Above all
A Sea of Scales.
The beginning…
I don't have much to say so I might as well tell you how this story came around.
It all started from an idea I had while I was reading a story one late Sunday night, and somehow for some unexplainable reason an idea began to form in my head, an idea for a Percy Jackson and the Olympians story for some obscured reason. The idea was so simple and when I went to look to see if anyone else has done it yet I couldn't find anything like it.
The idea was this, what if Percy Jackson everyone's favourite son of Poseidon (Don't quote me on that) was never a hero at all, what if Percy Jackson was a Demigod killing ….Monster.
And Yes I am aware their other stories out there about how Percy Jackson is a Merman or a Werewolf I even think I've even seen a few where Percy was a DemiTitian or an agent of someone called Chaos (Who the fuck is that guy?). But there were no sign of stories where Percy Jackson was a monster.
So I decided this was an opportunity I could not pass up to have a first so I began to write straight away.
Well that's how it started (also I wanted to try something new) if you want to I could also tell you the story of my life any takers?
No? good.
Oh and by the way don't expect this story to be constantly getting new chapters, I WILL write and upload chapter when I feel like it so don't get pushy ok? Also relax I will tell you if I decided to abandon this story (highly unlikely) or if I die (even less likely).
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any of his friends they are the propriety of Rick Riordan.
The ocean, the one thing I have ever loved just as much as I hatted.
It was a vast body of water that takes up nearly three fourths of this planet's surface and for a good reason to.
The Ocean was and always will be a powerful force with limitless amounts of raw power flowing through it like its very water flows through sand, a power that no matter how strong could not be matched or be defeated no matter what anyone thought of it. The sea was an unrelenting force that could defeat any enemy or any army no matter how grand or powerful it was. For the ocean most simply put was power.
Yet it had a grace to it that not even the majestic swan could match. It had a feeling of calmness to it that made you feel, no, know everything was going to be fine. It could be soft, gentle maybe even carrying at times. It is relaxing to hear the sounds it makes and refreshing to smell its salt filled air.
But who could rule over such a powerful force? Well it depends on who you asked really. If you asked The Greeks they would say proudly it was Poseidon, if you asked the Romans they would hiss the name Neptune, if you asked the Egyptians they would say it was Yam, if you asked the Norsemen they would say that it was Aegir the giant god, if you asked The Titians or monsters if they didn't try to kill you they would say it was Oceanus and if you asked my people they would sadly say Sealno The Dracolight of the Ocean.
But in my opinion I would say no one owned it. It was free to do whatever it wanted whenever it wanted, it had no true master no matter how much a single creature had or believed it had control over it, it was still free. It was a force of nature and like all things of nature it could do what it wanted when it wanted, it had its own free will.
And that was why I envy it so.
For unlike it I was not free to do what I wanted I had people that commanded me who had control over what I do.
In short it was free and I was not, simple as that.
But yet for some strange reason I could not help but feel an attachment to it, a sense of belonging whenever I looked at its waves. It never seized to amaze me how my mind would simply clear and my senses would heighten as soon as I entered its water. Oh how I enjoyed swimming in its water, looking at its weird and marvellous sights and creature as I swim through its depths. It made me feel alive to swim in its water; the mere thought of doing so loosened my tense muscles and calmed my mind.
It was pathetic I loved the ocean and sometimes I think it loves me back.
Yes, yes call me crazy or weird the rest of my 'brethren' called me that whenever I talked of the ocean and anything resolving around it. They would laugh and taunt me for the feelings I had for the ocean and I was never short of them telling me "to go live in it if I love it so much", and sometimes I asked myself why I didn't hide myself away in its murk and live amongst the coral and sea creatures. I was more than perfectly adapted to live in the water much more so then the rest of my kind my gills and aquatic features made that perfectly clear, but yet whenever I tried to leave my Flightto live in the sea I would feel a pull that would drag me back to my Flight once more. For that I blamed my sense of loyalty.
The Flight where not my family but they took me in when I had no one to turn to, they raised me taught me how to hunt, fly and how to survive. They were not my Family but they were the closest thing I had to one and my loyalty to the people close to me was the thing that tied me to them.
And it was that loyalty to The Flight that was making me do the one thing I thought I would never do in my entire long life.
And that was to flee from a fight and not just any fight, a fight with humans.
They very thought of running away from something as low as Humans vermin was a senseless idea in my eyes, I was a warrior I lived for the thrill of the fight, running away was below me a 'cowards' tool for survival and I was no coward.
My Flight however was.
And it was my loyalty to them that has got me stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"What troubles you young one? You have been quite throughout the whole flight so far and frankly that is not like you, so what is wrong?" asked an elderly voice scaring me back into the real world. Instinct kicks in and I survey the area around me for any sign of trouble, my muscles relax when I realise I was still soaring over the ocean surrounded by my Flight no sign of trouble for miles.
When my instincts finally agree with my mind that all was well I turn my head to the left to see the smirking face of the closeting thing I had to a father. "What's the matter did I just scare the big brave warrior?" he asked smirking, I processed to give him the death glare "You just surprised me that's all." I mutter under my breath earning a small smile from the older one. "Of course I did…. Now back to my original question what is on your mind young ling?" the elder asked general (and rare) concern in his old tired voice. "You know all too well what is bothering me Thenderous." I snapped at the Elder.
Under normal circumstances if someone was to speak to the elder in such a way they would have been beaten by the elder or worse, lectured about how are chain of command worked which was often worse than the former. I was expecting Thenderous to get angry at me, hit me, lecture me do something in a form of punishment, but he simply chuckled to himself like it was all some sort of joke. "Yes I guess I do…" he replied as his chuckling died down some ragged coughs escaping his throat, I took a minute to stare at the coughing elder worry deep in my heart flowing throughout my body.
Thenderous was the closest thing I had to a father after my real one left me to fend for myself only a few months after my mother passed away when I was merely just out of hatching, he took me in into the Flight, raised me as his own. He was leader of our Flight and one of the eldest or our kind a real living legend amongst my people and to see him so sick and wounded by the Humans, the very site of what has happened to him sickened most and deeply sadden me.
