Mortal Gods

Sophia's eyes fluttered open. Immediately, the sun's rays shone into her eyes, making her have to squint. Once her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, she found herself sprawled out on the ground, her head on Dmitri's chest.

Blushing, she quickly got up. She didn't know why her face was red, she didn't like Dmitri in that way. She thought of him as just her best friend.

Besides, Apollo had kissed her the day before yesterday and also asked her to be his girlfriend. Obviously, she said yes since he was good looking and a nice guy. She also had a not so secret crush on the God.

She glanced at Dmitri's face, so calm and innocent when he slept. His face was usually stoic, not showing any emotion, making him hard to read.

Running her hand through her wavy blonde hair, she picked up her hair band that she dropped on the floor and tied her hair up into a bun. Then, she began to trek down the hill, humming to herself.

Once she reached the training and cabin grounds, she made her way to the dining pavilion. Taking a look at her watch, she realized she was an hour early for breakfast which meant no one else was up.

Shrugging, she decided to cook breakfast for everyone. Instead of heading to the dining pavilion, she made her way into the forest.

Rubbing the gem on her necklace, two katanas appeared in her hands. One was glowing gold and the other was glowing silver. The handles of her katanas had swirls engraved on them and her blades were made of celestial bronze, imperial gold, silver and normal metal that could slice through mortals if she wanted to.

Swiftly, she hoisted herself up a branch of a tree and nimbly jumped from tree to tree, looking out for animals.

Suddenly, she found herself looking at a group of cyclops. But they were different from the type of cyclops she usually encountered. Their skin was all black, with hints of red. Their one eye was totally black, sclera and iris included.

"What in Hades..." Sophia looked in shock and mild curiosity. Being a Daughter of Athena, she began to form many possibilities of how the Cyclops were totally black.

She then formed a battle strategy on how to kill all of the Cyclops by herself. She knew it was impossible to defeat the group of twelve Cyclops alone singlehandedly, but she has defeated the impossible.

She made no sound as she jumped down from the branch of the tree she was on and into a bush. Suddenly, the tallest and biggest Cyclops talked.

"My dear brothers, our King is rising. The beginning of a new age for us all will soon arrive. Darkness shall consume the Earth and we will take over. Thanks to our King, we are now stronger, faster, smarter and have new abilities. And I have a task for you all."

The other Cyclops leaned forward to their leader in anticipation and excitement. "To kill the demigod that is currently hiding in that bush!" He exclaimed, pointing to the bush Sophia was hiding in.

Silently cursing, the Cyclops whipped their heads to the direction their leader was pointing at and they all ran to the bush quicker than usual, true to their leader's words.

"Shit." Sophia muttered that single word before jumping out of her hiding spot and began to slash mercilessly at the Cyclops.

Ducking from a fist that was directed at her face, Sophia then swiped her gold katana, chopping off a Cyclops's head before throwing her other katana backwards, hitting a Cyclops directly in its eye.

Dashing to her katana that was stuck in the eye, she punched a Cyclops in a jaw, swinging her katana wildly and stabbing him in its chest.

Picking up her katana, she rammed the butt of her blade on two incoming Cyclops's forehead and stabbed both of them in their chest at the same time.

Blowing a strand of hair from her face, she turned around and triumphantly smirked at eleven dead Cyclops that were currently disintegrating and one that was strangely not dying.

Making her way to the last Cyclops, who was the leader, she pointed her katana's blade at his throat. "Why aren't you disintegrating?" She asked, a drizzle of blood oozing out of the wound on the Cyclops's new wound.

He hissed in pain but amusement and mischief danced in his eyes. "Patience young demigod. My King has given his leaders of each group an 'Achilles heel'. You'd never find it. The only reason I'm lying on this ground is because you wounded me quite badly." The leader laughed.

Sophia, being a Daughter of Athena, noticed the leader was cautiously touching the back of his neck. She gave him a smirk and whipped out her other blade, placing it at the spot he was touching.

"Your 'Achilles heel' isn't on the spot I'm currently placing my blade at now, right?" Sophia whispered deadly.

However, the Cyclops leader found it hard to answer since she sliced the back of the Cyclop's neck with her katana.

Yelling in pain, the leader gripped onto his Achilles heel so hard until his knuckles turned white. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS DEMIGOD! REMEMBER THE NAME ÁSPLACHNOS! See you in battle-" The leader, Ásplanchos, was cut off as a flicker of total darkness appeared around him before he disappeared.

Sophia simply stared at where Ásplanchos was standing in shock and curiosity. Millions of thoughts rushed through her brain but she pushed them aside. She would discuss this with the others later.

For now, she still had some animals to hunt for breakfast. Her stomach growled, signalling her to hurry up and kill an animal for some food to eat.

Smirking, she twirled her blades in her hands. "Time for some hunting..." She said to nobody as she jumped up, grabbing a tree branch and hoisting herself up.

She then began to jump from tree to tree, listening for the sounds of any animal.

✡MORTAL GODS✡

Dmitri jolted awake, sweat trickling down his forehead. Screams of terror echoed in his mind and he gripped his head, shushing the voices in his mind.

Groaning, his eyes adjusted to the sunlight and he immediately smelt cooking from the Dining Pavilion.

Stretching his limbs, he grabbed the pizza box that layed messily on the ground and made his way back down the Cabin and training area.

While trekking down the mountain, a million thoughts raced through his mind. Was he ready to go back to Camp? Would the demigods accept him? Would they mock him again?

But the most important question was, could and would he and Sophia survive the journey back?

He gulped, not because he feared for his life but rather he feared for Sophia's life. Pushing the thoughts aside, he realised he had already reached the training and cabin area.

Making his way to the Dining Pavilion, his gut told him something was simply wrong and it was coming from the forest.

Silently cursing, he threw the pizza box onto the floor and twirled his ring, his sword in his hand and ready to shed some blood.

Making no sound, he dashed across the training grounds to the forest, suspicions floating in his mind. The large and tall trees reached high above him, making it seem like they were touching the very sky.

Dmitri took in a deep breath, enjoying the nature around him but he heard rustling from a bush beside him. Crouching low, he slowly edged closer to the bush in a fighting stance and with his sword dangerously pointing towards the bush.

He peered through a little gap between two twigs of the bush and what he saw made him beyond surprised. Apollo stood there, his bow in his hand and his quiver filled with arrows.

Instead of his usual laid back and happy demeanor, he seemed angry, scared even. Thankful for his father's training, Dmitri could hear the conversation between Apollo and the iris message in front of the God.

"My King, the Gods are on high alert but being the fools they are, they haven't alarmed the Camps despite knowing the Prophecy Apollo gave them forty years ago..." Apollo smirked and Dmitri wondered why he was talking about himself in the third person.

The 'King' that Apollo was talking to, gave a evil and malicious laughter that strangely made everything around Dmitri turn darker.

"Good. Apollo, the God you have taken the form of, is still in my prison. He has no idea he's been captured and the little nightmare I gave him is working. He seems to think it's real, everything happening in the nightmare is real." The 'King' deep voice made Dmitri shiver as sounds of terror was heard in the background.

Dmitri, having the keen sense of hearing, heard a sound of a whip, some screams and whimpers in the background.

Frowning, Dmitri edged away from the bush with a newfound mystery in his head. Apollo wasn't really Apollo, if that made sense? It was simply someone who could change shape, took the form of Apollo and acted like the God so well until he manipulated everyone around him.

Also, who was this 'King'? Dmitri had no idea how he looked like due to 'Apollo' blocking his view of the man in the iris message.

A name came to Dmitri's mind but he shook it away. No, the thought of him made him weak in the bones. There was no way he could escape that hell hole... Could he?

