Ok, this is like my new favorite chapter. Kinda. I love physical conflict almost as much as emotional. I had so much fun writing this 3v1.
I really want to pick up the pace, but I also want to jam pack this story with content. My mind is spiraling trying to keep all the plot points together. I'm also debating on whether or not I should kill a few characters off.
Enjoy.
The Black Knight Crow
I
"Sorry, I'm late!" Percy barreled through the lobby of the train station. He skidded to a stop in front of Thalia and I.
Thalia punched his shoulder not too lightly.
"What the hell kept you, Jackson?" Thalia shouted just quiet enough to draw everyone's attention in the lobby. "Don't you know we have a schedule to keep? Or did—"
"Yeah, yeah." Percy waved her off. Either he was confident he could fight Thalia of the Light or he was really, really underestimating her temper. Pray, Percy.
"Don't you freaking 'yeah, yeah' me!" Thalia chided. I extended my hand in hopes of defusing the situation, but—
"Here." Percy pulled out a small chain from his pocket. It was a golden necklace. A golden ram necklace. He toss it to her and Thalia caught it oafishly. She stared at the necklace dumbstruck.
"W-W-What's this?" Thalia stammered her mouth widened into a gape staring at the chain cupped in both palms.
"You keep yappin' on about the necklace yesterday that I got annoyed." Percy waved his hands in a nervous circle as he stumbled through an awkward excuse. "I didn't want to hear you complain about it the whole way to San Francisco, so…"
"Uh." Thalia's voice was small. She looked embarrassed, mixed between awe and uncertainty. "Umm… thanks."
"It's— uh, don't mention it." Percy rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed. I felt my stomach twist in jealousy. The feeling rose and clogged the base of my throat.
"The train's leaving." My words slid out before I could even double-check my watch. By some miracle, the roar of the grand beast shook the tunnel. Blaring light shined like the single eye of a cyclops. The display lit up a flashing green, signaling the entry of the N.N.R. train, The Reyn Time.
We moved onto our assigned alcove on the train. A silence hung in the room as we picked away our luggage. My eyes darted to Percy, a sour feeling cast over me like a wet blanket. Why did he get Thalia a necklace? What did she do to earn something like that? It wasn't like Thalia hid her distaste for Percy well, and Percy almost definitely didn't like her… at least not that I knew of.
They barely spoken twice during our stay at camp and now he's buying her a gift? What did Thalia do that I did wrong? Her bitter attitude towards Percy was probably one of the worst at camp. She didn't deserved that necklace.
Did something happen in Baltimore when I was snooping around the laboratory? Perhaps they got too aquatinted at the hotel—I banished the thought from my mind. I wasn't sure how long I was staring at my backpack in thought.
I tugged out my camping blanket from my backpack before stuffing it into the overhead cabinet. I slipped into my seat next to Thalia. She took the window seat, but her attention was on the golden ram around her neck. Her eyes was glowing with wonder as she examined every fine detail, but quickly she whipped her expression away with a more unreadable one. My mind told me; conflicted, worry, frustrated; but my gut said differently.
Why did Percy buy Thalia a necklace? It's a ram. Thalia encountered it. Percy was there. They were walking around. The commerce area? From the restaurant we stopped at to the hotel they found, yes it passed right through the commerce. They were looking through stores, Thalia most likely got lured in one. They were talking about that necklace. Why did Percy buy the necklace?
II
"So you're saying that these Pandora guys are up to whatever business the gods are up to?" I scratched my cheek, trying to make a connection.
Annabeth blanched at my admittedly simple rendition of her story. She was wrapped in her red blanket, all comfy on the other side of the table.
"That's a way to put it, I guess." Annabeth sighed. "What I'm saying is that Pandora is working with some science department on creating a machine that can dissect the Zymosis' adaptive abilities."
"Isn't that a good thing?" I was resting my chin on my right arm on the table. "If they figure out how to break down the Zymotic, wouldn't that mean they can find a cure for it?"
Annabeth's lips pursed. "Well, they didn't exactly mention that they were finding a cure, only a countermeasure."
"Same thing." I waved my other hand. It was hard to follow Annabeth's train of thought. It seems like she was ten steps ahead.
"It's too early to predict what Pandora has in mind for the machine." Annabeth settled. Then why are we even talking about it?
"You can't expect them to be in New York for two years and not find any results." I reassured her. "That's the whole point they're there, right?"
"Right." Annabeth conceded a little, but she was obviously not satisfied.
"I'm just surprised those Pandora guys actually had the wits to figure out what God's Blood was." Thalia muttered with her head resting against the window. If I was bored of this conversation, Thalia was simply dying.
"Fine. Let's leave that as it is now." Annabeth huffed again, no doubt tired of our uncooperativeness. "Then let's talk about Maria's Holly Crown."
