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shitpostroundhouse · 1 year ago

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Gorgon

Medusa1

A Gorgon

Unlike their Greek mythological counterparts, the Gorgons in God of War appear more serpent-like altogether. Plus, instead of being just three, they are a race of beings. However, there are still three main Gorgon sisters who rule all others: Medusa, Euryale, and Stheno.

Greek Mythology

In Greek mythology, a Gorgon (derived from "gorgos", meaning terrible) was a monster that was known to have the ability to turn onlookers into stone. It was said that there were three Gorgons, two immortal ( and Stheno) and one mortal, Medusa, they had hair made of living, venomous snakes that they received as punishment from Athena, Medusa's image has become famous. Originally, Gorgons were humanoid creatures with boars tusks, rooster feet, brass hands and bronze wings (as well as hair made of living snakes). In modern times, they were portrayed to have the lower body of a snake thanks to the well-known Medusa from 1981 movie, Clash of the Titans.

GameSpot Expert Reviews

God Of War Review: Out With The Old, In With The New

17 April 2018

God of War 3 Remastered Review

14 July 2015

God of War III Review

08 March 2010

In the God of War Series

Ascension

Gorgon cobra2

The Gorgon Cobra by Katon Callaway

Gorgons appear in God of War: Ascension, however, they look very different to how they have previously appeared as they now have cobra hoods and reptilian faces. These gorgons are slightly more colorful than the ones that have appeared previously in the series. They appeared in Village of Kirra, The Furnace, and Trial of Archimedes. If they stunned the gorgon, Kratos slam the gorgon on the ground and grab the gorgon's head unleash the gaze and the enemies will petrified whoever they near. If Gorgons weakened (red halo), Kratos kills these by slicing their heads vertically in half, all the way down to under one of the breasts, instead of decapitation.

Multiplayer: In Trial of the Gods, they can be fought in the maps Rotunda of Olympus, later updated in Coliseum of Persia, and Labyrinth of Daedalus. Sometimes, if they stunned (golden halo), warrior grab gorgon's head and unleash the gaze to the enemies, and if gorgon weakened, warrior will perform finishes the gorgon like Kratos did. However, the finishing move is the same as the one used on the Gorgon Serpents from God of War III.

Stheno, the third gorgon queen, appears only in the Multiplayer of God of War: Ascension. She resides in the Bog of the Forgotten and can be awakened by the Shield of Perseus, and then controlled by players on the platform above her head.

In the early design of the Bog of the Forgotten in Multiplayer, these Hooded Gorgons were supposed to reside on the lower levels, attacking players who ran by.

Chains of Olympus

Gorgon (God of War Chains of Olympus)

A standard Gorgon in God of War: Chains of Olympus

The Gorgons appear in this game as enemies, in the Underworld. They can attack the Spartan warrior by whipping him with their fast, deadly tails, or by turning him to stone with their deadly gaze. After weakening them, Kratos can kill them by throwing them to the ground, and ripping their head off with his bare hands. Later on, in the Temple of Persephone, Kratos is assailed by a more powerful breed of Gorgons known as the Gorgon Queens.

God of War

Gorgon

Gorgon concept in God of War

During the siege on Athens, the Gorgons were a part of army of Ares, and participated in the attack on Athens, under the leadership of their Queen, Medusa, who hated Athena. The goddess Aphrodite ordered Kratos to kill and decapitate Medusa in order to use her head as a weapon against his enemies. All the Gorgons Kratos encountered would always put up a fight against him, gazing upon him and trying to turn him into stone. A more powerful breed of Gorgons, known as Gorgon Assassins, also appear in the game.

Ghost of Sparta

Ghost of sparta gorgon

Gorgon Concept in God of War: Ghost of Sparta

Beginning in the city of Heraklion, Gorgons appear throughout the game as dangerous foes. They move swiftly, can wrap themselves around Kratos, and, of course, turn him to stone with their deadly gaze. Kratos can kill Gorgons by grabbing onto them, beating them to the ground, and effectively decapitating them with his blades. Killing Gorgons by this means will also create a radial 'blast' that can freeze any nearby enemies to stone.

God of War II

Gorgonst

Gorgon Assassin in God of War II

Angered by Kratos for killing Medusa, her sister Euryale, an even more powerful Gorgon Queen, awaited his arrival as he journeyed through her temple. This Gorgon appeared massive in size, being far more grotesque and powerful than any other Gorgon Kratos had encountered. She was ultimately defeated when Kratos tore her head from her body, using it as a weapon, like he used Medusa’s head before. Kratos also encountered regular Gorgons, but less frequently. He only came across them in the Lair of Typhon, the Bog of the Forgotten, near the Phoenix Chamber, and on the path to the Loom Chamber.

God of War III

Early on, Kratos came across a large breed of Gorgons known as Gorgon Serpents. Later in his quest, Kratos eventually encountered standard Gorgons, which were quicker and stronger than their Gorgon Serpent sisters. After weakening Gorgons, Kratos can grab them and rip off their head. This time, doing so will also allow Kratos to instantly freeze all other surrounding enemies.

Gow3gorgon2.png

Gow3gorgon1.png

30-Gorgon.jpg

Breeds

Gorgon Assassin

Gorgonq

Gorgon Assassin

The Gorgon Assassin is a more dangerous breed of the standard Gorgon seen in the God of War series, which usually appear later in the games. They appear very similar to the standard Gorgon, except they are bluish-colored rather than greenish. Their attack styles are similar to that of the standard Gorgon, except they are faster and stronger. Kratos can also kill them the same way he kills the standard Gorgons.

They are first encountered in God of War, first in the Challenge of Atlas and later on throughout the rest of Pandora's Temple. They return in God of War II, and dwell within the Bog of the Forgotten and other parts of the Island of Creation.

Gorgon Queen

Gorgon Queen (God of War Chains of Olympus)

Gorgon Queen in God of War: Chains of Olympus

The Gorgon Queen is the most powerful breed of Gorgon that Kratos encounters in the God of War series. They are encountered towards the end of the games. They also are the leaders of the Gorgons, however, the true matriarchs of their race are Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale. Although Stheno did not appear in the God of War Series, Euryale said Kratos killed her sisters, implying Kratos might have killed Stheno (off screen) as well as Medusa. However, on another note, she may as well been referring to the basic Gorgons, perhaps considering them as "siblings".

In Chains of Olympus

Gorgon Queens are encountered in the Temple of Persephone, and are similar to the standard Gorgons, except they are purple colored rather than green, and are also partially adorned in decorative jewelry. They also have the ability to coil around Kratos and instantly turn him to stone.

In God of War II

Gorgosass

Gorgon Queen in God of War II

Gorgon Queens are like the lesser types of Gorgon, only they are even stronger, faster and have a more powerful gaze. They also have a new ability in which they launch orb-like projectiles from their eyes that can "follow" Kratos and instantly turn to stone if they hit. They are encountered within the inner part of the Temple of the Fates. They are very similar in appearance to Medusa from the first God of War, as they are red in color and also have a "normal" stomach between their tail and chest, opposed to the skeletal thin stomachs of the other Gorgons. Kratos can also kill them the same way as he kills the standard Gorgons.

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Gorgon Serpent

Gorgon Serpent are a breed of Gorgon that Kratos confronts in God of War III. These Gorgons appear larger than most of their brethren, with yellow and white serpentine bodies, and a rattle on their tails. They are first encountered during Kratos' journey through the depths of the Underworld. One way that they attack Kratos is by constricting him in their coils, and then turning him to stone if he does not escape quick enough. Once Kratos initiates the kill sequence, he will stab his Blades into their body and pull them back to him as they try to slither away. Eventually, he grabs a bunch of their snake-like hairs and pulls them back so he can cut their head off. Upon decapitating a Gorgon Serpent, Kratos will use its head to turn all nearby enemies into stone. He also receives Blue Orbs by killing them this way.

Trivia

The reason the gaze of most of the Gorgons is green throughout the games is probably because Athena's power is represented by a green energy, which can be noticed in her death, for example, which released a green energy explosion. Since it was this goddess who transformed the Gorgons into monsters, it is likely that the petrifying power they wield comes from her. However, in Ascension,the Hooded Gorgons petrification gaze is red.

The color of the beam is considered to an indication of power of the Gorgon: green is considered the lowest power level and mostly found with weaker Gorgons and Medusa. As Kratos used Medusa's Gaze at level 1, it was green as well. Red is considered to be more powerful Gorgons and are used by the Gorgon Assassins in God of War, the Hooded Gorgons in Ascension and by both Gorgon Queen's Euryale and Stheno. Kratos could use the red gaze as he wielded the Head of Euryale in God of War II or leveled up Medusa's Gaze to level 2 in God of War. Blue is the strongest level but has never been seen used by a living Gorgon, Kratos creatures that inhabit Greece.

Greek Mythology

In Greek mythology, a Gorgon (derived from "gorgos", meaning terrible) was a monster that was known to have the ability to turn onlookers into stone. It was said that there were three Gorgons, two immortal (Euryale and Stheno) and one mortal, Medusa, they had hair made of living, venomous snakes that they received as punishment from Athena, Medusa's image has become famous. Originally, Gorgons were humanoid creatures with boars tusks, rooster feet, brass hands and bronze wings (as well as hair made of living snakes). In modern times, they were portrayed to have the lower body of a snake thanks to the well-known Medusa from 1981 movie, Clash of the Titans.

GameSpot Expert Reviews

God Of War Review: Out With The Old, In With The New

17 April 2018

God of War 3 Remastered Review

14 July 2015

God of War III Review

08 March 2010

In the God of War Series

Ascension

Gorgon cobra2

The Gorgon Cobra by Katon Callaway

In the early design of the Bog of the Forgotten in Multiplayer, these Hooded Gorgons were supposed to reside on the lower levels, attacking players who ran by.

Chains of Olympus

Gorgon (God of War Chains of Olympus)

A standard Gorgon in God of War: Chains of Olympus

God of War

Gorgon

Gorgon concept in God of War

Ghost of Sparta

Ghost of sparta gorgon

Gorgon Concept in God of War: Ghost of Sparta

God of War II

Gorgonst

Gorgon Assassin in God of War II

God of War III

Gow3gorgon2.png

Gow3gorgon1.png

30-Gorgon.jpg

Breeds

Gorgon Assassin

Gorgonq

Gorgon Assassin

Gorgon Queen

Gorgon Queen (God of War Chains of Olympus)

Gorgon Queen in God of War: Chains of Olympus

In Chains of Olympus

In God of War II

Gorgosass

Gorgon Queen in God of War II

597 stream (1)

Gorgon Serpent

Trivia

#Gorgons are female creatures that inhabit Greece.#Euryale #GOD OF WAR #gorgonz #gorgon zola #gorgonzola #cheese #gorgon's milk

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astaroth1357 · 4 years ago

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Demigod MC Series: Hestia

This is another eternally virgin goddess, so we're doing another pseudo-demigod by adoption (like we did with Athena).

Demigod MC: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2, Poseidon, Ares, Hestia

Hestia is the goddess of the Hearth, Home, Architecture, Domesticity, Family, and the State. She's high up there (firstborn of Rhea and Cronus), but several factors have led to her falling into the background when compared to the other (flashier) Olympians. She swore to never marry, rejecting proposals from both Poseidon and Apollo, and is something of an antithesis to Aphrodite.

Lucifer

Honestly? He thought they were exactly what they were after. A weak human with no experience in the magical world what-so-ever.

Well… He was half-right.

On the surface, this is a pretty weak human. They don't have super flashy powers or a divine birth from the gods… but they do have a very protective adoptive mother.

The brothers had just settled in for their first dinner with the new human when the goddess herself strolled into their dining room, asked who was in charge, then dragged Lucifer away by the ear!

She's not even his mother, yet he felt the intense urge to apologize and put himself in his own room… Oh, the humiliation… at least she did the same to Diavolo…

The Prince was only able to calm her down by promising absolutely NO harm would come to her child… on their heads...

By the time the goddess finally let him go, Lucifer was about ready to shackle the MC to his wrist so nothing could touch them but he settled on keeping them with him like an assistant of sorts. They were in charge of helping him with the paperwork so he could keep an eye on them.

What he didn’t expect was for them to be so… good at it? They could keep his offices clean, they managed his daily schedule, fixed up the House, and still have time to bring him tea and sweets every night!

They could even reign in his brothers somehow… They weren't strong or intimidating, but one or two mildly unhappy words out of them and everybody would be on their best behavior.

Was everyone positive they're only human...?

As much as he hated to admit, he may have a slight deep case of falling for the housekeeper… He would make a move, but well…

He has Beel to contend with first.

Mammon

Okay so, watching Lucifer get dragged out by the ear just like Raphael used to do to him was hilarious!!! The whole room got a good laugh! 🤣

Until Hestia glared at them and suddenly they all felt like they'd disappointed someone important….

And all that fuss over some dumb human??

So what if they made amazing food?

So what if they could clean the entire mansion in a day?

So what if they were the walking equivalent to a warm cup of cocoa on a winter's day??

So what if they were just the kindest, sweetest thing in this godforsaken hellscape and he would throw himself in front of a bus to keep them safe-

-Wait, when did that happen?!?

Seriously, Mammon's attachment to the MC came out of NOWHERE to him. One day, he was threatening to eat their soul and the next he's freaking out when they stub their toe!

He swears they have to have some kind of magic about them! A charm, or a spell, or… their lovable smile and warm, loving hugs...! 😊

Damnit!! They're too cute!! He needs them to go away but also never leave, thanks. 😒

In all seriousness, though their kind nature puts Mammon's tsundere self at a bit of a disadvantage, his protective instincts shoot through the roof whenever they're involved.

Naturally, that means his day is spent running them away from hungry lesser demons or shielding them from Beel and Lucifer's tug-of-war matches… He's a busy guy these days. 😖

Leviathan

They're so… so… MOE!!!

That was his immediate thought when Mammon brought them home. He was expecting a defenseless human, but not one that could have stepped out of one of his slice-of-life manga!

To be honest, his instant thought was try and find a place to sit them on his shelves with the rest of the adorable characters he loves… 😅

And that was before they even opened their mouth! Five words into their introduction and he was ready to get their face on a t-shirt!!

Honestly, combine their natural cuteness with their household skills and they made for perfect waifu/husbando material…

Not helped by the fact they found one of his maid/butler outfits while doing the laundry one day. Not only did they ask if they could wear it, they actually non-ironically liked it and started wearing it around the House!!

Oh he got cornered by Beel, Lucifer, and Mammon separately that day because they thought he was using them for fetish fuel… But it was their idea, he swears!!

I mean… He didn't discourage them or anything either but still…

If Beel hadn't claimed them on Day One, Levi might have eventually thrown his hat in the ring too... Oh well… he can pine from a distance… What else is new? 😔

Satan

He has a video of Hestia dragging Lucifer out of the dining room on his phone and it's one of his most treasured possessions now. 😌

He is perhaps the only person in the House who was not at all impressed with their little human.

So they could cook? So could he. So they can clean? That's not impressive. They could manage a household? Big deal, he's more or less been in charge of the same thing for centuries!

As far as he saw it, there was nothing the MC could do that he couldn't do as proficiently or even better. There was nothing remarkable about this human at all!

… except for one thing.

That maid/butler outfit of Levi's? The one they like to wear around?

It has cat accessories…

Either they don't notice or they don't mind it but they essentially walk around the House cleaning things with little kitty ears attached to their head and a bell on their collar…

Dammit… Why did Levi even buy that?!?

Satan ended up getting in trouble for enchanting their outfit to give them REAL ears and a tail "accidentally..." Lucifer strung him up by his toes, Beel gave him a black-eye, and Mammon still calls him a "perverted cat freak" but it was worth it, he says, worth it!!

Asmodeus

Oh Beel…

Asmo saw Beel's feelings for the MC coming from a mile away. He didn't even need to confirm it with a sniff check, he had them scented by the end of their first night!

Lucifer, on the other hand, now that was a surprise... 😏

Ask him a century ago if Lucifer would ever consider a human lover, godly mother or no, and he'd have laughed! Yet here he is, giving gifts and sneaking whiffs of their adorable new housemate!

Of course, that's causing some commotion because they're pitted against each other, but Asmo finds it kind of cute honestly.

Beel and Lucifer aren't fighting, not for real. The whole house knows Lucifer would win in a real brawl, but neither of them actually want to hurt the other… They're far too close for that.

