Yena was having a pretty good sleep until a loud horn blew so loud, she stumbled out of her bed. All around her, the Hermes cabin began waking up in a buzz. Yujin was already moved into the Poseidon cabin, so Yena found herself alone in the chaos. She scanned around looking for Chaeyeon and Chaeryeong, eventually seeing the older sister stand up on a chair to get everyone’s attention.

“You know what day it is everyone! Get up and get ready!” Chaeyeon announced excitedly. Yena watched as all the campers rushed around picking up pieces of armor and shining their swords.

“Come on, Yena, don’t just stand there!” Chaeryeong said from next to her over the noise, snapping Yena out of her daze.

“Whew, you guys take this really seriously,” Yena commented.

Chaeryeong scoffed. “Of course! It’s our pride on the line. We may not have the Ares cabin on our side, but now that we have a child of Poseidon AND Hades on our team, everyone’s feeling a lot more confident.”

“Yah, I’m not too shabby with swords myself, you know?” Yena replied.

“Hmm, you do have a magical item. Not many people have one of those. I’m sure the Athena cabin has already whipped up a good strategy to utilize our new wild cards.” Chaeryeong said with a smirk, clapping Yena on the shoulder before heading off in Chaeyeon’s direction.

Everyone looked genuinely excited at the prospect of swinging swords at each other. Yena felt like it was a scene straight out of '300'.

~~~~

By the time Yena stepped out of the cabin, she caught Yujin and Chaewon chatting between their cabins and rushed over.

“How was the inside?” Yena asked Yujin, pointing at the sea-green cabin next to them.

“It was cool, I’ve never slept on a waterbed before,” the younger girl replied rather quietly. Yena took a better look at her friend this time and noticed the bags under her eyes. She didn’t look right.

“Yujin-ah, you okay?”

Yujin waved off the incoming concern. “Everything’s fine, unnie. Let’s just focus on the event today.”

Yena shifted her gaze to Chaewon who shared the same concerned look. Given how Yujin didn’t want to talk about it, she decided not to pry.

“Yah, newbies! Get over here!” the voice of Chaeyeon called from afar. All around the trio, lines of campers were marching in straight lines towards the forest. Each cabin was carrying their own banner representing their godly parents.

“Has anyone told you guys what the strategy is yet?” Yujin asked to change the topic.

Yena shook her head. “Chaeryeong said that the Athena cabin has it covered. I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”

Yujin and Chaewon nodded and followed the rest of the crowd before they could be chided again.

~~~~

Both teams were lined up on opposite sides of a shallow stream, one wearing helmets with blue plumes and the other with red ones. Standing next to the shallow creek were Mr. D and Seunggi. Judging from the banners, Yena’s team consisted of the Hermes, Athena, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Nike, Tyche, and Hypnos cabins. The other team, who was wearing red, was made up of the Ares, Apollo, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hecate, Iris, Hebe, and Nemesis cabins. All the names were in Greek, but Yena found herself able to understand them all.

“Welcome everyone to another Capture-the-Flag! I’m sure it will be an exhilarating battle,” Seunggi started off.

“As we have some new campers, I will repeat the rules,” At this, Mr. D expression visibly deflated.

“Ugh, whatever happened to real bloodshed and fighting?” he sighed.

Seunggi, ignoring the side comment, continued his run through. “First, all campers who are not injured are required to participate. The objective of the battle will be taking your opponent’s flag across the boundary line which is Zephyros Creek. The forest is fair game, and all magical items are allowed. Each flag must be displayed prominently and have no more than two guards who must stand at least ten yards from said flag. Prisoners may be disarmed, but not bound or gagged. Lastly, and most importantly, no killing or maiming. Punishment is a loss of dessert privileges for a week. Am I understood?”

The crowd cheered in response, banging their swords against their shields in unison.

“Alright, you have fifteen minutes to plant your flag and strategize. The next horn will signal the event can begin. Good luck to everyone!”

