The Pantheon

by Pylon Constructor

6. I Get to Burn My Food

After staring at the not too distant battle for another couple of seconds, we decided in some collective mindset to sprint down the hill and head towards the group of people about to duke it out. I was glad for all the soccer I played, I was barely winded when we finally stopped at the edge of the crowd. It seemed I had mistaken battle cries for roars of approval and jeers, someone had probably gotten more burned than the building that was on fire.

Wild’s teeth were chattering in fear as he kept jerking his head around, as if looking for someone, and Fluttershy had a hand over her mouth. I was focused more on the yelling teenagers. I spied some lanky guy a few feet away and tapped him on the shoulder.

“What?” He rudely asked as he turned around, clearly annoyed at having his attention divided.

“What the heck is going on with these guys?” I asked.

“Oh, you’re new huh? I don’t recognize you.” He seemed less aggressive now. He cleared his throat and said, “The Athena cabin is the one on fire, you know about the gods right?” I nodded my head. “Good, so they are blaming the Ares cabin for setting it on fire. That’s them.” He pointed to one of the groups of yelling kids, they looked mean and not too friendly.

“And they’re denying it, saying they would rather fight them head on than resort to cheap tricks. I gotta say, they do make a good point there.” He gestured to the two people in the middle, “The two more vocal ones of the group are the head counselors of their respective cabins.”

“I see, thanks dude,” he nodded his head and returned to watching the two cabins yell and insult each other. I was hearing things like “Porkface!” and “Owl head!” being thrown around, so you know these guys meant business.

I strained my ears to hear the two counselors over the noise of the crowd.

“Don’t lie to my face Bulky! The Ares cabin has had it out for the Athena cabin for the past few months! You can’t say you wouldn’t want to do this!” The guy standing in front of what I assumed to be the Athena cabin yelled at another guy standing in front of the mean looking kids.

“Yeah! You Ares kids are destructive enough to do it!” Shouted another Athena kid.

“Yeah!” Was the collective response of many others joining in.

“Shut up! You little mathletes don’t know anything about us!” The other guy barked at the opposite crowd. He held out a fist and shook it in the other guy’s face, “I would love to have done this! But only after I kicked your butt from camp, to Tartarus, and back! Spoils of war you owl faced loser! The Ares cabin had nothing to do with this, so how about you go back to shoving your nose in a book you nerdy wimp!” He shoved the Athena guy away.

“I would go read a book but you meatheads burned them all! Unlike you idiots we actually think and learn!” The Athena guy retorted, shoving the Ares guy back, as if to make a point.

The other guy looked so mad, his face got red enough it looked like fire was going to spew out his ears like geysers at any second. I could already see the smoke starting to pour out. He cocked his fist back to punch his antagonist in the face and swung, the head of the Athena cabin ducked under the swing and retaliated with his own. That seemed to spark something between the two groups and they held up their weapons and unleashed actual battle cries this time.

Just as the armies of teens took the first running step, some sort of ball bounced in the middle of the two groups and landed right in front of the faces of the two fighting counselors. Their debate had moved to the ground in a violent wrestling match. They looked at the object in confusion before their eyes widened and the ball exploded with a surprisingly tremendous amount of gas.

It wasn’t tear gas, that would’ve sucked bad, but the smell alone almost made me wish it was. Imagine a landfill, full of some of the most disgusting refuse created by humankind, put it in a blender and top it off with raw, unrefined sewage. If you could create that in your head then you only scratched the surface of what that small, unassuming stink bomb unleashed.

I coughed and spat off to the side in disgust, accidentally hitting some pretty girl in the shoe with it. Thankfully she was too busy coughing and hacking up a hairball to notice. Luckily we were in the outermost edge of the crowd so we didn’t get the full brunt of the attack.

Recovering from the smell I straightened up to see who caused this, it seemed Wild did as well as I heard him sigh in relief. I was quickly struck dumb by my first ever sight of a centaur. He looked middle-aged, had a bushy brown beard and thinning brown hair, and the horse half of his body was pure white. Considering what Wild said up on the hill, I could only guess this to be the Chiron.

“That is enough campers, we do not need to be fighting amongst ourselves right now,” Chiron said, his voice offering no other alternative.

“But Chiron...” the Athena counselor wheezed out before returning to violent coughing fits. His hair was blown completely back by the blast of the stink bomb, sticking out all spikey like, like he belonged in some anime.

“No, Mr. Maverick, there is no ‘but’, you and your cabin can sleep in the big house for now. We will attend to rebuilding your cabin tomorrow, as it stands I will have the harpies move the burnt wreckage while we all rest. I will speak with you and your cabin later.” He turned to the rest of us, eyeing Fluttershy and I in particular before addressing the crowd, “Return to your cabins until it’s dinner time everyone. After that it’s a mandatory early lights out, anyone caught by the harpy patrols will be put on lava dish duty for the rest of summer. Athena cabin head to the Big House, Ares stay here. You too, newcomers.”

