9

"Hi! I'm trying to get to the underworld, so one ticket please!" Charon, a man, ghost, ferryman, person, in an incredibly fancy suit, stared down at me, as I just smiled up at him.

"No" I pouted.

"Why not?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you dead?" I shook my head.

"No, that implies I'm enough of a bitch to die. If you would like, I could show you my list, it's listed three times about how I won't die to prove how I won't be doing that"

"That... won't be necessary" I nodded.

"That's good, it's a mental list, so I couldn't have shown you" He look in a long breath, which I don't think he even needed, and said calmly.

"Go away" I said calmly back.

"No" His eyebrow twitched.

"Yes" I twitched mine to make him feel more comfortable.

"...No" Didn't work, doing the opposite of him now.

"Yes!" He gritted his teeth, I smiled.

"No"

"No"

"Yes" I smiled but bigger.

"Thanks for agreeing with me" He froze.

"Wait what?" My smile continued to grow, he was beginning to look uncomfortable, good, I was winning.

"You said yes" He took a short moment, trying to get his thoughts in order, before trying to do something as adorable as trying to use logic.

"But you said no first?" I reached up and gave the sad and in denial man a pat on the shoulder.

"And yet you weren't asking a question, meaning I just said a random word"

"I'm still not taking you" Wait what? That's not fair! I won that! I pouted as I said with annoyance.

"But you agreed!"

"Doesn't mean I have to do anything"

"Well, yeah, but Hades said I could! And this is the only entrance to the Underworld that I know about!" I think Hades was lowkey hoping I just wouldn't know how to get to his domain. Another adorable thing that one would think logic would apply to.

"I find that very hard to believe" I just pouted again, wondering just how to prove it without a rainbow on hand... Hmm...

Ooh! I have an idea! I don't need to confirm with Hades, I just need to threaten him!

"If you don't then I'll stab you!" He didn't look amused. I just kept smiling.

"Excuse me?" I nodded, as I pulled out my Bone Steel blade.

"Yep, I like stabbing things and you look very stabbable!" Charon quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm a powerful Spirit, that knife wouldn't even hurt me" I nodded, empathically.

"Yeah, you probably wouldn't feel it, or well, it wouldn't be deadly, since you're dead already, but that nice looking suit probably wouldn't be as lucky" He suddenly looked infinitely more concerned.

"You wouldn't dare" I leaned up against the counter, he backed up, as I put on my 'crazy eyes' as I grinned up at him.

"I think I've mentioned I ain't no bitch! So try me bitch!"

Charon, in the end, did not have a good time, but I did! His boat was really cool too!

[Accomplishment: The Underworld!: Completed!

You've reached the end of the line, but you aren't dead, you've managed to gain passage to the Underworld, and you are even considered a guest, or as much of a guest as one can be in any realm of the dead.

+6,000 Exp!]

That's also pretty cool. The Underworld was also surprisingly well lit, I got a surprisingly good view of the fields of punishment as we entered, and if I had a working concept of a moral compass, I probably would have found the sight disturbing, as it stood, it was just pretty creature to see all the ways people were getting punished.

Anyways, I got left off about as fast as Charon could manage, before he just headed on back, so now I'm just... stranded in the Underworld... Yay...

Hmm, being honest here, hadn't really thought about how I would get back, I can just work on that part later, it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal.

It's not like I'm in Hell or anything, though considering that's a real place... Thoughts for later.

Making my way around, I just looked about for a while, not really interested in interacting with any of the ghosts, they kind of hurt my eyes a bit. Eyes of Death I think has more to it than just what the Game said it does, considering Ghosts were... colorful, like, each one looked a bit different, and based on where they were located, I think I could see how evil they were or something? I mean, the red ones were being punished for the most part. The green ones were in the good section, and yellow were just kind of there.

There was more colors, but that's the general idea.

Basically I had a stoplight in my eyes for spooky ghost stuff. I wonder what else these things can do that the game just isn't tell me, I mean, there is still stuff from Son of Nike that I'm sure isn't shown to me, like, hidden modifiers and stuff, so...? Other thoughts for later.

Walking around, past the dead, I thought about just heading to the palace, just talk to hades, but he probably wouldn't like that, so instead I headed to the closest and biggest of the rivers in the Underworld, and the whole reason I was here in the first place, the River Styx.

My Grandma... who is kind of a river... I really hope this works, otherwise this is going to be really awkward.

Walking to the shoreline, I just sat down and hummed to myself as I looked around for a while, at the sight of the water in front of me. It looked normal... but it also looked wrong, and... sad. It was water, but water covered in filthy, honestly disgusting, with so much grime, dirt, pollution, debris of just about anything you could imagine, and just... so much was just in the water, floating on by.

It was a cesspool of human misery.

I didn't like it.

Standing up, I had moved to leave before I had thought about what I was doing, heading back into the fields of punishment, looking for a few things, and before long I had found them, snatching up a net from the area where people were drowning in pool water, along with a few sticks, and a number of other things, before I turned and headed on back.