Thalia groaned loudly.
"Didn't we already agree that it was some meddling human terrorist?" Thalia grumbled.
"That's before we learned of Pandora's machine." Annabeth argued. "Isn't it too much of a coincidence that the train carrying truckloads of high-tech, secret government machines disappeared on one of the most high maintenance train circuits?"
"So what? If the terrorists had an inkling about the gadgets wouldn't that be a greater incentive to steal the train?" Thalia disputed.
"Ignoring the fact that some 'meddling human terrorists' can kidnap a 9 meter tall, 8.8 kilometer long train. Why would humans have any interest in that kind of machine? Unless they weaponized it, which just opens a whole other can of warms."
"Ransom." Thalia stated curtly.
"Ransom," Annabeth deadpanned. "I'm pretty sure the multi-trillion dollars that went into constructing the N.N.R. would've been far more valuable for ransom. If they have the ability to un-track the Holly Crown, then why isn't this terrorist group stealing something like, oh I don't know, the California State Capitol Museum?"
"Fine," Thalia straightened from her slouch and shrugged. "They're holding both the train and the machines as ransom."
Annabeth bristled at that. I felt a storm of arguments on the horizon and we were barely a day into the ride. Quickly, think!
"Um, what was that thing that, uh, Sherlock Holmes said?" Both girls stared at my abrupt question. "Do not think until you arrive at the crime scene, so you're not biased?" They were surprise and not for the abruptness I can tell.
Thalia made a weird face as if thinking and Annabeth pitched her eyebrows together.
"'It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.'" Annabeth recited once she found the quote somewhere inside her vast storage of a brain. "I'm surprised you know that line."
I laughed, embarrassed. Secretly a bit ticked. Surprised? That's not nice at all.
"I think I used to read a little. It's weird how I can remember some stuff like a quote but not my real name." That was an understatement, the thought annoyed me even more than Annabeth's comment.
"I would suggest you were a big book warm before your amnesia, but I can't bring myself to." Thalia's snide remark was cut off with a self imposed choke.
I fixed a mild glare her way.
Thalia's eyes widened and shut, then glanced at me from their corners as if expecting my anger. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Um, I—"
The seat slipped from bellow me. The bulletproof window rushed in and slammed into my side. I was pinned into a corner. Snacks and blankets flew into the air. Bags and bundles of carriage railed into a typhoon of possessions in a chaotic dance. The seats. I saw the seats where still. Could it have been that it was because they were bolted to the floor?
All the furniture on the train was completely linked and solid. But gravity still affected objects inside of the train, right? Then, the bags, and cases, and trash weren't flying, rather the train was.
I spared a glance to the window, but found the effort hard. I was pinned down by some invisible force. I was pinned down by overwhelming G-force. But I managed. The world was a blur, moving faster than I knew possible. The field of grass and dirt were above us and the sky underneath.
Realization gnawed at my inside. It was always there, but I wanted to ignore it. It wasn't until the ground rose over the window did I force down the idea. The train was flipped. The train was twisting through the air, and all that was within it was in shambles.
I don't want to die.
And all at once the objects curling in the air slammed into the wall to the left. I was pried from the corner of the window and flung into and opposite wall. I closed my eyes and felt a faint thud.
The sound rushed in like metal on metal. Banging of skyscrapers and the groan of a large beast added into the staccato of the earth shattering symphony. Another explosion of a billion metal parts, one that rung through my brain, popped my ears and left me with a sharp ringing.
I felt pressure on my chest. On my back, on my left arm, on the back of my head. I couldn't feel anything more than fire and a cold numbness. Was I amputated? I can't feel my fingers. Am I dead?
I remember. Once I was in a car. It was dark, but not like this. It was raining hard enough that I could barely see five feet out the windshield. I heard screaming very close to me; one was beside me in the driver's seat and the other was behind me in the backseat.
Lightning lit up the darkness and showed a road before me, a hill to the left, and a monster in front of us. We crashed somewhere along the way. The screams quieted a little. The car engine whimpered to sleep and the headlights blinked off.
Another bolt of lightning. The monster was beside us, horns protruding from his head. It lifted the car with such strength that I saw the whole world twist around outside the window. We hit the ground.
"Percy!" Someone called. "Crawl out the window!" But it wasn't the same voice as I remembered.
I don't want to die.
A flash of golden light on a hill of grass. Rain poured on me. The monster was enveloped in the light, but it dimmed into dust.
I don't want to die.
I was falling out a window from a tall building, the wind around me like a blanket that blurred the outside world. I couldn't form words or thoughts, but I knew I didn't want to die.
Then get up with your own two feet.
My eyes creaked open. A tidal wave of heat rocked my body. I could barely feel my body, only the burn of fire. Everything was dark. I was on my back. A faint light a distance above me.
