Chapter 10: Luke I A.K.A the lamb being led to slaughter
He was a demigod. Somebody that held in their veins powers over reality itself. Somebody that had in their make-up both mortality and divinity. It made the other demigods and him stronger, faster, smarter than most mortals.
They were children of gods and were sleeping on the floor of an overcrowded cabin. Children no more than ten sleeping in conditions more similar to beggars than Gods.
Children that were unclaimed, abandoned. Children that were not seen as worthy of being recognizedby their parents.
The life of a demigod was one full of suffering. Death, suffering and pain waited at every corner. Monsters that were most of the time created by their parents directly or indirectly smelled them the way bears did with honey and slaughtered demigods like cattle.
Most demigods died before their teenage years begging the world, and their parents for life, for help, something that never came.
How was it fair? How was it just? Why were things like this? Luke knew that they could easily be better if the gods cared about their children.
The truth was that the gods didn't care about them. They only saw them as playthings, little toys that they could play with until they break and that was when they thought a demigod of theirs worthy to exist.
He stood up from his bunk bed. On the side of his bed was sleeping uncomfortably a girl no more than seven years old. There were dried tears on her face. A girl that probably had no choice other than coming to camp half-blood. A child that probably lost everything and even in what was supposed to be a haven for her suffered instead of being cared for as she should.
He took her in his arms and put her in the empty spot where he had slept not a minute ago. He hoped that she would feel more comfortable.
Luke looked around him and saw etched on most of the sleeping faces discomfort. It made Luke want to scream.
He took steps to leave the cabin. He needed fresh air. He needed to take time to calm himself and watch the plight of the other demigods, his family wouldn't help.
His arm near the door was held in a tight grip. The one that had stopped him was an unclaimed demigod. He was ten years old named Anthony and had been at camp for a year and a half. He shared some of his features with Clarisse and had an instinctual knowledge of how to use to perfectly use a weapon.
It made evident who his divine parent was. Everyone knew it and yet he slept unclaimed in an overcrowded cabin because he was in the eyes of the god of war not worthy or exceptional enough to be claimed.
Anthony had come to half-blood camp scared, and alone. He had been distrustful toward them and was reacting to every situation with anger.
He had been plunged into a world where the worst nightmares, nightmares that were unimaginable existed. The only reason why he had been able to reach camp was by the sacrifice of his mom. A hellhound had tried to bite him but he had been pushed by his mother away from the attack. The hellhound had missed Anthony but hadn't missed his mother. Her head had been removed from her body by the jaws of the monster. It had saved Anthony and allowed him to reach camp but he had been broken forever.
Luke had been the one to try to create a connexion between the two of them. He knew what he felt to face monsters beyond humanity and survive. He saw with his own eyes what those monsters were capable of. He knew that deep inside him, Anthony had felt alone and scared.
He did everything to make things more bearable for the younger demigod. He included the demigod in all his activities. He used the drachma he had been able to steal of gain to buy things for Anthony.
The young demigod had always answered his actions with anger and scorn yet Luke had continued. One day, the demigod had after a sword spar asked "Why?" He had asked him why was Luke still there when he did everything to push him back. Why was Luke kind to him? Why had Luke cared when his own father didn't?"
"Because we're a family" Luke had replied "and family is supposed to take care of each other."
The youngest demigod had busted in tears. Luke had hugged Anthony until he had fallen asleep exhausted. Demigods were more than toys like their parents saw them. They were persons, with feelings, hopes, dreams and aspirations of their own. They were brought to a cruel world that since their birth wanted them to suffer because of the sins of their parents.
Luke shouldn't have been the one to do this. Ares should have been the one there consoling his child but the god was probably whoring around not caring about the suffering of one of his children.
If Ares had cared, Anthony's mom would still be alive. If Ares had cared, he would have claimed Anthony. If Ares had cared, none of his children would be living in cabins inside a child soldier training camp because this is what was camp half-blood. The things they were taught were fighting, surviving, obey the gods. Luke wanted Greek demigods to not survive. He wanted instead them to live and thrive.
