Poseidon's Heir

Chapter 10

"Wait. What do you mean I have to fight in a war?" How can I fight in a war, I've never even been in a fight before!

"Do not concern yourself with such matters for the time being. We shall wait for your powers to form before any real training begins." With this said he turned his back to me and began walking back to his throne. "For now go explore the palace, take Arina with you."

After a moment of silence I turn around and head out the way I came. I find Arina patiently waiting in the hall for me.

"So he told me to go explore, do you think we could take a tour?" Her eyes light up when I ask her.

"Well of course we can!" I'm afraid to ask my next question because it may damper her mood but I ask anyway,

"Also what can you tell me about this war I'm supposed to fight in?" She gives me a look of horror and quickly replies,

"One should not talk of such things in public. It is a serious matter in which we have been forbidden to talk about since the matter was prophized by the Oracle." Okay, I guess I don't get to know anything about what I'm supposed to do.

"So since that is obliviously not on the table of discussion, does Poseidon have any other children." I hope this can be talked about, I hope there are things I can actually know around here.

As she thinks about whether or not she could tell me, we round a corner and head past a huge dining area.

"Before I answer that question let me tell you this is the dining area for Poseidon and the higher status lesser gods. I for one can not go in there unless it is a special occasion. There is a special, less elegant hall for the servants and gods with less status. I for one would be considered a servant." I didn't really take her as a servant but then again what did I know. With this said we go back in the hall and continue our conversation.

"To answer your question from earlier, yes. Their names are Theseus, Triton, and Polyphemus. Unfortunately, only one is still alive, Triton. He is for the lack of a better word, what humans call a merman. The top part of his body is like a human and the bottom is a fish. He is the only one you can really relate to because Theseus was human looking and Polyphemus was a cyclops. Also throughout history Poseidon has many demigod children but like most demigods these days something doesn't go right and they are deformed. You're one of the lucky ones as the humans would say." She says in a sad tone.

"I thought in Greek mythology there were a lot of demigods?"

"Well, of course back in ancient times but in this day of age the humans have evolved in such a way that the genetics will not match as they did before."

"Oh," I replied and then went into a thoughtful silence. A lot of questions were swimming around in my head. Is there more demigods than me? What did she mean I related to Triton. It must be the gills. Also a strang thought came up. I'm brothers with a cyclops, who can say that?

~

The rest of the tour was pretty much in silence on my part. Arina would point out things and say stuff about it but my mind wasn't there. Out of all of the questions in my head the biggest one was what were my powers going to be. I started to think about my gills and how I can breath underwater. This is when I realize something after touching my neck and burst out,

"We're breathing air?!" Arina looks at my questioningly,

"Oh course we are, not all of us can breath underwater you know." As she says this she does a flip with her hair.

"But he said without me being able to breathe underwater I couldn't have come here."

"That's because he wanted you to make the conscious decision to come here. I for one have been born and raised here because my parents were servents here as well. Something you should note is gods have a lot of unknown power as well. Such as being able to let humans breathe underwater for a short time." She let out a sigh and made a face saying she was a little sad.

As we toured the palace we saw many things such as the stables (where I learned hippocampi are held and they were responsible for guiding me here), tons of rooms which servents and gods resided in, and best of all, the door to the outside. Of course Arina explained magic was the reason water didn't come flooding in when the gate like door was opened. When I asked her if I could go out there she told me I had to ask my father.

Eventually the tour ended and we went back to my room. When we got to the door Arina turned to me and said,

"Be ready at 8 o'clock and I will escort you to youe birthday banquet." With that said she turned on her heals and started down the hall.

"Wait! How will I know what time it is?" She looked at me with an amused look on her face.

"We are not uncivilized, we have clocks." She smiled and turned around again and I was left in my lone some.