Chapter 7

POV: Perseus Heitor Jackson

Just after Hephaestus left:

As soon as Hephaestus left, Aphrodite fell to the ground, crying loudly, it was a sad scene. Artemis, Dionysus, Hermes, Demeter, Apollo and even Ares left without even going to talk to her, without saying a word of support to her. Even though I knew some of her stories, I couldn't see a woman crying and do nothing, just stand here and watch without helping her. I didn't know what to do, but I knew that a hug helps make everything better, so I hugged her, she looked at me frightened and asked tearfully:

"I thought you hated me too." She said, still crying. I nodded and said:

"I don't hate you, I just don't agree with your actions and I'm sorry for what I'm about to say, but you deserved it." I said firmly, and she agreed, crying even more.

"I know I deserve it, and I think I only realized what I had after I lost, I love that idiot blacksmith. But I think I'm going to do as he said, suffer for his love now..." She squeezed me against her, crying loudly, I was a bit dazed, not knowing what to do.

"Hey Lady Aphrodite, I think you can win him back, try at least, if you really love him, you'll try, even though I don't understand anything about love, my mother used to say that if you love something, you have to fight for it, with all your might." I said seriously, remembering my sweet mother's words, and I held myself back from crying. Aphrodite nodded in response and gave me a kiss on the cheek, I blushed again and continued talking. "I think you should start with your actions, like stop cheating on him, and treat him as you should, with love, respect and loyalty. Everything will work out, at least that's what I think." I finally said.

"Thank you, my dear." She replied in a tearful voice. I nodded slowly and started to walk away, to talk to my father, and I saw Hera going to welcome Aphrodite, she seemed to want to help her. My father was talking to Athena seriously, I stared at her for a while, she was so much like my mother, I didn't realize it but a few tears came down my cheeks, she noticed and came towards me and knelt down in front of me and wiped them away with her fingertips, and smiled fondly:

"I'm sorry, Lady Athena..." She interrupted me with a hug and a long kiss on the cheek. And said:

"Don't call me Lady, you can call me Athena or Grandma, if you prefer of course, I'll be very happy with that." She said, smiling, and I nodded, smiling at her words. I felt loved, almost as much as my dear mother used to say that to me. "And don't cry and don't even think about apologizing, it wasn't your fault that my daughter died, you did everything you could to help her. I'm proud of you, my little Percy."

"But I failed, and she died, because of me ....." I was interrupted by a light slap on my head, she looked at me seriously, her eyes were serious, and she said in her imposing voice.

"Stop it Perseus Heitor Jackson, it wasn't your fault last time, and if you do something stupid like confront Zeus again, I'll ground you. Understand?" She was more frightening than my mother when she was angry, after all, she was my mother's mother, so my mother had someone to pull on, Lady Athena even said my whole name, better to nod and keep quiet, that's what I did to her words. "Good, don't follow your father's fish-headed example and act on impulse all the time." My father, who was watching the discussion seriously, smiled a little and kept quiet. Athena continued. "You should be proud, you're the first demigod to stay here on Olympus while still being a mortal and let's just say that you've already conquered several gods, even Zeus, and earned his blessing."

"I'm happy about that, I feel honored and everything." I said seriously, looking at her. "But I still don't understand what the "blessing of a God" is for."

"Let's say you gain the blesser's spheres of power, on a lower level, of course." She saw the look of astonishment and confusion on my face and continued to explain calmly. "Well, as you are a demigod, you gain divine powers from your father or mother, and as you are the son of the fish-head, you have his powers, control with liquids, especially salt water, and speak with horses and marine and aquatic animals, breathe underwater and can make earthquakes and more." I was wide-eyed, listening to all that, I couldn't believe I could do all that. "Since you're my grandson, you get some skills too, you talk to owls and command them, you have very sharp eyesight, and you can control and give people severe headaches, you're intelligent and wise, wise, understand? No acting on impulse." I nodded seriously at his words. "And now with Zeus' blessing, you have his powers, for example, you can control electricity, winds, flying, and various other things that Zeus will teach you, like me and Poseidon. We mustn't forget that you also have the blessing of Heracles' strength, which is the only way you could have broken the Minotaur's sturdy horns, having absurdly incredible strength, comparable to that of a god or greater."

