Nathan Styx

• David Carnovale, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2021

I should probably warn you about being a Demi-God how dangerous it is fighting monsters and almost dying every winter. Now let’s get this straight the more you know the more danger you are in. I really enjoy when people make a dramatic entrance into HQ being chased by a monster, so please do not close this book.
It all started when I went into the library at Zeus HQ and I found the book.
I know you’re probably thinking what is the book well the book, is the last thing you want to learn about because it was the only thing in the library that almost succeeded in killing me.
All this was mostly caused by the oracles. You know the oracles right? Well if you don’t, there are five oracles and they each have a place of power. Delphi is at the ruins of Delphi, Cumae is at the Cumean Caves and Dodona is at the Sacred Grove of Dodona.
Those are the important ones although I don’t think Apollo God of the Sun would appreciate being told Trophonius isn’t important seeing as he’s his son. But on second thought he did make Trophonius decapitate his brother for robbing the king; so you never know.
But my mother is the Goddess of War Strategy Athena and sometimes she thinks too far ahead. Well I don’t like my godly background because it caused me to meet people like Trophonius and Asmodeus and Hecate and the Minotaur.
All the worst monsters and even minor gods seem to come after me; I hate it.
But this story involves the Oracle of Cumae so as I was saying earlier I found the book well, unfortunately I found the Sibylline Books; plural.
These were made by the Sybil of Cumae; Sybil’s were women who got prophecies from the oracles and the Cumean Sybil put it all into the books.
That blasted woman ruined my whole life by writing those books and more importantly they belong to the Romans, technically. But they lost them so they are also to blame for this.
The books were in the Cumean Caves and they eventually ended up in the HQ library.
I had to face so many; a talking rock, my mum, a satyr, my brain, music, and the King of Demons; Asmodeus.
Then I was possessed by the spirit of Cumae and became the first host of Cumae and that’s when it all went sideways.
I became ill, struck down by my mother with a ray of light because I overtook her in the ways of knowledge.
She made sure that it would stay that way forever so she killed me and imprisoned the oracle inside me and now till this day I’ve been waiting for my mother to free me from this world.
She never will. It helps me to know that I can’t rely on anyone.
My soul is a wasteland stranded and alone, I am Nathan Styx.