He was poised above me. He didn't look concerned, I don't think, rather serious. His lips moved, but I didn't hear him.
If you don't want to die then get up. Stand up with your own strength.
He bent down. I couldn't see his face well in the darkness, but his eyes were glowing a sea green.
I can't lift you from that hole. This is all I can do.
He reached out his hand. A smile on his lips, he was waiting, expecting.
I reached. My left arm wouldn't budge, a burning knife pierced my shoulder, cutting into my bone. I grunted then tried my right arm. It moved slowly, with all my effort poured into keeping it rising.
I took his hand. His smile widened. He turned away and pulled, detaching me from the darkness and into the light. It was blinding and my head we pounding. I saw doubles.
The hand pulled me out. I scurried onto the new level. Finally my sight returned to me, still pulsing.
It was Thalia who held my hand, not that man. Her head was bleeding. A trail of blood crawled down the side of her temple. She looked down from the light and looked onto my face. Thalia forced a smirk, but the strain on her face betrayed her injuries.
"Over here!" A voice called out. It was Annabeth, she was on the other side of the light. She reached down from pass the window frame.
"I-I can't—" I grunted. "I can't move my other arm."
"Let go of Thalia." Annabeth urged.
"No!" Thalia shouted. "Don't let go. I'll pull you through." She grabbed the window frame and forced herself up, never letting my hand go. Once she was on the other side she heaved. I dug my feet into the creases in the wall and pulled.
It was a struggle. My mind dazed with effort and my joints felt like a frayed ropes being pried apart.
The light of the outside dimmed. The orange evening sky was pulsing and swirling with clouds like serpents swimming in the fire of the sun.
We were on top of the train tipped on its left side. I saw the segments of the train on both sides of us contorted. They rose into the air like great arches. Two segments behind us, the bogies had been completely ripped off. The remainder of the rear cars had swerved off the tracks and collided with parts of the cars in front of us.
There was smoke in the distance in the direction of the head of the train. Small blots of black bounced around the cars in the same direction. They weren't my eyes playing tricks on me, I don't think. The blots were closing in, advancing from car to car, growing in size. They had arms and legs. Numbered in the dozens.
"You guys still wanna argue about who the meddling terrorists are?" I rambled without much thought. I turned back to the others. "'Cause I don't think they're really of the human persuasion."
Annabeth had somehow grabbed our bags before climbing out, at least her's and mine as Thalia had been wearing her string bag the whole time. She shouldered both backpacks.
"We need to clear out." Annabeth tried to sound commanding and all that, but her voice was shaky, not from fear, but anxiety.
"When I think of running away, I always think of jumping onto a train, not the other way around." I babbled on.
"This isn't the time for jokes." Thalia barked from her crouch. Her anger wasn't directed to me, but it still stung. She pressed her hand to her temple and nearly tipped back into the window, but caught herself before she could fall.
"I think it's the perfect time, actually." I ran my right hand through my hair. "Ya know, defense mechanism and all that."
"Off the train!" Annabeth nearly yelled. Thalia hopped off the twenty foot drop without a thought and Annabeth a second after.
"I already got my fair share of falling today. I think I'll pass."
"For gods' sake, Percy." Thalia griped, she was holding onto Annabeth for support.
"Come on, we'll catch you." Annabeth was talking as much nonsense as I was.
I took a glance in the distance. The creatures boarding the train were three cars away. I gulped and hopped off the train. The landing wasn't the most graceful, but the pain of landing in a stiff crouch was overshadowed by the jerking of my left arm.
"Can you carry your bag?" Annabeth asked, skipping the niceties.
"Yeahhh, sure, I've been through worse." I hooked the backpack on my right shoulder.
"We passed a checkpoint town a few miles back." Annabeth began into a light jog. I followed with as much might as my numb legs can muster. "It's mostly in ruins, but some housing facilities are still in use. We should avoid the authorities. If they discover that we were aboard the Reyn Time they'll no doubt keep us under supervision until all details have been discovered."
Annabeth was rambling on in that nervous way that wasn't hard for me to imagine was a common occurrence for her.
"We should stay off the track." Thalia said more firmly. She buckled from her jog and fell. I swung around and hooked her into my right arm.
"Whoa, easy." I leveled her back on her feet. My arms still around her waist supporting her weight. She leaned back and pressed her back against my chest. It was unnerved me seeing her so weak.
"Are you okay? Can you walk?" Annabeth came up on the other side of Thalia.
"I'm seeing doubles." Thalia grunted, her hand pressed to her head where blood still trickled out. She lifted her hand and found it coated in crimson.
"A concussion?" Annabeth sounded more fearful than anxious now.
"I'm alright." Thalia tried to get up, but I grabbed her shoulder.
"No, you're not." I eased her back a little.
"I can walk." Thalia fought back.
