Are you guys mad im a little late? I'm sorry, ive been very busy sortig out my university things. Dont worry, i'm not going anywhere, i will always come back to say hello and update ^^ and as a thank you to my loyal supporters, here is a list of those who reviewed, followed or favourited this story, so a personal thank your to:

Nutsofthechest (Your stories are awesome! So jelly) - Doctojuji (You were a big help at the beginning!) – WolfsBishop - Beleram1238 - Ghost 1247 - Lust in Love - AgentRaptor - ArchAxton Darkcentral11 - Lord of Death and Time (Good name friend) – Netvolts - Bhlazy20 SchockburnerSkyblue271 - Tonic9901 - Bigt578 - .7 – Jmslunford - Kamorris15 – Kornas - Superfanman217 - realtawit - xXKingXx

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Chapter 10-

The world swirled around him, his forehead throbbing as whatever the fangs of the snake were laced with pumped into his system. He felt weak, his legs not listening to his brain causing him to stumble in all directions, and with his vision clouded by hallucinations. Sun flares, shadows, fires, sparks, beams of light that all of it sent his heart racing in panic. He tried to make sense of where we was, but all he saw was an empty pulsing ground and tall mirage-like trees. He felt himself sweat profusely as he staggered around whatever hell he was in.

He tried to clear his mind, make sense what had happened, but it was difficult to concentrate without the feeling his stomach would burst. He remembered teeth, no… fangs, plunging into his neck. A snake, red, and eyes black. His mind flashed white, painfully white, and he fell to the ground, his hands burning from new cuts. He lay there on the floor, his breathing heavy as his vision fluttered between blackness and a vast array of rainbows. He tilted his head left, and in the blurry distance he saw a blob, a blob of white and black. He reached out his arm to it, but it was too far away, so he gripped the crunchy ground and dragged himself towards it. His vision was still wavy, his balance still gone so he couldn't stand.

He got closer to the blob, and it grew into the outline of a person, lying on their side the ground unmoving. Then he got closer, his vision finally able to distinct it as a girl, her clothes stained with blood and mud, and her black hair full of pine needles.

"Thalia…"

With what little strength he had he rolled her on her back, checking to see if she was breathing. Her breath was light, but it was there. His brain was still fuzzy from what must be poison from the snake bite. He his vision wasn't the problem now, it was his weakness. He felt himself slowly slipping to unconsciousness. He needed to act fast, but what did he need to do. He collapsed on the ground, his mind staring into the sun that seemed more and more like death welcoming him. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, his life seeming to fall around him.

Assorted short-term and long term memories relived themselves. Rhonan was a toddler, running around the chicken patch chasing a number of hen, laughing astatically. He was watching the barn burn before him, tears rolling down his face. He was at his first day at school, then his last. Then he was at the beach, the blond haired Annabeth kissing him and pulling at his belt, her tongue running down his neck.

Then a new memory emerged. He was running through a forest, a bow in his right hand and his left was another hand. A girl, same age as him, her hair auburn and her eyes a familiar celestial silver. She was smiling to as they run into a clearing, breaking apart onto to pull arrows in their bows and fire at rabbits which nestled on the ground, both meeting their mark.

They each picked up their kill, and when they did the girl smiled rather slyly. She winked at the man whom' eyes Rho's was looking through. "Race you back to the camp!" and with that she was off like a bullet, and with a smile the man set off after her, laughing as he did and catching up with her fast.

The memory skipped to a campfire, people dancing around them and eating various game, and the man was sitting by the fire, the girl opposite him and laughing, the man obviously finishing a story, but he stood up and raised the cup of drink.

"Artemis, my friend, my most beautiful crescent moon, I give thanks to the Fates that we are so well met. The love we share is as valuable as my life, and I am a better man for knowing you."

'Artemis?' Rho thought.