Then I attached the net to the poles, and used it as one of those pool cleaning sticks, as I sat on the bed of the river, and just started to fish out the gross stuff I could get. It was hard, but I managed to at least do something. I had no idea just what I was doing to be honest, just... It felt wrong to leave something like this here, this was a Deity's domain, more than that, it was one of my family's domain, contaminated and ruined by human nature.

It made me feel sick. In a way I hadn't ever experienced before, well, that's a lie, it was similar to that feeling that I got when I knew I was going to lose, but I had to deal with it anyways, and still try. But somehow it was worse, a feeling I didn't think was possible.

A river full of the broken oaths from humanity, manifested here to show it. Broken dreams laid bare and floating down into where this river goes, Tartarus probably. No wonder Styx has the Domain of Hatred, the hate of a broken word to the Oath Goddess is probably overwhelming...

Anyway, I just chilled, I wasn't in that much of a hurry, I had enough food to last me a few days and it wasn't Underworld food so it wouldn't trap me here either, so I just kept at it.

Plus, I just had this feeling... I don't know, something just told me that this was the right choice in the long run, this was the right path.

Yet another things my system should show me, but didn't instead being hidden in the background.

My way wasn't perfect, a bunch of stuff slipped by, I wasn't Percy, I couldn't just water bend my problems away, though that would be pretty cool.

I made a game out of it, assigning points to myself based on the size, and the importance of an item, like a broken law degree frame was better than a torn up running shoe. And then I made it a challenge against myself to get a certain amount of points within a certain amount of time, it was just enough to trigger my boosts, which made the whole thing easier.

Making me better at trash pick up, making me get points faster, making me make the challenge harder, and in the end making the whole thing a lot more efficient.

I collected a lot of rubbish on the shore, but after a while it just sort of broke up into shadows and went away. Since it wasn't really real stuff, just metaphysical items representing the broken promises of the people in the world.

Which was fine, I didn't really want any of it anyways, it was loser stuff, people who gave up and broke their word, otherwise known as the trash of the earth, and as such I could care less about their shitty things.

And no I wasn't at all bitter about it!

Humans all just seemed to be losers, which was pretty sad, yeah, sad, that's what it is! I'm sad for them!

Anyways, my feelings on the matter didn't really matter, I just kept at it for a few hours, it was tedious as it was almost fun, mostly from a competitive angle more than actually fun. It was also really fucking boring, my ADHD brain wasn't really made for this, but I managed all the same through a considerable amount of willpower.

I was honestly expecting it to take a lot longer, but in the end, just before the eight hour mark, which was still way to long in my opinion, it happened, I was just fishing up an item that was better left unsaid, but the questions is raised unending, when my System notified me of something.

[Notice: Status Effect [Oath of Truth] applied by Styx, has been negated by Perk [Gamer's Body]]

I tilted my head to the side, just an inched, before turning around, staring up at the woman who hadn't been there just a second ago, that was now standing behind me.

She was... really fucking hot, and that thought instantly grossed me the hell out, like, ugh, fuck that, nope! I banished all those thoughts in an instant. It wasn't hard, the second that this being was connected to grandma, all that burned quite nicely.

Her hair was pitch black, long and silken looking, it honestly reminded me of my own hair before I had cut it, her face was smooth and perfect in a way only a deity could, a flowing dress and perfect dark makeup perfecting every inch of her expression, and it did nothing to stop the utter overwhelming loathing that was filling her obsidian black eyes.

But then there was her aura, even dressed to perfect and all dolled up, she looked about as perfect as you could imagine, but wafting smoke was rolling off her, and to anyone else, it probably would have looked ethereal, to me... To me, to my Eyes of Death, I could see the weakness that the smoke gave her, like a toxic she was surrounded by, poisoned by and weakened from her own rivers' pollution.

It was horrific.

I managed a smile and said cheerfully as I could.

"Hi! I'm Nick!" She quirked an eyebrow, before saying.

"I am aware of who you are. You're the first too give offers to me in three thousand years" Oof, I frowned at that, I know some gods just really don't get any love, but still! That long, that's just mean.

"Well that's sad. I'm glad I'm here though. I've been meaning to talk to you for a while"

"I'm aware, it's why you made an oath to me when talking to Lord Hades, so that I would hear what you had to say and for me to expect your arrival. You are the daughter of my daughter, Nike" I frowned at that. She wasn't completely right in all counts expect one.

"Son" She just stared at me, before saying.

"As you wish, but what do you wish of me? Why are you here seeking an audience with me when I hear you are looking for power to deal with the titanomachy?" I just shrugged.

"You're my grandmother, and the other person in my family line that can give me their legacy without a lot of lying going on. I don't know your husband, and I really don't his parents, and your parents kind of scare me... And I know I can trust you more than any other god alive. You care about your word, and I know you never would go back on it" She nodded.

"I am the ruler of Oaths and promises, I refuse to bend or compromise, but you seem much more willing, if it was worth the effort, you would lie, cheat, and steal your way to power from the other's in your blood. Why should I grant you even as much as my blessing, much less my Legacy?" I just shrugged.