So Beel tosses Lucifer around with kid gloves and Lucifer holds back considerably against Beel. It's pretty much just two brothers who love each other squabbling over the same toy… 🤭

Honestly, Lucifer might have bowed out by now and just let Beel have them but now his pride's on the line… thus an endless tussle between family and the sweet MC is in the middle, clueless to it all!

Tragic, is it not? But it certainly makes things more entertaining around here! (Good thing too since Beel beat him to the punch… If it's a fight against those two, he'll have to keep any of his own affairs with the MC under the radar... 😏)

Beelzebub

He has claimed this one. Full stop.

For a bit of perspective: when Barbatos needs cooking tips, he calls Hestia. Hestia, the Divine Master of All Things Cooking. Hestia, the goddess who raised this MC…

Needless to say if they have any magic at all, it's in the kitchen.

If food is the way to Beel's heart, this MC has claimed his heart, soul, and probably all of his vital organs. Their food is astounding!! Always perfect every time and so good it brings him to tears!

It started the night of that first dinner, prepared by MC. He was too busy scarfing down the table to even notice a goddess showed up and then he proposed to the MC with their own pig roast by meal's end!

They said no to marriage, but an instant pact agreement suited him just fine.

Beel didn't waste a single moment before he started treating them like a potential mate, territorial aggression and all, but there was a bit of a catch… He kept the MC totally oblivious to it.

Surprisingly, Beel's can turn the "They're MINE" part of his brain on and off pretty well. He's nothing but sweet and cuddly to the MC when they're around and even with his brothers!... as long as they don't try anything.

The moment he caught whiff that Lucifer might be pursuing them too, it was on. Suddenly the two brothers who almost never fight were in competition against each other! But of course, both have an unspoken rule to never do so in front of MC.

And now poor MC believes it's common for demons to "play wrestle" like puppies and hugs are traditionally supposed to be so hard they could snap spines…

And it doesn’t look like they'll be backing down any time soon… Oh dear...

Belphegor

You know what? For once, everything goes exactly to plan for Belphie!

No really, this MC has no hidden powers, no magic horses, not even Demon Nip. They are a helpless, trusting little human who just wants to help their big teddy bear get his twin back!

So, you know how it goes. The charm, the lies, the treachery and all of that. He even gets to kill them!! Oh, happy days!! 😁

Come to think of it, they did smell an awful lot like Beel… But who cares, as long as Lucifer suffers right?? And this whole "living together in harmony" crap fails, right?!

Wrong.

Beel went ballistic. Lucifer did too, but Beel was what really hurt…

Belphie can safely say that in all of his life, Beel has never physically attacked him. Not once, or at least, not with intent to kill…

But when the sixthborn's fist went crashing through the wall right by his ear that day, he knew his brother's first instinct was to aim for his head… and his second was to miss, as he still loved him, but only by just a little.

What the hell did he just do??

Thank their father for Barbatos and all the funky time stuff he can do because bringing the MC "back" snapped his angry brothers right out of it.

Things should have been smoothed over at that point but as everyone was finally settling down for tea, Hestia made another appearance in the House… this time carrying a butcher's knife!

Time fix or no, Diavolo had promised her no harm would come to MC and at least one continuity of them DIED… so punishment was now on Lucifer and the Demon Prince himself!

Belphie, in a rare case of guilt and an expression of brotherly love, offered to take their place since it WAS kind of all his fault. His gesture softened the Goddess of Family juuust enough to lighten his sentence from execution to hard labor.

And thus, the MC had their own housekeeping assistant for a whole year, complete with bitter reluctance and a matching maid outfit! Cat-theme and all!!

He's sending nightmares to anybody who laughs… guaranteed. 😒

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me demigods

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mask131 · 3 years ago

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The other campers at CHB: the Athena cabin

Next stop in our tour of the non-protagonist campers: the Athena cabin!

Despite being the cabin from which one of the main protagonists of the Half-Blood franchises, Annabeth Chase herself, we actually know very little about the Athena campers. Annabeth takes most of the place and thus overshadows her half-brothers and half-sisters.

In The Lightning Thief we get a generalized description of the Athena kids as a “bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with the gray eyes and honey-blond hair” of Annabeth. This is confirmed in Sea of Monsters, where they are described as a “dozen of boys and girls” (without counting Annabeth) “with blond hair and gray eyes” just like Annabeth. Many fans have noted that the fact all the children of Athena are blond could limit the ethnic diversity among them, or implies some unnatural hair color for some of them.

The Lightning Thief also mentions that the Athena kids “always have a plan”, something repeated in “The Hidden Oracle” where Lester identifies the Athena kids as the biggest threat in the three-legged race because they always have a plan, just like their mother. The Athena kids are depicted as being the intellectuals of the camps, the martial geeks and bookworm nerds, the sources of strategy and knowledge - there is a great emphasis on their intelligence supposed to be higher than normal, Circe described Athena children as always being the same “seeking knowledge and admiring greatness” (Sea of Monsters), and during the fight in Battle of the Labyrinth they set up a command tent to direct the camp’s military operations (Malcolm does the same in the battle during The Hidden Oracle).

However there are nuances to all that. In the Sea of Monsters, Percy mentions that some of the sword-fighters of the camp are in the Athena cabin (the others are in the Ares cabin), which ties to how they were described as athletic in the first book ; and in Battle of the Labyrinth it is mentionned that the children of Athena are supposed “to be wise, not just clever”. Outside of that, we know that during The Last Olympian their part in the war involved bringing the giants down to the ground with hooks and chains, that in Battle of the Labyrinth they organized a chariot race with the Demeter cabin (an event not out of the ordinary according to Percy), and during the Sea of Monsters when the Stymphalian Birds attack they demand to have shields to protect themselves and others (truly showing Athena’s style of combat, protecting and defending before attacking).

The last interesting note is that in The Sea of Monsters, it is mentionned that Annabeth is not the oldest of the residents of the Athena cabin, but she is their leader and head because she spent more summers there than any of them and thus they do not contest her right to lead.

Now, the only camper of the Athena Cabin truly identified is actually Malcolm... who we could sum up as “lesser Annabeth” or the “Annabeth replacement”, but let’s go into more details...

Malcolm first appears in The Battle of the Labyrinth, when he fetches Annabeth for archery practice and stumbles upon her emotional hug with Percy. He is very embarrassed, his whole face bright red, and quickly leaves them alone. No physical description of him is given, and in fact we will never have one of the entire books - though we do know that he has blond hair and gray eyes like Annabeth’s, because in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” it is the rule for Athena children. He reappears in the Last Olympian, where he is identified as the “second-in-command” to Annabeth and he takes over her role when she has to leave.

For the Heroes of Olympus series he only reappears in “Blood of Olympus”, where it is explained that he is the new head counsellor of the Athena cabin in Annabeth’s absence, and contrary to Clarisse’s belligerent plans to fight the Roman legions he advices for a more patient and careful approach, considering the technological advantage of New Rome.

He makes a bit more appearances in “The Trials of Apollo”, and it is actually in “The Hidden Oracle” that we finally learn of his last name - Pace. His full name is Malcolm Pace. His appearance there basically repeats all I mentionned above - he shows Meg and Lester maps of the woods so that they know the places to avoid and where to go (information-giver) and when the camp is under attack he coordinates the fight from a command camp. However this book also gives him some details that make his character a bit more noticeable, even though not much deeper: he is the only child of Athena in his cabin at this time of the year (revealing he is a year-long camper), and when the camp is under attack he is dressed with his leather cuirass but forgot his pants, showing off his red briefs - this implies that he is the kind to rush into action when the camp is in grave danger and to not care much of his appearance when the situation is critical.

Malcolm’s final appearance is in the Tower of Nero, where he is now the official and fully-fledged head counsellor of the Athena Cabin (instead of a co-counsellor or assistant to Annabeth). At one point Lester asks him for information to prepare a plan of attack, and he explains that he can build up an intelligence dossier and plans of attack, but that it would take him (and his fellow Athena siblings) four weeks, “three if we push it”, which might be a hint at how perfectionist or overtly cautious and working he is. Or just be a way for Riordan to torture his characters further...

So yes, unfortunately, it seems Malcolm was mostly designed to be a male and lesser-talented version of Annabeth, mostly existing to fill her role whenever she is gone or to assist her in whatever task she has to do.

EDIT:

There is actually a second identified camper of Athena in the franchise, that I overlooked because she appeared in a side-book/bonus material, but it is a very interesting case... Bea Wise, from the Camp Half-Blood Confidential book.

Bea Wise resided in the camp in the 1950s, and participated in the “Camp Half-Blood” quiz show featured in the orientation movie used on all new demigods. Bea Wise quickly gets annoyed at the game and at how Apollo (the host) runs things, but her reactions are quite interesting... she answers “Are you ready?” with “I think therefore I am” which is a clever pun and philosophical reference, possibly showing a hint of sly humor there. However after the first question is asked, she actually takes her answering time to object that it is not a question (Apollo used an order form “Name the snake I slayed!” instead of “What is the name of the snake I slayed?”). It hints that Bea might be one of those “textbook” people that can object to very little details for not much.

However her next objections are more legitimate - she is angry when Apollo gives the answer to another question after one failed answer by another contestant, legitimately shouting that Apollo did not let the other contestants answer. She then points out how Apollo is inconsistent in his speech (he asks about the Marsyas case, saying in his question that he was falsely accused of skinning him alive, but once the answer is given he brags that he taught the satyr good by... well skinning him alive). And finally, when Apollo just abandons the quiz show to start a big party with satyrs, Bea is just fed up with everything. “I cannot believe I studied for this” are her last recorded words.

But what is even more interesting here is Bea’s appearance, because the book is illustrated, and we can see that Bea does not have the “typical blond hair” of the Athena kids, being rather an Afro-American girl with dark-colored hair (I can’t tell which color it is exactly since the picture is in shades of gray and black, but it is a dark color). We can assume she has the gray eyes of the Athena children, though it is not visible on the drawing - we can just see that she has her hair pulled in a ponytail and big glasses on her nose. But anyway, it is quite interesting to get to see an Athena child that breaks the “blond hair and gray eyes” pattern in the camp.

#percy jackson #camp half blood #athena #athena cabin #malcolm #malcolm pace #bea wise #demigods #the lightning thief #the battle of the labyrinth #the last olympian #blood of olympus #the hidden oracle #the tower of nero #camp half blood confidential

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crystalelemental · 3 years ago

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“emrylurkeroftheloch: Athena def feels rough a lot of the time, but she does give a decent amount of damage buff! Athena on attack on some weapons is really nice. I think on spear it could be good in the bullet hell rooms, since you just deflect all the shots back! On special on the sword, it's as insane as you'd imagine. Def weaker tho. Tbh I've always found Ares lackluster, which sucks, because I really like his design, and the blade rifts and doom are cool. Just not very effective.

I just realised you were talking about calls-- Yea, the Athena call kinda sucks lmao. Artemis is my fave thus far! What things have you unlocked with the weapons? Do you have them all now?“

Okay, so!

I was talking about Aid, yeah. Artemis’ Aid is the best by a pretty huge margin. Nothing else really compares, but Athena and Demeter have had the worst damage output thus far.

Athena’s boons are really nice, I do actually like a lot of them. Reflecting projectiles is a really nice effect to have in a lot of locations, and sometimes you really want the flat bonus.

Ares really isn’t too bad. Blade Rifts are a bit weaker than I’d like, but I actually think Doom is fantastic is you level it enough. That’s how I got through a really unfortunate run of bad boons early on; I got Doom on my special on I think the shield, and just cheesed Hades once it was clear I was getting my ass kicked by throwing the shield and then hiding. It deals enough damage to actually wear him down.

By weapon upgrades, you mean the regular ones from the hammers, or the titan’s blood options? Regular ones can be really sporadic, some are great but some really kinda suck. Like the gun. You can upgrade the special into one of two options: a spread of five shots, or a rocket. The rocket kicks ass, but the spread of five shots loses damage output and is really hard to cluster right and still has the delay. It’s a massive pain in the ass, honestly. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the sword upgrade that made the regular attack a big overhead chop. It limits the range and the speed of attacks, and I’d rather keep foes locked down.

If you mean Titan’s Blood, I only started investing now, which is funny because I had like 30 of it. I’ve only put a few things into the shield, and I have to say, the Zeus upgrade turned it into possibly my favorite weapon? The special now is a slow moving constant damage that isn’t dealing a ton, but at times you can get it to hold in place and just mow enemies down, and you can still do a regular attack with it elsewhere. I got this fantastic combo with Zeus’ lightning hitting off special, and it does in fact proc every single hit of the shield, so it’s just like a constant 80 damage per second, it was wild. I actually almost beat Hades with no deaths with +2 heat, so definitely a fan of the shield now. Gonna keep playing around, very invested.

#emrylurkeroftheloch

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foxglow-diner · 2 years ago

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The Iliad: Book Fifteen

The way I make these posts is quite simple. As I read the Iliad, I wrote down a summary from the book. Going in to post, I cross reference the summary with the text itself. If there's something I want to discuss, I will make that a priority.

For this post, my summary was short and I didn’t have a topic. I was going to do a quick play-by-play for y’all, and that’d be it. Before I did, I figured that I’d skim the book just in case. I found a gold mine of an interaction that I’d forgotten.

“Apollo the archer stood beside him, taunting, “Hector, son of Priam, why so far from your troops? Sitting here, half dead–––some trouble’s come your way?”

Hector struggled for words, his helmet flashing: “Who are you, my lord–––who of the high gods��––to probe me face-to-face? Haven’t you heard? I was killing his friends against the ships when the lord of the war cry Ajax struck me down with a boulder square across my chest–––he took the fight right out of me, I can tell you... I thought for certain I’d go to join the dead, descend to the House of the Dead this very day–––I thought I’d breathed my last.”

But lord Apollo the distant deadly Archer reassured him: “Courage! Look what a strong support the son of Cronus speeds from Ida to take your side and shield you–––I am Phoebus Apollo, lord of the golden sword! I who saved you before, and along with you your towering city too. So up now, Hector–––command your drivers here in all their hundreds to lash their plunging teams at the hollow ships. And I’ll surge on ahead, clearing the whole way for the teams’ assault–––I’ll bend the Argives back!” [15. 289-311].

Oh my goodness. Explicating all of this would take a hot minute.

Any interaction between Hector and Apollo is immediately different from other soldiers. Take Athena and Diomedes as a comparison. Diomedes was more than willing to hack down whoever crosses his path, no matter how much he pled. Athena would’ve done whatever it took to grant an Achaean victory. Other gods got hurt, as well as Argives, because she granted Diomedes power.

In the above quote, with Apollo’s appearance, he fought the same way as Ares did earlier. He fought on the ground, helping his side. Hector was always respectful and earnest, he spoke of himself as the mortal he was. He didn’t flaunt the gained partnership, nor was that expected from Apollo. When they began their attack, Hector was the one in the lead, not Apollo.

The Achaeans responded as expected: standing their ground. When Apollo loosed a cry, their confidence wavered. Not to be underestimated is the confidence of an Argive. This does contribute to their behavior, including the tone used with allied gods. It was what was expected and rewarded.

This quote from Book Four sums up a thinker of a concept: “Ares drove them [the Trojans], fiery-eyed Athena drove the Argives” [4. 510].

Athena, the conniving strategist backed the Argives. Ares, unrestrained war with his Strife, Rout, and Terror backed the Trojans. Each god of war fits poetically with the respective fighting styles. The Argives had a purpose: reclaiming Helen and her treasures, but the Trojans fought to preserve their city from demolition.

#the iliad #apollo #hector #athena #diomedes #greek mythology #ronin reads the iliad

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sarnai4 · 2 months ago

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Context

I've been thinking about the lack of Ares myths and how the few that exist typically portray him in such a negative light...until you add a but of context. (Image from Epos Travel Tours)

For example, there's the story of him fighting Heracles. It makes it seem like he's pitiful for losing to the demigod, but there are some other variables. First off, the fight was because Ares was trying to avenge his son (who I will admit was a jerk and I don't blame Heracles for killing him). Still, grief and anger aren't good states of mind to fight in. Athena also was shielding Heracles from Ares’s attacks while the mortal's blows were allowed to land. So, yeah, just about everything was against Ares in that fight, but he's "a joke" for losing.

Then there's the net. I get it. Ares and Aphrodite got caught in a "compromising" position while going behind Hephaestus’s back. It's basically a tale to warn against adultery. Yet again, when you add context, it makes me sad. In the bulk of the stories I've found, Ares and Aphrodite are actually together first and have been for years. In these same stories, it's not as if Hephaestus won her heart and they got married. Aphrodite was given as a trade off for Hera after the goddess queen was trapped in her son's chair. I know that every story doesn't take this route, but it's worth mentioning. So, instead of it always being the simple case of two cheaters getting what they deserve, it can also be two people in love who were forced apart and then humiliated for still loving each other.

