It was about three months since I entered Camp Jupiter (with my current memory). I was about eleven at the time, but my exact age I could not be sure of. Anyway, as I was saying, I was eight months in. It was late June, and Peter and me were walking in New Rome after losing in the war games.
“Peter? Have you ever been on a quest?” I asked. It was a pretty unreasonable question, since he was only twelve, and it wasn’t till recently that I found out he was a centurion-in-training, rather than a centurion, but I’d always wondered what it was out there.
“Me? Only the best of the best go on quests, and even so, I’m too young,” he replied. Silence ensued, then an older boy walked up.
“Did I just hear you two boys talking about quests?” he asked. We nodded, and I realized he was the Praetor, so I bowed to him and nudged Peter to do the same.
“I can get you to watch a quest in action. We send it out yearly. You will travel to the Great Pyramids of Giza, find the magician, and trade him some of our currency for some Imperial Gold. Best collection in the world, he has. Start packing right now and meet the leaders of the quest at the gate to New Rome in the morning,” he said and walked away. It was a lot to take in at once.
“We can’t do this. That’s Praetor Nero, and he’s insane. He would send two year olds on a quest without second thought. We could die! He’s probably intoxicated right now!” shouted Peter.
“Don’t you see it? We can finally go on a quest, and we can finally be considered to lead future quests,” I said, looking up to the stars, saying a small prayer to Fortuna in my fortune. Peter did not share my happy mood. He walked away. I followed him.
“Peter, come on. You know you’ve always dreamt of the outside world. Now here is our chance to be there. You could finally become a real centurion!” I said, but he stood still, and turned around. I could see he was trying to weigh out his options.
“But if I die, it’s on you! My father Apollo has foreseen some trouble in Roman lives,” he said seriously. I started to laugh, and he started to laugh, then we walked back to our cohort. I walked back to my bunk and started to pack my armor, and a weak sword I had since training. It could hardly cut butter, but I would have to make do. I wasn’t expecting any fights anyway.
At that moment, Sarah, another of my acquaintances, saw my packing.
“Are you leaving? You can’t-“
“Relax, Sara, I’m going on a quest! Peter and I got into one!” I said, excited, but she only frowned.
“Too often you young lads embark on journeys and get yourselves killed. Brian, please don’t go. I don’t know how you got in this in the first place, but you will get hurt,” she said. She was older, around fifteen. She had seen a lot of campers. But, remember, I was eleven, and I was a complete idiot. I set in motion a set of dominoes that would forever haunt me. But, of course, I didn’t know any of this.
“Sarah, please. You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ll be fine,” I said.
“I swear to all the gods if you don’t come back…” she started, but I was overconfident in my ability.
“Pshh… I’ll be fine!” I said. After that exchange, I fell asleep.
