Book Alpha: The Spear of Bellerophon
Chapter 1: Kore Avoids Becoming Kibble
Alexander Pheidon
Nothing felt better on a hot summer's day than the crisp feeling of cold water splashing on your face. The water bottle spilled on to Alex as he breathed heavily, tired from the latest bout of Swordplay. The Athena campers moved around him, sparring and yelling. It may have only been the first proper day at camp, but activities were already in full swing as the cabin took out their frustrations from the earlier challenging Tactics class on each other. A few Apollo kids stood by as medics, clearly bored while the rest of their cabin was likely having fun on the Archery range. Alex was actually pretty annoyed with them for that, they had booked all the best archery time slots for the week by sucking up to Mr. D over the winter.
Alex slid down to a seat against the wall of the Arena. It had been a mistake to eat as much as he did at the Start of Summer feast the night before, knowing full well he had scheduled sparring in the morning. But, it was whole pig being served, his favorite food. How could he have resisted. His dad wasn't a great chef and while New York was a food capital, BBQ was hard to come by until he came to Camp every year. He sipped more water, watching his campers closely. The year round kids were still in top shape, as were the Roman guest children of Minerva. But his summer only compatriots needed a lot of work, especially if they were going to be ready for capture the flag. Alex couldn't blame them, he preferred the bow to a sword or a spear, but he still needed them ready. They had last year's title to defend.
He checked his watch. 10:30 on the dot. Pushing himself back to his feet, he yelled out "All right everyone, gather round." The cabin circled around him as he made his way to the center of the arena. "That was good, much better than I was expecting if I'm being honest. Still, most of you need a lot of work before this weekend, so don't expect the rest of this week to be easier. I know that we are the best cabin in this camp, and I know that we are going to do great things in the game. As I'm sure all of you have read the schedule, you have an hour and a half to do with what you want. I suggest a shower first. The only person with a specific assignment is Felix. I want you to make sure our alliances from last year still stand. Go talk to Eliza and Jaime, and see if the forge and the ocean still stand with us."
As the campers deconvened, Alex grabbed his bow and quiver from the rack he had hung it on, strapped both over his back, and walked out of the Arena. Camp was in full bustle. Alex had heard that nearly quarter of a century before, Camp had been an almost desolate place. Now, however, it was filled with hundreds of campers from a variety of godly lineages, and that wasn't including the Romans. Every part of camp was filled with some kind of hustle and bustle. Campers from various cabins carved sculptures, climbed the tower of terror that was the climbing wall, learned the differences between the dialects of Ancient Greek, and other various pursuits that the camp offered now.
The Athena counselor began to make his way up the hill towards the big house, when he heard some shouting in a different tone to the rest of the camp's ambience. Looking up, he saw one of the Camp's fleece guards gesturing to his compatriot, and pointing towards the unprotected side of the hill, before raising his shield. Alex knew that something troubling was happening. Drawing his bow, he ran up the hill to assist in whatever was happening.