MY FATHER TELLS ME WHAT HE WANTS

When we arrived at DGH, the first thing we saw was a fire. A big fire. The earth underneath was scorched, and dead plants littered the floor. We managed to make our way to the hotel unscathed, but that turned out to be the easy part. The hard part was what came next.

I thought dragons were from Chinese mythology. Did the Greeks have them too? What I saw were two creatures that very much qualified to be such. Green scales, claws, wings, reptilian features, and huge - just about everything a dragon should have - and I'm pretty sure they don't go down easy.

Luckily, we had a demigod that didn't go down easy either. Anatasia, a daughter of Ares, isolated and engaged with one of the dragons, swinging her sword furiously. Her siblings backed her up and actually ripped one of the dragon's wings off, although one of them was burned to a crisp. Based on that, I presumed they would be fine(Ares kids are as tough as hell, although their father's pretty pathetic.) I decided to take on the second dragon(because why not?) and received support from Julien, George, and Helen.

I decided to make a shield out of my shadow. I needed to see how tough it was, so when the dragon spat out a golden ball of fire, I threw my newfound protective gear at it, thinking it would be vaporized. Surprisingly, it proved effective. The shield displayed no damage at all. Shadow equipment rocks!

Anyways, now that I could guard myself against those fireballs, I could reach the dragon. With a shadow sword, I charged. Julien accompanied me, and Helen shot an arrow, pricking the dragon in the eye. George, a son of Dionysus, ensnared the dragon with vines. A slight problem was made transparent: the dragon's hide was too thick. No matter how hard we tried, neither Julien nor I could scratch it. I tried pressing my blade into the dragon, but that failed as well. If I could use my scythe, this would have been over by now. I noticed the dragon's underbelly wasn't covered in those damm scales, and there might be a chance that stabbing the beast there would kill it.

Unfortunately, the dragon ripped off the vines, and Julien and I almost became food. We jumped back, and the dragon spat another fireball. I rolled underneath it and banged my shield on the dragon's face three times. The dragon howled in pain, and it was kind enough to stand on its hind legs, revealing its underbelly. I hacked furiously and jabbed my blade into the dragon's chest. The dragon screeched, then plopped to the floor, silent. It was dead, and Anatasia's group had wrapped up as well. They took their time mangling the dragon into pieces, which was apparently an ancient tradition of Ares: a way to boast about your battle prowess, or so Anatasia says. I saw it as stupid, but they killed the dragon in the end, so whatever. It didn't matter as long as the result was the same.

I felt someone poke my shoulder, and when I turned around, I smiled. "Hey, Vittoria. Could've helped me with the dragon, you know?"

"I knew you wouldn't need any help. This much is expected from you, Yiannis."

"That's a high bar. Dragons aren't just any monster."

"That's true, but you aren't an ordinary demigod. As someone with the blood of both Hades and the Titan Lord, you are special. You are neither a human nor a god, yet you edge towards the latter..." She stopped when Julien, George, and Helen came close. Helen hugged her, and Vittoria caressed her hair. "You've grown a bit since last time, Helen. I'm glad to see you're pretty face isn't scarred." Vittoria held her tightly as Julien approached her. "Is there something wrong, Julien?"

"There's something I would like to discuss with you and everyone here. It's about the golden fleece." Vittoria tensed. I knew Kronos had wanted that item, but I had no clue why. All I knew was that the fleece had magical properties, and my old man thought they would come in handy. Was DGH aware of Kronos's plans? "Hey, Julien, could I join the chat too? Those Crocattas during gym class mentioned the fleece too."

"The fleece? You mean the intel we got was accurate?" Anatasia scowled at me, which was her way of being kind, especially to me. Usually, she would try to tear me apart limb from limb. "Where'd you get the intel from?" I asked innocently. Anatasia was hesitant, which made me think she was making something up on the fly or that she didn't want to speak to me(the latter was more likely). "As you well know, Brian was the son of Kronos, and he almost killed you." She sounded disappointed that it didn't happen, but I didn't care about that. If DGH somehow got intel from the spies, my side would be in a precarious situation(if that weren't true already). "Sure, but just because he's the son of Kronos doesn't help us. Did you get some dirt on him?"

