The Immortal Warrior

An Unfulfilled Oath

Monsters surround me. I slash and stab and roll left and right, but they have no end. I risk looking at the girl in the tree behind me; Hellhounds are jumping and snapping their jaws at her legs.

"Brother! Help me!" she cries out, terrified.

"Do not worry, Sister!" I shout as I cut off a cyclope's arm, "I swear by the River Styx that I will protect you!"  As I finish, thunder booms around us--though there are no storm clouds--and my sister is shot by an arrow to her heart in that instant. Full of rage and grief, I blackout. All of the monsters lay dead or fatally wounded when I come to. I run over to where my sister lay, the arrow right in the middle of her chest. Holding her in my arms, I cry. After what felt like hours but probably only a few minutes, I pick her up and carry her back to the town we live in, where her husband and I bury her. A couple of weeks pass, and I can not live on anymore. I go to a secluded place--the lone tree where my sister died--and stab myself with my dagger. As I lay there, bleeding from my chest, I think about my sister. "I will see you again soon, dear sister,'' I think to myself. After a few minutes of pain, I realize I am not dying! Sitting up, I pull the dagger from my chest and watch in astonishment as the wound heals right before my eyes.

"What is going on?!" I say out loud. There is a rumbling of the earth, and a crack appears a few feet away from me. Out of it rises a beautiful lady with brown, curly hair.

"Alexander," she says in an official tone, "you swore by my river that you would protect your sister, and you have failed. Your punishment for breaking your oath is never to be able to see your sister again until you have fulfilled your oath."

The world around me fades away. I find myself marching side-by-side with Roman Legionnaires against an army of barbarians.

Once again, the world fades away, and I find myself on horseback in full-plate armor, swinging my long sword and cutting down soldier after soldier.

A third time, the world fades away. I look around and find myself a rebel soldier fighting redcoats on a hill.

I wake with a start. I'd had that nightmare for over a week, and it still freaks me out. Disturbed by the unsettling nature of the nightmare, I decide to see one of the few people I know who will give me advice on it: the goddess Athena. I met her a couple hundred thousand years back, and we have been good friends ever since. I grab my gray hoodie from my coat rack and head out to the Empire State Building.

When I get there, I walk up to the front desk and say, "I'd like the card for the six-hundredth floor, please."

Without even looking up, the security guard says, "No such thing as the six-hundredth floor, kid."

I slam my hands on the table and say, "Εντάξει, κοίτα φίλε. Είμαι εδώ για να δω την κυρία Αθηνά. Αν έχετε πρόβλημα με αυτό, μπορείτε να της πείτε ότι ο Alexander Makrozoía είναι εδώ για να τη δει." which translates to "Alright, look buddy. I'm here to see Lady Athena. If you have a problem with that, you can tell her that Alexander Makrozoía is here to see her."

He looks up suddenly, recognizes me, then says, "Y-yes, sir, sorry about that!" He then gives me a gold key card, and I walk to an elevator and stick the card into the slot. When I arrive at the six-hundredth floor, the elevator doors open to reveal the refurbished Olympus in all its glory, which doesn't much compare to ancient Greece and Rome, in my opinion. I walk through the city until I come to Athena's palace. When I arrive, I knock on the door, and it opens to reveal Athena dressed in a white blouse and blue jeans.

"Alex? What can I do for you?" she says, waving me inside and leading me to her library.

"I need your advice," I say, sitting on a couch. "I've been having this same dream for the past week, and it's starting to freak me out."

I explain the dream to her; then she says, "Hmm...I'm not sure what this means. How about we ask Morpheus for help?"

"Sure, whatever helps." Athena then sends an Iris message to Morpheus.

"Athena," says Morpheus, "what can I do for you?"

"Do you know Alex? He is having a recurring nightmare we are having trouble making sense of." Athena explains.

"Ah...that.." he says like we just found out what his most awkward secret is, "I'm afraid all that I can tell you is that you will be given a chance to correct a...uh...blunder very soon." Before I can ask what he means by that, he swipes through the mirage, cutting off the call.

"Well, that was singularly unhelpful," I say grumpily.

"Perhaps you should go see the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood. She should be able to set you on the right path, at the very least," Athena says, giving me a sympathetic look.

"Alright, I'll head there next," I say as I leave.

"Before you go," she says, getting up, "I have something for you. I was going to give it to you on your birthday, but it looks like you might need it sooner rather than later." She snaps her fingers, and a bronze and gold watch appears in her hand with a flash. "I had Hephaestus make it. Press down on the watch face and rotate it clockwise to turn it into a round Greek shield; rotate it counter-clockwise, turning it into an arm crossbow. Press the left button to change the watch face modes. It has a watch, a compass, a monster radar, and an SOS beacon linked directly to a receiver that I have. Press the right button and set it on the ground to turn it into a chest linked with an extra-dimensional space, courtesy of Hectate; the extra-dimensional space is about the size of a one-car garage. I also had him make you a ring that can turn into any weapon you visualize," she says as she hands them to me.

"What about the crossbow bolts?" I ask as I put on the shield and ring.

"Those will appear automatically from your extra-dimensional space--you know what, let's call it your item box. You will have to stock the bolts manually, but I'm sure one of Hephaestus' kids would be willing to manufacture them for you."

"Thank you, Athena," I say, hugging her.

"You are my oldest human friend. I'd do anything for you," she says, smiling at me.

"You know that that could be taken much differently, right?" I say with a smirk. She looks at me exasperated and says, "Get out before I send you to the bottom of the nearest volcano." I leave while chuckling. After leaving the Empire State Building, I hail a cab and take it to Camp Half-Blood.

When I get there, I see two campers fighting off a score of hellhounds with what appear to be sticks. I make my ring transform into a claymore (a/n: Scottish greatsword) and charge the pack of hellhounds. When I reach the nearest one, I chop off its head with a single downward swing. As the rest of the pack turns, I let go of my claymore--which immediately returns to being a ring on my finger--and activate the shield on my watch. The face of the watch face expands outwards in a spiral, like the iris of a camera, and a second strap wraps around my forearm; the design of the shield is a bronze tree with golden apples hanging from its branches. I then make my ring change into a Roman gladius as the Hellhounds rush at me. I block and slash and thrust and roll with the skill of a 2600-year-old soldier who has fought in every significant European war in recorded history; it takes me about 15 seconds to eradicate the Hellhounds. I turn to the two campers, which I can now see are a boy and a girl of about ten. "Are you two alright?" I ask as I put away my weapon and shield.

"Y-yeah," the boy says shakily, "w-we're fine, b-but those wolves killed J-jack."

"Who's Jack?" I ask, looking around for a body.

"H-he was the one leading us here, and he turned into a plant after they killed him."

I look at them and smile, "If he turned into a plant, then he was a satyr. They do that when they die. Don't worry, we'll plant him somewhere nice, and you can visit him whenever you want. after he grows bigger, you will even be able to meet him again."

"Really?!" the girl says, looking up at me with a hopeful expression.

I pat their heads and say, "Yeah, you can count on it. Let's get you into Camp before any more monsters show up." I take them by hand and lead them down Half-Blood Hill and into Camp.