To the mortals, Camp Half-Blood was a summer camp and if it had only been this, it would have been fine but summer camp wasn't supposed to be eternal.
The only parental figure they had was Chiron that was fine with not even trying to change the status quo. Demigods were so emotionally starved, so full of different traumas that most of them saw honoring or being recognized by their parents as more important than their own lives. Luke knew this because he had been in the past like this too.
The camp felt more like an inescapable prison than a home. Luke loved the campers, his family and was forever grateful to have met them. He was glad to have known Silena that looked like the most superficial person yet was one of the kindest person he had ever met in the world. He was glad to have met Alabaster who he considered as his brother and whom Luke knew would always support him. He was glad to have met Ethan that believed the same things that Luke did, that the world should change. It was with Ethan that he had some of his deepest conversations.
He loved so many of them but he would have preferred if he could have never met them because Luke Castellan having met them meant that they had suffered because of the world which made them go to Camp Half-Blood.
He was brought out of his mind "Where are you going" Anthony whispered.
"Just taking a midnight stroll" he answered softly.
"It's dangerous," Anthony said.
"I'll be careful. I promised you after all that I'll always be back. You won't get rid of me for a long time. Only when you will be 90 years, have lived a wonderful and long life and are bored of me that I will leave. Have I ever lied to you?"
The boy shook his head"No, you never have".
"Try to sleep Tony, I'll be back soon. I pinky swear." Luke said to the younger demigod. Luke put his only finger forward.
Anthony crossed Luke's finger with his. The younger demigod yawned. "You need to sleep". Luke kissed the crown of his head.
The demigod nodded and began to drift back to the realm of Hypnos. Luke made under his breath a prayer to the god to give the demigod sweet dreams.
He left the cabin that was named in honor of his father. Thinking about him put Luke in an even fooler mood. Except for Annabeth and Thalia, no one knew that Luke had been raised personally during his childhood by both his parents. Hermes had always been there for him. Sure he knew that his father was different from all the other fathers but he had seen his father as only his father. Hermes was the one that drove him to school. Hermes was the one that picked him up from school. Hermes had been the one that read to Luke before sleeping bed night stories. Hermes had been the only one who had cried when Luke had scratched himself on a street while running.
This perfect Hermes, this perfect father that Luke had admired, and adored had been a lie all this time. He had one day left for an important meeting with May Castellan, Luke's mother. He had come back with someone that Luke could not call his mother because his mother would have never frightened him, and would have never hurt him. The day after they came back, Hermes had left.
Luke had searched for him everywhere he had been able to think of. He had gone from house to house. He had found no one. He had waited with dried tears all night until dawn before their house with the screams and ominous emerald glows from the eyes of his mother that didn't seem to still be his mother inside the house hoping that he would come back.
He hadn't. From then until he ran from their houses could only be described as hellish Luke thought. It had taken time for Luke to realize that he had lost both of his parents. His father was gone and his mother had gone mad. When she had what Luke called fits of madness, his mother was sprouting ominous and scary words about Luke's future when she sometimes unwittingly hurt him. When she came back to her senses, she was almost lifeless like a doll. Luke had to become her caretaker or she would have died. She probably would have died after him leaving if Hermes didn't seem to care for her in a twisted way Luke could not understand. After all, you didn't leave someone you loved especially when they were hurting.
Some rare times, the old her would resurge and she would try to make herself forgiven through overcooked homemade cookies. Those cookies had been the reason why Luke had persevered. It had meant for him that there was a chance of him getting at least his mother back. The overcooked homemade cookies were unfortunately made less and less until they were not anymore.
Luke had been taking care of his mother from seven years old to nine where it had become unbearable. He had realized that day by watching the unnatural voice of his mom, the emerald smokey glow of her eyes that he had lost his mom, that he was an orphan, that the only one that could and would take care of Luke Castellan was him.
He had escaped what was his home to face the cruel world. Before meeting Thalia and Annabeth, it had been Luke alone against the world.