"Because I'm the only grandkid you have at the moment...?"

"You're not, you're not even the only child of Nike wandering around at the moment, the others just aren't old enough to start showing their potential" Holy shit, I just said that to see if it would work... I have siblings out there, like, multiple, that's pretty cool! Uh, wait, thoughts for later!

"Ok, fair, what about the fact that you are the first of anyone to offer your services to Zeus, promising to be on his side with your children, including my mother. When the Mad tit- no, that's someone else, I think, when the big bad wakes up, and war starts, will you do nothing to help, staying here as the guardian of this river, or will you give me your Legacy so I con continue to keep your word?"

"You play dirty, using my own unbreakable promises against me to get what you want" I just shrugged.

"I really do want to help, it's just I'm not an Olympians child, my power is limited, so I have to be able to take what I can, and use what I am given. I am hoping you are willing to give" She just sneered down at me.

"And why should I? I only promised for the first war against the titans, nothing of a second. And for all that lightning user king promised me eternal support for my being the first to pledge loyalty, what does he make me? The one who holds the loyal and unloyal of all the gods and mortals, sending me to bath in the weakness of humanity for thousands of years just so he and his gods can make a pledge on my name, knowing that I lack the power to enforce my will on him should he break it. He has made me nothing but a holder of meaningless words among the council of Olympians, and the bearer of humanities lack of conviction, so why should I continue to do anything of the sort to help him out?"

That... was a rant three thousand years in the making if I've ever heard one, and to be honest, she earned it, from the sounds of things, a lot of gods just get mistreated and given the wrong end of the stick.

It kind of sucks to be a minor god it seems like.

"You don't, in fact from the sounds of it, the Olympians can just suck sometimes, so I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to have anything to do with them, but answer me this. Even with how bad the gods can sometimes be, would you rather rage and revenge filled titans being your new rulers, or just deal with the status quo... No, not the status quo, a better one, where your river isn't filled to the brim with broken promises because no one cares to help. Because, I'm here, and I care" Styx's eyes turned and stared at the many items around us, on the shore, that I had fished out, which were breaking down to the darkness.

"You propose a deal instead of taking my Legacy for your own" I nodded., deals were a god's best friend, no one wanted to just give something away. But if you got something in return, something to lessen a burden you have been dealing with for thousands of years... Well, gods might be strong and power, and somewhat all knowing, but they are just as much so predictable, "Fine, in that case what do you propose then, Son of Nike?" I grinned.

"Simple, I don't really know what it'll do, but I'm pretty confident I can get a Sand Dollar from the God of the Seas, and I will bring it here, and use it on your river, to clean it of all it's pollution, and if I do succeed in this quest, I want access to your legacy, your full Legacy in return" Styx's eyes widened, before a slow grin pulled on her face, as she said.

"If you fail in your quest, of which you will only have a week to complete, I demand in return you spend the rest of your days at my riverside, working to clean my waters by hand. Do you continue agree with my terms mortal?" I tilted my head to the side, thinking it over, for a long, long, moment before saying.

"Sure"

[Notice: [Oath of the Styx] has been created; Quest has been generated!]

[Notice: Quest System has been unlocked!

Quests are different from Accomplishments in many ways, Accomplishments are things you have done in your own time that are worth rewards, while Quests are tasks assigned to you by a being of greater power, in which rewards are ever changing if not set before hand, and can not be refused once accepted]

[Quest: Styx's Decontamination: has started!

You have been given a task through a bargain with the Goddess of Oaths, you better make damn sure you succeed in cleaning her river or else the rest of your life is forfeit to her whims.

Rewards:

+10,000 Exp

+Perk [?]

+Status Effect [?]

Failure:

Permeant Servitude

Possible death

Time Limit: 1 Week]

Ah fun...

Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine.

"Cool, so I'm going to go get started now... Mind, uh, sending me up top? I kind of have no way out" She smirked, and for a long second I thought she was just going to leave me to rot, when in a flash of not light, and a blinding of my eyes, I blinked and realized I was outside, in the real world... Huh... well that's something.

Shaking my head, I moved on, making my way towards the beach, catching a taxi on the way, and then I was just there.

I could wait longer, do some stuff, handle a few things I wanted to do while I was this far out west, but that was just a waste of everyone's time. I made this plan weeks ago, I made the idea for this quest request around the same time. I didn't do things unless I knew I was going to come out the winner, well, not things like this.

Things like this I had a plan for, I had everything I needed to know ready and waiting to use to get my way. That's the issue with the Percy Jackson books, as much as everyone liked to think themselves geniuses, there are very few truly cunning people in the stories. And none of them there my kind of cunning.

So with that, as I stepped onto the beach's sand, I walked forwards, towards the water, and just sat down in front of the waters, right before Poseidon's Domain, and just smirked. This was going to be one hell of a conversation, I really hope I don't die, it would be so awkward to have to talk to Charon again right after I said dying was for bitches.

Pulling out a Drachma, I tossed it into the air, it arched through the light breeze, before landing right into the water, I just watched as the light reflecting off the coin bounced around before it seemingly dissolved into the water. I continued to wait, for a long moment...

