God of the sea, Poseidon

After a brief explanation which you accept with a indulgent form of amusement before the man in the wheelchair - Chiron - reveals the horse-half of his body and you’re stunned into silence. You pinch yourself and the jolt of pain fills you with unease that this may not be a dream. A world full of ancient monsters and heroes and gods and you are literally so lost you have no idea which way is even up anymore as you consider all the things that could exist.

“You can be the child of any god, Zues, Hades, Posiedon—”

As if triggered by the name itself, a green and blue light flares around you and you panic for a quick second before everyone seems to stare at a spot above your head. Immediately, everyone seems to drop to one knee around you as you look around in shock. You look up to see a trident symbol floating in the air as it emits the glow that surrounds you.

“The bloodline is determined.” Chiron says, voice heavy and solemn, “Poseidon - Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Lord of Horses. All hail Jack Langnan, Son of the Sea God.”

You blink and stare at the glowing trident above your head and watch as the glow slowly fades away to nothing.

You pat youself down, still desperately hoping if this is some dream and you’ll wake up when the other campers rise to their feet. A half-goat, half human creature - a satyr? - trots over to Chiron and whispers in his ear. Chiron’s eyes widen and he gives a look that fills you with such dread, your stomach flips in anxiety.

“Jack...” He says, voice grave and quiet, “Perhaps we should talk in the big house, I have some... bad news.”

Despite the low voice, it’s deafening in the silence by whatever just happen and several of the campers give you speculative looks and a few even seem to by pitying. Nervously, you nod and follow Chiron to what resembles a wooden house and follow him in.

“Jack” He says, “Your mother...”

Your heart thuds against your chest as suddenly your insides feel like they’re being twisted into knots, “What? What about her!”

“She’s dead.” He says.

You stumble back as though physically hit and you shake your head in denial, “What? No! She can’t be! She was alive just today! I was just with her not even an hour ago!”

“Jack...” He says, hands raised as he approaches as though to show he isn’t a threat.

“She’s not dead!” You yell, “Don’t lie to me!”

Chiron explains about how all demigods had a scent that grew stronger as the demigod got older. Monsters would use it to track demigods down to eat and often didn’t care if mortals died in the process. Your mom must’ve realized she couldn’t keep you safe despite her best efforts much longer and sent you to the camp. Suddenly several little things about how stressed your mother had been recently fell into place and one horrifying realization hit you like a load of bricks.

She is dead because of you. Your proximity to her must’ve led the monsters right to her as she left the camp.

You can’t do anything. The world seems to fade into a greyscale rendering of colors as everything suddenly seems wrong. You can’t seem to catch your breath and you collapse to your hands and knees.

You didn’t even get to say goodbye properly.

You are barely even aware when a kid leads you to a cabin, and arm around your shoulders as a few tears find their way off your chin. Without think of anything you flop down on a bed that is clearly empty and quite literally cry yourself into an empty sleep.