1.

Keith shot up in his bed and toppled onto the floor.

He sat up and groaned.

His room door was thrown open, and his mother poked her head inside. "Keith, are you alright?"

"Fine, mum." he pulled on some socks and followed her into the kitchen.

His older sister was in the kitchen fixing up a plate. She spotted him and beamed. "Hey, Keith. How are you? Do you feel any older?"

Keith groaned. "I'm fifteen, Trinity." he plopped down in a chair at the table.

"You're old is what you are. You just don't want to admit it." Trinity slid the plate toward him.

"Stop teasing your brother. You know he hates that." Their mother said, brewing a coffee.

Trinity sighed. "Alright, mum."

When their mother disappeared into her bedroom, Trinity plops down across from Keith.

"So, what do you plan to do today? You've got the whole day off."

Keith shrugged and started moving the eggs around on his plate. "Dunno. I guess I can go on a walk in the forest."

Trinity sat back in her chair. "Boring. Don't you have friends to hang out with or something?"

"Yep, which is why I'm always alone. I have the best of friends!"

"What's wrong?" Trinity asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"I had a strange dream last night." Keith looked up and saw Trinity nod encouragingly.

"It's hard to describe. Promise you won't laugh?"

Trinity smirked. "Why would I do that?"

"Ok. Well, in this dream, I was younger. And I was being held by a woman who was cowering in the corner from something." Keith peered up at Trinity, who was smirking. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I'm not. Continue."

"Well, I saw this large man standing over us, fighting something. I can't remember what it was, but I started crying. Then there was a bright light.."

"And?"

Keith blinked. "And...that's all I remember."

Trinity nodded and got to her feet. "Well, if you're going on that walk, you'd better go. I think there's going to be a storm today."

Keith scarfed down the rest of his food and placed his dish in the sink. He raced back to his room, pulled a pair of boots from under his bed, and pulled them on.

When he emerged from his room, Trinity was in the kitchen, humming as she did the dishes.

"I'll be back in a few. Tell mum-"

"Yeah, alright." Trinity interrupted. "Have fun!"

Keith opened the front door and stepped out into the cool air.

As a little kid, he'd love to explore and meet animals. He came to relish the peace of nature.

As Kieth was walking through the forest, a little bear cub popped up from a bush. It rolled into his path, covered with leaves and mud.

"Hey there. What are you doing out here?"

The cub rolled on its belly and looked up at him with big brown eyes.

"Oh, are you lost?"

The cub got to its feet and took a nervous step toward him, his nose twitching. Keith crouched down and reached a hand out to scratch its head.

"You'd better go before your mom finds you out here. Come on I'll-"

The cub opened its jaws and snatched the pendant from Keith's neck. "Hey!" he sputtered. "That's mine!"

Keith jumped to his feet and raced after the bear cub. It wasn't hard to follow, given all the noise it was making trying to run away.

Suddenly, Keith noticed dark storm clouds above the forest, and he cursed.

"Get back here, you thief!"

Rain began falling from the sky, and Keith took cover underneath a tree to wait the storm out. Then it started pouring buckets, and Keith tried to see where the bear had gone, but couldn't see through the rain.

That pendant had been a gift from his father on his third birthday. It meant a lot to him.

A tremendous clap of thunder strikes near the tree, and Keith yelped, covering his ears. He dived out of the way, narrowly missing being directly hit, but he felt a surge of electricity shoot up through his feet.

The pain in his feet was overbearing, and he fell to his knees.

A bright light surrounded Keith, and he looked up to see a giant man standing in front of him. His hair is thick and grey, as is his beard and his bare arms were muscular.

His face was stern when he said, "My name is Zeus, and I am the father of the gods."

His first thought was to run away screaming with his arms in the air, but he just stayed there and gaped at the man.

"As I said before, my name is Zeus. A great war is coming, and you have an important part to play. The time has come for you to fulfill your destiny."

Keith opened his mouth to laugh, but a gust of wind lifted him from the ground, and suddenly they were standing in the middle of Olympus.

Surrounding them are other gods and goddesses that seemed to have waited for them.

"Is that him?" asked a woman with a long brown dress, pale skin, and long red hair.

A muscular man with a spear strapped to his back snorted. "He looks like a weakling, Zeus. Are you sure he's yours?"

No longer in shock, Keith glowered at the man. "I'm not a doormat." he turned his look to Zeus. "What am I doing here? I'm not a god."

"That you are not, Keith. But I've come to bring you home. I am your father, ah, here come the children."

A large group of kids exit from a building and run towards the group of gods and goddesses.

A tall, muscular kid with messy red hair ran toward Keith and squeezed him in a tight hug. "Great skies! You've got big, Keith!"

Keith pushed him away. "Can someone please tell me what's going on? Why am I here?"

"You didn't tell him, father?"

Father?!

Zeus's face had become expressionless and hard to read. Keith glanced at the boy. "Tell me what?"

"Well, Zeus is our dad, and uh, I'm Felix, your brother." Felix shoved his hands in his pockets. "Do you want to hear the long story or the shortened version?"

Keith folded his arms. "I have time for the long version."

"When you were a baby, all kinds of creatures attacked us. Minotaurs, harpies, you name it. I went back to my parent's room and our mother was holding you in her arms while she crouched in a corner. Our father was fighting a minotaur in the middle of the room, and then.." Felix glanced at Zeus, who nodded his head. "You woke up and started crying. You created this tremendous storm and zapped the minotaur with lightning, turning it into a pile of ashes."

Keith's eyes widened, and he blinked. "So it wasn't a dream, then?" he whispered. "It was real?"

Felix nodded.

Zeus put a hand on Keith's shoulder and the god's pars, revealing the most beautiful woman Keith had ever seen.

She had flawless skin, blue eyes, and long wavy brown hair. She was wearing a long white dress and golden sandals.

"This is your mother, Hera," Zeus said.

The woman reached them, crouched in front of Keith, and gave him and hug. When she pulled away, she said, "I'm sure that Zeus has told you about the upcoming war. If you agree to fight on the side of the gods, your memory will live forever, but..."

Keith blinked. "But what?"

Hera looked at him with pity in her eyes when she said, "You can never return to the mortal realm again."