II
CLARISSE
Spirits of Earth were the last things Clarisse wanted. She'd opened the dark door, entered the charcoal cabin and BAM! Ghosts in her face! She promptly stumbled into a wall and the doors slammed shut behind her, the weeping, moaning and screaming grew louder the further into the cabin she stepped. Then she walked right into an ogre, no, not an ogre, this thing had six arms and was spewing dirt from his feet into the ground he was stick in; Earthborn. The creature swivelled and almost slid towards her, the ground pushing him, and Clarisse had to think fast; her plan involved the basic parts to any demigod plan. Step 1: Dodge the enemy. Step 2: Launch yourself at the confused enemy. Step 3: Use any sharp weapon to hand for the rest. Soon enough, a pile of dirt was all that was left of him, but a scream from somewhere fairly close caught her attention; it sounded like Miranda!
"Help!" The voice screamed again, but in the faint light of her Celestial Bronze sword, the only things for Clarisse to see were Earthborn and Spirits. Soon, all of the Earthborn had gone, and Clarisse was bombarded by even more Spirits of Earth. Clarisse had only ever fought one before, it had been one of the toughest fights she'd ever fought, and now there were at least hundreds of them in Camp Half-Blood. Another scream focused Clarisse, and she climbed down the ladder that lead to Cabin 4's garden. Yes, there was a rather large one on the outside, but this garden was at least the size of a football field and currently home to possible genocide. The Spirits of Earth were glowing from a statue of a man with antlers and a bird companion on his shoulder. It didn't have the right legs to be Pan or even Faunus, but there weren't any more male nature deities she could name. The statue smiled even more, going from relaxed to demonic, and the Spirits grew even more restless, doubtlessly summoned from the statue. The Earthborn, however, had no explanation except the ever popular excuse 'The Romans did it'. Clarisse hoped this was the case, because if the Greeks did it, Earthborn are really bad at taking orders.
"Clarisse!" Miranda shouted from the other side of the garden. She was precariously balanced on the leaves of a palm tree which was guarded with Earthborn.
"What happened?" Clarisse asked loudly, beginning to slay Earthborn around the edges of the farm, but it would take a while, even with the help of the Demeter cabin, to make it to Miranda. And Clarisse doubted they had a while.
"We were digging to plant another Godly Blossom," Miranda began, and instantly Clarisse understood the Earthborn. If a Roman demigod had been trying to raise them from the Earth, the Earthborn would be attracted to the nectar of Godly Blossoms. It was the same nectar the gods drink, "When we found the Sylvanus Statue, then the Earthborn arrived!"
"Sylvanus?" Clarisse asked above the slaughter she was commencing, Demeter kids wrapped vines around the Earthborn's hands and legs, some demigods used thorns the length of swords to kill the Earthborn. But none of them compared to Clarisse. Ever since the Battle of Manhattan when she'd been given the Blessing of Ares, she'd gained a small amount of strength for every creature she killed, and in the midst of an Earthborn army; she was glowing.
"A Roman god," Miranda explained, "He's a protector of the forest, nature and animals. As soon as the Earthborn appeared, the statue summoned the Spirits of Earth to protect us. These particular Spirits are Eleoses; spirits of mercy. Anyone who becomes lost in the forest in helped by Sylvanus, when they die, their soul becomes a Eleos. Sylvanus raised them to protect us, but the Earthborn are much stronger, the only thing keeping me alive is a barrier of Eleoses!"
"Not for long," Clarisse told her, "I'm done with these guys, and I'm going to help you!" And she tried, but the Sylvanus statue grew taut vines around her feet, and she couldn't move closer, "Why can't I make it over there?"
"Sylvanus never liked Mars," Miranda explained, "Protection & war don't exactly go hand in hand, the statue will probably let the rest of my cabin through, but not you."
"Give me your sword," a voice from behind Clarisse demanded, and Clarisse turned to see Katie Gardner, the once-cabin-counsellor.
"How are you here?" Clarisse asked, she'd seen Katie die in the fight against Kronos, "Are you an Eleos?"
"Yes," Katie smiled, "Pan had died, Faunus was helping the Romans, but Sylvanus was watching the forests. When he saw me dying, he blessed me to forever be merciful, even in death. Now give me the sword so I can decapitate some dirt!"
"That's the Katie I remember," Clarisse smirked, giving her sword to the spirit of Katie, and it somehow stayed in Katie's hands.
"Don't worry Miranda!" Katie shouted up at the current counsellor; and she charged. The sword spun like a whirlwind in front of her, and the Earthborn in her path were more like dust than dirt. When Katie finally reached the tree where Miranda was trapped, she cut it down like hot butter. The Earthborn disintegrated against the ground, and Miranda was freed. Katie smiled at the counsellor and whispered something in her ear. Then Katie faded away, leaving a shocked Miranda and a sword on the ground.
"Um..." Clarisse began, "Lord Sylvanus? Can you, like, maybe let me go?" The ground seemed to sigh, but sure enough, Clarisse was freed. The statue stopped glowing, "Maybe we should carry that thing into the meeting in the Big House, and by we, I mean you. Miranda?"
"Yeah," the poor counsellor looked shell-shocked, "We need to call a meeting about this."
"I've already called one about something else," Clarisse explained softly while Miranda carried the foot-high statue of Sylvanus and gave Clarisse the sword, "But we should mention this too."
"Okay," Miranda agreed, "Let's go."