I was honestly ready for a repeat performance from my claiming, when in front of me, the water rose up, making a seemingly solid wall, before it changed and moved, shaping into colors and images, before solidifying into the imagine of a man with raven black hair, sun kissed skin, and sea green eyes and... Fucking damn it, second god I've seen today, and he's unfairly hot to.

Literally why? At least this one isn't related to me.

"Who is this?" I tensed, that voices... wasn't nearly as friendly as I was expecting from one of the most laid back Olympians, and considering I've talked to Hades, ZKing of the Underworld, and Styx, the literal Goddess of Hatred, it said something about how hard his tone was.

"Nick King, I'm a friend of your son? Percy Jackson" It was frankly baffling at just how quickly his mood picked up, a beaming smile pulling on his face as he let out a laugh of joy.

"Percy's friend! How grand, I've only managed to speak with my boy once, so this is a good chance to learn more about him, please, tell me about him!" I nodded.

"Sure, I'd love to, though I do have a small request for later on, nothing beyond the simple access to a small trinket of which you have hundreds if not thousands" He tilted his head, clearly he thought this over, but the way I had said it made him less inclined to deny my request. Ah the joys of having a god who actually really cares about their kid.

"I see, I reserve the right to turn down such a request, but I would still like to hear of my son" I just nodded.

"Of course, Percy is... frankly, the kid is monstrously strong already, it's almost ridiculous. He's incredibly kind and talented, as well as blunt and funny even when he doesn't mean to be. He's honestly pretty awesome in just about every way. Like this one time, it's his first game of capture the flag and-" From there I went on about how great Percy was, or just telling stories involving the two of us, which seemed to be funny enough to get a few chuckles from the God, which was a good thing.

By the end of it, about two hours had passed, I had long since ran out of things to talk about to be honest, and was just adlibbing other stuff I've been through, Poseidon didn't seem to care, and just like every other god I've met, they all on some level like conversation about the mundane. When you live a life of godhood for thousands of years, no matter how little you change in that time, it has to get boring at some point. To the point anything mundane like my journey across the states, would sound interesting.

Like I said, gods were easy, especially when you had an incredibly advantage of knowing a fair bit of them already and how their personalities were, it meant I could custom base my way of interacting with the ones I'm already aware of based on what I know they'll respond the best to.

It was sly and underhanded, and might just get me killed one day, but for today, and for many days to come, it made me the winner, and that's all that matters right now. And it was hardly like I was tricking any of the gods.

By the end of the conversation, I was given my Sand Dollar, with it being washed onto the shore after the call ended, as a reward, and made a promise to speak to Poseidon again about his son if I had anymore news he thought he should know in return for something else if the information was worthy enough. I hadn't really been expecting that, but given everything that Percy get's up to, it was an easy enough thing to make a deal over for more goods.

I thought about some things, afterward, you know, about just instantly heading back down to the Underworld and finish up my quest, but I had a week to do everything, and Charon might be a bit... pissy if he had to make more than one trip a day, so I'll give him some time to cool off there.

The main thing was being able to just get down there within the next seven days, no reason to rush it now... And by that, I mean I was tired and hungry, because I've spent the last two hours talking nonstop and the eight before that fishing, and the four before that wandering around LA trying to find the entrance to death realm.

It was late, I was hungry, and I wanted a nap.

So I was going to get something to eat and then go to sleep.

So that's what I did!

I ate fancy with my new card with unlimited wealth on it, then I rented a nice hotel room, and then I got arrested by the police, and then I-

Wait, what?

Honestly I'm just as confused as you are, when I got loaded up into the back of a squad car, blinking in confusion as I squinted at the two officers in the drivers seat.

Lazir

Heritage: Human

Age: 34

Level: 24

Spirit Points: 25/450

Stamina Points: 50/350

Ethria

Heritage: Human

Age: 29

Level: 22

Spirit Points: 50/500

Stamina Points: 89/250

Something tells me that these two aren't normal people, I think it's because they don't have last names...

Honestly, I was mostly interested in the Spirit thing, I hadn't seen that before, I mean, I knew that there had to be more than one source of power in this world, I mean, my mana was divine in nature, but there had to be more than one type of mana, it's just all under the same name, or at least that was what I thought, but now there's this, and it' so confusing. I mean, they are pathetically weak, like, I could snap them over my knee without trying weak, but I was to interested in whatever they were to do so.

So I was holding off on the matter for the time being.

Honestly, I was only sort of sure they were police, though they certainly had the gear for it, the most they did was just say I was being arrested, I wasn't even told my rights, which was honestly a let down. Still, I just looked out the window and hummed as we turned down a street that definitely did not have a police station on it.

"So, where are we going? And are you two going to try and kill me? Because if so, this is really not going to go your way" I glanced back to look at the two, Lazir was a man, he was boring looking, basic mid thirties white guy, Etheria was more interesting, but not by much, she also looked like a boring mid thirties white guy, the fact she was a woman was what made it interesting... That's it. Lazir was the one driving, so Etheria turned around and gave me a look.