"Yeah, but those guys back there didn't walk the train off the tracks." I looked up to Annabeth hoping the handy portable genius could come up with a plan. She looked frantic now. Lost and confused, darting her head from the train and us.
We were at the juncture where the two rear cars' bogies had been torn apart, leaving a gaping hole in the lengths of the train.
"I—I—" Annabeth stuttered under the pressure.
"You guys go on ahead." I released Thalia, who grabbed Annabeth for support.
"W—What do you mean?" Annabeth's voice rose an octave.
"Thalia's too hurt to outrun these guys, so I'll stay back and buy you guys some time."
"No!" Thalia snapped in Annabeth's arms. "We're not leaving you behind. You're outnumbered."
"That didn't stop me before, did it?" I shrugged off my backpack and began to walk towards the wreck again. "You know, one versus an army?"
"You said yourself you can't move your left arm!" Thalia tried to focus her eyes on me while warding off unconsciousness.
"One arm's all I need to take these jokers on." I fished out Riptide and flicked off the cap, extending it into its full length in a swing. I glanced back at them from over my shoulder. "Get going."
"No—"
"Alright." Annabeth interjected. Thalia looked shocked, she was about to rebut when Annabeth continued on. "Go left from the tracks. The ruined part of the checkpoint town is that way. We'll go right. Meet us at the center."
I nodded once.
Annabeth's eyes dropped to the ground. She opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it.
"Damn it, Percy." Thalia whispered harshly under her breath. "Annabeth don't be stupid. You—You can't…" Her voice trailed off into a moan.
Annabeth took up my backpack and, with Thalia's arm around her shoulder, walked through the division between the cars.
I could hear scratching now. Bending and snapping of metal. Growls and hiss of monsters. I saw their shadows on the ground, shifting above the roof.
A single beast landed on the ground on all fours. A black hound slivered from the darkness. A humanoid creature with bronze legs and beastly arms reared. Over the roof of the train a human snake armed her spear. I was surrounded.
The track was quiet—deathly quiet. Not a single breath could be heard. Pitter-patter of the blood ran off my left arm and dropped steadily on the grass.
"Now, gather up, assholes!" I yell swinging Riptide in front of me and pointed at the creature in front of me. I hope there wasn't a an ounce of fear detectable in my voice. "How many of you are there? A dozen? Two? Three? Well, I've only got one arm." I waved my blade for emphasis. "One of my ear's still ringing. And I've only got one blade for the lot of ya." A grin stretch across my lips.
The wind picked up whipping and slashing. The wind condensed into rods then sharpened into swords circling around my body.
"I guess you better start running."
III
Walking was painful. Thalia's haze forced us to move at a crawl. She would nod and rest her head on my shoulder, then her steps would wobble and tip. Her toes would drag and before long she was nearly asleep. It was even more painful to nudge her awake.
After the first hour we stopped to bandage Thalia's head. The gash wasn't too deep, but it was more the impact than the cut that I'm worried about. I assumed she hit the edge of the window frame from the cut. Thankfully not the glass, even more so the glass had flew pass her head.
The worst part of the journey was the silence. It was debatable whether Thalia had been angry or simply lost too much blood to talk.
I couldn't blame her. I was suppose to be the resident strategist. The Vice Commander of the half gods. However, when danger truly erupted, I froze. My mind went blank and all I could do was stare. A thousand useless thoughts raced through my head.
Percy's arm didn't look deformed, maybe his joints were dislodged, or light fractures? The angle of the train that rose up, and the weight, and the resistance of cars pressed together, how long until the raised cars fall? Percy fell through the entrance out of our room. We didn't because Thalia and I sat against the wall.
Thalia became much heavier. She was slipping away, again. I slowed down and patted her shoulder.
"Thalia, stay with me." She grumbled something unintelligent. "We're almost there. Just a little bit more."
"Liar." Thalia mumbled into my shoulder.
"If you have the strength to talk, you have the strength to walk." I shouldered her. "Come on."
"Please, let's just sleep." Thalia whined. Her head bobbed from my shoulder.
"We can't. The monsters might still be on our tail." I whispered.
"Don't worry about it, let them come." Thalia bobbed her head again.
"Thalia, we can't let Percy's efforts go to waste." That got her. She stiffened. Her head rose with effort and she picked up her steps again.
"How much longer?" Thalia's whining wasn't as exaggerated as before.
"Just a little more." I guaranteed.
We exited the thin woods and into a more sparse field. We were a distance away from the track, but signs of civilization was beginning to return to the path.
On the hill that overlooked the field a lone figure stood, cloaked in black, and staring into the distance. He turned, revealing pale skin and dark eyes, eyes that widened.
"Annabeth? Thalia?" He jumped from the hill and dashed down its side with elegant haste.
