I sit at a rustic wooden workbench cluttered with Greek helmets sporting red and blue plumes. Scattered all around me are various swords, shields, pieces of leather and bronze armor, alongside double-bladed axes and massive battle-axes. The air is thick with dust, making my nose itch.
I am waiting for Gus, who said he would call someone to teach me, since I tried by myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a few helmets and swords that are completely dull, covered in micro-scratches and scuffs.
I close my eyes in boredom. I want so badly to train with my axe, but inside the cabin it is impossible—imagine if I accidentally cut some plant and my mother gets pissed.
I open my eyes when I feel footsteps and see Drew with her hair wet. Before she even arrives, I already smell her perfume; I scratch my nose as Drew looks straight ahead and observes me.
"Are you seriously not taking a shower?" she says, throwing a disgusted look my way.
"Seriously... take a shower just to earn another punishment?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
But Drew walks over to a chair and, pulling a perfume bottle out of her rhinestone-studded pink purse, begins spraying it into the air.
The scent becomes unbearable, making me sneeze.
"Why?" I ask, rubbing my nose.
"That's a bit better. You should take a shower, you stink," Drew replies with a smile.
"Caleb, you're just slacking off, but I totally get you. Seriously, who would want to polish armor? You know it ruins your nails," Drew says, looking at her pink-painted nails. Before I can even open my mouth, she continues excitedly:
"Ah, how cute! Were you waiting for me, sweetie? You're such a gentleman... but you should take a shower," she exclaims with so much enthusiasm it makes me scratch my eyebrow.
"You're crazy. Gus, the satyr guarding me, went to fetch some help, since I don't know how to clean this gear," I say, showing the helmet to Drew.
"It looks horrible. What did I expect from you?" she questions, giving me a mocking look.
"Seriously, you have a split personality. A few minutes ago, you were threatening me," I say seriously.
Drew just cracks a thin smile.
"I was sweaty and nervous. It's super normal to want to kill you. But I took a shower, did my makeup, and of course, I'm beautiful again, so I forgive you," she answers.
I just sigh. This crazy girl must have some serious problems.
"Seriously, you should look for a psychologist," I say.
But her reaction is not what I expect. Drew begins to laugh out loud and continues for a few minutes, until tears roll down her eyes. Only then does she stop.
"Don't... don't make jokes, you're going to ruin my makeup," she says, opening her purse and grabbing a mirror, along with several things I recognize as lipstick, a face powder that she applies to her face, and an eyelash pencil.
I stay in silence watching until she shoots a glance at me.
"You should look at yourself in the mirror. You know who needs a psychologist? You do, with that look so threatening."
Surprised, I raise an eyebrow.
"Really? I'm normal. What do you mean, threatening?" I ask, making her look deep into my eyes.
"If this is your normal..."
She turns the mirror toward me. I observe my reflection: I am the same, except my emerald-green eyes look intense, sharp, almost supernatural—like a predator in attack mode. I feel a shiver: my expression remains cold; the surprise does not show on my face.
Drew snaps the mirror shut, and I stay in silence.
"I think you're the first person I see who is always with that threatening look. Could you teach me?" she says with a smile.
Even though I am surprised, my expression does not change. It must be the mind... but it is not just that.
"Now I understand why my siblings are afraid," I say.
Drew was touching up her lipstick, but she stops when she hears me.
"I am afraid... imagine your younger siblings," she says, making me raise an eyebrow.
"I'm eleven years old," I reply with a smile.
Drew goes completely rigid.
"WHAT? YOU'RE ELEVEN YEARS OLD?!" she shouts, making me scratch my ear.
"Yes, no need to shout. And why the surprise? I thought everyone already knew," I say with a sideways smile.
"Don't smile like that! It's scarier!" Drew says.
"Okay, fine. I'm scary... how cool," I reply with sarcasm, leaving her to just sigh.
But my attention returns to the door. The old satyr walks toward us, and by his side comes an athletic teenager—not overly muscular, but with firm, toned arms and shoulders. She is olive-skinned, has dark-brown hair tied back in a ponytail, wears a red bandana on her forehead, the same orange t-shirt, thick and resistant jeans, brown leather boots with iron toes, and a thick leather apron that goes from her chest down to her knees.
