The Chosen Weapons

The eight students were gathered outside the academy, each holding their weapon. Geras walked ahead of them with his usual disapproving glare.

“What are you waiting for? I want to see what you chose!”

Thanatos promptly showed his scythe. It was no mystery, he just thought he should act. Without much delay, Mac produced her own scythe.

“That's not very good. We have redundant weapons among you. A greater variety would be ideal.”

Mac flinched at the scolding.

“Then you two better train hard! If we're going to have two of the same weapon, we better have at least two specialists.”

The princess smiled at her teacher and returned with a confident posture. The old man walked down the line waiting for the next one to speak.

Angela and Oizys had the same weapons as before, the pistols and the flute. Then it was time for Mel, who was holding the lamp with a chain.

“So this is really your choice? Can you use magic?”

“Not yet, but my father will find someone to teach me.”

“Do you know that not everyone has this ability? If you can't, you'll be attached to a metal lamp connected by a chain. You better learn to spin that hard to hit other people's heads.”

She nodded, she wasn't ready to give up on her dreams and would try her hardest. Continuing in line, Geras faced Hypnos, lying floating on his huge magic pillow.

“I don't see a weapon with you!”

“It's because your eyes still work,” Hypnos replied, taking a strike from Geras’ ruler.

“This is serious, boy! What's your weapon!?”

Hypnos looked around as if looking for something and returned to Geras with nothing.

“I wouldn't fight someone head-to-head anyway. Trust my skills, I don't need anything but my pil…”

Hypnos' sentence was interrupted by a yawn that lasted thirty seconds, when he finished he closed his eyes and said nothing more.

Geras glared at Thanatos who sighed helplessly. The teacher gave Hypnos one more stroke, waking him up and went to the next one in line.

Momus happily carried two metallic maracas.

“What is it, young man?”

“Well, Gagaras. You said that musical weapons can have uses beyond the common ones, and I thought of something that would suit me.”

“How wonderful,” replied Geras sarcastically, “when the sons of the god of war come at you with spears and shields, what will you do? Your sister's gun doubles as a knife!”

The young man pressed a button on each of the maracas, separating the cable from the rest by a chain. In a quick movement Momus used one of the weapons as a whip towards the targets. Upon contact, a purple explosion ensued, completely destroying the target. The chain retracted, returning to its normal maraca form without having suffered any damage from the explosion.

Geras was stunned for a few seconds, before returning to his grumpy mood.

“I think that will be enough.”

“So that's why our house blew up,” said Oizys thoughtfully.

Finally, Geras reached the last person in line, Ask. The young man timidly carried a bident, a double-pronged spear.

“I don't have much of a reason, just that it's a lighter weapon and reminds me of the pruning shears I use in the trees.

“You think it has no meaning, but you're wrong. This weapon is the one that Lord Hades used in the battle against the Titans.”

Everyone stared at the young man with surprise, making him throw away the weapon far from his body as if it could explode at any moment.

“It was not that specific weapon he used! Which doesn't change the fact that you chose our lord's favorite.”

Ask was still afraid to bring the weapon close to him.

“I guess I can change then. There's no reason for me to keep something that special.”

Once again the ruler of Geras meets one of his pupils with force.

“Don't talk nonsense, this is a great honor! I forbid you to switch weapons now, are we done?”

The young man was still eyeing his weapon with insecurity and he could feel the gaze of all his colleagues in his direction.

Geras walked to the front of the group to continue his explanation.

“Don't think these will be your weapons until the Olympics. You cannot change the chosen model, but you will forge and improve your choices, making something that is unique to each of you. Don't worry about that part for now, we still have plenty of time for that. And fighting is important, yet there are still a plethora of skills you must master in less than four months.”

They spent the rest of the day practicing with the weapons. Mel, Oizys, and Ask weren't sure how to make their choices effective in combat, feeling like they were embarrassing themselves in front of others.

Momus had to stay away from the others to avoid explosion injuries. He had designed his maracas to be able to explode up to three times with an impact, when the explosive ran out he could still use them as small flails.

Angela didn't have the best aim, but managed to hit more than half of her shots. Eventually she gave more energy to the guns, releasing bigger pink shots, even if she still couldn't regulate it safely.

Hypnos floated at a height above the reach of Geras' ruler, watching his companions from above.

Further away were Mac and Thanatos. The god passed basic forms of posture to Mac, who dedicated herself to the maximum and at the same time enjoyed the time with him.

During training, Geras walked among them giving instructions or insults in hopes of improving his students' performance.

After many exercises, the class was over and the group was getting ready to leave.

“Thank you so much for helping me, Tan. I don't know what I'd do without you,” Mac said.

“We're a team, plus you have a talent for it. In the end, perhaps the scythe was the right choice for you.”

She felt her heart fluttering, not just from the compliment, but from the plan she had. She didn't want to go out with everyone on the weekend as Angela and Momus suggested, but going out with only Thanatos was another story.

She was trying to muster the strength to propose before he found her too weird for not saying anything when someone interrupted them.

“Excuse me.”

Oizys looked at the floor and was uncomfortable with being there. Mac wanted to kill the girl for interrupting.

“What?” Mac asked irritably, making Oizys take a step back.

“Nothing... just... I know it's different from you, but I wanted help training!”

Thanatos was surprised by the comment.

“I know you have the same weapon and it's okay for me to stay in the background, but I don't have a clue how to fight and you're the best warrior here.”

Mac waited for Thanatos to refuse the request to continue having her moments with him.

“But of course! We are a team, everyone who wants to train with me is welcome.”

Oizys gave a shy smile in response and ran away before more words were exchanged.

“And me?” Mac asked to Thanatos' confusion.

“We will keep training. There are battle tactics that work no matter what weapon you use.”

“But how am I going to master the scythe?”

He put his hand on the girl's shoulder.

“We'll have plenty of time to learn everything. We all have to look as good as possible for the Olympics.”

The princess was so shaken that she had not remembered to invite Thanatos.

“Tan! Let's go! It's time for my nap.”

Hypnos called his brother from afar.

“I have to go, next week we will continue. If you can practice the forms I've taught you in that time, that would be great.”

The god left Mac alone completely defeated.