And then the jar. I have literally seen comments making fun of Ares for getting trapped. Nothing against the people since everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but in mine, this was another sad tale. Ares didn't just pick a fight, lose, and get stuck with some grape jelly for 13 months. There were giants who were trying to molest Hera and Artemis. Ares, on his own, tried to defend his mom and sister. Now, he's already outnumbered since there were 2 giants and I think it's fair to assume that fighting 1 giant isn't an easy task. Regardless, he went into this battle. Sadly, we have no idea what happened in the fight (if anyone has found stories involving the details, I'd be very grateful). We just know that he got captured and was gone for 13 months. We also don't really know what the jar was like. Maybe there were others inside who he had to fight against. Maybe he was just lost in the abyss for over a year. Either way, it was probably horrifying because it was a trap designed by giants who were vile enough to have intentions of taking wives without consent.

So, I understand that the stories are a mix from different people and that Ares isn't the most perfect example of a role model. Despite that, I don't think it's fair to portray him as such a monster all the time without seeing the other side of him. Is he violent? Yes, but he's also a devoted father, significant other, son, and brother. That should be remembered too.

#greek mythology #greek gods #greek goddess #greek myths #ancient greek #ares #ares god of war #ares god #ares greek god

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lifeofroos · 3 years ago

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A/N: The prompt was ‘Percy, Annabeth and Clarisse have a fight and the Olympians interfere.’ I liked it :)

AO3 - KoFi

The Olympians

‘Athena. Poseidon. Ares. What an… absolute pleasure to find all of you huddled together like this.’

Athena peered at her brother. ‘Spare us the sarcasm, Dionysus. What do you want?’

The god took an exceedingly long amount of time to study his fingernails before turning back to his family. ‘Remember, during the Olympian meeting a little while back…’

‘Which one? Hurry up.’

‘I was giving you all examples of misbehaviour your kids conducted and quite a few of the gods, including the three of you, said I should just send in their parents next time, see what they can change.’ He took a deep breath, losing all of the smugness for a moment. ‘Your kids. All of them, led by Perseus Jackson, Annabeth Chase and Clarisse la Rue. They’ve got a quarrel, and I have to admit the three of you might be better equipped to stop it. I drive them apart and next week they are at it again - I hope, perhaps, when you three say something about it, they’ll learn their lesson for good.’

Ares and Poseidon began to grin. Athena repressed the urge. ‘Is that all you want, Dionysus?’

‘You never know, do you, sister?’ he answered, all the previous bravado back on show.

Athena rolled her eyes. ‘We’ll deal with them.’

‘You should have asked us before,’ Poseidon said. ‘Too stubborn?’

Dionysus shrugged, unwilling to answer. Ares ruffled through his brothers’ hair. ‘I knew there’d be a point where you couldn’t handle them.’

Dionysus pushed the locks out of his face, so he could look while his family members strided off. Ah, the duality of men: Both wanting them to fail so they knew it wasn’t as easy as they made it out to be, and wanting them to succeed so that those kids would finally stop attacking each other over flags.

Percy crouched next to Annabeth, the red flag clutched against his chest. ‘Where are they?’

‘Sh!’

‘Okay, okay…’

‘Sh, then!’

She peeked past her cabin, at the baricade she presumed the Ares kids were hiding behind. She felt the adrenaline course through her veins. ‘We’re getting that flag back.’

Clarisse, on the other side, did the same thing. ‘Punk thinks she won? Well, she can prove it.’

One of her brothers was running his hands over the smooth fabric of the blue flag. ‘I was there first,’ he mumbled to himself. ‘I caught the flag and brought it back first. We won.’

‘Shut it,’ Clarisse said through gritted teeth. ‘I know we won. We just need to prove it…’

Her voice ebbed away when a bright light appeared. Everyone shut their eyes, shielding themselves against the light.

When the light dimmed, Annabeth gasped. ‘Mother?’

‘What?’ Percy forgot to temper his voice. He pushed Annabeth away, so he could look at the three gods that appeared on the field.

Athena put her hands on her hips. ‘Well? I don’t see anything.’

Ares sighed. ‘Perhaps Dionysus, our little drama queen, was being just that: A drama queen. Like always.’

Poseidon looked around for longer before pulling conclusions: ‘Percy?’

He slowly got up from behind the makeshift barricade. ‘Dad?’

Athena scoffed. ‘A little more respect.’

‘...Dad, my lady, my lord?’ Percy mumbeld, with his eyebrows raised in slight mockery. ‘With all due respect, may I ask why all of you are here?’

Athena raised her chin. ‘First, I’d like to see that my children are really involved in this conflict, or if you are stirring up trouble on your own.’

‘And mine,’ Ares demanded.

In a daze, the Athena and Ares children stepped out into the open. One of the Athena kids pulled the red flag out of Percy’s hands.

Annabeth took a deep breath. ‘Mother, lord Poseidon, lord Ares,’ she addressed them, with a little nod every time, ‘May I ask, why do you require our attention?’

For a few seconds, none of them really knew what to say, until Athena pulled herself together: ‘My daughter, it has come to our attention that there is a dispute going on.’

‘I assure you it is nothing the gods could ever want to be involved with,’ Percy muttered.

‘It’s not really what one would call of great importance,’ Clarisse agreed from the other side. ‘If those little oohoo’s just agreed that we won, this would be easily resolved.’

‘Keep dreaming. We won.’

‘Won what? A battle? Is this about loot?’ Ares inquired.

The campers gave each other uncomfortable looks. ‘Well, it’s about… eh… capture the flag.’

There were no words for a couple of seconds. ‘You have been fighting each other over who won a stupid game? And that has been happening every single week?’ Poseidon asked.

‘...perhaps… oh crud, the Apollo’s are coming over!’ One of the Ares kids yelled.

Athena stamped her foot on the ground. ‘No longer. This… nonsense has to stop right now and I never want to hear another peep about it.’

‘Dionysus has been saying the same thing. It’ll probably happen again next week,’ Percy said to no-one in particular.

Athena had to remind herself that Poseidon was right there to stop herself from learning the kid a lesson. ‘Not anymore.’ She raised her arm. ‘One more dispute about this… this nonsense, and you are all getting classes on proper behaviour, you hear me?’

The kids nodded, suddenly all looking a little afraid.

‘One more question: has Dionysus really been unable to stop all this?’

‘He has tried,’ Clarisse muttered. ‘Quite harshly.’ She shrugged. ‘Yet the little oohoo’s didn’t stop, so neither did we.’

‘Now…’

Athena took a sharp breath. ‘Annabeth, stop it. All of you are coming in, tomorrow, for a class. I’ll take care of it. Don’t ask what Dionysus thinks of that. I’ll... convince him.’ With a bang, Athena disappeared. Ares and Poseidon followed quickly after, leaving a group of astonished campers behind.

As they entered Olympus, Ares spotted Dionysus. With a single swipe he smacked him against a wall. ‘Fix it yourself next time.’

‘I thought you were going to make sure there was no next time.’

‘And learn what consequences are.’

Athena coughed. ‘Ahem. Dionysus, they’ve got a class from me tomorrow. About decorum.’

The god gave her a little smile, before teleporting back to the camp. ‘And thanks,’ was the last thing they heard him say.

‘Children,’ Athena muttered, as she stalked off. ‘Am I glad I never was like that.’

A/N: An Oohoo is a type of owl, right? It’s ‘oehoe’ in Dutch, google translate says English is ‘oohoo.’

I've got two more prompts: One about Clarisse going to school after she's been claimed, and one about Clarisse comforting her brothers after a battle. They'll be out soon, I already got rough drafts.

#annabeth chase #percy jackson #clarisse la rue #athena pjo #ares pjo #poseidon pjo #dionysus pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #percy jackson fanfic #percy jackson fanfiction #pjo fanfic #pjo fanfiction #percy jackson and the olympians fanfic #percy jackson and the olympians fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #writing #writer

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nerdythebard · 4 years ago

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#18: Ares, God of War

WE RIDE AT DAWN, GODS AND GODDESSES!

Ekhm... Okay, maybe not. But we continue our trek through Greek mythology, as we face the fury and battle prowess of Ares. The most impulsive member of the Greek pantheon, the Lord of Battle personified the more animalistic and primal side of conflicts. He's the destroyer, the brute, the defender. HE'S THE ONE WHO KNOCKS!

Next Time: The Aro/Ace above all Aro/Aces! This Huntress embodies the Bows Before Bros idea.

Now, let's see what we need to be the chosen of the Indestructible Ares:

Get Over Here!: Two of Ares's abilities in SMITE relate to him preventing the enemy from escaping his wrath. Chains that extend from his shield can deal damage, hinder the enemy's movement, and do the best impression of Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.

Grill Master: Ares's shield deals heavy fire damage to all enemies before it. It also serves as both the great source of protection and bolsters the allies' defences.

High Crowd Control, High Defence: In SMITE Ares is a Melee Physical Guardian, he uses his chains to control the enemy team's position, and protects his teammates, letting them safely join the fray themselves.

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I know what you're thinking. We're going Aasimar once again because of gods and the spark of divinity. To which I say HA! No! Time to step out of our comfort zone, and for somebody as intimidating and massive as Ares, we gotta go with Goliath. As you might expect, these hulking humanoids get a +2 Strength and +1 Constitution, but also proficiency in Athletics, resistance to cold damage, and our carrying capacity counts as one size larger when it comes to lifting, pushing, or dragging. We know how to speak Common and Giant, and we get the Stone's Endurance feat: once per short or long rest when we take damage, we can use a reaction to reduce the amount of damage by [1d12 + our Constitution modifier].

We will modify the Mercenary Veteran background, replacing proficiency in Athletics and Persuasion with Intimidation and Perception. We also get proficiency with one gaming set and land vehicles, and we get the Mercenary Life feature; we can recognize mercenary groups by their insignia, know the inner workings of the profession, and we can find the tavern or festhall where mercenaries would most often reside.

ABILITY SCORES

We'll start with Constitution; if we can't take a hit, we won't be able to dish out a hit. Strength is next, our attacks need to be heavy and feared. Follow that up with Dexterity, for better use of armour. Ares is not the quick-and-nimble type of fighter, so this one is on the lower high end.

Charisma is next, we may be a war-loving knucklehead, but we did manage to have an affair with the Goddess of Beauty herself. Wisdom will be next, we do have some common sense to not charge dick-first into enemy territory (Athena's lessons probably pay off). Finally, we're dumping Intelligence - academics were never for us.

CLASS

Many of you would probably suggest going Fighter or Barbarian with Ares. However, to channel the might of Olympus and become the general of the divine host, we need to get some of that holy magic in us. We're going Paladin, start-to-finish.

Paladins begin with d10 Hit Dice and [10 + Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points. We also get proficiency with light armour, medium armour, heavy armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. Ares in the picture is definitely a heavy armour type, so I'll suggest going with a plate armour (making our AC 18 and giving us a disadvantage on Stealth checks) and a longsword plus a shield. We don't get any tool proficiencies, our saving throws are Wisdom and Charisma, and we get to pick two class skills (Persuasion and Medicine).

Level 1: We start with Divine Sense. Using our action, we can detect the presence of celestials, fiends, or undead within 60 feet of us, provided they're not behind a full cover. We can also sense consecrated and desecrated objects. We also get the Lay on Hands feature. We have a pool of healing energy equal to [our Paladin level x5]. As an action, we draw from the pool and restore Hit Points to one creature we touch. Alternatively, we can spend 5 healing points to cure one disease or neutralize one poison. Healing doesn't work on constructs and undead. Level 2: Starting at this level, we learn Divine Smite. Whenever we hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, we can spend one spell slot to deal extra radiant damage (2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, +1d8 for a spell slot level above, to a maximum of 5d8). If the target is a fiend or an undead, it receives extra 1d8 radiant damage. We also get to pick a Fighting Style. For Ares, who is a Guardian in SMITE, let's choose Protection: when a creature we see attacks a target within 5 feet of us, we can use our reaction to impose a disadvantage on the attack as long as we're wearing a shield.

At this level, Paladins also unlock Spellcasting. Charisma is their spellcasting ability and much like Rangers, they don't know cantrips or rituals. We start with two 1st-level spell slots and we can prepare [our Charisma modifier + half of our Paladin level rounded down] spells per day:

Heroism imbues one creature we touch with bravery for 1 minute (concentration). Until the spell ends, the creature is immune to being frightened and gains Temporary Hit Points equal to our spellcasting modifier. Time to pull your best drill sergeant impression.

Searing Smite lasts for 1 minute (concentration). While it's active, the next time we hit a target with a melee attack, the weapon deals extra 1d6 fire damage. Until the spell ends, the target must make a Constitution saving throw at the end of its every turn or take 1d6 fire damage. Succeeding on the save ends the spell.

Level 3: With Divine Health, we are henceforth immune to all disease. We also get to pick our subclass, our Sacred Oath. Since Ares is the Lord of Battle, Subjugator of Enemies, and the Unbreakable War-God, we shall pick the Oath of Conquest. We start with some extra Oath Spells, which we always have prepared and they don't count against the number of spells we can prepare:

Armour of Agathys covers our body in spectral frost for 1 hour (ask your DM if it can be replaced by embers to better fit Ares). We gain 5 Temporary Hit Points for the duration. If a creature hits us while we have the THP, they take 5 points of cold damage (fire?). The THP and damage increase if we use spell slots higher than 1st-level.

Command lets us speak a one-word order to a creature within 60 feet of us. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or follow the command on its next turn. The spell doesn't affect the undead.

We also gain access to Channel Divinity, usually reserved for Clerics. Once per short or long rest, we can use one of the following effects:

Conquering Presence: As an action, we can force a Wisdom saving throw upon all creatures within 30 feet of us that we can see. On a failed saving throw, the creatures are frightened for 1 minute. They can make saving throws at the end of their turns to shake off the effect.

Guided Strike: When we make an attack, we can add +10 to our attack roll. We make this decision after we roll, but not before the DM announces whether or not the attack hits.

Level 4: Time for our first Ability Score Improvement. Let's put one point into Strength and one into Constitution.

We also get another 1st-level spell: Shield of Faith grants a +2 bonus to AC to one creature within 60 feet of us for 10 minutes (concentration).

Level 5: We gain Extra Attack. Now, we can make two strikes instead of one when we choose to Attack on our turn.

We also unlock 2nd-level spell slots, and get two new spells from our subclass:

Hold Person targets one creature within 60 feet of us and forces it to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is paralysed for 1 minute (concentration). The creature can keep making saving throws to shake off the effect. Feel free to flavour it as spectral chains restraining the target.

Spiritual Weapon creates a spectral weapon within 60 feet of us. The spell lasts for 1 minute, and on our turn, we can make a melee spell attack that deals [1d8 + our spellcasting modifier] force damage.

Level 6: We gain our first aura: Aura of Protection. Whenever we (or a friendly creature within 10 feet of us) must make a saving throw, we gain a bonus to the saving throw equal to our Charisma modifier.

We also gain another 2nd-level spell: Magic Weapon turns one non-magical weapon into a magical one for the purpose of overcoming resistances and immunities for 1 hour (concentration). The weapon gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls.

Level 7: Time to get another subclass upgrade. Aura of Conquest further enhances our intimidation skills. When a creature that's frightened of us is within the aura's range (10 feet of us), its movement speed is reduced to 0 and it suffers psychic damage equal to our Paladin level each time it ends its turn within the aura.

Level 8: Time for another ASI! Let's get those combat abilities even higher, by putting one point in Strength and one into Constitution again.

At this level, we can pick another 2nd-level spell: Aid bolsters allies with toughness and resolve. We can pick up to three allies within 30 feet of us and increase their current and Maximum Hit Points by 5 for 8 hours.

Level 9: We don't get any Paladin features, but we do unlock 3rd-level spell slots and we get two spells thanks to our Oath:

Bestow Curse applies a disadvantage onto one creature you touch (that fails its Wisdom save) for 1 minute (concentration). Until the spell ends, the target suffers one of the following effects:

Choose one ability score. The target has a disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws made with that ability score.

The target has a disadvantage on attack rolls against us.

The target must make a Wisdom saving throw at the start of each of its turns. If it fails, it wastes its action that turn doing nothing.

Our attacks and spells deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage to the target.

Fear projects an illusion of the target's worst fears. Each creature within a 30-foot cone must make a Wisdom saving throw or drop whatever it is holding and become frightened for the duration (1 minute, concentration).