"WOW, that's really cool." I said excitedly. "Can I really do all this?" I asked in amazement.

"Yes, but you need a lot of practice." She smiled seriously. "With the right training, study and daily improvement, you can do everything and more."

---- Break ----

The day passed normally, or as normally as could be, with me talking to Hera in her palace, she treats me like a son, always scolding me and spoiling me, I kind of like her, and she seems to like me, my first training session tomorrow will be with my grandmother. I lay down on my bed and analyzed my room, it was huge, and Hera discovered that I like green, it was almost all green, the pillows, everything, and it had a giant TV with thousands of channels from all over the world, from what Hera told me Hephaestus himself had made it, it had a huge suite, it was incredible, but I still missed sleeping with my mother, in our little room in the cottage in Montauk, the warmth of her arms, her sweet, gentle voice, telling me the most diverse stories about our world, about the gods, about the missions she had done in her youth, it was inevitable not to cry in my room, I cried as soon as I was alone. I decided to go to sleep soon, I forced myself to close my eyes and swallow my tears, even though it hurt too much, because my day tomorrow is going to be full, because my training is starting, I'm looking forward to it, I'm going to do my best and I'm not going to let anyone else die, especially not because of me.

---- Break ----

I woke up long before the agreed time, in fact I hardly slept at all, Hera said that Athena would pick me up at 6.30 a.m. At 5.10 a.m. I was already up and about, I took a long shower, I loved the water, especially the sea water, so I took my time in the shower and then I did my personal hygiene, I put on simple clothes, black jeans and a black t-shirt. I went downstairs to Hera's palace and found her waiting for me in the kitchen, she was reading a book, wearing a simple blue dress and pink slippers. She saw me and smiled, I smiled back and she said:

"Did you fall out of bed?"

"Actually, I didn't sleep very well." I could see a look of concern and sadness in Hera's eyes, I didn't want the heavy atmosphere to continue, so I went ahead and said: "Much on my mind, but I'm looking forward to the training."

"Good, then eat well, because an empty bag can't stand up." She said smiling at me, I obeyed her and ate a lot, as much as I could swallow and as quickly as I could, she looked at me astonished but happy at my appetite, as I had been eating very little for the last few days. "You eat a lot, that's good."

"Well, it's going to be a busy day today." I said smiling, she ruffled my hair smiling, Lady Hera, she was very docile and gentle, I continued eating in silence and a curiosity struck me, a question formed in my head. "Yes, I'm sorry, Lady Hera." She looked at me angrily, I'd forgotten that she doesn't like to be called that. "Eee.... Hera, what did you tell Zeus at the meeting so that he wouldn't kill me?"

"Well." She smiled at my question. "I told him: 'If you hurt him, if you even touch him, I'll tear away his most precious possession' I said a few more things, but you're not old enough to understand that yet, so you'd better let him grow up a bit more." She said, smiling at me.

"And what precious possession would that be? Jewelry? Cars?" I asked curiously, then I remembered the story my mother had told me about Zeus' Master Bolt. "I know, his Master bolt." I said seriously, she laughed at me and said:

"It's not that kind of precious possession, my dear, but another kind of precious possession, precious to men in general." I didn't understand what that meant. "Ask him when you're training." She said at last, and I nodded and got up and started walking out of the kitchen, but before I left, she asked me. "Where are you going? It's still early, young man. Athena said she'd come at 6:30 to pick you up for your training."