My eyes began to remotely travel down his hide examining all the damage done to it thanks to the Human Hunters and their tainted evil magic and weapons. The scales that had blocked the original attack from the humans had became frail to the touch and most of which had fallen out into the dark murky sea below us revelling the soft delicate skin our scale armour tries so hard to protect. I could not help but his at the mere thought of the amount of pain The Elder must be going through as he flew through the sky stretching and pulling his damaged skin and muscles causing the blood to run out of his seeping wounds.
"I am not dead yet you know, so stop staring at me like you're preparing Glode me!" snapped Thenderous, "I may be old but I still got more fight in me then most of the Flight combined." He boasted earning the attention of several other members of our Flight.
"If you have so much fight in you left then why did you let the council do this? Why did you allow the council to take away the one thing our people had left?" I ask actual venom filling my words. "I don't expect you to understand-. "" Yes I don't understand, I don't understand how all of you can be so cowardly!" I interrupt him the venom still fresh on the tip of my tong. "You really need to control the Venom gland of yours young one otherwise you will end up poisoning yourself" Thenderous said in a calm patient voice.
I aggressively hack the Venom out of my mouth spitting it out upon the sea below before turning my head back to face the elder once more. "Better?" He asked, "Much. But that still doesn't change that you allowed this to happen." I said gesturing my claw towards the several Flights surrounding our own.
It was rare to see this many of my kind fly together with one destination in mind; in fact this was the first time I remembered and I was nearly 78 rotations of age, still young in most eyes but to me it felt like an eternity.
"And you truly believe I wanted all this?" Thenderous asked me his eyes not coming in to contact with mine. "You didn't object to it at the council." I replied staring at the elder anger growing at the elder at an alarming rate.
"And how would you have access to this information? Only the members of the council where there and all of which were sworn to a vow of silence." Thenderous said raising a wrinkly eyebrow at me. I dared not to look him directly in the eye my mouth clear of words knowing that the only good they would do would to be getting me in more trouble than I was in already. "Dammit Child! You have broken one of the Ancient rules, again! Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get into for this defiance of our laws?" Thenderous loudly whispered out of fear that someone else would hear our conversation.
"You must understand I did not mean to. I was simply exploring within the flooded caves and stumbled across an entrance to the Council cave, and well my curiosity got the best of me." I said truth within my words… well most of them… all right nearly none of them.
I was not exploring the flooded caves for there was nothing left to explore, I knew every nock and cranny every entrance and exit every hide hole and every grand chamber. My 'accidental' stumble across the secret entrance was not as accidental as I made it sound. In fact the only truthful thing about my confession was the fact that my curiosity got the best of me.
"You are aware that lying to an elder is nearly as shunned upon as breaking one of the Ancient rules?" Thenderous asked obviously not convinced by my lie. "I was not aware of it no." I lied once more. "You seem to not know many of the rules even tho I have lectured them to you over a thousand times. Maybe one more lecture will drill it into your brain." The Elder spoke a small glint of joy in his eyes.
I moaned in pain for what was to come.
XXXXXX
Sometimes I feared Thenderous was a sadistic.
But unlike others he didn't enjoy the pain he made from bloodshed with his teeth and claws, no he preferred to use words to cause pain in others; and by others I meant me. He enjoyed himself to much at my suffering chuckling whenever I moaned out for him to stop talking and he would constantly 'forget' where he was up to and would have to start from the beginning once more. How could being told rules be so painful? I here you ask. First of all the rules of our Kin where many and long, often repeating itself or over lapping other rules forming a strict spider web of rules and regulations which only the most patient and highly trained eyes could make head or tails of. Then there was the fact that Thenderous was speaking in his slow schooler voice which he knew bored me to death and because he was an elder I could not ignore him.
I may be a rule breaker and a trouble maker but I was not disrespectful to my elders… most of the time.
This most simply put was torture to me and my ears.
He was mid-way through residing column 5 chapter one when one of the forward Flights reported spotting some bright lights coming from the dark horizon. The land of the great western civilisation, the land with the help of the gods (Greek or otherwise) had become one of the greatest empire of the modern day. Personally I didn't truly believe that, from what I have heard of the place it was no better than where we came from.
The place was infested with monsters and mortals alike and from what I have heard it was hard to tell the difference between the two unless you had an uncanny sense of smell. The land itself was violent and unruly much like its human natives its culture and people changing depending on where you were. Due to the land having no true barriers the territories for the gods where shady and uncertain leaving free access to any monster who could travel anywhere they pleased and Gods arguing over quests, land and their symbols often causing arguments that could tear apart the fragile civilization that they have tried so hard to keep alive.
But what made me most sceptical of the land were the servants of the gods themselves, the 'Heroes" as they called themselves. Be they Demi-gods, Magicians, Chosen's (What I will be calling Norse heroes) or just servants of the gods be it Greek, Rome, Egyptian or Norse they all had one thing in common; they all hated monsters. True my kind where above the average monster in terms of having a form of our own civilisation we were still seen as beast needed to be slain by the narrow sighted Human heroes. I have never meet a Hero in person but I have heard of all of their little stories and tales, if I were to base them of story alone I would consider them a great threat to my people and I would have searched more desperately for a way to stop this forced migration. But Humans had a tendency to be boastful creatures so I was uncertain about the truth in those tales. That and the fact that I have always wanted to taste the rumoured fine delicacies that was Demigod.
Know however I could not help but feel a sense of dread as we approached the area that was covered by blinding lights. "Manhattan…. We approach the territory of Zeus, chin up boy and fly straight, we do not want the King God of the Greeks to think that us Wyrm have slipped" said Thenderous as the Flights formed into position.
So this area of lights was the legendary Manhattan new home to the Mount Olympus and the Greek Gods. I have heard many stories of this Manhattan and its many ridiculous titles such as the Big Apple (Why would you name a city after a fruit?) and the city that never sleeps (I did not know that cities could sleep in the first place). Some of these stories where good others where bad and somewhere plain old weird just like the one about a giant gorilla attacking the city.
To tell you the truth it did not really seem to be all that impressive, the city was big I must admit but it was not as nearly as all inspiring as I had thought it would have been. True the human buildings toward high but most where bland only decorated by blinding lights but that was not unusual for a human settlement. Nothing unique, nothing special it was just another human settlement over flowing with human filth.