"Yes, we did. Nathan and I investigated his room earlier this morning, and we found a note chronicling DGH's security measures. That bastard, Brian, planned to poison all the trees in the forest."

"So he wanted to weaken the magical barrier the dryads made that protects DGH and make us open to monster attacks?"

"Correct. The problem is that Brian succeeded, and we are open to monster attacks. Those dragons wouldn't have gotten in here otherwise," she growled. She sounded genuinely angry. Did a friend of hers get hurt? If so, I felt sorry for them and Anatasia. As Kronos's son, I was partially responsible. Even if Anatasia was a big jerk, I could tell she's the type who really cares about her friends and family. I may dislike her, but I don't hate her. After all, it won't be long before Kronos's forces will kill many of the demigods here, and I'll be riding behind him. If there was a way to protect them, I would have done so, but I don't see a viable path. This was war. All I could do for their sake is to take down the gods as swiftly as possible, and I swore to try my best. The biggest battle in war is the moral one. I was fighting for the right thing, but the goal was to make the world better. If I kill people whose deaths could have been avoided, I'm no better than the gods, who threw away anyone for the flimsiest reasons. I won't say everyone in DGH was a good person, but many were innocent and only chess pieces to the gods. I would take it upon myself to bring them over to my side however I could. I won't tolerate the gods discarding them.

"I'm sorry if something bad happened to you, Anatasia." I could tell Anatasia was contemplating whether I was being sarcastic. "I didn't say that to get on your nerves. I may not like you, but I wouldn't go that far."

"Tch. I'll take your word, Yiannis."

"Thanks." I turned to Julien. "You said you wanted to discuss the fleece. Are you planning to talk to everybody, or-"

"I'll say what's on my mind right now," Julien said. "We need to get the golden fleece before Kronos does."

"Everyone knew that," Anatasia rolled her eyes. "We'd be defenseless without the fleece." Now was an appropriate time to ask questions. "Julien, what's so special about the fleece? I can tell it's a magical item, but what could it do exactly?"

"The fleece has magical healing properties, Yiannis. It can heal and strengthen whatever it touches. Plus, it's a symbol of royalty and gives the owner authority over others, to a certain extent. All three are important, but what matters now is the first one."

"The reason why is likely because Kronos wants monsters to be able to infiltrate DGH so they could kill us." I paused, then continued. "Then, there's also the fact that Kronos could use the fleece to revive himself." Julien nodded. "That's what I wanted to talk about."

"That's ridiculous," Antasia gruffed. "Kronos's body is cut into a thousand pieces and imprisoned in Tartarus. How would he-" Her eyes narrowed at me, and I held my hands up. "I'm not working with the Titans, although I can't be sure about Hades, but he isn't either. At least not right now." That was a lie. Hades and Kronos have been collaborating for a year now. I have no clue as to whether he smuggled Kronos's mangled body out of the Underworld, but that doesn't matter. "So, Julien, what do you think we should do?"

"I think you know, Yiannis. We're gonna snatch the fleece before Kronos's minions get their hands on it. The only issue is that the gods aren't doing anything. They didn't give us the green light to get a quest approved." That wasn't a surprise. The gods never do anything, even when their own safety is on the line. They're too vain, but that's a good thing because it gives my side time. "So all we could do is wait?"

Julien shook his head. "Chiron asked Athena, who permitted him to go forward. It won't be long before he selects a small group to get the fleece."

"Sounds good. Is that all?" Julien nodded. "Yeah. Chiron's going to discuss this sometime later. I need to go ask him something, so I'll see you later, Yiannis."

"Later." I took Helen back from Vittoria.

"Vittoria, you hugged me too tightly!" My sister complained. "I thought I was going to die!"

"Sorry," Vittoria apologized. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Helen."

"Helen, you wanted to play with Amelia, right?" I asked. She excitedly nodded. "Mm-hmm!"

"Why don't you go now? I need to talk to Vittoria for a sec."

"Oh? Alone?" My sister smirked. "Are you two going to be kissing on a tree when I come back?"

"No," I smiled. "It's got nothing to do with that. I'll see you later, Helen." My little sister waved to me as she disappeared in her own shadow. Vittoria walked up to me, cheery. "Well? Are you going to force me up into a tree and passionately make love to me?"

