Hey guys, I've got the first chapter up and I'm happy with it. I dont think 3 and a half thousand words for the first chapter is that bad. BE AWARE THERE ARE SOME MINOR SWEARS IN THIS CHAPTER. Sorry for all the view changes, but that's how I like to write a story - so you see how it's all connected.
Enjoy !
Title: SYOC: Power of the Unknown
Rating: T for minor cursing.
Storyline: The Gods sense a shift in power in the West, so four - three demigods from Camp Half-Blood and a Hunter - are sent on a quest to find out who has shifted the scales... And if they are a friend or foe. But when each quester hates each other, how will they succeed in working together?
Setting: Twenty years after the end of The Last Olympian. The Lost Hero never happened and there is no Roman Camp.
Characters: I decided to use most of the characters that were submitted, since I just loved them all. Main characters have been chosen, but you can still submit characters to have smaller roles in the story.
Power of the Unknown
Chapter One - Capture the Flag
"Gather 'round kids. These Hunters aren't easy opponents. That last time they came, five years ago…" Alphie trailed off, lost in thought. "Let's just say that I winded up in the infirmary with three broken bones. I don't want any of you kids ending up like that."
A shiver rippled through the audience. "Sounds fun," muttered a fifteen year old girl with long, wavy dark brown hair that blew around her face as if there was wind, though the leaves on the trees didn't even rustle.
"Yeah, yeah it was. Anyway, Charlotte, you lead defence. Take the other wind children and Morpheus kids to guard the flag. Hermes and Apollo kids, scout the area. Set the flag up high, hide in the trees. Use your air advantages to knock away anyone… And Miles, get your cabin to make those Hunters drowsy. Zane, Carla, Audrey and I will go around the border and try to cause a diversion. The rest of you, get in groups of two and try to find a way in."
"That's not the best plan Alph, it would be wiser if-"
"Audrey, I don't care if you're a daughter of Athena and you've got a better plan. But we're doing this my way."
"Stupid son of Apollo…" She said, glaring at him.
"Whatever. Go to your posts now, and don't let those sissy girls win! Let's go kick some Hunter ass!" The son of Apollo shouted before heading off with the group of four.
"Wind kids! Children of Aeolus and Zephyr get over here. Same goes for you dreamy kids." The daughter of Aeolus with the long, wavy dark brown hair rounded up the demigods that were assigned to defence. She sauntered off into the woods, ten half-bloods following. There were two children of Aeolus, not including Charlotte, three children of Zephyr (who all had similar blowing hair to Charlotte) and four children of Morpheus. None of the other wind gods had demigod children. The group perched their branch in a high tree. The flag was easily visible, like it had to be, yet would take long to climb, leaving the climber vulnerable to attacks. The children of Zephyr and Aeolus could also cause some breezes to hinder the climbers, and the Morpheus children could cause the climbers to be drowsy and possible fall to the forest floor. Demigods scurried up trees around the area, staying hidden but ready to go on the offence. Hermes children were strewn down the creek and Apollo children were ready, bows in hand, to back them up. They were ready.
Demigods were heading off in each direction with another, over and over until two remained. They both were considered 'loners' at camp, none of them from the original twelve cabins. Children at Camp Half-Blood who were children of the Olympians tended to be more included than others. The two remaining teens stood there awkwardly, avoiding each other's eyes. One of them shifted his violet eyes so that they bore into the girl's deep brown, almost black, eyes. He thought they seemed as dark as Tartarus (not that he'd been), deep and mysterious.
"Uh… Partner? I guess? I mean if you don't want to… But you kind of have to… But if you just want to go against Alphie said and not…" He slapped his hand to his mouth when he realised he was babbling.
"Yeah. It's not like I have a choice." The girl offered her hand. "Sophia Jasmine Marcepolla. Daughter of Hades."
He looked up at the girl. She towered three feet above his 5'6" figure. "Oscar Bradford. Son of Hecate."
"Let's get this show on the road, then, Oscar." Sophia pressed a rhinestone on both of her maroon and black wristbands and they formed into dual Stygian iron blades in her hands. She sprinted off into the woods, Oscar in pursuit, an engraved pine staff in hand.
A conch horn blew. The game had begun.
Sophia and Oscar leaped over the creek, into enemy territory. They weaved in and out of trees, hopping over the occasional trip wire. Oscar muttered an incantation. His eyes and the engravings on his staff glowed slightly. A red mist rose from the soil and shimmered slightly before slowly drifting north.