"Kid, you're in handcuffs, I don't think threatening a pol-" I raised my hands up and with a small pull the metal link snapped like stretched gum. I just stared at her before saying again.

"I repeat, where are we going, and to add onto my question, why did you take me, who are you, what are you, and am I going to have to kill you both" They had my bag up front, but I still had a dagger hidden on my body, and I could probably kill both without it in case they were too mortal for Celestial Bronze to hurt them. Eheria looked mildly terrified, which was good, Lazir just looked over his shoulder at me, for a moment before turning his eyes back to the road and said.

"She's no-"

"I'm a guy, make that mistake again and you'll be the first to die" My curious told turned ice cold as Lizar flinched before giving a sharp nod.

"Right, of course... He's to powerful to threaten Samanth-"

"Samantha? I thought her name was Etheria?" The two froze as I just leaned in closer, my hands coming up, grabbing onto the bars and bending them away so I could get a better look at the two, before saying.

"So what's happening?" Lizar slammed on the breaks, I just pouted as my head was knocked against the bars, it didn't really hurt, but it was mean.

I continued to pout when two guns were leveled at my head.

"You're pointing to guns at a literal child, I hope you're proud" Etheria just glared at me, like that was threatening.

"What are you?"

"Nick King, nice to meet you, I think. Any reason why you picked me up? Cause if this is a murder thing, then I'd like to know now" Lizar just gritted his teeth before saying.

"This isn't a murder thing! Stop saying that so casually!" I just shrugged.

"Two weird people just arrested me and have two guns pointed at my head, I think I'm allowed some questions" Etheria scoffed.

"We're the weird ones?! You just snapped metal handcuffs and bent literal metal!"

"I mean, you're weird for me, and I'm probably weird for you, so how about a game of truth for truth?" Etheria just glared at me, but Lizar was the smart one between the two apparently, as he just said.

"So we ask a question and you answer truthfully?" I nodded.

"Yeah sure, same for you two, I don't know if you've noticed, but I could just leave if I wanted to, so I'm only here to get some answers about whatever is up with you two" The two shared a glanced, but Lizar nodded to Etheria who just sighed and nodded.

"I'm going first, how do you know her name?" I just shrugged.

"I'm awesome... and I have the ability to learn anyone's name when I look at them. Perk of being me Mr. Lazir" They shared a look, a scared glance, as I continued, "So, what's with the weird names?" Lazir coughed for a moment, before saying.

"They're our... spirit names, the ones we chose for ourselves when we opened ourselves up to... Well, spirits" I just hummed, interesting, I had a feeling he wasn't referring to the kind of ghosts I've been chilling with a few hours ago, dead spirits, "What are you"

"I'm a demigod" That got a massive reaction out of the two, Etheria's eyes were blown wide and Lazir looked horrified, I just smiled, "Specifically the Son of the Goddess of Victory, Nike. So I assume you two are just normal humans who found a way to tap into some kind of supernatural power, which one?" The two looked dumbfounded, I frowned, and that seemed to make the two realize that they were in the presence of possible divinity, and should probably not annoy me.

"We're both Occultist, we, uh, we got our powers from finding our spirit guides through some rituals. We go around and help people normally, with basic stuff, possessions from standard ghosts, or witches, people who invoke power from devils, or anything else really, there isn't a lot out there, but we try to help" Interesting... So these two are basically like hunter's from supernatural, who got supernatural powers through the use of some kind of ritual... Spirit guides... hmm.

"I- um... What... what pantheon are you from" Oh right, they get questions to.

"Greek, we're normally hidden behind a wall of magic good stuff, along with most other pantheons, Norse, Roman, Egyptian, all that good stuff, usually they don't mix, but I'm special. You two seem to have found yourself in the Biblical circle from the sounds of devils and witches. But spirit guides are not at all biblical... Eh, whatever, you humans can technically see anything if you get exposed to it, you can also get powers from it as well, which is interesting. I'm like, twelve, so I'm still learning about all this... Anyways, my turn, why did you two come find me?"

"We... We heard that some kind of magical force that no one knew much about was rolling through this area, we really are police officers, so we thoughts we'd look into it, just a simple tracking spell to focus on the strongest source of power nearby, we figured we'd see if whatever it was, was a threat, and if so..."

"You'd have tried to kill me" They looked away, I wasn't sure it was out of shame for trying to kill a twelve year old, or fear that I would take it the wrong way and kill them instead. I just shrugged "Fair enough, but the magic wasn't me, my magic is divine, it's enough to track me, but the magic barrier around my stuff wouldn't have let anyone sense my presence who wasn't already in the know" I think, I was mostly making it up as I went, but it sounded about right? About right is usually good enough for me, so it's fine.

"Uh, I see, so... What are you doing here?" I just shrugged.

"I needed to get something from the Underworld, the Greek one, not Hell, and this is the most open spot in most of America to be able to go down under" They blinked in solid confusion at that, as I continued on "Last question, can I help?" They both blinked again, before Etheria finally spoke up.

"I- what?" I just smiled.

