Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series.
Story: Champion of Olympus: Child of the First One
Chapter 10: Playing with Fire
Third Person POV
Northwestern United States
Athena and the others materialized a few hundred miles north of Mount St. Helens. The mountain was completely destroyed on one side. The result of the explosion that took place over thirty year ago. Typhon still slept under the mountain. Hephaestus made sure to triple his restraints ever since the battle that took place between Percy and the forces of Loki. The gods moved closer to the sea as black smoke filled the heavens making the twilight sky look like it was midnight outside.
Athena stood in front of her group. Mrs. O'Leary was crouched in the grass ready to strike at anything that threatened her team. Athena smiled at the enormous hellhound. She was happy that Percy asked his pet to join them. The hellhound would be of great use against an army of fire giants. Poseidon stepped beside her. Most people knew that there was something going on between the two. They were once great friends, and then great rivals, but now they were back to friends. However, many of the gods suspected that the two were much more than friends.
"Are you okay owl head?" Poseidon asked. His nickname for her brought a smile to her serious face.
"I'm fine barnacle beard," Athena said. She had many more nicknames for him. Poseidon just smiled at her.
"I can tell when your worried," Poseidon boasted.
Athena rolled her eyes. "Really?"
Poseidon gave her his version of a crooked smile. The one that Percy had inherited from him. "Your grey eyes darken and your forehead creases."
Athena's eyes widened. She never knew that he watched her that closely. "Are you stalking me?"
Poseidon chuckled lightly. Athena smiled at his laugh. "Of course, I need to make sure that you stay out of trouble."
Athena laughed at that. "Thats like a fish calling another fish wet."
It was Poseidon's turn to roll his eyes. "Seriously, what's going on?"
Athena sighed. "The fire giants are close, I can feel them, but why haven't they attacked?"
Mrs. O'Leary began to growl in the direction of the coastline. The air temperature began to increase as the forest on the other side of the hill erupted into flames. The gods watched in horror as the forest burned in a few seconds. The ground was scorched and no living thing survived the destruction.
Suddenly, a cloud of smoke appeared in the distance. The cloud moved towards them. The hellhound growled at the cloud. The gods readied themselves for battle.
Aphrodite, Demeter and Artemis approached Athena and Poseidon. Hermes stood near Mrs. O'Leary as they watched the smoky clouds close in on their position.
"Why am I here? I'm a lover not a fighter," Aphrodite exclaimed.
Artemis rolled her eyes. "You're here because you're an Olympian; start acting like one," Athena huffed.
Aphrodite was about to whine, but Demeter gave her a stern look. The goddess of love bit her lip.
Athena smiled at her aunt before turning to look at everyone around her.
"Demeter, I need you to dig a trench between us and the enemy," Athena said. Demeter closed her eyes for a moment as she stretched out with her senses towards the plants and trees around her. She frowned at the loss of plant life, but a small smile crossed her lips. "Yes, that will do," she said as she nodded.
"Artemis and Aphrodite, I need you both to distract the giants," Athena said. The two goddesses looked at each other. Aphrodite was going to protest, but she stopped when Artemis pulled out her bow and a quiver of arrows. Aphrodite's eyes widened before she nodded.
"Poseidon, I need you to get a storm here. We need rain, a lot of it," Athena explained.
"By your command," Poseidon said with a mischievous grin. Athena smiled before she shook her head in amusement.
"Hermes, use your speed to put out the fires. You should be able to snuff them out, especially with the rain," Athena said. Hermes nodded before wings sprouted from his running shoes.
"What are you going to do?" Poseidon asked worriedly.
Athena looked up into his sea green eyes. She looked away before her grey eyes could bore into his green ones. "Mrs. O'Leary and I are going to fight them," Athena said.
Poseidon's eyes widened. "You'll need help," Poseidon said.
"You can help us after you get the storm established," Athena ordered. Poseidon nodded reluctantly.
"Everyone knows their roles. Now get to it," Athena ordered. The others ran to start their work.
Demeter stood in the middle of the clearing her body glowed with a golden aura as she stretched out to the plants around her. Large vines moved through the tall grass around her until they started to weave themselves into a humanoid shape. The vines grew arms and legs; eventually a head woven of vines and wheat grass formed. Fifty humanoid creatures made of grass, vines and wheat stood in front of the goddess. Her eyes glowed and then two eyes formed in each head of the plant people. The creatures were roughly ten feet tall and their hands looked like blades from a wheat harvester. The creatures stepped to the edge of the clearing only a few hundred yards away from the massive smoky clouds that represented the giants. They began to dig into the earth. They easily cut through the soil as they began to carve out a large trench in the path of the fire giants.
Aphrodite began to glow until she changed into a dove; one that was the size of a small two engine plane. Artemis looked at her sister in wonder. The dove knelt down and Artemis nodded in understanding. She ran forward and climbed onto the back of the giant bird. The dove flew into the air with the goddess of the hunt on its back. They flew towards the cloud of smoke. As they neared the fire giants they could feel the intense heat emanating from their bodies.
Artemis loosed arrow upon arrow into each giant. The fire giants roared with anger as they sent plumes of flame toward the giant bird. The dove banked to the left to avoid one plume of fire before flapping its wings to increase its altitude. The giants were too engrossed in their attack on the two goddesses to even see the trench in front of them.
