XbCrafted's POV:

I never really had dreams, maybe I just forgot them the moment I woke up, but, if I ever had a dream as a child, there was a pattern that I noticed, it'll always end in darkness, and it happened this night.

I was surrounded by mist, there was a girl next to me. We seem to be sitting on a mountain, a gentle breeze swept through my hair and the grass danced along with it.

The girl sitting near me was younger than I was and she had blonde long hair with white highlights, her face seemed blurred and she wore a gold leaf crown, and a white dress with a golden belt, she was looking into the distance and said:

"Is it fun?" her voice sounded echoey and blurred.

Without realizing it, I said; "It's fun!" my voice was different, it was my younger voice, a bit higher pitched.

"Are you happy?" The girl asked.

"I'm happy!" I exclaimed.

"If you continue like that, just like everybody else. You'll be missing a friend soon."

"What do you mean?"

"You're nervous huh? You're excited huh? Just like them even if they are not happy right now?"

"I don't understand, who is this 'they'?"

"You'll find the answer when the time comes, and when you do realize, it will be too late."

Then she turned to me, her face still blurry, and said:

"Everyone has problems, but they wouldn't hold, but what happens if they linger and linger? I think it's time you find out."

"I don't get it."

Then everything stopped, the wind froze, the grass was still, and the day rapidity turned into the night then day then night... Over and over, she stood, her feet floating inches higher than the ground, her dress turning greyer and greyer by the second, her face; finally focused and unblurred, her lips were bleeding gold blood, her cheek was hollow as if she has not eaten for over a year, the area where her eyes were supposed to be as hollow as well, leaving two gaping holes that are pitch black.

"It won't be able to protect you, it'll turn on you, you'll be sorry, you'll be begging that day comes sooner, and that you can hurt it."

The background faded into darkness, there was suddenly a sharp pain in my backside, I fell onto my knees, I cried and cried, there was no one, the whispers started to get louder and louder.

"What do you want me to do?" I cried out in an attempt to stop the noise.

"Find the answer of the sea,"

"Then go and fight the darkness."

"Twenty-four will become twenty-three"

"The Gates will close, and this chapter ends," the whispers said in discorded harmony.

A bird flew by, it had red eyes, with a beak of bronze, sharp metallic feathers that shined like stars, it shrieked, and, in my head, I heard

"YOU'LL NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN." It echoed and echoed and muted all my panicking thoughts.

Then I woke up in a cold sweat, I was panicking and looked out the window, the sun was just rising, my thoughts were racing with questions, I looked around.

I was still in the Camp, I am still in my bed, if I looked up, I would see Grian, Zedaph and Beef are right there, I was still safe, I was still at... home.

My racing thoughts were suddenly muted by a loud snore coming from Zed. I looked to my right and saw Zed, half drooling in his bed. I snickered and decided to start my day earlier.

I went to the bathroom silently, I was washing my face when I saw the girl from my dream in the mirror, but when I blinked, she was gone. I pondered while brushing my teeth what that dream mean.

I put on my black and cyan jacket and walked out the door, there was a thin layer of mist covering the ground, and the cool gentle played with the grass and leaves.

I stood on the porch, the sunshine coming from the rising sun softly warms my face. I stood for a few seconds, just staring at the grass and the other cabins that were visible from the Hermes Cabin.

Not long after, I heard the voice of my camp counselor behind me.

"Tough time falling asleep?"

"Yeah, kind of, I had a really weird nightmare."

"Demigods usually have nightmares, it's a sign something bad may happen, or in a book's terms, it foreshadows what might happen in the plot, you mind sharing it?"

"Only if you shared something about yourself," I smirked.

"A trade for a trade. Deal."

So, I shared everything that happened in the dream.

"That is a weird dream, even by demigod standards."

"Your turn now, a weird fact about you!"

"Uh, I don't like being called a son of Hermes."

"Oh? why?"

"You asked for a fact, not for the explanation."

"Oh, come on!"

Grian smirked and faced me.

"Your eyes are glowing a bit."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Do you mind explaining the glow thing anyways?"

Grian raised his eyebrow a bit then laughed and said: "You are really far behind, aren't you. By the sound of your voice, you have never summoned any of your parent's powers, right?"

"Until two days ago, I still thought that Greek myths are fake, so yes."

Grian nodded then muttered: "False is better at the whole knowledge thing and the science behind it oh well."

"False?"

Grian turned to me and said: "A hermit here, you'll meet her soon enough."

He cleared his throat and continued: "Anyways, long story short, our powers are always moving around in our bodies, and when we summon them, our body will start to create more magic in us, a part of our body will glow to release the extra energy we build-up, as a lot of magic is needed for it to start glowing, it usually glows at our eyes but there are exceptions to that. Don't use too much of your powers, it'll burn you up, and don't avoid using it, having too much power in your body may lead to pain and sickness. That's why we have a battlefield, to make sure our power levels are in check you see."

"That's interesting, anyway, what do we do here in this camp, except for fighting."

"Each of the Hermit has a talent of their own, and they teach it to the other Hermits, it's kind of like a buffet where you can pick your own class at any time, for example, Xisuma teaches us what to do when fighting a kind of monster."

"Like cutting off a hydra's head?"

"Exactly! Hey, at least you know some basic stuff."

"Hey, G-man? What do you teach?"

"How to sneak around without getting caught."

"Oh wow, are you the prankster of the group?"

"Not really, the other hermits' pranks back as well, like that one-time Iskall made a huge mustache on one of Mumbo's machines."

"Iskall?"

"Iskall is the son of Ares, god of war, though, he can't hurt anyone even if he wanted to. Me, False, and Iskall formed a small rivalry between each other. It's fun."

His voice is calm all the way through, as if he is used to teaching new hermits and who being who.

He turn to the cabin door and said, "I'm gonna wake Zed and Beef. Want to join?"

"Heck yes." I nodded.

The moment we opened the door, Zed's snores came through and shook the ground, Grian threw me a look of 'How is Beef not awake yet?' and to that, I shrugged.

I lightly touched Beef and saw that he was still asleep.

Grian held in a laugh as he put an airhorn next to Zed's ear. I whispered, "Wouldn't that wake the whole camp up and deafen Zed's ear?"

He shook then whispered back, "Nope, it's as loud as a piano, but it makes a horrid noise."

He pushed the button and it made the most horrid noise ever. It was the sound of a chalkboard would make when nails slide against with.

Beef woke up to complain about the noise, then Beef's voice plus Grian and my laugher woke Zed up, and sleepily asked what was going on.

Beef angrily snapped "They make that noise! I hate that noise! I was also having a great dream!"

Grian said in between laugher, "Chill Beef, you can have revenge later when you pick out a weapon."

Zed drowsy added, "Do we have to fight? This bed is awfully comfortable."

A new voice joined in, the voice said, "You sound like a Hypnos child, but I think you just like the bed."

At the doorframe, stood the girl from yesterday, her short brown hair and brown eyes liked like chocolate, she wore the same thing, a pink jacket with a white undershirt and baggy pants tucked into her hiking boots. She started at Grian's shocked face and said,

"You left the door open, so I come to say hi and help close it back."

"Geez, thanks," Grian responded.

"You're Stress right?" Zed asked while half asleep.

"Yep, and you are gonna get in trouble with Exy if you continue to stay in your cabin."

"Alright, thanks for the help Stress, we'll be going now."

As Stress left the cabin, Grian turned to us then said,

"Let's go have breakfast then pick out a weapon."

That was something I thought I never heard together.