He had been at the beginning naive. He had thought that he could trust mortals and almost perished because of his trust. The first time, he had trusted the police. They had told him at the police department that things would be better, that he was brave. The chief of the police had been an Empousa. He had been lucky to survive. He had used a gun that he had stolen from a police officer to try to hurt her. The bullets had slid on her as if they were droplets of water.
He may have not hurt him but it had been enough to flood her office with police officers which allowed him to escape from her.
Another time, it had been because of a woman that was probably at that time in her thirties like Luke's mom. She had found the sleeping spot of Luke on the streets. She had brought him each day money or food. She had paid for Luke's winter clothes to prevent him from freezing to death. Luke had known her for 3 months. One day, she proposed to Luke for him to come leaving with her. Luke had trusted her, saw her as a mother figure and accepted her proposal.
Nothing bad happened the first week. Luke could even admit that it was one of the best moments of his life. One day, while they were eating, he felt lightheaded. He hadn't paid much mind to it when he should have. He had woken chained to a bed with her looming over him. She had told him that she had drugged him, that she had been kind to Luke because of how he was beautiful. She had told him that she loved him more than he could imagine. She said that she had wanted to make Luke hers forever.
What had allowed Luke to escape had been the demigod powers inherited from his father. He had telekinetically used his powers to unlock the chains while she had her back turned.
Luke had taken a bottle of what seemed to be wine from the side of the bed he had been chained to and had knocked her out. He had run until he couldn't feel his legs anymore. He had run until he had fallen face down on the ground. Luke should have learnt after the second time that he could not count on mortals but he didn't.
The third time had been because of mortals teenagers. They had found one of Luke's hiding spots. They had seen him shivering in the cold, trying to survive, clinging to life.
They had tried to help him. Luke had refused. He wasn't lying when he said that he had been similar to Anthony in the past.
They have continued to try to help and talk to him. Each day, they would come to him with food, clothes, and basic necessities. Luke had been disheartened by the things that had previously befallen him so he had been careful when dealing with them.
Luke would have probably never warmed up to them if they hadn't saved his life. Luke had been staying for too long in the same spot. A monster, a harpy had been able to track him.
Luke was a child without a weapon against a supernatural creature probably older than the united states. The creature had toyed with him. Each failed attack or escape was rewarded with a cut. The harpy had wanted him to bleed him out. The harpy had wanted Luke to know that it would be his end and that nothing could be done to change that fact.
What saved him had been the group of teenagers. They had been able to by some miracle bypass the compulsion of the mist. They had seen the monster in its true form and had tried to fight him, to protect Luke.
They were mortals. None of The things they did worked. The only reason the monster had lost was because the monster had been distracted, had stopped paying attention to Luke and had used the occasion to take the creature in a hard chokehold. He had in a feat of strength that even today he couldn't completely replicate wretched the head of the monster from its shoulders.
He had expected to see fear or hatred in the eyes of the teenagers. There was instead admiration. They admired Luke and it has made Luke feel warm inside.
They had asked Luke about everything he knew, everything he faced and Luke had told them. The teenagers continued to come day after day. Luke had thought at that moment that he had maybe found another family. He hadn't.
Emotions in mortals come and go. They change at the drop of a hat. It could be said that mortals were more mercurial than Gods themselves.
The admiration they had for Luke began unknowingly to turn into jealousy. They had one day told Luke that they wishes they had been at his place. That Luke was like a real-life superhero.
It had angered Luke to no end. Luke would have given up everything they wanted that he had if it could have given him back the family that he had lost. It had turned into an argument, words that they never said but probably always thought of were spewed at him.
They had left angry. Maybe things would have been better the day after when heads would be cool down. Luke would never know. He had left early the morning after.
Luke had learned what he was and his place in the divine world through the words of monsters, nymphs, dryads and naiads. He had learnt from them that Luke's father, Hermes was alive, that he was an immortal and all-powerful god. It meant that Hermes had left because he had probably one day stopped caring.
He had to fend off child traffickers, the mortal police, and monsters disguised as figures of high authority in mortal institutions. The world itself had been Luke's enemy.
The god it was said had more than hundreds of demigods in the last century. Luke was just one of them. Maybe the god had cared but he didn't anymore.
