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[indent][indent][indent][color=#808080]Elias kept to himself as the training ground slowly came to life with arriving campers. He’d come early out of a long-standing habit of avoiding the awkwardness of walking in late, so he truly had no interest in making small talk. With this in mind, he'd purposely selected a seat that offered solitude, raised enough to deter casual conversation but not so conspicuously high that it seemed like a protest. Letting his eyelids fall shut, he sank into a semi-conscious drift, where the murmur of voices softened into a formless background buzz. Only when River’s sharp tone cut through the hum, paired with the agitated sound of footsteps moving back and forth below, did Elias surface fully into the present.[/color]

[color=#808080]The son of Zeus opened his eyes just as River’s nervous stride brought the man into his line of sight. Even from a distance, River seemed to emanate a jittery, restless energy. Elias caught only pieces of what he was saying—something about a brother who had passed, and how the former leader had allowed the camp to crumble. Then, two words seized his attention: Pandora’s Box. The mention referred to something Elias hadn’t been here for, and his thoughts hooked onto the mystery. What exactly had taken place here?[/color]

[color=#808080]As River described, and then demonstrated, each stage of the obstacle course, Elias followed along with detached interest. Tires, log hurdles, a low crawl, a rope ascent, a balancing sequence, and water. Each element registered as a simple physical problem, something he understood as naturally as he understood how to brace against a strong wind. Far from daunting, the straightforwardness of it felt almost reassuring, even familiar in a way he couldn’t immediately place. [/color]

[color=#808080]What River had no way of realizing—what nobody here knew, actually—was that Elias was already intimately acquainted with challenges like these. The Albuquerque neighbourhood where he’d grown up wasn’t designed as an obstacle course, but neglect and the harsh desert climate had definitely turned it into one. Survival there meant moving by feel, not by plan. The passages between the sun-bleached adobe homes were treacherous with cracked concrete and loose rock. Construction projects stalled for months, leaving behind pits and rusted metal. Roofs lay so near to one another that you could cross entire streets above the ground. And when monsoon rains swept in, they changed the landscape in moments, filling arroyos with fast, knee-deep water that could practically knock you over. What's more, in that environment, stopping to think could mean getting caught or worse, and above all, he’d learned that counting on someone else to come for you was often a sure way to be disappointed.[/color]

[color=#808080]So no, this course and its conditions didn’t concern him. In fact, it was almost comforting to know that success today required nothing but his body and his breath. No obvious Olympus politics. No conversations he didn’t want to have. Just pure and uncomplicated motion.[/color]

[color=#808080]Elias didn’t really react when River began calling names, even for the few he recognized. He sat where he was, shoulders resting against the bleacher behind him, arms loosely draped along the seats as if he had all the time in the world. But the instant his own name was spoken, an internal tension seized him. It wasn’t quite nerves or dread. It wasn’t even anticipation. It was…wrongness. A persistent itch at the base of his skull, a sensation like something crawling along the inside of his skin. Something he couldn’t quite place.[/color]

[color=#808080]He pushed himself to his feet as the rest of his group began to shift and gather. His descent down the bleachers was steady, unhurried, but the sensation didn’t calm. If anything, it worsened. Something was missing. Something he expected to hear or see that hadn’t appeared. That much he could figure out. What exactly, though, Elias couldn’t say. [/color]

[color=#808080]It wasn't until he reached the starting line, surrounded by the other campers, that the missing piece floated into his consciousness, hazy and half-formed. [/color]

[color=#808080][i]Forest.[/i][/color]

[color=#808080]But before the thought could fully take root, River’s command echoed across the arena, and Elias’s focus snapped abruptly to the course ahead.[/color]

[color=#808080]The tires came first. Elias moved through them with light, rapid steps, his feet touching only the inner edges. Next were the log hurdles. The first three he cleared with fluid motion; the fourth he half-vaulted; the fifth he pushed past with a low, driving stride that landed him slightly ahead of the blonde woman beside him—Trinity, he presumed, based on the group list. She matched his pace effortlessly, then surged forward with a sudden acceleration that caught his attention. He didn’t rush to follow, however, simply readying himself for the next challenge instead.[/color]