As soon as we crossed into the area of what I presumed was a harbour the nice clear pitch black sky suddenly and unexpectedly became violent, and from the sounds of the human workers down below the sea two was not as nearly as calm as it was a moment ago.
Suddenly the sky was caught alight and the air was filled by a crackling sound that made my sensitive ears howl in pain and my gut filled with horror and dread. Only one thing could have caused such a reaction from me; lighting.
Several more bolts followed the first each getting more violent after the last, I could not help but feel my stomach turn as I realised as to what was happening. My Flight had blindly flown into a storm just when I thought this couldn't get any worse.
As the Flight flew into the storm the lightning grew worse and became more frequent mostly around my area. Why did the weather hate me so? What have I ever done to it to make it hate me like this? You know what don't answer that I probably already know the answer.
The lightning around me grew more fiche I began to put more focus into my reflexes and muscles relaying on their instincts take control of my body's actions as I danced back and forth between the lightning bolts. Some of my fellow Kin would kill to be in my position, their acrobatic skill and flight control skills pushed to the limit by forces above their control I one the other hand was not pleased with my current predicament. First of I despised flying through Thunderstorms for fun or enjoyment or to test myself, I unlike my brethren would only fly through a thunderstorm if it was absolutely necessary sadly today it was. That and the fact that my skin is always covered with moisture more pacifically water due to my obsession of everything involving the ocean my skin has always been wet and I have learned from a very young age that when I flew through a storm that there was a lot more at risk than a few singed scales and a burnt smell.
I managed to stay more or less untouched by the storm which I must admit was quite impressive considering my circumstances. Here I was surrounded by lightning, a moving lightning rod flying through a storm that was scaring the scales off even some of the most experienced flyers amongst the flights with more on the line than anyone of them.
The thought made me cocky and that's when things went wrong.
Through my new found cockiness I lost some of my self-awareness of my surroundings and that during a thunderstorm could be very dangerous and for me it was.
As I flew elegantly through the storm my confidences grew and grew with every bolt I dodged, as the skies began to clear pride swelled up in my gut I had survived against all the odds that storm had thrown at me and came out of it with hardly a scratch.
"Kid lookout!" I hear just before my body suddenly explodes into pain originating from the small of my back. The pain spread like wild fire through my body and over my scale hide, my vision blurred and my senses dulled as parts of my body fell nun and parts of my body began to shut down. I lost all feeling in my wings and tail and I could not help but watch helplessly as my limbs fell limp.
I soon began to helplessly tumble towards the ground to the terror of several of my flight my hide leaving a trail of smoke and burnt shedding scales in my wake. The last thing I saw as I plummeted to my very likely doom was the horrified look on Thenderous face as he reached for the air that had replaced where I once flew. My eyelids closed shut but I could still feel conscious holding on violently, the wind rushing against my burnt skin, and the indescribable pain of two more bolts hitting my hide as I fell.
It was not until I finally crashed into the earth did that consciousness finally release its hold upon my body and I finally slipped into the sanctuary that was darkness.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
This was suicide.
It has only been a month since we embarked on this mission to this Camp Half-Blood a supposed hidden sanctuary for demigods that is hidden away somewhere around the area of Manhattan. It was apparently a paradise an oasis of safety in the barren dessert of danger that was the USA. Right now all that was to me were empty promises I unlike the rest of my 'group' was not going to blindly and gullibly follow this belief because of some vision and some crazy Satyr who came prancing along blabbering on about the camp being real. Even while the rest of the group believed I was still very sceptical about the whole idea and it was going to take more than a few words and beliefs to change that.
Then again it took me 3 years for me to believe the Greek myths where real and still kicking even with several monsters right out of story books knocking on my door like door to door salesmen (which most where). So maybe my opinion is not valued at this time.
But no matter how hard I reminded myself of this imperfect feature of myself the scepticism still managed to swell its way back up to the surface sometimes with my instinct to back it up. This worried me the most; over the years I have learned to always trust my instincts on almost anything. This has saved my life from the breath of danger countless times and it has rarely lead me astray, and I was tempted to listen to it and take my group away from this pointless dream of finding salvation but every time I have been stopped by one thing.
The slight chance that my family would finally be safe, and that to me was the most precious thing in the world right now.
But still I could not shake the fact that in this month alone we have had nearly as much deaths as we have had altogether since we first formed this family. To put this in prospective at the start of this month are group was the size of a dozen and a half now we were down to only eight and I'm afraid that this was affecting some of our members.
And I'm afraid that is too much grief in such a short amount of time for some to handle. I like so many other Demigods was no stranger to grief or what it could do to someone was not as badly affected as some of my fellow companions but I could not stop but feel the guilt swell in my chest whenever I stare at the rest of the group and that to me was worse than any type of grief then I have ever felt before.
Just looking at my two closest friends and dare I say sisters in arms makes my heart to become like lead. Both have suffered horribly from the grief that has consumed our group and like most of them in different ways and it pained me to see them so grief ridden and unlike their original selves.
Thalia Grace my oldest friend and fellow founder of this group of rag tag demigods back when I was seven and ¾ and she had just only turned eight was possibly one of the lesser changed ones of the group. The Iron willed, hard headed powerful daughter of Zeus had become less social and aggressive and an overly aggressive daughter of Zeus was not something you would wish to meet. Her attitude and her look on life have darkened. She has also preferred to wear more black clouded clothes, true she never did like fashion or bright clothes but she at least use to have some colour to them but now….
I am worried that she would start cutting her wrists any day now…..
My other biggest worry was the youngest member of our group the seven year old daughter of Athena Annabeth chase. Annabeth was everything a daughter of Athena should be and look like (I have meet a few children of Athena before who are either dead or somewhere out there trying to survive in the harsh world) she was blonde, smart, storm silver eyes and an attitude to match. We had only meet her a week before our month of trail blazing across America to find this Camp half-blood.
The memory of the little girl in her pyjamas with the toy hammer hiding behind a blacksmiths somewhere in San Francisco is still fresh in my mind. I could still remember the clear sign of fear in her eyes as she attacked me with her hammer swinging violently like her life depended on it which at the time it could have been. I can also remember the warm feeling I had when I offered her the chance to join our band merry band of 16 and how her eyes light up with joy and wonder.