He had met first Thalia. She had been like him. She has come from a dysfunctional home. Her father, who was Zeus which made Thalia( he didn't like to think about it) his aunt had left Thalia and her mother Beryl Grace. Due to the loss of the man she loved, she had become a drug addict. Thalia lost her mother the first time Beryl took a pill.
They had survived together. They had sometimes to scavenge in trash bins sometimes for food. They mostly slept outside and rarely in buildings. People would say that nothing had truly changed when it actually did.
They weren't alone anymore and it changed everything. Luke wasn't only fighting for Luke now. Thalia was not fighting only for Thalia. They were fighting for both Luke and Thalia. They knew that they depended on each other now. They knew that they were the only ones able to make each other survive, that the other counted on them and it made them stronger than the simple addition of their strength.
Annabeth had joined them later. They had not been the perfect illustration of a family but they had considered what they had good enough for them.
At some point, while they were fighting against a monster, Thalia got injured and Luke and Annabeth wanted to rest. The smell of three demigods meant more monsters or stronger monsters. Given the situation, Luke took the girls to his mother's house to heal their wounds. When they approached the house, a loud voice had boomed above: "You shouldn't have returned", but it hadn't mattered to Luke. Only Thalia's injury did at that time. There, Luke finally met his father, Hermes, for the first time since he had abandoned Luke and his mother. Luke had been angry and resentful and had demanded to know why Hermes had never shown up when Luke had desperately prayed while he hid from his mother when she had fits, or when they were running from monsters.
The god had looked at Luke and had dared to say in a sad tone that it was because he couldn't but that he loved Luke and always listened to Luke's prayers to him. He had told him that if he could, Luke neither May would have suffered. Hermes was literally an Olympian god, one of the strongest. Except for his father, no one had direct authority over him. Was he saying that Zeus himself was the one of forbid Hermes from helping? Did he really think that Luke was this dumb?
Luke had stormed off after tending to Thalia's injury. What kind of justification was that? He was rejoined later by Thalia and Annabeth. They didn't ask him what happened what they saw him. They didn't ask why he left so abruptly. They just hugged him.
Things for a moment went back to what they saw as their everyday. They fought, stole, escaped and scavenged to survive. It wasn't easy but it was something they were used to accomplish.
Their new normal didn't unfortunately last long. Hades, the lord of the Underworld had learned about Thalia's existence. The three sons of Kronos and Rhea had sworn an oath of not bringing to the world demigods of theirs. It had been because it was said that they were too dangerous, too much of a threat to the status quo and the lives of mortals. Children of the big three had been the reason why the world wars had been so disastrous and destructive.
Dozen of Millions had died directly or indirectly because of the actions of the children of Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. Hades had unleashed his wrath and all the monstrous abominations on the daughter of Zeus.
It would have been the smart thing to leave Thalia with Annabeth at his side. It would have made it infinitely easier for the two demigods but they were family and family stuck together through everything be it good or bad things.
They had been found by Grover that had tried to lead them safely to camp. They hadn't been so lucky. The monsters had smelled and were after them thirsty and hungry for demigod blood and flesh. Each moment on the road to Camp half blood had been one that could have been their last.
They had to fight at every moment to earn the possibility to survive. They had almost made it to Camp when they had been caught up by the most dangerous monsters.
Luke had been weak. He had been unable to help, he had been unable to protect Thalia. She had sacrificed herself to make sure that they would reach camp. Thalia wanted to live. Thalia that wanted to experience the most exceptional thing in the world was denied her dream. She had told him once while they were looking at the starry sky, Annabeth sleeping between them that what she wished the most was to be free. She had wanted to be free from the monsters, the run, from the nightmares and marks left in her psyche by her parents. She wanted a world she had said where Annabeth, Luke and her could be happy together.
He had told her that he would make sure that one day, her dreams would come true. He had under the night sky promised to create a world where children wouldn't have to fear for their lives, a world where demigods wouldn't have to fear being killed by monsters, and a world where they could be forever happy.
