To Disturb the Harmony~Chapter 26

“I see, well this is disturbing news indeed,” Chiron said after hearing about our quest. “I don’t understand how a regular mortal has stumbled into the world of gods and monsters, but he must be stopped if there is to be any hope of balance.” “Any ideas about how we go about doing that,” I asked him, but he only leaned back in his wheelchair and looked at the fireplace.

“I’m afraid not. It is times like these that monsters look better in comparison. You kill monsters with the knowledge that they will eventually return, but they turn to dust for a time. Humans are trickier, you can’t kill them with weapons and normally their minds are driven by greed,” Chiron said and then rolled around and turned to us. “Ashton, you were the leader of this quest. Can I ask you what your plan is from here on out.”

Just then, all eyes in the room looked to me and I wasn’t sure what to say. I reached into my pocket and felt the pocket knife in my hand. I could also feel the sphere of the earth inside of it, calling to its true owner. After thinking about it, I knew what I had to do.

“I’m going to find the other Spheres of the Elementals, I’m going to bring them together, and then I’m going to summon this Great Guardian to restore the balance of the world,” I said with complete resolve in my voice. After years of feeling the hopes and beliefs of others, I finally had something I knew for sure, a strong belief of my own. The belief that I was the one to restore balance to the world.

“And don’t forget about us,” Aisling said enthusiastically, wrapping an arm around Kimi, who just gave a happy smile. Nala shot out of Aisling’s bag and let out a small roar that sounded more like a loud meow. “You can’t get rid of us that easily.”

“It seems you three have everything sorted out then. Dinner starts in a few hours, I suggest you get cleaned up and report to the dining hall when it is time,” Chiron said happily as he rolled out of the room. I waved goodbye to Kimi and Aisling and heading toward my cabin. As I entered, I looked at the empty beds of my cabin, which was illuminated with lanterns that burned with a blue flame. I never thought about it before, but my cabin was kind of creepy. I walked around the cabin and placed my bag at the foot of my bed. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my sword, flicking it until it grew into its true form.

“You really saved me on this quest,” I said, but felt kind of weird talking to a sword. However, it felt like this sword had guided me and I felt like this sword truly was mine. “Thanks a lot.”

“You’re welcome.”

I instantly dropped the sword on the ground as I had a small freak-out moment.

“You can talk?!” I said to the sword on the ground.

“No, not really. Your dad is just playing a trick on you to see your reaction to a talking sword,” said the voice. Then, several of the blue lanterns ignited a bit more and small spheres of fire swirled around the room, combining together to form the image of my dad, Pisteuo.

“Not funny Dad,” I said as I picked up the sword and returned it to my pocket.

“Oh you know it was,” he said with a bright smile. “I hear you have a long journey ahead of you. I wanted to congratulate you on completing your first quest.”

“Thanks a lot,” I said, trying to sound a bit indifferent, but a smile crossed my face as I turned away. “Is that it?”

“That was pretty much it. I also wanted to ask how you liked your gift. I said I would get you something for your birthday,” my dad said, motioning to my pocket.

“Wait, you gave me this sword?” I asked him. I noticed that I had never wondered where a giant sword falling from the sky came from until this very moment.

“Of course, a great leader needs an equally great weapon. I told Hephaestus what I wanted it to do and he got right to it. However, keep in mind that you wouldn’t have been able to pull that sword from the earth if you didn’t believe that you could. Like I said, the sword is truly yours and you have used it in ways that I haven’t even thought of,” he said amused and I took in his praise.

“Thank you for the sword,” I said happily. “I promise to take good care of it, you can count on me.”

“That’s good to hear,” he said with a smile, but it quickly fell away. “That isn’t the only thing I’ve come to tell you. You have a lot of hard challenges in the future, and this has been you first big quest. Luckily, you have had people that support you at your side, but that won't always be the case. Because you are my son, you can be easily influence by what others think, but I don’t want that to affect you. In my past, I let what other thought about me go to my head, and it almost destroyed Western Civilization. Don’t make the same mistakes.”

I listened to what he had to say in awe. My father very rarely talked about his past, there weren’t any myths about him that I knew of, and the other gods never seemed to talk about what he was like before he became an Olympian. Because of that, anything my father said about his past, I always listened, trying to get a better understanding of him.

“Thank you for your advice,” I told him, even if his message had freaked me out a bit. He just smiled a small smile and waved his hand, turning into flames and disappearing. I sat quietly in the room for awhile until I heard the horn, signaling it was the time for dinner.

“Alright,” I said as got to my feet. “I have a lot to do so I better get started.”

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive