“Can this thing slow down???” Chaewon yelled as their chariot sped down the road towards who knew where.

“If you want to stay behind and fight those monsters on your own, be my guest!” Nako replied, her voice barely audible through all the background noise. Chaewon snuck a look behind them and saw a pack of flying humanoid figures right on their tail.

“Uhh, what are those things?” Yujin asked.

“Harpies too? You girls must be really important if everyone is after you,” Nako said, letting go of the chariot reins to pick up a bow, not seeming to care how they began careening off the street.

Chaewon’s eyes widened before grabbing onto the reins in order to regain control. “Yah! Are you crazy?”

Nako smirked as she shot down the harpies one by one with bronze-tipped arrows. “First rule of demigod training- make yourself useful or die trying.”

“Half-bloods? Demigods? What are any of those words supposed to mean!” Yujin asked, looking even more confused than she was compared to earlier. Chaewon, on the other hand, didn’t have time to continue her queries as she desperately tried to keep the chariot steady. She’d never ridden one of these before, much less one pulled by skeletal horses, but for some reason, the longer she held on, the more in control she became.

“So, where are we going?” Chaewon tried to ask.

“Just let the horses do their thing. They know our destination.” Nako replied, still shooting the harpies. Every time an arrow would connect, the poultry-sized figures would explode into dust.

~~~~

After about ten minutes, the path shifted from asphalt to dirt. Though Chaewon had never been in the area before, something about it was pulling her like a magnet. From the look on Yujin’s face, she probably felt the same.

As if reading their minds, Nako, who had retaken the reins, spoke up. “Camp Half-Blood. That’s where we’re going. It’s a safe haven for demigods, like us.”

“Like us? Are you sure you have the right people?” Yujin replied.

“You could see the monsters, right? That’s enough of a confirmation to know that you’re at least not normal.” Chaewon had been called a weirdo many times in school, but this is the first time she’d heard it in a non-derogatory manner.

The trio continued their travel in silence for another five minutes until a large hill appeared on the horizon. Unfortunately, it seemed they had company waiting for them. There was a large group of monsters gathered on the hill which included the ones they’d seen earlier like the giants and the women with the mismatched feet.

“They really don’t know when to quit…” Nako muttered, slowing down the chariot until it came to a complete stop. “We’re going to have to fight our way up.”

“With what exactly? Chaewon and I are empty-handed,” Yujin said. The short girl let out a sigh before fishing through her bag. Eventually, her hand came out with a couple daggers and a short sword.

“Take your pick.” If the group of monsters weren’t barreling down towards them, Chaewon would’ve asked why Nako had so many weapons in her bag. As it was, they didn’t have much time, so Chaewon grabbed hold of the two daggers, leaving Yujin to take the sword.

From the jump, it didn’t appear that Nako needed their help at all. Any monster that got close would immediately be speared right through the chest and explode into dust. She looked like a master at her craft.

With the amount of monsters though, it didn’t take long for some of the smarter ones to turn their attention to Chaewon and Yujin instead.

“Uh… you know how to use these things?” Chaewon asked her friend who was holding her sword forward.

“It’s a sharp stick. How hard could it be?” Yujin replied as a blemmyae rushed in for an attack. Yujin reacted quickly, stepping back and jabbing her sword right into the monster’s chest.

“Nice one!” Chaewon cheered before seeing a harpy dive out of the sky behind the younger girl.

“Yujin, duck!” she then warned as she threw one of her two daggers and scored a direct hit on the winged-creature.

With their confidence a bit higher now, the two girls jumped into the fray with Nako. Their inexperience began to show quickly though when having to face multiple adversaries at once. With every monster they struck down, two more would take their place. Eventually, Chaewon was caught off guard and struck from behind by a laistrygonian giant.

“Unnie!” Yujin called, but there were too many monsters between her and her friend. The giant stood over Chaewon now, its lips, and Chaewon did not like where this was going at all.

Right as the giant reached down to grab her though, a voice yelled from above. It was the girl from earlier who they only knew as Lee. She was floating in the sky, winged-shoes fluttering on her feet.