"I'm just going to walk around Olympus and see what I haven't seen yet, there are so many beautiful places." I shrugged, and in response she looked at me reproachfully and said:

"No, no." She said quickly. "You're going to wait here, sitting in that chair." My mother wasn't that bossy, she used to let me play on the beach or in the street in front of the house.

"My mother let me walk alone, I'm quite big now." I said seriously, Hera looked at me sternly.

"I'm not your mother, and you're in my house, you'll follow my rules, so obey me or I'll tell Poseidon." She said seriously, and I sat back down in my chair, sulking, with my arms crossed in front of my chest and pouting. "There's no shrugging and being ugly, understand, young man?" I nodded dejectedly at her rebuke. Then I had an idea, to make a pouty face with a pout, it always worked with my mother, as she herself said: "It's impossible to deny you anything, my darling." So I made the pouty face, Hera laughed, and tried to be serious, but she couldn't, and said laughing. "And you can undo that beak there, because I'm not going to give in so easily."

"Yes, you will, just insist a little more." I thought to myself and continued to force my pout.

"Stop it now, Perseus Heitor Jackson." She said slightly annoyed, I've seen that I've lost, Mrs. Hera really wasn't like my mother.

"Oh sh...." I said defeated, about to swear. But before I could finish, I was interrupted by a slap, I looked back and saw Athena, she was wearing a white tunic and had her hair down and sandals on. Damn, everyone wants to control me? What else?

"Don't even think about swearing, young man." Said Athena seriously, giving me a scolding. "Especially around ladies."

"That's good, that's good." I said sulkily, getting laughs from the goddesses, what's the point of knowing gods if they keep making fun of you and bossing you around, and besides, I can't do anything about it.

"Good morning Hera." Said Athena with a smile, which was reciprocated by another from Hera, she looked at me and said. "Good that you're not the sleepy, lazy type." Athena concluded with a smile. "I see you're ready to start training, so shall we?" I nodded and stood up quickly, waved my hand at Hera and left after my grandmother.

"What exactly are we going to train for, Grandma? Your powers or are we going to study mythology?" I asked enthusiastically, I love studying and I also want to learn how to fight with my powers.

"Both. But first I'm going to teach you my skills." She said seriously, although her eyes sparkled a little. "I'll tell you some of my abilities, first, you can speak and command the owls, you can see in the dark and very far away, over time you can make your opponent imagine things, create powerful illusions, for example in the middle of battle, you imagine a dragon helping you and your opponent will think he's facing a dragon, but this only works with unbalanced and weak-minded people, or rather, people weaker than you, you'll be able to give extra strength to your allies in battle, I'll teach you how to handle a shield like no one else, no one will be able to lie to you except in love of course, that's not my area, and I'll teach you to study a lot, the more you know about your opponents, the greater your advantage will be, there are attributes that only the best warriors have, learn to have, such as being a great strategist, calm, focused, centered, silent, unwavering, respect and humility." She said seriously, staring at me. "So let's start with the simplest, the power and ability to talk to owls and in time command them. I'm going to give you a special owl, she'll stay here on Olympus, but she'll help you whenever you need it." We had just arrived at Athena's palace, it was beautiful, huge, but we didn't go inside the house, we went outside, to another side door. As we walked, Athena continued to explain to me about my gift. "She comes from a special breed, who only obey me, they become gigantic, about 3 meters tall, and from one wing to the other more than 10 meters." I was excited by her explanation, did I really have such an incredible animal? Cool. "She'll be totally loyal to you, and will give her life to protect you, so respect her, she feeds herself and everything, so you don't have to help her, she's as intelligent as an ordinary human, in fact they're even more intelligent than ordinary people. Well, this is the one." She picked up a little white owl with green eyes, it must have been about 15 cm tall. The owl looked at me and said in my mind.

"Hello, I'm Pandora. You must be young Perseus."

"Incredible." I exclaimed in amazement at what I was hearing in my mind, I didn't know I could do something like that. "Young? Hey, you talk as if you were much older than me, and as if you weren't six inches tall."