"I asked if I can help? Whatever it was that you two got notice about sounds interesting and it'd be pretty cool to learn more about the other mythology and supernatural stuff around me that isn't directly related to my mythology"

"I-... Ok? You're twelve though"

"And I'm half god, and I've killed two men and more monster than you both combined"

"That's disturbing"

"Is that a yes or no?" They shared another look, I just waited patiently, until...

"Yeah... sure... Just, don't get us killed?" I just nodded.

"I'll do my best. Oh! I want access to your books and stuff to, this occult stuff sounds pretty interesting" The both of them already looked like they were going to regret this, I just continued to smile as we drove off into the night, apparently they had a cool warehouse where they had their stuff. It was like the batcave!

The warehouse was really boring! There was a ton of stuff in it that was cool, like a Supernatural convention, tons of items and mixes of stuff that can be used to kill very certain types of creatures and monsters, and... It was all useless to me, because I had a lot of magical weapons that didn't care about things like needing salt to weaken a ghost, I could just stab it with Celestial Bronze and kill the ghost for a second time without any hassle.

Frankly, it all looked very inconvenient and pointless for me to grab basically any of it, but the magic stuff was pretty interesting sounding, so I moved instantly to that stuff. Sure I couldn't use it, probably, since it wasn't apart of the general Mist, nor apart of my Domain, but I had an idea!

But sadly that was for later, as it would no doubt take a while to learn it all and as such pointless right now to deal with, which was fucking annoying and stupid and I hate everything, but I did make a promise and I do my best to keep those, so first I had to deal with figuring out the weird thing that these two felt... or whatever it was, and then track it down and either kill it or befriend it for my own purposes.

You know, basic good guy stuff!

I couldn't really help, so I just stood around and looked pretty while the two ran around like chickens with their head's cut off, finding stuff for their spells. Apparently since they were so weak, they had to use components to power the spells that they wanted to do, meaning basically everything they did was a ritual. It sounded tedious. I did learn some stuff about the two though.

The woman really is named Samantha, and the guy is named Reese. The Chosen Name thing is apparently really important and very dangerous for anyone outside the people they trust to know those names. It's... like a voodoo thing, which is real and awesome. You have to know a person's spiritual name to be able to hurt them or track them or whatever through magic. Basically, if you know their chosen name, you can do whatever you want to them.

But on the flip side, a person has to be told what those names are since they are, well, self chosen. It's like a safety blanket for those who use Spiritual power instead of Divine or natural magic, the latter of which was just a pop word tossed around a bit that I didn't actually know what it meant, but I'll figure it out later.

Anyways, I've been told repeatedly to only call them by their given names, and not chosen names, and a few other things that were probably important. It was very informative either way and very interesting, which was the whole reason I let this happen, plus I now would have felt a bit bad if I had killed them, so that's something. I used some of the time asking other questions about how their stuff worked, it was honestly pretty interesting.

Though, to say either were all that strong would be a lie of the biggest magnitude, the both of them barely had any power to their name, and it wasn't even their power technically, how it works is you connect with a guide from the Spirit world, which is probably Native American in basis, and that Spirit trains a person to be able to use that Spirits own energy to do things in the real world. Any human can learn to control Spiritual energy with enough training and the right guides and stuff...

But they doesn't mean that they'll become strong, against a basic monster, sure, they can hold their own with enough perp, time to prepare, and foreknowledge, heck, if the two had a few days to work on it, the right stuff, and some time to study it, I bet both of them would have a good chance two on one in a fight with one of those big scorpion things I thought back a while ago in Camp Half-Blood...

Yeah, that's it, all that prep, and they might handle one of those things in a straight fight, I on the other hand, when I was a fair bit weaker than I am now, could kill up to twenty of those things.

It wasn't fair to compare us, I was half god, and the two of them each had one small spirit each giving them the limit amount of power those spirits could have, because that's all their body's could take, channeling the power of small spirits. Sure, the two could use magic, but their magic was weak and small compared to my mana, that just one or two spells would wear them out that I honestly probably wouldn't even notice the drain from, me, not someone like Percy, me.

It was like comparing the power of a small charcoal pit to an small oil well.

The sheer difference was kind of scary as it was impressive for the two. Sure, their fights were on a much smaller scale than mine will ever be, but they still did it, because there wasn't people like me just around to just bulldoze through any problem in front of them through sheer power and strength. That made them special in a way, made me like them, that they were so outgunned against just the simplest of things, but if it meant saving people and protecting them, they'd jump in the line of fire.

They were pretty shitty cops from a rule following perspective, since they literally both kidnapped a child not even a few hours ago, but at heart, they were about as gold as you could get.

It was nice, I decided around the time I figured that out, I'd make sure they didn't die.

Past that, it was just boring stuff, listening to them talk about components for a ritual, needing the raw power that neither of them had to do a scrying to find out where and what that power came from, using a cool crystal that they had which had stored a bit of that power when it came through, so they could use that to, like, track the creature. They even had a cool map that the crystal would move around on to show the location on a street.