"Well, child. Nyssa accepted my request to help you."
"So, could you really teach me how to clean?" I say calmly.
Nyssa nods with a smile and walks over to another cabinet at the back.
I walk over there. She opens the cabinet, and I see several cloths and cans. I help her carry everything to the table and wait.
"You apply a bit of this oil directly onto the bronze, then rub repeatedly to remove dust, fingerprints, and dirt," she explains. Drew lets out a groan of disgust. "Then you wipe off the excess with a clean cloth; once it shines, you move on to the next one. Good luck."
"Thank you, I really appreciate it. I think you're the first person who doesn't come around with bad intentions," I say, making her smile and get embarrassed.
Right after, Drew laughs.
"For sure, Nyssaaa... want to see his axe?" she says, putting on lipstick.
"Shut up, you idiot!" Nyssa exclaims, still blushing.
"Well, if you ever let me see it... by the way, I thought it was cool how you broke Dave's weapon," Nyssa says, turning around and leaving quickly.
"Your number one fan," Drew teases.
"Shut up, let's get to work," I reply.
"Brute!" Drew mutters.
"Seriously, who teaches how to clean armor smiling like that... weirdo," Drew complains.
I just stare at her.
"Let's get to work."
She sticks out her tongue.
I grab the cloth, apply the oil, and start rubbing the blade from the base to the tip, wiping away the dust and mud carefully so I don't cut myself. Then I clean it until it shines and set it aside. Drew grabs a helmet too and does the same.
Hours pass cleaning breastplates, greaves, helmets, axes, shields, and bows. I dust the wood, check if the bowstrings aren't damp, clean quivers, bronze tips, and even inside the leather pouches. I get so focused that I ignore Drew complaining about her fingers hurting. Campers walk in, leaving or taking gear; it's annoying, but I stay focused.
More swords, spears, and daggers... my fingers burn, with tiny cuts because of the slippery oil. I finish a shield right when the horn blows.
"Finally! I need a shower!" Drew says before leaving.
I see Gus and wave.
We head up for dinner. I arrive at the cabin.
"Well, your mission for today is over. After your shower, stay here," he says calmly.
"Okay, okay. I just want to shower and lie down," I reply, heading to the bathroom.
I shower, eat the dinner that a satyr brings, say thank you, set the tray aside, and lie down. I close my eyes, wanting to wake up early tomorrow.
I open my eyes feeling the refreshing air of the cabin. The plants move as if they are saying good morning to me. With a smile, I whisper:
"Good morning, my dears."
The flowers move, and I feel their intentions. I get up, grab my toothbrush and towel. Noticing everyone is still asleep, I walk in silence to the door and open it slowly.
As I step outside, I feel the chilly morning air and the silence. I see only a few campers. I walk to the bathroom. Once there, I brush my teeth, wash my face, wet my hair, dry myself with the towel, and head quickly back to the cabin.
Arriving, I see Katie sitting up.
"What time is it?" Katie asks in a sweet voice.
"I don't know, dear sister, but I'm going to clean the stable. Bye," I reply, leaving my things on top of the bed.
I head right back outside. As I leave the cabin, I hear Katie's voice.
"Be careful."
I just give a smile and walk to the stables. On the way, I see some dryads and naiads staring at me.
Arriving at the stables, I sigh at the sight of the beasts' mess. The pegasi are lying down, but it's not as bad as yesterday.
"Well... I need to clean," I say.
Some look at me and stay lying down, not moving. The white stallion stares at me as if saying:
"Get out, you idiot. We want to sleep."
I stand there, with a smile.
"WELL, I CAN'T FORCE THE PEGASI, SUCH GRACEFUL CREATURES, TO GET OUT!" I say loudly, moving to a corner, with the pegasi watching me.
"WELL, I WILL WAIT FOR THE PRECIOUS PEGASIS' WILL!" I say, looking at everyone with a smile. They stare at me like I'm an idiot.
Well, I step out of the area a bit, clench the seed, my axe forms in my hand, and I close my eyes, remembering the dream about the training.
I breathe the fresh air in through my mouth and let it out through my nose. I spread my feet apart. I bend my knees a lot and push my hips back and down, as if I am sitting on a very low, invisible chair.
