Chapter Two: Mummies can Scream

So... Yeah, been away for a while. OHGODSPLEASEDON'TKILLME

I don't own this, certain series.

The morning we were set to leave, Artemis mentioned that Apollo would, (to the immense distaste of the hunters), be giving us a ride there. I mean it was a pretty justified dislike, but something just never seemed right about Apollo to me, like he was hiding something.

'That's a topic for another time,' I thought to myself. The sun chariot, (if it could have really been called a chariot), descended before us. After a moment, the god of the sun stepped out of what looked to be a rather expensive Lamborghini. He whistled an out of pitch tune, while twirling a key-ring around his right index finger.

"Rorick, what's up?! Oh, and hello ladies," He said with a, well, a lecherous grin on his face, his eyes lingering on a few choice hunters. I glared at him for a moment before realizing that said girls were, in fact, his children. Nevertheless, I heard a lot of grumbling from various sources.

"Not too much is going on right now Apollo, oh and I'm acting on Artemis's orders to do this if you try to flirt with any of the hunters," I said with a grin, before he yelped as a bit of crimson lightning shocked him. "No hard feelings I hope," I said as he glared at me before smirking. "Rorick and Arty, to be sitting in a tree, will they be kissing?"

Damned haikus, he still hasn't gotten over them. I felt my face heat up as some hunters snickered. I sent another shock his way, wiping a smug grin off of his face.

He looked fairly indignant as to the way I was treating him, which he had every right to feel. After he had a rather small conversation with Perseus about gods know what, everyone now entered what appeared to be a school bus. Twirling the key around on his index finger, Apollo asked the usual question, "So, who wants to drive?"

There was a large space of silence as no one volunteered, as such, Apollo voluntold Thalia to drive. That was a mistake, and a bad one at that. We shot off into the sky abruptly, I cursed loudly in response. Looking to the front of the vehicle, I saw the daughter of Zeus white faced as she rose us into the sky. I started laughing internally as I realized the irony of the situation, she was afraid of heights.

Stumbling to the front of the bus, I set a hand on Thalia's shoulder. Forcing a feeling of calmness into her, I looked into her electric blue eyes saying, "Better to face fears sooner rather than later." She managed a nod, still pale faced, although now driving much better. After a few minutes, she said that it would be better if I drove, I grinned evilly at her, then to the rest of my victi- passengers. I meant passengers.

"EVERYONE HOLD ONTO YOURSELVES," I shouted over my shoulder, and slammed my foot onto the accelerator. We rocketed forward, leading to many shrieks and shouts. In about five minutes, we arrived at the camp. After saying our goodbyes to Apollo, which consisted of him being flirtatious, me shocking him, and the hunters glaring at him. Yelping again, he sprinted to his chariot.

The moment we passed the border at camp, I made it clear that I would be accepting NO attempts at gaining the hunters' affections. After some Ares idiot approached me, (his name was either Bruce or Brian), demanding to deliver on my threat. He found himself clutching a broken wrist after he attempted to touch one of the huntresses, (I of course got a pardon from Chiron, and even managed to get the kid involved to do dish duty for a month).

Sighing for the moment, having been fairly content with the various looks of trepidation that most campers now gave me, (excluding some of the Aphrodite children of course, the looks they were giving me were unfortunately filled with passion), I moved quickly to greet Chiron, Zoë taking lead.

¨Ah, Zoë, it's certainly nice to see you again,¨ The centaur said with a slightly forced smile, ¨And who is this? I certainly haven't heard of you, much less a male traveling with a hunter.¨

¨I'm female,¨ I deadpanned out, which caused Zoë along with myself to laugh at his reaction, albeit Zoë held it in, only snickering at his shocked face.

¨Just a joke Chiron, just a joke. Although I am most certainly surprised at the fact that Perseus didn't mention anything about me. After all, I'm the one who took down the Manticore...¨ I said before realizing what I said. ¨Oh gods. Everyone just heard that didn't they?¨ He nodded dumbly, surprised by what I just said.

I, very slowly, exaggerating even, turned around and saw people with the same expression Chiron had, although more than tenfold in the showing. It gave me shivers the looks that the Aphrodite children were now giving me. I turned back to Chiron with a cringe now on my face, ¨Well, since that's out in the open, might as well tell you the other things if I´ve started out boasting¨ I said before clearing my throat and intoning the following.

