REYNA
THE DAY OF THE INCIDENT
You couldn't find an ounce of dignity in Reyna's face that night.
She always pictured herself going out in a blaze of glory, leading an army of fearless demigods against the endless forces of Tartarus, the ultimate battle between good and evil. A meaningful death. She sure as hell did not picture herself being torn to bite-size godly flavored bits of human jerky, alone in a dark fog covered forest by a pack of Chihuahua sized vicious baby dragons that smelled like they had been living in a cave full of dead fish their entire life.
Fire coursed through the veins in her thighs due to the endless sprinting and the the freezing air stung the inside of her lungs as she sucked in the thin oxygen that plagued these high altitude mountains. Reyna barricaded herself in a small wooden cabin away from the wave of monsters clawing away at the weak pine doors. The horrible screeching from the starving lizards made her want to tear her ears off her skull. Reyna's tolerance could only handle so much varying levels of annoying at one time.
Things could be worst though. Just outside the cabins windows should could see perhaps the worlds most dangerous rodeo and the idiot contender that proceeded to volunteer. Percy Jackson was standing in the mouth of a seventy foot long dragon. The creature looked absolutely terrifying to fight alone and would've taken at least twenty well trained Romans to slay but Percy decided to take it on without any help. It was without a doubt the stupidest thing he could possibly do. But who was she to say, not like he would listen to Reyna anyways. They recently had been arguing a lot more lately, about this very subject. But then again at this point in his demigod career, Perseus had basically become somewhat of an overpowered individual. The things that he could do... made him seem virtually invincible in the eyes of his peers. Hell even to Reyna, he seemed very much godlike.
He was struggling to hold open the monsters mouth by it's huge stone like teeth, but he still took the time to smile impishly at Reyna from the distance. She had no idea how he could be so upbeat while being in an utterly terrifying situation. She was sure going to give him a hell of a scolding later on today. The gold dragon was squirming uncomfortably, crushing the forest trees left and right like toothpicks, then accidentally threw itself right off the side of the giant rocky mountain side, one idiot demigod included.
Any other person would've been shocked or worried at what they had just witnessed but not Reyna, she had seen Percy survive much worse. It was just another day for that son of Poseidon. Plus she had more pressing matters to deal with.
The pack of dragons had set the cabin on fire and were patiently guarding the exits and windows. Reyna couldn't help but admire their intelligence. They cornered her into a flimsy wooden structure and prepared to tear her apart once the black smoke filled the room enough to force her out. Just earlier the creatures chewed her weapons and shield to pieces with their golden teeth, so she was completely defenseless. Her only options were to burn to death or fight the horde bare handed. The odds were not at all in her favor but she certainly had faced worse scenarios.
The cabin was filling with dangerous fumes of smoke and it was getting harder to breathe by the minute. There was no time to contemplate the various ways that she could die, she had to make a move now. Reyna ran around the cabin and grabbed the biggest weapon she could find which just so happened to be a sledge hammer. It wasn't your typical dragon slaying weapon but it wasn't completely useless either. Even if it was, Reyna was a Roman and would kill a hundred of these things with her fingernails if she needed to.
She took a deep breath, even though it was about eighty percent poisonous smoke, and slammed her shoulder through the door off, smashed it's hinges of the threshold and crushed at least ten dragons waiting on the welcome mat and turned them to monster goo. Reyna took no time to pat herself on the back, she charged through the forest at a full but slightly fatigued speed, swinging her hammer left and right like a maniac sending the wingless dragons flying in every direction. Immediately almost thirty other dragons appeared out of the fog and charged at her, spewing red hot flames everywhere setting the entire backside of her windbreaker and undershirt on fire.
God Dammit! She screamed in her mind, which was proceeded by an unintelligible shriek coming from her mouth.