She had laughed at his answer. She had called him sappy yet she had intertwined at that moment her fingers with his. They had fallen asleep like that this night. Luke had broken his promise. He had let his best friend, his family die before his eyes.
The still-warm corpse of Thalia had been turned into a pine tree. It had been said that Zeus had done it because he didn't want the soul of his demigod to suffer forever in the underworld at the hands of his brother. The pine tree had created a barrier that made monsters unable to cross unless they were explicitly invited in.
The death of Thalia broke Luke even more. He had lost his family again and again. Each time that Luke walked into the camp, he saw the corpse of his friend. Each time that he saw the tree, it made him remember how Thalia had died.
Worse than Thalia being dead, the demigods were praising Zeus. Those demigods praising Zeus had been the same ones that could have helped but didn't. If they had helped, maybe Thalia wouldn't have died, and maybe a part of Luke wouldn't have died too with her.
Fortunately, the demigod that could have helped them didn't have died going to quests or outside camp. It made things easier for Luke. Luke did not have to bathe his hands in their blood.
Luke had almost given up. The reason that he had that had stopped him at first, that had pushed him even with his grief to continue had been Annabeth. Luke knew what it was to lose both parents. He couldn't do the same with Annabeth. Luke had pushed all his despair and anger inside. He would allow himself to be able to feel only after Annabeth was taken care of.
He was at the beginning only with Annabeth and little by little, it became to englobe all camp. They all were alike. Their experiences if they weren't the same ones rhymed with each other. Luke being one year and a half at camp made him the eldest of them. No demigod had lived since the beginning of the modern era for more than two decades.
No one amongst the demigods expected a happy ending and Luke wanted to desperately change it. He wanted them to be able to imagine for themselves a bright future, one they would be happy.
He may have failed Thalia but he wouldn't fail them. Thalia had talked of a world where they could be free, Annabeth, Luke and her. He will make the dream real but for all the half-bloods.
He had at first tried by petitioning the Olympians, the patrons of the half-blood camp. He did Everything he could think of. He prayed but they didn't answer. He sacrificed more and sometimes all of his food to them but they didn't answer. He wrote letters to the address of the god. The letters were not answered. He asked for the help of Mr D that should have understood but the god was a jaded one.
He had said that all the things Luke was doing were useless and that he should stop. Luke didn't listen. He continued with resolve and desperation in his heart.
He sneaked out of the camp to find monsters or creatures to sacrifice or slay in the name of the gods. He sacrificed the body parts of dangerous monsters but he wasn't answered to.
One day, he had enough. He had done everything that he had thought could help but none of those things had worked. It had crushed Luke. How could he care about the camp, his family and not be able to do anything to help them?
He had in anger at that moment punched through a rock on the beach he was at. The same miraculous strength that had helped him to survive once and that he had never been able to access since had resurfaced briefly.
The rock had been atomized but Luke unlike the last time hadn't been left without backlash. It had made spill on the sand under him his blood from a little cut. He had an epiphany at that moment. The greatest sacrifice that Luke could make for the camp was Luke himself. Blood had power and Like had in his veins the divine Ichor of one of the Olympians.
He had that night lit up a Brazier and with a knife had tried to offer his blood to whoever divinity would help the demigods. At the moment of the act, he had been stopped by none other than his father.
It was the first and only time that Luke had seen anger etched on the features of his father. Hermes had screamed at Luke calling him stupid and naive. He had told him that Luke would commit the greatest folly possible, that with Luke's blood, anyone with mystic knowledge could manipulate him or worse.
The shock had left Luke's body at that moment and had been replaced by anger. He had screamed back at his father that he knew what it would mean but that he didn't care as long as it helped his family, the demigods of the half-blood camp, children that no one cared about when their parents were Gods.
He had told Hermes that he could have done something, that he was an Olympian god but he didn't care. Hermes answered that he did care, that it was just complicated but that he really cared but how could Luke believe him when one of the children that was unclaimed in the Hermes cabin shared the same features that all of the children of Hermes had?
The god's anger had morphed into sadness, the same sadness he ever had when looking at Luke since he had left their home when May had become inflicted with madness. Luke could see the god trying to say something, find a sentence to express something that only he could understand but Luke had stopped caring about Hermes for a long time. He left Hermes that night alone with words never said.
