Ashton Faith

Ashton Faith (nicknamed Ash for short) is a son of Pisteuo and the main character of the Rise of the Great Guardian series.

History
Ashton Faith grew up in Albany with his mother. After Pisteuo was forced to leave his mother, they lived with Ash's grandparents for about six year until his mom found her own place to live. It was his Grandpa Don that taught Ash how to play chess, but Ash was never able to beat him. Ash had few friends growing up, as they tended to think he was weird and because of his developing demigod powers, this would cause him to isolate himself from others. One of his only friends was Jackson Phrostily, who he met in 2nd grade.

Ash was claimed on his thirteenth birthday. After the party was over and everyone left or was asleep, his father appeared before him and claimed him as his own. He explained he was a demigod and what that meant. Ash pretty much had no choice but to believe Pisteuo as the god explained that Ash's abilities had been developing for years. Pisteuo also explained how he was a relatively new god, which was why he isn't mentioned in mythology. Before he left, he suggested going to Camp Half-Blood, but Ash declined.

Over the next few years, Ash would generally join the camper of Camp Half-Blood on their trips to Olympus because it was the only time that Ash could really talk to his Olympian father. Even surrounded by other demigods like himself, Pisteuo didn't have any other children and Ash would continue to isolate himself from the others.

To Disturb the Harmony
During the trip to Olympus on the Winter Solstice, Ash runs across a girl named Aisling Swift, a hyperactive girl who almost got left behind of running late. Ash tries to distance himself from her, but she keeps finding her way back to him. Eventually, the visit is cut short as a huge storm rolls in and Olympus is struck by lightning. Aisling thinks she sees a girl trapped in one of the buildings and drags Ash along. Ash does indeed find a girl in the fire, who has no memory of her past, and they take her back to camp. She eventually introduces herself to them as Kimi.

Soon after, the campfire turns to water and the Oracle says a prophecy, claiming that the elements are in a state of unrest and that whoever can claim the sword will lead the quest to find out why. After the prophecy, a sword lands in the earth and no one can pull it out. That night, Ash is attacked by a small Nemean Lion and pulls the sword out on instinct. He is able to fend it off, but it turns out it was only playing with him and the cat belongs to Aisling. Because Ash pulled the sword from the ground, Aisling is quick to show Chiron and he declares a quest. Aisling volunteers herself and Kimi also agrees to go along.

The quest takes Ash all the way to the Grand Canyon, where it is discovered that the Earth Elemental is waiting for him. It is also discovered that a man known as the Collector is trying to capture the Elementals to add to his collection of Greek artifacts. The Earth Elemental explains to Ash that normally the four elements live in harmony, but Fire had been taken and the other Elementals hare fighting for territory. The only way to calm them is by collecting the four Elemental Spheres and calling forth the Great Guardian. As a sign of peace, the Earth Elemental offers Ash the Earth Sphere, which merges with his sword. Ash then leaves and is confronted by the Collector, who shoots a stream of fire at the group. The power of the Fire Elemental reacts to Ash's own type of fire and she shows him how she was captured, also showing that Kimi is really just a part of her. Ash then manages to damage the Collector's ship with some help from Kimi and they return to camp.

The Beast of the Sea
Not willing to take on the responsibilities of collecting the Elemental Spheres, Ash returns home for the school year, leaving behind Camp Half-Blood, as well as Kimi and Aisling. However, on his last day of school he is attacked by Joseph Mierek, a son of Zeus. While Ash is unsure of what he did to make Joseph so mad, Joe easily defeats him in combat and drags him all the way back to Camp Half-Blood. When Ash returns, he learns that Chiron has sent other questers out to try and find the Elemental Sphere of Water, which is in the Sea of Monsters. However, every quest has ended in failure and the demigods who left never come back. After a Capture the Flag match were Ash is attacked by the Water Elemental, the Oracle appears and gives a prophecy to both Ash and Joe, calling Ash the one who ran away and Joe the one that didn't listen to her warnings. In truth, Joe was actually an adult, but was plunged into the Fountain of Youth and is now a teenager.

Ash is forced to go on the quest and is helped by a water nymph named Angel, Joe, and a daughter of Poseidon named Eleanor Clatter. Before leaving, he runs into Kimi and finds that she as been having horrible nightmares (due to the unrest of the Elementals). Ash manages to calm her down before leaving. Once inside the Sea of Monsters, their ship is attacked by the pirate Blackbeard and El is captured, but allows the others to escape. Ash then heads to a forge in the Sea of Monsters owned by Hephaestus and asks the god for a new boat, which he does in exchange for Ash finding a control disk for one of his machines. They search, but find it had been stolen by one of Blackbeard's pirates, a girl named Sayuri that is one of the missing demigods and Angel's friends. They defeat her, but she gets away. Ash brings the disk back and Hephaestus makes a new ship.