Still, I got bored when they said they wouldn't be able to power it that night, since they were wiped from tracking me... So I just walked over, put my hand on it, and-

[Notice: You are using an incompatible magic type, the cost will increase based on difficulty; Ritual Skill [Simple Scrying] will cost... Eighty percent less than before]

See what I mean about the oil well analogy? My mana was just so much stronger that it still cost less by an insane amount. The spell lit up but I didn't see anything, which was sad, but both the adults gasped and nearly doubled over, so I assume it was working.

After about a minute, Sam sprung up and gasped, while Reese groaned on the around, before looking around with clear pain in his eyes, I just moved over to look at the map, humming with interest as it rolled about before settling on... ooh... That's... something...

"So, are you two interested in raiding a church?"

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever done!" I just hummed at Reese's long hiss from my ear, as I strolled on up to the church, walking on in without issue, looking around with interest, it was past midnight, and the church was closed, so by walking in without issue, I mean I kicked the door in and then walk in. Looking around was... simple... It's s church, there was pews and rows, there was a stand at the front, and that's about it.

"Just shut up, the kid's the strongest thing we've ever seen, sh- he'll be fine" I ignored the slip up, old humans had a harder time with it, but fear usually made them remember. All the same, just hummed as I walked forwards, towards the podium, and just looked about before calling into the large open room.

"Hello? I'm know you're there... Come on out.." My voice bounced off the walls, echoing off and about, like a resounding chorus, it was pretty awesome with how creepy my little girl voice sounded, and I was about to keep talking just to hear myself, when suddenly from a backroom, appeared a girl, about my age, from the doorframe... but she was wrong, her features weren't quite right, like a blind person trying to draw a human face, everything that was suppose to be there was all there but it wasn't... right... I just turned to look at her, as she looked at me with terror on her face.

"Ah, hello there-" I used Search.

Mo'Leon

Heritage: Familiar (Fallen Soul)

Age: 11

Level: 16

[Corruption] Mana Points: 1,800/1,800

Stamina Points: 3,900/3,900

Very, very, interesting, I tilted my head and looked at her, and she flinched. She was terrified of me... no, of my being. She was unholy, corrupted and twisted, and I was about as divine and pure as a mortal can get, even if I was from another pantheon, I was probably just as divine in nature as an angel, and it was clear this... Familiar, wasn't all that strong, she had more mana than me, but that wasn't saying much.

Either way, it was clear I was scaring her, and so I just smiled, not my normal one, my comforting one as I raised my hands up slowly and said as warmly as I could.

"-Mo'Leon, can I call you that?" She flinched, but slowly nodded, as I just moved closer, she backed up, but didn't move to quickly... She was like a cornered animal, backing up only when she had to, and looked ready to pounce... I had to respect that. She must have knew she had no chance against me at the moment, but she still chose to go out fighting if it came down to it. "What's up? Up, what's going on?"

She let out a short whimper, before it broke out into a high pitched whine that made my ears want to seal themselves with cement. I just pretended I wasn't in pain as I listened to the cursing form the two people outside. I just moved closer, pain was nothing to me, as I reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, she flinched but didn't back up as I just gave a smile, the whining pitiful sound finally dropped off, which was good, my ears had started to bleed before I even touched her.

"Hey, listen, everything's fine... So, level with me, what's wrong?" She looked... crushed.

"Are you an angel?" I just shrugged.

"No, not an angel, something else, why?"

"I- I need help" I just hummed and asked why, she let out a small sob, and- "C-cause I'm a monster!" Oh great, I'm already getting attached. I snorted all the same and said in a cheerfully voice.

"You? Eh, don't be ridiculous, I've seen monsters, and you haven't even tried to kill me yet!" It didn't seem like my incredible humor made her feel better, weird, she just hiccupped as a tear rolled down her face.

"Y-you don't get it! I'm wrong, something's wrong with me! I woke up, and I hurt something, and then this thing happened, and there was- and then... I- I- I need help!" Hmm, ok, speculation time, she's obviously some kind of demon, don't know what kind, and clearly she got kicked out of hell, panicked, blew something up, that's what caused the wave of energy that the two outside, who are currently probably gearing up, waiting on my word, to come in guns blazing, like I was going to let that happen.

"Alright, you need help? I can probably do that, come on, let's get out of here, just... You know that pressure you're feeling, that... burning sensation in your gut?" She slowly nodded, and I was very thankful I guessed that right, so I just smiled and said. "Focus on it, and just breath, in and out, and begin to try and relax, you're safe, I ain't going to hurt you"

"Why not? I-... I'm wrong" I snorted again.

"So am I" She gave me a curious look as I leaned and and whispered to her.

"I'm not really a girl" She blinked and gave me a confused look, I just nodded empathically, "I know right? And yet I look like this because something happened and someone screwed me over, but I just deal with it. Our bodies don't determine shit about us alright? Your.. you're holding that form right? Because you don't like what you look like?" She winced before slowly nodding, I just smiled.

"I get it, I don't like what I look like, if it makes you feel better, then this is just what you look like. I'll help you get the details right, actually, I have a friend who'd love to be able to control what they look like, she'd get so much out of it" Mo'Leon slowly cracked a smile, and it hurt my heart, the times I felt stuff was weird.