She was so innocent back then so delicate she hadn't even killed a single monster yet (but then again all she had to fight with was a toy hammer) oh how things can change in such a small amount of time. In only a small amount of time she had lost that innocence about her and had gained a new feel to her that I could not place. Her attitude and appearance had change to, she no longer wore the pyjamas like she use to always do but now she wore grey and/or plain clothes and no longer let her hair bounce all over the place but now she tided it back in a bond of blonde hair like those Liberian who constantly shush you for making the slightest noise. Her attitude has changes as well the once perky, wonder filled who use to always marvel at every interesting building she saw was all but gone. She had replaced it with cold and calculating mask to hide the fear I knew she hid behind that mask.
She was the one I feared the most for, and what I feared was that she would never remove that mask of emotions, that she would continue to hide her emotions and her real self for the rest of her life. And that was something I could never stand to see.
She was too good for that.
"Luke….. Luke….LUKE! WAKE UP YOU LITTLE PANSY!" someone's bellows into my ear snapping me from my thought filled slumber. I jolt awake making a mad grab for my trusty sword Backbiter (It has a long an d pointless story behind its name which I do not want to go into) only to find it was no longer in its leather scabbard tied to my belt. I begin to frantically make wild grabs for anything weapon like in sight only for me to receive a heavy smack to the face. "By the Gods mate Calm down." said the voice once more much calmer with a tint of humour.
My heart beat slower as I take a glimpse up to see the pitch black eyes of Brad son of Ares and the only person other than Talia to wake me up by yelling.
Brad was a 20 year old (But he looked much older) tanned Australian who loved violence almost as much as he loved gutting monster which so happens was his favourite past time. He was about 5 foot 9 with a musclier frame that would make most jocks jealous; his favourite clothes were baggy shorts and a singlet (when the weather would agree with him that is) but no matter what weather he always wore a talisman of a sword around his neck. His hair well what was left of his hair after that attack from a fire breathing bull was a dark brown mess of wild unbruched and unwashed hair with several strains of grey hair thanks to stress. He was most of the time calm and collective but it did not take much for him to blow his top and saying anything stereotypical about him being Australian you better be prepared to be in a lot of pain for a very long amount of time. The most interesting thing about him had to be his eyes, he had a rare eye mutation that made his eyes dark as obsidian but when he got existed or angry they would become blood red, sometimes I wonder if his father gave him that mutation just to make him a little scarier on the battle field.
"Come on mate everyone else is outside and waiting for you to get up and moving." Brad said gesturing outside of the combie we 'borrowed' from some very nice hippie. The combie was sturdy I will give it that and it has managed to survive countless monster attacks in the short amount of time we have owned it but sadly no matter how durable you are you can only endure so much and sadly the last monster attack along with a fuel shortages was too much for the old mini bus. I knew it was going to die on us sooner or later and it just so happened to do during the final stretch of the journey.
The Gods just wanted us to suffer didn't they?
"Backbiter." I said seriously staring into the taller guy eyes and face trying to read his thoughts only to fail miserably in my attempt. "It's outside with the rest of your gear mate." Brad replied giving me a hand to help me up, I reply by swatting his hand away with my own. "You moved my stuff and touched my sword?" I asked in a dead serious tone. Brad chuckled "You would have killed me with that blade of yours if you had it on you." he replies "or tried to at least." He chipped in.
I could not help but smile at the remark. True I could best him after a long and stressful duel but that did not mean much. Brad was a master with his axe not a sword and right now Brad had the upper hand even if I had my sword I doubt I would even be able to swing it before he disarmed me.
"Sure whatever." I reply getting up from my seat the smile disappearing from my face once more. "Anything to report?" I ask taking up my role of group leader once more. "Not much, the minibus finally broke but I guess you worked that out by now and according to the Goat where not far off from our destination but apart from that everything just peachy." Brad said sarcasm dripping at the end of his sentence.
"Did you seriously just say 'just peachy'? Who says that these days? What are you some sort of old fart?" I ask staring him in the eye to see how he reacted. What came next was something I was not expecting, instead of his eyes becoming red in anger they relaxed and a small chuckle emerged from his mouth. "What was it you called me when we first meet? Wasn't it some random old Australian hobo?" he replied as he made his way to the combies exit.
The memory was vague but it was there I also remember getting a large bump to the head and a few less teeth after the statement. I grinned at the memory "Good times." I said earning a nod from the larger man.
We made our way out of the mini bus a small ping of sadness in my heart, that bus and I had been through a lot together and it was sad to see it to go out this way left on the side of the road stuck their until someone decides to take it or for the police to remove it for loitering for too long.
"Look who's finally decided to wake up. Get your beauty sleep princess?" asked a familiar dry voice from the group of teens waiting outside the old bus. "You know as well as I do that I don't need it Thalia I'm already naturally perfect." I reply jokingly as my eyes made contact with her sky blue eyes. She gave me a small smile "I see that blow to your head the Cyclops gave you didn't affect your humour…. Pity." She mumbles the last part and I give her a look.
I take the moment to look Thalia over. Oh how she has changed since I had first meet her almost two years from this day, she had grown taller and fitter thanks to the one on one training she had with real world monsters. Her black hair which once hanged freely was now shaped into a punk rocker type look and she had dyed parts of her hair purple. She had several silver piercings across her body manly in the areas around her face and stomach. She was wearing her usual black punk rocker clothes her favourite death to Barbie t-shirt along with her shield tied to her back with her spear.
She seemed a lot more lively than usual, normally she would not begin her friendly mocking of me until after I made a joke and even then it was felled with annoyance and bitterness. This change in attitude was not something I was going to simply ignore this sudden change.
I was about to ask her as to why she was in such a good mood when the answer hit me, our journey our quest was finally about to end one way or another and according to our satyr friend it was all smooth sailing from this point on. Finally this misery was about to come to an end no matter what the outcome.
"So where's our 'guide'?" I ask Thalia trying not to sound to sarcastic when I uttered the word guide, but according to her expression it did not work as well as I hopped it would. "Grover has done a fine job Luke." Thalia said defending the goat once again. "Yeah he has done a fine job… of screwing up. Seriously Thalia half the problems we faced on this hike across America was because of him screwing up." I replied blowing of some long kept in steam. "And he has done his fair share of saving our buts." Thalia replied "Besides we didn't really make thing easy on him he is only a junior protector after all." She continued.
