as she left.

Rachel also stood. “Anyway, Chiron told me that Sherman wanted to see you? I’ll take you to the training grounds.”

We walked out of the Big House, leaving behind a grumpy Apollo. “Why the training grounds? Who is this Sherman anyway?”

“Sherman Yang’s a nice guy,” Rachel said. “I don’t know how much of it you’ll see, though, if I’m correct. He’s the head counselor of the Ares cabin.”

Beginner’s Luck
Sherman looked like the kind of guy who would fit into a high school football team. He was tall and muscular, for an Asian. He was good-looking but had a few noticeable scars. I guess Ares kids would be muscular and scarred, wouldn’t they? I don’t know, and I can’t even say that’s a stereotype since he’s really the first person I’ve seen who I know is a child of Ares.

He greeted us cordially. “Morning, Rachel. And you too... What was your name again?”

“Nadia.”

“Right, I remember now. Anyway, my name is Sherman Yang. You might remember me from last night, at our little council meeting. (I didn’t.) I’m the head of the Ares cabin here. Chiron told me I could test your fighting skills.” He glances at my staff. “I can see that you’ve got something there already, but I’m not sure if that’ll work out against monsters. If you want, you can take one of those.” He gestures to a number of buckets at the side of the arena, each filled with a different weapon.

“I think I’m good, but just in case...” I walk over to the buckets. It’s mostly swords, but there are a few other things too. I carefully rifle through the buckets and pull out a dagger. Why? I have no idea. Something just felt... Right, about it. “Okay, this’ll work. I hope.”

Sherman and Rachel both look at me skeptically. In all honesty, I really hoped I knew how to use these. My gut told me I did. My mind told me that I was overestimating myself.

“If you say so,” Sherman says. “Shall we begin?”

I had my butt handed to me the first few times.

I got up off the floor after being knocked down for the fourth time. Rachel had left to do whatever Oracle things she had to do. Sherman shook his head as I dusted myself off again.

“This doesn’t make any sense. If you’re really a demigod, you should have innate combat reflexes. As far as I can tell, you don’t.”

“I don’t even know what I am, okay?” I said. “Maybe I’m not a demigod. Maybe I don’t belong here. Whatever I am, I at least want to know what I’m capable of before you guys kick me out.”

Sherman rolled his eyes and beckoned for me to engage again. I charged at him one more time.

It started like the other ones had—me swinging somewhat wildly, with a vague method to my madness, while he defended and occasionally counter-attacked. Eventually, he began to engage me, attacking while I defended. It was usually during this part that I fell, making some fatal mistake and leaving myself open.

This time, something clicked. Word of power... That implies I should speak. But what?

I realized that I had stalled mid-attack and let my guard down again. Sherman was about to shoulder bash me.

I don’t know where my reaction came from, but I reacted.

I crossed my arms over my chest like an Egyptian sarcophagus. “L’aer’oprocni!” I shouted, not knowing what it meant. Whatever it was, Sherman’s shoulder didn’t connect, despite touching. He barreled right through me as if I were air. I turned around and regained physical form as Sherman tripped in surprise.

Technically neither of us yielded, but I ran over to help him up anyway. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve survived far worse, but thanks for asking,” he said as he stood up. “What did you just do there?”

“I... I don’t know. It just... Came to me.”

Sherman gives me a skeptical look. When am I not going to get one? “Well, alright. I guess that’s another thing about you.” He checks his watch. “I’ve gotta go now. I’ll let Chiron know if I see him. Feel free to stick around here, but you might want to visit the Hecate kids sometime. They might be able to tell you what you did.” He exits the arena, and I stand, staring at my staff.

What did I just do? I’d said something, then just lost physical form. What had I even said? I couldn’t even remember.

I stayed in the training ground and contemplated for a long time, practicing on the dummies. If I couldn’t pull that trick at will, I’d need to learn to use the staff and the dagger.

I don’t think I noticed at the time, but every move I made was already deeply ingrained in my muscle memory.