Level 10: Halfway through the build, and we get another aura effect. Thanks to Aura of Courage, friendly creatures within 10 feet of us (including ourselves) are immune to being frightened while inside the aura and if conscious.

We can also pick a 3rd-level spell: Dispel Magic targets one creature, objects, of magical effect within 120 feet. Any spell of level 3 or lower immediately ends. For spells of 4th-level and higher, we must make a spellcasting ability check against the DC equal to [10 + the spell's level].

Level 11: At this level, we improve our Divine Smite. Whenever we hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, we deal extra 1d8 radiant damage.

Level 12: For our next ASI, we finally cap our Strength at 20 for the maximum amount of sword damage.

We also get another 3rd-level spell: Aura of Vitality lasts for 1 minute (concentration) and stretches for 30 feet from us. Until the spell ends, we can use a bonus action to restore 2d6 Hit Points of one creature within the aura.

Level 13: We unlock 4th-level spells, and we get two of those from our subclass:

Dominate Beast beguiles one beast within 60 feet of us. It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by us for 1 minute (concentration). While the creature is charmed, we have a telepathic link established with it and we can issue commands for it to follow.

Stoneskin hardens our skin and gives us resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage for 1 hour (concentration).

Level 14: With Cleansing Touch we can use our action to end a spell effect on ourselves or one willing creature we touch.

Here, we can also get another 4th-level spell: Staggering Smite makes our melee attacks break both the body and the spirit of our enemy. For 1 minute (concentration), whenever we hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, we deal extra 4d6 psychic damage. The target must then succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or have a disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks (and can't take reaction) until the end of its next turn.

Level 15: Time to get another subclass upgrade. Scornful Rebuke punishes anyone that dares to attack us. Whenever we're hit by an attack, the attacker suffers psychic damage equal to our Charisma modifier (if we're not incapacitated).

Level 16: Another ASI! This time, let's get two points into our Charisma, as it seems to be the ability that's slowly coming more and more into play.

Let's also pick another 4th-level spell: Death Ward tells our soldiers it's not their time yet. A creature we touch is protected from death for 8 hours. If their Hit Points are reduced to 0 while the spell is active, they return to life immediately with 1 Hit Point and the spell ends. This spell also protects against instant-kill effects (such as Power Word: Kill).

Level 17: We unlock 5th-level spells, and we get the last two from our subclass list:

Cloudkill creates a 20-foot-radius sphere of toxic smoke centred on a point within 120 feet of us for 10 minutes (concentration). Until the spell ends, each creature that enters the sphere, or ends its turn there, must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 5d8 poison damage (half damage on a successful save).

Dominate Person works in the same way as the Dominate Beast spell we got at level 13, except it affects only humanoids.

Level 18: At this level, the range of all of our passive auras (i.e. those not coming from spells) increase to 30 feet.

We also get another 5th-level spell: with Destructive Wave, we can strike the ground and cause a burst of divine energy to ripple from the ground and travel in a 30-foot radius from us. Each creature within range must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 5d6 thunder damage, 5d6 radiant/necrotic damage (our choice), and be knocked prone (half damage on a successful save, and no knockdown).

Level 19: We get our final ASI of the build. Let's cap our Constitution to 20, for even greater Hit Points.

Level 20: Our build capstone is Paladin 20, and we end this with a final subclass upgrade: Invincible Conqueror. Remember the final battle of the first God of War, with Giant Ares? Well, there we go. Once per long rest, for 1 minute:

we are resistant to all forms of damage;

when we Attack, we can make another attack as a part of that same action (I'd allow making three attacks, because of our Extra Attack feature);

our melee weapon scores a Critical Hit on a 19 and a 20.

We also get the final spell of the build: Holy Weapon lasts for 1 hour (concentration) and blesses our weapon with divine power. For the duration, the weapon sheds bright light for 30 feet (and dim one for another 30), and each attack deals extra 2d8 radiant damage. The weapon also becomes magical for the purpose of overcoming resistances. We can also choose to end the spell early and cause a burst of radiance to deal 4d8 radiant damage and blind all creatures within 30 feet of us that fail a Constitution saving throw.

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And there we have Kratos Ares. Let's see what we came up with:

First of all, we're a tanking and protecting beast. 20 in Strength and 20 in Constitution means we're good in the frontline, in the backline, and with our auras and Protection fighting style we make sure our party members survive tougher encounters (yes, even the Wizard).

Our AC is 20 (heavy armour + shield), we have a +1 to our Initiative, and 189 Hit Points on average.

Although we do have access to spellcasting, our magic repertoire isn't great. Most of our spells require concentration, and our spellcasting ability score isn't great. We're also very vulnerable to Intelligence saving throws.

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Okay, there we go. Hopefully, you enjoyed the ride with this powerhouse god, and you'll see me for the next one!

- Nerdy out!

#smite #dnd #d&d 5e #dungeons and dragons #character building #ares #goliath #paladin #oath of conquest

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thegeneralguy · 4 years ago

Text

The Champion of Olympus - Ares’s Arrogance

By thegeneralguy

Revised by @amalianetwork

The chariot of the sun was finishing its daily round over Mount Olympus, leaving a crimson trail in its path. The beautiful sky was painted red, the golden rooftops of the monumental temples and lavish palaces reflecting the majestic sunset´s light. In the inner circle of heaven, the faint sound of metal clashes resonated through the cloudy hills, where all the Olympian´s residences stood proudly watching over the vast extent of the celestial realm. The furious battle cries were coming from the dominion of the god of war. The magnificent mansion stood out of the rest of the buildings due to the dark marble composing its solemn columns, along with a vibrant bronze rooftop that illuminated the surroundings in a permanent hue of carmine.

The aggressive cacophony was coming from the inner courtyard, which occupied the biggest part of the palace. Ares was in the middle of a fierce battle against two other gods, wielding his giant golden spear to strike them with fury over and over again. His extremely muscular body did not impede his battle prowess, as he gracefully danced with the spear as an extension of his limbs. Both lesser gods brandished two identical golden swords, masterfully avoiding and countering the bigger deity's attacks. With the might of his enormous arm, the god of war planted his weapon on the ground propelling himself into a somersault and successfully jumping over the two surprised beings. Suspended on the air he then knocked down both his foes with a fast sweep of his powerful leg, landing gracefully on top of them.

"Again."

He said in a gruff bass voice, his fiery crimson eyes glaring down at the two defeated gods struggling to get back on their feet. Just as they were getting ready to clash weapons again, a bright pink flash replaced the bloody red atmosphere for an instant, leaving behind the most beautiful woman in existence. Ares put down his spear and walked towards his past lover, Aphrodite. She stared seductively at her forbidden object for desire. After all the eons resisting the urge to touch again, the mighty god of war still looked as imposing as the first time they fell for each other. His white robe was perched over one shoulder, exposing one half of his titanic chest. The enormous arms he once used to crack the skulls of his enemies rippled with power, thick veins pumping the holy ichor inside of them. His legs looked stronger than the dark marble columns supporting the palace. Many mementos from his previous battles decorated his bronze skin in the form of many little marks left by the few weapons that were able to harm him.

His brutish face was half concealed by a dense black beard and had a big scar that ran across from his hanging brow, through his eye, and got lost in the hair on his square chin. His intimidating appearance was only accentuated by his bald head, along with the piercing red eyes that flared with the rage of a thousand wars underneath. He approached the goddess, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her close, only to be pushed back by her slender arm.

"You know how he gets when he knows we're together, Ares."

The beautiful deity could barely hold her urge to make love with the masculine god in front of her, but the fear was greater than any other primal instinct she could feel. Ares grunted annoyed, and let the woman out of his embrace.

"I could take on him you know, and you would be finally free. Free to be with me for the rest of eternity."

Aphrodite looked at her former lover with a deep-rooted sadness behind her dark pink eyes and raised her elegant hand to caress the god's rough cheek. Ares took her hand delicately, like a gorilla grabbing the most delicate of a rose's petals, and planted a kiss full of passion and nostalgia of an immemorial time, when they were together, on her palm. They both stood still for a moment, and then Aphrodite removed her hand from his grip and took a step back.

"You know that can't be. Even though you're the god of war and combat, you're still no match for Hephaestus's might. Remember what happened last time."

Ares's winced for a moment, his melancholic visage quickly returning to its natural angry sneer. Of course, he remembered the humiliation his brother put his own wife and him through, exposing their affair to the rest of the gods. The animosity both of his parents felt for him only increased, making the god even more of an outcast than he already was. Only his desire for the goddess of beauty was stronger than his undying loyalty for his father, trying desperately to gain his favor in every conflict. But all his attempts failed miserably, especially when his sister Athena was involved. Zeus, although prideful and violent, was a brilliant strategist and he always sided with his wiser and more intelligent daughter, often leaving the god of war hurt in his pride. He looked back at Aphrodite reproachingly, wondering what the goddess's visit truly meant.

"What are you looking for Aphrodite? If you know Hephaestus doesn't like to see you with me, what is it that brings you to interrupt my training?"

"I know how these situations tend to put you under too much pressure. I just wanted to ask what you were planning to do concerning the trial of the Champion."

"It's been a long time since father has put a challenge on all of us. This might be my opportunity to prove once and for all that I'm the one he should be turning to in troubling times, not Athena."

The god of war was a force to be reckoned with. His prowess in battle was matched by no one in Mount Olympus, and his sheer force was only rivaled by few other deities. But although he was a fearsome opponent for whoever dared in challenging him, he had one fatal flaw: his arrogance. His thirst for blood and violence, when combined with his superiority complex, bred poor choices in and out of battle, often resulting in the mighty god being ridiculed. All the emotions from defeat were only magnified by his enormous ego, creating a bitter outcast who was often ignored by the rest of his fellow deities. Aphrodite knew that deep inside that glorious body and arrogant demeanor was a deep sadness product of rejection from his own family.

"I know how you feel Ares, but I would advise you not to waste too much energy in this affair. You know how Zeus can be when it comes to a world-ending crisis. I don't want you to get more hurt…"

She then took a step forward to put her hand on his gargantuan chest. Ares quickly turned his back towards Aphrodite, unable to keep the emotions from projecting on his face.

"What do you, the goddess of beauty, know about rejection? Father is completely blind to my superior power, and it's my duty to show him he has the most mighty ally for whatever challenge he might face. I have to eclipse the other competitors to take my rightful place on his side. Especially Athena."

The rivalry between the god of war and the goddess of wisdom was not unheard of in Mount Olympus. Even the epic tales from the terrestrial plane depicted the many victories Athena had against Ares. The big scar on the god's face was an eternal reminder of the goddess's superior abilities, often fueling the god's rage in battle every time he caught a glimpse of it in the reflection of a shield. Aphrodite wasn't very keen on Athena either, often clashing with her because of their separate views on vices and virtues, but it was nothing compared to the strong hatred Ares felt for her. The goddess of beauty then took a few steps forward to stand next to the strong deity.

"I guess there is no point in trying to stop you. I would advise you to be careful though. I don't know if you noticed, but Zeus's demeanor seemed very strange during the reunion. You'd be deceiving yourself if you didn't think the ascension of a new champion is not something out of the ordinary."

The god of war stood quiet for some time, reflecting on Aphrodite's words. It was true that the ritual of ascension was a holy ceremony, reserved for heroic acts of celebration instead of an emergency of this type. The last time he tried to gift a mortal with the divine essence, he watched helplessly as his devotee was consumed by its power, obliterating him. He couldn't even remember when was the last time the ritual was successful. But all these concerns were of little meaning for Ares. Before he stood a perfect opportunity to demonstrate his power and to show his abnegation for his father.

"I already made up my mind, Aphrodite. I will personally descend to the Earth and create the best Champion there is. No one will be able to stand against him, for he will be forged by my superior power."

Aphrodite let out a frustrated sigh, knowing her attempts of dissuading the god from taking part in this ridiculous plan were pointless. This whole plot seemed very suspicious for her, but she couldn't exactly point out what was going on. If Ares wasn't going to help her find out, she'll have to resort to other more extreme means. She then looked at the two godlings standing firmly waiting for Ares's command. Both looked practically identical, standing tall and strong like their father, but their handsome faces devoid of their progenitor's magnificent beard. They also had heads full of thick dark brown curls, encasing their more youthful faces. Their muscular bodies were also covered by numerous scars, mostly done by their father's spear.

"Look at my poor children. What have you done to them, Ares?"

Phobos and Deimos were the twin children of beauty and war, born out of human's innermost primal instinct: fear. Both godlings owed an undying loyalty to their father, often accompanying him in each of his affairs. Ares walked towards them, inspecting every inch of his two soldiers, who stood there firmly in silence awaiting their father's command.

"I made them into what they're right now. Two war weapons capable of sowing despair out of mortal hearts. And it seems I'll make use of their service once again. I'm going to make use of a couple of tricks you've shown me."

"If you already made your decision, it is useless to remain here and try to convince you otherwise. Just a word of advice Ares, don't let your pride be your downfall once again."

The goddess disappeared then with a flash, leaving Ares and the two godlings alone once again. The god of war then pondered on the goddess's words, wondering if he should change his mind and challenge his father, like many members of his family were going to. He remembered an ancient saying from another mortal cult: pride goes before the fall. But he quickly dismissed any doubt circling his mind. An opportunity to gain Zeus's grace wasn't going to present itself that easily again. It was his chance to demonstrate his superior existence, and take Athena's place right next to their father. His rugged face was drawn with a sinister smile. He was going to reap a human from his sister's flock, proving once and for all who the most powerful warrior of Olympus was.

It was an unusually agitated day for Athens High. The days before summer vacation were always received with enthusiasm by the students, and relief by the faculty members. Colorful school banners announcing the graduation ceremony for the seniors decorated the hallways, proudly signifying another school year's death. Every student was filled to the brim of school spirit, enthusiastically signing yearbooks, taking pictures, and joking with their soon to be former teachers. All except one. Leon Machiavelli sat quietly at his desk, tapping his feet nervously while he waited for the ultimate call for freedom that was the ringing of the bell on the last school day.

High school could be harsh for someone like Leon. The 19-year-old always felt like a fish out of water when it came to socializing with his classmates, most of his time spent on furthering his knowledge and improving his chances of getting into an Ivy League college, finally ridding himself of the shackles that an upbringing in a small rural town in the middle of nowhere could bring. The few friendships he managed to make over the course of his years through school were few and far too insignificant to regret his choice in moving to the other side of the country and never hearing from them again. Not to mention his troubled relationship with his parents, who were concerned by their son's more hermit nature. His family had been living in that town for a few generations, owning some small businesses in the surrounding area and establishing itself as one of the most aristocratic families in the county.

The swan song of the school year chimed in the form of the bell's ring, causing excited screams and cheers from all students. Notebooks were propelled into the air, paper falling everywhere painting the floor with white. Girls exchanged teary hugs, immortalizing their last moments in the classroom with their smartphones and guys hollered and smashed against each other in fraternal hugs. Leon swiftly picked up his backpack and made a beeline towards the exit, already feeling claustrophobic in the middle of the chaos. He made his way through the sea of students, already feeling the scorching hot summer air blowing at his face. When he was just a step away from freedom, he felt a meaty hand on his shoulder pulling him back inside. He turned around with an exasperated look on his face, only to find out the hand belonged to Kevin Volker, the varsity football captain.

"Leon, bro, what's up? I haven't seen you all day."

The relationship between the hunky jock and the hermit bookworm was, to say the least, complicated. Both boys practically grew up together, their families living next to each other and going to the same school from kindergarten all through to high school. Childish wonder pushed them to form a very good friendship in their first years of development. Family barbeques, playdates, camping trips, both boys had all the necessary qualities to become the best of friends. The fact that their parents were also friends and business partners was also a good advantage for them to keep interacting almost like brothers. All their years of primary school were spent joyfully carefree, with both boys enjoying the wonder of practically living together and embarking on whichever childish adventure they wanted.

But things got different once Kevin's biological clock sent him spiraling into puberty. The gorgeous blonde boy became an athletic teenager, and his energetic nature combined with his newly acquired physical prowess turned him into a social sensation in school. The allure of the childish fantasies he used to share with his best friend was slowly replaced by the enjoyment a real-life circle of friends could bring. Kevin naturally went up the ladder of the monstrous social scale that was high school. The sports teams didn't waste any time in hunting him down, but it was the school's most prided one that caught him in the end: the football team. After just four years the cute teen had developed into a strapping young man, with an all-American jock face and a body to die for.