Immediately she forgot her basic fight first instinct, and dropped her sledge hammer somewhere in the darkness. Reyna had learned many things in life and one of those lessons is that sometimes you had to pick your battles wisely, other times you just had to drop your pack and haul ass. Sadly she was still on fire, the upside was she was wearing a black tank top underneath her undershirt. Thank the gods nobody would see her running topless through the forest screaming bloody murder today. Reyna ripped her shirt and jacket off and tossed it at the pack of dragons who were catching up quickly. Really quickly. Too quickly. Inches away...
"Fuck!" Reyna screamed.
The dragons tore her shoe off her foot with their razor sharp teeth and dropped her to her knees. She scrambled to her feet and stumbled farther into the thick fog. Maybe if she got back to her vehicle she could get a hold of the back up weapon she kept in the glove compartment, but that was another couple hundred yards away. It was a magical bracelet that turned into a Roman gladius, you would think that Reyna would be smart enough to keep a bracelet on person at all times.
She had no idea what she was even doing anymore, which wasn't like her at all, she was always the one that you could count on to know the plan first. The world always runs smoother when Reyna is in charge.
What was the mission again?
Allow boyfriend to arrange a secret quest without your permission, check.
Move out of your comfortable apartment for a week and a half, check.
Travel halfway across the country in pursuit of a dragons treasure, check.
Follow boyfriend deep into the dark forest, check.
Argue with your boyfriend about the dangers of 'winging it', check.
Allow boyfriend to 'wing it', check, sadly.
Almost get killed by a pack of infant dragons, double check.
Now what was the next step? Guess I gotta wing it.
Just as things were about to turn very bad for her, the ground in front of Reyna began to grow like a giant violent pimple, rumbling violently under her feet. A steaming hot geyser blew up only yards from her and spat out the infamous seventy foot long dragon that hit the ground with a sickening boom! The upside was that a large portion of the little lizard bastards were killed on impact, the rest scattered away like cockroaches, much to Reyna's content.
A very smug Percy stood over the monster with one foot on his thick scaly neck. The beast was clearly alive but it made no attempt to snap him in half like a Snickers bar. Clearly the creature couldn't handle his very demanding personality like Reyna could.
He was smiling like crazy. "Holy Tartarus! I think that this...was my best entrance yet."
"Can you look any less defeated?" Reyna was on her back breathing hard. "I was almost burned alive, but you...look as smug as you did the first time you fought in the war games at Camp Jupiter."
"At least the dragon put up a fight. But this right here, it's a lot easier than it looks." Percy laughed and stepped off the snarling beast. "Simple as guiding a torpedo through the skies with leather reins."
Apparently he must have twisted his ankle, the dragon snarled but still didn't find it in itself to gut him like he was clearly capable of doing. Percy snatched a book bag from the monsters sharp clutches. Whatever was in there, the beast wasn't to keen on letting it out of his grasp.
The gigantic force of nature shot forward like an arrow but Percy responded with the speed of a bullet. In one swift movement, he dropped the book bag, jumped into the sky, pulled out his sword midair, and sunk the celestial bronze blade between the dragons blood thirsty eyes. The corpse went limp immediately and exploded in red flames like a balloon as it's fiery skeleton slid across the ground. Percy landed on the wrong foot and crumbled to the dirt floor.
Reyna ran to his side and did a quick examination. "Can you believe it? The great Percy Jackson, victim to a minor twisted ankle. How anticlimactic."
"Haha. You know, whenever you ever feel up to it, how bout I'll let you slay the giant fire breathing lizard on steroids, where as I'll go for a little light jog through the park. Do you know how uncomfortable and slimy the inside of this joker's mouth was?"
Reyna scowled. "It was a little more than a light jog. I'm guessing this thing right here is the magical McGuffin we were looking for?"
Percy grinned. He unzipped his backpack and revealed a giant blue jewel the size of basketball. It shined like a diamond but it had an aura of power that it oozed like it was made of some type of radioactive material.
Reyna gawked at it wide eyes. "No wonder the dragon was out for blood."
