1
The Olympians: Rise of the Half-Bloods
Centuries have passed since the great war against the Titans. The Gods have now taken over as the new "protectors" of Earth and watch over their people from the highest point, Mount Olympus. The world was no longer filled with terror and grief under the Titans' rule. A time of peace was at hand. The people all felt safe under the protection of the mighty Gods.
But alas, all good things must come to an end.
It was not long after the Gods came to rule that the power they have obtained started to get into their heads.
Zeus savored the taste of fresh meat that was being sacrificed to him from the people that adored him so. He became gluttonous and had made commands to the people that every family from each household MUST sacrifice 20 pounds of fresh meat to the Gods, or else the eldest child in the family will be stricken with death.
Hera, who was obsessed with gold and gold-manufactured products, ordered the shop keepers to hand all of their hard earned gold to her for "safe-keeping".
Ares, filled with pride and self-adoration, forced the people in the city of Patras to obstruct a golden statue of himself in the center of the city.
Any act of rebellion would result in immediate death to whomever was a part of it. Any act that the Gods deemed unfavorable would result in death.
People were dying by the thousands every week.
The people were growing hungry, sick, and tired.
Yet, no one went against the power of the Gods.
Not one person dared to defy the Gods...
...until today.
~
"SILENCE!"
All heads turned towards the center of the room where the thunderous voice came from. There sat Zeus in his mighty throne, his wife Hera to his right. He raised his hand and the entire hall fell silent.
"My friends, today is not just an ordinary day. Hundreds of years ago, we stood in this very spot as we declared victory against my father, Kronos, and his league of Titans, just as the Great Oracle had said. That day, we decided that every year that the planets all align, we would meet here, in the Council Room, to listen to what the Great Oracle has to say.
"For the past eighteen centuries, the Great Oracle has done nothing but given us prophecies of glory and good will. Today as the Oracle speaks, I expect nothing less.."
A trumpet blared in the distance as Hermes materialized in front of the Gods.
"The Great Oracle has arrived," Hermes announced as he floated towards his throne between Aphrodite and Apollo.
Just as Hermes took his seat, the wide doors at the entrance of the hall began to open. A cloaked figure slowly walked towards the center of the hall. The only sound heard was the loud clicking noise emanating from soles of the Oracle's shoes.
The cloaked figure removed the hood of the long, royal blue cloak to reveal a young girl who looked no older than fifteen years old. The young girl had extremely frizzy red hair that stopped a little past her shoulders. Her skin was milky white, as though she had never been exposed to sunlight, and her eyes were a deep shade of jade.
"Great Oracle of Delphi! Welcome, once again, to Mount Olympus," Zeus greeted with a smile on his face.
But the Great Oracle did not look pleased. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "How many times do I gotta tell ya that just cause I accepted the soul of the Great Oracle, don't mean that I wanna be acknowledged by that. I have a name," she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Hera rolled her eyes. She never liked this girl to begin with. When she heard that this was the chosen one who was to accept the Oracle of Delphi's soul, Hera thought it was a joke. Surely such an absolutely rude, irritating, plain looking girl was not the next Great Oracle. Hera's patience with this girl was very low. One wrong word and she swore she would blow the place to pieces. Trying to contain her anger, she replied through clenched teeth, "Miss Rachel Elizabeth Dare, would you be so kind as to give us a look into our future? What should we expect?"
Rachel let out an exagerrated sigh and began to pace back and forth. "That's all you guys ever want. No one ever says, 'Hey Rachel! How was your day?' or 'Let's go hangout Rachel, just you and me, whaddaya say?' It's always about forseeing the future and what's in store for them. No one cares about me anymore. Not since I accepted this role. None of my friends even talk to me anymore. I haven't talked to Percy in what seems like decades. Psh, he probably forgot about me too. I swear if I ever see him again I-"
"Miss Dare."
Rachel looked up from her rant and saw all eyes were on her. "Oh yeah. The prophecy. Sorry." She cleared , closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
When the planets align on the Nineteenth year,
When all seems at peace with the world,
Corrupted gods will turn the world to darkness and fear,
But, no one will dare make a sound.
When all hope seems lost, a child of the gods will step forth to bring triumph and light.
But, the one they called "friend" and trusted, will disappear from everyone's sight.
When she finished, she opened her eyes and saw the look on Zeus's face.
He did not look happy.
She looked at the imaginary watch on her wrist and chuckled nervously. "Oh well, would ya look at the time. Gotta go! See ya next time." Rachel walked as quickly as she could out of the Council Room.
The hall remained silent as the doors to the hall closed. All eyes turned to Zeus. He sat there with a stoic expression on his face. He seemed to be in deep thought...or he was still in shock and was trying to process what the Great Oracle had just told them.
After what seemed like hours, Zeus turned towards Hermes and spoke.
"Hermes. I need you to send a message to Chiron."
~
Monday.
The day every student dreaded.
And Byun Baekhyun was definitely one of those students.
Baekhyun looked at his clock and groaned. It was 7:15. The late bell rang at 7:30 which meant only one thing.
He was going be late. Again.
He grabbed the edge of his comforter and lifted it over his head as he laid back down. Five more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt..
"BYUN BAEKHYUN! IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR LAZY UP RIGHT THIS INSTANT YOU'RE GOING TO BE GROUNDED FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFETIME. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" a voice shouted from outside his door. He forgot that his mom did not have work this morning like she usually did.
Baekhyun groaned again as he forced himself up out of his bed to get ready for school. With his eyes half shut, he managed to put his uniform on and brush his hair.
When he finished getting ready, he went to his mom's room. "Hey mom, I'm leaving."
Baekhyun sighed at the sight of his mom passed out in the middle of her bed. She always overworks herself. She deserves more days off like this.
He grabbed an extra blanket from the cabinet and placed it on his mom. He removed the crooked glasses that were still on her face and gently brushed away her bangs. Baekhyun placed a soft kiss on her forehead and smiled. "Bye mom. See you later."
Baekhyun grabbed an apple from the kitchen and started walking towards his school. He pulled his beanie further onto his head to cover his reddening ears. It was a pretty chilly day, considering the fact that it was only the first week of August. Baekhyun was mentally making a list of grocery items that he needed to buy after school today when he heard footsteps behind him. At first, he wasn't very aware of them. Alot of people go walking in the mornings. But, the fact that this same pair of footsteps followed him all the way towards school made him suspicious. He walked right past the school and towards an empty lot that was at the end of town. He turned around to see who was following him, but there was no one there.
Suddenly, a hand blocked his vision and a cloth was put over his mouth.
And everything went black.
~
Jongin was slammed against a wall. "What the hell did you just say to me?!" A short, pudgy man screamed into his face. When Jongin did not respond, the man punched him square in the jaw. "I asked you a damn question you brat!"
Jongin wiped the little trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Nothing. I said nothing," he said while looking straight at his step father.
A woman that had been hiding in corner of the room placed a shaky hand on the man's shoulder. "Junwoo...please stop-"
He shrugged the woman's hand off his shoulder and growled. "Stay out of this Ji Hyun." The woman flinched, fearing she would be hit next. But, the man just walked away muttering, "This ain't over you little piece of . I'm coming back for you."
When the front door slammed shut, the woman rushed over to her son's side. "Jongin...I am so sorry."
Jongin wiped away the tears that were falling from her eyes. "Mom. I'm fine. Don't wory about me. As long as that bastard doesn't hurt you, I'll be fine." He enclosed his mom in a warm hug. "Why are you even staying with this man? All he does is ever make you cry. Ever since you married him, you haven't smiled once. Not even on your wedding day."
Ji Hye looked up at her son and gave a sad smile. "I did it to protect you."
"Protect me? I don't understand..."
She the boy's head. "Jongin. You are a very special young man. And you will find out soon enough why. Now," Ji Hye rose to her feet and stuck a hand out for Jongin to grab onto. "Let's get you cleaned up. I have a...surprise for you."
