Going For Gold

//usual, If we can each the goal, I can make this a full time thing and keep pumping out four chapters a day. If you can, feel free to donate. No pressure though. We're making amazing progress. We're almost halfway there.

And would you look at that, we made it to $150. Let's try for $200 next.

2 more chaps on Patreon today if interested. I'll be posting more free chapters tomorrow so stay tuned.

Patre0n.com/ShadowDrev

Goal: $224/$400

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"Does it hurt anywhere?" Chiron asked as the white-haired youth shook the water out of his hair. Annabeth wasn't too fond of this and responded by throwing some water of her own. "You should feel some stiffness and a slight weakness. You were out for around two weeks-"

"I was unconscious for two full weeks?????" Chion glanced from the centaur director to the blonde girl with a look of incredulity. "That long. Why?!!"

"It's a miracle you're alive at all," Luke said, crossing his arms. "Could've been much worse."

Around an hour had passed since Chion had regained consciousness, and within that timeframe, the young man had managed to take a shower and change into a new pair of grey sweatpants and t-shirt. After a much needed cleaning and some food that Luke had been kind enough to bring in, Chion was pretty much back to full health, arguably even better than he had been prior to the scorpion incident. There were a number of other campers who had come to check in on him, such as Beckendorf, Eon, Merrick, and that one daughter of Aphrodite whom shot herself in the foot, but they all left soon after Chiron and company had walked in. Now, the youth was being told that he hadn't had anything to eat for over two weeks.

Well, they said unconscious, but the food was the more important aspect of that piece of information.

"What about the Hunters? How'd the Capture The Flag game go?"

Luke grinned from ear to ear. "Smoked 'em. Followed the plans you layed out to the tee. Buckled during the halfway mark. I tell you, they looked ready to kill us. Even set some cabins on fire as a result."

"They left a week ago. Artemis left a message for you before they departed." Chiron reached into the pocket of the vest he wearing and pulled out a small scrap of paper. "I haven't looked at it."

Filled with curiosity, Chion took the parchment and glanced it over. It was written in weird writing but he could somehow decipher it after a moment of struggling.

//You have much to learn Chion Pagos. Use that knife well and rise to the challenges that block your path. If you're dead, then never mind.//

(("Huh. She has a sense of humor. Thats surprising.")) Chion crumbled up the paper. (("Didn't think she could make jokes."))

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When the youths entourage had finally left, Chion decided that, after all that had happened to him as of late, it was finally time to lay out everything he knew and slap them onto the proverbial table. They had rested on the backburner for far too long.

With the pieces he had currently, he could fill out a good chunk of the mysterious puzzle that was his life. He was going for gold.

Starting from the beginning and working his way up.

Who was he? Who was Chion Pagos?

For starters, he was a demigod, a son of some divine deity with powers far beyond his own mortal comprehension. The reason he could do the things he did, see the monsters that attacked, the reason he even HAD monsters attacking him was because of this trait. The camp he was now a part of was dedicated to training and refining the skills of those half gods in order to defend themselves from the deadly beasts of mythical proportions. As for who Chion Pagos was and the backstory related to that, he couldn't conjure up any sort of answer, even based on context clues.

The reason for that being the gods themselves, at least according to Hestia.

For some unknown reason, the Greek gods known as Olympians had taken it upon themselves to snatch his memories from him before tossing him into the world with nothing. Granted, they did make things slightly better by offering up gifts such as Athena with her grey backpack, Artemis with Katavro, Hestia with her questions, and maybe the Festus ticket, though the last one was skeptical, but he still wasn't sure as to WHY they would do this. He didn't feel particularly special in any way, though he wouldn't know since they had taken his past from him. Even with the gifts, the gods were gonna have to have a pretty damn good explanation as to their goals and reasonings.

It wasn't even like they were keeping to themselves either. Two gods had conversed with him in under 24 hours, something he was sure wasn't standard.

That aside, what about his parents? His godly ones.

He could infer a few things from the abilities he possessed and what others had said. For one, Festus had said something interesting to him that day during the end of the taxi ride.

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"Good luck, Chion Pagos. Your father would be proud."

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The word 'would be' stood out in the cab drivers choice of phrasing, not even touching upon the fact that the probable god had even known who his father was. The new question that popped up was "Could gods die?", cause if not than odds are it probably wasn't his father that was the divine being. His father was an important figure for sure since even Festus had acknowledged him instead of whomever his mother was, but there was a decent percent chance his biological dad was just a regular old guy. Meaning as long as he could narrow down the list of female Greek deities, he could find out who his mother was.

