Age of Chaos and the Reign of Darkness

I. Harlan

'Harlan Ellewood', said Mr. Bolin.
'Present sir', Harlan replied half asleep from the back of the classroom.
He was silently cursing Mr. Bolin, the school and the entire education system for making him wake up so early everyday for an entire year. Thankfully his job was almost.....his thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Bolin.
'Ajax Apeiro.....Mr. Apeiro', boomed the teacher from his desk.
Slowly the door opened and a head popped in and shakily replied, 'Present. I am present sir.'
'Mr. Apeiro, lost your way to the classroom', inquired Mr. Bolin.
'Well sir, it's a very big building to begin with', Ajax said with a little tiredness in his voice.
'I hope you don't need a bunch of people to escort you to your seat', said Mr. Bolin.
Ajax nodded and rushed to the seat beside Harlan. 'Hey man, you were pretty late today', Harlan whispered. Ajax took out his books and replied, 'Don't blame me and anyway it's latin and mythology, who studies that ?'
Harlan looked hurt, 'I do.' Ajax said in an almost apologetic tone, 'Yeah, well you are really good at it.' Harlan seemed to consider that.
From the front Mr. Bolin explained, 'Greek mythology, our mythology started with Chaos when she gave birth to all the early immortals and among them Erebos was the strongest. He was darkness impersonified. But soon after the creation of the universe he started to revolt against Chaos' rule and tried to assert control. However Chaos defeated and captured him in the darkest part of her realm.'
'Mr. Apeiro can you please tell us who were the siblings of Erebos?' Mr. Bolin suddenly asked.
Ajax hesitantly got up and answered, 'Um well....his siblings were probably Nyx, Tartarus, Pontus, Gaia and Oranus.'
Mr. Bolin was speechless for a second but he finally said, ' Very good Mr. Apeiro. On this happy note, we have an exciting field trip to the city of Troy tomorrow.'
As the bell rang, Harlan and Ajax went straight to their dorm room.

It was late in the evening when Harlan said, 'I have to go meet Mr. Bolin regarding the assignment he gave last week.'
'Fine but return quickly because the movie starts at 8 and I don't want to miss it', said Ajax.
With this Harlan went out. But just before the teachers' quarter he turned right and climbed up to the roof. The sprinklers were throwing water all over the green house. He pulled out a flashlight and set it on the ground. The light on crossing the water created a rainbow. Harlan took out a big gold coin and threw it in the rainbow and said, 'O Iris! Goddess of rainbow please accept my offering. Show me Chiron at Camp Half Blood.'
The rainbow rippled and a man with curly hair and a timeless face appeared. The man said, 'Well, Harlan did you find the half blood ?'
Harlan sadly explained, 'No because the aura is all over the place. I can't pinpoint the demigod.'
'The Acropolis might also contribute to the aura Harlan' ,the man said in an understanding tone.
'No, it is not the ruins. It has to be a strong demigod Chiron. Maybe a child of the Big Three', Harlan said.
'Well, inform me when you find something', Chiron said before the mist image faded.
Harlan went back to his dorm room a little disheartened and sat on his bunk beside Ajax. He was totally engrossed in his favourite movie King of Sparta. 'Sorry I started without you but Tristan McLean is so cool. Wish I could meet him', Ajax exclaimed.
But Harlan's thoughts were somewhere far off. He was thinking about his job. He was getting the aura from all around him except Ajax, who never emitted any aura. He was sure that Ajax was a pure mortal. There was no way he could be a demigod. But demigod or not Ajax was his best friend and the only person he would miss once he left that god forsaken school at the end of the semester.
'Hey dude, you falling into a trance or something', asked Ajax.
'Oh no. I was just tired and your movie's over', Harlan replied.
Closing the laptop Ajax curled up in his bed. 'Good night buddy', murmured Harlan and the reply came in a snore. Harlan smirked and went to sleep.

