The End of the Fifth Age Ch. 1

"You see anything?" asked Artemis. I peeked through the bushes at the herd of deer. Scanning quickly, I spotted a deer with a distinct limp in its trot.

"Yep." I replied, glancing back the goddess. Artemis fitted a silver arrow to her beautifully-crafted bow. I watch as she melts into the surrounding foliage, only to reappear crouched on a bough of a tree. I grin, thinking, 'That deer's dead meat.' Literally. No one shoots like my best friend. The single arrow gives off a soft whistling as it shoots towards limping target.

Twang! The deer falls, an arrow to the neck as the rest of the herd leaps off. Artemis descends from the tree, and we both walk over to inspect the animal. Together we chant an ancient Greek blessing, and a wispy trail of smoke curls skywards, the soul of an animal. Artemis stoops to pick up the meat, then turns to face me.

"Top that," she challenges.

I grin, accepting the challenge with eagerness. "Easy."

As we run through the forest in the direction of the deer herd, I ready my bow, nocking the arrow with the ease of 30 years' practice. Of all the gods and goddesses, I admire and love Artemis the best. We're BFFs. Since I fell into a self-induced coma 30 years ago, the gods have been my only companions and will be until the Oracle's prophecy comes into action. Which may take another century or so. Don't worry; I'm aging ever so slowly in my coma. Right now I think I'm 13 or so. Only the gods can visit me, since only they can enter my 'dream world'.

We stop, almost skidding to a crouch as we sense the deer herd ahead. I quickly spring into Huntress mode, circling the herd in a wide circle to get a better angle. Picking a young buck drinking the cold stream water, I take aim and release the drawstring. The arrow hits the young buck's side. It falls, twisting, as the herd rushes off in a flurry of hooves and fur.

I emerge from my hiding spot to walk confidently to the fallen deer. Artemis emerges a millisecond later, a look of begrudging defeat on her face. It's a rare look for her. Usually the ones giving the look are the wannabe hunters challenging her.

"Alright, you win." Then her trademark half-smile returns to its rightful place on her lips as she continues, "Just this once!"

I stick out my tongue at her; an action that would have gotten me turned into a deer myself had I not been her trusted friend. Muttering the Greek blessing under my breath, we watch breathlessly as the smoke spirals to the sky.

Our moment of peaceful silence is interrupted by a loud squawking. We turned in surprise as a raven carrying a message strapped to its back flies towards us. Artemis frowns, "That's strange. I thought I told Thalia where to go in my absence…" she trailed off as she pulls out the message and sees the Olympians' sacred seal.

I draw closer, wondering what could be the issue now. Usually Artemis does as she pleases, and rarely goes on missions. It's in Ancient Greek, but I've been reading the language since I was 5. I just can't speak it. Artemis' face falls as she reads the letter, and my face follows suit.

"Awww, that's too bad. Wonder what they're flustered about now." I tried to hide my disappointment. I hate being alone in my dream world, because it changes into a white blank room with hardly anything in it.

"I'm sorry. I really wanted to stay, but you know how mad Father Zeus gets if anyone's late." She picks up her bow and deer, shouldering both with the grace of a panther.

With a sad wave, she starts shimmering and I hurriedly avert my eyes. I don't know if I would disintegrate in my dream world but I don't want to take the chance. When she's gone, I sit and watch as the forest fades into blank, white walls.

All I'm left with is my buck, some gifts from the gods, and memories. I toy with the water in a small pond made by Poseidon himself. Little fish swim around my trailing finger. For a moment, the quiet almost deafens me before my dream world collapses with a violent crash.

Where am I? I look up, and see a blue sky with clouds lazing across it. Panicking, I spin and fall face-first, catching myself and dropping into a push-up stance. I get up puzzled. Was someone sent to keep an eye on me during the meeting?

I groaned, thinking, 'Not Demeter again. If I have to hear one more thing about cereal and how it's made-' Wait. I glance around, taking in the winding road, the majestic Greek buildings and the dryads dancing in the field further away. I feel my eyes light up in delight as I realize that I've finally woken up from my coma, and then fade as quickly as they came. If I've woken up, this means the prophecy might just be happening now.

I curiously stand, and then start to take in my surroundings. A beautiful blue sky, a city made of majestic marble. Olympus, I realize. They must have brought me here after I fainted. If so, then the Palace of the Gods must be here somewhere. I start walking towards the most majestic building in sight, a dome-shaped palace. I climb its steps, slowly at first, then picking up speed and hopping up them 2 at a time. I had to know what was going on.

Reaching the door, I take a deep breath as if swimming and push open the huge door. I almost fainted again at the sight of 12 super-powerful beings glaring at me for my impudence, and then, as I watch, fade into looks of surprise, horror, and mild amusement.

"It seems we have a bigger threat than we assumed," rumbled the gravelly voice of Hephaestus.

"Yes, it does seem we need to call for the help of our children, once again," Athena's calm voice replies.

"We must contact Chiron immediately," says Poseidon, stroking his trimmed beard at me thoughtfully. They all look unmistakably at Mr. D, who was twirling a grapevine around his fingers.

When he noticed that they were all looking at him, he sighed, "Alright, I'll get right on it."

"Wait," I say, still half-stunned, "what's going on? What threat? What am I supposed to do now I've woken up? What's this meeting about, anyway?" It's amazing I said anything at all, but hey, I was confused.

Artemis smiled and said, "Well, we were just discussing what to do with this wayward Titan, that's all. We thought it would blow over soon, but now we see it's more serious than it looked."

"So, now what? I'm supposed to go to this camp, aren't I? Camp Half-Blood. That's where Chiron will train me and then I go after this Titan person. Who's he? Atlas? Hyperion?" I remembered the few conversations I had with Apollo about the prophecy and what it meant. There was an uncomfortable silence, like they didn't really want to tell me. "Kronos?" I whispered. Oh crap.

"Not Kronos, dear, just…Krios." Hestia, my second favorite goddess.

"Krios? What's he doing that's so, so serious you guys have to host an emergency meeting?" As far as I know, Krios was one of those fail Titans that were just there for décor. Lord of the Southern Constellations isn't exactly a real honorable position.

"He seems to be gathering a group of monsters and plotting a kind of raid with them," rumbles the booming voice of Father Zeus himself.

"Chiron will be coming soon," reports Dionysus.

"Don't worry, Elena. You will get a chance to be a great heroine; I will make sure of that," reassures Artemis. But I couldn't care if I was a hero or not. My instincts took over me, and I felt a sense of controlled, harsh anger.

'Krios had better watch out,' I thought. 'I'll make sure that whoever wants Olympus will have his guts strewn all over the walkways of New York.' A gasp came from Hestia, and the gods all looked at something directly above me. I glanced up, and saw a set of scales glittering above me. 'My mom,' I realized.

Nemesis was my mother.

A voice came from nowhere, whispering to me, "Yes, dear. Make sure you keep your oath, or I will have to destroy you. I don't play favorites."