She reached out to touch it but Percy closed it quickly.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. There is some sort of protection spell on it." Percy showed her his hands. They were covered in first degree burns all the way up to wrists. "Its strong as hell, I only touched it for like a split second and I felt like my melon was going to burst."
"Why on Earth would you want to steal it then? We should've just left it with the dragon. He didn't look like he was going to let it go anytime soon."
"I don't want this thing anywhere near me or any other mortal being out here. But based off of what Chiron said, its the eye of an ancient immortal being that was alive back in the days of the Titan Era. It contains a transferable source of power, how much power exactly. I don't know."
Reyna helped him to his feet. "Others went looking for it?"
Percy sighed. "Yeah. A high priority quest was needed, you and I are the third group of demigods to go looking for it. One of them couldn't get past the dragon, then a son of Hephaestus and a daughter of Hecate managed to find the jewel but were found in an Arizona ER days later with burns across their entire bodies and weird blue skin."
Reyna lifted him up and he leaned on her with his arm around her waist. "In that case, lets get this thing the hell out of here."
Percy grinned. "Now to Camp Half-Blood."
He navigated Reyna out of the forest and helped him into the passenger seat of their red pickup truck. She poured some nectar onto his wounds and pulled out some bandages from the glove department. She fed him a small piece of Ambrosia for the ankle pain, soon he would be good as new. "This is the fifth injury in two months, Percy. Maybe it's time to put down the sword and buy yourself a nice sturdy cane?"
"Are you kidding me?" Percy laughed. "This was way too easy for a quest."
"If it was so easy, then why bring me along?" Reyna asked with a smile as she applied the bandages to his burns.
Percy chuckled and wrapped his arm around her waist. "I didn't want to do it alone, Queen bee."
He pulled her in and gave her a soft kiss. Her heart skipped a beat just as it always did when he kissed her, followed by the warm and tender feeling that enriched her body like a witches hex. They hadn't been dating anymore than seven months but she always felt complete with him. Their love for each other would outlive the gods themselves.
Reyna pulled back caught his eyes and smiled hard. "Two Praetors of New Rome is a bit overkill for a quest like this don't you think?"
"Who cares? I always feel better knowing I have you by my side. Safe and sound...kind of." Said Percy as he watched the dim light of the dragons fire in the distance. "But hell you're right, I'm getting too old for quests."
"You're only twenty five, those are the prime years of your life."
"For mortals maybe, but for us it's like a hundred in demigod years."
"In that case, you should make a bucket list and start thinking about retirement."
"You're right," Percy grinned. "After we drop this thing off at the front steps of the Big House, you and I are officially retired... for good this time."
Music was her heaven, having Percy there with her was a blessing from the fates.
The soft vibrations of the engines rumbling and the melodic voices of Percy's playlist playing in the truck sent her into a well deserved lull that she didn't want to wake from. His right arm held her tight in his grasp and the other he kept on the steering wheel as he stared down a road that was only illuminated by the lights from his pick-up. Nothing else existed outside of the realm of this vehicle, only Percy and Reyna.
Occasionally she would open her eyes slightly, peek through her black bangs and look up at him. He didn't catch her long stares, but she studied his every feature; the shape of his green eyes, the stubble's of hair that was beginning to form a beard over his sharp jawline, every minuscule detail that made up his very being.
Percy did notice her stare once a couple hours into the drive. Obviously he didn't mind the smell of smoke and monster slime, that she picked up during the little confrontation a couple hours back. He looked down and caught her sharp brown eyes and smiled softly.
That smile was all she would ever need.
"Lets just keep on driving, forever." Reyna muttered and she fell back into a slumber.
Being alone with the person that you know for a fact that you would spend the rest of your life with...its a feeling like no other. There was no doubt in her mind that Percy was the one for her. Did he feel the same for her? They did fight sometimes but she hoped that he would. Love didn't come as natural to her as it did to others, but this felt right.