Next morning, Harlan and Ajax were on the bus right in front of Michael Decker and his goons who were trying to look cool sitting at the back with bags of snacks and mobile phones listening to music. But to Harlan they looked like overgrown toothless walruses.
They were continuously screaming random comments on people on the streets.
'Hey freak-o, you should be honoured sitting in front of us', Michael boasted to Ajax.
However Ajax was pretty composed about this whole incident but Harlan couldn't control himself. He got up and said, 'You are a freak Michael. Have you looked at yourself lately ? You look like a pig !'
'Oh, you wanna piece of me runt !' Michael tried to be witty but just couldn't be.
Ajax then had to intervene and calm down both of them. He said to Harlan, 'You don't need to get so worked up like that. It's okay, I don't care what he says.'
The bus then pulled up on the side and stopped. Mr. Bolin got up and said, 'Now stay with your partner and don't get lost.'
They were walking along the shore and Mr. Bolin was saying something about the Greek ships and Achilles and a lot of other interesting stuffs but Michael Decker was goofing around like an idiot. Harlan completely annoyed by this point turned around to shut him up but Ajax was already arguing with him.
Ajax probably told him to shut up and Michael being the jerk he was grabbed Ajax by the collar and was about to punch him when Ajax grabbed his hand midair. Ajax's hand started glowing and Michael gave out a frantic yell.
Mr. Bolin stopped and said, 'What happened Mr. Decker, any problem? And you Mr. Apeiro?'
Michael said, 'Ajax attacked me.'
Mr. Bolin in an exasperated tone said, 'Stop fighting like kids you two and get in the line. If I hear as much as a squeak, you two are getting a zero on your assignment. Am I clear? And what was I saying about the defendant of the Greek ship Mr. Apeiro? Who was the defendant?'
'I guess it was someone named Ajax', Ajax replied. 'You guessed right Mr. Apeiro', said Mr. Bolin. 'Follow me to the Walls now and no fighting'.
Harlan was still stumped with what he had seen. Did Ajax just glow like a tubelight. He wasn't sure and besides he had this uneasy feeling that they were being watched by someone or something.
Mr. Bolin was still telling the class how important the walls were. They came to a turret beside the gates where Mr. Bolin pointed down and said, 'That's where Achilles fought Hector and killed him.'
An elderly woman was standing near the group. She didn't look like a monster or anything but Harlan kept glancing at her as if any moment she would turn into a rabid dog.
Suddenly she came closer to the group and as fast as lightning she jumped on someone beside Harlan and dragged him out of the group.
All the students started screaming and Harlan saw who the hostage was........it was Ajax. Harlan fished out his reed pipes and played a jiffy tune. As if on cue the old lady turned into a hag with bat wings.
Harlan cocked his head to one side and said, 'A fury........ seriously.'
The bat winged hag pressed her talons deeper into Ajax's throat and roared,'Baah, I am an Arai, the curse spirit!'
Harlan was about to play his reed pipes when the Arai threatened, 'Now, now put those reed pipes away before I rip this demigod's throat out.'
Before Harlan could think of anything Ajax did something that suprised both Harlan and the Arai. He poked the monster in the eyes with his thumbs and crawled to Harlan. Harlan headbutted the monster and pushed her over the sides.
Ajax was horrified.' What was that? Why did she call you a satyr? Why were you playing weird flutes? I am not a demigod, right?'
Harlan said,' Come with me. We don't have time.'
'But what about Mr. Bolin and everyone else?' asked Ajax.
'They won't be going anywhere. They are under a spell,' replied Harlan.
With this both of them tore down the wall and towards the buses. On reaching the parking lot, Ajax asked, 'What is this all about Harlan? Tell me.'
'I will explain everything on the way but first we have to get back to the school. Since it's near Acropolis we'll be safer there', replied Harlan.
They saw the driver sitting heavily bored in his seat. They tried to convince him to take them back to school but the driver couldn't just take back two students when brought a bus load of noisy jerks. Ajax stepped in and said in a tone that sounded dangerously close to charm speak to Harlan but was still somehow different. 'You have to take us back. NOW.'
Driver tried to argue, 'But I am not....... fine get in.'
Without delay they got in and took their seats.
Harlan explained as best as he could, 'You know about all the Greek gods and monsters.'
'Yes', Ajax replied.
'They are real and you are a child of a God and a mortal.... you're a demigod. You've a certain aura or scent as you may call it which attracts monsters and nature spirits and satyrs like myself. Now these monsters are gonna hunt you and kill you unless you go to Camp Half Blood and train with others like you under Chiron's guidance', Harlan finished.
'So wait you are a satyr as in half goat and half human. And if so where are your hooves and horns ?', Ajax questioned.
'Yes I am satyr and my horns are more like stumps since I am still a young satyr and well I am just very good at hiding my hooves in these shoes. Also I am your keeper and my only job was to find you and take you back to the camp safely', replied Harlan.
'That sounds exciting. I am a moving buffet for monsters. I grew up an orphan when I had a godly parent and my best friend did not care to mention that he was a satyr and my keeper. Jolly good', said Ajax bitterly.
'In my defense, I didn't know that you were a demigod since you didn't have a very godly aura and we are not supposed to tell these things to mortals. They might go crazy', said Harlan in an apologetic tone.
'Anyway do you know who my godly parent is?' asked Ajax.
'They will claim you when you reach the camp but I guess we can try to zero in on your parent', said Harlan. 'Do you like to read a lot of books ?'
'Dude you have been with me for an entire year. You know better than to ask me that question'.
'Yeah that's right', chuckled Harlan. 'Do you like farming?'
'I kill every plant that I touch, so no', said Ajax.
'Well that crosses off Athena, Demeter and Dionysus', replied Harlan. 'Do you read fashion magazines ?'
'There is a different category of magazines for fashion !' exclaimed Ajax.
Harlan stared at him and said, 'Uh duh. And there goes the slight possibility of you being a child of Aphrodite. But then you can charm speak.'
'What's charm speak?' asked Ajax.
Before Harlan could answer the driver announced from the front, 'We are here. Get off.'
On their way out Harlan said, 'I will call an extraction squad and we will be off to camp tomorrow.'
'That's fine with me', Ajax said.
And they went straight to their dorm thinking that tomorrow they wouldn't have to fight a monster or run for their lives. But boy were they wrong.