I laid in the mud, my face turned to the side and staring off into the woods. Glancing over, I could see my rapier crudely stabbed into the ground, protruding from the earth at an angle. The clouds thundered over head as rain poured down on me. I could barely breathe, forget moving, my body ached so badly from the battle I had fought and won. To some, battling mythical monsters would be something unheard of. For me, it's happened nearly every day for the past five or six centuries. I held my stomach and groaned in pain, wincing at the sight of scarlet blood seeping through my tattered clothes. I've lived for so long now... will today finally be the day I die? No... that's right. I can't die. My pact with mother Hestia has kept me alive for centuries now. Immortality is the only thing stopping me from slipping away from all this pain. As I began drifting in and out of consciousness, I began seeing visions of my past life, my first life. 

I was abandoned as a baby by the gate's of a temple. People back then were cruel. They didn't know the value of life. They could have left me to die if they wanted to, but the vestal s didn't do that. They brought me in and cared for me, taking me under their wing. My entire life I lived there in the temple of Hestia. The s treated me like their own daughter, giving me the love I would have ever needed. I never interacted with other kids much, and I never strayed too far from the temple, less it was to shop for things the temple needed. I spent my days indoors, cleaning, praying, cooking, and what not. My main job was to tend to the hearth of the temple, making sure it's flame continued burning or else I'd bring shame to the vestal s. Occasionally I would be able to see the s practicing and training the abilities they've received from Hestia. I'd watch them dance with fire in hand, play with coals, and walk through fire as if it were nothing. Not only that but they could wield swords and daggers, bows and arrows, and other weapons of war. The s were not only beautiful and immortal but dangerous. 

By the time I turned thirteen, the s brought me before the hearth and called upon Hestia asking her to grant me the same life that was granted upon them. That day, I was offered an eternal contract with the goddess. I would offer myself to her as one of her followers in exchange for immortality and special abilities. Without hesitation, I accepted the contract and thus began my life as a vestal . She warned me, however, that if I were to break our promise and lose my ity, I would be stripped of my title as a vestal and reincarnated as human again. Hestia would take away abilities, my immortality, and whatever memory I had as a vestal , replacing them with normal human memories instead. 

As time went on, so did I. I moved from place to place, never stopping to look back at anything. Every lifetime or so, I would change appearance to match the time and place, another attribute to being a vestal . After Greece had fallen, I fled. I had no idea what may have happened to the women I called my family. For all I knew, I could have been the last vestal left, but I surpressed that thought, hoping one day I'll meet them again. 

I never did meet another vestal again. By the twenty-first century, I'd given up. I had changed appearance once again and took the alias Yoo Jiae. This year I am twenty-one. I was a top student in my class, even with my learning disabilities. I did okay in sports but I did more than well in home economics. I had knowledge that no other student could have ever possessed, because the things they were learning about, I was around to experience. They would always tell me I'd go far in life, but I'd scoff. I'd already gone so far in many different lives, it's a shame I haven't felt the sting of not being unable to start your life over again. But none of that mattered at the moment. What mattered was I was cold, I was injured, and I had no way of getting to help. To make matters worse, I was out in the open where more monsters could come and hurt me further. Before my mind blanked out due to exhaustion and pain, I heard the sound of footsteps, the growls of wolves, and the blurry outlines of people. Gathering up what was left of my energy, I whispered to them, "Help me."

------------

When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring up a white ceiling. There was a crisp, linen blanket pulled up to my chin. The sound of an humidifier hissed next to my ear and the sunlight poured in through the window. I groaned and slowly sat up, biting my lip as I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. "Where am I?" I asked, looking around and immediately locking eyes with a young man sitting at a desk at the front of the room. 

His eyes widened slightly as he made eye contact with me before his expression softened into a friendly smile. "Oh, you're awake," he replied, standing up and placing his pen and clipboard down. "I didn't expect you to wake up so early." He straightened up his white lab coat and walked towards me, taking a seat in the chair by my bedside. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he leaned on his knees, hands clasped and placed under his chin.

I quirked a brow at him, slowly moving away from him to the other side of the bed. I gasped slightly as my body ached, jerking away when the stranger reached out to help me. "Don't touch me," I hissed, glaring at him. "Who are you? Where am I? How long have I been asleep?"