Percy's muscles stiffened about about a half hour later, yanking Reyna out of her dreams and back into the dark reality around her.
They were going sixty miles per hour with the windows rolled down in the pitch blackness that surrounded them in this deserted road. But just outside of the windows, past the loud roaring wind were a hundred different voices whispering in an unrecognizable tongue. It was strange, Reyna could understand many languages but this one...it rang in her skull and seeped with evil intentions.
At her feet, the orb was glowing beneath the jacket that had covered its soft glows just hours earlier. Percy looked at her with a worried expression on his face. "Reyna, put your seat belt on. NOW."
On a normal day, Reyna would've been the one with a higher level of situational awareness. She just wished she was quicker to click the belt in place.
An explosion rippled directly beneath the chassis of the truck and tossed the pickup into the air, sending the fiery two person cage flying into a nearby billboard just off road. The advertisement came crashing down, smashing the truck in half just down the center. Reyna on the other hand had been thrown from the vehicle when the truck impacted into the metal beams and was thrown into a nearby field of corn taller than she was and on a bed of gravel and dirt.
In that moment when her head met the ground, Reyna witnessed the complete absence of existence. She'd never seen darkness like this before, there was no underworld, no ferryman to guide her passage to the afterlife, not even so much as a white light, she would have been completely terrified if her mind would just wake up from this paralysis. It felt like an eternity, locked away in complete nothing. What brought her back was the sudden feeling of what felt like shards of razors making their way up her lungs and throat.
Reyna opened her eyes and coughed up dangerous amounts of blood. Her face was dripping with it, pain searing throughout her body like a poison and she could feel each and every single nerve the glass had struck after she smashed through the truck window. All of this pain was just on the edge of being bearable, if it hadn't been for the adrenaline pumping through her veins she couldn't even begin to imagine how much worse that situation could get.
Reyna's lungs suddenly felt like there was a giant dumbbell weighing down on her chest, every breath she took was like a drug that she just couldn't get enough of. She dug her fingers into the ground and made an attempt to stand on her feet but she stumbled forward and fell back onto her chest with a loud groan. Her ribs were broken for sure and her left arm was numb from the elbow down. Neither were good signs if a battle were to arise, which most likely was the case at hand.
Percy! She thought to herself. She successfully stumbled back onto her feet and followed the trail of smoke in the sky that eventually led to the burning vehicle once she got pass the the crops of corn. Gas was still spewing from the vehicle and had yet taken to the flames. Reyna limped towards the destruction hugging her ribs tightly and fell to her knees right in front of the windshield in hopes to find Percy still buckled into the drivers seat. He was no longer there.
Where is he?!, she thought to herself just as the flames from the burning metal reached the gas tank and sparked another fiery BOOM!
If it hadn't been for Percy, Reyna would surely died. He tackled her and used the momentum of the blast to propel their bodies through the air and into a ditch where they were protected from the fiery hell that had been unleashed to the dark and empty road. He pinned her down, she could hear his every ragged breath as he laid over her protecting her from further fallout.
"They're watching us." He whispered softly to her and Reyna saw something in his eyes that was rarely ever so revealing. Fear. "I-I don't even know what they are... I cant feel the blood in their bodies. They're just...empty."
Reyna slid her hands across his chest and felt a bulging sharp piece of red metal protruding from his chest just inches above his heart, a serious wound that was oozing blood dangerously fast.
"Percy." Reyna whimpered nearly sobbing, she tried to channel her strength and courage to Percy but she couldn't access her demigod abilities, it was almost as if they didn't even exist. This was a strange and unnatural feeling of vulnerability that she was not used to. "You're hurt, we need to get out of here!"
He didn't say anything, instead he covered her mouth with his palm and lowered his head. Two sets of headlights came to life from a couple yards away and engulfed the wreckage where Percy and Reyna had been standing not but a couple seconds ago.
