Looking back on it, it was a good thing that my friend ditched...or maybe it was my misfortune. Who knows? But as Fate happened to make it, she was busy and wasn't able to visit so I found myself hiking alone on the Manpo Trail.

Humming to myself, I let my feet pound on the ground as the sun beat relentlessly between the tree branches. I passed by other hikers, my breath hitching as I pushed myself harder with each step. I wanted to run the entire trail today, to push myself to my utmost limits and improve, especially since I didn't need to slow down for anyone.

Halfway, something caught my eye, a purple figure falling a few meters off the path, and giving up on my goal for today, I changed courses and rushed over to help him or her back up. 

Never before was I so grateful to have ADHD.

I rolled to the side, barely dodging a burning mass of something, and stood quickly.

"Run!" a female's voice warned, a blur of pink and purple appearing beside me with a-

"Is that a real sword?" I asked, suddenly hating my ADHD again. The girl had pink hair cut short and a purple shirt with jeans. In her hands was a sword and on her arm was a shield, both of a shiny metal that I strangely knew was not something I had seen before. There were smudges of mud and dirt on her face and clothes, but there were also oil smudges and something that looked oddly like charcoal on her cheek. 

"Shoot!" another voice, a male, shouted, giving me a few seconds warning as I leaped to the side again dodging a large chunk of earth. The male was dressed in the same clothes, hair messily made as though he had just come out of bed. In his hand was his own weapon, a spear of the same odd metal. He had a large gaping cut on the side of his stomach and he put pressure against it with his free hand.

The girl growled.

"Move your fat Jongdae! I know you're not that weak!" the female yelled, putting up her shield once more to protect herself from fire. For the first time since the abrupt battle, I looked at the monster, gaping. Head of a lion. Body of a goat. Bloody mane. Snake tail. Fire breath.

"Is that a chimera?" I questioned, somehow putting the pieces together in my head.

The girl groaned.

"Now is so not the time for this. Be-"

She cut off mid-sentence, staring at me with wide eyes. 

"You can see the chimera?" she realized, shocked.

"We've established," I confirmed, nodding. My eyes widened, catching sight of the chimera moving towards us. I pushed her aside, giving her a silent apology as we both missed a flamethrower by inches. I analyzed the situation. The other people were in danger. Jongdae was injured. The girl was my only asset but she was probably out since I pushed her. Stupid move. How did someone kill it again?

The chimera gave a roar, poison dripping from its mouth and sizzling on the ground below. I picked up a rock the size of my fist and threw it, nailing him on the forehead.

"Hey kitty cat! Your breath stinks! Breath mints were invented yester-year!" I insulted, tensing myself to run. I didn't have to wait long. The chimera gave another roar and leaped. Rolling, I dodged his (or her) pounce before running in the opposite direction of the pounce.

First things first, get away from the pedestrians and injured party.

I dodged mindlessly, wracking my brain for something to use.

There was a creek up ahead. More trees. A giant rock. Well, I was soon-to-be-screwed. I heard another roar and ducked behind a tree just as another breath of fire passed by me, singing the ends of my hair. 

"Well, fat cats," I cursed before moving again. There was the sound of a tree breaking and glancing back, I hoped the tree had had a good life before becoming the cat's scratching post. 

I came upon the creek, standing in the middle and turning around. It would be the farthest I'd get from any other people and the open field would either by my savior or downfall by giving me room to dodge or the large kitty cat room to pounce. I didn't wait long and immediately, I had to move, trying to dodge the chimera.

Third time was the charm and no longer was it going to be fooled. It swiped me in the stomach, my back crashing into a tree by the bank. Black spots exploded in my vision as it came closer, hissing poison and small flames. Its tail lashed out, biting into my ankle and hauling me upward. 

Well now if the chimera didn't kill me, its poison would. I cursed inwardly but could barely keep my thoughts together as my vision began to swim. Its head bowed for a moment and a rock narrowly missed me before falling to the ground.

"Yo snake ! What happens to poo when it's on fire?!" the male from before, Jongdae, shouted. Faintly, I saw his figure along with the pink-haired girl and one other, someone taller. The chimera flicked its tail, letting me fall and turning towards the intruders. I narrowly landed on my feet but collapsed on my knees immediately. 

Thunder and lightning resounded in the sky, blinding me. Then the chimera was gone.

"It stinks that's what!" Jongdae shouted in victory, cheering. My vision swayed and turned black, barely catching sight of the three running towards me, only figures in the distance. My last thought: lamest joke ever.

-oOo-

When I came to, there was a stark contrast of green, blue, white, brown, and pink. I sat up quickly and smashed my head into someone else's.

"Ow! Roman Gods!" came the odd curse. I held my own head, wincing before recognizing the person, the pink-haired girl from before. I looked around, recognizing the other male - Jongdae - with one other. 

"Well glad you're back from the dead sleeping beauty," Jongdae joked, grinning. "Feel like you're on fire or something?"

"Going to fry me like the monster?" I threw back, rolling my eyes.

"Ouch," he feigned, laughing. "Nope. Glad to see that we didn't just reveal the world to a mortal and have to explain it all."

"Are you insinuating we're not mortals?" I realized immediately, eyes narrowing. 

"Jongdae shut it," the girl spat, rolling her eyes. She turned to me. "You feeling ok?"

I sat up carefully.

"As well as battling a monster can be I suppose," I admitted, eyeing the third person. He was insanely tall and had dark bags under his eyes, black jeans with the purple shirt. He held a sword in his hand of a metal different from the other two and had three piercings in each ear. There was a large cut on his shoulder, a noticeable bruise on his neck, and a scabbing wound on his head. The girl followed my gaze.

"That's Tao and I'm Jia," the pink-haired girl introduced. "That idiot over there-" She nudged her head at Jongdae. "-is Jongdae-"

"I like to go by Chen though," Jongdae interrupted.

"But no one cares," Jia continued. "We're demigods, half Roman god/goddess and half human. And you, you're one of us."

"And you know because?" I couldn't help but ask. She rolled her eyes again, jabbing her thumb at Jongdae.

"This idiot fed you some nectar and you didn't burn to a crisp. Plus, you survived the chimera's poison; do you need any other answers?" she questioned, throwing another glare at Jongdae. I looked around before standing, brushing the dust off of me.

"I'm going to guess we're going somewhere now," I deduced, recognizing the look in their faces. "Let me make a call first."

"Are you trying to kill us?" Jongdae gaped. "Monsters will be all over us then."

"So no phones," I guessed, sighing. "Are the mailmen in on the conspiracy with the phone lines then?"

They looked at each other.

"You're awfully calm about this," Tao said, the first sentence he had spoken the entire time.

"Would you rather I freak out?" I pointed out. "Now let me go write a letter or few. Then we can go."

"To family?" Jongdae asked as we began hiking back onto the road.

"Dead," I answered shortly. "To the orphanage I live in...and to a friend in the United States. Oh, and I'm Dari by the way."