[color=#808080]The low crawl brought back the visceral memory of scorching pavement and dust and the abrasive grit of concrete against his arms. Elias kept his body flat and streamlined, elbows tight, and legs propelling him steadily forward. Trinity remained ahead, but he closed some of the distance, focusing already on the next obstacle: the rope climb. There, he relied on precision over power, using controlled pulls that conserved energy rather than wasting it. And though Trinity reached the top platform first, Elias was only a breath behind. His feet met the platform, and he turned immediately toward what came next.[/color]

[color=#808080]A swaying rope-net bridge stretched ahead, a lattice of thick cords that dipped and sighed with each shift of weight. Elias watched as the net gave beneath Trinity’s steps, absorbing her movement like a living thing, and in that instant, he understood how to move across it. Sort of. He stepped onto the webbing without hesitation,  the net trembling beneath him. Yet, he moved with it, not against it, like a silent conversation between body and obstacle.[/color]

[color=#808080]Trinity was first to reach the far platform, with Elias arriving a heartbeat behind. Without breaking stride, he moved toward the next challenge: a long rope swing over a pit of loose sand. He didn’t allow himself to pause and plan. In his experience, hesitation was the real enemy as it led to stuttered movements and avoidable mistakes. His trust lay in the deep, physical wisdom of his muscles, which often understood what to do long before his mind had formed the thought. So, he grabbed the rope, sprinted the last two strides, and let momentum take him. The arc carried him smoothly and true. The sand rushed up, and he hit the ground rolling, letting the force dissipate through motion rather than impact. He came up on his feet in the same breath and faced the balance beams.[/color]

[color=#808080]This part felt familiar in a way none of the others had. The beams weren’t stable, but Elias adapted instantly. His body remembered sun-baked retaining walls behind apartment complexes, narrow parapets edging local convenience stores, the bones of old buildings he used to cross when monsoon runoff made the ground-level shortcuts impassable. His steps were confident and practiced, and while sure there was the occasional wobble, it was the kind that corrected itself without panic or hesitation.[/color]

[color=#808080]Then came the pool.[/color]

[color=#808080]Unlike River, Elias felt no special connection to water. It was merely a denser element to pass through, offering resistance but no particular welcome. He entered with a dive, and the world muted into a blur of greenish-blue. Then, he surfaced into a strong freestyle, his strokes long and purposeful, his kick steady and compact. He broke for air only once or twice before hauling himself onto the far ledge. Trinity was already there, water streaming from her clothes as she sprinted toward the next ascent.[/color]

[color=#808080]The log ladder was a test of pure grit, designed to wear a person down. That much was clear before Elias had even begun climbing. Still, his first approach was too forceful as he pulled himself up using sheer upper-body strength, immediately feeling the burn of fatigue in his shoulders and back. Mid-climb, he shifted tactics. Instead of fighting the ladder, he worked with it, using the pendulum swing of his body and the drive from his legs to propel himself upward. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. He gained steadily, reaching the top only a couple of rungs after Trinity before rolling his torso over the final beam.[/color]

[color=#808080]One challenge remained: a running leap across a wide trough of water. Elias allowed no room for doubt. His strides opened, his posture aligned, and he launched from the edge with concentrated power. He sailed over the gap and landed well clear on the other side, his shoes skidding slightly in the sand before he found solid footing. And for a few seconds, the world narrowed to the sound of his own breathing, heavy but controlled, before he wiped the moisture from his brow with the back of his arm and straightened up. 

Trinity stood a few paces ahead, also recovering, her victory clear and unarguable. Under different circumstances, second place might have needled his pride. Yet, when she turned just then and held out her fist, Elias met it without hesitation, the contact brief and solid.

[color=#d4af37]“Nice run,”[/color] he said, the words coming out with a tinge of genuine respect even through his own fatigue.[/color]

[color=#808080]But the feeling that tightened in his chest a bit after this wasn’t any delayed frustration. It wasn't rivalry either, nor even the sting of defeat.