¨My name is Rorick Lan Morta, son of an unknown deity, hunter of Artemis, slayer of many things, master of a bunch of other things, lover to none,¨ I finished off, pointedly saying the last part to the nearby Aphrodite stalkers. They flinched noticeably, although there were still some of them staring at me in adoration. ¨And third in command to the leadership of the hunt, the first being Artemis, and the second being Zoë¨ I finished with a slightly bored tone.

Dumbstruck expressions were swiftly replaced with disbelief, although from most people glancing at Zoë, who was only looking at me with what looked like slight annoyance, the dumbstruck looks returned in in full force. With hidden grin, I turned back to Chiron masking any emotion, quickly going into a business-like demeanor.

¨In any case, I don't think you'll mind if I sleep at the Big house. even if I'm welcomed fairly welcomed with my adoptive sisters, I know better then to overstep my boundries. The last time I did something like that...¨ Shivers ran down my spine and my eyes gained a haunted look, ¨Best to never mention it. Or do it again, or think about it… You get the idea. Actually, I'll just guard the outside of the cabin.¨

And just like that, the faces of a few dozen campers fell. Snickering slightly, I walked towards the training grounds, although not before a shout rang out. I think it was from a certain Clairise. Yeah, that one.

"How could someone like you be with the hunters? If anything, they should be hunting you!"

Silence, before I started to turn around, an edge of utter rage in my eyes. The very air everyone breathed came out as a freezing cold mist, rapidly showing my emotions.

"...Someone like me, huh?" My voice was deathly quiet, "A guy like me, doesn't deserve that? How, in the name of Chaos himself, would I not? Meet me at the training ground, we'll settle it there. If you beat me, I'll show you how I joined the hunters, if I win, You get to feel the greatest pains I've ever felt. Even so, never utter those words again, or I'll rip out your tongue as a penance."

There was certainly no doubt after that was said. Those words been stated, I strode back towards the training field in a hurry, I needed to destroy something, otherwise I'd destroy someone by accident. Or maybe it wouldn't be an accident, there's no easy way to tell.

Snapping a hand to my knives, I yanked them out of their sheaths and moved through my dances, my style of fighting, something I had made watching various monsters and men fight, a style unlike any other.

"So… I see you've come," Barely restrained anger flowed through my voice, seems the usual Ares arrogance was there. My blades flared alight for a moment in the unholy heat of fire, before settling on a faint glowing, blaring in strength. "Hurry up you unclaimed idiot, I want to be down for dinner by the end of this," She sneered.

"Go easy on her Rorick, she's not even near your level," Zoë said carefully, "I know, that makes it even better. Oh, and I'll send you to dinner in a coma you Ares fool," The redhead raised a spear, the weapon crackling with energy, electricity it seemed. And sloppy enchantment too by the looks of things. Not even anything to help with durability.

"Begin," The sky flashed crimson for a moment before we began, that being me limiting my power by about nine tenths of its normal amount, makes it a moderately fair fight. Well, maybe, I'm still a bit too strong anyway.

"One tenth of my strength, let's see how you fair, spawn of Ares," I blurred forward, slamming the edges of my daggers into the shaft of her spear, making a deep groove in it. Gift from her father, huh? Well, let's see how my own weapons hold in comparison.

She hissed at the force behind the first blow, raising her shield futily. Kicking out, she was shoved back about three feet, leaving a small dent in her shield. Pathetic. Flames danced with my movements, on the blades themselves. Pivoting on my heels, I slammed both blades into her shield, ripping two holes into the barrier.

Not finished, I yanked the weapons to the right, tearing the defense out of her hands, leaving her with only her spear, weak as it was compared to my blazing weapons. Jabbing at me with her poker, I did something that no-one had done without collapsing in a heap.

I caught the head of the spear, and held it in my bare hands. Electricity, liquid pain as it felt, soared through my body. It was nothing compared to the fields of punishment, all the struggles I went through there. I did not flinch to the small pain I felt then.

She looked dumbstruck as I casually held her most powerful weapon in my palms, lightning aching between them, like it was nothing. Tutting slightly, I bent my wrists, snapping the weapon in half. And just like that, lightning sprang out with many times more force than before, but unlike then, I showed a physical response. I twitched.