Dmitri, making no sound, dashed away from 'Apollo' and the 'King' and back to the training grounds. "I have to tell Zeus, or one of the Gods..." He whispered to himself but stopped.

What proof did he have? They would simply tell him that Apollo probably wanted to prank him. Rubbing his forehead but still having his blank expression, Dmitri wanted nothing more than to scream in frustration.

Finally, he decided he would stay out of this once. He wasn't going to be the Gods's little slave, he was certainly not going to do the same thing his father did. The demons inside his mind took full control of him again and he came to the conclusion that he would keep this to himself, he didn't want to end up like his father.

Sighing, he ran his fingers through his dark brown hair and he made his way to the Dining Pavilion, not before twirling his ring and making his sword disappear.

Once he reached the Dining Pavilion, he heard joyous laughter but one laugh stood out from the rest and he knew it belonged to none other than Sophia.

Her laugh always stood out from the crowd. It was always clear and you could hear the happiness in her laughter and once you heard it, you would join her. She sounded like an Angel when she laughed and to Dmitri, it sounded like music to his ears.

Approaching the Dining Pavilion, he saw the Gods and Sophia seated around the long rectangular table which had plates of food. There was bacon, which Dmitri knew Sophia cooked and hunted, freshly baked bread and lettuce, courtesy of Demeter.

The Gods were all listening attentively to Sophia, who was telling a new story she wrote, and added a few comments here or there.

"Dmitri!" Sophia beamed, waving her hand and Dmitri felt like blushing but controlled him emotions. Nodding his head as a greeting, he plopped himself down next to Poseidon instead of his usual seat next to Zeus as the dramatic God was currently in a full make out session with Hera.

Poseidon pulled Dmitri into a headlock and messed up his dark brown hair, which Dmitri didn't mind. "Morning Dmitri!" Everyone around the table chorused. A faint smile appeared on the demigod's face before it was immediately wiped off in a blink of an eye.

"So, we have decided to give both of you no more training since the group of demigods will be arriving next week and we want to spend the remaining time with both of you that didn't involve training!" Zeus grinned as everyone else around the table besides him were giggling or laughing uncontrollably.

Zeus raised his eyebrow, his eyes darting around every face around the table. "Why are you all laughing? What's so funny?" The said God questioned.

The reason why everyone was laughing was due to the fact that the King of the Gods's lips were a nice shade of red, the lipstick colour that Hera was wearing.

Blushing, Hera placed her thumb on Zeus's cheek before wiping off all the lipstick on his mouth. Zeus's face was red in embarrassment and he immediately excused himself from the table while holding Hera's hand and dragging her to their cabin.

Very soon, mostly everyone left the table as they all had something else to do. The only ones left was Poseidon and Dmitri.

As Dmitri ate his sandwich, he peered up from his breakfast and saw sadness in Poseidon's eyes. Dmitri was concerned for the God as Poseidon was rarely sad. Dmitri's heart clenched, Poseidon was one of his favourite Gods and here he was on the verge of full out crying.

"Poseidon? Are you okay?" Dmitri asked in concern, one of the rare emotions he showed, and placed his sandwich back onto his plate.

Poseidon sighed before he started to ramble. "You know I treat you like you're my own Son, right? I'm afraid you may end up like the rest of the demigods who were sent for the Application, not even making it back to Camp Half-Blood and... Dying. I'm not sure if I would be able to handle your... Death if you die." Dmitri's eyes softened and he fidgeted nervously, not used to seeing a God crying.

"Don't worry Poseidon. I'll make it to Camp Half-Blood alive. Sophia too. Have faith in us, besides weren't the both of us the only two demigods to ever willingly volunteer for the Application? Also, she's a trained Ninja and I'm a trained Assassin." Dmitri gave a thin smile and Poseidon bit his lip, nodding his head.

Comfortable silence fell over the both of them for a moment before Poseidon suddenly cleared his throat. Reaching into the pocket of the khaki shorts he was wearing, Poseidon gave Dmitri a watch.

