Tam rises

Summary: The story of the days leading up to the battle with Krios from the point of view of a certain son of Mars named Dylan.

An: This is a prequel to my story, The Earth shaker, that includes many of the same characters. If you haven't read the Earth Shaker, you'll be fine. If you have, I've put several 'easter eggs' in that you'll either love me or hate me for.

Chapter one

An explosion ripped the ground apart and the world shook. Heat blasted my face, fire curled around me in a stinging blaze. The cobblestone walkway shattered apart, a chunk hitting my head. All around me, market stalls collapsed in flame and dirt, sending an ash cloud high into the sky. People screamed, their cries cut off by billows of dust filling their throats. A baby wailed, the haunting sound chilling me to the bone. As eerie as the crying was, it was even worse when it suddenly stopped short. My eyes sprinkled with tears, the dust and fire urging them upward. I couldn't see straight and I didn't know if it was because of my watering eyes or because I had hit my head.

I staggered to my feet, waving dust away from my face. Most of the flames had died, but a few small blazes popped up where wooden market stalls had once stood. Shrapnel littered the ground. I had already stepped on several pieces, slicing my feet, but I didn't notice.

All I noticed were the bodies. If I was anyone else, I would have looked away, or thrown up. Instead, I stared with a sick fascination. I studied the faces, wondering what their story was, and what had been taken away from them.

My eyes fell on a familiar face and my heart dropped to my feet. Though it was charred and bloody, I knew that face. Those were the eyes that glared at me when I caused trouble at school. Those were the legs that chased me around the streets every day. They were the lips that kissed every scratch, bruise, or bump better.

Mom. The word is dry in my mouth, choking me on its way out. I lost any control I still had, and I was by her side in an instant. I yelled and screamed, my anger carrying various Farsi words into the air.

Someone slapped my chest. My eyes snapped open, the nightmare vanishing, though the images still danced in my mind. Every night, for ten years, I had dreamed the same dream. Most people had the luxury of saying it was just a dream, but when you're a demigod, it's NEVER just a dream. I hadn't been there when the suicide bomber blew up the marketplace my mom was in, but my dreams made sure I relived it every night. No fifteen year old should go through that.

I groaned and sat up, rubbing the sore spot where my bunk mate had slapped me. "Dude, you started talking in Farsi again. You know I hate it when you do that." Harrison stood over me. His floppy strawberry-blond hair covered his eyes. He was nineteen, but looked my age. He hated when anyone spoke a foreign language around him. He couldn't stand not knowing what was happening.

"Yeah, well, take it up with Morpheus." I snapped, standing up. Harrison snorted and pulled our trunks out from under my bed. I knelt down next to mine, unhinging the top. Any distraction was welcome, any way to ignore the pain.

"Gods, I need to clean this out." Harrison muttered. I glanced over and saw clothes strewn across the floor, the trunk's contents overflowing into Harrison's lap. Harrison was infamous in Camp Jupiter for his messy demeanor. I returned my gaze to my own trunk, wishing Camp Jupiter's color was something besides purple.

"Do you know how hard it is to look like the warrior you'd expect a son of Mars to be when all you have to wear are lavender tee-shirts?" Most demigods were claimed at age sixteen, but I guess I was one of the rare exceptions. I'd say Mars was proud of me, but he isn't proud of anything.

"Here, have a jacket. It'll help you look tougher." Harrison tossed me a black biker's jacket, the leather cold to the touch. It was wrinkled from being shoved in the trunk. "You can keep it. It doesn't even fit me anymore."

I shrugged it on. A bit big, but I would fit into it soon. "Common," I shoved Harrison foreword. "We're going to miss breakfast,"

He rolled his eyes. "I never imagined my adopted kid brother would be so uptight," I snorted and threw the door open. The air was crisp, but it helped clear my thoughts and wash away the lingering effects of my dream. Harrison trailed behind me, whistling a show tune.

Almost everyone was seated in the dinning hall when we arrived. Mika-my half sister and Harrison's co-centurion of the first cohort-had saved us seats with her and one of our praetors, Diego. I flopped down onto the couch, wordlessly picking at my food. "What's the matter with you?" Mika asked, not bothering to swallow her food first.