All things considered, what I just did was terrifying enough, catching the weapon. Breaking it in half though, that was downright horrifying to her.

"Now then… I do believe we have a deal to complete," I said placing a palm on her head, and forced copies of all the emotions of my mother's death into her mind. Along with my torment in the realm of the furies, the last thing I only gave her a moment of thought, any more and insanity would take hold of her with a vengeance.

She fell to her knees whimpering, tears coursing down her cheeks. I sighed, and slung her over my shoulder, it was a bit much I suppose. The rest of the Ares cabin was glaring at me in fury. Idiots.

Removing my limitations, I set down Clairisse, and sheathed my blades. "Come, any who would face me step forward, hurry. The same deal applies. All of you at once."

The entire cabin stepped forward, brandishing blades, spears, and the like. My body remained loose, a palm facing towards them, another a clenched fist at my side.

"So be it then," Arrows came first, some I dodged, others I smacked out of the way. Two I grabbed, and held in my hands. Throwing them carefully, the two bowman's bows were severed at the string.

I danced around spears and swords, never actually striking myself. What I was doing was altering the paths of blades to attack their own men, (or women mind you). A minute later there were only battered, exhausted men and woman lying on the ground, with myself standing idly, although breathing a bit heavier.

Raising a palm, that same crimson light flared into being, and all of them saw that fateful night, my mother's death. They were again on the ground whimpering, feh, pathetic.

I then spoke softly, very softly.

"Be glad I did raise my daggers, or you all would be dead in a minute. Be very glad I did not summon my sword, or you would perish in a moment. You all made a mistake going against me, just like everyone else who ever did."

That being said, I left for dinner, I needed the noms. However, it turns out that there was to be a capture the flag game, and I just removed the entire Ares cabin. Oops. Well, seems that they want me to go against the hunters in Ares's place, not an even trade at all.

Shrugging into my studded armor, I slung a black and silver bow over my shoulders. Stygian iron and lunar silver. Work of art in my opinion. Then they said what I was hoping they wouldn't say.

"Chiron, thou cannot be saying that Rorick would join you? If anything, he should be on his own. You've seen what he can do," Zoë argued

"Be that as it may, he can't be his own party, even he isn't strong enough for that." Chiron said in response

"I resent that," I grumbled out, annoyed.

This camp is the epitome of underestimation right now for me. Judging a book by its cover blah blah all that stuff. Grunting for a moment, I yanked the bow from my back, and picked out three of the five arrows in my quiver.

Arranging them on the bowstring, one glowed a fiery red, and other shined silvery with sharpness another seemed to take in the light of both. The red arrow smashed into a tree, turning into a massive fireball before smashing the trunk. What was most impressive though was that the arrow was silent in its arc.

The silver one flew, seemingly unaffected by gravity, piercing tree after tree, seemingly altering trajectory from target to target, before slamming still in the trunk of the twelfth tree, stuck halfway up the shaft of the arrow itself.

The last one seemed the last fantastical in appearance. Black, dark, it almost seemed that you couldn't see the arrow itself. Slamming into the trunk of the tree, it stopped and stayed still for a moment, before the actual tree withered and died in front of me. I love that arrow so much, it's damned useful against drakons.

"Now, what was that Chiron? Something about me not being good enough for something?" My voice was sickly sweet. "How about a wager, If you win, I'll make you copies of these three arrows whenever you want, but if I win, well, you pay me, oh lets say, a hundred drachmas, deal?" I said holding a hand for him to shake.

He shook his head slightly, almost remorsefully. "Your funeral," He took my hand in his, and sealed the deal, heh, won't know what will hit him.

"My funeral? Watch carefully Chiron, and see if you can't revise that opinion."

That being said, I finished readying myself, still not summoning my blade, after all the last time I actually had needed to do that was when Heracles… No. No words need to be said on what he did. that is not for me to say.

There was only one person who could honestly face me using only daggers evenly, and that's Artemis herself. When the horn blew, instantly the air was enveloped in a freezing cold fog, and then I sang my song, a horrid version of a Christmas tune, In a minor key that echoed everywhere.

It's beginning to look a lot like slaughter, everywhere you go. Fun.

It continued on like this, with me using the fog to sense where people were. Every now and then a blunted arrow of mine found its merry way to someone, slamming the sides of their heads. A dagger lashed out, a palm struck. Whatever blood fell I smeared on myself, creating a disgustingly terrifying visage.

