Chapter 11: Plans
3rd Person
A door opened as a figure slowly trudged in. Sitting on the throne was person, his features obscured in the darkness. No fool however would take him as a mortal. He was, much more than that.
"My Lord", he kneeled showing slight fear in his voice, "It seems as if we have made a few enemies."
The mysterious man frowned, "What happened?"
His servant gulped, "Kronos, Atlas, Prometheus, Hyperion and Oceanus have been defeated. Tartarus is under attack."
The man got up from his throne and slowly walked over to the servant, the darkness seemingly following him. He stood over the messenger and regarded him in silence before kneeling next to him and looking him straight in the eyes, "Tell me everything."
The messenger nodded, "This was from just an hour ago", he took out a telegram and it flashed into an image of Tartarus chamber #1. Piles of dust were scattered everywhere, no doubt from deceased monsters.
The mans eyes flared, "Where'd Poseidon, Oceanus and Hyperion go?"
"That is what we don't know Erebus", a feminine figure walked in, "It seems as if someone is playing against us", She said.
Erebus stood up, "Ananke...do you have any idea who this threat is?" he asked.
The deity of fate and destiny shook her head. "I do not know any demigod stupid enough to enter Tartarus nor have any gods recently escaped on their own."
Erebus shook his head, "And this leads you to believe...?" he motioned for his sister to finish the sentence.
Ananke smiled though it was grim, "My guess is Nyx has gathered some of the others who do not believe in our cause and formed an alliance."
The Primordial being of Darkness had a shocked expression written upon his face. It quickly disappeared, replaced with one of anger and betrayal. "My own wife would betray me for those Olympians?" He hissed.
Ananke shook her head, "I'm sorry Erebus, but all the clues lead me to believe this is exactly what is happening. Gaea's plan was perfect however something on Olympus stopped Atlas and Prometheus from taking Artemis and destroying the council. We know that no mortal has the power to stop two Titans."
Erebus clenched his fists, "This was suppose to be our perfect rule...we were SUPPOSE TO HAVE WON ALREADY!" He bellowed before slumping back into his chair.
His sister looked at him sadly, "I never hoped this would happen. Just make sure you watch carefully and make no foolish mistakes, I have a feeling Nyx isn't the only enemy we must watch out for", Ananke said before walking out the door without a glance back.
Camp Half-Blood
Jason
Leo, Piper and I had just came back from a quest to defeat a monster camp. It would for sure halt the attacks on camp for a while. We'd recieved note from Chiron that the gods had been captured which shocked me. If our enemies were already this powerful, there no telling what else they had up their sleeves. The gods domains had gotten noticably weaker, no doubt straining from lack of directance from their respective gods.
My nervousness eased as Chiron explained to me that the commanders had jumped into Tartarus to rescue the gods. I had no doubt people as powerful as them could break through. On the other hand, there was something so familiar about some of them, it was hard to touch by.
The camp was constructing a new device that with the blueprints Neptune gave us before he was captured. It was known as the Earthquake Generator. The Hephaestus campers explained that it would send a focused seismic strike directly to the target. It needed to be constructed carefully as the key energy source came from Lord Neptunes essence himself.
I sat down at the peak of Half Blood hill staring in the distance, enjoying the beauty. There was no doubt this would be a bloody war, the new weapon would be a huge asset however.
My hairs suddenly stood straight up; I bolted upright. If there was one thing that living for a few centuries would tell you is that you knew when monsters were near. I quickly jumped up as I spotted the first hellhound. Several more were emerging from the shadows creeping torwards the camp. Before I knew it, the largest army of Hellhounds I had ever seen gathered around the camp boundaries.
My eyes widened as I scrambled to tell Chiron.
"Theres a massive hellhound army outside the borders", I yelled as everyone scurried to get ready.
Chiron quickly trotted out, "What's happening m'boy" he asked.
I motioned torwards Thalia's Pine, "There is a huge army of hellhounds camping outside the camp", I replied.
He nodded worriedly before turning to all the campers, "EVERYONE, GET READY FOR BATTLE!" He hollared.
The campers all hurried to their positions. The archers positioned themselves in guard posts while melee fighters stayed near the border, waiting for the signal. This was the largest attack in a long time, the monsters could easily overun the camp. Although the border shields protected the camp, it wasn't able to sustain a coordinated, surgical attack for too long.
I paced throughout the defensive lines, "This isn't enough", I gritted my teeth. We had about 200 campers, only 150 actually trained and battle ready. There were at least 500 Hellhounds. Even with enhanced powers, this many hellhounds was going to be a challenge to defeat.
