A young, dark-haired boy sat alone at a small white table in the middle of a cafeteria filled with other kids of varying ages. The white noise of conversations, lunches slamming against tables, and metal chair legs sliding across the thick wooden floor roared as usual. Many times in the past year, some of the children tried to befriend the boy, but to no avail, only receiving dry, dismissive responses. After a while, no one attempted to approach the boy aside from Jenny, and he, in tern, ignored their exclusive actions, withdrawing into himself despite his teachers’ constant positive interventions.

Dark eyes scanned the pages of a moderately sized book, Jack’s mind so completely lost in the story that he didn’t notice a brown-haired, blue-eyed girl approach his table. A few moments passed as the girl stared at the boy’s short dark hair, waiting for a reaction that would never come on it’s own.

“I eat alone because the other kids are afraid I might eat them instead of my lunch. Why do you eat alone?”

The girl spoke above the roar of the cafeteria, but the boy still gave absolutely no response, pretending as if he hadn’t heard her and continued to read his book. Jenny waited for a few seconds, then pulled a little blue chair out, and sat across from the boy, her interest piqued by this unresponsive person that might make for a fun new toy.

“What are you reading?”

The girl continued to pry as a bright and seemingly innocent smile broadly projected off her face, looking nice from a distance, but Jack was close enough to notice what instigated her joy. He didn’t respond, and the roar of the cafeteria continued on, unaffected by the interaction between the two outcasts.

Jenny’s smile changed from innocent joy to sadistic pleasure for a split second, but quickly reverted back before anyone besides Jack saw, and continued her inquisition.

“I like you, Jack, you’re like an unbreakable lock, and I have a large ring of keys. Let’s play again at recess, and maybe this time I’ll find a way to break you.”

Chills ran down the boy’s spine at the girl’s words, her intent poorly hidden behind a childish facade she kept up either to fool the adults, or simply because it was part of her game. He gave no visible response, simply continuing to read his book while thinking about what “like” and “play” meant to someone like her, and how he might avoid this future encounter. The girl sat across from him, folding her arms on the table before resting her chin on them, staring intently at the boy who’s expression never changed no matter what she did to him.

Jenny had, over the past year, tried to get a reaction out of Jack by using various methods of what normal people would consider psychological torture, but to no avail. Every recess she would find some way to get the boy alone and try to scare him, or somehow convince a group of slightly older kids that Jack called them some horrible name, resulting in his ass getting kicked later on, or some other cruel tactic. However, he barely seemed to notice and simply took whatever he was dealt with a blank face, never once letting out the cry of fear or pain the little girl craved.

The most recent method was a bit different from the others, though. Instead of direct attacks on him using hostile means, she began striking out at him in a different way, prying into his life, and making sure he was well aware of it.

Recess; the time of day almost all children look forward to, waiting anxiously for the second hand to strike the twelve and the long awaited bell to ring throughout the halls, signaling their temporary freedom. This day was no different for most of the children, and sadly, the same goes for Jack, the sound signaling the impending doom that awaited him just as it did every other day.

“...you then take the decimal and move it three places to the le-“

*Rrrriiiiiinnnnnngggggg*

“Yay! It’s rece-“...“Did you see th-“...“D-don’t forget to-“...“-and then I-“

Dozens of conversations lost in the sea of of words that immediately ensued, one of them being the pretty blond teacher with a hopelessly small voice. Jack closed his math book, sliding it off his desk and into a small black backpack to his left, pulling himself to his feet as he glanced around for the girl that would meet him.

‘Hm. She’s gone already. That doesn’t bode well...’

The room was slowly emptying, and the girl was nowhere to be found, which happened occasionally when she came up with a “special plan of attack”. Jack stood, figuring she would show up later when the timing was perfect to complete, what she called, a “flawless execution” which he couldn’t help but think had some sort of double meaning.

Jack sighed inwardly, trailing behind the other students as they crammed themselves out the door, and into the rapidly filling hallway. The boy drifted to the wall after leaving the room, making sure he didn’t collide with anyone as he followed the flow of bodies to the glass double-doors being held open by a couple of teachers. As usual, Jack stepped out into the open world without a single person giving him a second glance or a passing word, but not really caring anyway since he would much rather be left alone.

Now free, the children scattered, spreading out across the playground and into an open field that connected to a road a few hundred feet away. Jack noticed a white van parked across the street at the old gas station, which was a bit odd since the station had been closed for quite some time now.

‘Well... better find Jenny before she find me...’

Jack stepped out, looking around for the brown-haired girl that should be nearby either with some sort of contraption or mob, but didn’t spot her. The school had an art building off to the left, though it was really just a broken-down trailer with tables and art supplies. Jenny had always seemed to end up coming out from behind it with whatever trouble she had planned following closely behind her while flashing that brilliant smile he dreaded so much.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He approached the “art building” stuffing his hands deep into his jean pockets, and feeling the weight of the black backpack swaying with each step. Moving up to the corner, the boy took his right hand out of it’s resting place, holding it up in front of him just in case something dangerous was waiting behind the white metal sheet acting as a wall for this sad structure.

The boy’s foot moved past it, and he pulled himself around to the backside of the trailer, expecting some sort of attack, but found... nothing. Nothing happened. Jenny was nowhere to be seen, and that made the boy very uncomfortable, especially after the conversation they had at lunch.

“Hel-“

“Shit! Keep h... her quiet, go-*cough*-dammit!”

