Legacies: The Champion of Olympus

11- Claimed

"I'm assuming by now you're smart enough to know why I'm here?" Zeus asked as he took a seat behind Alaric's desk.

I knew the answer but I didn't know how to say it. "I don't know, because you're my father?" I said almost choking on the words.

"Yes I am your father but I honestly thought you'd figure it out earlier."

"Well no offense but I've gone seventeen years without a dad, it wasn't exactly at the top of my list."

He nodded his head. "Understandable. How do you feel about that?"

"Now you're asking me. Why haven't you been asking me that for the last seventeen years?" I said getting frustrated. He was acting like he had been my father my whole life. Well he has been but he hasn't been around.

"You remember when you were running from those bullies and you crossed the train tracks thinking there was no train and then suddenly there was a train cutting you off from the bullies. Or the time when that car almost hit you but it stopped suddenly like it ran into a brick wall. Or how about the voice you've been hearing." He said calmly.

"That was you?" I asked shocked.

He nodded. "I was also your principal during your high-school years I changed my appearance of course but it was me."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" I asked.

He shook his head. "The ancient laws forbid me from interacting with you directly until you learn that you're a demigod and even when you find out I have limited interaction."

"So, how much time do you have right now?" I asked him.

He looked at his watch. "Likely another ten minutes."

"And what happens if you pass the time."

He motioned his hands mimicking an explosion of his body.

I nodded. "Descriptive. So what's the catch."

"What do you mean?" He asked me confused.

"You're a god, I'm a demigod. I've read mythology, I know the rules. You use your children for your dirty work." I asked.

"Ah, you got the brains of your mother." He said in realization.

"So I ask again, what do you need me to do?" I asked.

"You've read the stories of Greek Mythology." He started as he fiddled with fingers. "That means you know of Pandora's box. How, when opened all of the worst things in the world got out."

"Yeah but so did Hope." I said to him.

He shook his head.

"Most myths are really just myths." He said to me. "You see the box was opened, but only partially. Epimetheus managed to close the box before all of the creatures got out."

"Continue."

"Well anyways, the box is currently lost but the gods we misplace things sometimes and..."

"You lost the box." I said nodding my head. "Where?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Somewhere in Colorado, up in the Rockies."

"Great. That's perfect and I'm guessing you want me to get it back?"

"I don't want you to. I need you to. Trust me if there was another option, you wouldn't be my first choice."

"Why? Because I'm weak and don't know my powers?"

He shook his head. "Because you're my son, and you're the only one with a suitable team to take on a quest like this."

I shook my head in disbelief. "I'll accept your stupid quest, and bring back the box because the fate of the world depends on it but only because you're my father."

"You won't be the only one searching for it, so you need to find it as fast as you can. As of now you have a head start but there will be monsters along the path. Keep the ones you trust close and trust no one else."

"I'll get it done."

He stood up. "Very well, there's one more thing we need to do. Follow me."

I got up and followed my father back outside into the storm.

"Stand there." He said pointing at the spot where he struck in on.

He walked a good six feet away from me before turning around.

"I, Zeus, son of Kronos, King of the Gods claim Achilles Walker as my one and only mortal son." He said as the sky sparked and cracked and in one swift motion he brought his finger down pointing directly at me.

Thunder boomed in the sky and I looked up and watched as a blue bolt of lightning hurtled towards me. "Oh nuts."

I closed my eyes and braced for the pain but felt nothing except warmth, and I felt comfortable. The lightning was part of me, just like it always had been. My body accepted the feeling as it felt like a new me was forming.

I had been Claimed.

I could feel the power coursing through my veins, the only thing was. I knew I wouldn't know how to use them.

When I opened my eyes he was gone and no one else was around.

I sighed disappointed and pinched myself to wake my hungover self up from this crazed dream.

"You're not dreaming stupid." A familiar voice said behind me.

I turned around and walked passed her. "Don't talk to me."

She sighed in defeat and let me go.

I needed to let off some steam, one because Gods are just like they are in the stories, wanting nothing to do with you until they need you for something. Two, well because I wasn't going to let Olivia off the hook so easy and that angered me but it was for the best.

I took my shirt off and I avoided the boxing gloves as I went straight for the punching bag.

I knew as soon as I began to hitting the bag that I was not only significantly stronger but I was also faster. I darted around the box hitting it from every angle.

I fought the stupid bag for so long that I began to sweat, and my muscles began to fatigue.

"You know fighting a bag isn't going to help you get that box." Hope's voice said from behind me.

I spun around and sent a backwards kick straight into the bag, my foot connected with the bag so hard it launched off the hook and crashed into the wall.

"You know?" I asked Hope.

"Yeah, we obviously stood outside and listened." She said like it was obvious.

"Oh. Duh." I said as I put my shirt back on and wiped my face with a towel.

"Here." She said handing me a water bottle.

"Gods are clearly the same as they are in the stories." She said to me as we walked out of the gym. "What do you think?"

"I think he's going to be the death of me."