War of the Gods: The Quest Begins

Chapter 5: Conflict Erupts

PERCY

I returned to the boat to find Carter waiting, standing with an aloof air. There was something strange about the way he was looking at me. It was as if I was nothing more than an insect to him. That was an expression I had never seen on him before. Something was not right here, but I couldn't tell exactly what.

"We need to talk," Carter said, looking down his nose at me despite my slight height advantage over him. "You have been out of your place. You should not be giving me orders. From this point on, I am running things now."

"Where did this come from?" I asked.

"You dared to order ME around!" he shouted. "I am the pharaoh of Egypt, you Greek slime, and I will not be ordered around by one such as you!"

"Calm down there," I responded, backing away slowly. "No one is ordering anyone around. I thought it would be a smart idea to split up, so I suggested we do it. We are all equals here-"

"No!" he shouted, cutting me off. "We are not equal! I am your superior in every way!"

"Get out of the way Percy," a voice commanded from behind me. Turning around, I saw Jason, his eyes burning with barely-controlled rage. "I knew he would betray us. Egyptians are snakes! They cannot be trusted!" He pulled out his gladius, wind beginning to swirl around him.

"Calm down, both of you!" I shouted. "You aren't acting like yourselves! Something has to be influencing you."

"I am not being influenced by anything," Jason snapped, hate and rage raising his voice. "For the first time I see completely clearly."

"I cannot be influenced," Carter countered, spite dripping off his words. "I am Egypt, I am magic!" Glowing hieroglyphs began to appear in the air around him as he drew out his khopesh. "I will not be insulted by a Roman insect!"

I stood there, not knowing what to do. Two of the four members of our quest were at each other's throats, and I was alone, standing between them. If I was going to stop this, I was going to need some serious help, and there was none in sight.

. . . . .

JAMES

I raced to where we left the boat, John's last words ringing through my head. "Your friends are in great danger," he had said. When I had asked, he told me they were in danger from themselves. What was that supposed to mean? What was happening? What had they gotten themselves into?

I turned the corner into the parking lot to find a clash of giants. Jason was floating in the air, a small tornado surrounding him, lightning flaring off of his golden gladius. Across from him, Carter had surrounded himself in energy, which appeared to have taken the shape of a giant chicken-headed man that moved with Carter, and wielded a massive version of his curved blade. Between the two of them Percy stood, channeling two massive streams of water from a nearby fire hydrant, blasting them at both of the combatants, keeping them apart.

"What is going on!?" I shouted over the howl of the wind and the roar of the water.

"They're trying to kill each other!" Percy shouted back. "Help me separate them!"

I focused to try and use my telekinetic abilities again, but instead I realized I could see something hovering over both of them, a darkness clouding their minds. Without thinking I walked forward, my stride confident. "Begone!"I commanded with a voice of thunder. For a moment it seemed I was outside of myself, watching my body from above, in no control of my actions. My eyes were glowing with pure white light. "Get the hence!" the voice commanded with my mouth. "Remove thyself from these mortals, or face the wrath of Heaven!"

For a moment the clouds of darkness seemed to quiver, and then they vanished. Carter and Jason both fell to the ground unconscious. A few moments later I followed suit.

. . . . .

SADIE

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Uncle Amos as we stood in the woods outside where our scryers believed the camp to be. "Couldn't we at least speak to them first?"

"Have you ever heard the story of the Trojan horse?" he replied. He continued without waiting for my response. "The Greeks failed to breech the impenetrable walls of Troy, and so instead they hatched a plan. They built a massive wooden horse and presented it to the Trojans as a gift of surrender. The Trojans brought the horse into the city, and when night fell the Greek army poured out of the horse, slaughtering the entire city. This shows why Greeks cannot be trusted. They are clever and will use every tool at their disposal to find a way around your strongest defenses. If we try to negotiate with them they will find our weaknesses and use them against us. Egypt fell before Greece once before, I will not allow it to happen again."

He slammed his staff on the ground, shouting "!" A portal opened in the air, and the magicians of the First Nome of the House of Life poured out. Another portal opened, and then another, until the magicians of nearly every Nome were present. "Let us see whether or not the Greeks' shield can withstand the magical might of the House of Life."

I gulped quietly, hoping desperately that we weren't doing to wrong thing. "You better be in there, Carter," I muttered. "And please still be alive."

. . . . .

ANNABETH

I stood over the table, looking over our battle strength. All of our campers had been brought back to camp, and the Party Ponies, a crazy gang of centaurs with boxing-glove arrows and beer hats were running around messing up the camp as part of their "battle preparations". The Argo II was almost ready for combat, and all the camp's siege weaponry were prepped and ready. The Hephaestus cabin was hard at work at the forges, the Demeter kids were preparing foodstuffs, and the rest of the camp was readying for battle. As soon as the Romans arrived, we would be ready for anything.