The...things...that emerged from the vehicles made her body feel empty and sent shivers down her spine like a roaring ravine of freezing water.
The six leathery dark skin figures were shaped like men but their faces had no defining features attached to their skulls. No ears, no eyes, noses, or hair. Nothing but gaping mouths that sucked in the very light out of the world like a black hole. As the creatures stepped in front of the bright headlights, the energy dimmed significantly. Even the golden armor that they wore, was dull and diminished by the dark vortexes that siphoned anything even somewhat luminescent out of the air.
"There's someone else." Percy whispered quietly, as to not grab unwanted attention from the monsters that had just blown them off of the road. "Six monsters plus one other being. I can feel the blood of the gods nearby, but he's not anyone that I recognize."
Percy turned his heads towards the small group and then looked back at Reyna. She could sense exactly what he was thinking. Her heart dropped. Death was inching closer and closer as he lost blood at an alarming rate but he wanted to jump into another goddamn fight.
The sky began to rumble with thunder as storm clouds slowly blanketed the moon above as she grabbed him by the shirt. "Stay down, Percy. They're here for the orb, not us. For once just listen to what I have to say, we can't keep living like this way. We can only dodge death so often, so please stay down."
Percy grabbed her hand and held it in his own but Reyna was on the verge of a emotional breakdown.
"We can't let them have it. Chiron sent us out here for a reason, we've put in too much effort to just stop now and I am not going to let them just walk away with it."
Reyna grabbed his shirt with both hands this time and pulled him in closer just as droplets of water began to drop from the sky and lightning brightened the sky. "I DON'T CARE! You're hurt badly...please, Percy... just stay here with me. Just for once, don't fight. This is not worth dying for, don't be brave."
"All we do is fight." He replied sadly. "We've been fighting ever since we were strong enough to hold a dagger. We live, we fight, and we die. It's in our blood to be warriors."
He kissed her on the forehead and uncapped his sword revealing a dim three foot-long bronze blade. Reyna found the energy to stand tall at his side and pulled off a bracelet from her left wrist. As soon as she gripped it tightly in her palm it morphed into a golden gladius, her left arm was still very numb and just hanged there uselessly. "Fine, then we'll fight together."
Percy turned back and looked at Reyna. The rain soaking his body from head to toe. His face was in complete shock as he held out his arms trying to feel the water droplets on his skin. "I- I can't feel the water. My powers. They're...gone."
Lightning cracked in the sky and just like a well practiced boy band the creatures on the road snapped their necks to the right and spotted the duo almost simultaneously. They just stood there like they were demonic spirits in a painting. Just watching curiously from afar with those wide gaping mouths. What intimidated Reyna the most was the fact that these monsters, creatures, demons or what ever class of supernatural nastiness you wanted to call them...they had no weapons, shields, talons or teeth. Either these monsters provided no threat or they were vicious brawlers that could tear them apart with just their bony hands.
Percy took a step forward with his sword ready in a fighting stance. "Reyna, I want you to go search through the crash and see if you can find the orb. I'm gonna hold these guys off as long as I can."
Reyna nodded and limped back to the wreckage in hopes of finding the glowing rock but to no avail the blue glow was no where to be found. It had been basically calling out to her all night but now when she really needed it, the damn thing was no where to found. The six monsters were still there watching with their eyeless faces.
Percy began to shift uneasily as he took a careful step towards the group of monsters. "Where's the jewel, Reyna?" He asked nervously.
She rummaged through the metal and fire but still come up with nothing. "It's not here!"
The creatures were still making no move. "Find it...These guys don't look like they're going anywhere anytime soon."
Reyna nodded and ran to continue the search for the jewel. "Do you know who I am?" Percy yelled at the creatures.
They made no moves but the surroundings just got a whole new shade of darker. Their mouths got wider as they sucked the light from the world, the stars and moon in the sky seemed to bleed light until every single ounce of it's energy was sucked into the vortex even the headlights in the vehicle dimmed until they imploded.