Both teams wasted no time turning and dashing towards their respective area. Yena had to pick up her pace to keep up.

~~~~

“Alright everyone. Listen up!” one of the Athena kids announced once their army was settled in the forest. She had long orange hair and fierce eyes.

“I’ll lead a strike force down the middle with the Lee sisters. We’ll hit them head on to give way for Ryujin and Eunbi-unnie’s teams to attack the flanks.” The woman then began rattling off which cabins would be assigned to which strike team. By the time she ended, two names in particular were left out.

“What about us?” Yujin asked confusedly.

“You and Chaewon will be our guards,” she said, eliciting some murmurs from the other campers. Yujin and Chaewon themselves were shocked, eyes wide in surprise.

“Yah, Yeji-unnie. They’re still new. Nako and the Ares kids will run over them!” Ryujin argued, but Yeji held firm.

“I want to see what they can do. Have faith in them.” is all she said before a loud horn announced the end of the strategy phase.

“No more time for debating, everyone! It’s go time!” Yeji then yelled, pointing her sword forward and running toward the enemy, everyone else following her lead.

Yena gave one more worried look to her friends before being ordered by Chaeyeon to join her assigned team.

~~~~

“They’ll be fine, right?” Yena asked Chaeyeon as they made their way towards the creek boundary.

It looked like Chaeyeon wanted to say something reaffirming, but her facial expression betrayed her. “Wooseok has a score to settle with your friends, and Nako just loves to fight, so I can’t make any promises other than they won’t die.”

“How reassuring…” Yena mumbled back.

The group continued walking for a couple more minutes, eventually crossing the creek and stepping into the enemy’s forest.

“This is all a part of demigod training. Chaewon and Yujin will grow from this experience as will you,” Chaeyeon suddenly said.

“For what though? Are we really just meant to do errands for our parents and survive being hunted by monsters?”

“Yena, there’s a lot more about this world that you don’t know. We must keep ourselves sharp just in case we have another world-ending threat,” Chaeyeon replied quietly.

“What do you mean by another?”

Chaeyeon chuckled. “You’ll find out eventually. For now, let’s just focus on getting the flag.”

As if on cue, the snap of a branch caused Yeji to hold her fist up- a sign for everyone to stop.

“Someone’s close…” she whispered just as an arrow whistled past her ear. Yena’s eyes darted around her for where the projectile could’ve come from, but there was too much foliage, far more than the amount that was on their side.

The group quickly formed a circle, backs turned to each other as they brandished their swords and shields. The silence was deafening.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the foliage receded to reveal a group of campers in attack formation. At the front was a peach-cheeked girl with blonde hair.

“Everyone, hold position!” Yeji ordered immediately after seeing the ambush.

The attackers pushed forward, and all hell broke loose. Swords clanged against shields as each camper found themselves in a deadly dance.

Unfortunately for Yena, she found herself going up against the head of the ambushers. She just managed to uncap her pen before her opponent’s sword sliced down on her.

“You’re good for a newbie!” The blonde girl bantered as they parried each other's attacks.Yena wanted to talk back, but it was taking all her focus not to end up getting skewered. For what Yena lacked in skill though, she made up for in strength. Her golden sword was slightly heavier than her adversary’s, and with a lucky twist of her weapon, Yena managed to flip the girl’s sword out of her hand.

“When it comes to swordplay, I’m no rookie,” said Yena confidently with her sword pointed right at her opponent’s chin.

To her surprise though, the girl smirked. “Well, good thing it’s not all about swords.”

Yena suddenly felt a root in the ground hook onto her leg and trip her.

With her sword back in hand, the blonde girl was the one with an advantage again. She was just about to swing her sword when a new person joined the fight.

“Yah, Hii-chan! That was a cheap trick!” Chaeryeong said as she blocked away the attack.

Yena scrambled away in shock.

She must be from the Demeter cabin. She thought. Surveying the area, it looked like her team was on the winning side, pushing the ambushers backwards.

With Yena’s adrenaline high, she wanted to get back into the fray only to realize her sword was not with her anymore. When she looked back at where she had been fighting, Yena saw her weapon on the ground. By the time she got close though, it felt like it teleported further away.

“Huh? What’s happening?” she mumbled as she tried to get closer again just for the sword to not get any closer.

This went on for another minute until Yena finally got to the sword and picked it up.

“Thank goodness…” Yena said before turning around and not seeing anyone from her team.

“What? Chaeyeon? Chaeryeong? Where are you?!” she called but received no response.

“They’re already further into the forest. You’re not catching them,” a new voice giggled from afar.

