"Please Chiron!"

"You need rest."

"They need me!"

"Axel, Serena, and Alyssa are perfectly fine on their own."

Chiron insisted that Antony stay and rest, while Antony was determined to join the quest because he felt like he was destined for that quest. The soothing voice kept returning to him as if urging him to go, and he just couldn't resist it. 

"The trio will be leaving in a couple of hours.  I expect you to abide by my orders. That's final." 

That was Chiron pulling the 'headmaster' card on Antony. Antony hated that card when he was on the other side of it. Chiron galloped out of the infirmary after that, leaving Antony alone. 

Antony was not one to be intimidated so easily. He had been in bed for another 12 hours since his conversation with the nurse. He kept trying to get up from the bed, but the maximum he managed, was to sit up straight and place his foot on the ground. He had lost some of his divine energy after the experience with Mr. Sexy Voice, leading to that weakness. 

C'mon, Antony. Don't dare give in to weakness. You can do this!

Antony tried again to stand up but fell again. 

You only fail when you stop trying.

'Stupid dumb motivational quotes', Antony muttered. 

Antony's inner voice prayed to the whoever was listening to give him strength to get up. Nobody listened. 

Until somebody did.

'Hey son.'

It was the voice of one of the most ancient titan- Oceanus. 

Antony almost fainted hearing that voice. Fortunately for him, before he could speak, Oceanus spoke again. 

'Drink the sea water. Pure water won't help you.'

'Umm. Thanks. . . dad?'

The voice laughed a bit. Then he replied,
'We will be meeting soon enough, son.'

After that the voice disappeared. Antony wondered what he meant by that. 

Antony have had a father for the first 6 years of his life. Either, that father was his stepfather, or it was Oceanus himself, which seemed a little improbable to Antony, and absolutely impossible to the other divines. Antony wanted to ask his mother, but unfortunately there was almost no way to communicate with the real world. The only communication that Chiron himself had with Antony's mother was to let her know that Antony was safe. 

Suddenly Antony spotted the nurse walking nearby. 

"Hey!" Antony called out. The nurse turned to look at Antony and raised an eyebrow as if asking 'Wut?'

"Could you maybe bring me some water from the sea please?" Antony requested. The nurse came near Antony and placed her finger on the empty glass near Antony's head. 

"Sure." Salt water poured out of her fingers, filling the cup almost instantly. The nurse was a nereid, so she could do that. 

Antony grabbed the glass and spilt the water all over himself. 

He could feel his cracked ribs regrowing. 

"I need some more" Antony requested. The nereid nodded and she placed her hand above Antony's forehead. Salt water kept flowing and with every place the water flowed, Antony felt new energy flowing inside him. 

It was a mesmerizing feeling of sizzling warm liquid running throughout his body, healing his every single damaged tissue. 

With a smile, Antony jumped out of the bed, surprising the life out of the nereid. 

"Thanks for you help." Saying that, Antony ran towards the principal's office.

However much Antony bargained with the headmaster, he was not allowed to leave with the trio. Apparently 3 was a sacred number for a quest, but of course Antony didn't believe it. 

The trio had left 3 hours ago on Festus. Yea, they flew with the dragon. Antony wondered how he could catch up with a dragon to join them, when he had no idea where did they even go. He returned to his dorm, wondering. 

As soon as he opened the door, he was in for one hell of a surprise. 

Chimera 2.0, or as Axel liked to call it: Kim, was lazing around on the mattress with a bowel of popcorn in front of him and the TV on. 

What the fuck? Antony walked towards the majestic creature with caution. 

"Hey Antony." The Chimera grumbled without even turning towards him. 

Antony jumped up in surprise. He had no idea that Kim could talk. 

"Yea, I can talk. Axel installed AI in me, yesterday enabling me to talk and communicate with you. And before you think I can read your mind, it's just a calculated guess that there was a 92.65% chance that's what you were thinking about next." 

Antony waited a couple of seconds, wondering whether his head concussion was more severe than he thought. 

"Are you ready?" Kim asked. 

". . . for?"

"Gods, this dumbhead is dumber that Axel thought. To go to the quest of course."

"But I don't even have a weapon, or clothes, or food, or a backpack full of essentialities. . . . or anything, even a permission."

"Your joining this quest is of the utmost essentiality right now. Under your bed, you will find a crossbow and a leather pouch filled with arrows. The pouch can make arrows infinitely as long as you put ichor in it. Your blood should work well."

Before Antony could process half the information, the Chimera kept on speaking. 

"Below Axel's bed, you will find a bag with a pair of extra clothes and don't worry about food and 'essentialities', Alyssa has all that." 

"Um. . . sure." True to its word, Antony found everything wherever Kim told he would find it. The crossbow looked wicked. It was made from titanium with chromium coating. Antony swung the beautiful killing machine in his back and attached the pouch to his belt. 

"Let's go." He said while grabbing the bag. "But how we are going?"

"Climb up on my back." 

Antony did as asked despite having a very vague idea of what Kim was about to do. 

And he guessed it correctly. 

Kim walked towards the balcony with Antony sitting somewhat comfortably on its back. 

(Just for information: Since this Chimera is a mechanical one, it's just a lion with dragon's wings and lion's tail which could change to a snake if required. It does not have a goat's body. Also from this point onwards we are referring to the Chimera as 'she'. Cuz that's what the net says.)

Once they reached the balcony opening, Kim spread open her majestic metallic dragon wings. 

"Axel modified my wings, last night." She said to clear Antony's mental question. 

And the 3 ton weighing metallic animal took off from the balcony right towards the mouth of the hill, the place through which Antony entered 2 weeks ago. 2 weeks seemed like a lifetime ago to Antony. It had been so very exhilarating to Antony: The 'find out the parent' ceremony, being a part of the school, attending the classes, heavy training, and making new friends in this beautiful school, Antony thought he had found a home in here. However now, he was leaving the place for a quest, he was not allowed to go to. And the only reason he was going was due to the words spoken by the soothing voice in the beach, and Axel's adamant mind. 

"So where are we going and what's the quest?" Antony asked the Chimera as it flew above the green lushy fields. 

If Chimeras could facepalm, this one totally did. 

"I guess I am going to clear it up for you along the way." she said. 

Yooo!!!!. So i happen to be 2 days late again, but we are at least going on time I guess. We are heading out for the quest and now once the trio meets up with Antony, the real fun begins.

These last couple of chapters are going in Antony's point of view mainly. However just so you know, everyone's going to get their time. All the 4 of them are main characters in this story, along with Percy of course. 

I'm not writing long chapters yet, but from the next chapter, its gonna be like 1.5K words long. This one was 1.2k something. (only the story, not this author's note).

Now there's a few questions on everyone's minds prolly. Even mine. And unfortunately I have no answer yet. Like: What's up with Antony's brother and mother? Why is it a crossbow and not a gun, that Antony uses?   I am working out on figuring answers to these, but for now, Enjoy the story. 

Next chapter is coming up on Tuesday. (With me, its going to end up releasing on Thursday, xD.)

Lots of love. 

💖💖💖