I walked over to Tyler, my half brother. He looked at me with worry before pointing to a slight depression in the forest. I squinted my eyes. Out of the depression emerged an army of Earthborn.
"That is bad..." I said.
He nodded before scowling, "It's not bad, it's terrible! This camp will be overrun!"
All the other campers seemed to have noticed the new threat, taking a cautious step back with faces of pure fear. The Hephaestus campers were setting up traps as quickly as they could. The Apollo cabin were preparing as many arrows as possible and the Ares cabin was brandishing their weapons. Everyone knew this might be their last day.
Suddenly the sound of a piercing horn was heard over the distance of camp. Out of the forest stepped out 30 hunters and Artemis herself ready to take combat. They all dashed across the Cabin grounds to fortify the campers defense. What I'd been told was that Artemis was the only Olympian left after the mass captures. She took a while to heal but but nevertheless was back in hunt within a week.
The hunters took position while the Goddess of the Hunt was in a conversation with Chiron. The old Centaur was obviously discussing the current situation. It was too bad Artemis herself was bound to the ancient laws, only able to fight when a Titan was accompanying the army of monsters.
"This is going to be toughest battle in a long time", I turned around as Reyna, Piper, Leo and Dakota walked over and stood next to me.
I nodded, "I don't know, but there might not be a camp half-blood after this battle", I said sadly.
Leo put a hand on my shoulder and for the first time in a long time, he was serious, "We will fight till our last breath man, we just need to hope that the commanders can manage to rescue the gods in time."
Reyna and Piper nodded, "For once I agree with Repair boy. No matter what happens today, know that we fought with honor and that we will be remembered", Piper said.
I sighed, "Let's get ready"
I peered over the hill just as a flurry of black charged forward at the camp boundaries.
"FIRE!" Will Solace yelled; a volley of arrows blanketed the hellhounds. Several burst into dust staright away.
"ATTACK!" Chiron ordered.
All other campers charged meeting the stampede of hellhounds. This was their first real opportunity to test their enhanced abilities out. Everyones new powers were unfortunetely still too weak to play in their favor; the only campers who had mastered them were the ones that were down in Tartarus. It was still best not to use their new abilities in spite of alerting the Primordials of our new allies.
I tossed my coin up in the air. It transformed into my trusty old spear. I let out a battle cry before charging into the battle with the tip of the spear sparkling with electricity. I thrust my spear through an unsuspecting hellhound turning it into dust. Another old furball charged me with it's mouth drooling as if ready to devour its next meal.
I smiled lowering my spear as an arc of electricty blew the hellhound off the ground. I was doing well, however there were many campers laying on the ground either dead or injured. I looked at them sadly, I couldn't save them. I was snapped out of my thoughts as several more Hellhounds slowly made their way torwards me. I gripped my spear taking an experimental swing at the hellhound. He quickly backed away snarling.
Eventually the Hellhounds began circling me, each striking at my most unsuspecting position. I dodged every single strike with ease. It was the perfect time to try the new trick I had been practicing for so long. I grinned viciously at the Hellhounds. They took a step back looking utterly confused at my estastic expression. Before they had any idea what I was doing, I drove my spear straight into the earth releasing as much electric current as I could. The ground shook as millions of volts of electricty coursed through it. The hellhounds went stiff as the current shocked them into dust.
I fought off exhaustion impaling another hellhound in the heart. I turned just in time to see Piper trip over a rock while fighting an Earthborn. The creation of Gaea slowly raised its hands, forming a dagger and ready to slice Piper open.
My eyes widened, "NO!" I ran as fast as I could in time to step in front of Piper to block the strike with my sword. She smiled at me before quickly jumping back up on her feet.
"Let's kill this thing", she said stepping to action slashing at the Earthborn with Katoptris. The Earthborn blocked the strike but failed to notice me creeping behind him. I stabbed the Earthborn in the back, it slowly dissolved into dust. I was about to charge another Earthborn when Chrion decided it was enough.
"Campers retreat! Set up defense on the hill", He said continuing to fire arrow after arrow at monsters.
I ran over to the Centaur with a questioning look on my face, "What do we do next?" I asked.
He looked at me shaking his head, "I'm afraid there nothing else to do except to fight until our last breath", he said.
I nodded expecting this answer. I glanced down the slope of the hill. There were still too many monsters alive and too many campers dead. Only about 50 were still able to fight. Taking a deep breath I charged back into battle when suddenly...
I know...I know, I left you on a bit of a cliff hanger and I honestly don't think this chapter's too good but I need some time to think about what will happen in the upcoming chapters. Give me some time and I'll update once I can figure out how to proceed. Anyway tell me how the stories I recommended are so far. It may just get you a faster update!
