Deus Humana: Ch. 1

==Chapter One: Dimidium Sanguinis (Typhus Ω) ==

I, Typhus Gravemore, dodged the sword blade with such grace, the entire crowd gasped. My opponent, Blaire Stoneskin, was already huffing and puffing, the sweat on her brow pouring down her face. Her gear was soaked with sweat and her black toga was already half torn. I breathed in heavily, and fixed my red plumed stygian helmet. I wrapped my fingers around the blood stained leather of my sword hilt, staring down at my reflection in the black iron.

Blaire stared back at me, her green eyes wide. With one final roar, she charged. This was no challenge for me, even if she had been the last person to face in the tournament. With one clean, quick swipe of his wrist, I disarmed her, and sent her to the ground. When she looked up, my sword was under her chin. She growled at first, a pained expression on her face. Then, as I held out my gloved hand, she smiled and grabbed it. Helping her up, we both smiled to the crowd- hands in the air- as the tournament gong rang.

I hung  my armor in the black, metal locker and placed my sword on my side. I slipped the black T-shirt reading “Dimidium Sanguinis” over my head, and slid into a pair of comfortable, beige khaki shorts. After brushing my sweat covered hair out, I rinsed my face of dried blood and headed out to the dining hall. Locking the door of the Armory, I headed down the small, brown grass slope that lead into the center of camp.

Ever since I could remember, I had lived here at Camp Dimidium Sanguinis. My sister and I were two of the oldest campers here, the others being retired, older veterans.

Camp, I thought as we walked down the dirt road to the dining hall. This is ''Home. ''

Camp Dimidium Sanguinis was a home for all children and legacies of the Greek god Hades and the Roman god Pluto (who were really the same person, just with different personalities/personas…) Millions of campers came every year, having found their way through the powerful energy force the camp directors liked to call: The Deus Humana. The Deus Humana sent large amounts of Seeker Energy all around the world to find children and legacies of Hades and Pluto. They would be leaded her by the Seeker Spirits, and then they would be accepted as brothers and sisters.

The camp was pretty large, in all actuality. It consisted of five sections: The North Wing, The South Wing, The East Wing, The Mortem Wing, and Central City.

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">The North Wing was at the very back of the camp. It contained the Director’s Club and the Hades/Pluto memorial. The South Wing was at the very front of the camp and contained Anima Hill, the Savior’s Grave- which protected the camp from monster attacks-, and the Cave of Sinum- the camp’s guardian beast…

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">The East Wing contained all the training places: The Arena, The Black Forge, The Armory, The Stables, The Wall of Death, and the Night Crawler Woods. The Mortem Wing was the most important wing though. It contained Mortem Temple- the worshiping place of Hades and Pluto-, the infirmary, The Amphitheater, The Archery Range, and the Pool of Neptunia.

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">Finally there was Central City. Central City was were the retired demigods lived and where all the shops were. It was also where the dining hall was, the current place where I was headed.

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">The dirt road curved left then went in a zigzag motion up towards the inclined dining hall. Lights streamed out of the windows, and the soft purr of chatter flowed out of the open doors.

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">As I slowly made my way up to the hall, there was a stream of joyous shouts out of the room.

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">“TYPHUS! TYPHUS! TYPHUS!” they chanted as I walked into the room. The ten tables were spread out from wall to wall, food piled high in front of each kid. At the very back of the room, there was a single table with six chairs around it, along with a large throne for me. A banister hung over it titled, “Winner’s Table.”

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">I sighed. I hated all the attention. After all, I had entered the tournament for experience and challenges- not fame. But I was hungry and it would’ve seemed rude to deny all these people’s polite and open gestures.

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">Making my way to the back, I sat at the large, black and silver chair in the back. A large platter of rice, sushi, Somen, different types of noodles, marinated vegetables, Lo mein, Fujian, and other assorted Asian food were placed in front of me- all my favorites.

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">I dug in as my friends came over to sit next to me. There were five of them- four of them being my brothers and sisters. One of them, however, was a demi-monster. Her name was Caroline, and she was half god and half siren. One by one, all of them sat down.

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">The sixth seat was obviously reserved for my sister, Raven. As the hall began to eat, Typhus asked, “Hey, have you guys seen Rave?”

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">They all shook their heads. Vincent, a legacy of Pluto piped up saying, “I think she went on a recon mission with Jessica.”

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">I breathed a sigh of relief. Wherever she was, if she was with Jessica Silverwing, she would be fine…he hoped…