3 days. That's how long we had to rest. 3 days to recover from the war with Gaea. 3 days to treat the injured, and remember the dead. 3 days to mourn, and to cry. 3 days. 3 days until all hell broke loose.
No, that's not the right way to describe it. Hell wasn't an army of beasts blacker than a starless night. Hell didn't have eyes as red as blood. Hell didn't have bone-white armour to protect it. No, this wasn't hell. This was something worse.
Hell claims those who deserve it, those who need to pay for their sins. These beasts, these creatures, had no such restrictions. They took every life they could, killing everyone in their path.
They started with the infirmary. The injured, the weak, and the dying. They were the first to fall. 3 days of recovery, and on the 4th day they struck.
I don't know how, but they got into camp. Our first signs were the screams. Blood curdling, gut wrenching screams. Screams of pain, and screams of sorrow.
Then came the howls. Howls that filled the air, until I could feel them reverberating through my bones, through my very being. Howls, accompanied by the unmistakable sounds of dozens, no, hundreds of feet, pounding against the ground, shaking the earth, and causing even Thalias tree to tremble.
The beasts poured from the shadows, in many forms. Some took the shape of wolves, some of scorpions, some of bears, and some of birds.
These shadow creatures were different, yet all the same. The same black colour. The same bone armour. The same red eyes.
We had little time to arm ourselves, and even if we could have prepared quicker, we still would have lost many. After they killed everyone in the infirmary, they stormed the rest of the camp.
I myself, as always, had my trusty sword Riptide with me, as well as my shield, a gift from my half brother, Tyson. I was armed, but many weren't so lucky. The first minute was the worst, nobody knew what was happening, everyone was just trying not to die. But at that point, I didn't care. I didn't care about the creatures. No, all I cared about was one thing. Annabeth
"Percy! Percy, where are you!" Her voice called out, cutting through the screams and straight to my ears. Her voice, her beautiful voice shouldn't have sounded that scared. Nothing deserves to make her voice falter.
"Annabeth! I'm over here, come to me! We have to fight together." I yelled back, as I ran towards where I last heard her voice.
"Annabeth, please, come to me!" I cried, trying to find her, but she seemed to have dissapeared.
I searched frantically though the crowd of demigods, occasionally killing one of the shadow creatures. I was panicking, no, I was down right terrified. What would I do if I lost her? Why cant I find her? Where is she? Where is she, where is she, where is she, WHERE IS SH-
"I'm here Percy, I'm right here."
Her soft voice calmed my panicking mind, and I turn around to see her. My love, my everything, my Wise Girl. Annabeth.
"Oh thank gods you're safe." I exclaim, sighing in relief.
As long as Annabeth was alive, it was okay. As long as she survived, everything would be fine. Everything would be fine. I repeat that to myself a few times, trying to convince myself it was true, while nagging thoughts at the back if my mind disagreed.
I shook my head, clearing my head for the task before me.
"Ready Annabeth?" I smile, glancing at her
"Always." was her one word reply. Even though it was only one word, it held so much power. And with a nod, we charged into the battle, brandishing our weapons, and screaming our war cry.
"FOR OLYMPUS!" The words filled the air, seeming to echo endlessly in the summer air.
I immediately came face to face with a wolf. It was big, but nowhere near as big as a Hellhound, so I dealt with it relatively easily, dodging its first attack, and slashing its throat before it could react.
I wasted no time, and moved to the next beast, another wolf. I eventually fell into a pattern. Dodge, slash, prepare for next attack, repeat.
These creatures seemed weaker than the ones I was used too, as they never learned, and attacked blindly instead of making strategies like many monsters do. For this reason, I had no doubt that Annabeth was fine, and it would be insulting to her to give her aid.
But, being paranoid, I checked anyways. I sighed in relief when I noticed that, as expected, she was just fine, killing the beasts like it was nothing.
Anyways, I followed the dodge, slash, prepare, pattern for a few minutes before the fates decided to change things up a bit.
This time, when I prepared for the next attack, it was not one of the wolf creatures that faced me, but a large bear, its blood red eyes trained on me. It let out a roar, and charged. It was slow, but I could tell it was powerful. I waited until its paw was only a couple feet away before I rolled to the side, jabbing my sword in to its back.
It roared in pain, and turned to swipe at me once more. Surprised, having expected it to die, I let my reflexes take over, and just barely managed not to get hit.
I decided that if one stab wasn't enough to kill it, two should do the trick. So I stepped forward, ducked under a third swipe, and slashed at its torso with Riptide. Thankfully, two attacks was all it could take, and it dissolved into black dust.
I immediately prepared for another attack, as these creatures were plentiful, and letting your guard down could spell death.
It was a good thing I did too, because as soon as I turned back to the battlefield, a huge stinger came at my face. Seeing that there was no time to dodge, I opted instead to put up my shield, blocking the incoming weapon. I felt a powerful hit smash in to my shield, and almost stumbled back, but managed to keep my footing. I rolled away, deciding to observe the beast before making any decisions.
It was a massive scorpion, with a golden stinger at the end of its tail. Unlike the other monsters, it had the white armour covering almost its entire body. I slowly crept towards it, my unfaltering gaze never leaving the beast.
It had apparently had enough of waiting, and rushed at me, pincers clacking. I dodged, and stabbed at the back of the beast.
To my astonishment, the armour deflected Riptide, my sword barely doing any damage. I quickly recovered from my shock, and jumped away, awaiting its next strike.
That strike came in the form of another mad rush at me, golden stinger poised and ready to kill. I dodged the initial attack from the pincers with ease, but barely managed to block a powerful strike from its stinger, the force making my grit my teeth in pain.
I growled, and smacked the tail away with my shield. Deciding that my current strategy was getting me nowhere with this particular monster, I decided to take the offensive.
I dashed forwards, hoping to land a quick blow on its side, but yet again, Riptide was deflected. I was growing quite annoyed at this monster, and tried to think of a way I could kill it.
An idea popped into my head, and I grinned. If I cant break its armour, then I guess Ill have to hit it where there isn't any. I ran at it a second time, but instead of hacking uselessly at its bone white shell, I instead slashed horizontally at the base of its tail as it came running towards me.
The monster roared as its now severed tail slid across the ground, before dissolving into the black dust that were the remains of these beasts. I allowed myself a small smile, having taken away the scorpions greatest weapon.
While I had been watching the the tail evaporate, the shadow creature had stopped screeching, and started charging. I waited until it was close, then went for the next vulnerable spot. Its eyes.
It had many eyes, but I still managed to get lots of them with a diagonal slash of my sword, before I jumped away. The creature turned on me, and charged again, shrieking this time. I made another diagonal slash in the opposite direction, forming an X on its face.
It skidded to a halt, and turned to rush me again, when I shot forwards, making two slashes in the shape of a plus sign across its already mangled cluster of eyes. At this point, I had blinded the beast, Riptide having made a star on the front of its face, slowly leaking black dust.
It flailed around wildly, unable to see me to aim its attack. I waited for an opening in its wild rampage, and sprinted at it, smashing it as hard as I could with my shield.
Not expecting to be hit with such force, the beast fell on to its back, exposing its unarmoured underbelly. Taking a step forwards, I plunged my blade deep in to the monster.
It released one last weak, dying croak, and burst in to dust. The bigger monster had obviously scared away the other creatures, as there were none very near to me, at least for now.
I took this opportunity to look for Annabeth, as well as my other friends. Leo went missing after the battle with Gaea, presumed dead, but the remaining Seven were here, as was Nico. So, I scanned the battlefield, searching for my friends.
I saw Annabeth first, she was snaking around a particularly large looking bear monster, and she appeared unhurt, aside from a bit of blood on her face.
I spotted Nico next, fighting with his sword, still being too drained from shadow travelling with the Athena Parthenosto summon the dead. I silently thanked the gods that he had refused to stay in the infirmary, and had instead stayed in his cabin. If he had been one the ones killed in the initial wave...
I shuddered at the though, and quickly banished it from my mind. Right now was not a time for what ifs.
Nico looked like he could use a little help, but he could probably last a bit longer, and I wanted to see if anybody else needed my help more desperately.
I didn't see anybody quite yet, and that worried me. My eyes darted across the battlefield, hoping to find some of the others, praying to the gods that nobody has been killed.
I saw Jason next, as lightning was hardly an inconspicuous power. He seemed to be handling himself just fine, and Piper was with him. While Piper did have a nasty looking gash on her leg, she was with Jason, so my help wouldn't be needed. I kept looking for the others, releasing my breath when I saw Hazel and Frank fighting together. Well, Hazel and a grizzly bear, but I'm assuming its Frank.
Seeing that Nico was indeed the most in need of help, a ran towards him, calling out to him as I did.
"Nico! Don't worry, I'm coming!"
He briefly nodded at me to show that he had heard, before going right back to fighting the wolves.
I joined him soon after, and it took us mere minutes to clear the horde of monsters that had surrounded him.
"Thanks." He wheezed out between sharp intakes of breath.
I looked him over, and my eyes widened when I realized that the right side of his leather jacket was in tatters, and blood seeped out of his side.
"Oh my gods, Nico, you're hurt!" I exclaimed, quickly ripping off a piece of my own shirt to wrap his wound.
He tensed up and looked like he was about to say something, and I paused. A second later he let out a breath, and relaxed. I wrapped the wound, and Nico hissed in pain.
I raised to my full height, and nodded gravely in the direction of the main horde of beasts.
"Shall we?"
He nodded at me, and we marched towards the throng. For some reason, more and more monsters were attracted to us. I briefly wondered about this, but pushed it to the back of my mind. Questions for another day, I thought to myself. Questions for another day.