"Nico!" I shouted with something akin to complete joy and complete shock (not really shocked in hindsight). Thalia nearly tripped from the sudden jolt, but she balanced on her own feet and began her whole glaring thing she was so good at. "Why are you here?"
He hopped to a stop in front of us. "I can ask you the same thing." He seemed surprised to see us alright, but no where near as 'happy' as I was.
"Take a guess." Thalia said not letting her guard down.
"Quest." I provided before she could make things any more nasty.
"Oh." Nico barely heard us. If he was insulted by Thalia's attitude— which by this point who really wouldn't be?— he didn't show it. He turned his head to the side and gazed down the mountain side in the direction of the train wreck.
We were barely a few miles from the rear most car of the Ryen Time. The whole checkpoint town must've heard the crash.
"Why're you out here?" I decided to take Thalia's school of mistrust, it's done her some good over the years.
"Huh?" Nico turned back to us. "Oh, uh, me? Walking."
"Cut the crap." Thalia slurred her words a little, really taking away the seriousness she was going for.
Nico turned back to the horizon, his eyes squinted. I tried to follow his gaze but found nothing out of the ordinary in the orange skyline. He turned back.
"Alright, fine." He turned back to us. "I was trying to retrace some monster trail when I came across a little birdie. He told me the Fomores are investing a lot in something really big, for some grand project. They're testing that new investment out here in the middle of nowhere."
Thalia and I glanced at each other. We looked stupid.
"What?" I exclaimed, louder than I'm proud to admit.
Nico raised his hands in surrender at my sudden outburst.
"Why are you telling us this?" Thalia sounded a little angry. Thal! That's not exactly the greatest question this moment.
"Great question." Nico jabbed his index finger at Thalia, he swiped his finger in a wide arch and stopped towards the distance where he was previously looking. "Because, that little monster they invested in is hunting you guys down."
"Wh—" My voice dropped in my throat and felt a chilling wind creep down my back. A shiver seeped through my body.
A crow perched on a tree. A harbinger of death that stalks its prey moments before the inevitable demise. The rotting of the dead reeks on its wings, but it innocently stood there watching, never moving, never attacking.
Perched upon the train tracks was that crow of a man, cloaked in darkness, not a spec of flesh revealed. Gunmetal plates of armor twisted menacingly. Intricate metal layered on one another and clad every joint and every surface on his body. This harbinger was of darkness and metal, disguised as a fairytale black knight. It was lithe, smooth and slim, armor forming to the knight's figure like a second skin.
Fairytales don't belong in reality.
"We need to run." Nico said lowly. I stood gawking at the creature that was looming before us. It can't be real. There was no reason to be this frightened, there was no reason to be this baffled, but I am. It was some unbeknownst fear that this creature provoked in me. Some kind of primal instinct.
"Let's try this again." Nico stepped up next to me. "Go! Go! Go!" His sudden outburst chocked my hazy mind. He was pushing me, I fell back against his prodding. I turned and grabbed Thalia, then made a mad dash down the field with Nico screaming orders behind us.
"What the fuck is that?" Thalia yelled. The adrenaline kept her awake and hopefully alert.
"Weren't you listening to my story?" Nico shot back now that he's stop screaming. He easily kept his pace with us.
"Yeah, awful plot, no conflict, zero character development." Thalia was breathing heavily. I suspect she was going through more pain than she's letting on, but we couldn't do anything about that, right now. "Let's fight it. We've been through badder monster, before."
"No." Nico wasn't harsh, in fact he seemed contemplative as if measuring our strength against the knight's.
I didn't know where we were going. Nico was somewhat behind us, probably keeping us moving, and nothing but trees in front. I wasn't even sure if that thing was still following us.
"Nico." Thalia growled.
"Alright, we'll try it your way."
IV
One of my least favorite tactics was retreating, I can't take the shame of running away, the enemy's glee and taunting, it's just too much. So by extension counter engagement was one of my favorite tactics.
The key to a successful engagement is being aware of one's surrounding, which in our case was an obstacle. I faintly remembered the layout of where the checkpoint town was, but that was the extent of my knowledge. We need to stop this monster before it reaches that point or else countless casualties might arise, but whether or not WE will survive until that point was still a mystery.
Nervous? Yeah, a bit.
I glanced to my side and found Nico back against a tree, peering over one shoulder, otherwise completely calm. It was as if he was in some kind of a practice rather than an actual life-or-death situation.
I just hope Thalia can stay awake long enough to save us.
The trees swished from in the distance. The bare branches knocked into each other in a symphony of nerves.
My hands were shaking. Three fingers caressed the fine string of my bow I had unfolded from my backpack. A loose arrow lay from the string to the lower limb. Steady. Breath. Focus.
Should the monster actually be chasing us it would appear shorty. Let it fall into our trap.
When will the hunters become the prey?
Yes, this monster will become our prey.
How naïve, I was referring to you.