"Are you sure?" I just shrugged.

"We're all weird Mo, it's just how willing we are to accept ourselves is the issue... No one is a monster, it's like... I don't know, a mindset or something, you can be good if you want, and if you want, you can be evil, if you don't want to be a monster, then just don't. Simple as that" It wasn't, but it made her smile bigger, and that was worth it. before long we headed out, I had given her my cloak, and she sort of just fell into it, clutching on the thing like a safety blanket.

Human one and human two were a bit confused, but I made sure they knew she wasn't a threat, and before long we were back at the warehouse, where the explaining began.

It was super late at night and I was exhausted, but I still managed to do some talking, explaining the situation, who the two humans where, what they could do, who I was, and what I could do and what I was, and then we asked her what she was... She just shrugged.

She had something wrong with her memories, I think coming up to the surface scrambled something in her head. She was young, incredibly young, but she had been warped by hell in some way, she was human I knew that. So it was decided we'd look into it tomorrow. the two police left, and in the end, I passed out on a table.

The next two days blitzed on by, most of it was reading, which was stupid and annoying, but my higher Intelligence score made it somewhat easier than it had been before. It was confusing, a bit annoying, and a lot of questions later, but my Search had given us an incredible clue on just where to start looking.

There wasn't much about Familiars, they were more myth within myth within mythology when based around the biblical stuff, like, it was kind of European folklore based, and was translated into a Catholic thing once, but... whatever, the point is, something as board as Familiar was a massive subject in many forms of mythology, and the closest we could get in terms of from where she came from... It wasn't very pretty.

Familiars in traditional senses, are sort of like Spirit guides, but, like, they're actual magical creatures that exist that lead wisdom and power to a being that already has power, like, witches and warlocks whatever. There is some mention of something similar to them in basically every religion and mythology and folklore in the world basically. Even us Greeks have it in regards to sacred animals. Like Athena and her owls.

But... for... demons... Well, it's...

Ugh, I'm just going to say it, she's a soul that was corrupted and beaten into a pulp, ridding her of al; personal memories, and then filled with demonic energy so that higher level demons in need of a booster could cut her open and drink her life blood, restoring themselves to full power, and since that corrupted power in her isn't actually her's, then it'll run out in about a week or so's time and then her body will fail her and she'll... you know, die slowly and horribly from total organ failure.

So that's something...

Oh, and there is no known cure, it's just sort of... a state of being until you die. Needless to say, demons, at least the Sin of Wrath kind, the ones that do this sort of thing, are incredibly fucked up and I am incredibly happy I chose Greek instead of that option.

In not so incredibly happy news, my new friend was going to die in a few days in agony and I had no idea how to save her, if there even was a way to save her...

Needless to say, I was stressed, and annoyed, and quickly growing desperate when I was told by Mo'Leon that she's been top side for about three days, meaning I had about two days to figure out how to cure death.

No pressure or anything!

Reese and Sam weren't really any help, they just sulked and felt bad about it, but they weren't really... in any position to do anything, they were weak and squishy and had boring things like jobs and whatever. But they did feel bad, so I got access and full run of the warehouse, not that it helped, but it was at least something right?

"Am I going to die?" The quiet voice of Mo'Leon, or whatever her original name was before this whole hellish thing happened to her, spoke up from behind me. I just turned and... And... holy shit I wanted to make a joke, I wanted to break the tension, to give a smile and a laugh and say I have a plan, but... But I didn't have a plan. There was no plan, corrupted mana doesn't react well to anything divine, I already tried that using the crystal from before that stored some of her energy. It was the first idea I had, and the crystal?

It exploded into a thousand pieces... There was no god I knew that could heal her, there was nothing divine that could be done. My power, the entire range power from my entire pantheon would kill her before it would do anything to help. There was no plan I could come up with, no magic I could learn in less than two days to save her, there was no joke that could make this better, and there was nothing... nothing I could do.

I waited to long to say anything, as she spoke up, even more softly.

"Oh... Ok... That's fine, thank you for trying" It was like my heart popped. My face was beginning to leak and it was stupid and I hated it more than anything else, because I knew she was damned, her soul was beyond twisted from what happened to her, she'd just go back to hell after she died and the same thing would just happen to her again, this time there would be no escape for her.

It would just be the end of the line.

I took a long, breath in, my nose making a painfully loud sniffing sound, as I raised my head up, staring at the ceiling, trying to get my face under control before I turned to look at her.

But I paused... my mind frozen, just for a moment, as on a far self, in the distance, was a deck of tarot cards... Cards...

And I felt a smile pull on my face. It was small, and it was barely anything, but it was a hope.

And a plan I could work with.

"I'll do better than try... It won't be perfect, and I won't know if it'll even work... but would you like to live?" It was quiet for a long, long second, before...

"Yes... Yes, I want to live" I just smiled, a small laugh bubbling up in front throat before I took control of myself and said simply to her.

"Then we're going to Vegas"