Poseidon stood in front of the newly dug trench. The plant people had melted back into the grass. Demeter stood near the forest just in case she was needed. Poseidon stretched his hand toward the clouds that hovered over the sea only a few miles away. The clouds began to grow as the water vapor increased in temperature and as more water vapor entered the clouds from the sea below. Clouds began to grow and twist as a hurricane formed just off the coast. Demeter stood and watched the power of her older brother. His control of storms and water working together to create a massive hurricane, a category five. Poseidon moved his hands toward his body beckoning the hurricane to come ashore. The massive clouds moved towards the shoreline as inches of rain poured from the sky. The cool rain put out fires throughout the forest. The water hitting the fire giants caused tremendous plumes of smoke to waft into the air. Poseidon concentrated as his sea green eyes glowed with power.
Hermes ran through the forest as the fire giants slowly moved toward the large clearing where the trenches had been dug. He ran through the forest so quickly that he could only be seen as a blue blur caused by his blue jogging suite. He flew just above the ground at speeds only a jet fighter could reach. The air around his body pulled the oxygen out of the air snuffing out the fires. Other fires were put out by the large amounts of rain that fell from the sky. Hermes darted in and out of the legs of the giants. The fire giants tried to crush him, but the god of messengers was too fast for them.
Athena stepped to the edge of the clearing. She closed her eyes and grew to her godly height. Mrs. O'Leary stepped up beside her. Athena marveled at the size of the hellhound. Even at her godly height the dog was still immense. Athena's arm began to glow as the original Aegis formed. The glowing image of Medusa shown on the shield. It could cause the strongest adversaries to cower in fear. She held her celestial bronze spear in one hand. The tip of the spear crackled with godly power. Mrs. O'Leary's flame red eyes glowed as red and orange flames erupted from her irises. Her black fur looked like shadows as the fur seemed to swirl with never ending darkness. The red tiger stripes pulsed with power. Athena could feel the heat coming from the massive canine.
"Mrs. O'Leary," Athena said. The dog turned its gigantic heat toward the goddess. "Are you ready to fight some giants?"
Mrs. O'Leary howled. The sound echoed through the forest. It sounded like the combination of a fog horn and a pride of lions roaring at the same time. Once the howl stopped every natural noise in the area stopped. Birds didn't sing and all animal noises ceased. Athena smiled at the power of the hellhound.
Suddenly, a massive plume of fire sailed toward the goddess of wisdom. It moved too quickly for her to escape. She closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle. She waited for the flames to burn her flesh, but the pain never occurred. Athena opened her eyes and froze at the sight before her. Mrs. O'Leary stood in front of the goddess. The hellhound intercepted the plume of flame with her body. The heat of the flames blistered Athena's skin even as the dog protected her.
Athena was worried for the dog. Nothing could withstand such fire or heat, but Mrs. O'Leary stood there as the flames engulfed her body. Athena watched mystified as the hellhound absorbed the heat and flame. Mrs. O'Leary's body glowed as her massive frame absorbed the energy. Suddenly, the hellhound began to morph and change, The massive body of the canine began to grow until the hybrid hellhound was ten stories tall.
Mrs. O'Leary roared causing a winds to blow toward the fire giants; the wind blew away the smoke to reveal ten fire giants standing before the group of Olympian gods. The giant's bodies were made of orange flames and their eyes were white hot. Mrs. O'Leary charged the nearest giant and leapt into the air and sank her powerful jaws around the giant's neck. A crack the sound of thunder echoed through the forest as the hellhound snapped the giant's neck. The giant screamed in agony, but Mrs. O'Leary held on as she began to pull the flame and heat out of the giant's body. The hellhound's eyes began to glow white hot. Her eyes finally dimmed and all that was left of the giant was a large pile of black ash. The other giants backed away from the hellhound in terror.
Mrs. O'Leary had turned the giants so that they were backing up toward the trenches. Athena smiled as Mrs. O'Leary stalked toward the giants. The hellhound was another two to three stories taller now. She stalked slowly toward the nine giants.
Athena ran to the edge of the trenches. Poseidon and Demeter were there waiting. A gust of wind whipped up beside them and Hermes appeared. He was out of breath and his jogging suit was singed from a few close calls with the fire giants. A giant bird flew towards the group its wings were on fire. Athena looked closely and her eyes widened at the site of Artemis trying to beat out the flames with her hunter's jacket. The giant bird tried to land, but it crashed into the ground and skidded to a stop. The bird's wings were no longer on fire, but smoke billowed from them. The bird began to glow until the bird turned into the goddess of love. She laid on the ground with her head in Artemis's lap. Aphrodite was out cold and her skin was burned and bruised. Artemis held her older sister protectively. It was strange that Artemis acted this way because she and Aphrodite never got along, but Athena could tell that Artemis was worried for their sister.
"How is she?" Athena asked as the other gods formed a protective circle around them.
Artemis looked up; her silver eyes looked worried. "I'll take care of her. She was really brave. I... I'm sorry that I never go to tell her," Artemis said.
Athena smiled at her younger sister. "You'll have plenty of time to tell her. Take care of her. We'll take out the giants," Athena said. Artemis nodded.
Athena turned back to the others. We better get back to the trenches. The gods ran to the trenches. The giants were still backing toward the trench. Mrs. O'Leary was still pushing them backward. "Get ready; here they come," Athena said.
AN: Sorry for the very small cliffhanger, but there is a method to my madness. Next chapter will reveal the battle with the ice giants and the conclusion to the battle of the fire giants, so stay tuned.