Watching his best friend turn into the king of school wasn't easy for Leon. The slow abandonment combined with his frustrations over his very delayed development slowly bittered him. Instead of growing up big and strong like Kevin, Leon just gained a few inches in height, but a lot of pounds in weight. He resented his friend for getting the attention of their peers and leaving him alone to fuel their fantasy world on his own. He resented his friend for gaining the grace of other students, and soon cut all ties to him. The chubby red-head grew up alone in the darkness of his bedroom, while the blonde stud dwelled in the sunlight. His natural curiosity pushed him into pursuing knowledge, far prioritizing the cultivation of the mind instead of the body. His academic achievements mixed in with his hidden frustrations bred an arrogance delusion. Leon convinced himself that he was too good for other people, shielding himself from the pain of rejection. Completely dismissing any attempt of remaining active took a toll on his body, turning the chubby teen into an overweight young man with a disheveled appearance. Every time he saw Kevin, he remembered their lost childhood and caught a glimpse of his true reality. The muscular jock served as a window of truth in Leon's arrogant delusion: his loneliness was a product of his own doing.

"I was just busy getting my things ready for tomorrow's speech. Can I help you with anything?"

He bitterly stared into the jock's blue eyes and saw exactly the look that he hated. Even though Kevin grew dismissive towards him, he never once participated in the occasional bullying red-head suffered, often offering to help out with whatever he needed. His usual cocky gaze hid a deep-set sympathy for the lonely nerd, and Leon hated that. He didn't need the sympathy of someone he considered inferior.

"No, it's all good thanks. I'm going to drive home first to pick up my gym bag, and I wanted to offer you a ride. It's too fucking hot out there, man,” said Kevin with a burst of awkward laughter. His deep voice vibrated on his chest, which twitched playfully from time to time. Leon scanned his former friend with a resentful gaze. The heavily muscled jock was encased in the trendiest designer clothes, his bulging arms threatening to rip his polo's sleeves apart, and the tree trunks he had for legs wrapped in skin-tight chinos, showcasing the deep definition within the heavy muscles. He tried his best not to stare too much into the body and kept his apathetic frown fixed on his piercing blue eyes.

"Thank you, but I'm gonna take the bus. There's some stuff in town I need to sort out first."

"That's ok, guess I'll see you tomorrow in the graduation ceremony then,” said Kevin with a subdued sigh. Leon turned around without saying anything and headed outside towards the searing sunlight. Even though he kept a straight face during the exchange with his former friend, his fists were clenched due to the anger he felt. Even after all those years, Leon's heart still skipped a beat every time the jock was nearby. No matter how much he tried to deceive himself into thinking he was the superior of the two, he couldn't get rid of the feelings he had for his former friend.

"Congratulations on the valedictorian thing by the way!"

He managed to scream before Leon was outside the door. The chubby red-head barely turned around, and with a weak thanks, he was lost in the blinding light.

The little town's main street was buzzing with activity on the hot summer afternoon. Families paraded themselves on the sidewalk, eating ice cream and letting the kids play on the numerous water fountains around the place. Little restaurants and boutiques decorated the sides of the street, offering a colorful option of both local and imported goods to the town's small population. The Machiavelli family owned many of those businesses and almost every convenience store in town. Leon was heading to the family's favored tailor to meet his mother to get his outfit for the graduation ready. After all, the son of one of the town's most important families couldn't show up in his usual disheveled state to his high school graduation. Leon always thought things like fashion and social status were frivolities, intellectually inferior people used to feel better about themselves, so he gave little importance to them. Even now on the threshold of the rest of his life, he could care less about how he looked, but his mother insisted so much that he gave in to her requests to keep her from nagging him any longer.

The little bell on top of the door chimed in when he entered the door, attracting the attention of his mother, who was enthusiastically discussing ties and bows with the tailor.

"Honey, you made it! Step in front of the mirror please, Mr. Schneider will take your final measurements."

No one would think the chubby teenager was related to the elegant woman standing next to the counter. She looked flawless despite her age and dressed impeccably no matter if she was at a charity ball or going to the supermarket. The only trait that tied both of them to each other was their fiery red hair, which she kept in a perfect updo fully solidifying her upper-class status. Without saying a word, Leon stepped up to the little platform surrounded by three body-sized mirrors. The tailor approached him, fully armed with his measuring tape and a set of pins to hold the seams and folds in place.

"What do you think of this tie honey? I think the green would highlight your…"

The excited chatter of his mother soon faded away, as Leon focused more and more on his reflection of the three pieced mirrors. It looked like puberty forgot about him in the middle of the way. He never really grew that much in height, topping at a shorter 5'5. The prominent curve of his stomach was visible through the simple black t-shirt he was wearing, deforming The legend of Zelda's Triforce symbol together with his sagging chest. His stubby arms laid powerless on his sides, and his chubby legs were hidden under a pair of oversized jeans. His pale freckled face was covered by pimples, accentuating his unclean appearance, and it still sported the signs of infancy he never outgrew, with chubby cheeks and a small nose. The most prominent feature on him was his bright green eyes, courtesy of his mother's Irish heritage, along with his unkempt red curls. He had convinced himself long ago that an unkept body was not a problem as long as the mind flourished, so he gave up on any attempt in bettering his appearance. Dwelling in his thoughts he didn't realize the tailor was done measuring and was discussing the suit's finishing touches with his mother, who didn't wait for her son's approval on the rest of the accessories.

"Is that all mom?"

He asked a bit annoyed whilst grabbing his belongings and heading to the door.

"Yes honey, I'll arrange the rest with Mr. Schneider. You will look so handsome tomorrow. I'll see you at home later."

She answered without even looking at him. Leon sighed and headed outside, not wanting to spend another second thinking in tomorrow's ceremony, and made his way towards his house.

The Machiavelli family's estate consisted of a big two-story house, a big garden with a swimming pool, and a small guest house. There was no doubt that it belonged to very affluent people. The mansion's pearl white walls reflected the afternoon sunlight, almost giving it an incandescent glow. Leon entered through the massive oak doors and headed straight for his room. On his way there he couldn't help but catch a glimpse of the massive family portrait in the house's foyer. A younger Leon smiled faintly back at him; his chubby body encased in a black suit just like his father. The elegant man looked imposing with his strong physique and masculine features. The only common thing Leon and his father had was their last name because no one would say the pale red-head was related to the mature Italian stud that was his father. His mom looked perfect as usual, leaving Leon sticking out like a sore thumb between his two impressive progenitors. He tried his best to ignore the picture like he always did and enclosed himself in his private sanctuary.

His room was decorated with posters of antique temples, beautiful palaces, and imposing sculptures. Leon's love for fantasy had slowly driven him into researching the origin of human imagination itself, and therefore human's creative history. His ultimate goal was to become erudite of anthropology, teaching and researching in the most lauded institutions on the field and finally gaining the recognition of better people than the small-town folk he loved to look down upon. He sat down on his desk to revise his prepared speech for the graduation ceremony one last time. Despite his parent's best effort to dissuade him, Leon was willing to perform a bitter soliloquy expressing his frustrations against his classmates and solidifying his status as the class' arrogant intellectual. Beneath the snarky remarks and morality lectures written on paper, laid a profound pain product of his loneliness. His train of thought slowly brought the image of Kevin into his head again. Leon was going to finally be free of watching him blossom more and more every day. But even if he moved across the country, he was still unsure he would ever be able to forget the handsome jock. After all, despite the endless hours he spent convincing himself Kevin abandoned him out of malice, he was the only person Leon ever loved.

The chubby red-head barely gave any thought to his sexuality. He considered any kind of lust as a distraction, a primal burden that impeded the full growth of the human psyche. Unlike practically all of his classmates, he wore his virginity as a badge of honor, his mind completely clean of the stain of sex. But despite trying his best to suppress his natural urges, the thought of Kevin always came through inside his head. The connection they shared when they were children still transcended the barriers Leon tried to put up to elevate himself. And the fact that the handsome jock looked like a classical Greek sculpture come to life didn't help the lascivious thoughts leave the nerd's mind. Leon tried to hate Kevin as much as he could because if he didn't, he would become the ultimate shackles preventing him from breaking free from his small-town life once and for all. The last golden rays of sunset light came into the room through the big windows, illuminating the red-head's face. His gaze was glued to the sheet of paper in front of him. This speech was an ode to intellectual growth, and a farewell to the life Leon chose to leave behind. He went into bed exhausted, nervous about the events coming up the next day. It was going to be the last time Leon Machiavelli graced his classmates with his thoughts. Afterward, the only way they could catch a glimpse of his brilliant mind was either buying his future publications or listening to his TED talks.

It was past midnight when Leon was woken up by a shiver down his spine. The pale moonlight illuminated his bedroom, casting out gruesome shadows out of every corner. The nerd had the feeling something was staring at him from the darkness. The entire room was scorching hot, despite the cold night air flowing through an open window. A low animal growl attracted Leon's attention towards the darkest corner in the bedroom. His face went pale with fear when he discovered the two big glowing red eyes staring at him maliciously. A black figure slowly crept out of the shadows, making itself visible thanks to the white moonlight. Leon stared speechless at the giant black dog growling at him menacingly from the other side of the room. His big snout was curled up into an angry snarl, making the dagger sized fangs visible. The terrified nerd was petrified in his bed, unable to muster the minimal courage to even scream for help. Without taking his eyes off of him, the black dog spoke with a deep man's voice.

"When the time comes, follow me. I will give you what you want"

And as soon as it appeared, it melted into the shadows, leaving the red-head alone to faint out of the fear he just experienced.

The golden rays of sunlight in the late morning woke Leon up, who groggily rubbed his eyes and got up. Despite sleeping through the night, he felt exhausted. He was unsure if what he saw in the darkness had been real or just a product of the stress before graduation. He looked at the clock on his nightstand, only to realize he had slept through his alarm and was already running late.

"Damn it"

He yelled exasperated as he jumped out of bed to get ready for his ceremony. He splashed some water face and combed his red curls a little bit just to hide the mark the pillow had left on his head. One of the maids brought up the finished suit his mother had bought the previous day. It was a beautiful dark grey suit, Italian cut, with an emerald green tie and a handkerchief to match. He quickly put it on, feeling it snug against his body. Despite the suit being tailored to his exact fit, the outward curve of his prominent stomach was still visible, putting a slight strain on the buttons. The emerald green tie did highlight his eyes, just like his mother told him before buying it. He took the cards for his upcoming speech and made sure he had everything ready for the ceremony. On his way out, he looked at his reflection on the big mirror in the hallway. Even after neglecting his appearance today, the beauty of the suit made him look almost distinguished. He felt strong, ready to sever his ties to this town and his past. It was going to be a memorable day, marking the beginning of his new life.

He arrived at the ground floor of the mansion, only to find it empty. A small note was laying on top of the little table next to the entrance.

"Your father and I went to the club for a quick workout. We'll see you later at school. Tell Charlie to drive you there if you don't want to take one of the cars."

He crushed the little note on his hands, feeling a pang of pain due to his parents' absence. It wasn't unusual for his mother to delegate accompanying him to the chauffeur, but Leon thought the day of his high school graduation was going to be different. He quickly dismissed any sorrow from his head, replacing it with a fiery determination. His speech today was also inspired by his aloof parents, who barely gave their only son a second thought. He looked at the big family portrait one last time. With this suit, he might have looked a bit like he belonged, but he knew the truth. His destiny was far away from this little town, which was below his expectations.

The school was buzzing with activity, with teachers running everywhere getting every last detail prepared, and students getting their graduation robes ready for the ceremony. Colorful banners decorated the main courtyard, where a scenario with a podium and a line of seats was built. The many rows of chairs in front of it were already filling themselves up with enthusiastic families, readying their cameras for their children's special moments. Leon scoffed at the scene, thinking how sad it was that this was going to be the only highlight in their offspring's life. He picked up his robe and valedictorian sash and headed towards his seat. In the distance, he saw Kevin arrive with both of his parents. The gorgeous stud was impeccably dressed in a beautiful sapphire blue suit. Every muscle was perfectly framed and enveloped in the expensive fabric, accentuating the dramatic angles his body formed. His dirty blond hair was perfectly styled in his usual messy style, and his white smile beamed stronger than the sun itself. Leon couldn't take his eyes off from his former friend, making an inhumane effort to remain focused on his goal. This day was going to be about him for the first time, not about Kevin.

The ceremony began after all the attendants took their seats, with the principal opening the day with a generic speech about school spirit and class fraternity. Leon fiddled with his cards nervously, the pressure of his big moment slowly starting to overcome him. He couldn't help but ask himself if he was willing to pull through it. After all, his classmates were still people deserving of respect, even if he considered them intellectually inferior. But then the memory of Kevin laughing with all of them, sharing the fabled fraternal bond the principal was talking about, and excluding Leon from their circle solidified his decision. The words he was going to say could be harsh, but it was something he felt entitled to share.

"And now, please welcome the Athens High class of 2019 valedictorian, Leon Machiavelli."

The sound of the applause woke Leon up from his daze, as he stood up and made his way to the podium. All the eyes in the audience were for the first time focused on him. The scorching sunlight made him feel a little light-headed, his hair matted with sweat, and his body sticking uncomfortably to his suit. He looked at the seats below him, squinting his eyes due to the sun's intense shine. All of the chairs were occupied, except two, very close to the front rows. Leon let out a sorrowful sigh, the last ember of hope of sharing this moment with his parents dying. He put his cards down, took a big breath, and started speaking.

"My fellow students of Athens High. The promised day is finally upon us, the day when we will finally take flight and begin the rest of our lives. Most of you don't even know who I am, but after today you will never forget my name. When I was writing this speech, I couldn't help but notice a few ironic facts that I would like to share with you. It is fitting that our school mascot is an owl because that is how I've felt all these years. I've dedicated countless hours to quietly observing your behavior, your desires, and every intricate social structure in our school, and I can't help but feel immense gratitude. Thanks to all of you, I've blossomed into the epitome of human intelligence and wisdom that I am today. And let me tell you why. After a long analysis, I've come up with the conclusion that my greatest fear is becoming as simple as one of you…."

Something beyond the sun's glare caught his attention. At first, he thought it might be a mirage caused by the burning heat, but the more he focused on it, the clearer it became. A shadow beneath a far tree looked eerily familiar. Leon's hands started to tremble in fear, as he recognized the black dog from last night staring at him from the distance, its glowing red eyes visible through the blinding sunlight. His entire speech suddenly vanished from his mind, together with the fleeting empowerment he was feeling moments ago. He fumbled nervously with the cards, only to drop them by accident.

"You….uh…..I…"

The echoes of his nervous words coming from the speakers resonated through the courtyard. Curious eyes focused on Leon, who quickly turned into a sweaty mess. He looked at Kevin in the front row, who had a worried look on his face. He felt a shame he had never felt before. Being humiliated in front of half the town was the last thing Leon wanted. He searched for the dog again, only for it to vanish without a trace. He looked at the public in defeat and managed to scavenge some last words to minimize the embarrassment.

"I want to thank you all for coming. Enjoy the rest of the ceremony."

With those last words, Leon left the podium and sank into his seat, wishing for the earth to swallow him. The principal took the microphone again and followed through with the protocol.

"Thank you, Leon, for those, uh, inspiring words. And now, we will present the students with their diplomas."

Leon sat in his place quietly, staring at the green grass. In his mind, the only thing that was present was the horrible feeling of embarrassment. Everything he had planned; all the preparation and previous excitement had been for nothing. The muffled sound of pomp and circumstance blasting out of the speakers was all he could hear, as the principal went through the line of students calling each of them to the podium and shaking hands with them. One face still stood out from the rest: Kevin's. One thing was failing in front of his classmates, but failing in the presence of the person he wanted to impress the most made everything worse. Now Kevin would never find out how well-off Leon thought he was despite being abandoned by the handsome jock. Somewhere inside the cacophony governing the courtyard, he heard his name, and without taking his gaze off the ground he stood up and picked up his diploma. He gave the principal a weak handshake and quickly slid back into his chair. This moment was indeed immortalized in his mind, but not in the way he intended.

Once all students got their respective acknowledgments, the ceremony ended with Oxford caps decorating the sky accompanied by deafening applause. Families reunited in the whole courtyard, hugging and blasting pictures everywhere. Leon was still in his seat when he saw both his parents approaching him.

"Honey, sorry we're late. How was your speech,” asked his mother without any hint of remorse in her voice. Leon was used to being left behind by his family, but this time he felt actual pain. If his parents were there, the only people with whom he shared some kind of superficial connection, he wouldn't have felt so helpless in the aftermath of his speech debacle. He looked up at his parents with cold wrath in his eyes, tears starting to slowly well up inside them.

