I dreamed about Jason. In my dream, Jason and I were having fun together. Doing the regular stuff, playing pranks on Octavian, eating brownies with a side of hot cocoa, killing a few monsters in our walk, simple everyday stuff. We were laughing and walking through the fields of Mars when a gigantic monster came tumbling down the road, scattering the demigods all over the place. Jason sized up his enemy, it was at least 3 meters, it’s body as long as a bus. It had a scorpion-like body, with charcoal black coloured outer-body shell, reflecting the harsh afternoon sunlight from it’s back. I called my metal greyhounds and about a second later they appeared beside me, growling at the monster that stood tall before us. Jason seemed amazed and the monster used it for it’s advantage. It swept its tail on the ground, Jason was still dazed and didn’t realise about what was happening before it was too late. The scorpion tripped Jason and once Jason was on the ground, it stabbed its tail on Jason’s chest. “Jason, NO!” I said. I woke from the warm touch of somebody’s body on my cold body. I heard the person say, “It’s okay, I’m here.” It was a young man’s, not an old one, so it couldn’t be the medic, the voice was gentle and soothing. I pulled away from the hug and looked at his face.
Suddenly, as if somebody opened up my head and took every single memory I had. I tried my best to grasp at least one memory. Then it was gone, I could only remember my name and that was it. I couldn’t remember my age and who this young man is. I observed his face more, hoping that I’ll somehow recognise him from my past. “Who are you?” I asked. He told me that his name is Jason, and that they have been friends way back, and that I should know him as I just yelled his name in my sleep. I tried my best to remember what happened in my dream, but just like my other memories, they were gone, taken away forcefully. I could feel that he and I somehow had a connection from our past, but I can’t even seem to recognise his face. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know you.” I say again. He looked hurt. I don’t know what I did wrong, the memory of me losing my memory itself is starting to disappear. I knew it would be only be a while until I fully forget my past, my life, my whole identity. The man that had introduced himself as “Jason” stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
I laid down on the bed, covering my face with the pillow, leaving only a little space so that I could still breathe. I try to memorise everything thats left of my memory. My name is Reyna, I am a demigod, I’m the daughter of the Roman goddess Bellona, I am currently living in New Rome. I kept on trying to remember until I had a minor headache. I took the pillow from my face and sucked in a deep breath. I put the pillow under my head and pulled up the covers. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. But I couldn’t sleep, there’s this nagging thing on the back of my mind, wanting me to remember it, but I can’t seem to do it. I was very frustrated with my memory loss. I tried my best to remember my dream. I tried to sleep with hope that maybe if I sleep, I would remember my previous dream. After an hour of looking at the cream coloured ceiling, my eyelids started to feel heavy. After a while, I fell asleep. In my dream, I saw nothing but darkness. The place was pitch black and cold. I can’t move a single muscle in my body. It felt like somebody drugged me and I woke up, but with full paralysation of my limbs. I can only watch, but I can’t physically react to it. I felt so vulnerable, so exposed to the elements around me.
While I was sitting in the darkness, a dim light shined from the ceiling, giving me barely any light to see what’s happening around my paralysed body. I saw another person on the other side of whatever-this-place-is-called. It was another girl, looks like she was the same age as myself. The odd thing is, her hair is exactly like mine, it was braided at the back and it fell on her left shoulder. She was also wearing a woman’s praetor uniform, complete with an Imperial Gold chest plate, exactly like the uniform I’m wearing. The girl walked around the place with her hand tracing the wall that surrounds this pitch black room. She slowly walked towards where I sat on the ground, motionless, paralysed, with no control whatsoever of my limbs. As she gets closer, I realise who I am staring at. Myself. I am looking at me, another Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano. The other me doesn’t seem to see me sitting here. I am confused beyond words. How could I see myself in the same room with myself? For a while, I forgot about my amnesiac mind. The other me stopped in her tracks and her hand traced the wall net to her. I heard a click and the dim light suddenly turned into a blinding white light. I wanted to lift up my arms to shield my eyes from the piercing light, but I remembered that I was paralysed because I can’t do anything but close my eyes. Which didn’t do anything much to keep my eyes from seeing splotches of yellow dots to wherever I look.
Eventually the light dulled to a soft light, and my eyes started to adapt to the light. I saw the other me walk around the room and stared in confusion to the middle of the room. I did a sideway glance since my body’s paralysed from head to toe and saw a table with a chair. The chair was covered in jewels, rubies, diamonds, sapphires are embedded in the armrests and purple velvet covered the whole chair. The same decor was given to the table in front of it. I can only see half of the table because I can only tilt my head so very little.
I tried wiggling my toes and it seemed to work. Whatever they did to make me paralysed must have been starting to wear off. Now I can tilt my neck sideways and move my arms and legs. But I still feel like somebody was holding back my body, so I still can’t stand up. I craned my neck sideways and sawmy doppelgänger, the other me, approaching the table with caution. She suddenly stopped in her tracks and the look of absolute horror were shown in her face. Then I saw the thing that made her terrified
The she-demon was a towering height, thrice my own height. Its talons were as sharp as newly-sharpened knifes. Its fangs and neck furs were soaked in blood. The creature kind of looked like a vulture, a very scary and gigantic vulture. The other Reyna backed up and crashed to the wall behind her. The creature made a hissing and crackling sound from its throat that might be her laughter. It stalked to where she was standing and stopped with about a 2 meter distance. The monster was grinning widely but there was something sinister about the smile. It tilted its head and a voice said in my mind,
“So, if this isn’t the one and only Reyna Ramirez-Arellano.”

