30+ Advance chapters on my [email protected].
-Loth's P.O.V-
The sunlight felt cruel, stabbing into my eyes with no regard for my pounding headache.
Each muscle in my body ached, screaming from the abuse of yesterday's chaos.
I groaned, trying to sit up on my bed, only for a sharp pain in my left arm stopped me mid-motion.
"What the Hades happened to me?" I muttered, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
Pushing my sleeve up revealed the source of the pain. Two faint scratches ran diagonally along my forearm, their edges darker than normal and faintly smoking.
"Great," I sighed. "That's not gonna scar or anything."
The marks didn't look too serious, I had similar scratches all over my forearms from all the training leading up to the Capture the Flag. Even my palms had blisters but that was mostly due to farmwork with the Demeter kids, than swinging a sword.
That said, something about these particular marks gnawed at my thoughts. They just felt... wrong to my aura sense. The tendrils of smoke curling lazily from the wounds didn't help.
Before I could investigate further, a knock rattled the Hermes cabin door, which was empty save for me. Everyone must have gone for breakfast. Figures no one would wake me up. Thankful too, as I would've told them to shove off, exhausted as I was.
"Hey, you alive in there?" Percy's voice came through, light and teasing.
I realized I was taking too long to respond and tugged my sleeve back down hurriedly. "Yeah, give me a second."
He didn't wait, swinging the door open with an infuriating grin. "Luke's waiting at the arena sleepyhead. Says he wants to see how you pulled that stunt against Clarisse yesterday."
I groaned, standing slowly. My body protested every movement I made while getting dressed, but I didn't want to give Percy the satisfaction of seeing me struggle.
"Let's go." I muttered while lacing my sneakers, and shoving past him, irritated for some reason.
"Hey, you good?"
Percy asked, catching up to me. His face was etched in concern.
"Yeah. Just sleepy."
I smiled tightly and he nodded, letting it go.
The scratches on my arm throbbed faintly, but I ignored them. I had a Demigod to beat up...right after breakfast.
'Here's to hoping there's some Pumpkin pancakes left.'
As it turns out, today was not my lucky day. There were no Pumpkin pancakes left in the mess hall. I had to settle for hard cakes and porridge, souring my mood even further. Yeah...someone should have woke me up.
---
The arena was a hive of activity. Campers sparred in pairs, the clash of swords and the occasional bursts of magical energy filling the air.
Luke stood in a corner away from action, spinning his sword casually as if it were an extension of his arm. His sharp gaze fixed on me as Percy and I approached.
"Morning, Loth," he greeted with a smirk. "Heard you embarrassed Clarisse yesterday. Care to show me how?"
I shrugged, unfamiliar feelings of aggression rousing within me. The warmth in my chest ignited into a low heat, the faint thrum of Reinforcement already calling to me. "You sure? Don't want to bruise your ego."
Luke laughed, motioning for me to step into an empty fighting platform. A crowd gathered around us with a wave of murmurs, their curiosity palpable.
"Good luck."
Percy said from my back.
"Don't need it."
I threw back with bite in my voice. Luke snickered and a bit of anger flared in me. Did he think I was weak? Clarrise certainly did and I stomped her. Right there and then, I decided to reenact the scene with Luke as the victim.
"Reinforcement."
With a growl, I activated the spell, pink circuits lighting up beneath my skin in a familiar glow.
The aches in my muscles faded instantly, replaced by the intoxicating rush of hot magic flooding through me.
Luke raised his sword and I copied him, creating a construct that was the exact copy.
Like before he took initiative and attacked.
The spar began with cautious exchanges, Luke testing my reflexes with deliberate strikes. He was unmistakably, unbelievably, better than I was at weapon handling. Even aa I parried with ease, that was only because of my enhanced strength and speed giving me the edge to keep up and push him back.
But then something shifted. I became impatient with the slow bout.
A sudden surge of energy burned through me, wild and untamed. My strikes grew heavier, my movements faster. The arena, the crowd, the noise, all blurred around me, my focus narrowing on Luke. On prey.
"Slow down, Loth!" Luke shouted, stepping back to avoid a brutal swing.
I couldn't.
The sword construct transitioned into a spear construct in my hand. I swung recklessly, grazing Luke's side and cutting his shirt before he could leap back.
