12 Hope Rising

I woke up in the infirmary again. I sat up and looked around, seeing no one but Borus inside the curtain that wrapped around my bed. Once we locked eyes he said two words,

"Good Job." He said, pride in his voice.

"I've wanted to talk to you about something," He asked, definitely not wanting to talk about what had happened in tartarus. The world was cruel, I knew that, and I desperately wanted to get on with my life, to forget what had happened down there.

I bit my tongue and said, "Yeah, whats up?"

"I wanted to ask if you could pass on your skills and experiences to a trainee?" He asked. I was hesitant at first but then I said,

"Yeah sure. Who do you have in mind?" I replied.

"I was thinking of having a tournament." He said, a glimmer of joy in his eyes.

"I'm game," I said.

"It's a shame I'll be locked up here." A new voice said. The joy faded in his eyes,

"He's up." He said, kind of annoyed.

"I'll let you two talk.." He said as he pulled back the curtain. I looked over, seeing Thesus handcuffed to his bed.

"Well hello old friend." He said with a smile.

"What the absolute fuck dude!" I barked.

"What was all that bullshit about Emma?" I said, instantly heated. He put his head down, suddenly somber.

"I know you love her, I do too…" He said sadly. That got me fuming,

"Well you can't have her! She's MINE!" I screamed. He didn't bother to respond, he just shadow traveled away. I was so fuming pissed i didnt care, then I called Borus back in,

"Borus! Let's talk about that tournament!" I barked, eager to get Theseus out of my head. He came in, joy twinkling in his eyes again.

"I was thinking of those who wish to study under you and Emma compete in a fighting tournament." He said. I had a feeling Thesis would come back so I wasn't too concerned about him, and neither was Borus.

"I like that Idea, help me up and I'll meet the combatants." I said happily. I got up and he guided me to the nearby door. Once we were out in the hall, Emma and Marco came up to me obviously concerned.

"You're good now, right?" Emma asked. I nodded,

"Ok good, we've got a tournament to watch." She said confidently. The four of us walked out of the hospital in silence, then towards the arena. Once we got in the arena, I looked around and saw half the camp in line, armed with swords and shields. "This is gonna be fun," I thought to myself.

"ATTENTION!" Borus screamed.

"These soldiers are here for the right to train under these two war heroes." He said, gesturing to me and emma.

"You lot will be divided in half. One half to compete for Josh's spot, the other for Emma's. Is that clear!" He barked.

"Sir yes sir" The barked back. I looked the contestants up and down, only two people caught my eye, a tall girl with pink hair and yellow eyes and a tall skinny boy with red eyes.

Hours later

Only four contestants remained, the boy and the girl and two others. I've been watching the boy and girl all throughout the tournament. They have impressive combat abilities. The girl is a daughter of hecate, minor usage of her powers. She mostly relies on her sword to fight. If she won my spot I'd be able to train her to use her powers to amplify her fighting abilities. Her opponent was a son of Ares, so swordplay wouldn't work on him. I was interested to see what she would do against him, it would force her to use her powers. The girl and her opponent squared up to fight, and the girl did the smart thing. She dropped the shield, and held out her hand. Moments later a fireball appeared in her hand, she threw it at him and charged. The son of ares dodged it easily and countered her incoming attack. "What will you do now?" I thought, then she did something truly unexpected. She channeled her magic powers into her sword, causing it to glow a dark greyish color. She attacked, her face looked a lot more tired then it should be. "It must be draining her," I thought. The ares boy was caught unawares as his body was pierced before the sword even touched his skin.

"Ahhh" He groaned as he was pinned to the ground, his right arm gushing blood. "Smart, ruthless, and magical." I thought to myself.

"I can train that." I said aloud.

"Winner!" Borus yelled, holding up her hand. "

Next!" He screamed. The boy and his opponent walked out, the boy was staring at the girl as she was taken away to the infirmary. The two of them square up to fight, the tall boy was as smug as ever, like he already had the fight won. He tossed his sword and shield aside before the fight even started.

"Begin!" Borus barked. They locked eyes, and that's when I figured out his heritage, he was a son of Dionysus. The fight lasted two seconds because the boy just looked at his opponent and he collapsed, star craving mad, screaming like a lunatic.

"AHHH AHHH AHHH AHHH" He kept screaming.

"Winner," Borus said, holding up his hand. I nudged Emma,

"Looks like we got our trainees." I said happily.

"Yeah, let's go say hi" She said. We walked to the infirmary in silence, planning what we would say to them. We walked in the doors side by side, our heads down.

"When are you ready to start training sir?" Someone asked. I looked up, seeing the girl before me, confidence in her eyes. Her face looked better from what it did before, a lot more color. "Are you fully rested?" I asked.

"Sir yes sir." She yelped.

"Drop the sir yes sir. I'm not actually your master, or at least not all the time. I do plan on becoming your friend, and your instructor." I said calmly.

"Of course," she said, kinda flustered.

"Do you mind If i call you josh?" She asked hesitantly. "Yeah sure." I said good naturedly.

"What's your name?" I asked. She smiled at me and said

"Hope." That's when I knew she was special. She was what we needed to start the fight against the giant skurge that plagued us. I didn't know how yet but I just had a hunch. My brief moment of shock was over,

"Let's start your training right away, Now I won't hold back against you and I expect the same from you." I said sternly.

"You don't have to worry about that. I fight everyday like its my last." She said happily, I sensed a darker meaning to that but that's a whole new suitcase of drama i didn't need. So I waved bye to Emma and we were off to the arena to begin Hope's training.

The End