Chapter 1
Charis
❝There Will Come A Poet❞

CHARIS Grace had never been a stranger to the world of gods and monsters. The first time he opened his eyes, he had stared death right in the face (literally) as he came to collect his mothers soul. It was such an early moment in Charis's life that he should not have been able to remember, and yet he could not erase the memory of Thanatos's angelic-face looking down upon his own in an almost pitiful manner. Not yet, he had said to him, in a tone of voice that implied it would have been better for him if he had died along with his mother that day. And Charis knew then that he would not have an easy life.

It was decreed centuries ago by a vengeful sun god to a princess of Troy that she would indeed continue to have the power of sight, since he could not take away what he had originally given to her as a gift, but would be cursed to have everyone think she was crazy if she ever dared to try and warn them about her visions, and not even death would end her curse. And now far into what must've been the hundredth life since then, Charis's (and Cassandra's) soul continued to be cursed to live a life full of death and destruction. He was never meant to have a peaceful life.

His visions typically played out in scenes, and came to him as easy as breathing and as frequently as sleeping. But ever since You-Know-Who disappeared, everything had gone haywire. More so for the Greeks than the Romans. Camp Half-Blood residents have been going missing, Iris Messages failed, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's children have become almost powerless, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, their Orcale, could no longer see the future.

And yet Charis still could, because nothing could undo a curse. Not even if the person who made it went off grid. It just wasn't the same as before, though. They weren't scenes that played out like a movie. Now it was just a whole bunch of darkness with only a few audible sounds making its way through the static.

This time was no different from the others in the past few months as Charis fell into a trance-like state in the middle of a lecture, darkness swallowing him whole. There were three different voices. One of them was a child, another a middle aged person, another an elderly, and they spoke in different tones, in such a way Charis couldn't tell the gender. But what they said was unmistakable: "THE SUN SHALL FALL FROM GRACE, FACED BY WASTE, FEELING ERASED AND DISGRACED, CHASED BY THY ENEMY, THEY MUSTN'T SLACK, MAKE HASTE TO THE SON OF JACK."

It was the most sense he had gotten from a prophecy in a long while.

The last one he had gotten had gone something like this: "RIPE BANANA, STRIKE THE HUE, INDIANA, CAVES OF BLUE, SERPENTS AND ROACHES, LOCK TO BE THE KEY, APPLES DEFINITELY."

This prophecy in comparison was music to his ears.

Thankfully, no one seemed to notice Charis hadn't been paying attention. No one but Sean Travers, a descendant of Suada, who nudged him back to the present.

When Charis had graduated high school almost three years ago, he found himself travelling around without a destination before finally enrolling himself into New Rome University. He enjoyed the class 'The Basic Principles of Roman Science', but unfortunately the teacher wasn't all too thrilled with him as his visions liked to overtake him during the lessons. And it wasn't like Charis could just explain, "Oh, I'm prone to zone out sometimes as a result of a god cursing me in my first life to forever be a seer, but I guess it'd be pretty hard for you to believe me since that was a fun little addition to the curse as well."

The only people who had originally known about Charis's condition were the gods, obviously, Chiron, and Percy Jackson, who managed to figure it out on his own after Charis started spewing insanities in front of him. He didn't even have to get him to swear on the River Styx. He never said a word of it to anyone. Charis was lucky to have a friend like Percy. He was so scared of being judged he never even told his brother and sister. It wasn't like there ever was a good time too. Thalia was the current lieutenant of the Huntresses of Artemis and Jason was away, so they rarely ever talked, and when they did it was never enough for it to be considered a real conversation. Their relationship was already complicated. They didn't need this on top of it all.

I say originally because there was a time Charis trusted someone enough to tell them his deepest darkest secret, but then it backfired, and then he was left alone.

He dreaded to go back to camp—His real camp. Here in New Rome he could pretend all he wanted, study their history like it was his own, but he was born a Greek. He fought like a Greek, talked like a Greek, and carried a Celestial Bronze weapon like a Greek. He knew he'd have too eventually, but he'd rather hold it off as long as possible until he was forced to see their judgmental stares, and hear the whispers of mockery as he moved passed. They all knew.

Something big was coming. If it was Kronos or Gaea threat level big, Charis didn't know. One thing was for sure, Phoebus Apollo had better be smart enough to pray to the gods for a saving grace, because there would be a hell lot of enemies he had made over the past few centuries that would kill to see the ex-god gone for good, the son of Moros included. There was no way he would survive in the mortal world on his own. And when his doomsday finally came crashing down on him, Charis would enjoy watching the sun's light burn out.

—

Unedited. Please let me know if you see a mistake!

1012 words.

If you couldn't tell already, this is gonna be a long and painful ride and I hope you guys stick around for the end. I already have the second book planned out (it's more of a prequel, it's gonna take place during the Percy Jackson books, Heroes of Olympus and maybe a few crossovers with others 👀).

I originally wasn't gonna give too much away about Charis and Apollo's history before they met, but it's very important to Charis's character and I just couldn't not talk about it before we really get into the story. This is gonna be a slow slow burn.

Who do you think Charis was talking about when he said he told them his secret and it backfired?