After a little less than an hour passed, Jongin came down the stairs to join his mother in the living room. "Hey mom, where is the-" Jongin stopped midsentence when he noticed a strange looking man dressed in all black sitting on the couch next to his mom. "Who is this?" He asked, gesturing towards the man.
His mom was opened to speak, but the man in black interrupted her. "Kim Jongin, I'm sorry for intruding, but I'm afraid you need to come with me."
"I don't need to go anywhere with you."
"Jongin." His mother said sternly. "Go."
Jongin clenched his fist. "Why? Why should I?"
The man in black walked towards Jongin. "Please, it would be easier if you just willingly came with me." He sighed as he saw Jongin raise his fist. "Guess we're just gonna have to do thing the hard way," he said as he pulled out a small syringe from his jacket pocket.
Jongin felt a small poke on the side of stomach. He backed away slowly. "What did you do to me?"
His mother could not bear to see this scene. "I'm sorry, Jongin."
And that was the last thing he heard before everything turned into a blur.
~
There was a soft knock on the door. "Honey. Jonggie, sweetie. It's time for your lesson."
"Come in!" Jongdae answered without looking up from his book.
A small old woman walked into Jongdae's bedroom holding an english book in her hand. "What are you reading, sweetheart?"
Jongdae put the book down and fixed his glasses that were sliding down his nose. "It's a book called Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It's all based on Greek mythology. I find it very interesting!"
His grandmother frowned. "Jongdae, that is not a very good book for you to be reading. You should be focusing on your studies."
"May I ask why?"
His grandmother's expression grew dark. "No. You may not." The old woman stood up from her spot on his bed. "Forget the lesson, I'm going to make you breakfast. Okay?"
And with that, Jongdae was left alone in his room.
Jongdae gulped nervously. He had never seen his grandmother look like that before. She was the type of person who always smiled and never got angry. Even though he had never left the house before, his grandmother was telling him about how all of her friends from high school nicknamed her Smiley, since she was always smiling. She was just like his mother, who passed away a couple months after Jongdae was born. His grandmother never told him how she passed though.
You must be thinking, 'Why have you never left the house before?'
Well, Jongdae was not too sure either.
Whenever he asked why he could not go outside, the only answer he ever got was 'Why go out when everything you could possibly need is in here?'
Because of this, he never had friends. He had been homeschooled his entire eighteen years of life and Jongdae was getting tired of this boring lifestyle. Sure, he loved his grandmother to death, but he wanted to know what life was like outside these four walls. He wanted the experience of having friends, hanging out, partying even.
He wanted to be normal.
Tap tap tap.
Jongdae snapped out of his train of thought and looked around to see where the noise was coming from.
Tap tap tap.
The noise was coming from his window. He walked over to it and moved the curtain aside. Right in front of his window was a man dressed in all black. Jongdae raised an eyebrow. The man pointed to the little lock on the window and motioned for him to open the window.
Now, you must understand something. Jongdae is an innocent young man. He had never been outside before. He was only exposed to the things that his grandmother wanted him to see. They had no tv, no phones, nothing that would give him negative images of the outside world. So, Jongdae saw nothing wrong with letting a complete and total stranger dressed head to toe in black into his room.
The man in black climbed through the window once Jongdae opened it. "Hello there Kim Jongdae."
"Hello, it's nice to meet you. But, how do you know my name, sir?" Jongdae asked.
The man chuckled. "I have my sources. Now, you are going to have to come with me. We must leave now. The others are waiting."
"But, what about my grandmother?" Chen asked.
"Oh, don't worry about her. We'll take care of that. Now, let's go."
Chen just shrugged and followed the man through his window. He led him towards a small carriage and opened the door for him. Jongdae stepped inside and saw two boys lying down unconscious on the floor. "Hey, wait. What happened to-"
The carriage door was slammed shut and locked from the outside. Jongdae pounded on the door, but eventually gave up when he felt the carriage begin to move.
Looking around, Jongdae only had one thought running through his mind.
Why had he never thought about climbing out the window in his bedroom to go outside before?
Comments