A knife, a girl's scream for help, a titan, and ice. Those were the things that Jack saw before he died. He really didn't know how death really felt like. It felt cold, empty, and painless? No. It wasn't it. Death is always painful. So, why doesn't he feel anything at all? He wondered as he waited at DOA Recording Studios. He waited for so long there, he loses track of time. He got tired of waiting and decided to walk to the man on the deck. Before he could say anything, the man spoke. "What are you doing here?" He was about to say he is dead but the man cut him off again. "But you are not dead." Jack frown. Not dead? "Yes, not dead. So, you should get back to your body." Before he could ask how, he was sucked out like a vacuum and was taken out of the Studio, taking him somewhere unknown.
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Balthazar is running for his life. No, there are no monsters after him and it is no immoral being either. What is chasing him are stags. Not magical or immortal stags, normal, but mad stags. You might be wondering, why are stags attacking him. Well, Balthazar, or Bal for short, is cursed to be attacked by wild animals at random times. The son of Hermes got this curse along with his mother from the moon goddess Artemis, who died before he could know her. He was stabbed by a stag once and he doesn't want to be stabbed again, especially if there are nine of them after him. Bal has to find options, or else he is dead. Lucky for him, there was a cave nearby. The entrance is small, so even if the stags will find him, they won't get it. Without any other option, he went inside.
The first thing that Bal felt in the cave was the cold. Caves are often cold, but this one is freezing cold. As if it was a giant refrigerator. The next thing that he saw was the ice. Yes, real giant ice and not just any ice, but glowing giant ice. They look like natural night lights. Amazed with what he sees, Bal moved forward and hoped that there is an exit on the other side. What he did find wasn't an exit, but a giant ice, but unlike the other shards of ice around him, this one his covering the other side and it was red, not blue. As he when closer to the red ice, he saw that there was a human inside that is wearing a shirt that has a logo of Camp Half Blood.
Shocked, he took out Eden and turned it into a hammer. He smashes the ice several times before it breaks apart. He manages to take out the body, but with a few pieces of ice still attached to him. He checked the place and found that the human is still alive. He was about to celebrate when he notices a dagger stabbed into the body. Wanting to save the teenager, he carried him back to the entrance. He could try running back to camp, but it is a bit far from where he is. He checked if the stags are gone before looking around for sunlight for his Iris message.
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--Dream--
The first thing he saw was darkness. Not the “Oh, it is dark in here. Better turn on the lights” darkness, but the “I am blind! Someone help me” darkness. He was about to scream like that too when a bright light hit him. When he opened his eyes, he was in a city. He looked around and felt like his was home. Little did he know that the snowy city of Boston was supposed to have tall skyscrapers, not old brick buildings.
He walked passed two fancy dressed men who were discussing about throwing tea crates in the harbor. He wanted to ask what they were talking about when he passed through them. Shocked, he wondered if he was still a ghost. He touched the wall, but found that he can still feel them. So, why he can’t touch humans? He wandered around, hoping he would find answers, but stopped when he found someone on the snowy alleyway of a tavern. A woman, who was a bit older than him, was trying to keep herself warm. He wanted to help her, but he would only pass right through her. The woman was starting to fall asleep, and Jack knew it was a bad idea. Falling asleep in the snow can kill, whether you are a demigod or not. He was about to panic when a man appeared and aided the woman and Jack gasped from what he was seeing.
He looked exactly like Jack, except for his outfit and long and clean hair. He took the woman in his arms and carried her away. He wanted to follow them when a hand grabbed his wrist. The first thing the struck him was not the fact that the hand was from a woman, nor that the woman was extremely strong, but the fact that her hands were ice cold. He turned and found a woman who he knows all too well. “Hello, brother. It is good to see you after all these years.” Khione told him.
Khione smiled at him as he hugged his godly half-sister. He then broke the hug and asked. “What are you doing here? And where exactly am I?”
“You are in one of my memories, Jack. My memory of how our father met your mother.” She told him. He gasped. “That is my mother?” He said, still shock that he didn’t recognize that it was her mother right away. She nodded sadly. “It is so sad that you don’t remember her completely. But, father told me that you can only remember her name and her looks before you left her for camp.”
The scene changed and Jack was looking a younger version of himself with a younger version of the goddess of snow saying goodbye to his mother. “Of course, you wouldn’t remember this. You were so young when we left your mom.” The goddess told him. His mom kissed his forehead and waved him goodbye. Jack frowned. “I don’t get it. Why I was with you?” Khione chuckled, in a cold but calm way. “I was always there with you. From your first battle with the Hellhound till you got to camp, I have been always there by your side.” She said as the scene changed with Jack going inside the camp.
“I don’t get it. Why do you want to help me all the time? Why do you care so much about me? You were supposed to be hating me for being a son of your father to someone else!” He yelled at her. “I can’t help it, Jack! You made me feel different. You make me feel like a little girl every time I look at you.” She told him with her cold voice as she advanced towards him. “I want you, Jack Winters. I want you so badly.” She started to move her lips towards him and he couldn’t resist but to move his lips as well.
They were about to kiss when Jack stopped himself. “No, I can’t. This is wrong and you know it.” He told her, while backing away. She looked at him with her cold eyes and said, with a sad tone. “Oh, I wished you weren’t my brother. I couldn’t have made you mine forever. But, alas! The Fates are so cruel to me!”She looked at the sky and turned back at him.
“It is time for you to be awakened from your slumber, my brother.” She told him. “But I haven’t—“ He was about to reply when she stopped him. “NO! I can't tell you how or why you were frozen, Jack. Father said not to tell you. You need to go. NOW!” He was about to protest when he realized that he is starting to fade. The last thing that he saw his half-sister were just five words: “I love you, Jack Winters.”
--Dream Ended--
Jack wanted to ask more about his past, but he was forced to wake up after the dream. He looked around at the people looking at him. Random questions came all at once. "Where are you from?", "Why are you wearing a camp shirt?", "Is your hair real?", "Who is your godly parent?" He wanted to answer all of their questions. The only problem is that he couldn't because he couldn't even remember anything aside from his name, his mom's and father's name, and a certain sister of his whom he could never love.
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