"We know who you are Percy Jackson." A voice from the shadows spoke aloud in a raspy voice, similar to the voice of a man that had been smoking cartons of cigarettes every day of his entire life. "We hear whispers of the son of Poseidon. The lucky one they call you. You have lived a life of glory built on a foundation of failures from mediocre fools that couldn't get the simplest of tasks done."
Reyna noticed a dim glow coming from the field of crops maybe a good three hundred yards away. It was possible to make a run for the crops but she was unsure about leaving Percy to fend for himself. She could see the man who had spoke in the raspy voice, he was a shadow hidden in dull black armor from head to toe and blanketed in black rags that made him look eerily similar to the grim reaper.
Percy chuckled weakly. "Bad guys always thought they were tough shit. Destined for glory and the throne just like the guy who cried the same excuses before him, it was just up to me and my friends to knock em down a peg."
The stranger swayed side to side and creeped closer to Percy dragging behind a giant long black sword. "Oh we've heard the stories. The tales of your feats have echoed the darkest depths of Tartarus for more than a decade. Kronos. Gaea. Polybotes. Porphyrion. Big names, big titles...even bigger egos. What comes next...you are entirely unprepared for, Percy."
Percy shot forward quickly and slashed Riptide at the strangers neck, but the man was just too fast, he parried Percy's sword with his own black steel and then kicked one leg out from under him. Percy fell to one knee and the stranger used his giant sword to stab right through his thigh and deep into the earth below. Reyna's heart fell into her stomach and her body went cold. The scream that came from Percy's lungs couldn't have any more terrifying.
"NOOO!" Reyna let out a bloodcurdling cry. She sprinted towards the stranger dragging her sword along behind her with the one good hand that she had.
"RUN!" Percy screamed as he gripped his bloody leg tight with a far away look in his eyes. "Reyna! Get out of here!"
She slashed her sword at the armored stranger but he casually took a step back. It was when she got closer to this man that she finally took note to his steel black helm, it was molded into the shape of a skull revealing only the mans black eyes. "Get the fuck back! Get out of here! Or I'll send you back to whatever piss filled hole you came out of!"
Percy ripped off his own belt and wrapped it a couple inches above the sword impaled into his thigh and tightened it as hard as he could in order to cut off the circulation for his leg.
Every breath he took was short and ragged, the wound in his chest should have killed him by now but he was pushing through far better than anyone should have been able to. He wrapped both hands around the hilt of the sword and yanked it out followed by a scream and a very steady stream of blood. "Oh shit..." He muttered just before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed under the weight of the long-sword.
"Percy!" Reyna dropped to his side and put her fingers to his neck. There was a pulse but it was very weak, the blood loss would kill him within minutes if she didn't get rid of these guys as quick as possible.
"He's already dead, little one." The stranger took a step forward but Reyna swung her sword and missed him by just inches.
"Cállate la boca, o te mataré donde estés, hijo de puta!" Reyna cursed in Spanish while advancing towards the demon wailing her sword back and forth.
The stranger didn't seem at all intimidated by Reyna's sword. "You are not entitled to be making threats, demigod. We clearly have the upperhand."
Reyna held her sword chest high but the stranger merely walked directly into her blade like he was a ghost.
"Who are you?" She muttered in fear. "What do you want from us?"
"I am only the messenger for a greater power." He whispered. "You have something that belongs to us, something that we have been looking for ever since we were released from the pit..."
Reyna ripped the sword from his chest and slashed the stranger shoulder to hip but it sliced through his body like he was made of ash. Reyna was never one to cry during a battle, but she looked over her shoulder and saw that with all injuries that had just been inflicted on the duo, the rate of survival for her and Percy was not looking too good. Nobody was coming to the rescue. She was an exhausted one armed sword fighter, Percy was dying, and there was nothing she could do about it. She began to swing her sword angrily as the heavy rains began to mix with her soft tears.