"What's wrong Luke? I thought you wanted a fight!"
My vision tinged red, my breathing ragged. I wanted to stop, but the overwhelming urge to attack consumed me.
"Loth, stop!" Percy's voice cut through the haze, and a strong hand gripped my shoulder, holding me back.
The heat receded and I found myself gripping a spear construct more than 5 meters long, the tip placed under Luke's throat, who was on the ground, staring up at me with narrowed eyes.
I had been about to plunge it through his neck. About to kill him. If Percy hadn't stopped me...
Luke's blade twisted sharply, disarming me as my construct fizzled out in the air. I stumbled back, inexplicably drained of magic, gasping for air, my hands trembling uncontrollably.
The silence around us was telling. Everyone was looking at me with a variety of expressions.
"What was that?" Luke asked, clutching his side. His tone was strained, but his words hit harder than I expected. "Your eyes—they flashed yellow."
---
After that incident, Annabeth thankfully showed up and dragged Percy and me to the Big House. There was still the matter of the Hellhound to discuss with Chiron- yesterday he'd been busy and informed us to come today.
On the way there, Percy and Annabeth's concerns about my mood only fueled my irritation. I told them I was fine in a not-so polite way and that shut them up, allowing me to think.
My mind churned with Luke's words: 'yellow eyes.'
What could that mean? Was he lying?
---
The three of us stood in Chiron's office, the centaur seated behind his desk with his usual calm demeanor.
Percy recounted the Hellhound attack while I leaned against the wall, arms crossed and head pounding. My magic was also taking longer to recover than usual.
"Loth, you've been quiet. Are you feeling all right?"
Out of nowhere, Chiron's gaze settled on me, sharp and probing.
"I'm fine," I snapped, the irritation bubbling up again. "Can we go now?"
Annabeth whirled on me, her eyes narrowing. "What is your problem? You've been acting like a jerk all morning, and now you want to leave? What about the Hellhound? Don't you care how it got into camp?"
Her words struck a nerve. "What's there to figure out?" I shot back, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Monsters can't just waltz in, right? Someone summoned it. Maybe Zeus or Hades sent it after Percy. That makes the most sense."
My bet was on Luke. But I couldn't or rather didn't want to tell them that. They'd figure out in the future anyway, why should I bother?
Thunder rumbled outside, low and ominous. Annabeth paled, her voice trembling. "Don't say things like that, Loth."
"Enough," Chiron cut in, his voice firm. "We're all on edge. Pointing fingers won't help."
I clenched my jaw, forcing the anger down- hardest thing I had ever done. "Fine. Sorry."
Annabeth muttered an apology, though her glare lingered. Percy simply looked confused and worried. It was annoying.
Chiron's gaze shifted to my arm, where I'd been absently scratching at the scratch marks. "Loth, is that a wound on your hand?"
I froze, pulling my sleeve down hurriedly.
"It's nothing. Just tired." I responded instead of what I actually wanted to say,
'Mind your own f*cking business Chiron.'
The centaur didn't look convinced but handed me a vial of Nectar. "Take this. And rest. Let me know if anything changes."
'Incredibly effective Godly healing potion? Gyat.'
Chiron wanted to speak to Percy and Annabeth privately. Good, I was tired of the looks they were giving me anyway, so I excused myself.
---
Leaving the Big House, I barely noticed Mr. D lounging on the porch until he spoke.
"You're not looking so hot, Luca," he drawled, his eyes glinting mischievously as he palmed a 'coke' that my senses told me was something else. "Try not to maul anyone in your sleep. And no shedding around me, I'm allergic to dogs."
The growl that escaped my throat was low and guttural, almost inhuman. "Shut up, Dionysus, before someone breaks that stupid bottle over your head and drowns you in that piss you call yourself the God of."
"H-how...?"
The god blinked, momentarily taken aback. I didn't wait for him to formulate a full response, stalking off toward the training grounds.
I had some aggression to work of. Stupid Gods.
Later that evening, Luna met me in our usual spot for magic practice.
Her hair shimmered in the fading sunlight as she sat across from me.
"Let's work on enhancing your constructs to make them more complex." she said, her tone calm but focused.
Above her hands, white and black motes of light gathered, coalescing into a black and white rose, that rotated and danced in the air between us, floating my way.
