Planet: Deep Space (Earth ETA: 1 hour)
Sector: 1
Date: March 6th, 2515
As the Angelic Ships of Chaos flew through deep space faster than the speed of light, Allistar activated the holo communicator which was linked to the throne room of Chaos and the three other ships carrying the Angels. An image of Chaos on his throne appeared and Allistar, the leaders, and all the Angels watching from their respective ships went silent, waiting for their briefing. Chaos spoke,
"My dear Angels, you all know the mission. Earth has come under attack once again, a war on this scale has not happened to earth since the second Giant War. Evil is brewing, millions of monsters have found their way to the mortal world, and I sense several titans. The identity of the leader of this army is hidden to me, although I can tell you that I sense old blood, I imagine another child of mine has fallen into darkness. The Primary objective: defend earth and defeat the army of evil that threatens them. The Secondary objective: gather all possible immortals, demi-gods, and nature spirits that still align themselves with good, and train them. Teach them to defend themselves against armies such as these so that during future attacks we do not have to continue doing this. There will be bloodshed on a massive scale, I regret to say that some of you will not come home. But you have sworn an oath to Lord and Land, now fulfil them all as you help turn the tide, and strike a blow against madness."
Allistar could feel the excitement buzzing from the leaders and the Angels, they were too disciplined to show any emotion while being directed by a superior, but every single Angel had a story. Every Angel longed for the defeat of evil and the triumph of good. They were ready to fight, to die even if that meant the destruction of evil. Allistar himself could not suppress the feeling of anticipation and excitement that could only come from combat. The communicator in the ships now deactivated, the Angels made their final preparations and waited for war…
-On Earth the day before-
-Annabeth POV-
Annabeth Chase, immortal goddess and wartime advisor to Athena, the goddess of Wisdom was now over 500 years old. And now it seemed those 500 years were all that she was going to be able to enjoy. They had heard word from Olympus that a great host was preparing for war. This was nothing new but what was new was that this time the Olympians could not win. If reports were correct, no less two millions monsters, six titans, and possibly even a primordial were now fixed on destroying Olympus and all who would defend it.
In truth, Annabeth did not really mind much. Ever since the day that infernal Hecate, the miserable excuse of a goddess had decided to play her joke, Annabeth had all but lost to will to live. She had prepared for it since the end of the titan war, and nobody saw it coming.
Hecate, the goddess of magic had woven a spell over Hades, Zeus, myself, Chiron, and the rest of the people Percy was closest to. How was nobody aware she had that kind of power, how did mother not know? She had come across that spawn of Poseidon Stephen years ago and hatched a plan to make sure he would be the hero. So the day that… he was exiled, she had possessed us and because of that, he was blamed for the attack on Stephen. The only good that came out of that situation was that Stephen and Hecate were banished to Tartarus forever. Some daughter of hers took over the role of goddess of magic.
Percy…. Seaweed brain had left thinking that I hated him. Gods I miss him. You'd think that after 500 years that I would have moved on, but it seems that immortality was more a curse then a blessing. I must have had the worst immortal life ever. Half of you very being violently ripped away all because of two jealous fools. Living in depression and grief for five centuries, and now standing upon the brink of death with no way to save anyone. When… he was banished and the spell of Hecate lifted, the gods tried to create a memorial to Percy, and had made all of his friends immortal, of course including myself. They meant for it to be an honor to glorify Percy and to show that even in exile he could somehow defend Olympus. What a joke, we were miserable. Camp continued, new heroes came, fought, and died, but we withered. They meant us to inspire people through the actions of Percy. But we are not an inspiration, we are merely an immortal reminder of what has been lost. A daily tribute to how the savior of Olympus, the one who saved us all, my love, was gone. The fates are cruel, I know that now more than ever.
There is nothing, nothing but pain from him being gone. Everywhere I look I see him. I stand here looking out at the sea and I smell him, I hear him, I see him. I spend more time on random beaches across the world searching for pieces of him than I do anywhere else. Mother disapproves. She says I need to move on, and I know I should. I just feel frozen, broken, half formed. Is this what it feels like to fade? Is this what Pan felt as he lay there barely alive all those years ago in the labyrinth? When everything you stood for, everything you held dear is gone. When he left I forgot what it meant to be happy, what it meant to feel. Gods Percy I miss you.
-The next day-
After going through the events of that cursed day countless times, I looked down at my watch and noticed it is time to get ready for the first attack. Reports said that a massive army was moving north and would reach the camp by noon today. That being only an hour away, I decided it was time for me to go back to camp.
Flashing to the porch of the big house, I changed my expression from that of a broken shell of a woman to a brave warrior that people would expect of a daughter of Athena. Upon arrival I notice Nico, Jason, Chrion, and Clarisse all standing around a round table staring at a map of the camp.
"Nico I need you to set up defenses here, here, and here. Use skeletal warriors, ghosts, anything you can to hold that flank. Jason I need you here, you've got the lightning and the wind. Use Tempest and see if you can summon any more wind spirits. These flanks must hold if we are to survive," said Chiron.
After Jason and Nico walked away to their respective defensive positions, I walked up to Chiron to receive my instructions. Chiron had taken the exile of Percy badly. Camp was never the same. Activities continued, quests were still offered every now and then, but there was no life in it. Sing-alongs at the campfire had turned into story-time about Percy and his many adventures. The Oracle Rachel had been away at the time of his banishment and upon her being told what had happened she left the camp. We see her from time to time but since we don't have prophecies, heroes go on quests blind now with no knowledge of what to expect. Needless to say the success rate of quests has suffered, just like everything else. Percy once told me Hera referred to him as glue, and she was right. He was the glue to this camp, and we had fallen apart when he left.
"Lady Annabeth." Chiron bowed at my arrival.
"Chiron please stop calling me Lady, if it weren't you I would not be here," I said.
That was very true, he had trained me and helped me in ways that if he had not, I would have died long ago. Even though I was grateful to him, sometimes I wish I were not here and was long dead. Chiron replied,
"My dear as much as I would like to focus on anything but the present, I am afraid we must. We have defenses set up around the camp, we expect they will come from the south side and pour along over the hill. The magical barrier would stop the monsters, but if a titan is leading them, there is little the barrier will do."
At that moment a deafening war horn blew. The sound brought back nightmares of my time in Tartarus and I knew the enemy was here. Chiron scrambled his bow, threw me on his back and galloped to the hill.
What we saw there was the most depressing thing I had ever seen other than Percy's empty bed the day he was exiled. Endless hordes of monsters of every kind was marching toward the camp. There must have been at least fifty thousand. The worst part however was the being that was out in front. Leading them in his purple war regalia, wielding a deadly six foot long scythe was an old enemy. Kronos, the Lord of Time had returned.