The day after, it was announced that a quest had been issued by Hermes personally to Luke. Luke was supposed to steal a golden apple from the garden of the Hesperides, a garden that was the property of the queen of the Olympian gods. It was the same quest that Heracles had already done.
What was the point of him repeating a quest that was already done? What was the glory of it? What would it bring to the camp or Luke?
He had wanted to refuse but he didn't because it would have been impossible. Demigods were supposed to be the tools, the soldiers, the playthings of the gods. Refusing a quest from a god, an Olympian god even if he was Luke's father would bring bad consequences and Luke feared that he wouldn't be the only one to pay.
He had accepted the quest alone. He had fought on his lonesome against monsters and Luke had thrived. Adrenaline had permitted his body. Every action he was making was one perfectly calculated. Luke had felt alive for the first time since Thalia's death. He wasn't a weak child anymore that could be bullied around by supernatural creatures.
He fought on his way to the garden mortals, monsters, nature spirits and even a minor god and Luke had never been forced to back down. He had thrown himself with abandon to each obstacle and broke through them. Things had gone wrong when Luke finally acceded to the garden.
Ladon, the creature guarding the tree from which sprang from the golden apples was unlike everything Luke had ever fought or seen in all his life. That thing shouldn't be called a monster. It would be like comparing a matchstick and the sun. All the monsters he had met before were mere embers but that thing was like the sun itself. It was deadly and dangerous and just its presence impacted the world.
Luke had been scared by its presence. He had been back to being the child hiding from his mad mother in a pantry. The thing with a movement of one of its claws almost killed Luke. It wasn't a fight where Luke could with luck, strength or skill win. It was a fight against the world, against the inevitability of death.
Luke had miraculously been able to dodge. It hadn't been enough for Luke enough to come out unscathed. He felt sweaty as if he was running a fever. His limbs shook and Luke had to force himself to not let go of his weapon.
The beast with each movement liberated what seemed to be a miasma that corroded matter. Everything around Luke has become rotten. What had looked like a beautiful garden was replaced with ashes and dust.
Each breath that Luke was taking was one that was labored. He could feel death waiting at his side. Power and strength surged from him, from an unknown part to try to make him survive longer.
With a dash, Luke had sent himself flying toward the unearthly beast. His celestial bronze sword gleamed golden in the light.
Luke used it to adjust his course. He could see the gaze of the creature following all of his actions. Luke's newfound speed would not help him. Luke was like an ant trying to fight the sky itself. He knew he could not win but he wasn't there in the garden to fight.
His goal in the garden was one of the golden apples. He waited until he saw the tell tales of a movement from the monster. When he saw it, he threw with strength his sword into the ground. He used it as a support to change his trajectory.
His heel entered into contact with the top of the handle of the sword. The sword began to sink into the ground like butter. Craters began to form slowly in Luke's vision around the sword.
With a push, Luke changed his trajectory. The place he was turned to nothing by a breath of the monster.
Luke put one of his arms forward. The golden apple was an air breath away from Luke's hand.
Alas, Luke had at that moment forgotten something, something vital. The monster had more that could be the end of Luke than his frightening appearance, his toxic breath, and his numerous dragon heads. He had a tail with what looked like claws on it that looked more like sharpened swords than anything.
The creature with a movement had sent his tail hurling at Luke. Luke had tried to dodge by spinning on his right side. He wasn't able to dodge completely.
His quick thinking had allowed him to survive but the monster had struck true. Luke had felt on his face warm blood, his blood. There was stuck on the side of Luke one of the claw-like structures of the monster. Luke had watched at that moment the face of the monster and had seen amusement.
All this time Luke had been alive not because he had briefly outsmarted the thing but because the monster had found it funny.
Luke had seen in the many eyes of Ladon his own reflection, the reflection of a scared child trying to force himself to breathe, that had realized that he would probably soon die.
Instinct had taken over Luke. He had done what he had always done since childhood when he was scared. Luke had run like a coward. Luke Castellan had failed and tried to run from death.
