Ewa Maier was a college student studying in Warsaw, Poland. It was here that she met the God of the Underworld, Hades, at a local bar. The two immediately hit it off and later went back to Agatha's apartment where they spent the night. When she awoke the following morning it was to solitude. Hades had left during the early morning, disappearing into the night. A simple note was left in his stead, detailing his identity, the necessity of his departure, and a request for her to raise the child well in his absence. A quick test confirmed Hades' claim that she was in fact pregnant. Nine months down the road and Casey was born. In his early childhood, Casey was raised by his mother while she finished her courses. She worked a number of parttime jobs on the side, but they still struggled to get by. In school Casey never seemed to fit in, being labeled as an outcast early on due to his lack of socializing. He kept to himself, although that didn't stop the other kids from harassing him for being "different" as they called it. When Casey was ten, Ewa met a German tourist by the name of Damien and they moved to Munich, Germany. Even here the kids teased him for dressing in all black and not conforming to the social expectations. He usually brushed it off and kept to himself in silence, although some cases escalated into violence. In these instances, Casey would come away with a few cuts and bruises; his harassers would walk away- assuming they could still walk- with bruises, broken bones, and an assortment of injuries. No matter how much they hurt him, he made sure he hurt them worse. After Ewa and Damien had started dating, Casey had hoped that this guy would be the father he never had. He was not. Damien proved to be temperamental and the alcohol didn't help. As finances grew tight, the drinking increased. The more and more Damien drank himself into a stupor, the more spiteful he became. He frequently made it clear to Casey that he blamed him for the family's troubles because he was holding his mother back. He constantly called him worthless and, when he was really drunk, he was prone to beating. Casey often found himself fleeing the house as much as he could just to be alone. Meanwhile at school, he managed to make a single friend. Lukas was an American exchange student and, though unknown to Casey, a satyr sent to find and escort demigods to Camp. Lukas was quiet, not so much as Casey, but he minded his own business. Casey liked that. The two got along well enough up until the first monster encounter. Casey was eleven and was walking home with Lukas when they stumbled upon a group of sword-weilding Scythian Dracanae. Like, literally stumbled into them. The monsters whirled on them as they stumbled to the ground. Lukas had told him that he'd explain later, drew his celestial bronze sword and tossed Casey a dagger of the same material. However, the two were unable to defeat the monsters. Instead, they opted to evade the monsters until they were able to shake their pursuers. Afterwards, Lukas explained to him that Greek mythology was actually reality, that he was a demigod, though of which God was unclear, and that they needed to get to Camp Halfblood. Casey, on the other hand, had other ideas. (It should be noted that from this point on Lukas would train him in swordsmanship) Remaining in Munich, Casey had decided, was best. While his life in Munich was nothing worth saving, he was still clinging to his only connection to society. Accepting his celestial blood was, to him, the final straw. All the kids at school would be right- he was a freak. When he was twelve, he was attacked by a trio of hellhounds while he was staying after school for detention. Lukas wasn't in school that day and so he was on his own... something he was all too accustomed to. He took off before they could corner him, though a prolonged chase wouldn't last all that long. With the hounds gaining on him, he decided he would face his death with a sense of defiance. He turned back, suddenly angered by the fact that he was going to die in this stink hole. As the first hellhound lunged Casey sidestepped whilst slashing downward, slicing a deep gash in the hound's hide. The beast crumpled and disintegrated. However, there was no time for celebration as the other two hounds caught up to him. Another lunged at him and he barely managed to shift his torso to avoid the attack, though he was quickly set upon by the other beast. He fell to the ground as it lunged at his back, digging its sharp claws into the skin between his neck and his shoulder blade. He screamed and fell to the floor. Rolling around to face the beast, it stood on top of him baring its fangs. He struggled to hold it back by the nek, and as the hound snapped its jaws at Casey, it suddenly disintegrated into a mound of dust. At the handle of a sword stood a girl, probably the same age as him, maybe a year older. She proceeded to slay the other hellhound before introducing herself as Petra, a daughter of Hermes, though this was unbeknownst to her. She took him back to her place where she tended to his wound. The next day, when he returned from school, Damien was furious. He was, as usual, drunk, though more so than usual. He beat Casey worse than he ever had before and flung his bottle at the boy. The bottle struck the wall spilling booze all over him. He screamed at the boy, yelling for him to hit him, anything to provoke the youth. Casey was defiant, providing his father with a chilling death stare instead. There his father left him to stew in his own shame. As his father left, Casey loosened his grasp and released what he'd been clutching so tightly- a shard of broken glass from his father's shattered