The stranger heard the silent sobs she was withholding deep within her chest. "Don't be afraid, little one. You should be accepting a hero's death with open arms, Elysium awaits for you in the Underworld!"
She looked back at Percy. He was beginning to stir from the pool of deep red blood.
The stranger took a step forward and rested his hand on her shoulder. "I know what ails you, my child. But gods and men have succumbed to death alone for centuries and centuries to come. When we molded the race of men from the dirt and rain, you were created as a singular being. As it began, so shall it end."
He reached forward and slid his right hand into her chest like a ghost and leaned forward. "You don't have anything to worry about. You are going to be the exception, I'll make sure you don't depart from this reality without an ally by your side. The young hero will see you again soon, that's if he doesn't choose rebirth. The greatest hero's always choose reincarnation..."
Just as the story of her life would began to come to an end, Reyna's grip on her gladius begins to loosen.
There wasn't any other option but to stop fighting. Her mother would disown her if she'd seen her daughter giving into death so easily. She looked over her shoulder and was given a slight boost of confidence when she saw that Percy was now turned over on his side and was holding onto the black long sword with both hands as if he were about to pounce and attack.
Suddenly a giant blue blast of energy shot from the crops and into the sky like a giant vortex of beautiful lightning and blue flames. The stranger took a step back and cackled in joy under his helm. "The Eye! It calls to us! Find it and bring it to me!"
The six creatures that had remained motionless until now rushed forward like Olympic runners to fetch the orb.
Reyna gave one last effort and sliced the stranger's waist in half with her sword. She finally hit something solid, he bellowed in pain and erupted into black ash. She nearly jumped with excitement and crazy laughter but it was quickly overpowered by worry and anger when she turned around and saw that Percy was running after the creatures, with the five foot long sword dragging behind him.
"Goddammit, Percy!" Reyna screamed as she stumbled after him through the rain and mud.
Dangerous bursts of lightning began to crack in the air and explode randomly, within a half a mile radius of the orb. But these weren't average bolts of lighting, they were black columns of pure energy unlike anything Zeus had in his arsenal. The stars had completely disappeared into the darkness. The creatures chasing the orb had created a world of pure darkness, it made it almost impossible for her to navigate her way through the crops. There was only the giant vortex of energy shooting into the sky but it was getting weaker by the second.
Then there were the voices, a hundred-No, a thousand voices overlapping, screaming in her head in pain and suffering. All dying to be heard but Reyna couldn't understand the language. The only thing louder were the creatures who were roaring like savage animals. Reyna could very lightly see Percy's silhouette slashing these monsters in half just ahead as he ran quicker than someone that had almost had died, should be given the right to. But these creatures seemed to be dying and reappearing one after another. One of the monsters leaped out from the crops in her path, and she just barely had the strength to stab her sword through its gaping mouth. It went that way for what felt like miles, her chest was weighing down heavier and heavier making each breath almost impossible to take, running through the ashes of dead monsters to only god knows where.
The end of the line brought her to a small circular clearing, with the orb laying on the dirt glowing violently but no longer shooting columns of energy into the sky. The screaming voices were gone, now replaced with complete silence. It was like they were standing in a dark and empty night club with only one pulsing light. Percy stood over it, the rain dripping over his black hair and falling onto his pale blood soaked bare chest. You could still see the metal shard deep into his breast plate, how he could move or breathe at all was a miracle. He ripped off his shirt and used the cloth to cover both his palms so that he could safely pick up the orb without scarring his arms in burns. The faceless creatures surrounded him but made no move.
"Are you okay, Percy?" Reyna stood a couple feet away with her sword drawn. The golden gladius in her hands finally began to shine as she inched closer towards the orb and its radius of power. The feeling of blood rushing was finally returning back into her arm as she felt a new wave of energy and strength surge through her body like pure adrenaline.