Its voice hissed inside my mind and my doppelgänger seemed to hear it too. But there was something odd about the way it talked. It’s throat visibly vibrates, but it’s beak stayed closed, so if I didn’t hear the voice in my mind I wouldn’t know that it was talking.

“There has been a lot of… rumours, about you and your.. colleague, Jason Grace.”

“Rumours? What kind of rumours?”

She asked suspiciously, her eyes narrowing. She gave the vulture-ish creature her — or my, since we’re practically the same person — best death glare, which is scary, because we had a lot of practices.

“Rumours about how you two are inseparable, how when fighting together, you’re invincible. Fighting apart, still strong, but still beatable.”

“That’s not really a big secret, you know. We’re fellow praetors and Jason has been accompanying me since I first arrived in Camp Jupiter, even before I arrived in Camp Jupiter.”

I wanted to ask them about who this Jason is. I wanted to know why he claimed that he knew me from the start. I wanted to know why I suddenly lost my memory.

“Ah.. Yes. The story before you arrived safely in Camp Jupiter as your sister join the Amazons and now is their queen. Let’s review the story, shall we?”

She waved her hand and my vision blurred,giving me a migraine as my eyes adjust to the sudden flash of light that leaves yellow and red spots to dance in my eyes.

“Remember this place, Reyna?”

“Th-this is Aeaea. Circe’s island.”

“That’s correct. It’s the place where the sorceress Circe stays and trains young maidens like you and Hylla to become sorceress like her if they are willing to learn. Also a place where they transform all men to become guinea pigs for pets.”

“Y-yeah, I know that. But what does this have to do with my past?”

It was really clear that she was lying and that this island, Aeaea, had something major to do with her past. But since I didn’t remember anything about my past and i don’t have any control on my body at all, I could only stand (or sit, whatever) and watch.