"I don't ask much of you. I don't mind when you hide me at your parties, or when you go on extravagant trips without me. I just asked for your presence for one day. One day."

His reproaches were met by the unchanging poised faces of his progenitors. His mother was the first one to speak.

"Honey, not here. People are looking,” She said with a simulated smile.

"I don't care about your deluded picture of perfection, mother. You ruined the last time we were going to connect as a family. And for what? A sauna bath in your pretentious club."

His father's petrified face showed a glimpse of anger. The Machiavelli patriarch had never been very fond of his only child, considering him a nuisance and a liability for their public image. Leon just didn't fit well as the heir of the family's fortune, completely lacking charisma and skill to lead. In his eyes, the only thing his son did was cower behind his infinite collection of books in his room.

"Quit whining, Leon. You should be thankful your mother and I made time to come and congratulate you. Now, let's take a picture. We will discuss this back at home."

Leon's last hope of acceptance from his family died as soon as the flash from the camera was gone, his young heart completely overtaken by the coldness of rejection. His aloof parents then proceeded to greet the rest of the attendants. The young nerd felt completely lost inside the crowd. All he wanted to do was to get back home, pack his bags and leave on the next bus out of town. While he was analyzing the best way to scurry out of there, a sapphire flash caught his attention. He then looked towards it, only to find out the colorful splash of light came from Kevin, who was heading into the school through a side entrance. At first, he didn't pay too much attention to it, but then he saw the black dog from earlier following the handsome jock. After some consideration, Leon managed to conjure the courage to follow Kevin into the building, worried about what that black creature could do to his former friend. He pushed the door and entered the school's auditorium, only to find it dark and empty. The light to the locker rooms was on, so he made his way through the big hall towards it.

"Kevin? Are you in here?"

His nervous voice echoed through the rows of metal lockers. The air in the room felt damp and heavy, the lingering musky smell of sweaty athletes permanently staining the atmosphere. Something else was mixed in the aromas, a metallic scent, like rusted metal. He hesitantly stepped further into the locker room, his only companion being the sound of his footsteps on the tiled floor. The cold lights flickered from time to time, giving the entire scene a very ominous appearance. He turned around the corner and finally found Kevin in front of the sinks. He was staring emptily into the mirror, completely unaware of Leon's presence. The young nerd was terrified but kept approaching the young jock.

"Hey Kevin, are you alright?"

He said as he put a sweaty hand on Kevin's shoulder. He was able to perceive a red flicker on the jock's icy blue eyes, and then Kevin reacted to his touch.

"Leon, what's up? You look scared bro, are you alright?"

He said casually beaming his celebrity smile towards Leon, who just stared completely puzzled at the handsome jock.

"I saw a black dog follow you into the auditorium. Have you seen it?"

"Black dog? Bro, I really think the heat has started to affect you. I just came inside to freshen up a bit, but I haven't seen any black dog."

"But I swear I saw it come inside, I was a bit concerned it would attack you or anything. That thing has been roaming around school premises since the ceremony. I saw it during my...."

He made a pause, remembering the events that had just taken place moments before during the ceremony. The rage product of his humiliation returned to him.

"During my speech. Never mind, I can't say I'm surprised you're unable to notice even the most obvious things."

Kevin's smile faded from his face, his gorgeous gaze gaining the depth that bothered Leon so much because it made him care for a person he had convinced himself was below him.

"Leon, bro, I know things haven't been okay between us for a while. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel bad or something. I was just going with the flow, I never intended to hurt you. But I can't keep myself away anymore. If today is about a cycle, then there is something I need to set straight between us."

Leon's cold gaze lightened up a bit, curious about what he was talking about. He had never seen Kevin this nervous before. The young jock stared at the floor and fiddled nervously with his hands. The words came out a bit forced out of his mouth like someone was making him recite a memorized confession.

"I need to tell you something, but not here. Come to my place tonight for the party. Everyone will be there."

"I don't know Kevin. Parties aren't really my cup of tea…."

The handsome jock put his strong hand on Leon's shoulder and gave him a mischievous smile that not even the nerd's toughest defenses could resist.

"I promise to make it worth your while."

Leon hesitated for a second, completely incredulous for what he was hearing. He had already decided not to go to the party, but the day was not going according to plan. He could feel his heart beating almost out of his chest, excited and intrigued for whatever the jock was going to tell him.

"Sure, I'll see you there."

An eerie spark lit up behind Kevin's blue eyes, but Leon was so dumbstruck he completely missed it.

"Sweet bro, I'll see you later then. Nice clothes by the way."

Kevin then pulled the smaller man up for a hug, smothering him with his strong body. Leon could feel the hardness of his muscles through the expensive blue fabric. The jock then made his way towards the exit, leaving Leon in a disoriented haze. For a moment he completely forgot about the gruesome black dog and his failed speech, all he could see in his mind was Kevin's gorgeous smile.

The sun was already setting when Leon arrived at the Volker residence. Many groups of his fellow students were approaching the mansion through the extensive courtyard, already with some drinks on their hands. The young nerd hesitated, his social anxiety crippling him for a moment. He still despised the rest of his class and saw no point in trying to interact with them. If he was going to this party, it was for Kevin only. Maybe something good would come out of this terrible day after all. When he crossed through the house's massive portal, he was immediately assaulted by an explosion of light and sound completely overwhelming his senses. A sea of young adults covered the big parlor and the adjacent rooms, drinking and dancing like there was no tomorrow. The big chandelier hanging from the ceiling was adapted to flash beams of light of different colors in all directions, and a DJ booth was installed on the far end of the formal living room, blasting some modern music Leon couldn't recognize. He was an absolute amateur when it came to partying, so he felt lost and scared inside the crowd. He tried looking for Kevin everywhere, but due to his short height, he wasn't able to look past a few heads before him.

Leon approached the drinking table and ordered a soda. He tried to find a quiet corner to drink in peace before resuming his search for his former friend, but everywhere he looked was swarmed by the inebriated guests. He was quickly losing his patience, as he was pushed around by the dancing crowd over and over again. Somehow, he found his way to the big spiral staircase leading to the upper floors and jumping over the barrier to keep attendants on the ground floor, he quickly went up a few steps to get a better overview. Despite gaining the higher ground, his attempts in finding his friend proved unsuccessful. He was about to give up and head back home defeated when something caught his attention through the mahogany banister. The monstrous-looking black dog was staring at him from above, its glowing red eyes visible despite the chaotic party atmosphere. After making sure the nerd saw it, it walked further up the stairs into the second floor.

Leon remembered what the beast had told him the night before, and followed it into the higher level of the mansion. Once he made it to the upper floor, he saw the dog walking through a long hallway and entering the furthest room. The young nerd continued his pursuit and found himself in what he assumed was Kevin's room. The lavish bedroom was decorated with all sorts of trophies and medals, as well as an entertainment system appropriate for an active teenager. Leon's attention was drawn to the row of portraits on the big bookshelf. Pictures of young Kevin in all sorts of family trips and sports events were displayed in delicate frames. One picture, in particular, stood out from the rest. Leon couldn't believe his eyes as he took the silver frame in his hands and stared at the photograph. A young Kevin had his arm wrapped around a young Leon, both sitting on top of a rock next to a river. They were laughing, radiating genuine happiness through the picture. Leon couldn't believe that after all those years, Kevin kept memories from their childhood so close to him. The young man the nerd considered his bitter rival and enemy never antagonized him.

The big glass door to the balcony opened suddenly, letting a warm gust of wind into the room. Leon put the picture back in its place and headed outside. The stunning twilight sky was painted in different shades of red, showering the scenery with crimson rays of light. The hot summer breeze rustled the leaves on the trees surrounding the properties, producing a serene sound that drowned the music from downstairs. The nerd stepped on the balcony, and finally found what he was looking for. Kevin was standing on the edge of the marble banister, watching the beautiful sunset.

"Kevin?"

The handsome jock turned around to face Leon. The only thing the young nerd could see were the icy blue eyes inside his former friend's shadow, his silhouette completely encased in a red halo product of the dying sunset.

"I knew you would come. Come here, I want you to look at this."

Leon stepped forward, taking place right next to the handsome jock. Kevin flashed his regular charming smile at the nerd, who instantly turned red as a beet. For an instant, he was thankful for this unusually bright sunset that hid the blush on his cheeks.

"I wanted this evening to go perfectly. And now that you're here it's finally complete."

"Just tell me what you want Kevin. We haven't talked in years and suddenly you take interest in me. I just want to know why."

Kevin diverted his gaze into the sunset, suddenly turning serious. Leon could see the distress in his eyes.

"I never lost interest in you Leon. It was you who pushed me away. You were the one that decided to stop hanging out with me."

Leon clenched his fists in anger, the painful memories of his friend exchanging him for more popular friends still poisoning his mind.

"How dare you say that! You were the one that went away, that grew into…."

He made a nervous pause, uncertain about what he was about to say. The wrath inside of him made him spill out the words without thinking.

"Into a mindless meathead. Look at us, Kevin. Your physical prowess is unparalleled, that's a fact. But I got what truly matters: a brilliant mind. I have preserved my psyche in the best way possible. I've resisted the allure of petty teenage necessities. And now, I'm in the way of becoming one of the most brilliant thinkers in recent years!"

Kevin turned around to face the angry nerd, who was on the brink of tears due to the pent-up rage he was feeling.

"Is that what you truly want bro? It sounds very lonely to me."

"I don't need anyone. Soon, I'll be where I'm supposed to. I don't mind being alone."

Kevin grabbed Leon's arm, pulling him closer. The nerd could feel the intense heat radiating from the hunk's body. He stared directly into his former friend's blue eyes.

"Are you sure you want to be alone? I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I got all the attention I want, from anyone. When you look like me, it's an easy task."

He said flexing his meaty arm, straining the soft blue fabric on the sleeves of his suit. Leon couldn't take his eyes off of Kevin's body, completely mesmerized by the jock's posing show. He failed to notice his friend's eyes shining in a dark red shade from time to time. The jock's voice turned from warm and concerned, into cold and aggressive.

"No matter how much you lie to yourself Leon, you want to be like me. To finally be accepted by everyone, including your parents. Picture it for a second. Finally, be worthy of being called your father's son. What use is your intelligence to the Machiavelli family, when you lack the courage to destroy your fears? Truth is, you're no more than a resentful dweeb."

Kevin continued flexing, taking off his suit's jacket, his movements starting to take on a seductive flair.

"Stop it. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course I know. I know everything about you bro, including your darkest secret."

Leon suddenly opened his eyes like plates, completely incredulous for what was coming out of the jock's mouth. It was impossible anyone knew how he felt about Kevin, he didn't tell anyone. Kevin smiled with a hint of malice, knowing he had Leon right where he wanted him. His blue eyes now shone in a permanent crimson hue.

"That's right, I know that you like me. Your mind is indeed a complex maze, but no psyche cannot be cracked open. I could feel the fear of being discovered practically pouring out of your pores."

Leon looked down in defeat, feeling the embarrassment bubble out of him. He knew this was too good to be true. Kevin approached Leon once again, taking his chubby face with his hands and pulling it up to face him. The nerd's green eyes were pooled with tears.

"There's no reason to be miserable. The reason I called you here tonight was to tell you I feel the same way about you."

Leon couldn't help but open his mouth incredulously, his mind still registering the words that just came out of the jock's mouth.

"Wha—what?"

"I've also never connected with anyone the way I connected with you. You know the real me, buried beneath this sculptural body. That means I also know the real you. You don't have to be alone."

The young nerd's sad frown slowly turned into a smile. His face was inches away from his friend's, feeling the jock's hot breath on his skin. And then he smelled it. The same metallic smelled he caught in the locker room back at school, only this time it was much more intense. He also took notice of Kevin's glowing red eyes.

"Wait, this is not right. What's happened to you?"

Kevin's grip on Leon's face tightened, his face gaining a sinister flair.

"I'm exactly who I'm supposed to be. The question here is: are you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you who you are supposed to be? I know the real you is buried beneath this intellectual façade. We just gotta pull him out."

Kevin started caressing Leon's overweight body, rubbing his torso over the suit's jacket. The young nerd was giving in to the moment, closing his eyes and enjoying the sensation of his friend's strong hands on his body. One last glimmer of resistance made him suddenly pull away.

"No. I don't want this. I'm above these carnal sensations. I've never done anything with anyone."

Kevin smiled, unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt, exposing the ripped divide of his upper chest.

"I know you're a virgin, I don't have any problems with that."

"But I do. I don't want it to be this way. If it ever comes to it, I want it to be special."

Kevin's confident smile quickly disappeared, replaced by a displeased scowl.

"Look at this Leon. The sunset, the balcony, the hot summer air. You said it yourself, this is the end of one phase of our lives. Isn't this special enough for you?"

"I don't know Kevin; this doesn't feel right."

"Look, it's very simple. I want to be with you, and I know you want to be with me. I just need you to renounce this ridiculous virtuous perception of your virginity. Give in to your flesh, and your body will become what you truly desire."

"My body is okay as it is."

Said Leon embarrassed by the remark of the increasingly impatient jock.

"You know it isn't. All these years you have deceived yourself in thinking you value the brilliance of your mind when in reality it's what has alienated you from everyone. Relinquish that notion, and you shall have everything you desire."

The nerd looked at his friend nervously, completely unsure about what he wanted. He thought he was sure about who he was, but what Kevin said was true. What's the point of intelligence if all you need to be accepted is purely physical? Was brilliant wisdom worth the loneliness? While Leon dwelled in his thoughts, a shadow materialized on the corner behind him. What first looked like a black dog slowly grew into a human form, taking the appearance of an extremely muscular young man, his body full of scars. He planted his crimson red eyes on Kevin, who nodded in agreement as his face grew more sinister.

"I'll make it easy for you. Kiss me. If you do, I'll know you're ready to take the next step and leave your old self behind. You'll finally be better than anyone else, just like you wish. Be warned though, there will be no turning back."

Leon was then assaulted by all the painful memories of his past. The loneliness of growing up as an outcast, the abandonment of his parents, and the disconnection from everything and everyone started crushing him. He had an opportunity to have what he truly wanted, not what he convinced himself he wanted. Hypnotized by the jock's supernatural gaze, he approached his friend with determination. Standing on the tip of his feet, he placed his lips on his. Black smoke started enveloping them, completely encasing the entire balcony and isolating it from the world. Leon felt butterflies in his stomach, as the kiss continued to gain intensity. A scorching hot feeling started seeping into his being, product of Kevin's mouth. When he realized what he had done, it was too late. He was completely under the control of the handsome jock, who started to take on a dominant role, aggressively pushing his tongue into the nerd's mouth. The last thing he consciously realized was what that taste in Kevin's mouth was: blood.

Energy started seeping into Leon's body, slowly impregnating his being. He was lost in the intense feeling his connection with Kevin was causing. The waves of power-hitting his body started making his blood boil, turning his body into an incandescent mass. He was sweating profusely, as the energy coursing through his veins unleashed different chain reactions in his cells, resulting in a vastly increased metabolic rate. The fatty deposits inside of him started to melt away, vaporized to fuel the nerd's body's incredible energy demand. His pants fell, as the rest of the suit started to hang loosely from his body. The formerly chubby red-head was left practically only in skin and bones. Kevin broke the kiss and looked at what his friend had become. His green eyes were dull and lifeless, and his formerly round face was left looking severely malnourished. He smiled victorious, knowing the spell was doing its job. He needed the man in the back to complete the transference, so he called him forward to participate in the passionate scene.

Kevin took his finger, rubbing it on his friend's lips seductively, as the muscular man in the back slowly pushed down the shoulders of the now skinny nerd to the ground. In one swift motion, the handsome jock ripped his pants off his legs, exposing a menacing bulge that was quickly gaining size in front of Leon's entranced gaze.

"Is this what you wanted? To serve and pleasure me?"

Asked Kevin dominantly, looking down at his friend. Even though Leon was still watching everything going on, the sensations in his body were driving him like an automaton. A part of his consciousness still resisted, yelling desperately that he was better than what he was becoming, but it was slowly getting smaller as if it were burned away by the divine energy coursing through his veins. He answered in a stupefied voice, unable to resist the temptation

"Yes."

"Wrong answer."

