-𝑀𝒾𝓀𝒶'𝓈 𝓅𝑜𝓋-

"Percy, try aiming carefully. You don't need glasses at all to do that." I said while sweat dropping when I realised he was failing at archery, he didn't even managed to hit the target. Somehow all of his arrows always go way of course and hits unsuspecting campers who were passing by the archery field. I looked at Crystal and she just shrugged and aimed at her target, she shot it near the centre. It's not a bullseye, but it was good.

The reason I was with them today is because I decided to get into some activities, Chiron said it's okay so here I am in the archery field with my friends.

Grover was busy though.

I then looked as an arrow of Percy's went 180* and almost hit Chiron who didn't believe that an arrow could fly backwards like that. I sighed and shot my own arrow at my wooden target to hit a bullseye, I smirked and kept shooting arrows near or close to the centre intentionally. Percy sent me a glare that filled with jealousy and anger, he quickly took an arrow and tried to get a bullseye like me. But his arrow turned 180 mid-air and went straight at Crystal's direction. I yelled at her to get away and she yelped as she quickly ducked, the arrow whizzed only an inch from her head and went straight to a tree behind her.

"Seriously? How could an arrow do that?! Is that even possible?!" Crystal asked and looked at Percy with questioning looks while I sighed and ignored them with a sweat drop, focusing on aiming at my target. The wind's coming from the west so I should...

While I was doing that, Chiron was rubbing his forehead.

"Well it is certainly possible if Percy's the one who held the bow" He said.

"Maybe we should put the target backwards," I grumbled and shot an arrow, which ended up in the middle of the target. "Or let Percy shoot backwards." I smirked at the said person.

Though in hindsight, Percy might be better with another type of bow.

Then said demigod smacked me with his bow. "Shut up!"

I rubbed my head and glared annoyingly "You suck at archery, admit it Kelp-head!"

Percy eyes twitched and suddenly shot an arrow at me, and of course, being the Kelp-head that he is. The arrow turned around and managed to find its way to Chiron's horse ass which made the Centaur flinch when the arrow struck his behind. Crystal and I stifled a laugh, bodies shaking like a crazy.

"Percy" Chiron said in a sickly calm voice while pulling an arrow out from his ass carefully, "I would love it if you stop shooting arrows at me, and if you like to. Never shoot an arrow again."

With that sentence I burst out a loud laugh, loud enough that I think the whole camp heard me.

/|\_~*~_/|\

After that, it was Foot racing. I had plenty of practice from either my mentors or chasing down monsters. My instructors, which were wood-nymphs. Were fast, they probably trained themselves to run against lovesick Satyrs or gods. I fortunately caught up to them moments later, which was somehow a record.

Wrestling, I had it in the bag.

You try wrestling a B++ Strength Servant up in a sky fortress knowing that someday you might be thrown off accidentally because of them. Or how about wrestling one of the lions that Archer Gilgamesh was somehow allowed to keep in the Hanging Gardens.

Don't ask why.

Canoeing was the very last thing on my list for the day. I love exploring, this might be my favourite since this doesn't end up with weapons or violence. Though I was looking at the scenery more than rowing my canoe paddle.

But I was aware that the older campers were trying to figure out who my godly parent was, but I'm not making it easy.

I'm a magus, not a demigod.

I have reddish-brown hair which looked almost like a dark orange at some angles, not bright to pale blonde like the Apollo kids which almost looked bleached.

I don't have grey or silver eyes like the Athena kids, just reddish-brown eyes with a hint of an amber heterochromatic ring surrounding each of my black irises.

I was somewhat strong like the Ares kids from having to fight things anywhere from three to six times my size. I had years being taught magic to fighting with different kinds of weapons to literature, math and other stuff that were meant for high school students.

Suffice to say, the senior campers were confused when they couldn't figure it out.

Few days later, I would walk along the shore in the mornings, try picking strawberries from the fields when no one was looking and go to the hot springs at the end of the day.

I even spent times in the stables when the Aphrodite kids were gone, petting the horses and pegasi, sneaking them apples and sugar cubes which made them tame and friendly towards me.

But at most times, when I was bored I would train with Luke, It usually ended with a tie with a lot of observers and it has suddenly become a habit that we'll swordfight every time at noon (Safe to say we had fun if you didn't force others to do it with you).

I sometimes sing at night which made everyone happy before bed, which also made me happy.

ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ ~ ~ ~🧀

It was now Friday in the afternoon, I was with Percy, Crystal and Grover at the lake. Resting from what Percy calls a 'near-death' experience from having just finished the lava climbing wall. The satyr had scrambled up like a mountain goat, with me right on his tail while the lava almost got Crystal and Percy who were right behind me. All three of our shirts had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off our forearms.

The four of us sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I heard Percy ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D which made the Satyr's face turn a sickly shade of yellow.

"Fine," he said. "Just great."

"So your career's still on track?"

He glanced at him nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"

"Well... no." Percy said while I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.

"He just said that you had big plans, and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?" Crystal then asked while I was still downright confused.

Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you or Crystal yet, so our fates were still tied together. Though in Mika's case, I just asked for help from her." He explained, "Is it because you didn't know where Percy is and you came to me since Crystal and her dad weren't in their home that time?" I asked him and he nodded. "Yeah, but since you can see through the mist, helped me find Percy, plus Crystal...I'm still fine. The plus side is that if Percy or Crystal got a quest and I went along to protect either of them, and we both or the three of us came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."

That made my spirits lift. "Well, that's not so bad, right?" Crystal asked him.

"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you or Percy getting a quest... and even if either of you did, why would you guys want me along?"

"Of course we'd want you along!" Percy said but Grover just stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."

I mentally sighed as we tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We then talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, and debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, Percy asked him about the four empty cabins. Turns out that the silver cabin belonging to Artemis was honorary only, since Artemis didn't have kids. Same with Hera's cabin, since being the goddess of marriage, she didn't go around having affairs with mortals like her husband...brother...err, with an s...or was it siblings?

"...When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos." Grover explained to us

"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."

"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."

"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, and Hades the Underworld, right?"

"Uh-huh." Grover said nodding.

"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." Percy said confused.

"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."

"But why are the Zeus and Poseidon cabins empty?" I asked and Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably and explained to us again. The two empty cabins that belonged to Zeus and Poseidon, both of which had been empty since WWII. Ever since the Big Three had sworn on the River Styx to never have children again, seeing as demigods born of them were too powerful. Suddenly, Thunder boomed which made Crystal jump. I patted her back and looked at Grover again and said, "I'm guessing that's the most serious oath you can make." Grover nodded.

"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"

Grover's face darkened at Percy's question. and explained that the closest Zeus's cabin had come to being filled was seventeen years before, when Zeus sired a daughter, Thalia. The poor girl had suffered greatly from her father breaking his oath, powerful monsters hunting her all over the country.

He then said that all of the Kindly Ones, along with a horde of hellhounds were after them. Thalia told the satyr to take her friends to safety while she held off the monsters like I did on the beach. And when Thalia made her stand at the top of that hill...she died.

Zeus took pity and turned her into that pine tree with her spirit still protecting the borders of the valley. The reason why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill.

—————༻ * ༺—————

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.

Chiron invited me to sit with him, Mr.D and his sons. Chiron then explained to me that it was time for capture the flag after dinner. Basically, its like a normal capture flag game, but in a thick forest while we use real weapon instead a fake one in night.

When the plates were cleared away, a conch horn sounded.

Campers stood up, yelled, and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but with gaudy red, it was painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

I turned to Chiron and yelled over the noise, "Are those the flags?"

"Yes, and those cabin don't always fight, just often" he said. "The Hermes and Apollo cabin made a temporary alliance with Athena tonight to get the flag from Ares who's allianced with Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus who'll try to get the other teams flag." Chiron explained and told it to everyone.

A few minutes later Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble to get everyone's attention.

"Heroes!" he announced to everyone. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.

"Now Mika, do you want to join them?" Chiron asked and I nodded feeling exited making him chuckle. "Good, because I have a task for you. Let's just say you'll be wearing a different coloured helmet." He said and I soon noticed that the twin sons of Dionysus; Castor and Pollux wore red horsehair plumed helmets like the other allies of the Aries cabin. Then at Athena's and her allies side had a blue horsehair plume on top of their helmets.

As the Blue(Athena's) team went to the south side of the woods, some members of the Red(Ares') team taunted them as they went to the northern side. When all of them were gone, Chiron gave me a helmet with green colored plumes on top with some light armour,

he then allowed me to choose a weapon and told me what I'll be doing.

When there is war, there will always be havoc and karma to roughen up plans to make them falter, right?

————————————————————————————————————