“…So, you’re telling me, that an untrained, teenage, only awoken ten minutes before Demigod, fought back a God of roughly the same Principles, and not only survived, but actually forced the God back into the Divine Realm?” Edgar knew this sentence would seem extremely strange had he not actually been a Demigod himself.

Edgar Yule was no stranger to the world of Gods, and considering his role in the world, it was only right that he understand and say this without any joking tone in his voice, despite his current look of a Hawaiian Shirt, shorts, and some flip-flops…

It was probably comical how he looked, in his current outfit, talking to a man wearing a suit with sunglasses looking like an FBI Agent and Edgar was the one with the higher position… but still, that was besides the current situation.

“Indeed sir, the Demigod in question, Jake Ignis, was reported by Agents near the scene to have been chased and attacked by the Ancient Aztecan God Huitzilopochtli.” Edgar absently wondered how those Aztecs thought to come up with such a name, but remembered that they had even worse names for other Gods.

“Said God happens to be God of Will, Patron of War, Fire, the Sun and Lord of the South. Apparently the god was attracted to Ignis due to his Godly parent, based on his skills we have heavy suspicions that his godly parent would be Apollo, Greek God of The Sun, Music, Poetry, Art, Oracles, Archery, Plague, Medicine, Light and Knowledge.” Edgar widened his eyes at that… it was rare to find a God with so many domains.

“During the chase, Ignis managed to turn his originally mundane Bow into a Divine Weapon which he then used to wound Huitzilopochtli, sending the God back to the Divine Realm. Upon his victory, Ignis fell unconscious due to the heavy usage of his recently acquired power, after which our agents appeared and brought the unconscious Ignis here… he should be waking up soon.” The agent explained to Edgar, who had partially tuned out certain pieces of the speech, but noted the ending and important parts so that he could answer.

“So we got him, great, he’ll need training, equipment, we’ll need to enrol him into the school… anything else, Agent Karma?” mentioning the surname of the agent of course annoyed him due to the strangeness of his surname, but he had long ago gotten used to it, as he sighed, before placing a folder on the desk in front of both of them, though Agent Karma was the one with his back to the door, as Edgar opened it to read the information on their latest Demigod.

“Let’s see, Jake Ignis, age eighteen, high school senior, gets extremely high grades in English, Biology, Chemistry, and higher than average in Mathematics, his second Language chosen was… Latin, interesting choice, he gets average marks there, but considering the rarity of the Language that is impressive, and his final subject is the given Life Education…” Edgar thought the subject to be pointless, he wouldn’t trust a teacher to explain to him how to live his life responsibly, that should just be instinctual.

“In which he gets average marks, and the ace of the Archery Club, though is a known skater… overall, a good student… wait a moment… darn.” Edgar looked at the ‘Guardians’ point, in which the two names Mark and Annie Thomas, in other words…

“…He isn’t an orphan?” Edgar was used to Demigods being… alone, and difficult to communicate with, but once meeting other Demigods, becoming open and trusting. With this kid, he might not want to join their group due to living a normal life before this… incident.

“Indeed sir, in fact, he’s the ‘elder brother’ of the twin children of said Guardians. In fact, all of his records were as Jake Thomas, we had to dig into the orphanage records to discover that he was in fact surnamed Ignis… we aren’t sure he knows he is an Orphan.” Agent Karma admitted, though he perked up in a second.

“We are, however, bringing in his ‘parents’ and ‘siblings’ to discuss this. We figure the truth would best be heard from the parents themselves.” Edgar gave a nod at that, at least the Agent was on top of things, if it weren’t for the Agent and The Council; Edgar wouldn’t be able to manage with this workload.

“That’s pretty good Agent, pretty good… I believe this kid would be an excellent addition to our group… I mean, barely awoken, not even trained in true combat and capable of fighting off a God with similar powers? This kid might go far.” Edgar admitted as a knock was heard on the door.

Edgar nodded, and another of their Agents, a lower tier one Edgar couldn’t quite remember the name of, came in, saluting towards Edgar and the Head Agent before speaking.

