The Beginnings of an Olympian

6 | Guilt

The monster abandoned her and decided to charge me instead. The blond-haired girl screamed at me, "RUN! PAST THE LARGE PINE TREE! GO!!" I got to my feet, ignoring the pain in my ankle, and ran as fast as I could towards the top of the hill. But I wasn't going to make it.

1st Person | Alex's POV
1077 words

The Minotaur was gaining on me, but I couldn't go any faster. Just as I was about to reach the top of the hill, I tripped and fell over a root. I saw the beast about to kill me. He threw the axe right at my head and I braced myself. But the impact never came. I saw the girl who was fighting earlier throwing her sword right at the monster and it disintegrated into a gold powder upon impact. I was breathing hard and stared in shock. I was about to thank her when she collapsed to the ground and I saw the blood pouring out of a wound on her side. She must have intercepted the ax that was thrown. I didn't see it anywhere. It probably disappeared when she killed the monster.

A bunch of kids around my age or older, up to 18 or so, came running down the hill. They looked at the scene in horror and some had tears in their eyes. I saw a dark-skinned, brown-eyed boy, about 13, start putting pressure on the wound, but the blood was coming out too fast for him to stop. "Kayla, help me! She's bleeding out!" He yelled. Another girl rushed out of the crowd, but you could see in her eyes that there wasn't anything to be done. I barely noticed when a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy, about 15, leaned down next to my ankle and examined it. He looked up at me with pity and concern. I felt terrible. First, my mother died to protect me, and now this stranger died to save my life. And in both situations I was helpless. Then I heard a few more people running towards the now very large crowd. A tall, tanned skinned 17-year-old with startling sea-green eyes and messy, raven-black hair had tears streaming down his face. He said nothing but silently knelt by the body.

I couldn't help but notice how similar our eyes were. Although I was paler and my hair was more brown, our eyes were both sea-green. Though, mine happened to be a few shades lighter. He looked over in my direction, but it was clear he wasn't looking at me. I followed his gaze to a horn in the grass. It was the same horn from the Minotaur. Suddenly, the ground started shaking, and the boy, who previously had grief in his eyes, now only held rage. I couldn't help but think that he had somehow caused what felt to be an earthquake. I wasn't sure how that was possible, but something inside me told me I was right.

To say I was scared would be an understatement. I worried about what he would do to me knowing that I had killed someone he clearly loved. He looked muscular enough that he could beat me to a pulp. I mean almost anyone could have beaten me up, but he wouldn't have even broken a sweat if he tried. It seemed that everyone around me was just as nervous, unsure of what was happening. The blond boy next to me grabbed my shoulder and looked me in the eyes.

"It's ok," he said, "we'll handle it. Your ankle will heal in no time, don't worry. Let my sister take you to the big house to rest. Ok?" I nodded, unable to form words. A Hispanic girl helped me up and we wobbled towards a large sky-blue house. She sat me down on a bed and gave me some water and a small piece of some sort of food. I wasn't sure what the food was, but it tasted amazing, exactly like the fresh blueberry scones my mom made on special occasions. I instantly felt better, but Sophie, I learned was her name, told me to lie back and sleep. I wasn't going to argue. A lot had happened and I wanted to forget it for a while. So I laid back on the bed and drifted off.

Unfortunately, I had a nightmare. I was in a dark room. I saw a being who had galaxies instead of skin sitting in an office chair behind a large desk. In front of them was a man with sandy blond hair, around 22 years old, and a scar running down his right eye to his jaw. He was still good looking though. He was lean, tanned, and had blue eyes. "My lord," the man said, "are you sure I should be the one to go back? I'm not sure they'll trust us if I'm the one leading them."

"It's Lady today," she said with a smirk. "I know you don't want to face your past, Luke, but as my commander, it must be you. Take the lieutenants with you. The captains will join shortly after that. The rest of the army will come when you call for them. Earth needs your help. There's no other way."

"Yes, Lady Chaos. I'll leave..." he paused and stared right at me, "someone's been listening. Maybe we won't have to send a messenger after all." At the snap of his fingers, I woke up. I didn't know what I witnessed, but it was clearly not just a dream. I guess I should've been relieved that he said he was coming to help Earth, but the whole thing was so strange I didn't know what to think. I decided to tell someone about it later, but I didn't know who I could tell.

Just then, Sophie came in to check on me. "You're up," she said smiling, but it didn't reach her eyes. "There's a funeral happening tonight after dinner. I know it's not exactly a fun welcome to camp event, but if you want to attend, you're welcome to come."

I didn't know what to say to that. I could feel the guilt creeping back up. I think she realized how I felt because she quickly added, "It's not your fault you know. The life of a demigod is hard and everyone knows that each day could be our last. Don't feel guilty over her death. She would've sacrificed her life for anyone, that's just who she was."

"Demigod? What do you mean?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you haven't been shown the orientation video. I'll get Chiron. He'll explain everything." A few minutes later a man in a wheelchair came in and stopped in front of me.