The trees danced again, the crescendo was over our heads.
But the breeze never came.
I dropped my bow and reached behind me.
"It's above us!" Nico's shout was somewhere distant.
I unsheathed my dagger.
A black form descended from above me with speeds unlike any falling object of that mass should be able to produce.
I jumped down the hill I was perched on. A muffled crash of dirt and rocks plummet behind me. I rolled on the ground and came to a stop on my feet. The monster was upon me. His sword was pure obsidian held single handedly over his head.
The swing was systematic like an executioner's. I bought my dagger up and the two metals clashed in a deafening scream. I tilted my blade to the knight's strength and sent the sword to the ground beside me.
The knight raised his blade in a fluid motion for a second strike.
Nico appeared in a black haze, embedding his own black blade into the side of the knight's armor. The knight was knocked off his feet from the impact and tumbled down to lower ground.
"Change of plans. We're moving to Thalia. Now." I stumbled onto my feet and ran back up the small hill. I scooped up my bow and arrow that lay under the crevice of the bushes. "Keep him busy!"
I heard Nico's dreadful grunt before dashing into the forest. The grey trees whizzed by, tall and bald, like stone pillars. It wasn't long before I heard the clashing of swords and snapping of bones.
I made sure to put a good distance between me and the battle before finding a rise of land around a tree. The roots were exposed, caging in a cluster of rocks. I knelt on the thick roots of the tree and unloaded my bow.
I nocked the arrow still in my hand. Raised the bow. I breathed in as I pulled back on the string. The bow moan as the limbs stretched into a crescent.
I can see them. Nico had summoned skeletons as vanguards, six of them. He himself was retreating slowly.
The black knight was nothing short of a monster. He drove through the protective line of the the skeletons like a scythe through wheat with a massive sweeps of his right arm. The obsidian broad sword was a blur that carved through each skeleton soldier with deadly precision, casting their dislodged bones across the ground.
The black knight dispatched all the skeletons without a single wasted step. He crouched and pounced onto Nico. Their swords met for a heartbeat before Nico was thrown backwards from the sheer force of the swing. He landed somewhere out of my sight.
The knight cocked his sword for another dashing strike. I released the arrow with a sharp sigh. The bronze tipped arrow hissed through the air, passed the trees and branches. and seeped into the knight's shoulder with a thump.
The black knight jerked back from the impact. He dropped his injured arm, still holding the blade, then he turned his head straight at me.
My blood ran cold. Another arrow! But, it doesn't hurt it. I couldn't hurt it.
Nico appeared behind the black knight like the last time, two handing his black sword and aiming for the knight's right side, where his arm was injured.
The black knight raised his injured arm as if completely fine and blocked Nico's blade without a flinch, his helmed eyes were still on me. The knight parried Nico's strike and landed a kick into Nico's stomach sending him to the ground.
"Again." I pulled another arrow and nocked it with frenzy fluidity. Pulled the string, spared half a second on aim, and released. The arrow zipped in a line straight to the back of the knight's helm.
The knight spun around and swiped the arrow from the air. The splintered wood fell to the ground.
"Again." I pulled two arrows from my sheath and pressed them on the sight of the bow, a small gap between the two heads. I pulled the strings tighter than before and released.
The arrows separated in the air, diverging from the original target, one to the chest and the other to the hip.
The knight launched into the air. His blade sliced through both arrows in a single swing. He landed on the hill I had previously stationed on, then leapt into the air again gaining impossible heights.
Another arrow was already loaded. I released the string. The arrow landed against the bark of a tree seconds after the knight had took off again.
The black knight was closing the distance at a terrifying speed. He sprinted through the shapely terrain without hesitation. I pulled for more arrows, three this time. My hands were shaking. My mind was racing.
It's too fast! I can't aim. I need distance. I won't make it.
The black knight landed before me, his sword swinging down on my head.
An arm wrapped around my shoulder and pulled. I fell back but didn't hit the ground. I fell through the ground and into darkness. The knight's dark figure blurred into the distance and twisted and stretched into indistinguishable light like streetlights that streaks across the car window.
We emerged from the shadows within a heartbeat. The light streamed back into my vision as quickly as if I had moved from a dark room into the open air.
The black knight was twenty meters away. He stared right at us. I straightened my bow, pulled, and released.
The three arrows veered into radical directions. Two shot pass the knight, the third was easily swatted aside.
"Aim." Nico instructed sternly.
I huffed and gave a small whine, both automatic responses to criticism.
"Ternion cast hasn't been perfected." I explained. "If I can tighten the cast then I'll be able to land three consecutive arrows with a single draw. The spacing and wind resistance interferes with—"
"I get it." Nico cut me off. He stood up using his sword as a cane. "Get to the rendezvous point. I'll keep it busy." He gave me a nudge on the shoulder.