The Water Elemental later appears before Ash and leads him to Circe's Island with the promise of her sphere if he succeeds. On the way to the island, Ash volunteers to be tied to the mast in order to pass the Sirens. While tied up, he has visions of his friends insulting him and learns is Fatal Flaw is Fear. During the vision, a darker version of himself appears and kills the Sirens in the vision, causing them to flee and releasing Ash from the spell.

While on the island, Ash frees Circe and her maidens in exchange for them never turning visitors into animals (unless they deserve it) and turning Joe to his proper age. He also learns that Blackbeard had made a deal with the Collector, as well as Blackbeard having the Water Sphere. Circe then prepares to fight off Blackbeard and his crew, which consist of demigods that Blackbeard filled with anger and blood lust and converted to his crew. Ash helps fight off the pirates and follows El as Blackbeard tried to escape. Joe and Angel follow as Ash and El fight Blackbeard. When El is stabbed while protecting Ash, Ash's anger explodes, releasing a side of him that has no remorse or mercy and almost kills Blackbeard. He comes to his senses however and continues the fight will Blackbeard. The fight ends when Blackbeard is about to kill Ash, but the Sirens lure Blackbeard away and kill him (Ash had pond scum in his ears and couldn't hear the Sirens). The Water Elemental gives her sphere to Ash and it merges with his sword like the Earth Sphere did. El is also healed by Angel. Ash then returns to Camp Half-Blood and decided to stay all year to train, taking responsibility for collecting the spheres. He also asks El and Joe to train him, which they agree too.

Splitting a Soul
In Progress...

Personality
Ash is very reserved and somewhat serious. He has a hard time getting along with new people, mostly because of bad experiences as a child. He also doesn't like to be the center of attention, leading him to feel uneasy when people look to him. However, once he makes friends he tends to open up a bit more, but is still very secretive about his personal life, not even telling Kimi a lot about his family.

Fatal Flaw
Ash's fatal flaw is fear. He fears that his friends will turn away from him or turn their backs on him, leading him to isolate himself from others for this reason. He is also scared of responsibility, initially letting others search for the spheres. However, when he saw the consequences of doing so, he decided to be more responsible.

Appearance
Ashton tends to stick with T-shirts and jeans. He doesn't really like the cold, so in the winter he dresses in heavier jackets and sometimes, two pairs of sicks. As far as looks, he stands at about 5'9 and has a slim build. His skin is mostly pail as he tried to spend a lot of time indoors. He has dark black hair that is somewhat long, sometimes covering his eyes. His eyes are a light blue, something that he shares with his father.

Demigod Abilities
Because of the nature of his father's realm of power, Ash's abilities are somewhat abstract.

Belief Influence: Ash's main ability. With this, he can influence the properties of certain objects, but only if he believes heavily enough and concentrates. This ability manifests itself in the form of blue fire. It is harmless against most enemies, but it can be used in other ways. His abilities have been known to:
 * Change the temperature of objects (making an incredibly hot door colder)
 * Change density (making strong objects as hard as paper, or vise versa)
 * Some influence over people. While he doesn't like to use this, sometimes his powers are able to calm people.

Belief Sensitivity: Ash is also somewhat sensitive to what others think of him and their thought in general. While he can't read minds, what others think of him can affect how he thinks of himself, even if he doesn't know he is doing it. If for example, he believes he is unable to do something, his odds of doing anything successfully greatly decreases. If he believes in himself or others, the odds of success increase as well.

Greek Fire: When tapping into his darker personality (see below), Ash can shoot blasts of Greek Fire.

ADHD': Ash has ADHD, which also acts as his battle reflex.

Weapons
Alter: The name of Ash's sword. This sword has the ability to channel Ash's flames into it, allowing Ash to alter the properties of the sword or the things he stabs the sword with. The sword also has a protection spell on it, causing anyone that touches the sword without Ash's permission to be shocked.

Elemental Spheres: Ash can merge the Elemental Spheres with his sword, giving him a limited degree of control over those elements.
 * Earth Sphere: The Earth Sphere merged with Ash's sword, giving Ash the ability to control rocks and dirt by channeling the power through his sword.
 * Water Sphere: Much like the Earth Sphere, the Water Sphere also merged with Ash's sword. With this, he has the ability different forms of water.

Dark Ash
Just like his father, evil thoughts or influences add power to a hidden side of Ash. While Ash was unaware of this side of him, the Sirens managed to completely unlock this form, essentially giving Ash a split personality. The most obvious difference between these two personalities is that Dark Ash is completely without remorse. He will kill those that get in his way and uses their fear to make himself stronger. In fact when Dark Ash is in control, he purposely scares people so they will always be afraid (at some level) of Ash going into this form. In this way, Dark Ash always gains more power. Dark Ash considers Ash to be weak and a coward and will taunt Ash to let him out during times of weakness.

Trivia

 * Ash's dark side is a result of Pisteuo's own problems, which turned him evil for a time.
 * Ash's name is a result of the Rise of the Great Guardian series being based on Pokemon: The Movie 2000. In that movie, Ash Ketchum is the main character. His last name, Faith, is linked to his father being the god of belief.