I let out a grunt of frustration, why did arguing with Thalia have to be so difficult? She always managed to keep it cool under pressure and she also had a gift for words but then again do you expect any less from a daughter of Zeus? No I guess not.
"All right whatever, where is he anyway?" I ask Thalia calming down once more. "He and Annabeth went to get some food." She replies calmly causing me to do a double take at her. "You let those two go alone?" I ask my voice cracking under fear. Nothing god ever came out of those two going of together alone, they always found trouble no matter how deep it was buried.
"Relax Hanks keeping an eye on them." Said Thalia causing my muscles to relax. I could trust Hank to keep them away from trouble and more importantly I can trust his skill with the bow if they did. "Besides they will be back any minute now so stop your worrying." She continued giving me a hard pat on the back grinning at my discomfort.
She knew of how I felt of Annabeth how I sore her as my responsibility my burden. I was the one that found her cowering behind the blacksmith scared, cold and alone, I was the one who gave her hope the person who told her she was not alone in the world. I was the one who gave her a knife to defend herself with and taught her how to use it. I gave her protection and companionship but most importantly of all I gave her someone to look up to I gave her an idol, a hero. I was not going to fail her like I have others.
"Luke your awake!" I hear a female voice cry from somewhere behind me just before getting a half tackle half hug from behind causing me to stager forwards. Speak of the devil… "And a hello to you to Annabeth." I said a small grin forming over my face.
I turn around as she lets go of my waist to face the much smaller Demigod. She didn't look that much different from the last time I had to seen her, no knew scars or bruises which was a relief. Her hair was still tied behind her head in a Liberian style fashion and it was still a dirty blonde colour thanks to her inability to wash for the last week or to. Her grey eyes where filled with happiness and joy a nice change from all the dread I have seen in them for the last few days. Her clothes unlike the rest of her was much cleaner than the rest of her clothes I have seen and I have never seen her wear a shirt with a silver owl on it….
"Are those clothes new?" I ask her and as soon as I mutter the words her face lights up with guilt and shame. She knew as well as any of us that we were low on mortal money, new clothes was a privilege that we could not afford at the moment. Are money problem was so low Right now we could barely afford the bear necessary's.
I should have felt angry at her I should have felt disappointed at her for betraying my trust the way she did or frustrated at her for acting so much like a daughter of Aphrodite's letting their love of clothes and fashion cloud their judgement.
"They look nice on you…." I said and I watched as her face lit up with happiness.
And I meant it two.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
My body aced all over and my muscles where numb with pain, all I wanted to do was roll over and die I was in that much pain at the moment.
But all these feelings did was serve as reminders that I was still alive and kicking and that complaining about the pain that consumed my body was not going to solve anything. I open my eyes to find myself trapped within one of the human structures upon a bed of metals and human made stone surrounded by darkness and strange looking human machines. Static electricity still stored within my body jumped from my body to the metal surrounding me making frantic lights and sounds revealing more of the building to me.
It was dark and abandon, good. I have already fallen a good 3000 meters and crashed landed into what appeared to be some sort of factory in an incredible amount of pain the last thing I needed was some annoying humans around to go reporting my presences to the human authority or worse some nosey heroes neither of them I wanted to meet me In my weaken state.
But abandoned or not I could not stay here lying in some rubble and my own blood, I had to move I had to get of this pile of metal and steel so I could heal my wounds and hopefully figure out where I was and where my flight was and hopefully find a way to reach them.
It hurt to move my limbs my muscles hissed with pain as I slowly pulled myself from the creator I created small pieces of metal, wood and human stone digging its way into the soles of my back paws and the parts of my wings I used for walking. I stared at my wings for a bit they seemed ok to my relief. The delicate skin that made up my wing was not torn as far as I could see and none of the soft bones of my wing bones where broken either. But just to be on the safe side….
My arms felt as if they were on being stung be thousands upon thousands of bees as my wings began to change shape into something more suitable for land travel. My wing bones and the leathery skin covering them moulded back into my body leaving only the weak bony out line of some arms and a few claws at the end. The bony limb began to expand as flesh and muscles worked their way under the skin reforming the bony limb into muscular arm like paws as they went. Eventually it reached the end of my arm and began to form hands and fingers long hooked claws at the end of each.
Once the process was done my wings where now replaced with the closest thing I would ever have to human arms, not that I ever wanted them. I placed the paws onto the ground using them to help support my weight as I tried to drag myself out of the creator. It took a while to pull me entire body from the creator my tail dragging lifelessly behind me occasionally it would flick around and swat away derby and dust as it did. Once the process was done I began to drag my half limp half barely active body away from the strangely large creator I created.
I weakly lifted my head higher to gain a better perspective of my surroundings, I needed a place to sleep but more importantly I needed a place to hide and lick my wounds something I would only do unless it was absolutely necessary which at the moment it was.
I spotted a nice looking spot between two complex looking machines it was dark covered with shadows the added bonus of it not being seen from the entrance. I dragged my body in the direction of the location releasing several coughs as I went. As I went random thoughts swelled in my head random unusual thoughts that I was not use to. Where did that storm come from? Why did feel as if it was trying to kill me? If so why was I still alive? So many unanswered questions swelling around in my head each and every one of them a small headache within a larger one.
My vision became blurry as I moved closer to the location I chose, during this walk I realised that I would not be able to do much other than sleep and allow my natural healing ability work for now. I don't even think I could light a spark in my mouth let alone burn the ground to make it more comfortable.
With my energy drained I collapsed into the spot with only enough energy left to make a quick examination of my form. I had came out surprisingly well if you considered what I have went through, I had a large amount of scars covering my under belly and limbs a few dis lodged scales here and there but both of which would heal In a few hours or so. The most severe looking injure I could see was the one where the lightning bolt had struck me; the small of my back.
Unlike most of my wounds this one was going to take much longer to heal then the other if this injuries could heal that this. My kind's ability to rapidly heal most wounds was extremely amazing and useful but even it had limits. This wound unlike my others had completely removed the scales covering the small on my back exposing the sensitive skin and one of my central nerve clusters, a nerve cluster I believe that if stabbed properly would most likely paralyse me or in worst case scenario sent my body into shutdown mode a state similar to hibernation the only difference being was well this one would be permanent.
