At first, I didn't believe it either, but the gods of Olympus are real. These gods now reside over the Empire State Building in Mount Olympus. Sometimes, gods comes down to Earth and have... um, affairs with mortals. The result: a half blood. Im one of them. Aria Orland, daughter Ares, the god of war, anger, and bloodlust.
I'm quite proud to be in the Ares Cabin. I'm a great fighter, and I have good control over weapons. So far, I'm the only one who actually can control weapons. Like, levitate a sword to fly right at your opponent's face. You should know they have this crazy welcoming ritual of dunking peiple's head in toilets. They tried it on me, but boy did it fail. They found themselves in the infirmary.
At least a week after I came to Camp Half Blood, the only safe place in the world for demigods, three more were on their way. One of them, I had heard was a daughter of Zeus.
I strode around the camp. It was almost time to go back to the cabins, and i had some free time. As I walked, I would practice for battle. I'd flip, then activate my celestial bronze weapon. It was disguised as a bronze chain bracelet, and all it took was one hard tap like I meant it for it to turn into a six foot long spear made of celestial bronze, which was currently unnamed.
The beauty of weapons: usually you give them their own name. There were few that were already named: Anaklusmos, Katroptris, and others. Mine was a gift from my father, Area, with a note that said, "Choose the name wisely". Greek gods are known for being vague.
"Come on!" I suddenly heard a male voice shout. "We're almost to camp!"
I recognized the voice of Grover Underwood, a satyr protector. He had been assigned to the Zeus girl.
I suddenly felt edgy. It was usually only a feeling when monsters were around, but it seemed amplified. Like there were so many more monsters.
There was a crash, and a little girl screamed, "Grover!"
I ran to the top of Half Blood Hill, and what I saw scared the living daylights out of me. Hades's three Furies whose names escaped me except for Alecto, and a whole army of hellhounds. Hellhounds were large, dog like creatures of the Underworld with black fur and red eyes. If I remembered correctly, they were offspring of Nyx, goddess of the night, and Cerberus, Hades's guard dog which was literally named Spot (long story. Juicy gossip. I'll explain later), though why a goddess would be banging up with a three headed dog was a concept that bewildered me. Mythology gets weird sometimes.
Grover ran towards the hill followed by three demigods. One was small and blonde, the other spiky haired, dressed in black. I knew I was going to like this girl. Their male companion was tall and sandy haired.
The black haired girl suddenly stopped. "Keep going! I'll hold them off!"
I ran. You must be thinking that I'm stupid, so thanks. I have moments. I activated my spear and ran down the hill.
"Aria?" Grover questioned.
I didn't answer, I only stabbed an incoming hellhound, causing it to disintegrate. I knew that it wouldn't stay dead. Monsters reformed over time. But it was still one hellhound down. A bazillion more to go, because only now I realized how many hellhounds there were.
The black haired girl had killed a few hellhounds. I finally got a closer look at her. She has spiky black hair and punk-like clothing. Her eyes were electric blue. She must be Zeus's girl.
"No, Thalia, they'll kill you," the boy said.
"You have to keep going, Luke," Thalia said. "Take care of Annabeth and Grover."
Then she faced the army of Hell.
What happened next was a blur. I knew I had frozen because Luke and Grover practically dragged me up the hill. I saw Thalia get thrown across the ground, landing hard on a rock. I already knew she was dying, but I couldn't believe it.
The blonde girl who was obviously Annabeth was crying. She looked about my age. I felt like crying too, but I held back the tears.
Above Thalia, lightning flashed in the sky, followed by a crackle of thunder. Her eyes became blank, and I noticed her hair turning into the tangled roots of a tree. Her skin became brown like bark. She was turning into a pine tree right in front of us.
"How?" I choked on my own words.
"Lord Zeus," Grover breathed. Only later would I realize that he meant that Zeus had turned Thalia into a pine tree, and he wasn't just using the expression.
There was a bluish glow as a barrier of some sort appeared around the camp. The Monsters tried to advance, but it stopped them. Not even the Furies could get through.
"A magic barrier," Luke said.
"Come on," Grover said, and we all ran back into camp.
The daughter of Zeus was Thalia, and she gave her life to save four. I was one of the four. As she laid dying, her father took pity on her and turned her into a pine tree, then gifted us with the barrier that keeps monsters out.
Even though I knew Thalia for about fifteen seconds, I named my spear after her. Atromitos Thalia. Dauntless Thalia. I would remember her as the girl who made her final against all Hell to save her friends and me, the random person who just showed up and killed monsters like a maniac.
The Great Prophecy foretold a half blood of the Eldest Gods, or the Big Three. We all thought Thalia was the one, but when she died, we thought the prophecy would never come to be. But seven years later, he showed up on our doorstep.