Equilibrium

Chapter 2: Luka's POV

Mom was dead. She was gone. Grandpa took me in after the accident, but he's always secluded to his own thoughts. I mean I get it, losing your wife and daughter within just a few months utterly sucks, but he still has me, right?

I got out of bed and went downstairs into the kitchen. Technically there was only one floor in the house, but Grandpa let me use the attic as my room, which was good because it meant that I had more space, and the walls had better soundproofing so I wouldn't be bugging him when I would sing or play my guitar. It doesn't matter anymore though because I hate singing now. What's even the point when the only thing that makes me happy is just gone? When I entered the kitchen, I realized Grandpa was making oatmeal and I internally gagged. Oatmeal is probably the worst thing to ever exist.

"Morning Luka," he mumbled.

"Morning."

I wasn't really hungry so I just watched him eat. I think he sensed that I was about to say something, so he put his spoon down and looked straight at me. "I'm leaving." I said firmly.

"And where do you suppose you're going to go?" He replied, shaking his head.

"I don't know, and I honestly don't care. I can't stay here any longer, you don't care about me!" I was getting heated and he had barely even said anything yet.

"I know you're hurting, Luka! So am I! Go ahead and leave, you won't have anywhere to go and you'll just come running back." I'd had enough.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa, but I'm leaving and there's nothing you can do about that."

With that I went upstairs and grabbed the backpack that had been packed for about a month, ready for whenever I got the courage to leave, and walked out the door. Just like that I left everything behind. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I knew that wherever it was, I would eventually be fine. I needed time to heal and I knew that I'd never be able to be around my grandfather. Knowing that I wanted to get out of town, I went to the nearest bus station and bought a ticket to San Francisco. Far enough away from home, but still a relatively cheap ticket. I don't remember exactly what happened in the next few hours, it was all a blur. I mean I wasn't really paying much attention to my surroundings anyway. By the time I caught the bus and got all the way to San Francisco it was already 7p.m. Skip forward another hour and I'd found a campsite right next to the ocean overlooking Mount Tam, where I set up the small tent that I had brought with me. I may not have known where I was going but I'm not stupid, so I came prepeared. Now there was nothing to really do. I hadn't brought my guitar, and it was already dark, so I decided to just go to bed.

That night I had the strangest dreams ever, apparently my mind decided to make up a whole story about how Greek and Roman gods were real and how each major god gave their kids a powerful relic to help them survive. I honestly didn't know what the hell was going on and by the time morning came around I was exhausted. Those nightmares were something I had never had before. I mean, I'd had bad dreams after mom died, but not like these. These had nothing to do with the accident and were just... strange. Maybe it was the location? I thought that I should find a campsite not as close to the water, so I packed up all my belongings (which wasn't much, I like to travel light) and was out of there by around 9.

Not really sure what to do, I just walked, looking around, observing the city. As I was admiring a guitar with a sick design on it in the display window of a music store, a random girl came up to me and started a conversation.

"Hey!" She exclaimed with a bubbly smile. "Thats a cool guitar, are you planning on buying it?" She was pretty, with blonde hair, light green eyes, and a small dimple on her right cheek that came up whenever she smiled, but there was something off about her.

"Uh hi, no I don't think I'll be buying it, I was just admiring," I replied keeping my distance.

"Oh, well you should! I'd love to hear you play sometime!" Her voice was kind of annoying and I was already done with this conversation. She was obviously flirting with me, and that really annoyed me. I hate when girls throw themselves at my feet, I would rather have a girl make me fight for her. "Hm, well I'll think about it. Anyways, I should be going now," I muttered, annoyed that just an innocent girl would make me so angry. What had gotten into me? Before I could walk away though, she grabbed my arm and dug her nails into it. Wait, they didn't seem like nails, more like.....talons? I was pretty sure my arm was bleeding. When I looked at her, it was definitely not the same girl who was standing before me just a few seconds ago. I was pretty sure this wasn't even a person. Sure, her face looked like a human's, just like the girl who I was talking to, but her body had... transformed? She had two twin dragon-like trunks as legs and was wearing a dress that looked almost... ancient. "Why don't you ssstay with me sssweetheart?" She- it- whatever, literally hissed.

At this point I did the only rational thing that came to my mind. I ripped my arm out of her grasp, which hurt a lot, and sprinted in the other direction. I ran as fast as I could onto a highway and up a hill. I was bleeding a lot from my arm, and from a quick glance over my shoulder, that thing was following me, and it was gaining on me fast. As I ran up the hill, two people, wearing armor like you would see on a knight, came into view, standing in front of a door down a tunnel in the road, as if they were guarding it. One was a short African American girl with gold eyes, and the other was a tall, muscular Chinese boy. They were laughing at something that the boy had said, until they saw me, running for my damn life with my arm spewing blood everywhere. The girl instantly drew her sword and ran right past me. "Come on!" The boy said urgently. He took me through the door and kept running until we crossed a river, into a whole different world than we were in before. "My name is Frank," the boy said, panting, "and that's Hazel," he pointed at the girl who was now jogging in our direction. I had a trillion questions, like what the hell was that? And, where am I? But I couldn't get anything out, I was too stunned by all that had just happened. "Hey dude, calm down, you're safe now, ok?" Frank looked at me, concerned. Suddenly I remembered the dream that I'd had the night before. I don't know why, but I felt compelled to tell him about it.

"Th- the relics, I had a dream... what the hell is going on?" That was all I managed to get out before I heard a voice behind me. "Frank, Hazel, get his arm fixed up and bring him to my office, I have to contact Chiron immediately." I whipped around, but the girl who was talking speed-walked away. I just caught sight of long brown hair, gleaming gold armor, and a purple cape.

"That's Reyna," the girl named Hazel said. It was all too much. What the hell was going on? What was that thing chasing me? That's all I remembered before completely blacking out from the immense pain in my arm.