I let the mist clear, leaving two campers, hmm, three campers and a huntress seeing myself in abject horror while Zoë just rolled her eyes at my antics. I let out a sort of psychotic grin at them.

"Well, lookie here. A son of Poseidon, a daughter of Zeus, and… huh, nice trick there Athena spawn, but invisibility doesn't work with people like me. Come then, let's see the best this camp has to offer!"

Annabeth turned slightly red at rage from my comment, not that I knew or anything. Thalia and Percy glanced at each other and nodded as one. Perseus took out a pen, which changed into a sword Zoë had spoken to me about, the Athenian raised a dagger, Thalia it seems raised a spear and… "Really? Is that supposed to be scary? Try looking at the face of a real gorgon or if you want to hear something really scary, there was this one time that I pissed off…" My face went blank for a moment, the blood on it dripping slowly off onto the ground. "Nevermind. Athena hates me enough as is."

The river sloshed, and sprang out at me, enveloping me, before a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking me full on the face. However, I opened my mouth and swallowed it. Yep. What, I was hungry, shut up!

They looked dumbfounded at what I just did, as a spurt of steam left my mouth. Glowing slightly, the water holding me abruptly turned to steam, and dissipated into the air. Stretching my neck erratically, I glared at the two of them.

"Not cool, not cool at all. But it's my turn now. Hey storm spawn try this one on for size," That being said, large storm clouds grew in the sky, covering the area in shadows, lightning cackled before it slammed into Perseus, knocking him into the river, slightly burnt smelling and steaming.

I tsked slightly at the weakness that was shown then. Earth to siphon the lightning, lightning to smite the water, water to wear against the earth. That's the way the big three generally worked in any case. As such, I slammed my foot down, causing a crevice to open up and swallow the Daughter of Zeus up to her neck, leaving only her head above ground.

I then saw, well, heard a knife blade slashing towards me. Catching Annabeth's wrist, I disarmed her with a twitch of my hand. I was about to use her own dagger against her, before I saw a sight that made whatever maniac playfulness I had die away in an instant. "Well, shit."

Billowing green smoke, mist almost, was in the air. An odd rasping sound accompanied it. I knew altogether too well what that entailed, and unfortunately, fate hates me in particular. The mist brushed against me. Cold glassy eyes turned to stare at Zoë.

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

It's eyes, glasses, marblelike eyes turned to face me. The mist suddenly flickered, before a small screeching sound began, the mist in the air turning a familiar shade of crimson. The screeching turned to screaming, which soon turned to howling.

Fate is benign in his eyes,

Eyes of ungodly steel,

His blade forged from mortal blood,

A blade to end the life of gods,

Heir to creation and destruction both,

Breaker of fate's eternal hold,

The line of creation is from which he descends,

From the lord of the void, and all therein.

She, um, it, fell to the ground. The second after that, I realized how much I was screwed. It was honestly stupid, if what was implied was true. That thing shouldn't even be able to have demigod children, it was implied that Chaos was a primal force, non sentient and just… GAH!

But I was strong, almost too strong. On a good day I was able to match Artemis blow for blow in a dagger fight. Maybe even beat her, and I haven't even managed to reach my prime yet.

It was scary, what I could be, truly so. Not like I honestly bothered to think about it much, but when I did, when I tapped into my true store of power, I blew up a mountain. And I didn't even feel tired afterwards.

Sure I mean, I didn't MEAN to blow a hole in the Himalayas but still, it stands that it was ridiculous. Yeah, not used to that power at all yet, it's like trying to use a coffee filter to get all the salt from the ocean. Yeah, I can only filter so much at once before the filter, (me), breaks, (explodes, or maybe implodes, no clue yet). Anyway, that mountain explosion was the most of that power I could drawn on without exploding myself.

Ah, the stares, all on me, with my hands clenched into fists, chill ice in my eyes. They were looking just above me, a swirling galaxy above me. It danced, it spinned. I had been claimed by Chaos, the true primordial being. The voice of Chiron rang out in slight reverence, and fear. "Hail Rorick Lan Morta, son of Chaos

I may be back soon, maybe later, sorry for the lack of guarantees, but I hope you've enjoyed thus far!