“Get away from her!” she demanded as she dove downwards from the sky, driving her bronze sword right into the giant’s eye. The giant grabbed at its face, yelling some very unfriendly words before Chaeyeon put it out of its misery, taking a dagger from her belt and stabbing the giant in the groin.

“You okay?” she asked as she pulled Chaewon up.

“Yeah… thanks,” Chaewon replied, still in a daze at everything that was happening. She didn’t even realize there was monster dust all over her face.

Lee then turned to Nako who was still in the middle of five blemmyae. “Yah, Nako! I can’t believe you left me alone at the campus!”

“We needed the newbies back at camp as soon as possible! Besides, I knew you’d be fine, Chaeyeon.” Nako replied casually in between spearing the monsters around her, as if this was something they did often.

“Let’s wrap this up and head inside then!” the girl, who they now knew as Chaeyeon, said before a deep bellow began echoing throughout the hillside.

On the horizon was a large figure, its size similar to the giants they’d been fighting. This monster was different though. Even in the distance, Chaewon could see two large horns protruding on the sides of its bull shaped head.

“Oh gods… the minotaur,” Chaeyeon murmured as the monster bellowed again, getting ready to charge.

Nako drew her bow and fired an arrow directly at the beast, but it glanced right off its tough hide.

“Yeah, we need to get in. Now,” the short girl said, ushering Yujin towards the top of the hill. From Chaewon’s view, the second Yujin reached the top, she disappeared, as if she’d walked past an invisible barrier.

Chaewon didn’t get much time to reflect on this though as the Minotaur was closing in. Chaeyeon rushed forward in an attempt to protect Chaewon, but the monster was quicker than she’d thought. The minotaur dodged the attack and grabbed Chaeyeon’s arm before swinging her across the field.

“Chaeyeon!” Chaewon shrieked. She was now alone, and if two skilled fighters like Nako and Chaeyeon couldn’t defeat this monster, she was not getting her hopes up that she’d put up a better fight.

Still, she had to try and protect her newfound companion. Chaeyeon had saved her twice already after all.

As the minotaur sauntered over to where Chaeyeon had landed, Chaewon yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Hey ugly! Over here!” This seemed to get the intended effect as the minotaur slowly turned in her direction.

“Yeah, you! I’m the one you’re after, right?” Chaewon taunted. She could almost see the smoke coming out of the monster’s ears as it began to charge towards her.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion now. The words from Chaewon’s dream began whispering again in her head.

If she is to be ready, she must survive the trial that awaits her.

Chaewon didn’t know what came over her, but she instinctively started raising her hands forward. She could feel an energy building up from the ground and coursing through her body.

In the corner of her eye, Chaewon noticed Chaeyeon finally getting up and frantically waving her arms.

“Chaewon! Don’t do it!” she shouted.

With the minotaur now only a few meters away though, Chaewon figured she had no other options. At least if she failed, she would’ve bought time for Chaeyeon to escape.

Chaewon dug deep into the power she was feeling and let out a defiant yell, a dark aura pulsating around her vicinity. The closer the minotaur got, the slower it became. With every step, the beast’s entire body began withering away until all that was left of it was bones.

In the distance, Chaewon could see a crowd had gathered up on the hill. They were dressed in old-fashioned armor, looking ready for a fight. They were all now sharing the same face Chaeyeon had now though- utter shock.

“What’s wrong? I beat the monster, right?” Chaewon said, not exactly sure what to make of the situation. She could barely process the last thirty seconds as it was. Now that she looked around her, she realized that she was standing in the middle of a patch of dead flowers and grass.

“Hades…” Chaeyeon muttered while pointing at something above Chaewon’s head, but with the sheer silence now covering the hillside, everyone could hear the name she had dropped.

Chaewon gingerly looked up, not knowing what to expect. Above her was something she could only describe as a hologram projection of a dark helmet engulfed in purple flames.

Before she could think more though, Chaewon was overcome with a heavy wave of tiredness. She could just make out Chaeyeon running towards her as her eyes shut and she fell down.