I lean my torso just a bit forward. I stay still, trying to get used to it. Two minutes pass, and the muscles in my thighs start to burn. It feels like my legs are going to lock up at any moment.
I lose my balance for a few seconds and slam my face into the ground. I lie there listening to those damn pegasi laughing like humans. I get up, sighing. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice one of them stomping its hooves on the wood from whinnying so hard.
I sigh and repeat the same process, feeling the burn. I think of another way. To keep my balance, I dig my feet firmly into the ground and swing the axe to the right. However, my body gets pulled to the left. I end up spinning in circles and falling flat on my butt.
"What happened? I thought it would work..."
I sigh in anger and get up.
The minutes tick by. My legs shake, I lose my posture, and I fall face-first onto the ground several times, but I always get up. I get the idea to plant my feet firmly into the ground to keep my balance.
It works to keep me from falling, but it creates a new problem.
I get completely locked up. I can't spin, and when I try to loosen my feet, I lose my balance and fall again. The worst part is seeing those damn pegasi laughing as if they are watching a show.
I am out of breath, sitting down after falling on my butt once again. My legs burn, my butt hurts, and I am covered in dirt. Even so, nothing annoys me more than the whinnying of those pegasi, who seem to be crying from laughing so hard.
The stallion whinnies, leaves the stable, and takes flight. The others follow him, leaving me alone, with my body locked up and sore.
I look back when I feel footsteps and see Drew all dressed up. As soon as she looks me up and down, she starts laughing.
"Who would have thought... Caleb, the crazy guy, the psychopath, the axe-breaker, in this pathetic situation," she mocked, making an exaggerated performance with her hands.
"Stop with those ridiculous names," I reply, out of breath, walking over to clean the stable.
The task gets even harder because of my sore and locked-up body. Even so, with Drew's help—who surprises me by fetching water while I spread the hay and help with the cleaning—everything ends up working out.
Of course, having to endure her mockery and murmurs makes me think I need a therapist.
After a few hours in the stable, I return to the cabin, where Gus is already waiting for me with a tray containing my breakfast.
We greet each other.
I eat the apple, the strawberries, and the bread. The juice is also great.
I look at the bed thinking about resting, but I give up. Instead, I throw myself onto the floor and start a sequence of push-ups.
"What are you doing?" Gus asks.
"Just... training my body," I reply.
On the tenth repetition, my body still burns from the training in the stable, leaving me out of breath quickly, but I don't stop. I keep going until my arms beg for mercy, which happens on the fiftieth repetition.
I get up, already ready to do squats.
With just my body weight, I go down until my knees are at ninety degrees, keeping my posture straight.
While I do the exercises, I start counting. Looking outside, I see some campers walk by laughing at me, as if it is funny to see me in that situation.
When I reach the fortieth repetition, the burn becomes unbearable, making me grunt.
"Child, it's better to stop. You might destroy your body. I recommend resting," Gus says, looking at me with surprise.
"No, I'm fine," I reply, focused only on the sensation of pain.
Upon reaching the fiftieth repetition, I stop and lie down on the floor, starting to do a forearm plank.
I remain in the position for about thirty to forty seconds.
That almost makes me choke.
Holy shit...
My entire body starts to burn with an agonizing pain. I stay for as long as I can, but the shaking takes over my muscles, and right after, I fall face-first onto the ground.
"Is everything okay?" Gus asks.
"Yes... I'm just going to rest for a few seconds. Let me know when it's time to wash the dishes," I reply, out of breath.
"Interesting... I thought you were going to get up. You gave up way too easily," Gus says, making me cough.
"No. I'm just taking a strategic rest," I reply, embarrassed.
"If you say so," Gus answers.
I close my eyes, feeling the comfort of the dirt slowly recover my stamina.
A few minutes pass.
I get up looking at the ceiling. I raise my hand and a thick root comes down from it. I manipulate it until I turn it into a pull-up bar.
Without feeling any discomfort, I take a small jump, close my hand around the bar, and hang there for a few seconds.
I pull my body up.
But something is wrong.
Without understanding what it is, I keep doing the repetitions.
Time passes with me alternating the exercises while Gus just watches.
I do push-ups, squats, planks, rest a bit, and go back to the pull-up bar.
I repeat this cycle, doing fifty repetitions of each exercise.
