Centuries after centuries passed and the humans evolved fast - to the modern times. The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus were long forgotten and replaced with one almighty god. Many several vehicles, machines - and the best of all - the internet were invented. Cities expanded, there were no longer kings and everyone was equivalent. The Gods and Goddesses might have been forgotten but they were still watching over them, being interested in the humans' evolution.

In order that the chosen humans would never forget their duty, a camp in which they trained and lived was built. It was located in a realm between the human world and Olympus, giving no access to humans except for those with the sacred blood. Thus far they all have lived there with honor and satisfaction. Their sense of duty remained strong wherefore none of them dared to have an intention to leave the camp forever. However one dark night a young woman decided to divert and disappear without leaving a trace behind. With her bag hanging around her torso and the cloak hiding her body, she quietly became one with the darkness and slipped away like the night at dawn. But she would never return.

Cars moved through the streets, people were talking to each other and some other people were waiting impatiently for the traffic light turn green. Then the street was flooded from both sides, it was most likely impossible to not touch any stranger. After a few turns Hyejeong arrived at the apartment complex. Before she could enter the building, she turned around as she felt like being watched by someone. Her eyes found the way to a pair of piercing silver ones owned by a young teenager girl. She just stood there still, with no facial expression, staring at the older girl. No matter how hard the latter tried, Hyejeong simply could not take her eyes of the girl - as if she was in a trance. The girl was marvelous and had an illuminating around her. She gave a very powerful vibes off, making Hyejeong feel like she would do anything for her as soon as the girl opened . It was like as if she was a goddess.

All of sudden the girl turned around and disappeared in a stream of people rushing through the street. Finally she broke out of her trance, still hazy from the mesmerizing sight. Hyejeong quickly gathered herself again and made her way into the building. Standing in front of the apartment, she could hear muffled voices from the other side of the door. She recognized one of them as her mother's and the other two seemed to belong to grown up male voices. Angry words were mainly thrown by her mother, the conversation was heated. "Mom?", called Hyejeong while closing the door carefully behind her. The argument died down immediately. Her mother stood in front of two men - one was very tall and tanned, he had longer hair and a full beard, the other one wearing a huge beanie was a head smaller and had dark skin and only a goat beard. The girl drew everyone's attention to her. Once the woman saw her daughter, tears began to form in her already reddened eyes and she embraced her tightly. "Mom?", she asked once again, "What's going on?" Her mother didn't quite reply, instead she mumbled apologies again and again. A sudden faked cough interrupted her mantra as if something clicked inside her head. The mother loosened her arms and took her daughter's petite hands in hers instead and looked straight into her eyes. "There is something I have to tell you, something that affects especially you." She tried to sound serious, even though her voice was slightly cracked. Hyejeong, who was rather confused, nodded at her words telling her to continue. "Do you know how your father and I used to tell you that you were very special when you were younger?" The girl furrowed her eyebrows and responded, "Yeah, that's what every parent says to their children." Her mother smiled sadly, "Well, you are right but we were right as well; you are very special." Hyejeong felt the confusion consuming her more and more. Her mother was not acting like her usual self and she couldn't help it but to blame it on the two strangers standing in their apartment. "You know, before you were born, I used to live far away in place no one knows about. There were dozens of other people living there and we all had the same reason: our legacy. I inherited it from my mother, she from hers and so on up to the first of our bloodline. We are gifted with special abilities by the Goddess Artemis and obliged to protect the world from all the danger that would leak through barriers of the Olympian world. And the moment you were born, you would be burdened with the same fate. I disliked the thought of it, I wanted you to grow up as an ordinary person. That's why I ran away from my so-called home and started living with your father. We have been hiding from them well, but now they found us and these two men here want to take you with them to this special place." As the girl listened carefully to her own mother, she felt her hands squeezing hers lightly during particular parts, as in the personal ones. Hyejeong couldn't believe her mother's words, it was all nonsense to her. Why was she talking about a Greek goddess - the one she used to admire the most, to be precise? By now confusion had engulfed her completely. "Mom, are you serious about that?", she studied the woman in front of her, "Oh my god, you are serious." And again her mother only gave her an apologetic look. Then the tall man raised his voice to gain attention. Both of them introduced themselves as Carystus and Pamphilos. "Carystus? Like the son of Chiron, a centaur?", Hyejeong asked trying to suppress an inappropriate laughter upon hearing their strange names. The taller man nodded proudly, "I see, you have taught your daughter well, considering the circumstances." His words were directed towards her mother who just murmured something about that she could not let go of who she was. Then the strangers proceeded to explain what this place - or rather camp - was and why she needed to go with them. According to them, the Camp was in a intermediate world where many other children like her lived together with mythical creatures. And in the past years the amount of monsters, who crossed the barriers to the human world and the mother referred to earlier, increased. Carystus could tell by Hyejeong's face that she was not a single bit convinced by their words. Comprehensible. She probably thought they all were crazy. Thus, he told Pamphilos to show his real form. Without hesitation the short man loosened his belt and pulled his pants down. Hyejeong on the other hand turned her head away in disgust and shut her eyes tightly in addition. Unexpectedly, her mother reassured her that it was okay to look. Hyejeong on the other hand looked at her mother as if she has gone crazy, but she eventually peeked at the exposed man. The sight left hanging. It was usual for men to have hairy legs, but his were furry! As if it wasn't strange enough, he had hooves instead of feet. This exposure was the last straw that broke the camel's back. The poor girl sat down, feeling too overwhelmed by the events. It was too much for her mind. The strange girl, her mother's unusual behavior, that man, everything. All of it came at once and tried to fit in that head of hers. She could already feel the phantom pain. "Satyr. You are a satyr.", her voice was trembling. The half human, half goat creature confirmed her statement with a nod, feeling sorry for her. She must be close to a mental breakdown. Hyejeong was thankful that Pamphilos didn't say anything. Another word spoken by his mouth would just have confirmed his real existence and Hyejeong preferred the thought of him possibly not being real.

