THIRD PERSON
I
Screams of pain and fear echo through the picturesque valley. The shadows of campers flit through the trees, panicked. They're dying. They're all dying and they know it. There is still enough light to see by – which is surprising, given the time. They wish they couldn't see. The evening sky is red as blood, oddly fitting for such a day.
It's too late by the time Chiron hears. When he arrives tomorrow morning – exhausted from galloping through the night – he will arrive to a mass grave. He will think that, if only he had been here, he could have prevented this. They had gotten cocky. Out of practice.
The bodies pile high as the dark, seething force advances. The monsters have escaped. They tear through the camp and city in a lethal cloud of razor sharp claws, blood stained teeth, flashing metal, and glinting red eyes. Too long, they've been caged. The monsters have escaped – and may the gods help the world now that they have.
'What chores do you have tomorrow?' Jess inquired as she walked back towards the cabins with Aiden, sore and bruised from training.
'Guard duty,' Aiden replied, 'I really don't see the point in it. It's not like anything's happened there in living memory. For all we know, monsters don't even exist.'
'Are you willing to take that risk, though? I wonder what the world would be like if the monsters were still free. Maybe some of us would actually get powers from our godly parents. Maybe we would even get prophecies… and quests!'
'Okay, powers from Bachus? That would be quite cool. But you know how it used to be. Like Percy Jackson – he had amazing powers and lived until he was 48. That was considered extreme old age for a demigod in those days.' Aiden stated calmly, used to arguing with the hot headed daughter of Hephaestus.
'I know, I know. But being a demigod is just so boring now. Imagine how cool it would be if I could control fire.' conceded Jess. 'Will you be at the campfire later?'
'Yeah, I'll see you there. And if you had power over fire?' Aiden shuddered. 'That wouldn't be cool, that would be plain terrifying.' The two demigods turned, both wanting to get a quick shower in before dinner and the campfire.
The Apollo cabin was leading the campfire that night, as they always did. The campers were all sitting around the fire, toasting marshmallows on sticks and chatting as they waited for the Apollo cabin counsellor to begin speaking.
'Hundreds of years ago, when the gods were still relatively new to America, monsters roamed free. It fell to the demigods to protect the mortals and themselves. In the early 21st century, monster activity was the highest it had been since Ancient Greece – and two Great Prophecies came to fruition within a year of each other.'
The flames immediately rose another metre higher, turning nearly golden in colour. The entire front row's marshmallows immediately melted off their sticks. Everyone loved this story.
'Percy Jackson. Annabeth Chase. Jason Grace. Piper Mclean. Hazel Levesque. Frank Zhang. Leo Valdez. These were the greatest demigods since the Ancient World. But one was more powerful than the rest. Percy Jackson. A demigod who's strength easily outmatched even that of Ares. Thought of by many as the next Heracles. He slew the Minotaur at 12, and Polydeuces at 13. He earned Artemis's approval at 14. At 15 he journeyed the labyrinth - witnessing the fading of Pan, the rising of Kronos and the defeat of Kampe. At 16 he became one of three people to survive taking on the curse of Achilles, single handedly defeated the of the Lord of the Dead's army and saved the world after defeating not one, but two titans. And at 17? He journeyed through Tartarus and closed the doors of death. He was one of the Seven, who defeated Gaia and allowed us to be here today. He fought side by side with his father, Poseidon, during the second Giant War. However, it was during this war with Gaia that some began to realise the fruitlessness of the old demigod way of life. Kill a monster? They come right back through the doors of death. But then someone finally asked – what if you don't kill a monster? What if you trap it instead? It wouldn't be for many, many more years that this idea was put into practise. The half-bloods of old would never have condoned it, but that was just Chiron poisoning their minds, making them fight and die all their lives. Monsters no longer roam the earth hunting down demigods. Back in 2196, a son of Athena captured the first monster, changing camp and what it meant to be a demigod forever. In under a century, almost every known monster was captured and imprisoned, in the remnants of the labyrinth under Camp Half-Blood's woods. But the story of how the labyrinth finally closed for good is a long one, and a story for another night. Now, everyone together – how does grandma put her armour on? With actions please every-'
The sound of loud roaring and distant screaming echoed from the woods.
The camp director was a twenty-two year old son of Hermes. He was the oldest demigod at camp, and so director by default. He had no real experience – no one did – but he rallied the demigods bravely. He led the charge into the woods, determined to protect his mum who was living in the city of New Athens only a couple of miles away. He was the first to die, to have his throat ripped out by a hellhound. A few hours later, every demigod in camp was dead. By the morning, the ground was saturated with blood and there was no one left alive inside the camp or city boundaries.
The monsters spread across the continent, returning to their old haunts. Hungry and humiliated they settled down to lick their wounds and prepare. They would get their revenge, and today's demigods were weak. They wouldn't know what hit them.
Just an idea I couldn't get out of my head all day. Wrote this up in about half an hour, review and tell me if you would like more ;)
-FeatheredShadows xx
Rewritten 25/08/18