"I'm a few hundred years old, my young master." Pandora replied in my mind.

"aahhh... I'm sorry"

"No need to apologize." 

"Well, from what my grandmother explained to me, you become small and giant when necessary, correct?" I concluded my question by asking.

"Exactly, do you want to see me at my normal size?"

"I certainly do." I answered excitedly. Suddenly it began to glow faintly, a whitish light, which began to gain in brightness and size and soon it was a giant white owl, literally giant, over 3 meters tall. "Incredible."

"She'll serve you, whenever and wherever you need her, Percy." Said Athena next to me, I'd forgotten her there. "But don't forget what I've already told you, treat her very well, because she'll give her life to protect you, they're from a breed called Giant Snowy Owls, and although you'd think that because they're naturally from cold places, they'd be bothered by the heat in the USA, the answer is no, they're not bothered by the heat, they're incredibly well adapted to any environment, they can stay for days in the hottest deserts, without water or food, they're strong and resistant, and very fast in flight, around 200 km/h. And now that you have this link with Pandora, you'll always be able to communicate mentally over long distances"

"I get it. It will be great to have such an incredible companion. Pandora, it's an honor." I bowed.

"Of course not my lord, the honor is all mine." Pandora replied in my mind.

"I've seen that you'll be good friends, now come on Percy, it's time for some real training."

---- Break ----

All morning until lunchtime, I trained with Athena, she taught me strategies from books written by herself, she showed and talked about ancient myths, about monsters and other gods, various things that my mother hadn't taught me yet, she taught me how to use her powers, I can already see perfectly in the dark, even though a week ago I had a hard time getting out of bed in the dark. Pandora was always around, they helped me a lot and then I was able to fly all over Olympus with Pandora, it was incredible, Olympus was such a beautiful place, so many colors, scents. Now I'm at lunch with Hera, she's made delicious food, so even though I had a very hearty breakfast, I ate a lot at lunch too. Soon Apollo and Ares will come to train me in hand-to-hand combat and archery, I haven't used my powers with the sea and the skies yet, I'm going to study with Zeus in the evening, it seems that Ares and Zeus are also going to teach me how to use the Force of Heracles, at least that's what I understood from my grandmother's explanation.

"Hey boy, shall we go?" Said Ares arriving, he was dressed like every time you see him, black leather jacket and red shirt, black leather pants and black leather boots, very stylish.

"Let's go, Lord Ares." I said respectfully, he smiled with satisfaction at my words of respect, but said:

"No formalities, just Ares is fine with me." He left, I followed him, we walked and talked, about random things, until we came to a huge arena, it looked like a Colosseum, I think it was one.

"Cool." I smiled, Ares just shrugged and said:

"Well, I should start by teaching you the moves, but I think the best way to learn is through pain and bloodshed." He said seriously, and stared at my face, waiting for me to react with fear, but I was hoping to do the impossible in this training, because I know that powers help, but in the end all we have left is strength and will, in other words, hand-to-hand combat. Besides, I'm not afraid of pain. "Good. I can see in your eyes that you're not afraid of pain. That's a start and you've already passed the first lesson, so I'm going to teach you what, in my opinion, a warrior should be taught first, before fighting with weapons. Fighting without weapons, with fists, punches and kicks to all areas of the body are allowed, understand?" I nodded seriously. "Good, because no opponent will feel sorry for you, and don't expect or show sympathy for an opponent, that could be your biggest mistake, so remember, always keep your guard up. Ready?" I nodded again, but I was too slow to predict what would happen next, but I expected an opponent more for my size, but no, I only saw a fist of a man of almost 2 meters hitting my face, I flew away, I had lost several teeth for sure.

"So let's go." I said, spitting the blood that was in my mouth onto the floor of the Colosseum, along with two teeth. 