I took a moment away from preparing the battle as Percy came to my mind. Where was he now? Was he alright? Up until this point, we had always gone on quests together. From our very first quest up to the war against Gaea and the giants, we had always stood together. Now we were separated, him going off after Rachael's most recent prophecy, me preparing the camp for a war against an unknown enemy.

"Annabeth!" called Leo's excited voice. "They're here!"

"Who's here?" I shouted back.

"A bunch of old guys with beards and robes and really big sticks," he answered.

I went over to investigate, and saw that standing there before the protective ward around camp was an army of people dressed in robes. While there were women and teenagers in the mix, most of them were in fact old bearded men. Many of them held long staffs while others wielded bent swords similar to the one Carter used.

"They're magicians," Chiron said from behind me. "From the House of Life. Apparently they are under the impression that we kidnapped Carter."

"Did you talk to them?" I asked.

"I tried to," he answered. "They seem to have a very negative view of Greeks. They wouldn't listen to me."

"What are they trying to do?" I questioned. "They can't get through the barrier."

"That's what they are trying to fix," he replied. The magical barrier rippled, hieroglyphs glowing in the air above the sorcerers. "You are going to need to gather our forces, Annabeth. There will be battle long before our Roman friends find their way here."

. . . . .

JASON

I woke up, rubbing the growing bump on the back of my head. "What happened?" I inquired, looking around. Carter and James both lay on the ground unconscious while Percy stood up, looking down at us.

"You and Carter tried to kill each other," Percy answered. "I tried to keep you two apart, and then James came, his eyes glowed and he spoke all angel-like, and all three of you fell unconscious."

"I tried to kill Carter?" I asked in shock. "Why?"

"You were being manipulated," a voice from behind me answered. Both Percy and I turned to see a tan man with dark curly hair dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans.

"Who are you supposed to be?" I asked.

"My name is John," he answered. "I already spoke with your friend James, but your predicament interrupted our conversation. You and Carter were being manipulated by two of the Seven Deadly Sins, Carter by Pride and you by Wrath."

"That would explain the behavior," Percy commented.

"The Sins are some of the most powerful of demons, but they are not the greatest danger, not by far. Like all demons, they simply serve a greater master."

"If they aren't the greatest danger," I began, "then what is?"

John suddenly looked into the distance, as if he had heard a shout from that direction. "I need to leave, but before I do, know that you need to go to Vatican City in Rome. Long ago I had a vision from the Lord that showed me the end of the world, also known as the Apocalypse. I wrote this vision down in what would become known as the Book of Revelations. The forces of Hell are trying to bring about the Apocalypse before the proper time, and thus change the outcome. In the Vatican vaults you will find weapons that you can use in your battle against them. But you must hurry, time is running out. The first Horseman of the Apocalypse has already risen, and I fear the others will soon follow."

"And who is that?" I asked. "Who is this horseman?"

"War."

. . . . .

The Egyptian sorcerers attacked the magical barrier protecting Camp Half-Blood. Inside the camp the young demigods and their allies prepared for a battle unlike any they had ever seen. Over in the western end of the continent the Roman legion mobilized, marching to the aid of their Greek friends. Other
factions moved into position as well, demons as well as those who hunted them. Watching it all was a single man.

He sat atop a steed, a horse with blistering red flesh and a wild mane of crimson flames. The steed was adorned in spiked black armor, hate-filled flames in place of where eyes should have been. The rider of the steed dressed in similar cruel armor, a massive great sword strapped to his back, among a host of other cruel and deadly weapons.

"Good," he declared, letting out a rumbling laugh. "Let the War of the Gods begin."

Author's Note: Thus ends War of the Gods: The Quest Begins. In the next installment of the series, War of the Gods: Wrath of the Horsemen, our heroes journey to Vatican City, where they hope to find weapons powerful enough to help them defeat the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But with War already on the move, will they be able to procure the weapons before the Greeks and Egyptians destroy each other completely? What other forces are at play here? See it all in War of the Gods: Wrath of the Horsemen.

P.S. Nothing has happened so far on the mystical side of things. The magical realms are, for the most part, keeping to themselves, and there don't seem to be any difficulties arising from any alternate realities. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to get the feeling that this is the calm before the storm. So, basically just like every other period of calm I've had the pleasure to experience. If I suddenly stop writing for a bit or leave this series for a while, it will be because something crazy happened on the magical side of my life. Sorry for any possible future inconvenience that might cause.