"Stop lying Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, you have lived for years in this island, living under Circe’s wing. Now let’s see the day when you met your other half, shall we?"“My chambers,” Circe addressed Hylla. “It needs cleaning. And only the maiden I trust most can come inside and clean it. If you can finish the task by sundown,” She smirked, as if knowing she couldn’t do it. “I’ll let you have whatever you want. But don’t let your sister come with you.” She said the last part sharply and dismissively, not letting Hylla nor Reyna to argue over it. They both nodded in synchrony and Circe sashayed and turned back, leaving the two to meet new guests.
“I’m going to get some more cleaning tools. Reyna, don’t do anything stupid.” Hylla said, smirking at the last part and at her little sister’s glare. Hylla ruffled her hair and she growled and muttered under her breath, “You’ll mess it up!”
She sighed and turned away, walking past the decorated door to Circe’s room. She gritted her teeth and balled her fist and I could sense that she was holding back her curiosity to open the unlocked door and explore what’s inside. The door was opened a little bit and a tiny shred of light was shining through the small crack, as if inviting her inside. She kept on walking but her footsteps got heavier and she finally stopped and her shoulders slumped then tensed up. She looked around and dashed inside, not closing the door properly, and little did she know that it almost cost her her life.
I followed her inside with the same curiosity that’s written all over her face. I walked in and the first thing that came into mind was that the room was way bigger than it looks like, and the room already looks gigantic from the outside. Now I understood why Circe smirked and thought that Hylla, if alone, would never be able to finish the daunting task by sundown. The sun was high up in the sky and I’d predict that sundown would be in about nine hours. Would she be able to do it?
‘Get out of this place, right now! This isn’t for you!’ A voice echoed in my head, and apparently my younger friend ahead of me heard it too because she paled and stopped in her tracks. But she saw something at the other end of the room that made her keep on walking towards the object. I could see it, a small ring. The ring was silver and gold and had two mini spears clashing together, one made out of silver, and the other made of gold. The ring itself was twisted between the silver and gold so it made some sort of twisted braid of silver and golden thread and it shone in the sunlight, taking hold of young Reyna’s attention.
We walked closer to the ring and it was placed on a windowsill, shining brightly and reflecting off the warm and bright sunlight. She took it and as she was about to put it on, the door creaked loudly and footsteps were heard. Pure terror and fear was portrayed on her face and she stopped doing anything and stuffed the ring into her little pocket. “Reyna, is that you?” A sweet voice asked, but the sound was muffled from the extremely loud heartbeat that’s audible in her ears. She turned around and the tenseness on her face and movements dropped and she sighed deeply in relief. “Hylla. Gods, I thought you were Circe.” She said, smiling wildly. Hylla came closer hastily, without the grace she usually carries herself with. “What are you doing here?!” She asked with a harsh whisper. “It was a good thing that I was here first instead of Circe herself or you’ll be exiled, thrown off in the middle of the ocean. Reyna what were you even thinking?!” Her tone was angry and harsh, yet her touches as she touches her little sister’s cheeks and caresses her hair shows signs of affection and her eyes shone with worry. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.” She said, guiding Reyna briskly towards the door both Reyna and herself entered from.
They walked out and Hylla crouched and looked at her sister’s deep chocolate brown eyes and said, “Don’t get inside the chambers if it isn’t Circe herself that tells you to, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.” The sisters hugged and Reyna nodded. As Hylla starts to leave, Reyna saw that they were standing near a cage and she asked, “Hylla, what are those?” Hylla turned away and looked at the direction she’s pointing towards to. “Those are the men that visited this island. Circe turned them into guinea pigs.” And with that she turned away and disappeared into the room.
For myself, a girl who doesn’t remember anything about her past, this was too overwhelming. I found out that I had a sister, I used to be trapped in the island Aeaea, forced to follow Circe’s commands for my entire life or risk the punishment of banishment, which basically means death since you’re dumped in the middle of nowhere with no supplies and in the middle of the ocean, nowhere near an island and with no one to help them. Tears well up in my eyes, this is all too much, too overwhelming, too hard to take in just a few minutes. I blinked back the tears and forced myself to be strong.
The younger me and myself and the other me with the vulture creature was following the young Reyna from behind. The only difference with me and her was that I look confused and she had a wistful smile on her face. We all walked outside and walked along the beachside, taking off our sandals to walk on the splashing water. The younger girl in front of me tripped on something as she was looking at the ocean and kept on walking. She fell and saw that she tripped on a boy’s arm. The boy had blond hair and a little scar on his upper right lip.
Just like the man from before. I thought to myself. She looked around and pulled the boy to the forest, in fear that Circe would see him and turn him into a rodent. Although he’ll look cute as a rodent. A random thought popped into my mind. I told myself to shut up and followed the little girl into a bamboo forest nearby.
The forest wasn’t as thick and humid as it looked like. The air was cool, as if a magical breeze were blowing through the air. The trees are all thin and have smooth barks, with branches coming out from the stem, with the leaves that feels as sharp as a blade when hit hard enough on skin. It felt like we were all walking for ages but the past Reyna, the younger girl who’s carrying a boy in her arms kept on walking and kept her posture. After a while, I saw what she was walking towards to. It was a tree. But not an ordinary tree like all those trees that we passed as we walk, it was a gigantic one. The bark was rough and dark chocolate. The trunk’s diameter is so big that if all of us held hands and went around the tree, the two hands in each end wouldn’t touch.
There were yellow and green coloured swirls surrounding the tree, appearing at random places as if the tree was magical. I put my hand out and slowly touched the dark and I could feel the hum of the magic working in it’s system. The fruits looks magically delicious, bright red apples that looks juicy to the core. The leaves were a gradient colour of green, from a darker shade to a lighter shade, somehow reflecting silver once touched by the warm sunlight’s rays. I wouldn’t know how mortals would see it through the mist, probably a usual apple tree in the midst of these bamboos?
The ebony-haired girl lowered the little blond down to the ground and put both of her palms to the rough bark of the tree and started mentioning some kind of mantra and the tree shook and the bark opened up, as if there was a door and she somehow found a way to open it. Once again she took the boy in her arms and made his unconscious, but breathing, body into the hollow inside of the enchanted tree.
“Stay here.” She muttered. “As if you’re gonna walk around like this, unconsciously.” She put her arms out and chanted another kind of mantra in a different language… Was that latin? And the hole closed up, leaving a hollow interior with the unconscious blond boy with the unique scar on his upper lip, as if he tried to eat something sharp when he was younger. This is where your story starts, my darling, Reyna… This is where you meet him, the boy that haunts your dreams, the boy named Jason Grace…

Notes

Well, this chapter might be a little confusing.

Let me clear it up:

Reyna is having a dream where in the dream she sees another Reyna conversing with a monster which shows a flashback of her past, which means more Reyna. So there's 3 Reynas in this chapter.. yep, I know it's confusing.

AND I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR GOD KNOWS HOW LONG. OMF I FEEL SO BAD. BUT I MADE IT UP BY MAKING AN EXTRA LONG CHAPTER (?) !!!!!

Love you all who sticked with me even though I'm rarely updating!!
Eliza di Angelo, over and out.-