Artemis giggles and blushed, but raised her cup up as well. "I treasure our friendship also, Orion. Thou art a fine man and I bless our time together." The two drank, and Artemis jumped up, running over to the man, whom Rho was now watching in third person so he could get a better look at him. He was a man, around 20 maybe, his brown hair curly and brown, very unlike Rho's. His eyes however, were grey, just like his, and his smile was almost uncanny. But that wasn't the thing that surprised him most.

It was when Artemis leaned in and kissed the man on the lips. The man, Orion, had managed to win the affection of a male-hating maiden goddess. Rho's eyes widened. Could this man be his father? But he knew the story of Orion, he knew it ended not like this, but in tragedy.

Just as he thought this the memory skipped again, this time Orion was waving Artemis goodbye as she walked away with some of her nymph followers. Orion spoke to another man, whom Rho didn't recognise at first. "What incurs thine anger, my lord?" asked Orion. Rho was again surprised as the man's face was shown. It was the unmistakeable handsome face of the sun god, Apollo.

"I'm surprised you would question my apprehension at the arrival of another who enjoys my sister's favours."

Orion laughed before he could think not to. "Favours?" he exclaimed. "But Artemis is a chaste goddess. She has not known me, nor any man. We are companions, but of the hunt and the forest, not any bed or bower." Rho watched as the first thought kind sun god grew red in fury, he punch Orion to the ground, his face livid.

"You insult me-mortal," Apollo said, standing up, his face a blaze of wrath. Orion cowered at his feet. "Do not lie to my divine! I take women as my lovers, as nature intended, tell me why you shall be different?"

"My lord, I did not intend any insult-" But Apollo walked away before Orion could apologies, vanishing by the tree line. Orion was on his knees, his body shaking in remorse over the misunderstanding. Artemis was running towards the shaking man as the image changed again.

He was watching Orion toss and turn in his sleep, the images flashing in the air above him. A scorpion, three times larger than he was, and Orion was being overpowered, no matter how much he tried his sword could not pierce the scorpions armour, and then he awoke, sweating and shaking. He rose out of bed, grabbing his bow and quiver.

"Artemis." He whispered as he walked out of his tent. But as he left the tent, his nightmare became real. The scorpion towered over him, his stinger raised and eyes focused on Orion, whose face lost colour and his jaw dropped. He fought the monster for what seemed like hours, his sword and arrows bouncing off the armour and not even leaving a scratch. They fought until they reached the shoreline, and Orion saw his only chance at escape and jumped the cliff, into the ocean.

Then the scene cut to the camp again, Artemis and Apollo in deep conversation over something. "Orion is not thine concern, for I have sombre news sister. An evil man, Candaon, had this night previous attacked and raped Opos, one of your hyperborean priestesses, and is as we speak swimming to a distant island, hoping to escape the wrath of Artemis."

Rho could almost feel the anger Artemis felt at that moment. Hate for the man who defiled her loyal maiden, and rage as to his daring and most cowardly retreat. "No one escapes the wrath of Artemis! My bow shall end the evil man. Candaon shall die today!" She ran to the ocean, Apollo, with a grin of victory, followed her, and the scene changed.

They were at the coast, Artemis trying to find whom she thought was Candaon but was in fact Orion. Apollo pointed to a speck in the distance, the fleeing Orion, and Artemis loosed her arrow with unerring aim and slew her friend. When he saw his plan had succeeded, Apollo ran away. Artemis turned as a nymph maiden approached her. "Opos, it is good to see thee unharmed. One who has lost purity deserves vengeance, which I have just exacted."

"My lady, you have been misled." Opos said. "I have retained my purity, the man you shot was no such attacker."

Artemis' eyes widened in shock. "But then… Who is-" she turned to the ocean and dropped her bow. "No!" she dived into the ocean, swimming towards the speck she had shot. As she swam, the memory melted into the last scene, Artemis stroking the lifless body of Orion as a man with white, aged hair applied droplets of green liquid to Orion's lips, but he soon moved away, shaking his head.