"Wear it and press the face of the watch!" Poseidon said in excitement as Dmitri wore the watch on his left wrist. He admired the watch. It was silver in colour, the face was military green while the hands of the watch was black.

Pressing the face of the watch, Dmitri's full Assassin's robe and gear appeared on him. Gasping in shock and surprise, Dmitri looked up from the watch to Poseidon.

"So that's where all my Assassin stuff went to?" Dmitri asked as Poseidon nodded his head. Dmitri's blank expression changed into a grateful one as he got up from his seat and pulled Poseidon into a hug.

"Thank you. This is amazing." Dmitri's short sentences filled Poseidon with happiness. Dmitri pulled away from Poseidon and ran out of the Dining Pavilion, not before waving 'goodbye' to Poseidon.

Running towards the direction of his cabin, or house, Dmitri climbed up the ladder and swung open his door. Shutting and locking the door behind him, Dmitri rushed up the stairs to his bedroom.

Flinging open his bedroom door, Dmitri plopped himself down onto the edge of his bed and grinned.

His black Assassin's robe was torn at the sleeve areas, showing off his muscular arms that were covered by his long sleeved dark grey shirt under his robe.

His robe was buttoned open, his tight v-neck dark grey shirt seen under his robe and he wore his usual black pants splattered with dried up blood over them.

Tightened around his black pants at his thighs were two gun holsters with his ancestors's guns in them but much better.

Expertly, he swiftly took his guns out of the holsters and twirled them, like how cowboys did in those Wild West movies. One of his gun was entirely black while the other was entirely white. Engraved in silver on the black gun was the word 'Darkness' and the white gun was the word 'Light'.

Around his waist was his dark grey belt. Four black bombs was strapped to it, two made of Greek fire and the other two like normal bombs.

The outer sides of his lower legs had pouches on both sides. Curiously, Dmitri reached into the left pouch and found a Lotus Casino credit card which he knew had an infinity amount of money in it with any currency.

Placing the card back into the pouch, he reached into his right pouch and an Olympus credit card, also known as Olympia, was in it.

"Holy shit..." Dmitri whispered to himself, his eyes wide in shock. He had heard of the Olympus credit card, it was like the Lotus Casino credit card but for drachmas instead of mortal money.

There were hidden Olympia ATMs around the world that only demigods and Gods could see as long as they placed the card against their chest.

Dmitri gingerly placed the card back into his right pouch and continued to check out his upgraded Assassin's robe and gear.

Strapped around his chest was his dagger holsters that held five daggers at the front. Each dagger was made of a different material. There was celestial bronze, imperial gold, silver, Stygian iron and mortal metal.

Dmitri's long sleeved shirt had his retractable daggers connected to his Stygian iron vambraces on both sides. His daggers's handles were gold with thin black lines on it and the blade was black but glowed silver in the dark.

Finally, the last weapon on him was his bow and arrows. Swiftly, he reached behind him and pulled out his bow from the straps behind his back. The bow was made of celestial bronze and its grip was black leather. The black string was extremely elastic, stretching up to half a metre.

Unstrapping the back holder behind him, he admired his dark grey worn out leather quiver and he took out one of his arrows. It was made out of Stygian iron, celestial bronze and mortal metal.

'There's an unlimited amount of arrows, bombs and bullets. Your daggers will return back to their respective sections magically. Also, I had Hecate help me enchant your gear so anything on you will not weight you down at all.' Poseidon's voice echoed around Dmitri's mind.

Dmitri silently thanked the God and pressed the face of his watch again. In a blink of an eye, all his Assassin's gear and cloak disappeared into thin air.

"Thank you Poseidon. This means a lot to me." Dmitri said and Poseidon's voice echoed in his mind. 'You're most welcome Dmitri.'

That said, Dmitri began to make his way out of his house to the training arena to test his new toys.

Notes