Yena spun in a circle, only to find herself face to face with Yuri. Next to her was another camper with short hair and large eyes. What was strange though was that in the woman’s hands was Yena’s golden sword.

“Yuri? What’re you doing here? Why does that girl have a copy of my sword?” Yena asked.

The new girl chuckled. “Look in your hands again.”

Yena did as instructed and realized that in her hands was a regular tree branch.

“Huh???” she reacted, dropping the branch on the ground.

“Gets them every time!” the short-haired girl laughed.

“Kkura-unnie, don’t rub it in too much,” Yuri said before facing Yena again.

“Don’t worry, Yena-unnie. Just wanted to play a prank on you. Since you’re disarmed now though, we will be taking you prisoner while Nako and her cabin snatch your flag.”

“Yah, not fair! I didn’t even get to fight that much!” Yena complained.

“All magical items are fair game, and Kkura being a child of Hecate means she can use her magic whenever she wants on the battlefield,” Yuri replied as a loud howl began echoing throughout the forest.

“Uh… I thought monsters weren’t allowed inside camp,” said Yena.

“Yes… they are.” Yuri now had her guard up. She pulled out her guitar, which shifted into a bronze sword, and held it out. Meanwhile, the girl named Kkura was holding Yena’s sword in her hands defensively. Yena, on the other hand, was defenseless.

The sound of a creature bounding through the forest got louder and louder until a flaming black dog the size of a horse appeared in front of the three girls. It quickly identified Yena and began charging towards her, running right by Yuri and Kkura.

“Yena!!” Yuri yelled worriedly as she morphed her sword into a bow and fired bronze-tipped arrows towards the canine. The hound was agile, though, as it managed to dodge all of the projectiles. Sakura began running towards Yena, but it looked like she was too far away.

Yena looked around frantically for any possible weapon she could use as defense, but she was pretty sure the stick she’d dropped was not going to be useful.

It looked like Yena was out of options when she suddenly felt a pull from within her, as if something was asking to be let out.

Yena didn’t know what this feeling was, but she didn’t have any alternatives at the moment. With a guttural scream, Yena pushed both hands forward, electricity firing out from them and towards the flaming dog that wanted her for lunch.

When the light cleared, all that remained of the monster was gray dust.

It was now Yuri’s turn to be surprised. “What… just happened?”

Before Yena could answer though, the sounds of cheering were heard.

“Yah, they got the flag! We have to stop them!” Yuri said in a panicked tone. Both she and the Kkura girl turned and ran back towards the main path.

Meanwhile, Yena walked over and picked up her golden sword again.

“And I have to stop them from stopping my team.”

~~~~

By the time Yena exited the forest into the open field, she could already see the girl Yeji referred to as Eunbi running towards the boundary with a large red flag in her hand. Yuri and Kkura were right on their tail.

Yena moved in to intercept, parrying away Yuri’s weapon just as Eunbi crossed the border, securing the victory for her team.

The entire blue team began jumping for joy as they began celebrating their win. Meanwhile, Nako’s team emerged from their side of the forest empty-handed. The child of Ares did not look happy.

“You okay? I heard an explosion back there.” Chaeyeon suddenly said from behind Yena.

“Yeah, just ran into something strange.” Yena said, scratching the back of her head.

Chaeyeon’s brow raised at this. “Strange? Like wh-”

Chaeyeon cut herself off, her gaze tilting upwards to something above Yena. “Oh my gods…”

“Don’t tell me…” All the cheering from the victory was quickly replaced with gasps. Yena had a feeling she knew what was happening but fought the urge to look up and check.

In the distance, she noticed Seunggi’s eyes widened as well when he noticed the spectacle.

Chaeyeon gulped. “Your father… is Zeus.”

 

A/N: Heya, heya, heya everyone! Back with another chapter! Pretty sure most of you expected this, but yes, Yena is a child of Zeus, meaning we know have the parentage of our 3 main characters! 

In the next chapter, we will be seeing how Ssamjin managed to defend against Nako and the Ares cabin. The story is finally starting to pick up and I'm excited for the next chapters.

Thank you so much for all the support through likes/votes and comments! Always means a lot to me.

Have a nice day, and I'll see y'all in the next one!