“Jake Ignis has woken up.” Edgar and Agent Karma looked to each other, both nodding as they stepped out.

Jake was confused… very confused.  The last thing he remembered before waking up was being chased by this big guy who was practically on fire, trying to hit him as he ran… then he got nicked with an arrow of fire, then waking up… Jake could only think it was a God.

Gods weren’t private knowledge anyway. Not since the year 2000, when that Norse God Baldur descended on a city in Norway and killed a lot of the population before a Demigod showed up and killed him. That Demigod then went on to create an Anti-Supernatural Agency known as Aegis.

This was household knowledge, so Jake wasn’t completely confused on what the being attacking him was… but…

“I’m… alive?” he asked himself as the doors opened, revealing what looked like an FBI agent, and… a man just back from vacation at Hawaii?

“Indeed you are, Jake Thomas.” Said the FBI looking guy as Jake sat up, turning to look at the two who just entered the room. Jake absently noted that he was currently in a pair of shorts and shirt, both plain white.

“Where am I?” Jake asked, his eyes looking around the room, an action that made the Hawaiian shirt guy smile.

“You are currently in the Main Headquarters of the Anti-Supernatural Agency, Aegis. I am Head Agent Karma, and this man to my side is Edgar Yule, one of the Founders of Aegis.” Jake looked to the casually dressed man with wide eyes upon hearing his name, that name was also commonly known.

In fact, this man was the man who actually killed a God, Edgar Yule, also considered the First Demigod due to being the first to publicly say as much in the modern public setting… which meant that, despite how… casual, he seemed, this man was strong enough to kill beings on the level of the guy who put Jake here in what looked to be a med-bay.

“Oh don’t act so formal with me, would you? I’m just another guy.” The man spoke casually too, Jake noted, as the Agent on the side seemed annoyed at that.

“Anyway, you were brought in once we found you unconscious near the Entrance Site for the Aztec God Huitzilopochtli.” Jake appeared serious as he listened, though he wondered how such a name could roll off the tongue so easily.

“Before we continue talking though, your family is coming shortly, and we’ll let them sit with you while we discuss what happened.” The Agent explained as Jake nodded, coming to terms with what happened as the door opened once more, this time revealing a woman with glasses, wearing a skirt and professional clothes, carrying a pad with her as she stepped in, her eyes focusing on Edgar.

“Edgar, what are you doing here, aren’t you supposed to be helping out Team Alpha with their training?” she said with venom in her voice as the Edgar raised his hands defensively.

 “Uh, yeah, I was supposed to do that, but I got side-tracked when Jake here was brought in, certainly you must have heard about the Huitzilopochtli case from a few hours ago, didn’t you Rose?” Edgar spoke as the woman, apparently named Rose, frowned and nodded.

“Indeed, Charlie was prepped and ready to fight the God due to his affinity against such Gods, but it was thought to be a false report seeing as the God vanished after twenty minutes.” She said as Edgar shook his head.

“It wasn’t, Jake here was being chased by the God and, through circumstances, managed to survive the encounter.”

Edgar motioned to Jake who sat a bit straighter upon being looked at by the stern woman. “I see… Jake? My name is Rose Cora; I’m one of the Founders of Aegis and a Demigod, and member of The Council of Demigods. I’m also the one in charge of the more magical parts of our organization; it is a pleasure to meet you.”

She put out her hand as Jake nodded, taking Rose’s hand. “It’s Jake Thomas, and it’s a pleasure to meet you too.” Jake said as the woman nodded, having found his manners acceptable.

“Still, despite Mr Thomas’ circumstances, you aren’t the one supposed to be dealing with this, I am.” Rose looked to Edgar as she spoke, making the man shrink to the door.

“That you are that you are… um, I’ll just get going now.” Edgar then proceeded to run out of the door like a bat out of hell. Jake was brought back into the present when Rose nodded to the Agent who explained the situation to her.