"Lady Artemis, I'm afraid his soul had already found its way into the Asphodel Fields. The blood of Gorgon can help him find his way home to you. I am sorry."

"Thank you, Asclepius." Artemis said, tears in her silver eyes. He left the tent, leaving Rho's mother to weep over the body of her first love. Rho felt his heart back in his body sink into black sadness, if he could he would weep alongside his mother.

She turned her gaze skyward, the night lights shining above. She smiled, and looked at the lifeless Orion. "My fine man, my friend." She cupped his head in her hands, and she closed her eyes and from her palms a light glistened through the hair of the man. "Never shall you leave the night I will sleep through. Never shall I hunt alone, while you are there above me, watching over me. You shall forever be next to me, my star. My love."

Orion's body began to change. His body faded into a dotted lights, like stars, that outlined his body, connected by lines. Rho now recognised him, the man from his dreams. The man who had pointed him in the direction of his quest, who had laughed and had warned him. This whole time it was Orion, first love of his mother. He faded, the lights rising into the sky and forever placing themselves in the sky as the constellation. Artemis smiled, and wept into her arms as the memory finally faded. Leaving Rho stunned at the memory he had no idea was his.

'What… the actual…. Fuck.'

Then the memorise returned again. He was a baby, the giant man sitting in a golden throne, and his mother holding him as a baby, begging for him to be spared. He was in the barn, picking a flower from the ground, chewing it, and spitting it into a bandage to heal the mother sheep.

The flower.

Its stem was short. Its petals silver. Asphodel. It had healed the sheep, maybe it would heal them? No, Asphodel was for cuts and wounds, he needed an anti-toxin. Then in his mind a new flower formed. Its petals orange, long and curved. Its stem branched off in many directions with several orange coloured heads attached to them. Mystisia. The name of the plant that can cure this snake bite was Mystisia.

He turned his head towards Thalia, reaching his hand out towards her. But now his eyes focused on a new colour, a purple colour that had appeared between them. His eyes pieced together the image of a multiheaded, purple petels of the flower from his mind. The Mystisia, the cure to poison.

Rho couldn't help but smile through his thumping brain. "Oh I am SO good." He murmured.

He picked the flower from the ground, his dizzy state not overpowering his determination. He picked a two petals from each flower, cupping them in his hands and blowing on them, his instinct telling him to give it carbon dioxide in order to increase the potency. He then slowly and painfully reached over to Thalia's mouth, opening it and placing the petal under her tongue, then doing the same to himself.

He felt nothing at first, just the cool petal under his swollen muscle. But soon he could taste something sour, and he felt his insides burn slightly, making him wince in pain but then it was gone, and he felt his head begin to clear, the bright lights dulling and the hallucinations gone. He felt his breath return to normal, and he took deep, blissful inhales of air. He turned to Thalia, whose breathing also improved, and her face regain colour, but she remained unconscious.

Rho couldn't help but laugh at the end of his traumatic experience. He finally felt able to sit up, which he did, and he finally got a clear look at his surroundings. They were still in the forest, but there was no sign of the hunters. He remembered being attacked by monster after monster, then finally the red snake lunging at him and biting his neck, and that was the last he could remember. He felt the strength in his legs return, and he stood up, finding his rucksack a few yards away, ripped but otherwise okay. His ring was accounted for too.

He looked down at Thalia, who seemed to not be waking any time soon. He checked his pocket and found his Astrolobe still inside it. He took it out, but then he remembered it didn't tell the time, but did tell him that was still in the forest in Utah, and only half a day's walk from the Lake. So where were the hunters?

He looked again at Thalia, and clapped his hands together like he often did before doing a job on the farm. "Right then, working time."

The fire was going strong as finally as the sun was setting she woke up, the many blankets falling off her shoulders as she yawned cutely and looked around at the small improvised camp Rho had made. He was sitting on a log by the fire, boiling water as he ate a granola bar. He had set up a single hammock he had in his bag across two trees, and she was lying in a sleeping bag. She quickly realised the hunters were gone, and she jumped up, trying to find her bow which he had smartly moved away from her.