POV: Ares

This boy is going to be great, I expected to cry after that punch, but he proved to be a true warrior, a great warrior, he got up spitting blood and teeth, with a face full of determination, but not a determination to hate me, a determination to show himself and never give up, a very strong gleam of will in his sea green eyes, this boy left me very impressed, with only 1 minute of training, he is worthy of being trained by me, more than most of my children, so I, the God of Bloody War, will teach this promising boy a few things. He came running at me, punching and kicking, but not in a crazy, unscrupulous way, he came fighting in an intelligent, calculated way, he tried to take me out of combat, but his body was still too weak and slow, I dodged until he made a very big mistake, and I hit him with a kick to the face, he went flying, and I'm sure he broke a few bones with the impact on the column of the coliseum, he groaned in pain and spat blood again, but he got up slowly, surprising me again and came at me. Although he was small, his blows were clever and quick, always aiming for points to knock me down. He landed a punch on me, just above the knee, if I had been a demigod or a monster I would have broken my leg with the force of the blow, he really was very strong, it wasn't pure luck that he broke the Minotaur's horn so easily, he had certainly inherited Heracles' strength and he also had a natural instinct for combat, even though he had never had any specific training. But I pushed him away again with a knee to his stomach, and he fell unconscious to the ground. I got close to him and healed him. He woke up startled and looked at me in shame.

"I'm sorry master, I must have performed horribly, I couldn't take three of your blows without fainting." He said sadly, he really looked hurt with himself, man this kid is surreal, he's going to be great. He was incredible, I thought he'd faint on the first hit, just like any other ordinary demigod nowadays. I laughed at his face and he looked at me indignantly. "I was weak, but you don't have to laugh at my face either Ares."

"I didn't laugh at your performance, which was actually incredible." I said it seriously and seeing him smile a little, I decided to tell him the truth about how he had impressed me. "Look, kid, you'll never see me paying compliments again, so feel honored." I said, kneeling down to his height. "I'm not really one for compliments, not really, but you were surreal kid, you managed to hit me with one blow, and it was a strong one, if it had been any other I would have broken my knee, and you withstood 3 really strong blows, if you keep trying like that, one day you'll be a great warrior." I said seriously, and he smiled at me. "Yeah, I think that's enough for today e....."

"No, I want to continue." He said seriously, interrupting me. "I can still go on, give me another chance and this time, I want you to show no mercy." I like this boy, I'll do what he wants. We went back to fighting, we spent hours at that pace, he was able to take 6 blows before passing out, but I didn't let him hit me anymore, we stayed at that pace, he had a good amount of external energy, because he maintained a good speed and endurance, taking time to decay. By the time Apollo arrived, it was 4.20pm.

"Get some rest, Percy." I said to calm him down, he still wanted to fight more and more. "I need to have a word with Apollo." He nodded and sat down on the ground, panting. His clothes were in rags and there was a lot of blood on them, but he was unharmed and I healed him, because the god who hurts can heal him instantly, but if it was a monster or other god I wouldn't be able to heal him, maybe Apollo could. I approached Apollo and he looked at me incredulously and nervously. "Yes, I did that to him, but because he wanted me to, he'd get beaten up, I'd heal him and he'd come back and I've had to do that hundreds of times, he's very crazy, and on top of that he punched me, and if it hadn't been for God he would have broken my knee, he's incredible, he's very motivated, I think losing his mother in that horrible way has awakened something great inside him." Apollo was wide-eyed. And he said:

"I see, if you're saying such things about him, he really is incredible, and lucky for you it was me who saw it, if it had been Hera or Athena, you'd already be dead." He said seriously, I nodded, I knew it was true, I snapped my fingers and he was in his new, clean clothes and the arena was free of bloodstains and rags. "Yeah, that's much better."