"I did a minor finding spell. It won't last long, and it travels slowly, but it'll get us in the right direction. "
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's-"A silver arrow streaked past, implanting itself in her shoulder. Sophie cried out in pain and yanked the arrow out, tossing it aside. It was dripping red. The two were alert now, eyes scanning the trees for a Hunter. A second arrow whizzed by, and it would've hit Oscar if he hadn't knocked it aside with his staff. He muttered some more incantations and a bright flash of light blinded them for half a second. When it died down, they noticed three Hunters surrounding them, previously being concealed by the branches. Sophia and Oscar were surrounded.
"That's bad company you're with, camper. You know that boys are a menace." Said a Hunter with waist length wavy brown hair. She had pointed features and had an arrow notched in her silver bow. She glared at Oscar, and motioned to the other two Hunters to raise their bows. The two followed the directions, slowly inching closer to the two campers so that they couldn't get away.
"There's nothing wrong with boys," Sophia hissed, venom dripping in her tone. "You Hunters are just too wimpy to try to handle them. Go back to girls scouts, wimp."
"You have allowed yourself to be corrupted by men. And you say we are the wimp." The Hunters were still closing in, only ten feet away now.
Sophia snarled and raised her blades. "I hate you Hunters."
"The feeling is mutual, foolish demigod," Yelled one of the other two Hunters. She had shoulder-length straight blonde hair and bright, glowing green eyes. Oscar had no idea whatever she was before she became a Hunter. A nymph, maybe?
"You did not just call me foolish. You're going to feel it." Sophia's expression was dark and absolutely terrifying. She could've sent a Laistrygonian to their mother in tears. She stretched her arms out, looked straight ahead and muttered "Serve me,"
A jagged hole opened up in the ground. Rows and rows of dead soldiers crawled out of the fissure, standing in uniform lines and awaiting her order.
"Get the Hunters."
Dead confederates slashed at the three Hunters who were backing up against trees. Alex leaped onto a branch gracefully, eliminating undead after undead with her bow and arrows. Unfortunately, the dead could climb too. They easily scaled the tree, each one grabbing one of the Hunters' limbs. Alexandra tried to scream, but a bony (literally) hand clamped over her mouth and her eyes shone with fear. Meanwhile, Sophia stumbled forward, fatigued, ready to drop, but Oscar caught her arm. Sophie half-fell to the ground, one shoulder hitting the ground with a painful crunch. She cried out in pain, eyes shooting wide open.
"Are you okay?" Oscar asked with the burning feeling of guilt. Sophia grimaced and nodded, and he immediately knew that she was in pain. He probed the injured shoulder and muttered softly to himself. He felt the shoulder return to its socket. The two demigods both felt drained and they lay on the ground, eyes closed, breathing slowly, listening to the muffled screams of the tortured Hunters begging for mercy. It almost seemed peaceful. Then Oscar remembered the capture the flag game, the tracking spell that was slowly getting away. It took a humungous amount of effort, but he sat upright. He hauled himself to his feet, whispering to Sophia to get up. Slowly but surely she did, Oscar pulling her to her feet and allowing her to put most of his weight on him.
"What's wrong? Is it still dislocated?"
"No… Just… tired. Summoning so many… Sleep… Bed…"
"Um… You can go to sleep after this. We've got to get the flag and follow the red mist."
Sophia weakly nodded. "Follow the yellow brick road… Follow the red mist." Slowly, the two trudged away from the three incapacitated Hunters, following Oscar's spell. It led them in and out of trees, up and down slopes. After a while of walking, and surprisingly no Hunters, the mist thinned out and disappeared.
"Great, now we're on our own." Sophia muttered after having regained a lot of her energy.
"It's weird how we haven't seen any Hunters. If we're coming close to the flag, shouldn't there be more guards?"
"It's all pretty suspicious. Ambush?"
"Or maybe your dead slaves got the rest."
"They're not slaves. But whatever. We've gotta be more careful, are you any good at climbing trees?"
"Umm…. Let's just say that I'm better at close hand combat than climbing trees. And I can barely block a thrust from a knife."
"Great, just great," Sophia muttered. "So what do we do now, wander aimlessly till we get jumped and end up like Alph?"
"]Pretty much. Come on."
"Hoorah hoorah, I get partnered with the wimp from the Ares cabin," muttered an intimidating 6 foot boy who appeared to be fifteen or sixteen. His hair was jet black with a cowlick at the front. He was muscular and had a tattoo of a zombie on his left hand. His blunt saffron eyes were focused straight ahead.
"Well, your father is Phobos, god of fear. We'll make it. We'll scare them. I think. And I'm not a wimp."