Maybe it was luck, maybe the monster had seen it as too low for him to end Luke but Luke had escaped the Garden of the Hesperides.
He had fallen unconscious outside of it poison running through his veins and all the ambrosia and the nectar he had left in his back that was remaining in the garden of the Hesperides.
It should have been his end. Luke Castellan should have gone to the realm of Hades with bitterness and disappointment as most demigods and mortals did.
He had awoken instead at the infirmary of camp Half-blood surrounded by sleeping demigods all around him. The claw that had been stuck on his face was now positioned at his bedside. He had been brought dying it was said into the crying arms of Hermes himself. He would have died if Apollo hadn't come himself to make sure the poison would not destroy him at the demand of his father.
Luke Castellan had failed and because of his failure had Quests banned. Even though they were dangerous and something that any demigod should never have to do before adulthood Luke thought, other demigods begged for them because it was for them one of the only ways to make their parents proud of them. Luke had expected anger. Instead, he had received pity as if he was forever crippled.
Luke had felt alone, weak, and vulnerable. It was at that moment that in his dreams, Kronos had found come to him. He knew everything about Luke. He knew of his anger, his hatred for the gods and their unwillingness to improve the living conditions of their children. He saw in Luke a desire for change and capitalized on it.
They made an oath, the two of them. They agreed to end the Olympian order, to change this world rules by indolent and apathetic gods. They swore to make a better world for the denizens of camp half-blood.
Luke had found his way to change things but change could truly never be done by one person even with the backing he had. What made an ideal succeed, live on, and be immortal was it being shared, being upheld by many.
In case they failed, Luke wanted his ideas to live on. He began to pay attention to the demigods, especially those that harboured inside of them anger and hatred towards the gods and found plenty of them.
He began to reunite them, to make a group that will make sure that no demigod would be facing the Titans or fighting amongst the Olympians.
He waited and plotted for years for the future war. He created contacts both in the mortal and the divine world. He collected and search for mystical knowledge and weapons that would help his cause.
One day, the opportunity was awarded to Luke. It was the time of the year of the annual visit of Camp half blood to Olympus. He knew that in their stronghold, the god was much more inattentive about what they saw below them. For them, nothing could happen to them in Olympus.
It was because of this reason that both Hades and Zeus had left unguarded on their throne room their symbols of power. It had been so easy for Luke. It would have been harder to steal candy from a baby.
He had almost succeeded in his heist when he was found by Ares in an artificial realm created by sorcerers the size of Chicago hidden from the eyes of the Olympian gods. The god of war had been strong. Luke could not deny it but the god was not stronger than Luke. The god and Luke had clashed. The demigod status of Luke hadn't mattered.
Even when the god had removed his mortal skin to face Luke, Luke still had been able to keep up for a while with the god. Luke through his research into sorcery and the growth of his powers that he could access at will had found a way to look at the god's divine form and not die. It was a sight that was unforgettable, that was etched in Luke's mind.
Watching the divine form of Ares had been watching war itself. It had been experiencing and watching all the atrocities and slaughters made in wars by both mortals and immortals.
Luke would have died if not for the words whispered to him by the crooked ones. He had told him with honeyed words that if the Master Bolt was successfully stolen, there would be a full-scale war.
The look the god had given him was one that had been told Christmas came early. It was known that by his nature, Ares was a warmonger but it shouldn't have been so easy to convince him. Luke had realized that the Titan king even if still trapped and cut in many parts in Tartarus had been able to influence the god to make him accept something he normally would not.
The god even if he accepted the proposal still took the weapons and left. The Titan king to punish Luke had tormented him in the sleeping world. Luke hadn't fought it.
Even though it had hurt, Kronos was the only way for now that Luke had to change things. Kronos may have made an oath with Kronos and he knew that he could trust the Titan to go against Olympus but to help improve the lives of the demigods, Luke wasn't sure of it.
Luke didn't trust him. Kronos was the father of the Olympian gods and they had inherited their cruelty from him. He will let the Titan think Luke trusted him. He would do everything ordered by it. He will learn little by little all that has to be learnt from the Titan and his allies and when the time will be right when the Titan will have done what Luke wanted, Luke would eliminate him.