"I didn't sleep well."

"Well, you better shape up quick, 'cause you and Harry are on gate duty." Diego said sharply. Diego and I tolerated each other, more for show than anything else. Despite his older age -seventeen- I had been at camp much longer, going on my eleventh year. The son of Trivia-the god of magic- used his powers to intimidate people when needed. Half of his votes for praetor were probably given out of terror.

As much as I hated it about him, there was something to Diego you had to respect. He knew how to take his differences and use them to his advantage. A charismatic and charming person by nature, Diego almost always got what he wanted. There was something in that kind of power that I grudgingly admired. I could do a few tricks with the mist, but only the basics. If I were a rusty dagger, Diego would be Excalibur.

"Lucky us," Harrison grumbled, pushing away his food.

"Oh, cheer up. I could arrange for you to clean the bath houses instead."

"Whatever. At least you can't die cleaning a toilet."

"I can see where this conversation is going, and I'm breaking it up before it goes there." Mika held up her hands. "Harrison, tell us, how goes the grape vine?"

Harrison's face immediately changed to one of absolute joy. As a son of Bacchus, when he wasn't with the cohort, he was in the vineyard. Harrison was old enough to drink in New Rome, the age being eighteen, but he had never touched a drop of the stuff. He never needed to. From the day I met him, I knew he was different than any other demigod his age. Harrison was always happy, giddy. He got drunk by living, being in the action. It was one of the things I liked best about him.

"Well, the concord grapes got a bit dry last night-" he started. I zoned out, having heard the report a million times already. As soon as the conversation moved away from him, Diego stood, walking to another table. He stopped by a girl with long black hair and a violin strapped to her leg. She was my age. He told her something, and she laughed, obviously star-struck.

Harrison elbowed me in the ribs. I hadn't realized I'd been staring at them. "Come on, Dill. We better head to the gates before Sandra gets on us to," Sandra was our other praetor, and one I liked much better. She was older than Harrison, but still fairly young. She reminded me of my mom.

"Yeah, okay," we walked in shaky silence to the camp entrance. Harrison pulled open the door to the maintenance tunnel that would lead us to our stations. The tunnel was dark, and neither of us had brought a flashlight. I held my hand against the wall for guidance, disgusted by the slimy feeling under my fingers.

When we were halfway through the tunnel, Harrison finally spoke. "You nightmares, they're getting worse, aren't they?" It wasn't much of a question.

"Yeah." I admitted, "it feels like Mars is taunting me. He's like 'I fell in love with this awesome woman, who happened to be a freedom fighter in Iran. One day she went to investigate a suicide bombing threat, and I didn't even try to help her out. Not even if she was raising a son alone. But hey, have some dreams of her dying. At least you'll have something to remember her by.'"

"You know what you need? A girl," Harrison said. I tripped over air and fell on my hands.

"What?"

"You heard me. You get a good girl, someone to rely on, and they'll take away the nightmares. Trust me,"

"Yeah. I'm sure there's a mile long line to date an orphaned son of war."

"Oh come on. Don't be that way, you've got a lot of good stuff going for you."

"Is that so?" I tried my best to make a just-drop-it tone, but they tended not to work on Harrison.

"Sure. We'll get you a mirror sometime and you'll see. You've got some epic hair. Word on the street is the messy spiky look is in."

"I'll keep that in mind," I hissed, shoving open the door to the outside world. "But for now, can we please focus?"

"I get it, you don't want to talk about it. It's funny, a tough talking guy like you, embarrassed by girls."

"Well, with my luck, I'd end up falling in love with a child of Neptune."

"That's at least twenty years bad luck," Harrison grimaced. He leaned against the wall, rolling his spear from hand to hand. I watched the cars speed by on the highway, wondering if today would be eventful, or boring. My sword hung at my side, ready to be used if needed.

"Brown one," Harrison blurted out, socking my shoulder. A brown bug whizzed by us just moments after. I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms, partly to protect myself from anymore of Harrison's outbursts.