bottle. Another time. The next day at school, Lukas proposed that maybe it was time to make the trip to Camp, but Casey and Petra both rejected the idea. Petra didn't believe that she belonged with the demigods and Casey didn't want to belong. The next monster encounter would occur at the age of thirteen when he was at a local fair with Lukas and Petra. Here they faced a flock of Stymphalian birds, chasing them all throughout the fairgrounds. Casey, being a fan of Greek mythology, knew the story of Heracles and the Stymphaian birds and was able to scare them away by striking a pole with his dagger. Together the trio would survive on their own. At fourteen, Casey was given a gift. After a terrible day of school he'd gotten into a scrap with three other boys from which he'd earned a black eye- the other boys were no less scathed with bruises and a few broken bones. He was limping home when a dark clothed figure caught his eye. The figure gestured for Casey to follow as it turned into an alley. Against his better judgement, Casey followed. There in that alley stood a man clad in dark robes. Something struck Casey as a little odd though. The jet black hair, the pale complexion...Casey stood under the man's chilling gaze until he withdrew a single object- a silver skull ring. The word Skeletós was etched on the bottom. He handed the ring to Casey who held it awkwardly, unsure what to do with it. In Casey's dubiety, the man spoke out in a deep, raspy voice. "Take it. It will protect you where I cannot." Then, he smiled- not a happy smile, but a cruel, chilling smile similar to Casey's. "Death is a beautiful thing." With that he vanished into the shadows, leaving the boy alone with his thoughts. His mind drifted to his collection of Mythomagic cards, his favorite one in particular, and with the realization of who the figure was Casey suddenly, for once in his life, wished he'd said more. He doubted he would ever meet his father again. With that he decisively closed his fingers around the object, clutching it to his chest. Later that year they encountered a Giant Scorpion. They were hanging out at the park when the beast had come out of nowhere. Thankfully, it was late in the day, around dusk, and most of the mortals had already left the park. It was the size of a pickup truck, with massive pincers, sharp mandibles, and a long stinging tail. The three split up around the scorpion, attempting to divert its attention from one another. The fight was going well until Petra was struck by one of the scorpion's pincers, sending her barrelling into a nearby tree. The audible crunch from the collision sent chills down Casey's spine. The thought of his only friends falling to this beast infuriated him and he used this silent rage to empower himself. While Lukas distracted the beast, Casey came in from behind at full speed, dodging and weaving around the massive whiping tail. He slid beneath the beast, twisting the ring off of his finger as he did so. The ring morphed into a short black stygian iron sword. As he passed underneath the beast's vulnerable underside, he thrust upward, slicing a gash across its abdomen. Coming up in front of the beast, he sidestepped and shimmied past its dual pincers before parrying and sidestepping its deadly stinger. The stinger lodged into the ground, providing a means for Casey to jump, kick off of the tail, and land atop the scorpion. He rodeo-ed the beast as it thrashed about, maintaining his balance through determination. His sword morphed into a spear with a stygian iron spearhead. Finding a segment in the scorpion's exoskeletion, he thrust the spear down hard, piercing the skin beneath. The beast swayed, staggered, and collapsed to the ground unmoving. Casey dismounted, approached the front of the scorpion and jammed the spear between its mandibles. The beast's essence was, to his amazement, absorbed by the weapon. Afterwards, his friends questioned him on his new weapon. He simply responded with, "a gift." The day before his fifteenth birthday Casey got into a fight with Damien. This would be his last fight with his mother's abusive boyfriend. After learning about the boy's friends, Damien insisted that he quit running around with "those losers" then threatened to cut him off from his only friends. Casey suddenly lost control and began to scream at Damien, calling him a drunk and stating that Damien knew nothing about him which prompted Damien to strike the boy with his bottle of booze. The bottle shattered on contact, bloodying his face with deep cuts. With not an ounce of restraint left and having fallen to the floor, Casey scoured the carpet for a shard of glass and plunged the jagged fragment into Damien's neck. The breath of life left the man of his nightmares. The next day, when Casey returned home, his mother had overdosed on painkillers- she lay dead on the couch. Casey fled the house, gathered his friends, and told them that he was finally ready to go to camp. After unanimous agreement, the trio hopped on the first flight to NYC; Lukas being eighteen bought the tickets. At New York they stole a car and Casey drove to Camp with Lukas' directions. Sometime during the drive it began to rain, lightly at first. On the road to Camp a silhouette rammed into the car, forcing them off-road. Casey crashed the car and they were forced to travel the rest of the way on foot. As they jogged, Casey took note of rustling bushes and the crunch of twigs- it was clear that something was stalking them. At the foot of Halfblood hill is where they would face their foe. Out of the trees ahead stalked a viscious looking monster with the body and head of a lion, a goat's head extending from its back, and a