A shout, then a clattering noise came from inside the trailer followed by the broken, but hushed voice of a man frantically cursing at someone else to “keep her quiet”. Jack froze, not out of fear, but genuine shock. He recognized the voice of the person inside all too well, it was his teacher, the pretty blonde with glasses, but that wasn’t all. The thing that shocked him most was the man’s voice, one belonging to someone Jack knew, one that he had heard many times in the past couple of years.

“I am, but the bitch bit my hand!”

Jack ripped the pack off of his back, and threw it to the ground before taking off at top speed back in the direction of the school, his eyes searching for an adult that could help. His heart beat wildly in his head, his usual apathetic feelings gone now as they were replaced by a mixture of fear, desperation and hate for that damned man. Jack only made it a few steps before stopping. The sound of fabric tearing, and a table falling over came from inside as his teacher violently resisted her captors, but obviously failing to free herself.

“Let’s just do this now, we don’t need to take them somewhere else, do we?”

“Gah! *Wheeze* Fine, let’s ju... just do this here. They’ll be a l-...lot easier to move after their energy’s-s gone anyway.”

The playground was too noisy to shout for help, and the nearest teacher was conversing with someone in a car on the far side of the field. Thanks to Jenny, all the kids hate him, so no help would come from them, and his time was incredibly limited since the man inside was about to begin.

“Fuck.”

Jack turned around, and dashed straight at the front door of the building, still trying to figure out what he could possibly do to improve this situation. A twelve-year-old boy has little to no chance against a grown man in a fight, not to mention there were at least two of them in there along with his teacher. Jack approached the door, jumping up to the small wooden platform in front of it before gripping the small, bronze handle.

<>

‘There is almost nothing he can do to help, and the chances of him getting hurt are pretty high, so why is he still going in?’

Two big sapphire eyes peaked out from behind a slide decently far away from the art building, watching the dark-haired boy slam into the door, flinging it inward. He entered without hesitation and disappeared from the sight into the dark room filled with horrors the eyes’ owner was currently hiding from.

‘But there’s something even more interesting than that...’

The eyes watched in wonder, unable to move away from the small white trailer even though nothing was happening. The gaze simply intensified as if trying to somehow puncture the white wall and reveal what was unfolding inside.

‘I’ve found the key!’

<>

“Damn brat! Get out!”

A tall man with long black hair and hazy blue eyes pointed the knife in his right hand at the terrified boy that just entered the room, completely losing his previously muted tone and shouting angrily. Laying in front of him on a small table, held down by another man was the blond teacher that had shown Jack nothing but kindness in the past, which the boy appreciated despite it’s ineffectiveness.

Jack’s legs trembled at the familiar sight of the man in front of him, who was intoxicated from some drug he had likely bought from the man holding down the struggling teacher. He had no idea what to do, but he couldn’t leave the woman to her fate... he was stuck.

“I said... to get... the fuck... out, Jack! Blood relation will... *cough!* only get... t-ya so far!”

“Keep your voice down!”

The man hissed at Jack’s relative while pressing down hard on the teacher’s mouth as her cries for help resumed the moment she noticed the boy. She kicked and clawed at the man pinning her down, scratching and tearing at his flesh in an attempt to escape his grasp, forcing the boy’s relative to turn his attention in her direction. The intoxicated man stabbed his knife into the wooden table next to her before reaching out to restrain her legs.

Jack snapped out of his daze, and reached for a small cluster of supplies on the desk next to him, his fingers wrapping around a glass cup filled with paintbrushes. Quickly turning back to the trio, the boy hurled the glass as hard as he could at the face of the man holding his teacher’s mouth, sending it flying across the small room.

A loud crash sounded as the glass shattered, apparently more frail than Jack had thought, and exploded into the man’s eyes, freeing the teacher from his grasp. Instantly, the woman kicked out, now able to see her attackers better, and landed a direct blow to Jack’s relative’s groin, and instantly disabling him before rolling off the table. She took her chance, and grabbed the boy’s arm on her way out, pulling him behind her as the two made their escape back towards the school.

(Hu hu hu... fighting to save beautiful damsels in distress even before you got these powers. You really are something, you know that?)

Ellis emerged from Jack’s memories with a comment on what she had seen, catching the aspiring god a bit off-guard considering his situation.

‘I have something to do, so please refrain from teasing for at least a little while.’

(Okay, Prince Charming.)

Jack ignored the goddess, returning his attention to the situation at hand as the cocky hero began surrounding himself with large green orbs of magic. Behind John, standing a safe distance away, were Val and Jenny, both watching with tears flowing from their eyes, and relieved smiles displayed on their faces. Jack smiled inwardly at their reaction, deeply thankful to have people that genuinely care about him that much.

“You cocky bastard! I’ll beat you senseless then make you watch as I forcefully take your precious girls’ virginity!”

The hero shouted angrily, his skin cracking and peeling before slowly disintegrating into small green specks of dust that disappeared into the wind. The man’s eyes became solid green as the magic orbs around him grew in both size and power, tearing up the earth beneath it and creating massive gusts of wind that pulled everything nearby into it’s all-consuming maw. Greed and envy now pervaded his body just as it did his soul, eating away at his life more and more each time he indulged in it’s benefits.

Jack took a second step forward, noticing the wraith behind him shift and summon magic of his own in preparation, most likely planning to strike at the dark-haired boy when he wasn’t prepared. Jack’s foot lifted, leaving the burnt imprint of his foot in the ground along with a few flames that flicked and danced on the dirt for a few seconds before disappearing. The tension grew as three different kinds of magic rose against each other, and the three who wield them slowly drew closer.

Green, pink, and black energies lashed out at each other, each with a praiseworthy amount of power, but there can be only one victor in this fight.

Thus began the battle between the hero, the wraith, and the demigod.