I was about to lie down on the ground and sleep- the nightmare sucked out any energy I had-when I heard the sounds. A girl screamed, and a slight buzzing sound echoed across the valley. The following silence startled us, silence was almost never good. Harrison straightened up, holding his spear out. I unsheathed my sword, comforted by its weight in my hand. Scanning the area, I saw nothing. Harrison pointed to the overpass above us that blocked out view of the hills.

We both backed away from it, hoping to catch a glimpse of the scene. I spotted a girl racing down the side of the hill, fear on her face. "There!"

"What's chasing her?" Harrison asked. We couldn't see anything, but we knew it was there. I heard a crunch above us on the overpass. A shadow crossed my face and a monster the size of a truck landed in front of me. Its lion's head gave me a superior look and roared like Simba on Pride Rock.

"Chimera!" Harrison screamed, grabbing the back of his -my- jacket and throwing me backward. Fire sprayed the ground, the Chimera's breath making it dance. The goat body of the Chimera turned to cut us off from the running demigod. A snake wrapped around, snapping at me. I could see the poison in its mouth.

Harrison jabbed at it with his spear, weaving through the flames. I worked my way around to the snake, a giant diamond-head the size of a person. I slashed at it but it bobbed out of the way, lashing out at me. I swung my arm out of the way, narrowly avoiding being bit. Heat seared me, making my movements sluggish. The snake was quicker than me by a long shot. We needed a distraction to stun the monster. I glanced at the highway besides me and smiled.

"Harrison! Stop fighting it! I have an idea!" I shouted.

"Are you crazy? This'll kill you in two seconds!"

"Trust me!" I heard Harrison back away, dropping his spear. The Chimera turned to face me. It opened its mouth and I decided I was seconds away from a fiery death-possibly even if this worked. I charged forward, vaguely aware of Harrison yelling at me. The Chimera's face went slightly confused, as if he was curious why I wasn't running away.

At the last minute, I dropped down into a roll. Concrete slammed into my palms and shoulder. The air rushed out of my lungs and a blast of heat told me I had narrowly avoided being burnt to ashes. I skittered out from under the Chimera's legs, standing at the edge of the highway. The whirling traffic confirmed that if I didn't die by the Chimera's hands, I'd probably still get run over, and be a slightly flatter, but just as dead Dylan.

It was the Chimera's turn to charge me. I took a step back into the highway. A car in the lane next to me honked and swerved. The Chimera was closing fast, a mere foot away from me. As jumpy as I was, somehow I was calm enough to wait. "Dylan! Dylan, move!" I blocked Harrison out. I had told him to trust me, and he would have to do it. The Chimera pounced, and Harrison screamed at me.

Now. I dove to the side, landing hard on the concrete. The Chimera sailed passed me, landing in the center of the road. A car hurtled forward, to late to brake, and slammed into it full force. It flew through the air like a kite. The Chimera landed on its side, stunned. I took the opportunity, delighted that for once, everything had worked out. I thew my sword like a knife, end over end. It collapsed into the Chimera's flesh with a satisfying thunk.

"Touchdown," I whispered horsely. The Chimera withered around, but stilled in seconds, disintegrating into black dust. Harrison stood behind me, clapping me on the back.

"Dude, I got, like, ten heart attacks, but that was awesome."

"Where's the girl?" Harrison frowned, as if we had both forgotten what had drawn the Chimera to us.

"There," he pointed. The demigod was stumbling down the hill, each step toward us a little heavier. We raced forward. It didn't take a genius to realize she was hurt. When I reached her, she could barely stand. I pulled her upright, and she clung to my arms, still folded partially over. Her eyes were the size of moons, brown, like the bug Harrison had seen earlier. Her hair was as dark as mine, but considerably longer, down to her waist and her skin was the color of the creamed coffee I had every morning. She shook, the color in her face draining.

"He's rising," she sobbed. "He's rising and there's nothing we can do to stop him," she collapsed forward against me, unconscious. Pale, Harrison pointed to her ankle. Two small pin-pricks in her leg oozed poison. The Chimera got her.