God's Decree

"I will not hear it Artemis."

Zeus was pissed. He had long since abandoned the comfort of his throne and was pacing the throne room of Olympus, his arms flailing in incomprehensible fury. His most prized daughter, a daughter who swore beneath his throne her maidenhood had given birth to a child without so much of an 'Oh daddy good news I'm pregnant!' She couldn't look him in the eye, she had neglected to tell him but she was fearful of what he would do, he has been known to be ruthless when it comes to gods baring children he would sooner see as a threat then family.

"Father it is too late, the child is born and I love him with all my heart. You cannot take him from me, I am his mother." Artemis pleaded.

"You are a maiden, you oath prohibits you from baring a child, you have broken your promise you swore on the river Styx."

"No part of my oath swore I would be childless, just that I cannot be with a male until…"

"And that's another thing!" He roared interrupting her. "It's a miracle this child is even a demigod, for all we know this Spirit of the hunt you claimed fathered the child didn't make him a monster, or worse." The King of the Gods collapsed finally on his throne, scratching his forehead slowly.

"Father." Artemis pleaded with teary eyes as she kneeled at Zeus' feet. "Please father, I love him. I love him more than I thought I could ever love a man. He is my blood, which also makes him yours. I beg of you, he is no threat as a child." she sobbed. Zeus looked at his child beg for him to spare her forbidden child and sighed in defeat.

"Where is the child now?"

"My Hunters have him in their care."

Zeus relaxed on his throne, his eyes shutting closed gently as he rubbed his forehead, deep in thought. He sighed deeply, then beckoned her to rise. As she did he summoned his lightning bolt like he would when declaring a decree. "Very well then. As much as it pains me, and believe me it pains me, to know a maiden daughter of mine has borne a child of her blood, it is also my grandchild and I have a certain amount of mercy towards my grandchildren. At least those that can prove useful."

He continued. "The child can live. But that does not mean he shall be any different to any other half-god. You shall migrate him to the mortal world. He shall know nothing of his potential, whatever it may be, until the time when our enemies notice him."

Artemis hugged her father, which happened so rarely Zeus was taken by surprise. "Thank you father."

He pushed his Daughter away. "But the same restrictions shall be placed on you. You shall not be involved in his life unless the Fates decide otherwise. Do you swear on the river Styx to agree..?"

Artemis paused to this. The thought of leaving her only child swirled in her mind, "Father I-"

Zeus rose from his throne, towering over the young Goddess as he spoke.

"Do you swear?"

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Jake awoke, panting his eyes darting around the room on instinct. Every night, the same dream. And every time he woke up from the dream he was out of breath like he had run mile and then some.

He wasn't ever sure why. In the dream he was watching two people argue over a baby. He wasn't even sure who they were, he didn't recognise either, and he would certainly remember two people wearing togas and one holding a lightning bolt. He racked his head. It was a dream; probably some TV show he watched years ago that stuck to his subconscious, nothing to worry about.

He got out of bed and changed into his normal Saturday work clothes. His Father, or adopted father, always told him "Working on a Saturday makes you work an appetite for Sunday." Pa always thought with his stomach. Jake had worked on his adopted fathers farm since he could walk, feeding the sheep and the pigs while he was still in diapers. He always had a knack for animal care, it was tilling the fields or the more heavy lifting that he didn't enjoy. He could pull his own weight, but that didn't mean he liked it.

It was the same story in school. Athletic side, he could run a marathon easy. Hurdles, easy as pie. But football and strength sports weren't his thing. And academics was worse. Atop his already hindering dyslexia and ADHD, he found he could never side still in class. If he wanted to concentrate on something he could, he was patient when he wanted to be, but he hated school. Not just because of the learning but the people.

The thing was he wasn't unpopular; on the contrary, people loved him. He was nice to everyone sure, and even some girls found him 'dreamy' and 'strong', and the adjectives would get worse from there. He wasn't sure why he was, the only reason he was muscular was because he worked on the farm when he wasn't at school, as for dreamy, with his auburn hair and unusual grey almost silver eyes, he figured it was something in the water here. But he hated the attention. He didn't like all eyes on him. He just wanted to slide through school so he could work full time on the farm to help his dad.

He was pouring himself some cereal when his dad walked in. He was in his late sixties but had obviously kept himself fit and healthy. He tried his best not to look like a typical farmer, and when he wasn't doing work on the homestead he wore suits and other 'Posh getups' as he called it, but today he wore denim overalls and a striped red shirt underneath.

"Morning JJ." He said. Henry Mobley's accent was Texan, which was his hometown before he moved here to North Dakota. He had been a solider, but had long since tried to forget his days in the army, and Jake had been smart enough not to ask why. "Pass up some jam would ya."

JJ took out some Quince jam as he was taking the milk out the refrigerator. "I don't know why you eat that stuff, taste like the bad side of a pig." JJ's voice took a little less of the Midwest accent then his friends because of his dad but it stood relatively unchanged by his upkeep.

"Who said the wrong side of a pig taste bad? It's were the best pork grinds come from." Henry said as he sat down at the kitchen table. "Listen son. I wanted to talk to you about a phone call I got from school about you." his tone changed into something serious. JJ gulped a mouthful of cheerios.

"What about me?" he swallowed.

Henry looked at JJ with sharp eye, until a smile finally broke his lips. "Your grades have improved over the last semester, you teacher is please with you as am I, Come here Red.' Henry grabbed JJ in a headlock and gave him an affectionate koneke. "Today you're excused from the fields. After you're done with the lambs you can have some free time."