A heavy silence suffocated the room. Minutes passed and passed until Carystus tried to convince the girl again to come to the camp with them. He asked the other two people to leave them alone. The mother was hesitant at first, not because she didn't trust the man - she had known him for too long - but rather because of her young daughter. Just like that the two of them conversed for a longer period until her father arrived at home with her little brother following behind. The boy was just as confused as his sister when he first saw the men - Pamphilos had put on his pants again. Their mother explained to him that they were old friends of hers who came by to visit. He decided not to ask any further questions and disappeared into his room with a bag of chips. Usually his mother would have scolded him for snacking before dinner, but she was too worn out from the argument and the talk to her daughter. Her husband who knew about everything well put his arms around her and rubbed her arms lovingly.

The long conversation seemed to come to an end as Hyejeong stood up and went to her own room, too,  as she felt like needing some time for herself and sorting her thoughts. In the meantime the two intruders decided it was the best to leave the family alone and declined politely the father's invitation for dinner. But the atmosphere during dinner was still gloomy as the adults ate alone, both of their children staying in their rooms. One of them didn't feel well, the other was too full from his snack. Nevertheless their mother put their food in the refrigerator in case one of them might leave their room at night because they were hungry.

The moon set and the sun rose faster than they thought. Dark circles framed Hyejeong's eyes. She didn't get much sleep, pondering all night about what to do. Eventually she made her final decision. "I thought a lot about it. And you have every right to hate me", she spoke to her parents who were just awake as her, "I will do it." 

As she looked at their faces, she wanted to her words back. There was a flash of sadness and disappointment in their eyes and Hyejeong hated it. Adter all they had tried everything to keep her away from that and went through rough hardships for her. "We could never hate you, Hyejeong. You are our child and you will always be. I-It's just-", her mother was the first to break the short silence. Her father then continued his wife's sentence, "We are just surprised. Why?" She tried to explain to them that she had a strong feeling. "To be honest, in the past years I felt like I was missing something. A great something that would make me feel complete. Sure, I love being here and being with my friends but it doesn't feel... Right. Maybe the camp where you used to live, Mom, is the place where I really belong to. I'll be back when summer break is over. And if I really do possess any abilities given by a Greek goddess, then I would love to learn more about them." As his daughter kept talking, the man couldn't help himself but to think how similar she was to the woman he fell in love with in that forest many years ago. She, too, had told him multiple times that she needed to follow her feeling and instinct, that she needed something to hold on. And that 'something' was him.

After Hyejeong revealed her decision to her parents, she thought she must have gone crazy. Trusting her feeling. It wasn't like her life was a fantasy movie. But again she had seen Pamphilos' true form with her own eyes; mythical creatures did exist. Hyejeong only needed a backpack filled with clothes and some personal stuff that reminded her of her family since the camp would provide her with anything else she needed. Her parents accompanied her to Carystus and Pamphilos who were waiting happily in front of a navy blue car. They said goodbye to each other with a heavy heart before Hyejeong climbed into the back of the car, looking out of the window. Carystus was the last to say goodbye. He dropped a small, bordeaux-red velvety bag into the woman's hand. "I suppose you still know how to use them?", Carystus asked to which she just nodded. Seeing their worried face, he quickly added, "Don't worry, we'll take good care of her."

"I know.", she replied with a last smile towards her daughter.

Ω Hello and thank you very much for checking out my story! I hope you will enjoy and keep interest in it, as well as support me and my work. Please don't be shy and leave comments, especially if you want to voice your opinions. This will help me a lot to improve and stay motivated. Since I am not a native speaker, there will be (grammatical) errors so I would be really grateful if you told me whenever you spot something. Again, thank you for reading!

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