~~~~

When Chaewon woke up, she found herself in a room with wooden walls. With the empty white beds around her, she assumed it must’ve been a clinic. On her right was a table where a large horn was sitting.

So that wasn’t a crazy dream. Chaewon thought disappointedly. That meant she and Yujin really did run away from campus on a chariot pulled by skeleton horses and fought a bunch of monsters.

Chaewon scanned her surroundings from right to left until her eyes landed on a girl sitting on the bed next to her who was looking at her inquisitively. She had long caramel-colored hair cascading over her shoulders and deep brown eyes. As for her attire, the girl was wearing jeans and a bright orange t-shirt that Chaewon couldn’t decipher just yet. On her neck was a piece of string with a single bead hanging on it.

“Oh, you’re awake,” she said, averting her eyes to make it look like she hadn’t been staring.

“Where… am I?” Chaewon asked groggily.

“This is Camp Half-Blood, the Korean branch anyway. You sure put on a display at the border- I mean, I wouldn’t know. I didn’t get to see it.” The girl replied quickly, stumbling a bit over her words before composing herself again.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions. Usually, one of the veteran campers would be assigned to show you around, but none of them seemed too… eager.” she continued.

“And you were?” Chaewon said sarcastically. She wasn’t exactly new to the feeling of being avoided. She would’ve figured that she’d get some kind of welcoming committee after waking up for defeating that big monster but no dice.

“Well, as a daughter of Athena, it’s my job to be curious. We’ve never had a daughter of Hades before after all.” The girl explained.

“Okay, okay, how about we start there. Hades? As in the god of the dead? You’re also saying you’re a daughter of Athena- the goddess of wisdom?” Chaewon replied, jumping at the chance to finally talk about the things confusing her.

“You seem to be knowledgeable on Greek mythology.” The girl commented.

“Heh, call it a lucky guess.” Chaewon didn’t know why she lied, but she did. Her mother had actually acted in a show where she had to play Persephone, wife of Hades, when Chaewon was a kid, and in her free time, she would share stories to Chaewon on all the Greek myths she’d come across in the scripts.

“Well, in any case, it’s always easier to get acclimated to this world when you already know your stuff. Before I go into more depth though, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Kim Minju.” The girl said with a polite bow.

“Kim Chaewon, but I guess you already figured it out.” Chaewon chuckled which caused Minju to let out a giggle as well.

“My friend, Ahn Yujin, was also with me when I arrived. Would you happen to know where she is?” Chaewon then asked.

Minju thought for a second, her nose scrunching up in a way that Chaewon found cute. “She should be with Chaeyeon right now at the Hermes cabin. We can meet up with them in a bit.”

Before they could continue their conversation, a loud horn began to blow, its volume echoing across the camp grounds. Minju perked up at this.

“The arrival horn,” she said. “Your other friend must have arrived with Yuri.”

“Oh, really? Let’s head out then.” Chaewon replied in a relieved tone. This ‘camp’ may have been new ground for her, but knowing that Yujin and Yena would be alongside her made her just a bit less apprehensive. Despite this, she couldn’t help but think about the other exchange in her dream from the night before though.

“How about the others?”

“They are someone else’s concern…”

Chaewon had a hunch that her friends may have been the people being referred to, and she was going to find out really soon what this mess was about.

 

A/N: Hi everyone, and welcome back to another chapter! I'm actually on a vacation right now haha, but I've been writing this in the hotel room during the nights. If you want to keep up with what's happening outside my writing, my twitter account is @TofuBeagle22! Hope y'all enjoyed the reveal of Chaewon's lineage and the little fight sequence I made on half-blood hill. Those were fun to write. Also, 2kim's first meeting!

Next chapter will be Yujin's POV before Yena arrives where we'll get more insight on how the camp works. Please look forward to it!

Anyways, I won't make this A/N too long. Thank you for reading and supporting the story through liking and commenting. It's honestly insane to me how many people are reading this story. Always going to be thankful for y'all!

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