It was early that night, it was the last week of Summer season at camp, and as per tradition, Before the summer at camp ends, a War game of Capture the flag would be set among campers.
the Camp is known to a very few people, and is known to train people with "Special Talents" and raise then into great heroes and warriors.
Just as the campers were gathered at the pavillion, varying ages from 12 to 18, all were excited for the bloody murder they'd be experiencing in a bit, some were already equipped with weapons such as spears, bow and other types.
a centaur hammered his hoof upon the marbled floor of the pavillion, the top half was that of a Man outfitted with a Greek Armor, a bow and quiver slung on his back, He had a regal face and dark long hair and beard, his lower half was that of a white stallion, tail flicking back and forth, The Great Trainer of Heroes known in the Myths, Chiron.
"Heroes!" He announced "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 allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"
it may have seemed overkill but all campers including Lars weren't that much of a normal person, being exposed to a life or death situation constantly was only the norm for them.
Chiron spread his hands, and the table were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, ox hide shields coated in metal.
the campers started picking their weapon of choice like it was natural, for Lars, his trust short sword was enough.
Lars's team was blue, so his helmet had a blue horsehair plume on top, and the other team had red plumes. the compositions of the campers were separated by cabins, Lars was the only camper at Cabin 3 and he formed an alliance with cabin 6, 7 and 11, which were one of the biggest numbers of campers are, the rest were red team, the cabin 5 campers were especially looking forward to this capture the flag, especially since Lars is on the other team (They kinda hate him)
"Blue team, forward!" the blue team leader yelled.
they cheered and shook their swords, and followed her down the path to the south woods. the red team yelled taunts at then as they headed off towards north.
Lars managed to catch up to Annie, the councilor of Cabin 5 and the leader of the blue team.
"Hey, what's the plan?" He asked
"You're on border patrol, right?"
"Yeah, I was hoping to be on the offensive, though"
"Hey, we have a plan, follow that, just watch out for Carlo's new spear" She said "You don't want that thing touching you. otherwise, don't worry, we'll take the banner from Ares"
She pushed ahead, leaving Lars in the dust.
it was a warm, sticky night. the woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view.
Lars was stationed next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then Annie and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.
standing there all alone, with his blue feathered helmet and his shield, Lars felt like an idiot. first of all, Shields weren't his thing. second, he's using a short sword, Shields weren't fitted for them.
Far away, the conch horn blew. he heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. a blue-plumed ally from cabin 7, raced past him like a deer, leaped through the creek and disappeared into enemy territory.
'Great, I'll miss all the fun, as usual'
So he thought, but that was sarcasm, but then, he heard a sound that sent a chill up his spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by. he raised his shield instinctively, could it possibly a monster, but that's close to impossible, no monster can come across the magical borders of the camp, unless they naturally spawned in the hunting forest on the other side of camp.
then the growling stopped. he felt the presence retreating.
On the other side of the creek, the under bush exploded. five campers from Cabin 5 came yelling and screaming out of the dark.
"Cream the punk!" Carlo screamed.
his ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of his helmet. he brandished a five-foot long spear, it's barbed metal tip flickering with red light. his siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords, not that it made Lars feel any better.
they charge across the stream. there was no help in sight. He could run. Or he could defend himself against half of Cabin 5
He managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys weren't as stupid a monsters.
they surrounded him, and Carlo thrust at him with his spear. Lars deflected the point, but he felt a pain tingling all over his body. his body hair stood on end. his shield arm went numb, and the air burned.
Electricity, his stupid spear was electric, Lars fell back.
another camper slammed him in the chest with the butt of his sword and Lars hit the dirt.
they could've kicked him into a jelly, but they were too busy laughing.
"Give him a haircut" Carlo said "Grab his hair"
Lars managed to get to his feet. he raised his sword, but Carlo slammed it aside with his spear as sparks flew. now both his arms felt numb.
"Oh, wow" Carlo said "I'm scared of this guy. really scared"
"Is this a farewell battle? or what? the flag's that way" He wanted to sound cool, but it came out like he was too nervous.
"Yeah," One of Carlo's siblings said "But see, we don't care about the flag. we care about the guy who made out cabin look stupid"
"Oh come on, you do that without my help" Lars told them. it probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.
two of them came at his, he backed up towards the creek, tried to raise his shield, but Carlo was too fast. His spear struck him straight in the ribs, if he hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, he would've been shish-ke-babbed. as it was, the electric point just about shocked his teeth out of his mouth. One of his cabinmates slashed his sword across Lars's arm, leaving a good-size cut.
"no maiming!" He managed to say.
"Oops," the guy said "Guess I lost my desert privilege"
He pushed him into a creek and Lars landed with a splash. They all laughed, but then again, pushing him into the creek was a bad idea. The water woke up Lars's senses, as if he just took up a dozen of double-espresso.
Carlo and his cabinmates came into the creek to get him, but he stood to meet them. Lars swung the flat of his sword against the first guy's head and knocked the helmet clean off. He hit him so hard, he could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.