"Get away from the Eye, boy." The stranger growled as he emerged from the opposite side of the crops fully reformed. "The power will tear your body and soul apart, you are not strong enough to host the life of the eye."
Percy ignored the man, his green eyes seemed to glow under the power of the orb. He snatched up the rock and pointed it at the stranger. The faceless monsters flinched at the sight of the orb just as a normal person would if they had a gun pointed at them. "You're scared aren't you. I can see the look in your eyes under that helmet. Your shitting yourself right now aren't you?"
"Kill him." The stranger growled angrily.
All six creatures pounced at Percy but the orb glowed violently and released a volley of energy blasts loose on every single creature before their feet ever had the chance to leave the ground. They exploded in a spectacle of ash and lightning.
The cloaked man took a step forward and held his hands high in a sign of defeat. This scared Reyna. "For once the stories may be true, demigod. It seems that I was mistaken to assume that you were as weak as you truly appeared to be. But in this I am not. You are making a grave mistake here. If you do not drop the Eye... if you are not burned to the core of your existence...you will face a greater agony than you can imagine. Put it down before its too late."
"Thanks for the advice, but I think I'd much rather add you to list of mediocre beings that have tried and failed at completing the simplest tasks." Percy's eyed glowed blue and he let another wave of energy loose that burned every thing within ten feet to ash. Reyna rolled behind the a wall of crops just in time to avoid waves of pure energy. The stranger seemed to almost smile under that mask of his before he turned into a cloud of ash and gold blood. Percy cried allowed as a giant beam of pure energy coursed through his veins and pierced the sky like he was a lightning rod.
The energy coursing through the jewel burned right through the cloth wraps knotted together on his hands. His bare skin was exposed to the orb and began to turn a dark shade of blue just before the jewel exploded into a million pieces. Percy shot backwards like he was just hit with couple million volts of electricity and went crashing into the stalks of corn.
"Percy!" Reyna screamed at the top of her lungs.
She scrambled to her feet and ran to the point of impact to find Percy laying on his back, steam curled from his blue tinted skin. Reyna lifted him into her arms, the texture of his skin was slowly morphing into this diamond like texture.
Reyna was crying as she cradled him tightly close to her chest, his skin was growing colder and the life in his eyes was slowly dissipating. "You're gonna be alright, Percy. Come on, we just need to get you out of here t-then, um...Chiron will know what to do. Please just stay with me..."
Percy's smile looked the same as it did a couple of hours ago, happy and full of life. Anyone who ever saw that smile...the way he bestowed it upon her everyday, they would have instantly be pulled towards him like gravity.
"I think it'd be best... If I just...sat right here... With you." He struggled to speak as his body began to be consumed by the radiation of the orb. "Hey, would you look at that...I can feel the water now, but I'm guessing I'm to far along to be healed by it..."
Reyna was choking on her words. "We have to find you some help, Percy. Someone can help us, please...we have to try."
He held his hand to her face. "I got us into some real deep shit today... I'm sorry I can't stay to be here for you...Reyna."
"You were, Percy." She sobbed. "Every time I needed someone to be there for me, you were right by my side. You are the only person in the world that I will ever need." Reyna leaned in and kissed him.
"I love you, Reyna." He whispered.
Reyna managed another forced smile as she tried to keep her composure as strong as possible. Just as she was about to speak, Percy reached forward with his hand and brushed his fingers along her cheek. His body suddenly stiffened as he morphed into a crystal statue of the man that he once was.
"Percy?" She whispered and held his frozen hand close to her cheek. "No...please don't leave me...Percy, please. I love you..."
His crystal silhouette crumbled in her arms. Percy Jackson, every molecule of him whatsoever, had just crumbled to pieces. All that was left behind of him was his pen. Reyna's usual strong demeanor fell apart like a broken mirror. She inhaled sharply and exhaled just as fast. She clawed at her own arms and began to sob violently.
That day, the Incident as people would later refer to it as, is the day that an era ended.
Where were the gods in a time like this?