A new age of Divinity: Theomachy

A Day of Tension

When the day truly got started, Beth made sure not to interact with any of the Athenian Warriors. She had enough friends to the point that she could rely on them to help her stay away from the Warriors. In the morning, she spent her breakfast, as usual, hanging out with Nate and Kenneth. At this point those two were still her best friends, even though she had made many new ones, even outside of the Warriors of Athena. While Nate stayed mostly quiet about the whole thing, Kenneth could tell that something was off with both of his friends. When he asked what was going on, Nate gave him a very quick rundown on the events. He was surprised and in shock that Beth had killed someone in such a brutal manner. He never expected his younger friend to kill someone in cold blood, and in front of his other best friend, no less. Breakfast was very tense after they had discussed the morning's events, but the three were most concerned about how they were going to keep her away from the Athenian Warriors.
"So, you got a plan to keep away from these guys?" Nate asked as he drank some lemonade.
"I... do not," She replied "I was hoping to stay around my friends until they just give up and find someone new."
"That is not a bad idea, however I would not recommend having too many people in your circle. Only those you would trust to have your back if they saw you getting completely mauled by a bear."
"That is very random, specific, and you are saying I should not hang out with Nate."
"Oh, piss off!"
"You would just stand there laughing at me."
"I mean... it's not like I'm gonna deny it, but..."
"Beth, you know what I mean. Only let yourself be around people whom you trust with your life."
"So... not Nate?"
"Oh, will you screw off?"
"So, you understand what I am telling you, right?"
"Yeah, Kenneth. I get it, just because you are two years older than us does not mean you have to treat us like children."
"You have called me your brother so many times that I have lost count. Just get over yourself."
When breakfast ended, she did something she very rarely did by choice. She went to train with Marc, whom she still didn't fully understand. His powers allowed him to travel within lightning bolts and appear almost anywhere virtually instantaneously. This compounded with his incredible strength made him a challenge to fight, but she could take him on. She had a very good track record of beating him, having only lost three times in the over thirty they had sparred since getting to know each other. His mace was powerful enough to knock almost any weapon out of her hand, so she always used a shield now, but she also had to figure out how to counteract the lightning and thunder. She couldn't do much to counteract the thunder except for parry at the exact right moment to cancel it out, but that wasn't something she had figured out how to do consistently yet. The lightning, however, she figured out pretty quickly because of her time outside of the Haven. All she would need to do is line the shield with rubber to cancel out the electricity. Every now and then she would miss and take a lightning bolt, but that's why she also began wearing rubber armor under her clothes when fighting Marc.
The two ran at each other and Beth grabbed a sword on the ground that was glowing with icy blue magic. The weapons clashed and they pushed against each other for half a second. Beth yelled and pushed their weapons into the dirt ground, which caused a sort of explosion. The two were both thrown backwards and when Beth got up, she saw a frozen lightning bolt that had been created from their weapons hitting the ground together. It rose to about thirteen feet into the air and it was clearly still vibrant and sparking with electricity from within the shell of ice.
"So... what's on your mind?" Marc groaned as he got back up "You seem a little off your game."
"Oh, you think I am off my game?"
"Yeah, I do. Wanna prove me wrong?"
"Come at me!"
She summoned a spear to her hand and the two ran at each other, then Marc threw his mace at her. Beth stopped and threw her own spear at Marc's weapon, which stopped both in midair. Their weapons pushed against each other and glowed with orange energy mixed with his pure white lightning.
"Still not gonna tell me what's going on?" He yelled as they slowly walked in a circle around the struggling weapons "Because I may not be able to read minds like Nate, but I still know when someone close to me's feeling like crap."
"I am trying to leave the Athenian Warriors," She called over in explanation "They are persistent it seems and refuse to let anyone go. I need to be with anyone I can trust for a while."
"Why didn't you say something earlier? We've been fighting for like half an hour now."
"I did not want to worry you... but how about we get back to this, shall we?"
"Oh, I haven't heard a better idea all day!" They summoned their weapons back to their hand and slammed them against the other.
About an hour after she finished her non stop sparring with Marc, she went to hang out with Mikayla and Eden. Beth was surprised that the two were hanging out together without her. She was friends with both of them, but she never saw them hanging out together. When she found them, they were experimenting with different types of magic. As a daughter of Circe, Mikayla was naturally curious and liked toying with the basic order of things. Eden was a daughter of Demeter, which naturally made her want to keep the order of nature to make sure that food could still be grown in the camp.
She walked up to them and said "Hey, what are you two up to?"
"Oh, hey, Beth," Mikayla replied "Well we're just trying to figure out how to make crops grow more and what the shit happened to you!?"
"I fought Marc for over an hour."
"What? No, bitch. The blood. What the hell happened to get you all that blood?"