“Alright, Mr Thomas, I’ve received word your family is here, they’ll be in shortly, I’ll be the one to sit and talk with your group, seeing as Edgar was supposed to be busy…” she practically growled the end of the sentence out in thought of the apparent laziness of Edgar, though she did seem a bit concerned when she paused after speaking as if to think.

She shook her head of that as the door opened though, revealing Jake’s parents and his siblings who were twins, Lyle and Luke Thomas, and his parents Mark and Annie Thomas.

“Jake!” shouted the twins as they stepped a bit faster upon seeing him, the two twelve year olds checking to see if he was alright. After discovering their elder brother to be alright, they stepped back, and Jake caught the strange look in his parent’s eyes.

“Mr and Mrs Thomas it is nice to meet you, my name is Rose Cora, co-founder of Aegis and a Demigod.” Jake’s parents nodded, a serious look in their eyes as Jake looked at the confrontation.

“Nice to meet you Mrs Cora… We… we think we have an idea of why we are here.” Jake’s father spoke, making Rose nod with a look to Jake and then the parents.

“Jake here, survived an encounter with the Aztec God Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec God of Will, patron of Fire and War. We brought you here, so you may tell Jake something important.” She said, hinting at something as Jake’s father sighed… then he turned to Jake.

“…Jake… I’m sure you know the only way for a person to survive a fight against a God is to be a Demigod… right?” he asked, making Jake nod… realization hitting him slowly, though he could feel it coming on.

“Jake… the truth is… you were adopted.” Jake stared at his parents, not really sure how to react to that. “…we know it is a lot to take in, but-” before his ‘mother’ could continue, Jake raised a hand, worrying some with how he might react.

“…actually… I don’t really know how I’m supposed to react to that… do I get mad? Do I cry? Do I complain? Do I laugh it off? I don’t really know what to do about that… so I’d rather do nothing. You are still the people who raised me, and the people who made sure I could eat, stay clothed, and have a roof over my head. My not being related to you changes nothing.” He admitted, making his parents sigh in relief.

“Although… it was kind of obvious, and I had thought of it before… I mean, I’m blonde with green eyes, and both of my parents have brown hair… though mine does look kind of like a light brown, still doesn’t hide much.” A chuckle was heard from out the room as a pen appeared in the hand of Rose, before her hand blurred and the pen was embedded in the door… an audible gulp was heard.

“Edgar, what did I say?” a series of footsteps were heard before everyone just blinked at the occurrence… Demigods were weird, even Jake, who was trying to associate himself with the exclusive group in his mind, thought so.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Continuing, Jake, we have the belief that your Godly Parent might be Apollo, Greek God of Archery, the Sun, and… miscellaneous things… there are quite a few things he’s in charge of.” Rose admitted looking at the list with annoyance…

It spelt out good news about Jake being a Demigod, but trying to wrap her head around a God that encompassed all those things was difficult…

Of course, Creator Gods by extension- okay, she was getting side-tracked. Jake blinked at that, not really knowing much about the God, though recognizing the name from the big names of the Greek Pantheon…

Namely, Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and Hestia were ones he knew well, especially Hestia… Goddess of the Hearth, he enjoyed the concept… family, and warmth; he thought she might be one of the few okay Greek Goddesses.

“Anyway, during times of extreme stress, Demigods can awaken their powers as a Demigod, these typically occur when exposed to Divinity or stress, Demigods awaken even greater power the more Divinity they are exposed to, which is why Demigods who fight a lot get stronger quicker… we believe this is also part of the reason you survived against Huitzilopochtli, let alone driving him away… do you remember how you did, by the way?” asked Rose as Jake shook his head, wondering where his beanie went… probably burnt away.

“No… I remember using my skateboard to get away… then that God broke it… going to miss that board, but anyway, shortly after he broke it I was shot with an arrow made of fire… hit me in the stomach area I think…” Jake poked the part, wincing at the feeling… it didn’t hurt, not really, but it felt… new… like the skin underneath a scab.

“After being shot, I don’t remember much.” Jake said, and Rose just nodded, writing something down.