I wanted to protest but I knew Nico's close combat skills far surpassed mine.
"Alright. Don't get dragged behind." I took off without a confirmation and b-lined straight through the woods.
The trees were identical. Blurring pass one after the other, lending no hint to the destination beyond. But I knew, or rather I hoped I knew that just beyond those white pines was the open hill where the tracks lay.
Crashes and bangs erupted behind me. The silent forest yielded to the ruckus of two monsters. I took a second to quench my curiosity.
Trees uprooted and dirt torn from the ground compressed forcefully into a jagged point. Nico thrust his arm out in rhythm to the elevated earth launching it with speed surreal to their mass, carving a path to their target.
The black knight flung itself into the air, blitzing through the attacks with such frenzied grace that it was nothing short of beautiful and terrifying.
My heart lurched under my ribcage and I nearly stumbled and tripped. I took a moment to collect my breath and my thoughts. Should I cover Nico? Would the monster notice my arrows when he is so concentrated on Nico?
Nico's dark figure was small against the grey tree. His face was sharp and focused. His eyes locked onto the black knight with such furious determination the air fissured with power.
The black knight flew pass the rock spears. He landed a few meters away from Nico then dashed, black sword pulled back. Nico fell back into the tree's shadows.
The black sword pierced the bark. Nico reappeared from the darkness behind the black knight. Four monstrously large skeletal hands rose from the ground and bound the knight in place.
Nico, holding his sword in both hands, thrust into the knight's back. I released my arrow.
A swift swing of his free hand and all four bone arms shattered like glass. He caught Nico's sword in his hand. Almost too easily, the knight tilted his head as the arrow hissed harmlessly pass his helm.
The knight pulled Nico's blade, swinging him to the ground. The knight raised his sword and hammered down onto Nico.
Before the strike landed, the earth erupted and splintered in jagged shards that that converged onto the knight pulled him upwards, caging him in obsidian ten feet above the ground.
I nocked another arrow. A hand squeezed my should, sending chills down my back. I gave a little yelp.
"Retreat first. Arrow second." Nico grouse. He was breathing hard. A trail of blood drooping from his head covering his left eye.
Nico pulled. We fell through the shadows where my eyes were violated again by the dimming of light and stretching of the darkness. We emerged on the border of the forest extending endlessly on either side with withered trees.
"Warn me next time we go into warp drive." I was gasping now too.
"Oh. Children under the age of twelve should close their eyes." Nico picked himself from the ground.
"Don't talk age with me, short stuff. I'm immortal." I followed him up. We dusted ourselves off. My eyes wandered to Nico. That probably wasn't the best thing to say.
Near the end of the last Titanomachy Nico… disappeared. It shouldn't have been a surprise, honestly. He stuck with us for four years, then suddenly, poof, he was gone. That eventually led to the gods revoking his immortality as they saw it as a betrayal.
"Get ready." Nico leveled his sword. And here he is now, after two years of absence, back without any fanfare.
"Move back. Let's take the party to the tracks."
We ran for the hill, Nico a few steps behind me. All I heard was the drumming of air flowing in and out of my lungs. The barren fields was silent except for the icy wind that slashed across the sky threateningly.
I heard something behind us like a thick, muffled hammer, then the whining of broken wood.
A black mass flew over my head. I looked up the see the black crow flying over a backdrop of grey clouds.
The crow landed on the hill a human knight.
"Move right!" Nico shouted behind me.
I complied. Shards of obsidian fangs ungrounded and slammed into the black knight. The knight was thrown back, but he corrected himself midair and landed elegantly.
I sprinted pass the knight, making a break for whatever invisible point of safety.
The knight spun around and dashed for me. He raised his sword and swung down over my head.
I saw from the corner of my eye. My shadow darkened and solidified and Nico exited as if breaking the surface of a pool of water.
In a blur of fear, I had fell onto the ground. I rolled around and found Nico above me, sword locked against the black knight.
"Let's try this again." Nico grunted.
Obsidian sprang from the ground on three sides and pincered down on the black knight, caging him again.
Nico stepped back, turned around and grabbed my hand. He pulled me up and began to run.
The black knight tore off an obsidian shard as if it was styrofoam. As he took hold of another claw. Electricity crackled.
The black knight was on the train tracks and leading down the tracks was the beautiful figure of Thalia, standing proudly and gracefully and— dear god just kill it already!
Thalia lowered into a crouch and touched the metal frames of the tracks. Electricity crackled like screaming birds. Lightning surged through the tracks and into the black knight. The knight tensed and jerked slightly.
I heard nothing from the black knight but the chatter of electricity; no moaning, no screaming, no sound whatsoever.
The flow of electricity ended after a bated breath and Thalia rose back up. With a wave of her wrist, a spear manifested in her hand.
