Part I - (Like Normal Children)
YEAR 2012
In a school without a good reputation, there was a young man with black hair and blue eyes, very tanned skin, if someone looked at him they would say that he was a boy who would become quite handsome over the years.
Even with the scar on his left eye, which healed a long time ago leaving only a lighter mark that cut a small part of his eyebrow and went down to below the eye, fortunately, the boy was not blind in one eye, but that came very close to happening.
This boy whose name was Dante Jones, was a soul that transmigrated from one universe to another and now inhabited the body of a demigod, son of Zeus, the king of the Gods.
He was sitting near the window of his classroom listening lazily to what the teacher was explaining to her students.
The middle-aged woman with pale skin and spiteful eyes who always had a frowning expression looked intently, not only at Dante but also at another young man who was not paying as much attention as his classmate.
This was none other than Percy Jackson, a twelve-year-old boy, who was the same age as Dante, with whom they shared small similarities. From his, more messy, black hair and tanned skin, which was only lighter than Dante's, he had emerald green eyes and a more relaxed and happy expression despite the boredom he felt at that very moment.
They were both sitting at opposite tables with two other people who shared their tables.
Dante was next to a young girl with red hair and brown eyes with a devious and mischievous smile, who had white skin and a few freckles on her face. This was none other than Nancy Bobofit who was preparing for yet another one of her constant mischief.
This was with the person next to Percy, who sported a small beard, brown eyes, and black hair, he was a young African-American named Grover, who was oblivious to Nancy's plans.
.
"Hey, Dante..."
The redhead caught the attention of her friend next to her who looked at her with a tired murmur, as he always did on the first day of the week. "Mm...what's wrong Nancy? Didn't understand the math problem?" He said with a mocking smile to his friend next to him who looked at him with a little irritation.
"Tsk... it was just once, anyway look at that loser."
Dante looked at Grover and Percy with nothing more than a little indifference.
But soon saw when Nancy threw some gum in both of their hair in a single shot.
"Hehe... bingo." The redhead laughed lightly while both boys looked at her angrily, one more than the other.
Dante rolled his eyes at his friend's constant antics, before giving a silent apology to Percy and Grover.
He then turned to Nancy who laughed a little more. "Honestly Nancy I thought you had stopped with this nonsense, I don't know why you bother those two so much." He commented, now it was Nancy's turn to roll her eyes at her friend's little scolding.
"I already told you they never fight back, it's pretty easy to mess with idiots who don't even have the courage to defend themselves." The redhead argued with a shrug while Dante sighed, Nancy had developed some unpleasant habits since they met, some he was strongly against, others he didn't care about.
Her messing with those without courage was something that fell on the list of things he didn't care about, after all, he was a demigod who lived by the creed of 'the fittest lives'.
"Anyway leave them alone, I need Percy on the football team and it would be bad if he was mad at me and didn't participate in the games." The demigod countered, he honestly didn't care enough about his friend's pranks, but Percy was an important piece in the big game of things and he needed to be on the good side of the 'future Hero of Olympus'.
Nancy on the other hand grumbled but accepted the argument of her friend and former brother from the orphanage, clear in her mind, she didn't think that Dante just wanted to avoid enmity with the future Hero, for her he just wanted a good soccer player on the school team where he was the captain.
.
Time passed and soon classes ended with everyone going home or to their dorms, one of the few things school was good at in this world, Dante thought as he walked to the court.
There were other boys and the coach who Dante remembered the middle-aged man's name was John. "Well guys, we all know that there will be a tournament where our school will participate, so today we will do more intensive training, the first group will run a few laps and then start playing and the second will continue to warm up, when they finish everyone will do a few more laps before resting ok?"
Some boys grumbled but in the end, everyone accepted, while the gray-haired man laughed amusingly to the discontent of his students.
That's how the training began, Dante was good as a striker but he also trained as a defender, Percy was by his side and they both played well together, it was a fun moment which Dante would admit he would miss a little after the new events that would occur that same year.
whistle
The sound alerted the other players that they would have a break and so most went to their seats while another group began the rest of the training after having done their warm-ups.
Sitting on the bench were Dante and Percy both drinking water as if they had been in a desert for three and three nights.
"Finally a break, I say the Coach is trying to kill us by making us all do twenty laps around the court," Percy complained, still feeling his legs burning after the last lap, looking a little surprised that Dante barely seemed to have gotten tired.
"Normal, the tournament will be starting soon this month, he just wants to prepare us so we have a chance at victory." He responded in defense of his coach and one of the few teachers he liked at this school.
Percy grumbled but accepted, soon changing the topic to something more pleasant. "Hey, do you want to come over to my house today after practice, my mom keeps asking me to meet my new friend." He said laughing a little at the half-embarrassed face of the demigod teenager, he found it amusing but also didn't object to the idea, although he wanted nothing more than to sleep after this practice, but meeting Saly Jackson, Poseidon's ex-lover could be fun.
"Sure, I think it'll be nice to meet the woman who made those blue cookies." He would admit that despite being bizarre those cookies were too delicious, almost addictive if he had to be honest.
Percy on the other hand smiled at the answer from his new friend since a few months ago when they started hanging out. "Speaking of which, why are you still hanging out with that annoying Nancy? I honestly never understood why a nice guy hangs out with a bully like her. She, by chance, force you or something?"