I am sweaty, trying to control my breathing, and I am so soaked that it looks like someone threw a bucket of water on me.
I look toward the door and see a satyr carrying a tray with meats, bread, and a goblet. Gus doesn't say a word, he just observes me in silence, with curiosity, which makes me anxious.
"Thank you. May nature repay you," I thank the satyr.
"Thank you," he replies with a smile before leaving.
I start to eat slowly, feeling my strength return. The sensation of the exercise still remains in my body, but it leaves me excited. After eating, I rest as much as I can before washing the dishes. I don't want to melt my arms.
I lie down.
A few minutes pass in silence, until the horn blows.
I get up.
"Shall we?" I ask Gus.
He just waves his hand toward the outside.
Well... let's go.
I can't train alone, but I can find loopholes, just like I did today.
I give a smile before leaving the cabin.
Two weeks pass faster than I expected.
Between training and punishments, I wake up early to clean the stables. I try to repeat exactly the movements from the dream, but I can never move forward, as if I am doing something wrong.
The exercises, at least, yield results.
In the second week, I make progress on the pull-up bar.
I hold the bar with my palms facing forward, keeping them a bit wider than shoulder-width apart.
I pull my body up using my back and arms until my chin passes the bar, then I lower myself in a controlled manner. I imagine that I am pushing my elbows down, toward my pockets.
The movement improves a lot.
What used to be fifty repetitions changes to one hundred. Then, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty.
In the third week, my body goes through a real growth spurt, leaving my siblings surprised.
My hair grows, forcing me to tie it back in a ponytail. My skin gets more tanned, and my body feels lighter.
In the camp, nothing new happens.
I keep serving my punishments and training hidden in the cabin, but I still make no progress in the Eleusis discipline, which leaves me more and more anxious.
What helps me the most are the murmurs about me, which finally disappear, as if everything is in the past.
The campers go back to looking at me normally.
I think that, because I always keep to myself and am totally focused, they simply lost interest.
Luke, however, keeps observing me from afar. Through Seismic Sense, I notice his slow steps and his constant glances. I think he doesn't look very happy.
And, of course, Annabeth keeps looking like a fanatic, monitoring me and staring at me like a crazy girl.
But the biggest surprise is seeing some daughters of Aphrodite trying to hit on me, blowing kisses in the air or staring at my chest.
I ignore them all.
I've had enough of Drew annoying me.
In the fourth week, another change happens.
After waking up and looking in the bathroom mirror, I notice some emerald-green streaks that match my eyes perfectly, which are now looking sharper, shining like a polished gem.
After so much training routine, my muscles get defined.
Sometimes, I even touch them, admiring the result.
Aside from the people from my cabin, I only talk to Drew and Clarisse.
After Clarisse finishes her punishment in the kitchen, she starts to ignore me.
I don't start conversations either.
I don't even talk to Nyssa again, since I am totally focused on improving.
I have just left the kitchen.
Today it was just me and Drew, since the Ares cabin completed their entire punishment.
It is the beginning of November, and winter is already knocking at the door.
As I leave the kitchen, I observe the camp being slowly covered by snow.
I don't know if it is just me or if my siblings feel it too, but I perceive in the plants and in my own heart a mixture of anguish, pain, sadness, anger, and melancholy.
I stand still, thinking about my mother.
Her presence and her emotions seem to bleed through nature itself.
"Something wrong, Clebes?"
A voice wakes me up.
I turn my face and see Mr. D with his famous bottle of Coca-Cola.
Sometimes I wonder if he never gets tired of it.
"No. I am just worried. My mother seems to be angry... and sad," I reply calmly.
He clicks his tongue.
"You have changed quite a bit... but you will get used to it," Mr. D says.
I nod my head and start to head back to the cabin.
"Clebes, one second."
I hear his voice and stop, surprised.
"Go to the Big House and tell Chiron that you have my permission to participate in today's little game... of course, if Chiron agrees."
I stand there, surprised.
What game?
The one from every Friday?
Honestly, I never cared much, but I was always curious because of the shouts of joy... plus Lucas always seems to have fun.
"What is it? You don't want to?" he asks in a raspy voice.
"No... thank you, Mr. D," I reply, turning around.
"Damned brats..." I hear his voice grumbling.
I head toward the Big House, observing the surroundings.
Upon arriving, I pass by the blond boy with blue eyes who is on guard.
I enter and see Chiron sitting in his wheelchair, with a cup in his hands.
"Annabeth, there is no danger," I hear.
"Yes, look at how much Caleb has changed."
I take a heavy step forward, interrupting the conversation. Chiron raises an eyebrow with a smile.
"I thought you would listen in secret. A fine attitude, Mr. Thorne," Chiron says, sipping tea.
Annabeth glances over.
I flash a smile.
This old man...
"I don't like gossip. I don't care to listen. Annabeth is already more than enough with her monitoring," I reply, walking closer.
Annabeth looks up, flashing a cold smile.
"What did you do to be here? You must be in trouble," Annabeth asks.
"No. I just finished washing the dishes. When I was heading back, Mr. D told me to let you know, Chiron, if I can participate in today's game," I reply, leaving Annabeth and Chiron surprised.
"Really? Fine by me. But, of course, you must make a small change first," Chiron says, leaving me curious since it is so easy.
"No. Absolutely not," Annabeth interrupts.
"Why not?" I ask.
"It's true, Annabeth. Why not?" Chiron also questions, with a pleasant smile, taking another sip of what I believe is tea.
"Caleb is dangerous. He doesn't know how to hold back. He already proved that, and I feel like he is up to something," she answers.
"What a joke... honestly, I don't need your opinion. Mr. Chiron, what should I do?" I ask.
"Well, first: do not use your axe. Second: do not attack to kill or maim anyone. And, by the gods, no offending other cabins," Chiron answers.
"Okay. The armory doesn't have an axe like mine, so I'm going to use a sword. I think that's only fair. And no powers, after all, I don't want to accidentally break someone's leg," I reply.
Chiron smiles and gives me a calm look.
"You have changed in such a short time. Even your voice got a bit deeper," Chiron says.
"Puberty," I reply with a smile, waving my hand.
"Lie," Annabeth interrupts.
"Really? You're a genius," I reply, turning around.
"Since I have to clean the armory anyway, I'm going to look for a good sword there. See ya."
I leave the Big House.
The system shows my status.
[⚔️ STATUS ⚔️]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[👤 IDENTIFICATION]
[▸ Name: Caleb Thorne]
[▸ Origin: Son of Demeter — Claimed]
[▸ Age: 11 Years Old]
[▸ Level: D-40 | Basic Combatant]
[▸ Health Points: 150 / 150]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[📊 MAIN ATTRIBUTES]
[▸ Stamina: 80 / 80 ↘ Recovering]
[▸ Divine Energy: 60 / 60]
[▸ Physical Strength: E — 20 / 20]
[▸ Agility/Reflexes: E — 18 / 20 ✦ Bonus: Seismic Sense]
[▸ Endurance: D — 29 / 60]
[▸ Tactics/Perception: D — 26 / 60]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[🌿 SKILLS]
[▸ Sap Drain — Beginner]
(Absorbs plant energy to heal wounds; excess causes collapse)
[▸ Wood Manipulation — Intermediate]
(Shapes, hardens, and creates wooden structures)
[▸ Plant Domain — Intermediate]
(Commands roots, foliage, and surrounding plants)
[▸ Seismic Sense — Passive]
(Detects presences through vibrations in the ground)
[▸ Natural Communion — Unique]
(Interacts with and understands all forms of plant life)
[▸ Gamer's Mind · Gamer's Body]
[▸ ADHD: fast reflexes, variable focus]
[▸ Eleusis Discipline: 2%]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[⚠️ DEBUFFS]
[▸ Dyslexia]
[▸ Difficulty with prolonged concentration]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[🗡️ WEAPONRY]
[▸ Bronze Leviathan]
Class: Epic | Evolutionary
Progress: 2%
Potential: Legendary — Locked
Features: Indestructible, blood-bound, amplifies earth/flora
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[🎒 RESOURCES]
▸ 4 × Recovery Potions
⚠️ Repeated use overloads divine power
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[🌍 MODIFIER]
▸ In forests/fertile soil: Performance ↑ approx. Rank C
I stare at the panel.
I need to learn the Eleusis Discipline soon...
But what is missing?