Olympus exploded into Chaos after Luke's robbery. There was war brewing, one between the heavens and the oceans. It was found that Poseidon had sired at his turn like his younger brother had in the past a half-blood child and luckily for Luke, the demigod lived in the same city as Olympus. A War between the Olympians will no matter who wins weaken them, something that will help Luke's cause.
When Luke was sleeping, he was told in a dream from Kronos that soon, the demigod would come to the haven of the demigods and become another camper. This demigod would be coming to camp half-blood and will be someone who would willingly but unknowingly take the stolen weapons of the gods down to Tartarus, therefore, ensuring that there would be a war and that there would not be a chance of reconciliation between the Olympians.
The demigod had come not long after at camp half blood. He had been escorted by Grover. No, it was wrong to say it like that. It would be more accurate to say that the demigod had escorted himself to the camp because he was carrying on his shoulders an unconscious satyr. Grover always failed to do what should be done. The mother of the demigod named Percy had died before the eyes of the child. Luke felt pity and empathy for the young demigod Percy.
He also felt guilt. No one knew but if Luke had not stolen the bolt, Percy would have probably been right now with an alive mother and not worrying about matters of the divine world but it was impossible to change things without sacrifices. When it will all be finished, when Luke will succeed, he will let the younger demigod run through him if he wanted with his blade.
He was shaken out of his thought by the sound of giggling naiads. He had walked from Hermes cabin to the lake. He put his right hand before him like in a gesture done when receiving a gift. In the air, a black fracture materialized. From the dark rift came out a mini Greek jar. On the jar were drawn images of demons fighting angels.
"Luke Castellan himself. I hope that you had not forgotten. It would be a shame if the director and Chiron learned that you went past curfew" One of the beautiful naiad said.
"I don't break promises" Luke answered. He poured the content of the jar into the body of water. "Nectar like promised".
The naiads shivered as if ecstasy had been poured straight into their veins. From their mouths came sounds that could not be called kid friendly.
"You never disappoint Luke Castellan. It's a shame you have not joined us once when asked." She batted her eyes at him" Don't you find us beautiful?"
"Few could compare to any of you in beauty. You're all proof by your existence and the features you possess that perfection exists. I just don't want to." Luke answered.
"Well it is what it is" The naiad shrugged "but in case you change your opinion. Come to us".
"I will. Just not today" Luke answered. The sea nymphs lost shape and disappeared into the lake leaving Luke alone.
Luke sighed. Dealing with naiads or any supernatural beings became sometimes exhausting when they either wanted to hurt Luke, Kill him, jump his bones or all the above at the same time. He wasn't oblivious to the looks he received from others. He just found it easier and better to ignore them. Luke was not sure that he could enter an authentic and healthy relationship as long as he didn't realize his goals and stopped in his head thinking of blue electric eyes and raven hair.
He sat on the bank of the lake. Luke was not a good person and probably deserved everything that ever happened to him. His plans would hurt and end the lives of countless people. He had let Annabeth, his own sister go on a quest destined to fail. He had begged her to stay at camp with him. She had seen it as him not believing in her, in her capabilities. She did not understand that she was going to her own demise.
Annabeth will probably die due to a quest that was Luke's fault. Luke would probably be the cause of the death of another of his loved ones. The only thing that Luke did was make mistakes. He made mistakes that caused Thalia's death and him being unable to forbid Annabeth from the quest was another one but soon, he will be correcting all of them.
He will after destroying the current world order bring back to life all the demigods that suffered directly or indirectly because of the gods or Luke's plan.
Luke will have all eternity to repair his family. He was doing it for them and he was sure that one day, they will understand.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
allen1996
allen1996 A fun fact and a little question. Luke means “bright one,” “bringer of light,” and “light of the sacred flame. Castellan can mean governor or warden of a fort or a castle. It means that Luke Castellan of half-blood camp literally means governor of half-blood camp, the light bringer. The question is do y’all think Luke was wrong?
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