Camp Twilight (1)

"Is he alright? Those holes in his chest seemed severe..."

A deep male voice woke me up from my slumber. It took me some time to pull myself together. I still couldn't open my eyes so I had no choice but to carefully listen to their talk to conclude where I was.

"Don't worry about it. I already fed him with some pills and ambrosia. His life shouldn't be in danger. A demigod can't die that easily you know."

A soft female voice responded to the man. She was probably some sort of nurse. Her voice was relaxing but what she said made me more alert. What did she mean by "Demigod"? However, the conversation continued and my question was left unanswered.

"Well... His condition was not that good when we found him entering through the barrier. He must have escaped from some monster on his way here."

"Seems like it... At least he is still alive."

*Sigh...*

The man sighed. He seemed troubled.

"It's our fault that things turned out this way. We should have found him sooner than the monsters."

"Don't be hard on yourself. You have already tons of work on your shoulders as the camp's director."

Feeling a little more relieved, the director of the camp changed topics. His voice tone became more serious, preparing to talk about a really important matter.

"Anyway, I think the activities of monster has increased lately. The monsters are coming in contact with the newly awakened demigods more frequently."

"Now that you say it... There actually seem to be more incidents..."

*Beep...Beep...Beep...*

The conversation was interrupted by the high-pitched sound of a phone call. The man opened the phone and a boy spoke on the other side of the phone.

"Director! We found two people who are suspected to be demigods. It seems like they had been trying to navigate towards the camp."

"Great job! How far are you guys from the camp?"

"We will be at the camp in 5 or 6 hours."

"Okay. I will send a support unit to your location. They will accompany you to the camp to make sure no monster will pose any threat."

"Yes sir!"

*Beep...Beep...Beep...*

"Seems like we are one step ahead this time."

With that, the coordinator left. Following him the girl left too, leaving me all alone with my own thoughts. I went through the conversation I just overheard to find clues about my situation. 

I had a far-fetched idea but I would need a few more evidence to be sure. That was, of course, if I possessed the same body or another one. With that in mind, I carefully opened my eyes.

The light coming through the window near me blinded me as my eyes weren't exposed to any light till now. As my eyes adjusted to the light I took a look at the room I was in. It was an infirmary. I was on a comfortable bed. On the bedside table next to me, there were some pills and some cookies that gave off an extraordinary aura.

I got off the bed and approached a wall mirror. As my own figure entered to my line of sight, I felt weird. What was reflected in the mirror was not me but a boy with medium-length black hair and blood-red eyes. The figure was around 185 cm with a slim body though it was still toned. I wasn't wearing a top, instead, my chest area was covered by bandages. My face looked flawless and was proportional which made me look like celebrity.

Seeing the figure before my eyes, I could only accept that I was inside another person's body. I turned around and gazed at the bedside table where some cookies were placed.

"Ambrosia..."

With quick steps, I walked towards the exit of the infirmary. I reached for the knob of the door and pulled, letting the light rays hit my face. The warm sensation was accompanied by a chill breeze. As my eyes focused on the campsite in front of me, I was mesmerized by it. It was the perfect combination of nature and human infrastructure.

A huge forest encircled the camp while several streams flowed through the camp. The sound of nature was interlocked with the chatter of people in the camp. A great campfire that was as tall as 2 meters stood proudly in the center of the camp. Many facilities such as an infirmary, training ground, and cabins were scattered across the camp.

"It's a beautiful place, isn't it?"

I turned around to face the feminine voice. It was a girl with long pink hair and matching eyes. Her figure was slender and had skin as soft and white as silk. She was extremely pretty and could make any boy fall for her. She seemed around eighteen years old. 

I now was sure where I was.

"Who are you?"

I directly directed the conversation to the urgent matter at hand and ignored her chit-chat.

She waved his hand leisurely and pouted at my serious attitude. She then spoke with a soft voice.

"Me? I am Grace Elsher, Daughter of Aphrodite. I am just one of the inhabitants of Camp Twilight."

'Daughter of Aphrodite, is it?'

Seeing my blank face, she sighed slightly and started to recount the series of events that led up to this point. How they found me, brought me here, and how she healed me with her divine healing skills. After listening to her, I formulated theories about my situation since there were still many gaps.

"So that's how it is?"

I murmured quietly. Seeing my serious and darkened face, she didn't make any noise to not to disturb me. I closed my eyes and analyzed everything. Everything connected with each other and created a bigger picture.

The bus incident and certain death... The conversation in the infirmary... The ambrosia... My reflection in the mirror... The Camp Twilight...

And this girl claiming to be the daughter of Aphrodite. I opened my eyes and looked at the girl before me. 

'Grace Elsher' I knew her. She was a character from the novel I have read. And the setting I was in was all based on the exact same novel. I would think this was not real or some sort of dream but there was so much proof that I couldn't deny the truth.

Being unable to stand this silence anymore, Grace once again tried to initiate a conversation.

"Isn't it your time to introduce yourself now?"

"I don't feel well right now. I will go and rest. Maybe another time."

I entered the infirmary and closed the door behind me without giving her any time to talk back. To be honest, I didn't even know my own name and I needed some time to recollect my thoughts before talking to anyone.

"Hufff... Let's take it from the beginning."

First, I was inside a novel called "Rise of The Son of Zeus". The setting of the novel was the modern earth but with a little twist in it. In the novel, the Greek mythology was real and the MC was a demigod destined to save the world.

Demigods were half human and half god, meaning one parent was one of the Greek gods itself. As gods sometimes ascended from the Mountain of Olympus and wandered the human world, there was a chance of a god and a human falling in love with each other, and giving birth to a demigod. However, the god would leave the child and the human in the human world alone after that. Unfortunately, most of the time the god would never see them again.

Demigods could live their lives like normal humans without being aware of this fact until their 16th birthday. After turning 16, they start to hear a voice in their head telling them to head to Camp Twilight. Their divine energy starts to mature and leak around him/her, resulting in attracting the attention of the monster who feeds on this energy.

Even though their human parents are aware of this, they don't tell their children anything until they turn 16. This is because telling them would lead demigods to be aware of their divine energy, which would cause the divine energy to leak and attract monsters much sooner.

But monsters are not the only ones who can track the divine energy leaking out of a demigod. The other demigods and mythological creatures could also sense divine energy. In fact, the Director of the camp was talking about finding two new demigods just now, planning to help them reach the camp alive.

"The voice I had heard should also be the same. This means I just turned 16 and I am a demigod as well."

Right now I was in the US, Montauk where the Camp Twilight was stationed. A camp, surrounded by a divine barrier, where demigods seek protection from the wrath of the mythological monsters.