Dante found it funny that Percy happened to think he was being forced to hang out with Nancy, when the son of Zeus, without even being claimed, was strong enough to break the redhead's neck or electrocute her to death.
"You see, Percy, Nancy, and I have known each other for a long time when we were still kids and we lived in the same orphanage. We kind of managed to get along despite our differences." Dante shrugged, thinking about how it had been years since he left the orphanage to live alone, away from the other kids. Partly to protect them, and partly because of the challenge he would be subjected to. In the end, it was a fact for him that since leaving the orphanage, he had become stronger and more attentive.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know, it's just that you two are so different from each other." Percy looked embarrassed. After all, it was a bit too personal a question and he didn't want to upset the second guy he met who actually wanted to be his friend. It was no surprise to anyone that he was almost an outcast in school, but it was Dante who dragged him to the football team. and was always there to defend him when he made a mistake or when others wanted to mess with him.
"It's okay, Percy, it's nothing special. Well, I don't know my father, but I honestly don't care about that."
The son of Poseidon looked at him with surprised eyes. He didn't think he would find a guy like him. Of course, he knew he wasn't the only one who didn't know his father in this world, but it was still a subject he could never get out of his head.
"So, your parents died- sorry, never mind. I don't think it's any of my business." The son of Poseidon stopped his question, but Dante had already gotten the gist of what he wanted to know and wasn't against giving him an answer to his new 'friend's' question.
"My mother died when I was born. I don't know what happened, but the director of the orphanage told me it was a high-risk pregnancy or something like that." Dante replied. He felt nothing for the woman he barely knew other than seeing her eyes and the happiness she felt when she could see him with her own eyes before her tragic death.
Unfortunately for her, Dante felt nothing, after all, he was a soul from another world that came to this one, his 'mother' in this world died before they could both meet, so no feelings were created between him and Tania Jones.
"I'm sorry to hear that, my father died too, my mother said he was lost at sea."
Unfortunately for Percy, he didn't know what was going on in the mind of the son of Zeus and thought that Dante missed having a family something that wasn't true.
In Percy's mind, he couldn't imagine what it was like to be an orphan, of course, he didn't have a father and Gaby could hardly be considered anything close to a father, but at least he had his mother by his side, she was certainly the most important woman in his life, unfortunately, Percy didn't notice the indifference to which Dante spoke of his deceased mother.
"Look on the bright side Percy your father probably cared about you, much more than mine ever could." Percy looked at Dante with doubt, inside Dante was surprised by the lack of awareness of the son of Poseidon and wondered if the boy in front of him didn't realize that he didn't care at all about either of his parents. "For all, I know my father abandoned me in an orphanage and I've never heard from him in my entire life, but I think that's enough of my sad story, we have the training to finish."
Percy nodded, the son of Poseidon felt that his life wasn't as difficult compared to Dante's, sure he had a cruel stepfather, but there was still his mother by his side always trying to give him a good enough life.
Dante, on the other hand, had no one, or so Percy thought.
.
Hours later the training had ended leaving a bunch of tired boys going to their homes.
As the sun began to slowly disappear on the horizon, Dante and Percy walked together.
"So where is your home?" Percy asked his friend as they walked together on the sidewalk.
"It's a few blocks from here. It's usually good to take a bus to get there." Dante replied as they both walked to Percy's house, where Dante had been invited for dinner.
"Wow, after those blocks is Brooklyn. I didn't think your house was any further away than that. Well, that must be one of the problems of living in one of the biggest cities in the world."
They both laughed because it was true, sometimes living in the big city was more of a hindrance than a help.
The walk didn't last much longer, but Dante and Percy enjoyed each other's company. They almost looked like two brothers who had met again after a long time.
They soon entered the apartment where Percy and his mother lived, along with his hateful stepfather. The son of Poseidon would never know how his mother married a bastard of that level. After all, even he could say that his mother was so beautiful that she could easily be mistaken for a woman in her early twenties instead of the thirty years she was in.
"Well, we arrived, I think it was a little early, my mother should be back in an hour, luckily my stepfather shouldn't be back until midnight." Percy commented, already entering his house with Dante right behind him.
It was a simple apartment, a little small but well-kept.
"Hey Dante, do you want to play Call of Duty?"
Dante's eyes shone almost cynically as he saw Percy sitting on the couch with two controllers in his hand and the Xbox already turned on.
He did many things, many that someone his age had not done, from hunting monsters to talking to a Goddess who had been strangely quiet in the last few days, and then there was his constant and uninterrupted training and learning to use his powers. In short, Dante had no time to play a good shooting game like when he was a child in his old life.
Percy saw Dante almost teleport to get the controller, and smiled amusedly.
"Hehe, I promise I'll go easy on you."
Dante looked at his friend and a defiant smile formed on his lips. "Hehe... I'll make you eat those words, prepare for a humiliating defeat." Dante acted like a child for the first time in 12 years living in this world.
And for the next two hours, both demigods played in an endless competition, laughing and screaming like normal children and not children of antagonistic Gods.
3 advanced chapters on Patreon.
Patreon (+3): Azeneth2523
Discord: https://discord.gg/pmkqwvrkGm
Recruitment:
Positions are paid.
Translator: Translate Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and French. To English.
Proofreader: Proofread and correct the translation (grammar, punctuation, etc.).
Experience is not mandatory.
In case you are interested, we are also training for the positions of editors (Typper), translators, and Manhwa cleaners.