"I'm going, but I think he's going to give you a lot of trouble, he must be a terrible archer." I said seriously, Apollo nodded sadly, normally when a warrior has high physical strength and is a rough type of warrior, he usually has difficulties with archery, which is a refined technique and a more subtle form. "But I know you'll find a way with him, he's persistent, you'll see." We laughed and I went over to Percy to say goodbye. "See you tomorrow, Percy."

POV: Apollo.

Impressive, that was the word that came to my mind when I looked at this boy, he's really incredible, because for Ares to praise a warrior who isn't his son, he has to be really surreal, but if that happened, I feel discouraged, because he must surely be very horrible with a bow and arrow.

"Hello Percy." I said hello.

"Hello Lord Apollo." He bowed, polite boy.

"Just Apollo, that's fine." I said stopping in front of him, he straightened up.

"Right, Apollo."

"Have you ever shot a bow and arrow before, Percy?" I asked excitedly, but he denied it with his head.

"No, sir." He said seriously, but of course he hadn't learned, from what I remember of Sally, she wasn't a very good archer.

"Good, then let's go." I said snapping my fingers and a target about 10 meters from us appeared, I wanted to give him a present, something so that he can remember my good friendship and that he can be a good ally of mine. "I'd like to give you a present, if you accept of course."

"Of course I do." He said cheerfully.

"Great, it's this bow here." I said, the bow appeared in Percy's hands, he looked amazed staring at the bow, it was really very beautiful, the bow was green and gbolt, in honor of his divine relatives, it was beautiful and quite useful, as long as I can teach this boy how to use it. "It adjusts to your size, so when you grow, the bow will accompany you, always staying at a comfortable size for you, in addition, as you have very great strength, I took the liberty of adapting the bowstring to be very taut, making it very difficult to shoot with it, only a demigod with a lot of strength will be able to use this bow, an ordinary demigod won't be able to." He said seriously, he tried to pull the string and couldn't at first, then he held the string better and used more force.

"Really hard." He said seriously, he managed to pull almost the entire length, but with a little difficulty.

"Leaving it like this will improve your accuracy and the distance you can reach with a shot." I said seriously, and he nodded at my explanation. "In addition, it has other cool features, it disappears and appears just when you think about it, and it also has a quiver, not to mention that the quiver has infinite arrows, and it has a huge variety of arrows, solar, bang bomb, fist, and several others that in your entire life, you won't use all of them. Just imagine when you pick up an arrow, and I hope it's very useful to you." I said smiling, he was smiling gratefully, and he was excited, I raised my hand to a length and lowered it a little so that he could reach it, he jumped up smiling and tapped it saying:

"I love Apollo, you're awesome."

"Yes, I know I am." I smiled at him. "Come on, now it's time to test." He picked up the bow and an arrow, and started trying to place the arrow correctly and he couldn't even place it, and it was going to be difficult.

---- Break ----

After hours of watching him miss the target, but from very far away, it was my father's turn to help him, Zeus arrived and I said to young Percy.

"Hey, don't be discouraged, we're going to make you a master of archery, after all, I'm a god of the bow." I smiled at him and he sighed sadly, but nodded confidently. Well, it's going to be very difficult, strong, burly warriors don't usually make good archers. "Well, now it's your turn to train with Zeus. See you tomorrow, Percy."

POV: Zeus

Well, Ares informed me of the perseverance and determination of this little demigod, I chose well to whom to give my blessing and he still "inherited" in some way the strength of my, Heracles, but he is quite different, he conquers the Gods by Loyalty and friendship, not by brute force, which he could also do if he wanted to.

"Hello Percy, we're staying right here, okay?" I told him, and he nodded.

"Of course Lord Zeus, but before we start, I'd like to ask you a question? If you'll allow me." He said politely.

"Just Zeus, or Uncle." I said sympathetically. "And yes, you can ask the question."

"All right, uncle." He smiled. "I asked Hera what she said to you, so that you wouldn't kill me at that moment in the meeting, she said that she told you..." he fumbled for the words. "well, in a nutshell." he finally said, making me laugh. "She said: If you hurt him, if you even touch him, I'll take away his most precious possession.'' I paled at the memory of those words.

