The man had died a warrior, not in some glorious battle, but in a dirty back-alley brawl that went too far. He was never a soldier, not a knight, not even a gladiator—just a man who couldn't resist a fight. A barroom brawler. A street pit competitor. Someone who thrived on the rush of fist meeting flesh. His life was defined by the adrenaline of combat, and his death came the same way: knuckles split, blood in his mouth, heart pounding until it stopped.
Then came the light.
As he awoke again he was surrounded by snow lying underneath a pine tree. As he stood up he tried to see where he was and to his shock curled underneath the tree he had lain under before was a young dragon curled up
Before he could even process the information he heard what sounded like an animals footsteps maybe a horse or a cow he couldn't tell he was a city kid growing up he was more familiar with the sound of a car than most animals
Turning his head towards another magical sight. It was a horse man quite literally where the neck of the horse was supposed to be was a middle-aged man's upper body
"Oh my I didn't expect to encounter a new camper while coming to feed lil peley " The horseman chuckled as he gave the boy a smile
"Hold on weird horse guy i didn't sign up for some camp and who holds a camp while it's snowing? You gonna kayak in a frozen lake or something?" the boy instantly retorted not wanting to get kidnapped into some freaky cult or join some weirdos who held camp in winter
Seeing the boy's skepticism the horseman once again let out a gentle chuckle " Calm down young demigod my name is Chiron and this is Camp Half-blood a place you will find many like you reside "
Hearing those words it was like a firework went off in the boy's brain the words demigod and camp half-blood could only mean two things first he had a deadbeat parent and He was in the fucking Rick Riordan verse
Surprisingly knowing this didn't scare him instead it only fueled his desire to fight He'd punch things that he'd never punched before and battle to his heart's content
" dear me you seem to be quite the spirited one. What is your name? I fear introducing you to the others as campers wouldn't be the best idea"
Hearing Chiron's voice the boy snapped out of his trance to see that Chiron had put the baby dragon's food down and already started walking well trotting. He honestly had no clue what to call it
seeing him continue his pace the boy hurried to catch up after all there was a high chance that if he tried to leave camp he'd become monster chow " The name's Ducky Gideon so what's the routine you gonna be my tour guide or what
"You quite easily accepted the situation you're Ducky most demigods by now would be asking about what being a demigod is and what the camp was meant for"
Seeing that Chiron was intrigued about him accepting the situation so easily Ducky could only shrug mentally he wasn't an actor or believed he had the acting skills to fool an ancient demi-titan centaur
His only skill was fighting and even then he was subpar at best. Otherwise there's no way he'd have died in a scummy alley in Kansas City
"Well normal people are already weird as it is so demigods and whatnot isn't that much worse and who knows this could be a bad trip from eating shrooms"
Replying by spouting nonsense Ducky thought his ability to say random shit was top tier maybe he did have the talent to act and it seemed so for the rest of their short walk Chiron seemed to be thinking of something while stealing glances at Ducky
until they arrived at a giant sky blue farmhouse and on the porch there was a pudgy middle-aged man and a boy around Ducky's current age playing a card game
"Mr. has there been any trouble while i went to give Peley his lunch"
"Nothing out of the ordinary just me rotting away at this garbage dump of a camp are you gonna join us Chiron"
"Oh! Pinochle we haven't played this in a while have we. Are we betting this time or have you learned your lesson?"
watching as Chiron and the pudgy man who was mr D talk Ducky's eyes only lingered for a moment before looking at the satyr who seemed quite nervous playing he didn't know if this was Grover
He couldn't just go around assuming all goat people were the same. He wasn't a goat racist nodding as he felt his wise inner thought looking around he saw everyone looking at him
"uhm did someone need me?"
Mr. D burst out laughing "It's not every day a new demigod ignores me "
Ducky was confused. Wasn't this supposed to be the same god who didn't care for the campers and loved turning people into fishes
Seeing this Chiron wasted no time glancing at the satyr he gestured at him to take Ducky away
" now now Ducky you'll have plenty of time to get acquainted with Mr. D but for now let Gibson over here take you to watch the orientation film"
As if he was injected with caffeine Gibson stopped nervously nibbling on an empty Coke can stood straight and dragged Ducky into the big house
"We'll be on our way now Chiron"
closing the door behind us Gibson looked at Ducky and Ducky did the same he hadn't fully noticed the detail of Gibson's blonde hair and goat fur earlier how he had no clue ever since he woke up his mind seemed to wander
Ducky didn't know if it was due to the demigod's infamous adhd or something else but refocusing he followed Gibson as they made way to a room on the ground level. Upon entering ducky really started to question if this was a place for kids
It was a barren room with a group of chairs lined up facing a projector screen. Ducky really questioned the camp's taste he could only shudder at the scene of a furry goat man leading kids into here
"Alright sit down the video might be a little strange but it should help you navigate camp" Gibson spoke as he started up the projector
As Ducky sat down he watched the video go through. He once again worried if he was the only sane person in here midway through the tour of the cabins he saw a kid running through the video yelling about the lava increase as his clothes were on fire
As the video came to an end Ducky was left speechless as Gibson clapped " BRAVO BRAVO. That video always brings me to tears my goat pappy made it one of the camps greatest works"
Watching as Gibson started bawling his eyes out Ducky didn't know what to do he had hardly comforted people in most of his talks after 15 ended with a fight he did his and just patted Gibson on the back
and they just stood there for minutes until Gibson finally composed himself" sorry about that it's just this is one of the only ways i can remember pappy before he disappeared while retrieving campers."
This day had gotten weirder and weirder for Ducky first he died just to be reborn in the world of deadbeat parents and now he was getting trauma dumped by a goat man.
Wanting to break the sad mood Ducky decided it was time to go find his cabin so sneaking his was to the door he kept going until he reached the entrance then he finally dashed and sprinted out the door heading for outside the big house
as he left he saw the centaur and god still playing their card game thinking it was smart to notify them about the sad satyr he screamed as he passed them" SAD SATYR IN YOUR CREEPY ROOM"
with that ducky felt he had done his duties as a model new camper and decided to dash for the cabins and knew which one to find the Hermes Cabin the only one that accepted minor gods and the unclaimed
The cabins weren't hard to find seeing as they were pretty big and all around each other remembering the orientation film he found the biggest cabin that was also the most normal looking without a second thought he opened the door and stepped in imagining a dense group of campers
But the scene seemed rather quaint there were only 3 campers in there and they all looked at him as he walked towards one of the many bunks open with no one in it he threw himself on it and fell asleep immediately