My name is Hercules.

I know, not normal right?

Hang on to your hat. It gets weirder.

I’m like your average American teenage boy,

I’m 5’9, lanky, blue eyes with flecks of green (if you saw under my sunglasses), tanned from my time in Florida, kinda long kinda spiky hair I just wake up with.

But that hair is bright white, and it’s made out of snakes.

You know why I’m constantly wearing sunglasses?

I might accidentally turn you to stone.

Still here? I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t.

See, the hair (besides being white) isn’t hard to hide, between me keeping them still and the Mist, you wouldn’t notice.

But the instant Garden Gnome?

Can’t turn that off.

Throw in some ADHD and Dyslexia?

A recipe for disaster.

How did I end up in this Twilight Zone (TM) episode?

The Ancient Greek monster,Medusa, found a potion that made her look normal, then made Poseidon (the Olympian who rules the sea) fall in love with her,

they broke up after the potion wore off, leaving her to raise her son, named Hercules.

A twisted joke that Poseidon could name a son that and him not be a total screwup.

I found this hilarious.

For some reason though, my mother insisted that I head down to Florida now and then,

at first I hated the thought,

but then I fell in love,

the salt, the sun, the sand,

breathtaking.

I guess that’s the Poseidon in me,

I can breathe underwater, swim faster than most, and manipulate tiny bits of water.

The only other thing from my father I received was a hammer.

A single -hander, steel shell, with a celestial bronze core, and a copper symbol on top, (looks like the trident emoji 🔱)

One side was for…Smashing.

The other could undo my petrification.

It always came back to my belt loop, or, I could turn it into something…A bracelet.

It looked like two copper snakes woven together, with a mini trident made of gold as the clasp.

Life was good, strange, but good.

I was returning from our cabin in Florida when that changed.

I smelled smoke, and instead of a mother, a scorch mark.

Someone had slayed her, and she returned to the underworld,

I remembered her saying:

”If something happens to me, run, either go to the beach, or go to New York, once I…die, the monsters will hunt you, remember, the cabin, or New York.”

I held back my tears, and head for the beach.

Monsters were everywhere, so I turned tale for New York, and somehow, eventually found myself in a clearing, a pine tree stood on a hill.

I was surrounded by Monsters,

I ripped off my glasses, let my claws (oh, yeah, I’ve got those too) slide out,

I would either make it past the tree (I’m not sure why I wanted to) or die trying.

With my luck, the monsters would get a free lunch.

A heavy weight slammed into me, knocking me off balance. Claws raked against my skin, drawing blood.

But not like normal crimson. No. it had a gold tinge to it. Like immortal ichor. Yeah, and the red is a bit brighter than normal blood, as if it's glowing.

You may have forgotten that i was born from two immortal beings.

And speaking of my super, oh so great and divine turn people into stone power...

It is more like making peoples skin harden and paralyzing them.

But combining it with water power?

Sweet.

I can leech all the water from their body until they look like a disgusting prune made of rocks.

And i did just that.

"RAAAWWRRRRblurghgulgh"

The last part sounded something like a dying cat.

I did that with the rest of the monsters.

But, unfortunately, when i overexert myself, i may start smoking.

And start burning.

And combust into a flaming ball of hercules.

The next day, a new tree appeared on half blood hill.