"Oh, right. So that mission that failed a few days ago apparently had a mole, and they made me shoot her in the head in a duel. Now I am trying to get away from the Athenian Warriors, but it is getting increasingly difficult."
"How come? Just say you're not gonna do any missions for 'em anymore and... just don't do it."
"It is not that easy, it is nearly impossible to get them off of your back once you have gotten on their bad side," Beth told her friend "I need to find a way to get away from them."
"Well, I doubt they will pull any tricks for the next few days," Eden pointed out.
"What? Why?"
"Well, it has been about two months since the last Demigod Communion. The next one should be coming in the next few days, which reminds me. You and Nate, are you going to be sparring again this time?"
"As always, we never pass up on a chance, why?"
"Well, as I said, they may not pull any fast ones or tricky surprises. The Athenian Warriors hardly ever show their apprehension and nothing has happened. It may be a sign that your mother is finally coming to one of these again."
"Ugh, finally! Maybe I can talk with her and get her to make the Warriors just... you know, leave me alone."
"That's probably your best bet at this point," Mikayla replied while they continued playing with the magic spells "But honestly, she seems pretty stubborn, and if you tell her you're trying to leave the warriors, she may try everything she can to keep you."
Beth sighed, knowing her friend was right, then said "Yeah, I think you may be right. There will be no harm in trying though, right?"
"I suppose not," Eden replied "Maybe go talk to Hayden, he is also the son of an Olympian... oh wait... no, he is not. I apologize. But have you not been looking for an opportunity to talk to him outside of history class anyway?"
"Aw, you got a whittle cwush on the Hades ki- ow!" Mikayla was in the middle of making fun of her, but Beth slapped her in the back of the head before she could finish her sentence.
"Sh- shut up! I will talk to him when I feel like talking to him."
"If you do not soon, he will be gone before you know it. He is four years older than you and when we turn twenty five, you are forced to leave."
"Wait, what? Why have I never been told about this until now!?"
"It's common knowledge! What, do you not pay attention?"
"No! And now he is almost twenty, which limits the time I have left."
"It's like six years, chill the hell out," Mikayla told her calmly "It's not like you're gonna lose a few years out of nowhere."
"You will be fine, Beth. Just go relax, maybe take a nap or something, and I am sure this whole Warrior of Athena thing will blow over, okay?"
"Alright, alright, fine. I will listen to you two... about the whole talking to my mother thing, not talking to Hayden."
"I am going to fucking slap you! Just talk to the guy!" Mikayla exclaimed with her arms crossed over her chest.
Beth laughed for the first time all day and she decided to go and hang out in her own house. While she was walking, she saw the Athenian Warriors talking a few feet away. She pulled her hood up and kept walking to make it harder to identify her. She listened to what little she could and heard something about... Phobos children? What would they need sons and daughters of Phobos for, he was the God of Fear, and she doubted powers like that would be useful to the Warriors of Athena. They already had a test they made themselves that tested the fears of their possible entries. They weren't her problem anymore though, so she really didn't care... although that may have been the absolute worst call she could have made.
Day turned to evening and she walked over to the riverside where she saw Nate meditating again. She sat down next to him and looked at the water, which now glistened with the blood of her victim earlier in the day. Nate took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, not exactly seeming to notice that she was there. She decided to try meditating with him... and it seemed easy. All she could see when she closed her eyes was black with swirls of color dancing and shining sporadically all around. She was about to think about how Nate was being overly dramatic when he said it was hard to master, but then she remembered what was going on constantly in his head. Even though he had gotten it way more under control now, he still had almost everybody's thoughts rushing in and out of his own mind all day every day. Sometimes she wondered if he had dreams of his own when he was asleep or he just saw into everyone else's dreams. The idea of telepathy that powerful was terrifying to her, but she was also relieved that he never wanted to be a part of the Athenian Warriors.
Before she could continue thinking, he said "Could you please not think about those bullies for a minute?" She opened her eyes and looked back at him, although he had not shifted his position "You've been wound up tight like a spring all day, it ain't good for you. Just let what Dreama said go for a bit, all it's gonna do is drive you mad."
"Nate, I am going to be attacked by them, and then they will do something to me that only the Gods currently know, because some of them are omniscient, like your father, and you will not tell me what their plan is for me, so I apologize, but they will be infecting my head for a while."
"You really need to breathe," Nate sighed as he turned to look at her "The Gods are coming here in a few days and you and I need to focus on our next sparring match in front of them. Your mom and my dad are gonna be there, so here's the deal. I might let you get a hit in on me to impress your mom and my dad if you agree to go talk to her after our match, okay?"
"I already talked with Mikayla and Eden about this, so yes, I will take that deal."
"Good... don't know if you've noticed, but the sun's already down, and you can see the smoke from the bonfires back at camp." They got up and looked up at the stars, then back to the smoke "Ready to eat?" She nodded and they went up to eat.