Even this wound did heal the scales there would be weaker than any other point of my armour and if it didn't well… I would have a weakness that I would have no way of hiding.
But for now I should not worry myself about such problems, for now I will hide here and keep a low profile until I am fully healed and ready to once more join my flight in the skies.
But for that to become a reality I needed to sleep. So with a final scope of my surroundings I finally allowed my heavy eye lids to close and my body to fall into sleep.
XXXXXXX
"From this point out everything is going to be easy!" I remember Grover saying as we left the minibus behind and headed into the busy street of Manhattan.
Either satyrs have a different meaning for the word easy or they just have a very high opinion for the word easy. Because if the last few hours have been anything but easy. So far we have been attacked by clusters of Cyclopes, groups of ghouls, packs of hellhounds and even some bat like hags with whips that Grover called the kindly ones (why would anyone call thing kind is beyond my ability to comprehend).
But then again from the way Grover was acting I don't think he was prepared for this either. He was shacking half the time and bleating in fear at nearly any strange sound that he heard (And with those goat ears of his), but I don't blame him. If it wasn't me who was the target it was Grover, why? Well I managed to narrow it down to two reasons: one they must have known that without Grover we would not be able to reach This Camp Half blood. And two was apparently according to most monsters Satyr is even more delicious then Demigod.
Thanks a lot brain now I have to remove the image of Grover well done with an apple in his mouth from my head.
We have been running from place to place for hours constantly trying to hide and catch our breaths to no avail for no matter where we went the monsters always managed to sniff us out. not surprising either, this many Demigods in one place weaken and tired from all the fighting we have been doing lately we would be an all you can eat buffet to any monster.
But against all the overwhelming odds I must say we are doing rather well for a bunch of kids with magical weapons and gear.
"Wow never really saw you as the vandal type Luke, I'm impressed." I said as I watched him use his sword to cut a large hole in a wired fence that surrounded an old warehouse down by the waterfront. I don't think anyone would really care about it tho the whole fence was littered with large gaping holes big enough to fit small teens in but none would suit our needs.
"Desperate times calls for desperate measures Thalia. Besides out of everything I have done since meeting you this would be classed as a milled offense." He replied sheltering his sword finally pleased with his worked. "Yeah but this time I didn't have to say anything to you to convince you into doing a crime." I replied earning a glare from Mr good to shoes. "What? You know it's true." I continue giving him a small smile.
Gods some people are just too easy to mess with.
"I'll scout ahead you go get the group." I offer him to which he simply nods before jogging of to find the others.
Slipping through the new hole in the fence scratching my right arm in the process I couldn't help but notice that the sky had grown rather restless over the last few hours. For the last two hours the sky has been covered with Lightning each bolt being followed by the sudden roar of thunder, And the smell of fresh oxygen could be smelt from anywhere within the polluted city.
I did not need to know my father personally (Which of course I didn't) to tell that he was in a very bad mood. As to why he was in such a bad mood…. Not even I could tell. Was it something to do with me and my friends? Was he angry at the fates for making it so hard for me and my friends? Was he angry at me for taking so long to get to this camp? Was he angry that Luke was leading this group and not me? Or was he just trying to make my life more difficult than it already was?
But then again my father could always be pissed off at something else that wasn't me….. hey it could happen…. Ahh who am I kidding?
I didn't need to know my father to know that nearly everything he father does in my general area is to help or hinder my progress, if it's a monster being struck by lightning just before it's about to horribly kill us in extremely gruesome ways or if it was simply needed money being magically blown into my hand by the wind. But then Again what do you expect from a father who was king of the gods.
So the question is what was it that my father was angry at now?
But that question was for a later date right now I had to focus on my mission.
The area surrounding the warehouse was littered with trash and derby; a reached stink dominated the air but if I am to be honest it wasn't the worse smell I have discovered but it was bad enough to be noticeable. The warehouse itself was rand down and covered in graffiti, parts of building had fallen off and the metal was old and rusted. There were several beat up old car which looked as if it has been here just as long as the warehouse and it has been through everything the warehouse has. I remember seeing a no trespassing sign with private propriety written in bad hand writing, why anyone would want to own this place was beyond me but apparently someone did. But that isn't important right now, what was important right now was if it was abandon of human or monster inhabitancies.
From the look of the building alone I could tell that the only humans that came to this building where people wanting to preform criminal acts. Lucky them none of them seem to be around at the time. Monsters where a little more difficult to figure out then humans. Most of the time Grover could sniff them out and we can more often or not avoided additional fights. However A Satyr's sense of smell is widely considered one of the worse out there which often means the monsters are already aware that we were there and would already have a plan set up or be dangerously close to are position. Along with the fact that some powerful monsters had the ability to hide their scents didn't help reassurance the Satyrs skills with its sniffer.
Grover did say that he could pick up the faint scent of a Cyclops but the scent was old and stale but other than that he could pick up no other scents other than humans, he also said something about smelling a reptile of some sort. Right now I don't care if the place was crawling with Lizards as long as the place was safe to rest for a while I didn't really care.
From what I could see so far the building seemed to fit are needs for now. The building was sturdy, abandon and for away from any law enforcer or monster. I was still stun in disbelief at how hard it was to find a building like this in New York, the city that never sleeps was a name that sooted it well. The city was so loud and busy, something always seems to be happening and it was giving me a killer headache.
It's going to be nice to rest up a bit and take a break from all of this.
I put my thumb and index finger into my mouth and released a classic ear pricing whistle. Our all clear signal, it was simple and easy to do no need for anything else added to it. Another sharp whistle filled the air, they had acknowledged my report and are heading my way. In a matter of minutes the rest of the group was making their way through the hole in the gate along with are gear.
When we were finally done I did a mental head count and items check. I could see Luke doing the same out of the corner of my eye. I didn't have a problem with Luke being leader, truth be told he makes a much better leader then I did but I just couldn't help myself from doing it myself. As I continued my slow head count/ examination of my fellow members my eyes suddenly found themselves locked on to something strange, Annabeth's Hand was bloody.