He chuckled slightly and placed his hands up defensively before folding them across his chest and leaning back in his chair. "My name is Kim Seokjin, or Jin for short. I'm a son of Apollo and the assisstant nurse here. The head nurse just stepped out so I'm taking over for her until she comes back. You're currently in Olympus Academy's clinic recovering from a battle you had. It was quite a battle, too, from what I saw when we examined your wounds. And don't fret, you're in no harm here. You've been asleep for almost three days, Cassandra."

My eyes widened at his words, jaw slightly agape. "W-where did you get that name?"

He looked at me in confusion, reaching into his pocket and taking out a pocketknife. "Isn't this yours? The name Cassandra Nikas was carved into the handle," he smiled. "Or should I say hilt?" He flicked the knife open and it magically expanded before our eyes into a full length rapier. The handle even disappeared, turning into an intricate hilt with thin, curved assets. "Might I say, this is one of the finest pieces of celestial bronze weaponry I have ever seen."

"Give me that!" I shouted, snatching the rapier away from him and returning it to it's pocketknife form. I grabbed him by the collar and forcefully jerked him forward, flicking the knife out, though it remained a normal pocketknife this time. Holding the knife close to him, I narrowed my eyes at him, snarling slightly. "Now you listen here, and you listen well, Seokjin. I demand you realease me from this clinic and return me to where I was. Or else." I pressed the knife closer to his neck, grazing his skin slightly as scarlet blood began seeping from the graze.

Jin simply chuckled before suddenly emitting a spark of light from his hands, blinding me and send me flying backwards into the headboard of my bed. I whimpered in pain as I slammed into the wooden frame and sunk back into bed as my knife went skidding across the tiled floor. "You know, it's not nice to threaten people you'd just met," he said as he walked over to pick the knife up, tucking it back in his pocket. He walked over to a cabinet by his desk and took out an air-tight container. Removing the lid, he took out a small cube of some sort before replacing the container and walking over to my side again. "Here, eat this. Now that you're awake, you can probably swallow this without choking on it." 

I stared at the cube in disgust, looking at him suspiciously. "What is this?" I asked, sniffing it.

"Ambrosia."

I stared at him in surprise. Ambrosia? I'd only known this to be used by the vestal s back when we still lived together. They'd eat this after they dueled and became injured or sick. It was said to heal demigods and immortals but turn the bones of mortals to sand. I quickly jerked my head back up and looked at Jin, pursing my lips tightly. "How do I know you haven't poisoned this?"

Jin raised a brow at my accusations before taking the cube from me. "If you're not going to willingly eat it by yourself," he smirked and placed the cube between his lips, getting far too close to my face as he leaned it. "Would you like me to feed it to you with my own lips?"

I screamed and took the cube from his lips, shooing him away before swallowing the cube in one gulp. It burned as it went down but left a pleasant after taste in my mouth. I blinked and at the taste, a sudden wave of nostalgia passing over me. Tastes like sister Selene's honey, chamomile tea... Jin chuckled and grinned contently, leaning on his desk with folded arms. "What are you so content about?" I snapped, irritated by that look on his face. 

"That was an indirect kiss," he snickered.

"Was not!" I shouted, throwing a pillow at him.

"Was, too!" He laughed, blocking the pillow. "And calm down. It's not like that's the first time someone's used their lips to give you something."

"What is that supposed to mean? You don't know me. How would you know if that's happened or not?"

He smiled slyly, walking over to the window. "You see, you were found in the woods by a clan of Artemis' hunters who were headed to the academy. Seeing you badly injured, they thought you wouldn't make it to the academy in time. The only way to help you feel a bit better was to give you nectar, but you weren't able to swallow it. So, one of the hunters... the boys, you see, decided he'd help you out. And by the looks of it..." He smirked, watching as the last of the hunters enter the clinic from downstairs. "He should be here in about three, two, one. Jjang!" Jin pointed to the door just as another young man with blonde hair entered the room. He wore the school uniform, though he had a silver bow and quiver strapped to his back. His eyes rounded in surprise at seeing me. He smiled and waved.

"Hey, you're awake," he said, grinning. "Great!"

I furrowed my brows angrily and blushed, turning a deep red before getting up, standing on top of the bed. 

"What are you doing? You're hurt--" He said, holding his arms out as if he would catch me.

"You," I growled, pointing at him accusingly. "Give me back my first kiss!" I screamed and pounced on him, grabbing his collar and shaking him. "Jerk!"

I, Cassandra Nikas, have been alive for more than five centuries, and my first kiss was just stolen by a random offspring of Artemis. What did I do to deserve this?