Chapter 9

Previously...

Avalon finally broke the silence," Havoc gave us each an envelope and a cloak that contains our new names and will help keep our identities secret. I swear if my name is something stupid so help me Havoc." After laughing for a few seconds we decided to go ahead and open our envelopes to our second lives.

The ship hovered silently over an area that was free from enemy eyes as it dropped off the three occupants before quietly flying back to planet Tiphos.

Percy looked to Avalon and Stephan and spoke," okay Paragon I believe that we should set up here for the night what do you think Cobra?" Avalon and Stephan nodded and spoke,

"Sounds good Maelstrom"

Now...

The void

3rd person POV

"Is everything prepared for our launch to Vesperon Alexander?" Hannibal asked from his station aboard the ship. Alexander leaned back in his seat and spoke,

"I believe so, but why don't we make it interesting. I just so happen to have a coin if it lands on heads I will go and double check everything if its tails you get to do it." Hannibal nodded and alexander flipped the coin in the air, but before the coin could fall into his hand a knife flew past and pinned the coin against the wall on heads.

"Well it looks like you get to double check everything." Hannibal said with a smirk. Alexander narrowed his eyes then left the control room muttering something about stupid throwing knives.

Walking from the control room down the corridor of the ship Alexander was mentally checking everything off as he passed by them. Hmmmmm the ships maintenance report looks good, the weapons look to be in order along with the soldiers who continue to glance around nervously amongst themselves. I think that's everything.

*BAM*

Well almost everything.

I turned around to see our young auburn haired general sprawled out on the floor after running into the door.

Alexander sighed before walking over to Oliver and offered him a hand which Oliver gratefully accepted.

The young auburn haired general ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"Sorry Alex I overslept and I rushed over here and I just didn't want to miss the battle." Oliver spoke. Alexander looked upon Oliver and let a faint frown come across his face.

"The battle isn't going anywhere Oliver, come let us get to the control room before Hannibal blows a gasket and leaves without us." Oliver smiled at this and they made their way to the control room.

While walking Oliver noticed the looks of nervousness among the soldiers as they passed their bunks. He vowed that he would protect his men to the best abilities.

Hannibal made the last adjustments as Alexander and Oliver walked through the door and into the control room.

"Ah just in time you two go ahead and get strapped in so we can take off." As they prepared for takeoff Alexander gave a quick glance to Oliver who looked like he was trying not to fall asleep in his seat.

"Oliver go ahead and rest I will wake you up when we arrive." Alexander said. Oliver simply nodded before getting comfortable and slowly drifted into a dream.

Oliver found himself in a beautiful throne room with empty thrones in front of him. Frowning he turned and saw a young looking teenager around seventeen years old with blonde hair and a noticeable scar that runs down the side of his face, gold eyes holding a scythe as if waiting for somebody. Before his mind could try figure out who this is he heard the throne room doors open. The gold eyed teenager smiled maliciously that almost made his blood run cold and spoke,

"Finally grandson we meet face to face."

Oliver felt a shaking sensation as he tried to turn around and felt himself slowly come out of his dream.

"Oliver? Hey Oliver come on we are here on Vesperon. Camp is already set up and Alexander is waiting for us to go over our battle strategy one more time." Hannibal spoke. Oliver nodded and stood up, stretched his arms outward earning a satisfying pop from his back as he sighed in relief. He had no idea who that was in his dream, but he would definitely iris message Artemis about it after going over the battle strategy.

Line Break

Percy awoke suddenly panting. He calmed his breathing before putting on his battle armor and walked out of his tent, making his way to the center of camp to sit by the fire. He grabbed a stick that was nearby and started tending to the fire lost in thought. Clearly after all this time it still feels as if it all happened yesterday.

Percy's Dream

As I got up I parried another strike I looked past Ares frustrated face to see Zeus seething with anger until I saw I grin slowly creep onto his face which made me wonder what was happening before I could register what happened I felt a piercing pain in the my Achilles Spot I turned around to see Artemis with tears in her eyes as she mouthed the words I am sorry.