Luke gave the group a nod before walking off in the direction of the warehouse. The group followed him slowly grabbing their gear and hauled the items towards the warehouse; I could see the tiredness in their sluggish movements as they slowly made their way to the front entrance of the large building. As Annabeth passed by I quickly grabbed her arm causing her to release a hiss of pain. I pulled my hand away my fingers now covered in her blood. "How did it happen?" I ask her my voice more forceful then I wanted it to be. She might be a Demi-god but she was still a little girl and she wasn't use to the whole Demi-god thing yet. "It's not important…" she whispers a clear sign she does not want to talk about it. "How did it happen? Was it monsters? Did you cut yourself? How long ago did it happen?-"" I cut my hand on the fence alright, nothing to worry about." She said her voice filled with defiance and some aggression. It wasn't unusual for one of us to act this way especially if it was someone like me or Luke but this kind of behaviour from her was…. Unusual.
"Why didn't you tell anyone? Why didn't you tell me? Or even Luke?" I asked her face turning red in shame. "I just didn't want to worry you that's all…" she said her voice muffled under her breath, she sounded upset and she appeared to be upset as well.
I lightly patted her on the shoulder and pulled her into a comforting hug. "It's ok… I just don't like it when you do that… it worries me…" I utter into her ear trying to calm her down. "We have been through a lot recently, its ok." I continue to mutter into here ear as she began to get teary, she is such a delicate thing sometimes I wish she never learned that she was a Demi-God that she would grow up living a normal life with a normal family, but the fates where cruel and now she lived a life of danger and hardship.
And she was so young too.
Look at me, where almost their and I'm already thinking of my companions as if they were dead, what a positive person I am.
"Come on lets go inside with the others, ok?" I ask her getting a small nod from the sadden girl. With a small smile on my face I lead the smaller girl inside to find the rest of the group already set up camp in the centre of the building. A small fire burned at the centre of the camp with several of our number surrounding it huddling for warmth, bags and supplies laid littered around the fire along with several sleeping bags laid across the floor. Luke stood up leaning against a wooden create. His eyes were locked on something just out of my sight but whatever it was had him worried, I could see it in his eyes. As Annabeth went to go join the rest of the group huddled around the fire I moved to join Luke by the box, my eyes travelled to where he was staring. At first glimpse I thought it was just a pile of rubble that had fallen from the roof, but after a while I couldn't help but think something was off. The mess was shaped into what looked like a crude creator and it looked rather recent but what caught my eye the most was the strange layer of black liquid covering some of the rubble.
"What do you think made that?" I ask Luke pulling my eyes towards the blonde boy. "I don't know… hopefully it was just this building falling apart…. But if it was something else…. I hope it's long gone by now." He said his voice trailing off; well at least he was trying to look on the brighter side of things.
"Hay if there was anything abnormal in this building Grover would have sniffed it out." I said giving him a small pat on the shoulder. "You sure put a lot of trust in him." Luke replied giving me a fake serious look. "Can you Find monsters with your nose?" I ask him returning the same look. "Heh Good point." He mutters his face becoming much less stress. I give him a small smile. It was nice to see him like this, when he is calm and lay back and was not constantly worrying about everyone around him.
"Come on lets join the others." I said gesturing to the small fire. He gave me a small nod along with a smile; we made our way to the fire and joined the rest of our group around the small fire. I must admit I have not had this much fun in a long time. It was just like the old days, a group of rag tag Demi-Gods trying to survive in the harsh world that was the monster infested US and A, no missions, no pressures just the server problem of surviving. Ahh the good old days.
It was nice to see the whole group relaxed (With the exception of Brad, That guy never seems to be happy unless he was fighting). It has been a while since the last time this happened and truth be told it was nice.
We managed to use up the last of the Nectar and Ambrosia which highly worried me. If someone was to get severely injured… there was nothing we could do about it. For the next few hours if one of us got severely injured I'm afraid that there is nothing we can do for them. It was a horribly feeling knowing that one simple mistake could have dire consciences upon are group, gods the thought of which was driving me crazy I must wonder what it was doing to Luke. One look at the boy and I could tell that whatever dread I was feeling at the moment he was feeling it a hundred times worse.
Sometimes I wonder if it was a good idea bestowing leadership upon him, it was shellfish really but I knew it was the right thing to do.
Annabeth stood up her expression seemed rather troubled with something I could not quite figure out. "What's wrong Anne?" I ask my voice calm but had a tint of curiosity to it. She shot me a look that showed great annoyance and displeasure, oh I called her Anne again didn't I? For some strange reason the she refused to tell us she despised that little nickname. If I would have to guess I would think it would have something to do with her life before us. I gave her a silent sorry which she seems to accept, her face became calmer but still had a tint of troubled expression.
"I, Ahh… Need to go to the toilet…" she said rubbing the back of her head. I couldn't help but smile at the younger girl, she just had to go at a time like this huh? You can count on Annabeth to be that sort of person. "What wonderful timing you have Annabeth…. Com on lets go find some where for you to go do your business." Said Luke as he stood up, his voice sounded quite amused. Annabeth blushed a slight shade of red as the boy approached much to most of are amusement. Everyone (Besides Grover and of course Luke) could see that Annabeth liked the older boy, it somewhat confused me as to what she saw in the much older boy but who am I to question love? I'm a daughter of Zeus not of Aphrodite's. I honestly just wish that Annabeth would be less shy about it and admit her feelings for the boy.
The two made their way deeper into the building my vision soon became clouded by the natural darkness of the building. There is no danger in this building I know that but I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt as the two walked off into the darkness. I shook my head; the place IS safe there is no need for me to be worrying about whether or not those two will be ok, besides Luke is one of them and he is one of our best fighters even back when we were at are full strength. He could handle anything that was thrown at him be it supernatural or natural. A simple toilet run should be easy as pie for the two of them. Besides the fates aren't that cruel… are they? Gods I hope not.
After a few minutes the worry starts to die down but it does not fully submerge like I hopped it would, I was still nervous about their safety. A sudden tooting sound caught my attention, I subconsciously turn my gaze towards Grover who was playing several of the reeds to his reed pipe. According to Grover all Satyrs could play the reed pipes with natural unmatched talent, this was one of the many reasons I had to wonder if Grover was actually a full blooded Satyr, Grover seemed rather 'different ' compared to other Satyrs. He was supposed to be of age when Satyrs started to grow horn but you couldn't even make out any form of stumps in his mess of red curly hair. His nature magic was almost none existent, the only sign he possessed such ability was the occasional accidental tute of the flute causing weeds to grow from the side walk. And don't even get me started on his flute skills, they where if possible worse than his Nature magic skills. He could barely play any songs and the ones he could where often painful to listen to. The song he was playing right now was no acceptation. But he mange to find us where other Satyrs failed so I guess he must be doing something right….