“Indeed, that seems to be the case with the majority of Demigods, their first time using their powers usually has a vague sense of memory loss.” Rose stated, finishing her writing before she handed the board to a man standing nearby in a suit with sunglasses.

They were really pulling off the whole ‘secret agent’ thing there.

“Though I must admit, you are really lucky to be alive… most Demigods don’t survive a fight against a God the first time they awaken, usually just surviving long enough for someone else to stop whatever just happened.” Rose explained as Jake looked to his hand, wondering at what she just stated…

And then his hand set itself on fire and he just stared with wide eyes.

“Well… guess that proves that fire is part of your Principles.” Everyone in the room was staring at the fire at that point, but when Rose spoke out, it caused the occupants to turn to her.

“Principles? What does that mean exactly?” Mark, Jake’s father, spoke out in question as Rose held out her hand, allowing them to see the fire that engulfed her hand.

Before another word could be said, the fire was doused as her hand became enveloped in water, then began to spark lightning, confusing the eyes of those who were watching before Rose snapped her fingers, allowing the show to disappear.

“Principle, as in ‘Law’ is something Gods and Goddesses have Domain over, they control these Principles and we Demigods receive weakened control over some of these Principles. For example, as Apollo is the God of the Sun and Archery as his main Principles, Jake will find himself with the ability to create fire and preternatural archery skills.” Jake wondered, looking to his own fire, willing it to disappear, and he watched as the fire sucked itself back into his left hand.

“Now, this is obvious, but we at Aegis would like to have Jake stay with us and train with Aegis, to teach him how to control his newly found strength as well as how to use his Principles.” Rose maintained as Annie spoke out, tightening her grip on the hand of her husband.

“Now wait a moment, Aegis… Aegis fights Gods right? Will… will Jake have to fight too?” Annie asked with worry as Rose smiled at her concern.

“No Mrs Thomas, Jake will not need to fight. However we do believe in training Demigods to defend themselves at the least, as Demigods are much more likely to encounter supernatural beings. In addition, the only time Jake would be asked to fight a God would be if he gave permission for it, and if we approved his skill in combat.” Rose admitted, receiving a page from the agent at her side before handing it to Jake’s parents.

“That is a list of what is required of Jake. Any more than that, without permission of Jake, is against the law and we at Aegis aren’t above the laws of man.” Rose reminded as the couple looked over the list.

“It says here that Jake is required to receive Aegis approved education, as well as receive combat training.” Mark stated, his twin songs looking over his shoulder to try and read the list without much understanding to the matter.

“Indeed. Aegis is controlled, with United Nations approval, by Demigods for Demigods. All Demigods are orphans unfortunately, as our conception requires our human parent to die for our birth.” Rose frowned at this, developing a far off look for a moment before shaking her head.

“Ahem, so as such, we are more accustomed to dealing with people still in orphanages, or those who are in foster care. We aren’t really used to dealing with people who are already adopted with a family, which is why education become a requirement.” Rose explained as Annie spoke out, understanding what the woman meant.

“You mean they wouldn’t have many options for education, so Aegis became required to give free education to Demigods?” Annie asked, still going over the list herself.

“Indeed. Aegis has, with the assistance of the United Nations, created bases all over the world, and many of these bases have all the things necessary for teenage and even adult Demigods to live there. We also have deals with schools to let our Demigods study there, with some freedom with schooling hours.” Rose explained as Mark cut in.

“Freedom with schooling hours, why is that, is that in case of a God attacking and a Demigod being called in to fight?” He asked as Rose nodded, having a small smile as she saw the twin twelve year olds trying to use their injured older brother as a tree to climb.

“Not always, this is also to account for complications with each Demigod, some are children of Gods of night and therefore by nature nocturnal. As such, they receive information packets containing what they are required to know for each subject, essentially being home schooled with approval from a government approved school.” Rose tried to explain as Mark nodded in approval.

“Okay… and you already explained why they would need training… it also says here that Jake will be required to undergo monthly Principle tests… so I’m guessing that’s to check his powers?” Annie asked as Jake perked up slightly, having been listening into the conversation but finding no need to speak out.

