Ch .6
Loud cries of pain could be heard from the arena. Jonathan was being pummeled by Ultor, son of Ares. Chiron had chosen that day to start John's training and because he was already skilled with a bow, Mr. D made him learn to use a sword. That was doomed to fail. It all started when he was told to pick a sword. No matter how hard he tried, none of them seemed to fit; it was either too heavy or too light. When they'd found one that fit him, it was too top heavy. Frustrated after hours of testing, Dionysus had grudgingly offered to make John a sword. The sword was formed from vines and was as sharp as Poseidon's trident. It's edges burned on contact and when not in use, would curl around his wrist like a thorn bracelet. While in use, the sword was a gleaming celestial silver blade with a dark purple hilt, summoned simply by thought. The moment John had summoned the sword, a dark surreal glow surrounded it and a black and silver line slowly ran from the sharpest point of the sword straight up till it touched the band of Stygian iron separating the blade from the hilt.
When Jonathan had pointed it out to Dionysus, he simply shrugged and said, "Do you want a sword or not?"
Chiron had insisted that Jonathan trained with that sword only. They'd agreed that John would study under Chiron for a week before being handed off to Clarisse for sword-fighting lessons and so far that hadn't been going well.
From the start, John hadn't been able to swing properly. He would always overextend on any swing and end up tripping himself without the help of anyone.
"Keep your arms tucked in!" Chiron would yell as he whacked John's rib cage.
"Your stiffness could get you killed! " WHACK!
" The sword should be an extension of your body!" WHACK!
At the end of each session Chiron would send him off to the infirmary for some ambrosia and nectar. Towards the end of the day, Chiron called the youngest member of the Ares cabin to spar with John. His name was Ultor Johnson. He was fourteen and about John's height with a heavily muscular build and scars that made him look a lot older than he was.
John was instantly wary of him and the looks Ultor gave him sent shivers racing down his spine. From the moment Chiron had told them to start, Ultor sprang into a vicious offence, making John back track, barely able to keep up with his speed. In under a minute Ultor had disarmed John and had His sword under John's chin.
"Pathetic!" He spat. "I can't believe you called me here for this waste of time."
Stabbing his sword into the soft ground, Ultor stomped away.
"Okay, I think that was enough practise for today." Said Chiron.
Trotting away, he yelled back at John to head to the infirmary. Disappointed, Jonathan decided to head to the beach. The place where his whirlwind of thoughts, could be calmed. He took a deep calming breath and let out all his problems into the sea. He'd realised he could do this the first time he been there. At first he was excited and anxious to tell Chiron but a voice in his head had warned him it wasn't time yet.
John stared at the calm sea, remembering the last time he had been there with his mother. It had only been 2 weeks. In those 2 weeks, he had been attacked by werewolves, killed a giant wolf, met Adriana and entered into the Greek world.
Melancholy flooded his mind as he thought about his mom. According to Artemis, that wasn't his real mother but Chiron had said that they'd found him passed out on the floor, thereby cancelling out any chance that those 2 people had actually met him. He'd pushed it out of his mind, owning it up to one of his crazy dreams.
Focusing on the weather, he turned off his mind and noticed the rapidly changing atmosphere. Lightning raced across the blue sky and dark grey story cloud gathered over the camp. Distraught demigods run out of their cabins, yelling at the top of their voices as thunder boomed. A glowing bolt of lightning violently struck the ground and out of it came Zeus. He was dressed in a formal pin-strip suit and his fiery eyeballs slowly dimmed. A dozen gold flashes appeared behind him and out of them stepped the other Olympians except Hestia and Hades.
"Drama King." Hera muttered under her breath.
Ignoring her, Zeus called for Chiron, grumbling about half-horse brothers.
"My lord?", Chiron queried as he bowed to the King of the gods.
"Apollo has had a prophecy about some of your half-bloods." Zeus thundered. "The gods are fading," At this a series of gasps echoed through the crowd. "and we are here to issue a quest. The third great prophecy has been revealed. Apollo, care to repeat?"
In a suddenly raspy voice, Apollo spoke. " Son of the daughter of the one forbidden
Shall ride the sisters to the place forgotten
A curse, a blessing will he receive
To fight the one destined to deceive
To fire and memory shall two be lost
Until the one shall pay the cost
His life in the end shall he raze
And the world shall fall to a never ending blaze."
'Well that's doomed to fail' Jonathan thought.
"I can't seem to figure out who the 'son of the daughter of the one forbidden' is." Athena growled.
Apollo's eyes scanned the beach and came to fall on John. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the blue sword wristband around his wrist. Jonathan's heart beat raced and he glared defensively at Apollo.
"You! Jonathan Keith!" Apollo yelled. "Come here!"
"Why don't you come over here?" John replied.
In a flash of light, Apollo was infront of Jonathan, his orange eyes glowing like miniature suns.
"Who gave you this?" He queried, holding up John's left hand.
"My mother," John replied.
The fire in Apollo's eyes instantly died down and were replaced with a look of sorrow and longing. Lava-like tears rolled down Apollo's eyes as he grabbed John in a bone-crushing hug.
"Son." He whispered.
*********************
GUESS WHO'S BACK???
CRAZY EFFING NERDBOY
U THOUGHT I WAS DEAD DIDNT U? DIDNT U????????
well im back and im here to stay