"Grover please I still have a headache from the last time you played, please just have mercy on my ears." Said Nyssa a daughter of Hephaestus. Nyssa looked like one of them female action heroes with her muscular and her aura of toughness; she radiated female independence as well. But once you got past the fact that she could probably strangle you to death with ease you would find that she was actually a nice girl, quick to judge and a bit of a silent type but a good person none the less. I eyed her for a moment watching her play with scrap metal like a child plays with puzzle pieces, she didn't look like she had a headache but it was always hard to tell with her. She liked to keep her face like her machines; smooth, sturdy and almost impossible to decipher.
"Guys I need to do this! You lot keep complaining that my flute skills suck the only way I'm ever going to improve is if I practice, besides I'm not that bad." Said Grover as he once again began to play small tones with his pipe. "There's such thing as a musical tutor you know." I heard Hank mutter his voice was barely recognizable over the sound of Grover playing. Hank was unlike any other child of Apollo I have ever meet, unlike his brothers and sisters Hank was quiet and at times hardly even noticeable. He was not brash and loud like his siblings but he had the good looks and archery skills to put any of them to shame. His archery skill and his ability to stay quiet is half the reason he even made it this far in the first place. He was hardly even paying attention to the rest of the group as he appeared to be fixing some of his arrows and rebuilding them. Gale sat nearby smirking in silent at the son of Apollo's comment.
Gale was a very special case in which we couldn't figure out who he was the child off; he has been an orphan for as long as he could remember which by it made it difficult to work with. What made it worse is that he had lost his voice box due to smoke damage when his orphanage burned down to the ground thanks to some fire spirit that attacked him, lucky we were in the neighbourhood when it happened and we were able to save and recruited the boy. He was one of the oldest surviving members of our groups and has saved many of our lives since joining are group.
Brad continued to sit by himself, if he was annoyed he didn't show it. Brad always seemed to be the outcast amongst are group, he was always sitting by himself, always doing stuff his own way but unlike others he was different by choice. He chooses his actions and did not let his nature get in the way of them. He is fiercely independent and proud of it in fact the only reason I believe he even travels with are group is because we attract more monster this way. That and his culture makes him very… unique compared to the rest of us.
Grover continued to practice with his flute much to the group's annoyance until a familiar feminine scream fills the air. Are reaction time has never been quicker than it was today, in a mere second we were all to our feet weapons at the ready and senses on high alert. We knew that scream well and we also know that it wouldn't happen unless there was a good reason behind it, and that good reason was often monsters. "I thought you said you didn't smell anything!" Nyssa whispered aggressively to Grover waving her sword at him causing Grover to flinch. "You know what the Romans use to do to soldiers when they gave false information away?" continued Nyssa the aggression clear in her tone. "Stop it Nyssa, He didn't smell anything ok? Besides we are not Romans, we are Greeks." I said informing Nyssa my voice stern and it was clear that I did not want back talk.
"Yeah, of course, we are all Greeks." I hear Brad mutter under his breath. My head turned towards the oldest member of our group in confusion, what was he on about? I was about to ask him what he meant by that when a sudden deep growl filled the air causing everyone to drop silent, for everything to drop silent. The cities sounds became non-existent and the once plentiful thunder was gone. The only sound to be heard was the soft pitier patter of shoes colliding with the concrete, someone was running. "You hear that?" I asked my spear pointing in the direction of the sound. "You mean that Growl? Or the sound of Grover chewing his own shirt?" I heard Hank ask, just like him, to try and work comedy into a serious situation.
The sound got louder and louder as it echoed in the silent building. The silhouette of a small person suddenly appeared within the shadows of the building, a small familiar person. Before I could say a single word Annabeth made her way into the light of the fire, she was covered in blood and tears where falling down her checks. I quickly made my way over to the young girl and wrapped her up in a loving embrace uttering reassurance into her ear as she cried into my shoulder. Whatever had happen had left her in this state and that wasn't a good sign.
I held Annabeth in front of my face, she was still teary but she seemed to be more under control over herself now but she was still very teary. "Annabeth, what happened? Where's Luke?" I ask trying to get some light on the situation. She looked at me her eyes filled with pain. "We were walking and talking when…. We heard this strange sound… and then we saw it….*sniff* we were shocked…. And well it got closer and I…. screamed…. Luke attacked it when it got closer and… *sniff*… he told me to run and…. Then it attacked….. and I just ran… left him there against that thing…. *Sniff*" Said Annabeth, she looked distress and I really didn't blame her. "What was it Annabeth?" I asked my voice still firm and stoic but I could feel the dread swelling in my chest.
"A Monster…. A horrible Monster with… Green reptilian eyes, eyes that where filled with bloodlust." Annabeth said her voice dripping into utter shock. The tension spiked as soon as a Jurassic park style raw ripped apart the silence sending a horrible chill down mine spine and everyone else in the general area.
Sigh…. I know this story won't get that much friction due to the fact that we literally get over 5 new Percy Jackson per hour most of which (IN MY OPINION) seem to be the same thing over and over and over again. Oh well.
The one thing I am really looking forward too about this story is the fact that Percy won't be bound by his human morals, which will add some interesting ideas to latter chapter.
Oh and why I am on the concept of the fact that Percy is not a human I will warn you now from this chapter onwards you will see Percy Jackson as the group of demigods see him, a soulless bloodthirsty monster. If you dislike seeing your hero turned into a villain please just have an open mind about this story. Things may turn out different in the end depending on how I wish to go with this (or if I bother to finish it).
An accruing thing I have noticed in the fandom is that everyone turns to Luke for their main villain, yes he is working for the bad side but really he is only doing it because he is angry. Kind of like how people do stupid things when then angry. Kronos just used that anger to his advantage misleading the boy into doing the wrong thing.
Alright guys so next chapter is Monster/Percy vs the Demigods stick around.
Thor-Born signing off.