“Yes, see, Demigods are functionally half human, they require different needs and grow differently. For example, I’m over seventy years old.” That caused everyone to pause, except for the agent next to her.

It was reasonable to be shocked when the woman who looked barely six years older than Jake claimed to be over three times his age.

“Demigods are functionally immortal, in the sense that we age extremely slowly, and at some point just stop aging at all. We can’t exactly decide this, as I am aware of a Demigod that stopped aging when his physical age reached somewhere around forty, and I know another who stopped physically aging at twelve.” Rose seemed really irritated at that last one as she glanced away to hide her irritation.

“Demigods, other than our aging, also are more powerful than humans at our core. Even a Demigod of a minor Deity focusing on things like intellect would likely be capable of lifting a literal ton of weight with minimal training and effort.” Jake cautiously, oh so cautiously, looked at his younger brothers trying to hold him down, and worried what would happen if he tried to stand up.

“Don’t worry Jake, it takes time for a Demigod’s strength to appear, but I think you understand my worries. Demigods are dangerous, even without meaning to be, and so Aegis doesn’t only train Demigods on how to best use their strength, but also how to control said strength.” Rose explained as she casually reached to another bed, lifting it with one hand as if it were nothing, once more shocking the group.

“That doesn’t make any physical sense.” Spoke Mark as someone who studied physics in high school, he knew it didn’t make sense for someone of Rose’s stature to be able to do that without tipping over.

“No, it doesn’t Mr Thomas. Demigods are not under the laws of Physics entirely, a child of Hermes might be able to run at the speed of light, yet would not displace anything while doing so. That makes no sense, and yet it happens. Likewise, if a Demigod were to lift up a building, the weight of the building wouldn’t cause the much lighter Demigod to fall over.” Rose gave a smirk at that as she allowed the bed to be placed back on the floor.

“As I was saying though, we need to train Jake in how to control his strength and powers, and how to best use them. The monthly tests are to check whether or not they have grown, and if they have, to adjust his training to account for such changes.” Rose added, and Jake gulped and nodded, wondering how bad it would be if he didn’t receive such training…

Walking through a wall by accident might not be a dream but a reality.

“Word of warning Jake, the strongest Demigods, such as myself don’t seem to stop gaining strength even if we stop training. Edgar, the head of Aegis, is the strongest Demigod in existence since the year two thousand, and he hasn’t trained a day since the year two thousand and five, and yet he is stronger than he was back then.” Jake understood the message with a frown.

If he joined that rank, the strongest Demigods, he might never stop growing stronger.

“But that’s something we should worry about when we cross that bridge.” Rose reassured as Mark and Annie finally stopped looking over the list, and then turned to Jake.

“Jake… you’re a Demigod now. Aegis, is a required thing for you to join as one, but you don’t need to fight… so we can’t ask whether or not you will join… but we can ask whether or not you will fight.” Mark stated as Jake looked to the man in surprise as Annie added in.

“Jake, we’ve all seen the news, we know how fights against Gods normally go… normally there are at least five or so Demigods fighting against one God, and on average one of those five would die every second or so fight. You fought a God alone and won. You already have a lot of qualification to join their fight… and we won’t stop you if you want to.” Annie said as Jake thought it over, looking at his younger brothers who were staring at him with wide eyes.

“…I’ll fight. I want to fight.” Jake reassured himself as Luke and Lyle looked to him with wide eyes, in awe of their brother who fought and defeated a God.

“…Okay… know that we’ll support you every step of the way.” Mark said with a frown as Annie cried a bit from the side… she knew what he was getting into…

Demigods didn’t have high life expectancy, most died before the age of twenty. Those who lived past that age usually died in their thirties… and if a Demigod lived past that, the only way they’d die is when fighting a God uniquely suited to defeat them.

 “I won’t say not to worry dad, mom… but think about it, I can fight Gods, Gods that kill people incapable of fighting back… if I can help protect people, then I think I want to do it.” Jake said with a smile, even as his parents smiled at him.

Only Rose had a frown as she looked at the scene, not wishing to cut in with her own problems with his view.