It was that same, persistent wrongness, except now it wasn't a vague hum as before. It was a clear, cold fact Elias found he could finally identify.

His mind rewound the morning.
The roll call.
The order of groups.
The names spoken and the names omitted.

And the absence was suddenly obvious.[/color]
 

[color=#808080][center]Forest’s name, which he'd been so glad to learn yesterday, had never been spoken.[/center][/color]

[color=#808080]Elias’s gaze swept across the arena with new intensity, scanning the clusters of campers in the stands for that particular, easygoing posture Forest had shown at the party. He was certain he would know it. He [i]needed[/i] to see it. [/color]

[color=#808080]But there was nothing. The man he’d tentatively begun to think of as a friend was simply gone. [/color]

[color=#808080]The wrongness deepened, a pressure low in his chest that had nothing to do with exertion. Elias considered his choices before exhaling once and making a decision. Instead of joining his recovering group, he turned and walked toward the one person who might have an answer.[/color]

[color=#808080]River was still near the course, clipboard back in hand, attention split between the final camper crossing the finish line and the notes he appeared to be making. Elias stopped a few feet away, close enough to be noticed without forcing it. He waited because he’d learned long ago that barging in rarely got you better answers. [/color]

[color=#808080]When River finally glanced up, Elias felt a flush of awkwardness but pushed through it. He raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, a self-conscious gesture he couldn’t seem to suppress.[/color]

[color=#d4af37]“Uh, sorry to interrupt,” [/color][color=#808080]he started, inwardly cringing at the hesitant sound of his own voice. His eyes darted to the clipboard and back to River’s face.[/color][color=#d4af37] “I was just wondering… is there someone named Forest on your list?” [/color][color=#808080]He paused, realizing how little he actually knew.[color=#d4af37] “That’s his name. I… don’t know his last name.”[/color]

River’s head cocked slightly at the question. [color=86a8ad]"I think I’ve called everyone…"[/color] he started to answer as his gaze fell to the clipboard in his hand. Slowly he flipped through each page, eyes scanning every name line by line to make sure he didn’t miss anything. [color=86a8ad]"No. No Forest."[/color] There was a brief awkward silence before he cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. [color=86a8ad]"My father told me it’s pretty common… Some people come to camp and realize it’s not the place for them."[/color][/color]

[color=#d4af37]“Oh…alright. That makes sense. Thanks,” [/color][color=#808080]Elias said, keeping his voice light and agreeable. He offered a closed-lipped smile and took a step back, already turning away before River could read the doubt in his eyes or feel compelled to say more.[/color]

[color=#808080]He managed about twenty paces before the pressure in his chest expanded, muting the sounds of the arena into a dull roar. He slowed to a stop near the shadow of the bleachers and turned, his eyes once more travelling over the rows of seats. He scanned slowly, systematically, even though he knew it was futile. If Forest wasn’t here, looking harder wouldn’t conjure him. Elias knew that...[/color]

[color=#808080]...and yet he kept looking.[/color]

[color=#808080]He wasn’t expecting to find a face anymore. He was arguing with his own mind, which rushed to offer tidy, convenient excuses. [i]Maybe he overslept. Maybe a mead-maker has no stomach for boot-camp drills. Maybe he packed up before sunrise and slipped away without a word to avoid awkward goodbyes.[/i] Elias could assemble a dozen such rational stories. He was adept at that, after all. That type of logic had been his shield long before he knew he was the son of a god.[/color]

[color=#808080]But oddly…it just wasn’t enough this time. Forest hadn’t seemed like someone who would just disappear. There had been a sincerity in him, a directness that didn’t match the profile of a person who leaves without a trace. To believe otherwise felt like choosing a comfortable lie over a difficult truth.[/color]

[color=#808080]And while Elias didn’t know for sure if Forest had left because of him, he knew, with an ache, that Forest just might have.[/color][/indent][/indent][/indent][hr][sub][color=9b9b9b][b][i]Location: Arena 
Interactions: River, Trinity (knuckles)
Mentions: N/A[/i][/b][/color][/sub]
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