Said Kevin fishing out his manhood from his briefs and putting it on the nerd's open mouth. The same metallic taste accompanied by other muskier aromas immediately assaulted Leon's senses. He licked and tasted the meaty tube inside of him, desperately worshipping it with his tongue. The scarred man behind him then pushed his head further into the jock's crotch, making him swallow the entire seven thick inches at once. Kevin then proceeded to drill inside his friend's mouth with aggressive thrusts back and forth. Each time the phallus penetrated the nerd's mouth, the pressure inside of him caused his bones to elongate. Each limb stretched several inches, along with his spine, leaving the nerd with over a foot and a half extra height. The hands holding the jock's legs cracked and grew, along with his formerly small feet. Once his skeleton stopped breaking, the scarred man pulled Leon to his feet, his pants staying on the floor. There was a fight between bliss and misery inside of him, causing a blast of emotions that quickly flooded his head. It was like his mind was inside a pressurized pot ready to explode.

"You are the one that has to be served and pleasured. You have to conquer fear."

Kevin lifted the now taller red-head with supernatural strength and flipped him around, exposing his naked rear. Leon fell forward, grabbing on to the scarred man to remain on his feet, and felt the scorching hot head of his friend's member rub menacingly on his crack. He desired him more than anything in the world, his carnal passion completely overtaking his puritanical nature.

"Once we finally break your mind, you'll be able to become the god you were chosen to be."

And with those last words, Kevin impaled his friend mercilessly, getting one last howl of agony out of the nerd. Leon felt as if a dam had broken inside his head, flooding his mind and washing his old self away. Kevin's thrusts started pumping more divine energy into the red-head, which traveled inside his body filling out his newfound emptiness. Pure pleasure caused him to moan loudly. His blood pumped new power into his whole body, causing his muscles to twitch and ripple responding to the strength. His glutes were the first part of his body to expand. The handsome jock's phallus was quickly being swallowed further by two inflating globes of muscle. It looked like he was humping a pair of overgrown watermelons. The growth spread down his legs, filling out his quads and hamstrings with thick columns of muscle, growing as thick as two oak trees. Deep cuts were etched painfully on them, the skin stretched to its limits over the massive muscles. His calves grew to match the upper legs, gaining enough size to rival a football. His feet expanded to accommodate the still coming weight.

The pumped energy seeped simultaneously into his core muscles. Veins started gaining thickness the more power flowed in them, changing the muscle underneath. His lower back took the form of a large spearhead, two pillars of muscle slowly crawling up his back. His lower abs popped into existence, framed by two increasingly large obliques. First two, then four, then six, and ending in eight grenade-sized bumps on his stomach. The muscular pillars on his back started flaring like two flags, spreading growth into the red-head's lat muscles. The suit's jacket couldn't resist the growth for long, shredding itself to pieces revealing the sweaty skin underneath. Kevin grabbed the growing back with lust, feeling the searing hot muscle underneath move and inflate. The man's lats spread wide like a fighter plane, the muscle fibers fighting to fit into the already large frame. Mountains and valleys decorated the expanse of the magnificent back before the thrusting jock.

His chest was the next to grow as if gravity was pulling the muscle downwards. Two massive slabs of flesh etched themselves in Leon's upper torso, increasing his weight and making him widen his stance to find his new balance. The inflating pecs rose higher too like they were trying to reach his chin, while the lower parts expanded themselves reaching the limit of the red-head's anatomy. Once the veins reached his shoulders, these exploded in growth, reaching the size of an ancient Grecian helmet. Divine blood pumped into his arms, his biceps swelling to the size of big cannonballs. His triceps expanded underneath his arms, quickly adding girth to the now powerful limbs, reaching the size of a Howitzer cannon. His lower arms etched themselves with strong sinews, growing as wide as baseball bats. His hands hardened and swelled with new strength, gaining the power to crush the hardest skull with ease.

Thick veins traveled up his neck, followed by thick muscle cords making it seem more like a bull's neck than a human's. Once his Adam's apple finished its transformation, his high moans of pleasure slowly turned into a low manly grunt. Muscle piled into the squaring jaw, giving him a cartoonishly hyper-masculine look. His cheekbones rose higher, and his nose grew and broke, filling in with thick tissue. His forehead expanded further, hooding his eyes and giving him a menacing look. Kevin accelerated the rhythm, reaching the mortal limits of his body.

"Taste true power brother, and take your place above those beings you always deemed inferior."

With one final thrust, he emptied his burning load into the titan in front of him. The divine seed seeped into every tissue, making his body gain even more thickness than before. The muscles gained the strength and prowess of the best warrior the world had ever seen. The essence then corrupted what was left of his being, turning him into a new deity. Blood flowed out of his pupils, forever turning the former green eyes to an intense crimson hue. A new personality engraved itself in his head, growing increasingly aggressive the more he became aware of his existence. His puritanical nature was replaced with an insatiable lust for flesh, either in sex or in battle. His enviable knowledge was replaced by a killer instinct that made him a fearsome foe for whoever was misfortunate enough to challenge him. Eons of battle techniques and combat prowess flourished inside of him, aging him into a man in his masculine prime. The former erudite was reborn in the form of the fiercest warrior in the world. And as such, his nature turned dominant, making him displeased about the situation he was in. He stood up, now much larger than the two other men next to him.

"That's more like it,” He said in a deep voice, flexing his new muscles. Kevin and the other man stared triumphantly at their creation, watching the giant relish in his raw strength. They both felt a psychic bond form with the titan, now that he gained dominion over them. The former Leon turned to face them, his glowing red eyes staring at the scarred man with lust.

"I'm still not quite there yet. Come, brother. It's your time to serve me."

He pushed the muscular man on the banister and grabbed his own still tiny penis. He could barely hold it with his massive hands, the 4 inches stuck out barely enough for his fingers to grab. With inhuman strength he pulled the muscular man's ass apart, exposing the coveted goal for his manhood. He managed to penetrate the scarred man, and another wave of pleasure assaulted him, making him roar in bliss. He started thrusting into the man with such force it started cracking the solid banister underneath. The lesser deity moaned delighted, as he felt the member inside of him grow further, pushing deeper into his body. The titan's phallus grew to heroic proportions, gaining almost 8 inches in length and resembling a thick torpedo. The balls slapping the man's muscular thighs expanded as well, dropping lower to bovine proportions. New hormones started pumping into the giant, altering its appearance even further. Kevin watched smiling as his red curls receded a bit on his head and turned pitch black, along with his eyebrows, which grew thick and arched themselves upwards. His face started taking on a more exotic look, his lips thickening and his nose growing a bit more. The black bubble around the fornicating gods started breaking, dark smoke seeping into every pore of the giant. His pale skin darkened to a light brown, and dark follicles started popping out of his entire body. His manly jaw was quickly covered by a shadow, which grew into a magnificent black beard. The hair was so thick the skin underneath was not visible. A carpet of black hair covered his body, growing thicker on his crotch and under his arms. He kept thrusting with increased fury, feeling his own divine seed churn in his balls. He was drenched in sweat, a manly aroma quickly surrounding him. He smelled like old iron, like burnt gunpowder, like a warrior in his prime. With a powerful roar, he exploded inside the scarred man, fully cementing his new birth as Assad, the king of war.

The scarred man dropped to the ground completely exhausted, leaving Assad standing naked under the crepuscular sky. The jock scanned the titan from top to bottom, savoring every aspect of the new god before him. Assad barely gave him a second look, his old knowledge and memories gone.

"Father will be very pleased."

"Indeed I am."

A bone-chilling voice came out of the shadows in front of them. Assad watched as the god of war emerged from the darkness in his full glory. Ares rarely smiled, but he couldn't help to curl his lips up a little bit once he saw his sons' creation. He was right in delegating his power and the transference to them. Assad immediately fell on one knee, bowing respectfully before his master.

"You bred it into a full warrior, well done."

Kevin just smiled solemnly, accepting the god's compliments. Ares suspected the chosen one had to renounce voluntarily to his virtue to achieve its fullest potential. That is why he let the natural lust do his task for him. He provided the essence; the rest came from the new champion.

"Ready to serve milord.” Said Assad without lifting his gaze.

"And you will. I gave you a new life as a descendant of humanity's most powerful warriors, and in exchange, I own you now. There's something I need you to do. If you succeed, you will be allowed to take a place next to me as a worthy god. I want you to destroy the goddess Athena."

Ares then took his spear and cut his arm open. Ichor fell to the ground, taking the shape of a golden sword. Assad took the weapon in his hand, feeling its power course through him. A shining bronze armor formed around his torso, along with a helmet and a red cape. Ares was satisfied by the look of his new pawn.

"Meet me in Greece, by the feet of Mount Olympus the night of the next full moon."

"Yes, milord. I won't fail you."

With a powerful kick of his legs, the giant leaped into the sky, disappearing in the red horizon. Ares approached the banister and stood next to his sons, watching his creation advance towards his destiny.

"You can get off that meat suit now, Phobos."

Kevin's face produced one last sinister smile, as a dark shadow stepped out of him, his body falling to the ground completely unconscious. The black mass took the form of another overly muscular scared man, identical to the one still laying on the ground.

"This was way too easy, father."

"Don't be arrogant. Influencing a mortal's free will is no easy task. It's different than just persuading them with fear, as you might know."

"I didn't have to do much. This mortal in particular had very strong feelings for the champion. I just had to break his self-control barrier a bit. And I admit I let him feel some of the pleasure too, although I'm sure Deimos there had way more enjoyment."

Ares stood silently staring into the sunset. He made sure he created the best warrior of them all. He proved that the virtues so dearly preached by his stuck-up sister were vulnerable to his raw strength. He chose to let the champion be corrupted by his own desire. This was going to be his opportunity to eclipse his siblings and get his father's acceptance. He looked at his son, able to see the beauty underneath the godling's intimidating appearance. Aphrodite's image came back to him, remembering the unbreakable bond both gods possessed. He wondered if she would be capable of moving against Zeus. The goddess of beauty was not to be underestimated, so Ares spared no effort in creating the best Champion he could to compete.

"So, you interfered with the mortal's love interest. Your mother wouldn't approve."

#musclegrowth #transformation #championofolympus

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unmaskedagain · 5 years ago

Text

Marinette: Adventures at Camp-Halfblood

When Marinette arrived at camp at just six-years-old dressed in pink with pigtails in her hair and was shoved into Hermes cabin until she was claimed; most of the other campers hedged their bets on who her godly parent was. She was a sweet girl with a cheerful deposition that could easily brighten anyone’s day. She also favored sketching and most artistic endeavors so half the campers thought Apollo was her father.

However, Marinette had an almost unnatural beauty to her that was clear from even her young age; with silky blue-ish black hair and large blue eyes that seemed to twinkle. There was a sheer adorableness to her that caused even the toughest of campers to coo. This caused some of the campers to assume Aphrodite was her mother.

A few bet on Demeter as Marinette loved to bake. Some of Athena as how well organized and tactile the girl could be.

Unfortunately, it would take a few years before anyone would get confirmation. And for bets to be paid out.

As Marinette got older, she easily became the most well-liked camper; mostly because of the sweetest and kindest girl at camp. She was always there to help a friend in need, always there for someone to talk to. Hephaestus cabin liked how creative she was with her designs and always liked to offer an artistic flair to their own. While she didn’t rush towards battle as some campers did, it was clear Marinette still knew what to do with a sword. She was also creative and detailed when it came to planning attacks and defense which got her approval of the Athena cabin.

Ares Cabin liked that she didn’t back down. Ever. The first time Dionysus got her name wrong was legendary; it was also the last time.

“You, mary-Anne!” The god of wine called. They were in the lunch hall “Announce to the rugrats, capture the flag is about to begin.”

“Marinette,” The seven-year-old corrected politely with a smile on her face. “Marlene,” Dionysus waved her off.

Marinette just stared at the chubby god, her face emotionless. The hall seemed to grow a bit colder. Silence slowly took hold the campers as they watched a seven-year-old in a blue

polka-dotted sundress and pink ribbons in her hair stare down a god with unfeeling eyes as she assessed her opponent as if looking for a weakness.

For the first time in a long time, Dionysus felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck as a small hint of fear started to turn in his stomach. And, to make matters worse, as if sensing this, his fear, a small smile appeared on the girl’s lovely face.

“My name is Marinette,” Was all she said and turned around as skipped away.

Dionysus nodded slowly, despite the girl not even looking. He swallowed a bit more of his coke and with a pop, he was gone, vanished. No one would see him at camp for two weeks. When he came back, from then on out, whenever he ran into the little girl again, he calls her some variation of “You girl,” “Girly” or even a “Lassie” once. It was clear that while the god was too proud to call her or anyone of the campers by their actual names, he would never mess up hers again.

That day would forever remain in the hearts of the campers forever. When Marinette was eleven, she found out who her godly parent was.

She had been walking with Annabeth to the training yard, near the entrance of the camp, when they heard roars and a scream. Annabeth turned pale but a determined look appeared in her eyes. Marinette patted the blonde’s shoulder comfortingly. Though they were the same age, the blonde had arrived at camp a year after Marinette, and not under the best of circumstances. Grover,

Luka, Thalia, and Annabeth had been being chased by the most dangerous monsters from the underworld. Thalia hadn’t made it. It had been four years since.

Each girl pulled out their swords, braced their shields, and raced towards the entrance of the camp. What they saw made both of them nearly throw up their breakfasts.

Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus, Laurel Victor, daughter of Nike, and Malcolm

Pace, son of Athena were racing back to camp; different monsters hot on their tails. The three

had been given a mission to retrieve Hephaestus’ stolen Helm. In this case, the helm was just a fancy word for solid gold, expertly carved, war helmet.

Laurel, easily the fastest girl at camp, was heavily injured and struggled with a wounded Malcolm to get to the safety of the camp borders while fending off the monsters. Charles, wearing his father’s helmet, fought valiantly and desperately to give his friends time to escape.

“Go get help,” Marinette ordered the other girl. “Anyone you can. Find medics from Apollo cabin. Hurry.”

It was a credit Annabeth that she didn’t hesitate to follow the direction as she raced off to seek allies.

Marinette, on the other hand, raced the other way; out of the camp, out of the safety of the boundary line, straight to battle. She’d seen the manticore sneaking up on Charles and knew that between the Cyclopes and hellhounds swarming him, he was a dead man. Marinette rushed passed Laurel and Malcolm and was just in time as the manticore's tail moved to strike Charles, it hit Marinette’s shield.

Fury filled her blue eyes as she began to fight: armor-less and with only a shield in one hand, a sword in the other, and a dagger on her hip, side by side with the son of Hephaestus. “Go!” She yelled at the other two demigods as she slashed at a Cyclops. As the monsters swarmed her and Charles, Marinette noted with a small bit of relief, that in the midst of the chaos of battle and her shoving her sword through the eye of a Cyclops with horrible breath, she spotted that Laurel and Malcolm crossing over the barrier.

However, the relief died when a fearsome roar shook the very foundations of the camp and both campers to very cores.

The creature had no legs and crawled on the ground like a snake. It was over 200 hundred feet long and had scales that glistened like armor. The monster moved like lightening and when Marinette met its eyes, for a moment she froze in sheer terror, “Drakon,” She whispered. That when she knew one or both of them were going to die. Only a child of Ares even had a remote chance of defeating it.

“Shit,” Charles said as he killed a hellhound. Most of the monsters had been defeated. Only a few cyclopes and hellhounds remained. “Run back to camp!” He ordered. “Hurry! I’ll hold it off.”

Marinette didn’t have to even look at the black boy to know he wouldn’t stand a chance. Charles looked like he barely had enough strength left to lift his sword one more time. He was bleeding all over. He had so many injuries and wound Marinette wondered how he managed to keep himself upright.

With a swing of her sword, Marinette finished off the last Cyclops. “Not this time,” She told the older boy. “You’re hurt really bad.” She told him. “It’ll kill you in seconds and get me before I even make it back. I’ll hold him off. I’m strong enough. I can do it.”

“No!” Charles had started a tirade of protests. He wasn’t about to let anyone die for him, let alone a little kid who looked like she would be right at home if Disney suddenly named her one of their princesses. A girl who was nearly as battered, bruised, and bloody as he was.

But Marinette wasn’t listening, because as soon as the moment of fear passed, she found herself charging at the Drakon, her sword ready.

She barely dodged the monster’s first swipe at her. Her heart pounding her chest, Marinette slashes at the beast only to have her sword bounce off its scales, with not even a scratch on the Drakon. Acid dripped from its mouth burning holes into Marinette’s red shield.

Marinette didn’t know how long she had been fighting; or rather dodging and helplessly poking a giant snake with a sword. Her arm had nearly been ripped off as she narrowly jumps out of the way of its teeth.

Then a cry of pain sounded in her ear, and a sharp heartbreaking cry of someone screaming, “CHARLES!”