"What! Where-Where are the other hunter!" She said, confusing mixing with anger. "Tell me male."

"Would you stop calling me male?" He said, his voice tired. "I just spent the past five hours making sure you heal properly. You should thank me for saving your life."

"You. Saved me?"

"We got bitten by a venomous snake." He said "I managed to wake up, go through a whole out of body experience, have my life flash before my eyes, and still manage to cure us, start a fire, and…" he pulled out from behind him two rabbits. "Catch us a meal."

She seemed to be struggling to remain angry as her hungry eyes followed the rabbit. She likes her lips. "You did all this yourself?"

He smiled as he put the rabbits over the fire to cook. "I was a boy scout okay. I learnt all the live off the land stuff when I was 10. But even before that, I could tell the difference between the berries that kill you and those that don't. I guess it come with being a hunter by blood."

She had given up standing up it seemed, as her knees almost gave out and he had to run and catch her fall, which she was not happy about. "Let me go I'm fine!"

"Let's not go through this argument okay? You be a good little lieutenant and follow orders." She glared at him, but submitted, and let him carry her to the hammock, place her in it to rest, and then bring over some blankets and a rabbit for her to eat. "If you think males can't cook, it's either be stubborn or be alive."

She took the rabbit, and when he turned his back he could hear her ravish it, much to his amusement. He tucked into his own, he was hungrier than he had ever been. When he was finished he ripped a cloth from one of his camp t-shirt and soaked it in the hot water, and dabbed it over the bite in his neck. He winced in pain, but the hot water soaked up the last of the venom on the wound. He walked over the Thalia, who had also finished, and took a deep breath before speaking.

"I need to treat your wound."

"Ha." She said, turning away from him, but soon she turned back, her face slightly red. "Okay, but only this once."

He nodded, and sat down on the hammock and dabbed her wound. She forced herself not to show any pain, which he found odd but understandable.

"How do you know to do these things?" she asked him, her tone now lost all aggression, and had a sweet tone to it, one he found he could listen to forever.

"I'm not really sure." He confessed. "I guess is part of being son of the hunter, hunters know how to survive and stuff, they live in the forest, so know everything about it." He paused, frowning. "It's actually kind of scary how much I know. How weird is that, I have this power but I fear it."

She laughed at this, a small laugh that seemed almost genuine, which was weird from someone who only that morning had kicked him awake. "I think I can relate to that."

"Really? How so?" Rho suddenly realised he didn't actually know who's child Thalia was. "Who's your godly parent?"

"You mean you don't know?" She said, perplexed. "That's odd, everyone has heard at me at Camp Half Blood. Annabeth must have told you about her friend the child of one of the Big Three?"

"Who, that Percy guy?"

"What- No, not him!" she began, but then he remembered.

"Oh wait, Thalia, daughter of Zeus she did tell me. Wait, weren't you a tree!" he said shocked.

"Yeah, that's a long story." She laughed again. "Why are you giving me that look?"

"Well, you know, you were a tree."

She looked at him like he was the dumbest person in the world. "You're such a male." She smacked him over the head, but not painfully. They looked at each other, and after a very slow second she blushed and looked away. "Erm, so what do we do now?"

"We still have a quest to complete." He said, looking at his Astrolobe that still pointed west. "Best thing to do is head out tomorrow."

"Can't we wait for the hunters?" She asked, concerned.

"We can only assume that they couldn't find us by now, we can't find them." He said solemnly, but he smiled in reassurance. "I'll take first watch."

"Okay." She said, and as He went to the fire she called him back. "Rho?"

"Hmm?"

"You're still a moron."

"Thanks for the positive words, I'll make sure that the monsters are very much aware of where your sleeping when they come to murder us."