"And I didn't understand what that precious possession was." He said with a confused face. "Can you explain it to me?" I laughed and said:

"Maybe she meant that she would pull my friend out from under here." I said pointing to my pants, and he opened his eyes wide and said:

"OH SHIT, I'll never piss her off." He said holding up his "little friend" and making a funny face, I had to laugh at him.

"That's a wise thought, don't irritate her, don't doubt her." I said laughing, he nodded seriously, but finally laughed with me. I think I like him. "Let's get started, I'm going to teach you how to use my powers, I'm going to teach you how to control your great strength like Heracles. Well, with my blessing, you can control the air around you, you can fly, but not for long. Shoot several waves of cutting wind at your opponent at high speed, make wind fists and breaths to throw your opponent far away, you will control the air with dexterity and ease being able to lift heavy objects like trucks using the winds. You can make the temperature change and create rain, but with your father's power too. You concentrates an enormous amount of electricity in your hands, and releases it as lightning bolts at your opponents, which strike him all over the body. You can also create objects of pure electricity like a sword or spear, and can now create a zone of low atmospheric pressure around himself, which makes everyone who enters its effective radius suffer from dizziness and severe headaches and earaches, and can make hurricanes, but all on a smaller scale, but can get bigger with your training if you work hard, plus you can speak and command all kinds of flying birds, among other things."

"Great, where do we start uncle? I'll be the best, I'll work hard. That's for sure." He said seriously, but I already knew that, this boy is going to be God one day, and one of the mighty.

"I know you will, little one." I said, messing up his hair, messing up his hair even more, and I laughed at the face he made.

"Let's go uncle." He said seriously. "Where do we start?"

"Well, I think talking to the birds is best."

---- Break ----

POV: Perseus Heitor Jackson

Wow, it's been a tiring day, I'm mentally tired, since Ares beat me up and healed me several times, my body is in perfect condition, but my head is not. Well tomorrow changes a bit, I'll start with Ares, and Athena and the last one, after tomorrow I'll start with Apollo and finally Ares and so on, now I'm sitting in front of Hera's Palace, at least that's what she let me do, suddenly a wall of flames forms next to me, I get up scared and stand guard, but out of it comes Hestia, in her child form, and says:

"Calm down, Percy, I've just come to say hello and ask you something." She said sweetly, and I smiled awkwardly at her.

"Ask me, my Lady," I said gently.

"No Lady, I feel very old." I laughed and so did she, she sat down and so did I, right next to her, for a moment we were silent, watching Hera's garden, finally Hestia asked. "Do you want to be my champion?" I looked at her seriously, she smiled at me, I trusted her, but I didn't understand what a champion was, so I couldn't accept something I had no idea what it was.

"Well, I don't know what it means to be your champion."

"Well, you gain my powers only on a larger scale than a mere blessing, and you also gain a bit of my temperament, it's as if you were my son, so to speak, but different in some ways, as if I adopted you. In this case, if a Goddess adopts you, she not only passes on all her powers and some of her temperament to you, she becomes part of you, of your "divine DNA", and when you have a son, he can receive your gifts, all of them, which are the powers of your father and grandmother, plus your blessings and you being a champion of a God are yours alone, your children don't receive them. But if you become a God one day, you'll still carry my power, because you're my champion, but you'll lose your blessings, and blessings can be taken away with some special powers, me making you my champion, there's no way that can be taken away from you. And for life."

"I understand, I accept the Goddess of the Fireplace and Hope. Being your champion will be an honor." She began to glow and suddenly my body caught fire, literally, it hurt a bit at first, but it passed quickly. I looked at her confused, I didn't feel anything different about myself, and finally I asked her. "Am I already your champion?"

"Yes, Perseus Heitor Jackson, you are Hestia's champion now."