I looked at her in disbelief as I fell to a knee I could hear Zeus laughing evilly, happy that he has his throne. My father along with the other gods that favored me yell out at me to hold on I felt myself begin to lose consciousness as I fell to my back as the blood kept pouring out of my back.

Percy was pulled out of his dream by someone clearing their throat behind him. He quickly got up and unsheathed his sword and pointed it at a wide eyed Avalon.

"Woah easy there" Avalon spoke as she slowly moved the edge of the sword away from her throat. Percy sighed and sheathed his sword and took his previous position back by the fire. Avalon took a seat across from Percy and moved a strand of hair that fell in her face behind her ear.

"You know as well as anyone Avalon, not to sneak up on me like that." Percy spoke as he poked around the fire.

Avalon looked down at the fire and frowned.

"I know that Percy, I couldn't sleep so I decided to come out here and sit by the fire, but you were already here. What has you awake Percy?" Avalon asked.

Percy sighed before running a hand through his hair.

"You know what, it has been 500 years yet it feels as if it was only yesterday."

Avalon nodded knowing Percy's story, but for once she was at a loss for words; Thankfully Percy saved her from the hollowing silence.

"I should hate her" Percy spoke with a little venom in his voice.

"But you don't?" Avalon asked carefully. Percy just shook his head sadly.

"I just cannot believe she would betray me of her own free will, there has to be a bigger picture than what I am seeing right now." Avalon looked upon her commander with a sorrowful expression before Percy stood up.

"I am going to go scout ahead I will be back before sunrise." Percy spoke, and before she could protest he was already gone.

Line Break

Percy scouted a few miles ahead and was about to head back to camp when heard people shouting. Cautiously Percy walked towards the shouting and found himself near a camp full of Chaos' soldiers. He counted nearly 50 soldiers that were outside at the moment, but he knew there were more in the tents set up around the camp. Percy carefully and quietly made his way back to his camp to warn Avalon and Stephan that they had company.

As Percy entered camp he noticed Avalon and Stephan in full battle armor, and cloaks with their hoods down.

"Ah Percy nice of you to join us we are ready to take Vesperon back to its rightful king." Stephan spoke confidently. Avalon smiled slightly and nodded.

"Well I am glad you are ready to fight Stephan trust me I am with you, but we have a slight change of plans." Stephan raised an eyebrow and Avalon frowned before Percy continued. "Chaos conveniently sent some of his troops here to defend Vesperon." Stephan sighed before muttering an impressive string of curses before going silent. He looked to Avalon then to Percy before speaking,

"So what's the plan?" Percy took a deep breath before he grinned which made Avalon and Stephan raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Okay here is what we do."

Line Break

As Percy and Stephan made their way to the enemy camp Percy put up his hand to stop Stephan. Percy looked below on the patrolling trail as three soldiers on horseback were passing below.

Percy brought a finger to his lips and pointed below. Stephan nodded and they both jumped down, each knocking a soldier off their horse and quickly recovered and drove a sword through their chest before quickly dispatching the last soldier with ease. Stephan and Percy had just finished cleaning the blood from their swords when Avalon approached them with a piece of wood that was the length of the soldiers back.

"Alright Stephan help me lift him up here. Avalon you make sure you cover us, if crap hits the fan you make sure you give us enough time to get out." Percy spoke and Avalon simply nodded before getting into position.

Line Break

As Oliver sat in his tent he felt as if something was wrong, so just to be on the safe side he put on his armor and grabbed his swords before heading out to find his other generals.

Hannibal and Alexander were currently discussing preparations for the kings' visit in a few days. There had been a few disturbances around the borders of the camp so they have been sending out more patrols as of late. Before Hannibal could continue his explanation on why he hates the king of Vesperon an auburn haired general came into the tent.

"Guys I have a bad feeling right now, we might be in danger." Oliver said in a serious tone. Alexander looked at Hannibal and sighed before looking back to Oliver.

"Ah well if it would make you feel better let us walk the border of the camp so that you will see that everything is fine." Alexander spoke. Hannibal nodded and grabbed their armor and weapons, just in case.