The rest of the campers slowly disappeared into their respective cabins, giving Fluttershy, Wild, and I some interested looks. Well it was more to me and Flutts, they mostly just nodded their greetings to Wild. I didn’t trust the elfy looking ones too much, they had a sneaky look between them and their eyes lingered a bit too long for my liking around my pockets.

Chiron talked with the Ares cabin, likely trying to get their side of the story. After getting what he wanted, and punishing them with no dessert for a week for fighting outside the arena or any sanctioned match, he sent them on their way back to their cabin. He gave a heavy sigh and rubbed his temple, “Why must Olympian arguments spill down here?”

“Maybe their argument dam isn’t quite high enough?” I helpfully supplied, getting a roll of the eyes from Wild and the softest giggle from Fluttershy.

Chiron seemed amused and slowly made his way closer to us, he put his hands behind his back and said, “While Wild has messaged me about his potential finding of two new campers, how about we get to know each other first hand?” He bowed slightly, “My name is Chiron, and yes, I am indeed the same Chiron from all the myths. Now, who are you?”

“My name is Rainbow Dash,” I replied.

Fluttershy tapped her fingers together nervously, she was always shy around new people, even ones who looked like they were kind people, like Chiron, “I’m, uh, I’m Fluttershy.”

Chiron smiled at us, “Well, how about we get you two settled before dinner time? Have you been claimed yet?”

I didn’t know what that was, neither did Fluttershy.

“It means that your godly parent put a shiny sign above your head with a symbol that represents them, letting others know who you’re the daughters of,” Wild helpfully supplied as he leaned in to whisper at us.

“Uh, no, can’t say we have, right?” I looked at Fluttershy questionally. She shook her head, “Then nope, we haven’t been claimed yet.”

Chiron nodded, “I see, that’s too bad. Well, we can put you in the Hermes cabin for now. As the god of travelers, thieves, and anyone who uses the road, he welcomes all under his roof.” Chiron waved his hand forward and we walked down the rows of cabins to a rather beat up and dingy looking cabin. It was a tad wider than the other cabins though.

“So…” I began as we came to a stop in front of the cabin’s door. I looked up at his face from my spot next to him and asked, “How long does it take for someone to get uh, ‘claimed’?”

Chiron rubbed his chin, “Well, that depends. Sometimes it could take a day or two, sometimes a week, or…,” he sighed, “even years.”

I blinked in astonishment. Years? How could anyone leave someone in the dark about this if it’s that important?

Chiron, as if he was reading my mind, said, “The gods are rather forgetful sometimes. Immortality does that to you when decades seem like seconds. There is also the fact that not every god has a cabin here, as much as there are petitions in Olympus about getting some. Hermes regularly complains in Olympian meetings that his children often pray to him about the cramped conditions in his cabin.”

Chiron shrugged, “The point is, is that there is no set time when being claimed. Do not fret too much about it, it will happen in time. You just need to be patient.”

That didn’t leave me feeling too reassured to be honest, I didn’t want to wait years to figure out who my godly parent was. But I didn’t say anything in the end as he opened the cabin door. What we were met with was, to put it bluntly, chaos. There was playful wrestling between two older kids, pillows being thrown in a makeshift war, and a general mess when you stick a bunch of hyperactive teens under one roof. I could also spy the same elfy kids that were eying my pockets.

Chiron loudly cleared his throat and the noise and clatter practically stopped that very instant. Chiron put a hand on my shoulder and said, “This is Rainbow Dash and,” he gestured to Fluttershy trying to unsuccessfully hide behind him, “this is Fluttershy. They are new campers here and I would like for you to give them a warm camp welcome. They will be here for an undetermined amount of time.”

The way he emphasized ‘undetermined’ made me think there was more to that word than the way it was put into that sentence. The groans of the other campers solidified my theory but they all gave varying kinds of greetings. Chiron looked down at us, “This is where we must part ways for now. If, say, you need any additional information we can offer the orientation film to help you. Dinner time will be in thirty minutes.”

I got the feeling we might not need it, so I replied, “Alright, thanks dude. I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Also, we do have a minor dress code. Nothing much, you just need to wear the orange ‘Camp Half-blood’ shirt while you are here. Or if you are sent on a quest. It’s to make any special operatives out in the country be able to instantly recognize you. A few pairs will be given to you tomorrow, as of now you don’t need to worry about it.”

I wasn’t too fond of a dress code, but as least it was only a shirt.

Chiron gently pried Fluttershy off his horsey backside and galloped off to the large house in the distance. It was at this point Wild spoke up, “I need to go too. The Council of Cloven Elders will want to speak with me. See you at dinner?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” was my reply. I watched him hurry off towards part of the forest surrounding the place.