"Bad idea" Lars smiked
Ugly number two and Ugly number three came at him. He slammed one in the face with his shield and used his sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly number four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Carlo kept coming, the point of his spear crackling with energy. As soon as he thrust, Lars caught the shaft between edge of his shield and sword, and snapped it like a twig.
"Ah!" He screamed "You Idiot! you corpse-breath worm!"
He probably would've said more, but Lars smacked him between the eyes with the pommel of his sword and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.
Then he heard yelling. Elated screams, and he saw Marcus racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of buddies from cabin 11 covering his retreat, and a few Cabin 7 behind them, fighting off the Cabin 9 kids. The Cabin 5 folks got up, and Carlo muttered a dazed curse
"A trick" He shouted "it was a trick"
They staggered after Marcus, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Marcus ran across into friendly territory. Lars's side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin 11. Everybody on the blue team picked up Marcus and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron ran out from the woods and blew the conch horn.
The game was over. Lars's team won.
the party of the Blue team was booming in the pavillion, Lady Hestia was in a happy mood as she looked upon the campers partying. Chiron simply smiled at the boisterous ones, The Cabin 5 and mostly Carlo was grumpy for being single minded during the whole game.
Feeling the party, Lars moved on to a quieter place near the lake, it was his most favourite place since he felt closer to his father there.
"So, we won" Marcus said as he sat beside him.
On the other side, Annie sat down wiping off the dirt in her shorts, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Yeah, I guess" Lars said "Do I really have to be the bait?" he turned to Annie annoyed, he knew this was one of Annie's plans.
"Well, Ares kids are grinding their teeth since you blasted Carlo with water in the canoeing session the other day.
"Hey, it was Marcus's idea, plus it was funny as hell"
Marcus grinned like a devil when he remembered how magnificent Carlo flew when the torrent of water launched him up and off his canoe.
"Anyway, because of that we won" Marcus said "Also, thanks for letting us take the banner"
"No problem" Annie said "Next time it's Hermes Vs Athena"
"I can only see this ending in disaster" Lars muttered.
the three of them, Annie, Marcus and Lars have all arrived in the same time at camp, and even though they are from different cabins, they still kept their friendship intact often joining together on activities whenever possible.
because of that, they had somehow developed an unbreakable bond with each other.
"More than that," Marcus said "Summer is coming to an end, what's your plan?"
"I don't know yet" Annie said "Maybe just stay for the year, I guess?"
"Really?" Lars said "You're the daughter of Athena and you still haven't figured it out?"
"What about you Lars?"
"Well, I got a message from Mom, she said, she and her new husband had recommended to a school in Bristol"
"Oh... I thought you hated her new husband?" Annie asked
"Meh, he's nice, I just didn't feel like I belong there anymore"
"I know how that feels" Marcus said solemnly
"I think everyone here does..." Annie said
The three of them sat in quiet as they watched the moon shine over the lake, the three of them had gone through much in the past three years.
they had their fair share of troubles seeing that they are special, the fact that they had godly parents made them go through much having the fate of a hero, their mortal parents had remarried and made a new family, and that somehow made them feel an outcast, only here at Camp Olympia did they feel close to a family.
that being said, that family was straight up being murderous, Greek History, or should we say at this time Greek myth is known for family murders, but nonetheless, The three of them always feel at ease here at camp.
breaking the silence, Lars was the first one to speak.
"I think, I'll try it"
"What?" Annie asked
"You know... school"
"You'll have to live with your parent for a whole year" Marcus said
"That... yeah, I know"
"Even so, huh"
"I... you know, I want to try and be someone normal like a mob character in a story"
"Lars..." Annie said "Normal isn't what we do... we're special, since birth, standing out is what we do"
"Yeah, she's right, saving people, hunting things." Marcus said "It's what we do, in the outside world, we'd often get attacked by monsters"
"Even so... I'll do it"
Marcus and Annie looked at Lars's determined expression, on of the strong points of Lars was that once he decided, he'd see through it, to the end.
"So..." Annie said "What's the name of the school?"
"Uh... Swordcraft something academy... was it? I can't remember"
"Bristol Royal Swordcraft Academy?!" Annie yelled
"That! yeah, why are you so surprised?"
Marcus sighed heavily "This idiot didn't even know about that..."
"the Royal Swordcraft Academy is known for it's prestigious record of producing incredible results in the Seven Star Festival" Annie explained "They're a school for nobles that gather and learn magic and swordsmanship"
"If you go to that school," Marcus said "You'll be at the top in no time, you're already high-spec being a son of the big three, add to that, You've got a great control over your abilities, how can you even pull off not drawing attention"
"I'll think of something" Lars said and stood up raising his fist up "I shall master the way of mediocrity and become the mobbest of the mob characters! I swear upon the moon!!"
"What's this guy saying?"
"He's probably got a few screws loose after the battle earlier"
with that said, the last week of summer went off without a hitch, Lars bid his farewell with Marcus and Annie promising that he'd return next summer at the camp.
he's quest to living a normal life as part of the mob begins.