Now as we were killing the bests, I noticed something. There weren't any new ones appearing. The number of bests was becoming smaller and smaller, and I had hope that we could finish this fight quickly.
But of course, we were not so fortunate. While the beasts were smaller in number, they were also larger in physical size. The ones that had survived to this point were the biggest, the smartest, and the toughest to kill.
I learned this the hard way, when I tried to use my normal strategy on a wolf creature the size of a small truck. Instead of getting a free blow to the stomach of the best, I found I was the one being hit.
It clipped my side with one of its massive claws, and I was sent tumbling back. I clenched my teeth and hissed in pain, but quickly got back in to a fighting position. However, there was no need, as Annabeth had come to save me. I smiled slightly, before the pain brought my face back to a grimace.
After finishing the wolf, she turned to me, and all I almost forgot the wound in my stomach. It was her. She was here, she was safe, if a little scratched up.
"Wise Girl." I said, my voice dry an cracking.
My Wise Girl.
"Seaweed Brain." she responded, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"How about we get that patched up, shall we?" She motioned to my side as she said this, and walked forwards.
Blood was starting the pool in my mouth, and I couldn't respond. I tried to spit it out, but ended up just hacking and coughing out blood. I looked up at her, still unable to speak. And that is when I saw it. A massive scorpion, tail poised to strike, standing behind Annabeth. I tried to warn her, but she just got more worried for me, noticing the blood dripping form my mouth.
I tried to stand, but there was no way I could have been quick enough. I pointed behind her, but it was was too late.
Time seemed to move in slow motion as the stinger of the monster pierced through her back, and erupted from her stomach, lifting her in to the air. Her eyes showed a shocked expression, before the life slowly drained out of them, just as her blood drained from her body.
The scorpion retracted its tail, and her body fell to the floor with thud. She's dead. Even at this distance, I could tell, even if I so desperately wanted it not to be true. Her entire torso was covered in blood, and there was a massive hole in her stomach. Then there were her eyes. Her eyes were the biggest giveaway. Once a stormy grey, calculating, and analyzing, they were now dull, and lifeless.
No. I denied what I saw. There's no way. She couldn't be dead. She was Annabeth for gods sake, she couldn't die! Desperation filled my mind and looked over her for any sign that she was alive. No rise and fall of the chest. No blood pumping to show a heartbeat. Nothing. Absolute stillness. I had to accept the facts in front of my face. Annabeth, my love, my everything, my Wise Girl, was dead.
I felt many emotions stir inside of me at once. Shock, sadness, confusion, anger, fear, but most of all, determination. Determination the kill, no, to obliterate the monsters that did this. Starting with the murderer itself, that gods damned scorpion.
Up to this point in the battle, I hadn't been using my demigod powers, as they took energy, and the beasts were relatively simple to deal with. But now, I don't think I could stop my powers if I tried. My demigod inheritance reacted with how I felt, and I was feeling very powerful emotions at the moment.
A storm grew overhead, the waves crashed against the beach, and the earth started to rumble. The storm kept on growing, until other demigods had to brace themselves against the wind. Rain was pouring down now, the water healing my wounds, and renewing my energy.
I readied my sword, stared at the scorpion for a second, and charged. It was not prepared for how fast I could move, and stumbled back when I smashed in to it with my shield. Taking this opportunity the strike, I immediately went for the tail, as I had learned that it was their weak spot, along with their stomach. After disarming it, an idea came to mind as tho how I could get it on its stomach.
I created an earthquake, hoping to unbalance the beast. It worked, and I quickly smashed my shield in to its side, knocking it over. I plunged my blade into its stomach, just as I had with the other scorpion, and just the same, it dissolved.
As I killed my true loves murderer, my face was stone cold, completely emotionless. I didn't laugh, as I wasn't completely insane, but I didn't cry, as I wasn't completely sane either.
I wasn't done there though, no, not by a long shot. I turned to the other monsters, and roared. I sprinted at them, killing them one by one, until there were none left. Each of them taking less than a minute to die.
The other campers stared at me in shock and awe, as I had just finished off an army of shadow creatures that had claimed the lives of many a demigod, all by myself. I released my powers and the storm slowly faded.
I gazed around at the campers, the very few survivors of both the war with Gaea, and of this battle.
There were only a couple dozen left, all the others having been killed.
This is it. We won. We beat Gaea and the giants, and we beat these shadow monsters too. But Annabeth died, and so did dozens of other demigods. So while we technically won, I would never, ever call this a victory.
-IMPORTANT-
Heyo, new story alert. So while its not quite evident from this chapter, the plot is gonna bet Percy going to the world of Remnant to find how the Grimm are getting to his world, and the stop more from coming. Now if you've read any of my other stories, you know I like it when people comment their favourite sentence or paragraph from the chapter, so please do that! Also, I will be having polls in these author notes, so please, always read them. If you don't, you wont be able to participate in polls and such. Please like and comment, as it gives me motivation the write more, and have a good day!