The porch of the Big House offered a strategic vantage point of the entire valley. From here, Luke could see the strawberry fields, the glittering calm of the Long Island Sound, and the chaotic, colorful cluster of cabins. Behind him, Chiron and Mr. D played Pinochle.
It was idyllic. It was peaceful.
It was also, Luke observed with a cold feeling in his gut, wide open to attack, with no defensive stronghold. Should the barrier fall, we're like sitting ducks.
Luke sat on the railing, his nose buried in his book. He let out a soft, perverted giggle as he read a passage about a satyr and a sexually explicit game of hide-and-seek.
"Yo, Chiron," Luke murmured, his voice drifting over the top of his book. "The strawberry crop looks excellent this year. It almost distracts from the fact that the eastern perimeter is wide enough to march a battalion through."
Chiron, who was playing pinochle with a bored-looking Mr. D, paused. " The magical borders protect us, Luke—."
"That's not what I'm talking about". Luke interrupted Chiron sharply.
His eyes drifted away from the smutty text, unfocusing as he looked at the younger campers running through the grass. They were laughing. They were safe. For now.
But his mind drifted back to Konoha. To a time before headbands. Before the Hokage faces were carved into stone.
The Warring States Period.
He remembered the history books. The stories the those who had lived during the First and Second Hokage's reigns had passed down. It was a time when shinobi didn't have villages. They lived in small clans and spent every waking moment in fear, sleeping with kunai under their pillows, sending children barely older than Maya Thorne out to die in the mud because that was the only life they knew.
Konoha hadn't been built as a military base. Not originally.
It was built by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha as a sanctuary. A place where a child didn't have to kill to earn the right to adulthood. It was a system designed to end the chaos, to create infrastructure, economy, and safety. Kakashi himself was an example of how that promise wasn't perfect. But they tried. Things got better.
Luke's mind came back to the present."This place," Luke said, gesturing vaguely with his book. "It's seasonal. It's temporary. You train demigods for a few months, maybe a few years, and then what? You send them out into the world to be picked off one by one."
He looked at the older centaur, his eye-smile gone, replaced by a cold scrutiny.
He pointed at the cabins. "Where are the adults, Chiron? Where are the demigods who survived? Where is the housing for the veterans? The schools for their children? Where is the society."
Chiron looked uncomfortable, his tail swishing incomfortably. "Most demigods... they do not live long enough to retire, Luke. It is the nature of their blood."
"That's a cop-out," Luke said flatly. "They don't live long enough because you haven't built a place for them to live."
The camp was idyllic yes. The temperature could be controlled by divine wards. There were enough activities to distract kids from the outside world. But it displayed a worrying lack of long-term planning. A callous, divine disregard for creating something lasting.
Konoha had its flaws, so many flaws, but at least it had tried to break the cycle. At least the Will of Fire was about passing the torch, not just burning the candle at both ends..
"It's inefficient," Luke sighed, returning to his book to hide the dark look in his eye. "You're throwing away veteran experience. If you built a city instead of a camp, you'd have a defensive force that could nurture, protect and grow a force that could actively fight monsters. But instead... you have cabins and tents."
Hashirama would weep, Luke thought. They have the power of gods, and they can't even build a decent wall. How troublesome.
"Building is not in the nature of Greek demigods Lucy Casteaway," Mr D interrupted.
"Heroes." Dionysus spat viciously. "Are chaotic and transient, built for tragedy, curses, triumphs and sorrow in equal measure."
The tone of his voice had changed into something dangerous, something mad, "Demigods are selfish, cruel creatures by nature. My own wife Ariadne, when I found her was the victim of a so called hero," he sneered as he said this.
Luke watched him silently. Not saying anything. It wasn't worth risking the wrath of a god. Not over something like this.
If we are selfish and cruel by nature. We are reflections our progenitors. Greek gods are no less whimsy, cruel, or capricious by nature. And while demigods live tragic lives, and the odd demigod leaves chaos in their wake, Greek gods have oceans of such tales; tragedy and misdeeds haunts their every step. And gods face no punishment for their callous deeds by virtue of their divine power.
Mr. D tailed off, and the madness in his voice had mostly disappeared. "Be careful voicing such thoughts out loud boy," he gestured upwards, "my dear father would not be so forgiving."
Luke tilted his head in silent acknowledgment. "If I were to create something lasting, would the gods interfere?" He asked softly.
Mr. D, no, Dionysus looked at him for a while. "No, not overtly. But if you should seek to undertake a project of such magnitude, be prepared for interest. Us Gods, lead long lives, and when the occasional interesting event emerges in the mortal world, it catches our interest, and often obsession." Dionysus's eyes burned with a purple fire for an instant.
He then leaned back and waved his hand impatiently, "Well good luck with whatsoever plans you have little demigod, but be begone now, our game of Pinochle has been interrupted for long enough and I seem to have a winning hand."
Luke inclined his head graciously and got up. "Thank you for entertaining my questions, Lord Dionysus."
"Chiron, I'll see you in our session tomorrow."
Interference…mm. Well we'll handle that when it comes up.
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Aand that's the end of the first Camp Half-Blood Arc, really hope you enjoyed the arc! Just warning you, a small timeskip is coming up.
A hint for what's coming next, the next arc is titled the 'Chunin Exams'.
Really hope you enjoy the chapter! There is some art work of the characters like Thalia, Luke, Faye, Helen, Malcolm and Jake over at my Patreon, for all members to view for free.
If you're enjoying the story and want to read upto 5 advance chapters ahead their public release then please head over to my Patreon!!
p a t r e o n . c o m / D a r k e B o n e s