"I already said no," I blushed. "I think you know why I wanted to talk to you in private. It's about the fleece. What's Kronos up to now?"

Vittoria shook her head. "I'll tell you our plan later, Yiannis. I'll tell you my situation for now, and I need your help."

"Sure. I'm guessing that whole incident with Brian screwed our side over, huh?"

"Well, yeah. But I'm the one who took everything in Brian's room that might be connected to us, so that was my blunder. I should have been more careful."

"We can't do anything about it now. But all the gods know is that Kronos is after the fleece. Thankfully, you didn't drop a piece of paper that listed all the spies here. That would have been bad."

Vittoria smirked. "I'm not that careless, although Brian certainly is. He left a list of the other spies right on his table when he left. I'm glad I broke into his room when I did."

"As am I. As usual, you're incredible, Vittoria. I didn't even think of that."

"Thanks, Yiannis. Now, mind doing me a small favor?"

"Sure. What is it?"

After helping her clean up her room(she annoyingly gave the brunt of the task to me), I went to see Chiron. I hoped the old centaur would give me some information, but he just told me to wait. I told him I would stay here a week before returning to the Underworld, and then I went back into my old room. It was as messy as ever, and I promptly set about tidying it up. In DGH, those with the most disorganized rooms(someone ranks them on a scale of one to five) have extra chores assigned to them, such as cleaning up the dishes or cooking duty. It's why Vittoria had me clean her room. I felt groggy, so I rested on my bed and closed my eyes. If I wanted information, I needed a good source. One was in my dreams, and I was in the mood to visit him.

Sure enough, I found Kronos waiting for me. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Yes, we do," I agreed. "First things first. Those Crocattas-"

"acted of their own volition," Kronos speedily replied. "They were not aware of your lineage, nor of your allegiance to me. I have apprised all who are serve me of you. That should prevent another incident like that from spiking again."

"Well, then, what's your plan, father? What's your goal this time?"

"To revive an essential weapon of war."

"Weapon?"

"Yes. My general struck fear in the hearts of the gods. You may have heard of him: Atlas, the Titan who holds up the sky."

"You mean the one Athena petrified?" Kronos nodded. "Yes. After I was slashed to a thousand pieces, Atlas was cursed to hold the sky. He tried to escape, and Athena turned him to stone to keep him from doing so. Of course, there is another Titan confined to a horrible fate not far from where he is."

"Would it be Prometheus?"

"Yes, Yiannis. When it became clear the Titans would lose, he betrayed me and sided with the gods. However, Zeus only used him. After the war, he shackled Prometheus to a mountain and had an eagle eat his liver day after day. Since then, Prometheus has wished for revenge and has asked me to free him."

"But he betrayed you once. What's to stop him from doing it again?"

"You're right about that, my son. However, resentment, if left to grow for millennia, boils into teeming hatred. I don't trust Prometheus unconditionally, but I know he won't abandon me again, at least not after he gets his hands on Zeus."

"So, what you're saying is that my next mission is to revive Atlas and free Prometheus?"

"Correct. The golden fleece will play a role in that, and of course, it will help bring me back from the depths of Tartarus. Atlas and Prometheus will be instrumental in winning this war." I knelt before my father. "Very well. I will carry out your wishes, father."

My father gave me a wan smile. "Yes, and I trust you will be able to fulfill them. Now, go to sleep, Yiannis. Vittoria will inform you of what to do."

"Understood." I still had reservations about Kronos, but that was fading, and only a remnant remained. I couldn't be sure that everything he said was true, but he seemed to genuinely care about Helen and me, and Lamia appeared to be happy with him. What I absolutely knew was that Kronos hated the gods as much as I did, and he wanted them to be obliterated. We had a shared goal, and he had no reason to betray me before it was accomplished. Besides, I wanted to trust him. I believed what he said: that the gods deserved to be destroyed because of their sins. I would never forgive them for hurting their mother, and as long as I live, they'll always put a target on my back and Helen's. That won't be a problem if Kronos rules Olympus. I swore total loyalty to the Titan Lord right then and there, as I lost consciousness, and my mind became dark.