(("Maybe something to do with ice and snow?")) Chion touched his finger to his chin as he readjusted his blue hoodie, having gotten it back after Annabeth had chucked it at his face. (("I need to start learning about the higher beings anyways. Guess it's as good a reason as any. I also need to play catch up on a number of things since I was unconscious."))

Jumping up from his spot, he made his way to the door, only to immediately bump into Annabeth, who had just been walking in.

"Oh, Annabeth. Whats up?" Chion sidestepped past her, hoisting his backpack up a tad higher. "Need something?"

The daughter of Athena didn't offer any sort of response, merely meeting his gaze, stormy grey eyes locked onto neon blue. It was like she was searching for something within his hues, it was definitely throwing him off as he closed the door to the Big House behind him. Annabeth had stared like this before but she had always walked away afterward. This time, she remained where she was, only tearing her gaze away after a minute or so.

"Do you remember what happened before you were poisoned?" She began to walk away, towards the forest off into the distance. Somehow, he knew exactly where she was heading. "Anything at all?"

"I called one of the scorpions diabetic," Chion responded.

"What?"

"Well technically I called his mom that. I also said that his mom drinks Pepsi." He tilted his head as he recalled his thoughts on the incident. "I was initially gonna call him an asparagus muncher and tell him he had no oreos left over. It didn't have the same ring to it."

In all of the white-haired youths' lifetime, he never expected to hear Annabeth laugh, yet thats exactly what happened after he finished talking. There he was being completely serious, and she was giggling uncontrollably, almost to the point of tears. Even when she finally stopped, she would just look at Chions' face and once again burst into laughter, clutching the sides of stomach. Eventually, Chion couldn't help but chuckle slightly as well, her genuine amusement illiciting a bit of joy. It was only after some time had passed that Annabeth finally managed to calm herself down. Just like before, she continued walking, Chion joining right behind her.

"Pepsi? Why Pepsi?" Annabeth stifled another laugh.

"Isn't that the inferior drink? Coke over Pepsi?" The youth shrugged. "Taste the same to me though. Scorpion and Pepsi are the inferior beings. I personally think grape juice and orange soda are better."

"You should drink more water. It's healthier."

"Don't have a favorite drink?" Chion asked as they passed a couple of campers taking potshots at the archery range. "One that isn't water?"

Annabeth hesitated for a second. "Root Beer. Has a nice taste."

"Ah, so you're one of THOSE people."

"And that means?"

"Inferior."

The two proceeded to go back and forth on the way to their intended destination, bickering over each other's likes and dislikes, occasionally calling each other names and bashing on various interests. Eventually, the conversation turned towards their individual strengths and journeys, what they had been up to and what they planned on doing to get better. Chion talked about the experiments he wanted to run and the things he planned to gain knowledge on such as the Greek gods and the mythology surrounding them. Annabeth talked about how she wanted to be an architect, to design buildings that could leave even the gods in awe. One of those plans was definitely a bit more lofty than the others.

"What's the first thing you want to learn about?" The blonde questioned as they entered into the treeline of the forest.

"Greek Fire." Chion didn't even hesitate. "It's creation. Volatility. Range per volume. Destructive capabilities. Things like that. It's a potent weapon that can change the tide of battle with even a vial of it. If I can craft some and keep some on me, my survival rate increases."

"Beyond survival?" Annabeth trekking by Zeus' Fist. "What about that?"

Chion thought about it for a second. "I guess trying to find a purpose for myself. I don't know what I want to do beyond finding out my past and living to see tomorrow. It feels like fate is constantly pressing me into a corner, wanting me to kick the bucket at almost every turn, even if I think I'm taking the right path."

"That's what it means to be a demigod," Annabeth said. "Things aren't easy for us but we need to keep moving. Things are always dangerous for us. Some of us need to he year rounders because of it."

Chion didn't reply.

"Okay. We're here." Annabeth stopped, staring dead ahead. "This is what I wanted to show you."

The youth stopped in his tracks, his hues ripping away from the blonde girl and onto the field in front of them. It was the field that he had passed out in, that much was clear. However, it was only clear because of the falling snow that decorated the area. A portion of the area was covered in ice and flakes of powdery white, the sky above it covered with unmoving clouds. Sitting dead center of it all, at the very center was a frozen scorpion