I reached out and touched it with my finger, confirming what my Aura Sense already knew.
"It's solid and the petals feel real."
The flower broke down back into motes, swirling around Luna.
"It's spirit magic. A special magic only I can use."
Luna said proudly, fingers playing with the motes that I now knew were small spirits.
"I'm not even surprised. Spirit magic suits you."
Luna beamed at my response.
"Thanks. My little friends are so precious to me. Everyone thinks I'm crazy when they see me talking to the spirits. I don't mind, it's not their fault they can't see them."
This girl...so cute. She was making me wish I had a little sister.
"Now you try it, Loth. It should be easy. Your magic is special too, you can even see spirits now!"
She exclaimed, before clearing her throat like a teacher.
"Just Remember, it's all about wishing, wish really really hard, and the magic will happen."
I nodded, summoning the low heat burning in my chest. It had taken almost the entire day to regenerate back to full, raising my concerns. Concerns that were then compounded by the fact the energy felt wrong—sluggish and chaotic.
The first construct fizzled out before fully forming, the second too and the third...
My heart sank. Something was interfering with my magical energy. And for an Anodite, an energy block like this felt like suffocation. As if an object was lodged in my windpipe, choking me.
I wasn't having trouble in the morning during the spar so what changed?
"Come on you STUPID MAGIC...WORK! DAMMIT!!!"
"Stop," Luna said softly, her brilliant eyes narrowing as she placed a hand on mine.
"What now?" I snapped, the irritation flaring again.
She didn't respond, her gaze fixed on my left arm. The scratch marks smoked faintly, wafting through my sleeve, and the dark spirit wisps hovered around the wound like vultures.
"The light spirits avoid you," Luna murmured. "But the dark ones... they're drawn to this."
I pulled my arm away, glaring at her. "It's nothing, just a scratch. Chiron gave me Nectar. I'll be fine."
Her eyes softened, but her voice remained steady. "You're not fine, Loth. Something's wrong."
I didn't respond.
---
Over the next few days, the changes became undeniable. The nails on my fingers and nails grew longer, sharper and thicker, trimming them down to size didn't work. My hair experienced a similar abnormal growth, turning wild and spiky.
My shoulders got wider, my limbs limber with light muscles, there was even the beginnings of a six pack on my pudgy belly. It looked like I'd been hitting the gym for a couple of months.
On the downside, I started eating more and my mental and emotional control took a dive.
At night, vivid nightmares plagued me—images of running through the woods, my limbs stretched unnaturally, hunting under a full moon.
During the day, my mood spiraled. The smallest things set me off, from Percy's jokes to Annabeth's questions.
"Loth, are you even listening?" Annabeth snapped one afternoon during a monster identificatiob class.
"Maybe if you said something worth listening to," I shot back, my voice harsher than intended.
Her glare could have turned me to stone, but I didn't care.
Even the campers who had celebrated my victory over Clarisse started avoiding me. The whispers followed wherever I went: 'What's wrong with him? He's so arrogant. Thinks he's better than us...'
The only person I could tolerate was Luna. Something about her presence calmed the storm in my head, though I didn't understand why.
Despite that, my magic lessons were a disappointment. It seemed like the more I tried to push through the energy block, the worse my control became. As of now, the only spell I could do was [Reinforcement] and only for a great minutes before it completely drained my reserves.
The implications were clear to see. My suspicion as to what was happening to me, was simply unconfirmed Truth. A truth, I desperately avoided thinking about because it was too much. Too much to handle. Too much to confront.
But like all things in this world, Fate had it's own machinations.
---
It was during a nighttime patrol along the camp with Percy, that things truly fell apart.
The scent of musk and something metallic hit me like a tidal wave. My mouth filled with saliva at the thought of warm blood and goat flesh and before I realized it, I'd lunged at Grover, who had been sent to release us.
"Loth, stop!" Percy shouted, his sword clanging against my hand, a screaming Grover lying on the ground behind him.
Percy froze. My fingers were elongated, tipped with sharp, claw-like nails.
"What the Hades is happening to you?" Percy demanded, his voice heavy with worry.
"I don't know," I whispered, my voice trembling.
Without another word, I turned and ran, leaving Percy behind as shame and anger consumed me.
The next day...I would find out the answer to his question. And it would change everything.