With him gone Fluttershy and I turned to look at all the new people we will have to deal with, they had already gone back to what they were doing and basically ignored us. That was fine by me. Fluttershy was nearly frozen in place so I had to all but push her through the door. I found that all the beds were taken by the actual Hermes cabin members, makes sense, and that the guests all had to sleep on sleeping bags on the floor. Finding an empty spot to fit the both of us was difficult, but in the end we found one by the far wall.

At least now I’m grateful my mother made us pack a sleeping bag.

I propped my back against the wall next to Fluttershy, “Well, here we are. Our new home for the summer.”

“Yeah,” Fluttershy softly replied, seeming to shrink into herself. “I just hope things will settle down before someone gets hurt.”

I wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her into a side hug, “Heh, don’t you worry Flutts. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

---

We spent the next half hour just relaxing from the most intense and longest day of our life. I think I might’ve fallen asleep again because at one point I was sitting upright against the wall and the next I was being shaken by Fluttershy with my head propped against my travel bag.

“A horn just blew, one of the campers said that’s the conch horn that signals when food is ready to be served.”

I just grunted and forced myself up.

“Alright people it’s time for dinner! Line up single file and let’s go! Newbies!” A tall, skinny but fit, and older looking guy with dusty brown hair loudly announced. I guessed that this guy was the counselor for the Hermes cabin and I personally didn’t think his dramatic point was entirely necessary. “You get to be at the end of the line since you’re new!”

After everyone finished scrambling to get in line we marched across the camp to a large pavilion that was open to the elements. It made me wonder what they did when it started raining, but since the sky looked clear enough I didn’t ask anyone about it.

We all took our seats, each cabin having it’s own table. To be honest they were kinda plain in comparison to their respective cabins. Just slabs of marble on stilts with a white table cloth that had a small fringe of purple on it, whereas each cabin was it’s own work of art. Fortunately anyone who could not fit on the marble seats on each side of the table was given a metal, foldable chair and got to eat on the ends of the table.

Considering how uncomfortable those stone seats looked, and the envious faces we garnered only reinforced that, these were an improvement. A bunch of elf-like girls melted, yes I mean melted, out of trees and other foresty things. They came around serving food, I honestly couldn’t help staring at them. A few of my new cabin mates snickered at my obvious staring.

I just glared at the ones who were being too obvious about it. Excuse me for finding things in this magical world that don’t want to kill me fascinating. One of the elf-girls, I later find out they were in fact called dryads, set down an incredibly delicious looking plate of barbecue in front of me. She winked at me and went back to do more rounds.

Once all the food was set down I stabbed some meat with a fork and started to dig in. A hand placed itself on my wrist before I could take a bite and I looked up to see Wild. He shook his head and pointed to one of the cabins getting up and heading over to a bonfire, it had a small girl tending to it. “Before you start a meal, it is customary to sacrifice a portion of your food to the gods, generally the best portions of it is best if you don’t want to make them angry. They apparently like the smell. Usually you do it for your parent, but in this case I’d make a wide range.”

Burning your food? I know that the greeks used to sacrifice animals and other things like that in the temples, but I suppose that live animal sacrificing to the gods had fallen out of practice in this day and age. Nevertheless I put my stomach on hold and waited until it was the Hermes cabin’s turn to dump part of their food into the fire.

Fluttershy and I waited in line for a couple of minutes. Once it was her turn Fluttershy dutifully scraped some of her food into the fire and whispered a prayer so quiet I was sure that, goddess or not, her mother wouldn’t even be able to hear her.

Once she finished and made her way back to the table it was my turn. I pushed some food around on my plate until it was all at the edge and flung it into the flames.

“Dad, I don’t know anything about this world and I’ve nearly died twice in the same day already. At least give a sign you know I’m here and won’t make me wait years until I’m claimed,” I said. A breeze with the scent of fresh rain rolled heavily through the pavilion, making the table cloths flap in the wind.

The campers all cried out in shock at the random act of weather. I swallowed nervously as I walked back to my seat. I got my sign, just like I wanted. So why, as I ignored the stares I received from the other campers as they put two and two together, did I feel nervous about things to come?

The lean-cut steak didn’t offer any answers for me.

Author's Note:

Ah, a slightly longer chapter this time. Felt good to stretch my fingers and write this one.

I might take a small break, I still have a few things I need to flesh out on paper a bit more for this quest.

Comments

[Dream Dusk]

Oh man, this is so good.

[Dinokid11]

Good chapter take your time I like this story I want to see it to the end

[RainbowTheTankEngine]

next stop zeus

[Bazing]

Awwwwww come on please more the suspense is killing me.

[Pylon Constructor]

7381517 Hehehe...

[Bazing]

7381525 WHY U DO DIS TO ME

[Timeless Lord Slayer]

7381585 Because Discord.