Starry-Eyed

☼ p r o l o g u e ☼

"Any news on the half-bloods?" Said the general. "I'm already getting tired of having this one—" he pointed to the boy who was trying to hold something, extremely heavy. "—carrying my burden."

"Y-yes. The half-bloods are being watched over by a satyr and a centaur." A person said, looking at the ground. "Chiron the centaur, to be exact."

"Good." The general said nothing after that.

"C-can I go home now?" They pleaded.

The general smirked. "I think not. You've become very vital to me." He walked closer to his new minion. His eyes stared into their eyes. "Become my little spy."

"I-I—"

"Do not protest, young one."

"Isn't this evil and wrong?"

The general grew angry. "The gods deserve this! They're the reason why I've been burdened with this curse for eons! They used me as a pawn and I'll use their heroes as my rooks."

"Wait, I thought in chess, it's the pawns that people use to—"

"Be quiet! Or would you like to take his place?" He pointed to the boy who was struggling to hold something. The poor teenager had been under the General's wing for months. He'd been tortured and starved, you could practically see his own ribs. It was clear that the boy wanted to go back home.

The person whimpered. "No, I wouldn't like that."

"Good, because I saved both of your puny little lives. Don't make me regret it." The General gently held onto his new minion's chin. His eyes turned gold, the color of the blood of the gods, and he whispered an Ancient Greek incantation. His minion's eyes turned into ichor as well, staring into nothing but him.

"Run into that wall," The General instructed. The person ran into the wall, earning a possibly fractured nose and their nose was bleeding. The person got up and walked back to him.

The General wiped the blood away and sniffed it. "Half-blood blood." He smirked. "If I told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?" His new toy didn't even hesitate as they jumped off the cliff of his mountain. When he looked down to check on it, his minion was holding onto a rock.

Out of pity, he helped them up. He snapped his fingers and the person's eyes turned back to normal. A migraine shot through the person's head. "Ow . . . what happened?"

"What's happened?" The General chuckled to himself. "I've become the king and you two—" he pointed to the boy who was unconscious on the floor. It looked like he was dead. "—have become my knights." The General smirk broke out into a laugh.

"Find these half-bloods." He brought out an old and ruined picture of these two teenager girls, who were clearly best friends. "Bring them to me. I'll use them as my pawns and the gods will have no choice this time."