Forbidden Quests

Chapter 1

Annabeth POV

My arms were resting peacefully on the railing of my room's balcony. The wind flitted between my blonde curls, playing tag with the dying sun rays lighting up my face. I watched as Apollo drove his fiery chariot over the horizon. This is my favorite time of the day.

Everything's peaceful. You can hear the birds chirping in the orchard a couple stories below, and the smell of the earth sifting up from the sleeping Gaea's embrace. The cream Greek dress that adorned my body gave out just the right amount of warmth in the sinking temperature. The silky cloth went down to my bare feet, and the golden chain that wound around my hip and attached at the shoulder was glinting in the reddening sun. Every once in a while, the wind carried over to me the noises coming from the training arena, where my mother Athena, the goddess of war strategy and wisdom, and her brother Ares, the god of war, train demigods and the occasional mortal to become valiant heroes.

Soon the day's training would end, and everybody would retreat to their homes to rest for tomorrow's practice.

Demigods like them pretty much always live in the mortal world. They rarely stay with their godly parents in their immortal homes. Only the famed ones do, but even so, that is rare. The fact that I live with my mother in her temple in Athens is not common. Apparently I was a "special case." However, it wasn't my doing that landed me in this home. It was my mortal parent.

My father, Frederick Chase, had been Athena's favorite "mind" mate. Athena doesn't have children physically. If she falls in love with a man, her children are born from the amount of the love for her temporary partner, and then they kind of come out of her brain. Yeah, I know, weird. But it was similar to how Athena was born from Zeus' skull during a battle. In the world of gods and demigods and monsters, that's probably the most normal thing that happens, trust me.

Anyways, my father was Athena's all time favorite. He was a talented and popular architect, and my mother is an architect. But he was also skilled with the sword. He wasn't skilled because he was strong and brawny, he was skilled because he used his mind while fighting. He would assume his opponent's next move, and block it with techniques he learned from his books. He used his mind to fight, not brute force, and was successful. Athena quickly fell in love. I came soon, and Athena and my father loved me as well as each other. We were a happy family; but of course, happiness doesn't last.

Settle down, readers. It's the climax of my story.

Athena didn't want to let my father go, but she would have to, for he was a mortal and would die while she would live on. Not wanting to fall back into the normal routine, she went to her father and two uncles-the Big Three, as we call them. Zeus is the King of the gods and the sky, and Poseidon is next, the god of the sea, and Hades is the last one, god of the Underworld. They are all brothers, and all sons of Kronos, the King of the Titans. They are the three most feared, most powerful gods of all time.

The goddess of war strategy came before them when I was only a half of a year old. The story goes that she begged them to let Frederick Chase become immortal so she could be with him for forever.

The Big Three said no. They wouldn't let a mortal become immortal. If they did, who knows how many mortals would trek up to the doorstep of Mount Oympus, demanding to be made immortal because one man was gifted with immortality. Humans just don't ever grasp the concept that life isn't fair.

Athena was furious, and her anger made her blind to logic, so she cursed them all. In her rage, she put a spell on all of their war strategists, making them not be able to think correctly, and she refused to help train their warriors.

So that did not put the gods into a very good mood, as you might have figured out, and they decided that Athena was not thinking straight because of this mortal man. My father was obviously tainting her judgments, they all thought. So they agreed to put an end to her "mood." Without her knowing it, of course.

They killed Frederick Chase.

More specifically, Poseidon did. Frederick was out one day on a boat studying a type of fish when all of a sudden, a great storm came upon his boat.

Hades' Underworld claimed the life of my father that day, along with the whole crew on the ship.

Athena did not take this very well. She just lost the love of her life, and she knew the gods had done it. She immediately blamed Poseidon, and Poseidon didn't deny it. There was a huge fight that started that day between the gods. It took two years of threats, curses, and a constant impending war between the gods before it was settled. Well, not necessarily "settled," just calmed enough so mortals could step out of their house without being bombarded by waves and olives. Athena reluctantly agreed that the mortal, my father, had been the first priority in her life. Her hatred for Poseidon, however, was still deep, and this incident didn't help it. They had had a long rivalry before this exploit, and this recent one put her over the edge. They never sat still in each other's presence, and always shunned each other.

Although Athena let go of Frederick, she didn't forget their daughter, Annabeth. Also known as me.

Athena raised me in her temple in Athens. The gods wouldn't make me immortal, but Athena was fine with that. She didn't want to risk asking anyways, for fear that they might take me as well. But as much as she loved me, I knew I was a painful reminder of her murdered lover.

I loved my mother, but we weren't ever that close. As time went on, I grew closer and closer to the twin gods, Artemis and Apollo. I kind of took Artemis as a mother figure, and Apollo was like my annoying brother that cheered me up when I was down. I loved them both. They visited me often, and I always looked forward to the twin's visits.

You might think that I hate Poseidon. I do. I think. I don't quite know. I know I should, and I try to be hateful towards him, for he did murder my father. Honestly, I was one year old when my father was killed, so I didn't really ever have a true father figure in my life. But he was my father. I didn't actually meet Poseidon face to face until I was thirteen, and before then I hated him with all my heart, and Athena encouraged that hatred.

Then on one of the meetings that the gods had on each Summer Solstice, my mother decided to bring me along. On the way there, I only thought of Poseidon. The way that I had molded him in my mind, he was an ugly old hag, that had fangs and claws, and a disgusting beard, with a horrid sea smell.

Well, wasn't I surprised.

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Thanks for reading my new story!