serpentine tail- the Chimera. Casey stood in front with Petra and Lukas on either side, out in the open, just two demigods and a satyr to face the Chimera themselves. The Chimera charged and the fight had begun. It was all he could do to avoid the many dangers of this hybrid beast- its ferocious lion fangs, its sharp goat horns, its venomous serpent tail. After a prolonged fight Petra was trembling with fear. To Casey's horror, she took out his leg with the flat of her blade and took off up the hill. As the Chimera converged on him, Lukas, witnessing this first hand, distracted the monster, telling Casey to "go get her." Casey took off in pursuit of Petra, not content with allowing her to escape to the sanctuary of Camp. He easily caught up to her and tackled her to the ground. He rolled to his feet, coming up with his sword at the ready. Petra was just a heartbeat behind, coming up with her sword as well. Knowing that his friend didn't have a moment to spare, Casey knew he would have to end this fight quickly. He came at his opponent, all efficiency now. He feinted right and she bit the fake, slashing at his left flank. As she fell into his trap, he parried her sword to the right, then spun off her attack to the left and, utilizing the same technique as she had, took out her leg with the flat of his blade. His sword was coming down before she even hit the dirt, impaling her just as she made contact with the ground. With that taken care of he immediately took off to assist his satyr friend. He arrived just in time to witness the serpent tail sink its teeth into Lukas' leg. The satyr cried out only to be silenced by the lion's head which closed its powerful jaws around the satyr's neck. It twisted, snapping his neck with a disturbing crunch. The drizzle had progressed to a downpour by now and the hill had been turned to a mudslide. Casey turned and stumbled up the hill, slipping and sliding in the mud. Despite this, the Chimera bolted past the demigod, blocking his only route to salvation. Coming to a stop, Casey readied himself for the most important fight of his life. The Chimera itself had a few new bloody adornments including a large gash opened up along its flank, presumably by Lukas in his final moments. Thinking back to the scene between Lukas and the Chimera, he noticed how close the Satyr had had to be to assault the beast. Casey, having second thoughts about his sword, morphed the weapon into a spear with a more favorable reach. With each swipe of its claws Casey would parry with the secondary butt-spike and follow up by continuing to spin the spear around and slashing with the spearhead. He repeated this process until the Chimera was dripping in its own sanguine fluids. However, the Chimera was intelligent and eventually caught on to his tactic. When Casey anticipated a swipe with the claws the beast lashed out instead with its tail, nearly taking his face off. He anxiously parried the serpent downward, but instead of spinning the spear he pulled it towards himself, dragging it across the neck of the serpent. With the serpent tail severed the beast roared and charged once again. Casey parried both claws and followed through with an uppercut with the butt-end of the spear. The lion's head whipped back and Casey leapt into the air, spear poised for a final jab. Instead, the lion's head turned back spewing flames from its mouth, sending the demigod flying down the hill. He rolled in the mud, the flames flickering and dancing across his torso. In the midst of the torrential downpour the flames were extinguished, though the damage was done- they had ravaged the entire left side of his torso. He was slow to rise, though after a minute he was able to get his feet under him. He cluthced his burns in agony and his lips were pursed in pain. The Chimera emitted a low growl and eyed its prey. Casey had heard that one's life flashes before their eyes just before the moment of their death- he'd always wondered if that was true. And in that moment his mind flashed back to Warsaw and Munich and the kids who teased and mocked him, who harassed and humiliated him at any and every chance they got, then to Damien in a drunken rage, yelling and screaming and hurling a bottle of booze, to Petra betraying him and leaving him for dead, to Lukas lying motionless in the mud, an expression of pure terror on his face, then finally to his fathers words. "Death is a beautiful thing." Letting all of the pain and anger wash over him, he shielded himself with his father's words, embracing death. Whether it was his or the Chimera's was irrelevant. One of them was leaving this hill alive, the other would be condemned to the Underworld. As the Chimera made its final charge, Casey unleashed his rage opening a fissure in the ground which began to spew hellfire. Without hesitation he launched his spear into the fray. The Chimera came barrelling through the column of fire, a flaming spear protruding from the mouth of the lion's head. The Chimera's essence was absorbed by the stygian iron spear, which returned to Casey in the form of a ring. He stood perfectly still for a moment before his legs quivered and buckled beneath him. He collapsed in the mud, his burn wounds igniting with pain after his momentary rage subsided. With his right hand he crawled the rest of the way up the hill until he reached the crest. There, a sentry spotted the boy and called for help. A moment later, two silhouetted campers approached, each draped an arm over their shoulders, and they carried him off. He blacked out from the pain before they even crossed the threshold of Camp Halfblood. His last conscious thought was that death seemed to follow the Son of Hades.
Casey Maier