"Hey, I'm Matthew Rivera and I'm too scared to even come close to whoever I'm fighting, so I use a bow and arrow. I'm a son of Ares, but I can't even beat a daughter of Aphrodite in a sword fight," the child of Phobos said in a high-pitched voice.
"Stop it Zane! Plus, there's nothing wrong with children of Aphrodite." Especially the one I fought, Matthew thought.
Zane Anderson shifted his glare from the forest to Matthew's dark, helpless looking eyes. Waves of pure fear rippled in the air, a dark pulse. Matthew shrunk back from Zane, terror overcoming him. The son of Phobos turned his back on the child of Ares and walked off, alone.
"Could you pass some wind over here!" shouted Bryce, head counsellor of the Morpheus cabin.
Elijah, Bryce's half-brother, snickered. "Dude, that did so not come out right."
"Shut up Elijah! Can you get Char or one of the other wind kids to blow a breeze on that tree? The drowsiness isn't sending that Hunter own with the rest."
"Well, I can't shut up and ask Charlotte at the same time, can I?"
"You're not shutting up now, so why can't you ask her?"
"Good point," he said to Bryce, then screamed "HEY! YOU! DAUGHTER OF ZEPHYR! HAZEL? HARRIET? HELGA? OH WAIT, HOLLIE! HEY, HOLLIE! CAN YOU DEAL WITH THAT HUNTER?"
The girl who Elijah had called to sighed. She liked him, but he almost never glanced in her direction, much less remembered her name. Hollie was so used to being used. Being used for answers at school. Being used for her high technology at home. Being used in relationships. When she was younger she thought that by the age of sixteen she would have found true love and a best friend, but here she was, a week after turning seventeen, and still utterly confused by life. Hollie absent-mindedly swiped her hand and a gust of wind caused the tree the Hunter was on to shake violently, sending the maiden down to the hard ground below. She would definitely have major bruises, maybe a broken bone. The Huntress shot three silver arrows up at Hollie in the tree, but they were swept aside by another rush of wind. They implanted themselves in a tree.
"Thanks Hollie! Don't mind Elijah. He was just dropped off Olympus as a kid." Bryce laughed at his own comment, and Elijah glared at him.
"I haven't even been, doofus. "
"I think we're almost there. I can feel it." Said Oscar, eyes darting around, combing the forest. Sophia gripped her dual blades tightly.
Crunch.
Oscar and Sophia jumped at the sound, then entering an offensive position. The daughter of Hades had her Stygian iron blades poised in her outstretched arms and the son of Hecate had his staff pointed to where he heard the sound.
"Show yourself!" Sophia snarled, ready to summon help if she needed.
There was a rustle, and then two females leaped out of the bushes.
"Don't shoot us!" One squeaked. She had short, bobby brown hair and appeared to be the age of nine. "I'm a camper! I'm Vickie, daughter of Tyche, goddess of fortune and chance. This is Daisy, daughter of Chloris. We know who you are." She motioned to the other girl, who seemed to be around the same age, but had long, wavy blonde hair.
"Whoa, Daisy? A daughter of Chloris, goddess of flowers, called Daisy?" Oscar smiled, stifling a laugh that would give away their position to any nearby Hunters.
"What of it? I can tell that you're a child of Hecate. You use magic. You know what else uses magic? Fairies. Go join your friends."
"Magic is only for the coolest of kids. Go plant a flower."
"Don't you-"
"Save it till later, Fairy and Pot Plant. We've got some Hunters to trash. What do you guys know about where it is? Have you seen anyone?" Sophia was all business. She had always hated the Hunters, since they were of Artemis, one of the Olympians. Sophia Marcepolla was brought up to detest the Olympians. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and had lived there with her mother until she was ten, when she was brought to the Underworld at her father's request. For one year of her life she lived with her father in the Underworld, being influenced by her father to dislike the Olympians. Persephone showed her no signs of love, and springtime was the worst part of the year for Sophia. She would get sick from flower spores and bugs would bite her constantly, ignoring her odour of death. The daughter of Hades was brought to camp at the age of eleven.
"Pot Plant? Really, Death Breath. We're playing capture the flag. Let' get it moving. We've seen a few Hunters just standing out there. Could be a trap, but my guess is that they're guarding the flag."
"You know an awful lot for a nine year old." Oscar muttered, following the two young girls into the trees.
"Ten. And don't underestimate me, Fairy."
