Jace Irons: The Shard of Chaos

Chapter Nine: Demigod Dreams Suck

I never usually had demigod dreams. I was still just getting used to them. But even as a somewhat "inexperienced" demigod dreamer like me, I still knew that the dream I had was weird as hell. I was standing in the same fire again, the same sound of the hammer pounding in the background. I looked around, there was nothing except for flames. Then I heard the same deep, gruff voice say: You must step up and claim what's yours. You must be the strength. There was a terrible flash, and when it was over, a disc-shaped object made of glowing orange metal with black lines all over it appeared, floating in front of my face. I reached out and grabbed it. It fit nicely in my hand. It glowed brightly, and hummed with what seemed like raw energy. Suddenly, the disc disintegrated. The flames then died, and I was left in blackness, and I was falling. I looked down to see hordes of monsters clawing and roaring up towards me, and I was falling right down towards them. Right when I fell into their bloodthirsty clutches, my body jolted and woke up with a start.

I looked around the cabin, everyone was still asleep. I looked out the window, and the sun was just starting to rise up over the hills, it was almost time for the wake-up call anyways. I got up a little early to go to the bathhouse and take a shower. I needed to wash that dream out of my head. I turned on the water and thought back to my dream. I had little to no idea what it meant. I had no idea what those words meant. "Be the strength?" What did that even mean? And what was that glowing orange disc? And how did that relate to being strong, no, sorry: being the strength? Whatever the heck that meant. I turned the hot water down a bit, and I must have been really up in my head, because I gripped the handle so hard I dented it with my metal hand. I was glad I didn't have to worry about covering up my new arm with plastic or anything while I was in the shower because celestial bronze never rusts.

I pulled my hand back and looked at the dents I had just created in the shower handle. I mean it made sense. Robot hand equals robot strength. Too bad it was confined to just my hand and grip muscles. I mean, my hand also made a mean whammer in combat with it being made of magical metal and all, but what if I were to punch with my metal arm and send monsters flying? That would be invaluable in a fight. I might have even been able to save Briar if I could do that, or maybe lift a huge heavy object instead of just being able to grab things really hard. Hercules, my favorite Greek hero, would've been able to do both, which is what made him a great hero. Too bad I wasn't super strong like him. Hah, I thought. 'Be the strength,' that dream was probably meant for Hercules. I looked at my metal hand again. Robot strength...

Suddenly, I had an idea. I knew what I had to do to help protect the camp. Just then, I heard the breakfast bell ring from Cabin Nine. I quickly finished showering, got dressed and raced down to breakfast. I ate distractedly, thinking about what I was going to build, how to build it, and how soon I could finish it. I must have been really distracted, because I accidentally started eating my yogurt with a fork. Beckendorf noticed.

"You good, man?" he chuckled. He grinned and slid over to where I was sitting. "Capture the flag didn't mess you up that bad, did it?"

"Nah," I grinned. "I was just thinking about something I could build. It'd be like an exoskeleton that'd allow me to lift heavy things, be a better fighter, you know what I'm saying?"

He frowned. "Iron man suits can't be done in real life, you know." he said.

"No, no." I began. "It's different. It'd be like an exosuit that would only go on my arms, legs, and back and it'd make me be able to lift up super heavy things. And like if I punched a monster, they'd go flying. Know what I'm talking about?"

I expected him to look at me like I was growing a third arm out of my head or something, but instead, he just nodded and thought to himself for a few seconds.