Fact of the matter was, his views were good for Aegis, but they were toxic for a human.

Selflessness is something considered heroic and amazing in idols, but for a psychiatrist, of which Rose is certified as one in several fields, selflessness becomes less of an admirable trait and more of a worrisome one.

It’s barely two steps away from tossing away your own life to save someone else after all, and it wasn’t healthy to so easily weigh another’s life over your own.

It was even worse for Demigods, they were rare and powerful, they were necessary to fight back against the Gods… but if they all thought normal lives weighed more than theirs, how many would have sacrificed themselves for some random human and then die, weakening Aegis before the next God appeared.

Admirable, but worrying, that described selflessness to Rose.

“So, where do we sign?” Rose bit back her inner worries as she forced a smile on her face, handing the ‘contract’ to them.

“Normally Jake alone would fill it out, but you are welcome to help him of course… we do need Jake to start living at our base by next week though, and transferring him to his new school…” Rose knew this would be a bit saddening for them, but figured she had to say it as soon as possible.

“Alright, new school, new people, new problems too… sounds exciting.” Jake grinned as Rose smiled giving a small clap.

“Good, you are all welcome to leave whenever you are ready, as Jake seems to heal faster than most Demigods. Should you decide to leave, Agent Six here will show you out.” Rose gestured to the agent on her side, wondering why they were numbered instead of named…

The only ‘named’ agent was Head Agent Karma, and that was because calling him ‘Agent Zero’ was way too over the top he said.

“Sure, and thank you a lot miss Cora.” Jake’s parents greeted, as did his siblings, while Jake looked over the contract, sending one last glance and nod at her before he began reading.

Rose left the room easily, walking down the corridor before she spoke out to the ‘elephant’ in the room.

“Charlie, what are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be at our Australian base along with Shane?” Rose asked as she looked to her side, an illusion fading from the wall to reveal a man with a cowboy hat hiding his pitch black hair, his eyes such a pale blue one could almost mistake him for being blind.

“Well I was there, but I took an express return as soon as I was able to once I heard… a Demigod of Apollo huh?” Charlie asked as Rose continued walking, the man leaving his spot on the wall to walk just behind her.

“Indeed, so why does that interest you? Maybe… is it because of what Apollo represents? Archery, like your own parent?” Rose asked as Charlie grinned.

“That’s part of it, we don’t get a lot of archers in this place, but beyond that… we’ve never had a Demigod of Apollo before… his main Principles are known to be Archery and the Sun, the Chinese hero Hou Yi might be based off of him or vice-versa… aren’t I the perfect counter for him?” Charlie asked as Rose thought it over.

“You are right… after all, Ull is a God of Ice and Hunters, and the main weapon of hunters were bows… it’s a close thing, your elements are opposite and your weapons are the same.” Rose said as Charlie grinned, snapping his fingers in an attempt to cause a thin layer of ice where Rose would walk.

Her own snap of her fingers erased the ice as if it never existed.

“Wow, as expected of the Witch… but yeah, we’re opposites… so I think I’d be the best team leader for him.” Charlie stated, his joking tone vanishing towards the end as Rose looked to the man with a searching glance.

“Very well Charlie, I’ll approve of it, and knowing Edgar he’ll agree. The Council will be interested, but I’m sure they’ll leave well enough alone.” Rose said with a thin smile as she walked away, leaving Charlie to just hold onto his hat with a grin.

“Scary woman… talking as if she isn’t on the Council.” Charlie grinned and walked away, knowing that if he were to have a team, he’d need more than just one recruit…

“Now then, we need four others… a son of Hephaestus… a son of Ares wouldn’t be bad… there was a new daughter of Hermes… then there’s our own little problem child… yeah, this team sounds good.” Charlie walked away, a hop in his step and a whistle on his lips.

After a few years of not having a team, he’d finally get one again… he was so excited, not only for the fights, but for meeting a son of Apollo, the premier God of Archery…

To be exact, Charlie just wanted to compete in Archery, but guiding the kid could happen too. Just saying.