"For the love of Zeus! Just go down already!" Charlotte screeched, sending gust after gust of wind at a stubborn Hunter who simply refused to fall out of the tree. She scurried up it like a squirrel, inching closer and closer to the flag. The children of Morpheus were unsuccessful in sending her to sleep, the Hermes cabin busy holding off Hunters below and the Apollo campers' arrows being buffeted by their own team's wind.
Cheers erupted from below. Charlotte looked back at where the flag was perched. Emphasis on was. The simple white camper flag was fluttering as the Hunter who was grasping it leaped from limb to limb of the tree. Once landing on the ground gracefully, she sprinted towards the creek with four other maidens covering her retreat.
"Crap! How in Hades did she do that?" Charlotte called, jumping off her branch into open air. Winds swirled around her, slowing her descent. Even when the winds had died down her hair blew around like they were still there. She followed in pursuit of the girl who had taken the flag, throwing knife after knife off her belt. She directed the winds to carry the knives towards their target, but she was not a strong runner. The Huntress' were out of her sight and the knives dropped to the ground, unable to find a target.
"Do you hear that guys?" Oscar stopped walking abruptly, cocking his head to the side.
"Come on, Fairy. The flag isn't going to steal itself." Daisy stood, legs shoulder-length apart, arms crossed and glared at him like a military commando. Unfortunately, she was not very intimidating with her short height and heart-shaped baby face.
"Someone's got our flag. Listen. I don't think they're cheering because they found a stash of chocolate." The son of Hecate pursed his lips. "I'm going back. Stop them from getting the flag over the border."
"Alphie said we were to try and get their flag…" Vickie clearly didn't agree. She looked unsure.
"I'll go with you Oscar. To Hades with Alphie." Sophia rolled her eyes and headed in the direction of the creek. Oscar followed her and they broke into a sprint. Sophia was quick at short sprints and she pulled ahead of Oscar. They reached the babbling water of the creek and watched in horror as a Hunter with long, flowing scarlet hair was yelling in triumph. She had one arm raised above her head, the flag in her clutches.
"Teach them Hana!"
"That's how a true Hunter does it!"
"You go girl!"
Cheers could be heard from all around, left and right, up and down, which left Sophia wondering whether they were in ditches, pits or underground. The Huntress had almost made it, a few strides away from the stream.
An arrow whizzed by from the west and there was a sickening coughing when it hit its target. The Hunter with the flag fell to the ground, arrow lodged into her lower back. Gasps broke through the sudden silence. The flag was in the limp girl's hands, a few feet before the water. Then, at once, chaos erupted. Hunters from all over the forest rushed to get the flag, knocking each other and pushing demigod campers out of their way. Sophia felt like face-palming. There had been this many Hunters here the whole time, and now here they were, rushing to the undefended flag that was only a stride away from the boundary line. Any second, they would pick up the flag and win the game. So Sophia did the only thing she could do.
"Serve me! Destroy the Hunters!" Sophia screamed, eyes rolling back unintentionally. A huge fissure opened up in the ground and an army of skeleton soldiers poured out of the Underworld.
Oscar's mouth dropped open at the amount the daughter of Hades had summoned. There were undead lined up all along the water, shields interlocked and each with a celestial bronze spear raised ready to strike. His thoughts were interrupted by a thump. He turned to see the girl who had summoned the skeletons lying head-down on the ground. Unconscious.
Matthew released the arrow, sending it plummeting into the Hunter's lower back. A ripple of joy burst in his chest. Maybe it was the sight of seeing a Hunter in pain, or the natural bloodlust that came with being a child of the war god. He wasn't aware of what happened next, but there were lots of gasps and yells. He retreated into the safety of the trees and clutched his face in his scarred hands. He felt guilty about the hit; it might have been enough to kill her. No living thing – monster or human – should deserve a death like that. Even a Hunter. Though, Matthew had always wanted to avenge the death of her little sister. Torn between emotions he lay in a tree, wondering what he had come to.
Oscar held the unconscious form of Sophie Marcepolla in his arms, ignoring how close they were and the fact that her head was in his lap. He heard some vulgar language – mainly cursing Sophia and telling her to Hades, which didn't make any sense to Oscar, since she was a daughter of Hades – and he looked up. A horde of Hunters were trying to fight their way through the skeleton soldiers, panic clear on their immortal faces. Oscar didn't understand why they were trying to get through without getting the flag first. Sophia blinked a few times, slowly returning to consciousness.
A conch horn blew. Oscar saw two young girls holding up a silver flag between them, standing in friendly territory.
Vickie and Daisy had done it. The campers had won.
Review Please, and Feel Free to Leave Any OC's in the review box or PM them to me! Thanks x0x0x0
Bianca