Once more rage overtook the small bluenette and raced head on to Drakon, it’s jaws wide open to attack or possibly just eat the demigod. With a roar, Marinette launched her shield at its face. When the Drakon turned its head to bat it away, Marinette jumped forward as high as she could and rammed her sword into the Drakon’s eyes.

The drakon reared back, letting out a terrifying shriek, sword still in its eyes as Marinette dangled from it; refusing to let go. With one hand free, Marinette pulled out her and stabbed it into the Drakon’s other eye. There was another howl of from the monster. It swung back and

forth, but Marinette kept stabbing at its eyes. Its acid burning her arms and legs and whatever it managed to hit.

Then, Marinette didn’t know what happened, but suddenly she was falling. Or rather the Drakon was crashing. It landed in a giant heap that caused the ground to shake. It withered on the ground, back and forth. Marinette who still clung to her sword, stood up on shaky legs, pulled

out her sword and then stabbed it again and then again as deep as it could go. Until the beast stop shaking until its last breath left its body.

Marinette quickly pulled her sword free and turned to help her fellow demi-god Charles, only to find other campers had beat her to it. With a happy, exhausted smile, Marinette fell to her knees. The pain finally hitting her as the adrenaline wore off. Her sword slipped from her hand. She barely noticed most of the campers who turned up to help were staring at her with amazement in

their eyes. A few, who Marinette recognized as sons and daughter of Apollo, rushed towards with medical supplies.

There was a loud, some fire in the corner of her eyes, murmurs from the crowd. There was a fiery symbol above her head, already a fading. Then Chiron (When had he arrived, Marinette wondered. She didn’t notice him a few seconds ago) stepped forward.

“It is determined,” The centaur announced. “Hail, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, daughter of War.” That was when everything went dark for Marinette as she slipped into unconsciousness.

The next few days after that were pretty much a wash. Marinette was mostly in and out of sleep as the worst of her injuries were healed. Only when she got out of the healer’s cabin and headed towards her bunk in the Hermes’ cabin did she finally recall that she had been claimed.

Mostly because Luke had given her an easy smile, and said, “Clarisse and her goons got your stuff already, oh fearsome Drakon slayer.” Then he pointed down another path. “Your cabin’s that way with the rest of Big Red’s kids.”

And that was that. Luke gave her a pitying look and wondered how the girl most people thought was made of sugar cookies and sunshine ended up in the cabin known for the meanest kids.

Dressed in a baby blue camp shirt, her hair still in her signature pigtails, Marinette held her held high as she walked to her new home. The young girl had never… appreciated the aesthetics of Cabin 5 whenever she had to walk by it. The kids there weren’t the friendliest, some either ignored her or picked on her so she did her best to avoid it.

Cabin 5, Ares cabin, Marinette’s cabin was painted with an angry red color. The roof was covered barbed wire, and there was a stuffed boar's head centered above the doorway. It always used to seem to stare at anyone who walked by. The grass in front of the cabin was rich and green but Marinette made sure to stay on the path as she recalled Annabeth warning her about the landmines that were buried in front of cabin 5. Only Ares kids knew where they hid.

Rock music blared loudly from the cabin; high enough to hurt someone’s ears.

Marinette braced herself as she headed up the stone steps of the cabin. With one last look around, she pushed opened the door and walked inside.

The sound of fighting and arguing and roars of the laughter hit on in the face. Two guys were wrestling in the middle of the room was which look liked a boxing ring. A few kids were cheering them on. Some kids, her siblings, were dancing in a makeshift mosh pit to the music. There were rock posters covering the wall. A giant TV that seemed to be playing whatever violent sport was on and kids were screaming at it. Weapons were thrown about everywhere. The only bright side was, it looked like Cabin 5 had its own kitchen. Everything was chaos.

Clarisse, she spotted, was arm-wrestling a boy twice her size; Sherman Yang, Marinette remembered, the mean girl second in command. While his twin brother Mark watched, declaring he had winners.

This is it, Marinette thought, this is my life now.

She took a deep breath and went over to the head of the Cabin; Clarisse.

“Hey! I got next!” Mark quickly said again.

“Good for you,” Marinette sniped at him

Suddenly Clarisse slammed Sherman’s hand down and stood up victorious, “Yes, sucker! Who wants some?”

Mark moved to speak but Marinette interrupted him, “Before your next… showdown? Where can I find my room, please?”

“Can it, squirt! I’m on a roll,” Clarisse said with a quick glance at her. Then the bigger girl stopped and did a double-take. “Well, well, well; if it is in Drakon-slayer herself.” She announced or rather yelled loudly. Causing heads to turn and the music to die down. “If I hadn’t seen the take-down myself, I’d never guessed that a dainty little thing like yourself would belong here.” She said the word dainty like it was dirty.

Marinette lifted an eyebrow, “I get by. Larger opponents have a habit of overestimating their own abilities against us dainty little things. They tend to go down fast.”

Clarisse just snorted, “We need to work on your trash talk.” She slapped Marinette on the back. “It’ll be good to have another girl around. To busy many boys stinking up the place.”

That was when Marinette noticed that in the entire room, including herself, there were only five, maybe six girls, all various ages and races, in comparison to upwards of twenty guys. But it was clear that they were all related. They all had the same smug, mean expressions; the same authentic large builds, most even favored the goldish red-eye color that sort of looked like flames.

“Am I the shortest one here?” Marinette shouted angrily. “What the hell! No!”

Sherman smirked, “Not the shortest. Billie just turned seven. And you’re like a foot taller than him… For now.”

Marinette glared and took a step forward. Only to be pulled back by Clarisse, “Beat him up later, I’ll show you your room.”

Turned out that there was another good thing about living in the Ares cabin. Since there were so few girls, she got her own room. It was a nicely sized, just a bit bigger than her room in Paris. The walls were black and grey. There was a surprisingly comfy queen-sized bed. But other than that there was nothing. Most of her stuff was already there waiting for her. Her things were a mix of pink, purples, and frills that stood out against the backdrop.

“We don’t usually get girly-girls in our cabin,” Clarisse shrugged. “A week ago, I’d have said you wouldn’t have last a day. Then you single-handedly took down a drakon; now I’m wondering if I should be worried about my spot as head of the cabin.”

Marinette laughed, “No interest in running this cabin; too many boys.”

“You’ll get used to having brothers,” Clarisse leaned against the door. “Or at least to the smells. Sisters are easier. We stick together. We’re already thought of as weaker, and more delicate by the morons. Show ‘em who’s boss every chance you get.”

Marinette nodded.

“Just keep the fighting in the house,” Clarisse warned. “Outside this cabin; we’re a unit. Us versus everyone else. And we play to win.”

Living in Cabin 5 wasn’t as bad as Marinette thought. She had to quickly make some ‘touch this and I’ll annihilate you and dance your corpse’ rules; most of which was to keep her brothers out of her room. An unspoken rule was quickly established that if Marinette was wearing something really pretty; don’t with her mess with her; she played dirty. Ryan and Hunter, two of her more troublesome brothers, quickly learned when after fighting each in a mud pit decided to ruin Marinette’s new designed sunflower dress by throwing a few mud pies at her. The fury in the small girl’s eyes sent shivers through the rest of the cabin. The next day Ryan and Hunter woke up to their skin bright pink and glittering covering their rooms.

Her brother Troy, a blond with red eyes, learned next. Marinette's new silk top ended up having to be thrown away. Troy woke up glued to the ceiling with hair dyed purple and his eyebrows gone.

Then there was Chase and a cashmere sweater. Chase ended up tied in a room playing Disney princess movies on reruns for hours and hours. He didn’t speak for a week after.

Kendall and Marinette’s new purse that somehow ended up on the roof of the Apollo cabin covered in mud and who knows what else. All of the stuff she had in it was missing and had to be located. He woke up in a giant seaweed wrap strapped to a spinning board. Marinette and three of his other sisters had knives in their hands. One of his sister, Megan, started to spin the board as Marinette threw the first knife, it landed next to his head.

The last one was Blaise, the strongest, toughest, meanest of all Ares’ sons. He thought it was a good idea to throw Marinette in the lake, while she was wearing her newest outfit designed. She had spent weeks working on it. He laughed as she stared daggers at him, soaking wet. Blaise didn’t show up at the cabin that night.

When he finally did, it was the next morning. He was covered in dirt, and he pointed an accusing finger at Marinette, “She buried me alive!”

That was when Clarisse decided it was time to sit Marinette down, “That’s not we fight.”

Marinette crossed her arms, “You’re right. That’s how I go to war.” She huffed. “You told me to show them who’s boss.”

“Yeah; not traumatize them!”

“I feel like you’re splitting hairs.”

Most of her siblings left her alone after that.

Marinette had also claimed dominion over the rarely used kitchen. She baked lots of treats that seemed to get even more of her rowdier brothers to let her be.

On the downside, she did find herself against Annabeth in capture the flag again and again. The two girls, still best friends, slowly found themselves enjoying the rivalry.

Marinette met her father a few months later.

During the Christmas break, Marinette found herself visiting the camp while her parents went to China to visit a sick friend of her mother’s. She had known for weeks that she’d be spending her break there and had created the perfect dress for the winter solstice. It was a mix of silvers and golds that went just below her knees and had a lace bodice. It was her first time getting to go Olympus during the winter solstice. She only ever went to the summer one since she only spent her summers at camp.

She stood happily in her dress as she waited for Ares cabin to depart to meet the rest of the campers to leave to go to the city.

“Let’s be real here,” Marinette smiled sweetly to her brothers who eyed her wearily. “Ruin my dress and I’ll kill you all. As far as I’m concerned you’re all to blame, the one who does the crime will just get it the worst. Clear? Good.”

Clarisse rolled her eyes. Trust her tough as nails brother to be scared to death of their smallest sister.

Olympus was beautiful. It was a mix of white and with grand pillars and statues everywhere. All the campers had gotten mixed up as most as found their friends on the way there. Marinette stood with Annabeth and Will, from the Apollo cabin.

The gods were quick to greet their kids, at least the ones that had been claimed. The ones who hadn’t been greet cheerfully by a bubbly Hermes, like they were his own. The kids who knew their godly parents went to go meet them. For the first time, Marinette looked around eagerly for her own godly parent for the first time.

She found her siblings and glided through the crowd, passed Athena, where she lost Annabeth, passed Apollo, where she lost will, and nearly passed Aphrodite when a hand reached out and grabbed hers.

Marinette looked up at the attached hand and found Aphrodite looking at her with a smile on her face.

“I believe you are one of mine, darling,” The goddess said. “And don’t you look absolutely beautiful tonight.”

The bluenette blushed, “Actually, my lady, I belong in another cabin.”

“Oh?” Aphrodite eyed the girl as she was confused. “Who’s cabin is that?” All the beautiful campers were hers.

“Mine!” A voice growled. Ares dressed in all black leather and wore black sunglasses, seemed to glare through them. “Let my girl go, babe! We’ll talk later.”

The goddess of love eyed the beautiful Asian girl and the gruff warrior she knew and her mind just couldn’t compute. “She’s yours? Are you sure?” She asked but let the girl of the little girl’s hand.

Ares snorted. “She killed a Drakon and she’s only eleven. She’s mine.”

Marinette smiled softly at the goddess before rushing over to her brothers and sisters; listening gladly as Ares relayed some of his most recent battle stories. Unaware of the rather ridiculous image is made. A pretty little girl dressed in a silver and gold Christmas dress, surrounded by a leather-wearing, mean-faced, giant warrior that no question if someone told them they were a biker gang.

Then it was Ares turned to listen as one by one his kids relayed the latest up and goings at camp; mostly their victories. A lot had stories about the pranks they pulled. When asked who the toughest and scariest person in their cabin was; there was the usual Clarisse, Sherman, Ryan, and Blaise but Ares was surprised to hear Marinette’s name drop a few times from his sons’ mouths.

“Powderpuff,” Ares growled towards his daughter who blinked wide innocent eyes at him. “I hear you’re tough. How do you fight dressed like all of that!” He waved at her outfit.

Marinette crossed her arms and glared at her dad, “I don’t how. About as easy as you do dressed as Danny from Grease.”

Silence.

Ares and Marinette glared at each other; each willingly the other to break.

“Shit,” Clarisse whispered a curse.

Sherman leaned toward his twin Mark, “Who are we betting on?”

Mark shrugged, “I don’t know. Dad’s a god. But Marinette’s mean. Could go either way.”

Ares chuckled and walked over to tower over his youngest daughter, “I ain’t your brothers. I don’t scare easily; no fear in my eyes.” He ruffled her hair. “And I don’t like frills.” Ares pulls a bit at lacy ribbons attached to his daughter’s sleeve. Unfortunately, no matter how well designed, with his strength the material ripped. Loud enough for everyone to hear.

There gasps from her siblings.

Marinette’s eyes slowly went from her sibling to her father.

“Can you kill a god?” Blaise asked Clarisse.

Kendall shrugged, “Marinette’s about to find out.”

A cold smirk appeared on Marinette’s face, “Fear! Why do people say that? In movies, when up against the bad guy? Say there not afraid to die? As if the matters. What does you being afraid have to do with anything?”

Ares eyes his daughter curiously. He didn’t get the reaction he knew he’d have gotten if he did that to any of his other kids. For now, he let the matter drop as he decided to relay another of his war stories. Unaware of the blue eyes that would disappear from the room.

“Hey!” Ares shouted, drawing everyone’s attention. “Where’s my bike! Someone took my bike.”

Clarisse looked around, ready to raise hell with her father and her siblings when she noticed, someone was missing. She took her a second to realize what happened. “Shit,” She whispered.

“What?” Sherman asked.

“Marinette’s missing,” Clarisse hissed.

“So?” The Asian boy shrugged, and then the words hit him. “…No. She wouldn’t.”

Blaise, who overheard their conversation, shook his head, “She would. Marinette really liked that dress.”

“Who’d do what?” Ares growled. “You know who took my bike?”

Clarisse sighed, hopefully, her dad didn’t kill her youngest sister, “I’ll give ya a hint; she really likes frills and you really pissed her off tonight.”

Ares took off his glasses, and pits of fire looked out at his children, his eyes narrowed. “Marinette stole my bike?”

Kendall nodded, “If you get to her quick enough; you might be able to stop her from painting it pink.”

“…She wouldn’t,” The god of war said darkly. There were multiple snorts from his children.

Clarisse pinched her nose, “Does anyone know how long she’s been gone. Anything more than an hour, and that bike’s history. There will be care bears from threatening.”

No one answered.

Ares growled and with a pop, he was gone.

He showed back up a couple of hours later; still no bike and look positively furious. The other gods, particularly Hephaestus, looked beyond amused. Word had spread that the Princess of Ares’ cabin, Ares’ own daughter, had stolen his bike and ran off. All because of a ripped ribbon on her dress.

Aphrodite nodded approvingly; it was a rather stunning dress, she’d of raised Tartarus herself over it.

When the campers returned to camp, the Ares’ cabin members came to find Marinette waiting on the bike in the middle of the boxing ring.

“Who wants to go for a ride?”

Everyone did. They all cheered as one by one, or two by two, they rode the bike around camp.

The next morning at breakfast, Marinette was eating with Annabeth with the door flew opened and Ares stomped in. He glared at his daughter, “BIKE. NOW!”

Marinette placed down her toast, “I want a new dress first.” She glared at her dad.

“This isn’t a negotiation,” He towered over her.

Marinette blinked, not a drop of fear in her, “It’s not. Until I get a replacement dress for the one you ruined. You don’t get your bike. And you’ll never find it without me.”

“Marinette!” Ares roared.

“DAD!” Marinette yelled back.

The campers could only watch as the strangest scene to ever hit Camp half-blood played out in front of them.

“I! You! GRR!” Ares howled before stumped away.

It took a week and three more public confrontations for Ares to finally give in and ask Aphrodite to get his daughter a dress.

“Here, princess!” he shoved it at her.

Marinette nodded, left the lunch hall, and returned with the bike; same as it ever was, apart from the red bow ribbons attached to it.

Ares scoffed at the sighted, nodded at his daughter and was gone. He’d return two days later to hang out with his kids in their cabin. His bike parked out in front; a single red ribbon still tied a handlebar.

From then on the campers knew one thing…

Never mess with the Princess of War.

Almost two years later, after thirteen-year-old Marinette would receive a pair of earrings and new destiny, all of Paris would learn the same lesson.

#ml fic #ml salt #marinette dupen chang #Marinette deserves better #Percy Jackon and the Olympians #ares #clarisse la rue

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