Henry released JJ who smiled at him "Sure you don't need any help?"

"I may be old but that don't mean a few crops can make me tired. Now get it done early so you can do whatever you do nowadays."

JJ practically inhaled the rest of his breakfast and was out the door before Henry had finished spreading his jam on his toast.

Jake walked into the barn with a bag a feed for the baby sheep. He approached the metal gate that separated him and the flock and as he did he noticed one sheep lying down, a calf bleating at her. He opened the gate quickly and bent down over the sheep he could tell right away it was sick. He wasn't sure how he could just tell something wasn't right. He split open the bag of feed and offered some to the calf's mother, but it turned its head away.

JJ lowered his head. He felt sad, but not just sad that the sheep was sick, he felt.., He couldn't put his finger on it. He checked the sheep's limbs, looking for something that might show what was wrong. He noticed a cut along the back leg of the ewe, blood trickling from it lightly. He could tell it had been there a while. He remembered a neighbour had let his father use one of his field when theirs had been flooded by a storm. Maybe it had cut it on metal that had somehow got lose from the fence?

JJ went over to a first aid kit they had on hand, but he guessed nothing inside it was good enough to help it completely, but he thought it was worth a try. He walked back to the sheep, the lamb still crying irrepressibly. He got out a bundle of bandages and tried to look for sterilizer, but none was inside the kit. He rummaged for it to no avail and eventually he sat back in defeat.

That's when he noticed a small flower next to him. He looked at it perplexed. He could have sworn it hadn't been there a moment before. The flower had silvery petal that reflected the light that came through the barns windows, it stem was short and almost leafless except on which rested at its base. JJ looked at the plant, stunned at its sudden appearance. As he looked at it his brain seemed to spin, not violently or uncomfortable, but like it was rifling his thoughts for something, he couldn't explain it. Then, like a light bulb in his head, a name popped up.

Asphodelian. He knew this plant for some reason. He knew every detail of the plant, its lifetime, environment, and its origins. Everything. He knew this plant can but used as a sterilizer to.

'Convenient' JJ thought.

He picked the plant, and hesitated before placing it into his mouth and chewing it. He wasn't sure why he was doing it but he knew this was how he could make it useful. He then spat out the plant into the bandage and began wrapping it around the sheep's leg. He tied the bandage off and stepped back, half to see the sheep's reactions and half in shock as to what he just did out of nowhere.

The sheep continued to lay for a second, then it looked at JJ. Its eyes no longer blank but almost in… Thanks? The sheep then stood on its front legs, then its normal back leg, then tested its bad one. It didn't cry out in pain, and soon it stood on all fours, bleating at it calf and then walked off as if it wasn't even hurt.

JJ was stunned. He just healed an injured sheep that looked like it could never walk again. He shook it off. Weirder things had happened to him. He finished his job, glancing at the sheep he had helped, its teeth biting at the newly applied bandage.

"Hey sto- huh?".

It chewed threw its bandage but before JJ could call at it to stop it chewed through the wrap and it fell to the floor. Its leg had healed completely, not even a scar or even a drop of blood was left on its leg. JJ was too stunned and shocked to notice he had spilled half the feed onto the floor. He didn't care. He left quickly, trying to forget what just happened, not unless he was in his thinking place.

He ran behind the barn, toward the old water tower, that had since become redundant. He climb the rusted but still strong ladder to the top of the metal cone and sat over the ledge, staring at the sight of the sun still rising over the tree that marked the end of the homestead.

It wasn't the same as it would be at night. The moon was far more calming to him, its light casting calming silver light across his makeshift seat. He always came here when in need to think, or when strange stuff like that happened, and they happened more than you would think.

Like the time when climbed a 50ft tree without even realizing what he was climbing. He got down easy, which scared him just as much as how he got up there. Or the time that strange horse talked to him, even though his dad told him that was a dream it felt too vivid, too real.

He picked out a stone from a box he had bought up with in one day and threw a few into the pond that was in front of the barn. He thought over what happened. Strange things like that were common for him, he was a weird magnet. He sighed and gazed up at the sun. That's when he noticed the silhouette.

At first it was small, just peeking out from the top of the trees in the distance. JJ squinted to see it but it was there. At first the thought it was a bird of some sort. Then as it got closer he could have sworn it had wings but its shape didn't look quite bird like.

He leant forward almost a little too much. He wobbled and lost his balance. He tried to grab onto the metal roof but it gave no purchase. He feel, his arms failing trying to catch anything to stop his fall but it was too late. He hit the ground hard, white flashes blocking his sight for a second then returned to him. He looked up to see he shape above him. And he almost thought he hit the ground harder then he thought, because he thought he saw the head and wings of a chicken with the body of a horse. Then as it got closer he realised its wings where beating wind into his face.

This wasn't a hallucination.

The Chicken-Horse stopped his beating wings and almost crushed JJ if he hadn't rolled away at the last minute if he hadn't snapped out of his daze. He rolled up, staring is disbelief at the impossible creature. It really did have the head of a rooster, plume and wattle and the rest of the white feathers on its head. From the neck the white feathers turned to brown fur. Its front legs were strong like a stallion, but its rears were a chickens again. Its tail consisted on horse hair that waved across a plumage of feathers. To say the last, it was just about the strangest thing Jake had ever seen.

Until it started breathing fire.