Small Line Break

As the three generals finished their border patrol they came to a stop at the entrance of camp.

"See Oliver everything is fine. Look here is one of our patrols now." Hannibal gestured out to the patrol group coming back into camp. Alexander narrowed his eyes and saw only one of the three soldiers that were sent out, but then he saw the bodies of his other two soldiers on their horse following closely behind the surviving soldier.

"Wait a minute Hannibal two of our soldiers are down." Alexander spoke. Hannibal nodded and sent a small group of soldiers to help the surviving soldier into camp to figure out what had happened and to get the bodies of the dead soldiers to give them a proper burial.

As the soldiers approached the surviving member of the patrol they noticed the eerie silence not even a word was spoken from the soldier from under his hood. The soldiers continued to ask him questions only to be met with silence. Growing frustrated one of the soldiers punched the surviving member in the arm causing him to fall off his horse onto the ground.

Oliver quickly ran over to the soldiers' body and rolled him over to check for a pulse but found none. As he looked closer he noticed something sticking out from under the back of his shirt under his cloak. He inspected further and pulled a piece of wood the length of the soldiers' back out from under his shirt now knowing it was a trick. But it was too late.

The two supposedly dead soldiers hopped off the two horses and started decimating through our soldiers mercilessly and swiftly as arrows suddenly started raining death upon us. Getting behind cover Oliver glanced over to see Hannibal deflecting arrows off his shield while shouting orders to our remaining soldiers while Alexander is locked in a battle with one of the two enemy soldiers'. The other enemy soldier was like a whirlwind of death slicing through soldiers without missing a beat. Time seemed to stand still for Oliver as he felt that he had to do something, but he should have thought of a better strategy than going head up with the "Whirlwind of Death" as Oliver has so dubbed him.

As Oliver rushed into battle despite Hannibal yelling for him to return to his original position, he unsheathed his two swords continued he path to the man who was killing his soldiers'. The enemies attention was directed away from Oliver as the man blocked a sword aimed for his head. As Oliver took his opportunity and swung his swords in a downward arc the man turned towards him and thrust his hand toward Oliver. Oliver was knocked off his feet by an unknown force as the man finished off a soldier that held his attention previously before walking over to Oliver with his sword drawn. Oliver stared at the man with wide eyes frozen from fear. My only thought was how Chaos would tell my mother about my death.

As the man was about to swing sword Oliver closed his eyes and waited for the pain, but it never came. He hesitantly opened his silver eyes to stare at the man under the cloak who looked to be fighting an internal battle on whether not to kill him or not when suddenly an arrow flew into the mans' shoulder and he stumbled back. Oliver turned around to see Hannibal without his shield holding a bow in his hands as rushed over and got me up quickly moving me behind some of the soldiers. Alexander quickly broke the duel he was having with the second man and made his way over to us as his body had cuts and gashes on his arms and legs.

The man who fought alexander helped the man who hesitated to kill me out of the fray as arrows continued to rain down covering their escape.

"We are going to follow them right?" Oliver spoke. Alexander shook his head.

"No we do not have enough soldiers to give chase Ollie. We need to regroup and report back to Chaos immediately." Alexander spoke.

Oliver nodded and they prepared to head back to the void. After giving the fallen soldiers a proper burial Oliver looked upon all of the graves teary eyed. Oliver had vowed to protect his soldiers to the best of his abilities. Hannibal came behind him and put a hand on his shoulder as Oliver turned around and hugged him and let out his emotions.

"Does it get easier Hannibal?" Oliver asked. Hannibal took a deep breath.

"Death is never easy Oliver, but you cannot wear the ones you lost on your sleeves, the guilt will eat you alive." Oliver simply nodded and they made their way back to the ship to go back to the void.

As Oliver sat in his seat he couldn't get the thought out of his head, why did that man hesitate?

Hey guys sorry about the wait I wanted this to be good for you guys. I hope you liked the chapter if you did be sure to let me know and review!