The black knight stilled. His arm rose and returned on one of the two remaining obsidian claws around his ribcage.
"No way." I found the words had escaped from my lips.
The black knight ripped the claw off and freed itself. He took a slow step forward.
"Man, you must think your fashion's so metal." Thalia's snide was bold and confident, edging on arrogance. "But, unlucky for you, you met me." She moved her spear into both hands, the tip pointing to the ground, and bent her knees. "Let me show you true metal."
In the span of a blink of an eye, Thalia was on the black knight. Electricity stretched along the tracks. Her spear was pulled back in both hands the tip only inches from the knight's chest plate.
A blue spark ignited between the spear and the breast plate and the knight was sent flying. The sudden acceleration was so fast— so terrifying the only way to describe it was explosive.
The knight grazed the track, bringing up splinters of wood as he crashed against the ground. The knight hit the wood and metal of the tracks and went spinning throwing up planks of wood and metal bits high into the air. Arms and legs twisting and turning as he skirted across the tracks. Even as the black knight spun, he did not flail.
The black knight reach a hand down and dug into the wooden beams of the tracks, snapping a dozen of them in velocity waned. The knight pulled his legs up and landed on the tracks in a crouch.
Before either the knight or I can even register, Thalia had closed the distance between them in a streak of blinding white light.
Thalia jammed the head of her spear into the knight's chest again and exploded further down the tracks running the knight down hard against the ground, plowing the earth and tracks apart.
The black knight was forced back with such force he lost balance and fell on the track. His back ground across through the ground. Thalia kept pushing with such inhuman force that I could barely follow her.
Finally, Thalia stomped her feet down and came to a complete stop. She jerked her spear up and thrust the black knight into the air and threw the knight further down the tracks.
Nico and I caught up to Thalia, more shocked than ready to fight.
The knight was a heap in the distance, unmoving and silent.
"Is it dead?" I asked Nico distractedly.
"I don't even know if it was alive to begin with." Nico muttered.
A chill ran down my back. Sure, it wasn't the biggest or baddest monster I've seen, gods know there's uglier. But, something about a humanoid… thing just didn't sit well with me. It was strong, definitely, but what's more scary was how resilient it was. Nico wasn't known to pull his punches, and I don't even think Thalia knew the meaning of restraint.
"Not helping, Nico." I chided.
"What do—" Nico's voice died.
The heap shifted. The black knight moved, elbows pulled back, fingers splayed against the ground. Then he heaved himself up.
"No way." I found myself saying again.
The knight struggled onto one knee, his movement was jerky. Hand pressed on the knee for support. He pulled his sword up as a cane and slowly rose.
A small drop of water hit my forehead. The stimulus was so sudden I slapped my forehead to wipe it off.
Rain began to trickle down, dabbing the ground. A thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance.
The knight wasn't standing straight, he had a limp in his left leg. The abdomen below the chest plate was dented badly. A thick trail of blood traced down from the cracks in the armor.
I couldn't hear any pants or grunts, but I'm positive he was injured.
"Had enough yet?" Thalia taunted in a playful tone. She was smirking, but he was a tense smile. Her eyes were narrowed, her breath short. Thalia was on the ropes.
It's alright, rain's coming. Once the storm rolls in Thalia's attacks— as few as she can muster— will be doubled or even tripled in strength. That's our best bet.
The black knight raised his sword from the ground, but his arm was shaking. The knight looked down on his shaking hand in a strange display of animation. I couldn't tell if he was examining his injuries or simply astonished he got damaged in the first place.
He looked back to us, his determination unfaltering. The black knight took the sword into both hands.
The action was so subtle and normal but so powerful the fear that crept through my bones was incomprehensible. For I realized during this entire encounter, while we scrambled—barely surviving— three versus one, the knight had been wielding his sword with a single one hand.
It was just getting serious.
"Oh crap." I was mumbling now.
Nico stepped forward and raised his sword in response. Thalia swallowed and repositioned her spear.
"No, wait." I touched Thalia's shoulder, she turned to me. "Wait for the storm."
Thalia frowned.
"No way! I can take care of him, no problem." Thalia argued.
"You're at your limit." My rebuked was more pleading than commanding as it should.
"Don't worry about me." She growled and turned back with a fire of stubbornness.
The black knight took a single step then stopped short. He turned his head upward towards the sky.
Before the churning storm clouds was a horizontal line of pillars. They were bronze in color, glowing with wisps of pink matter like ember from a bonfire. A thin line of red and pink light connected the pillars like a string through bars.
The fourteen pillars stretched apart; half of the pillars rose and the other half lowered. A bulb of deep red, and pink, and purple swam between the two line of pillars like a massive eye.
Within the eyeball twisting and swirling lights swam in torrents. They shook and whizzed together into a spiral. It was as if the light was the pupil focusing down on us.
The concentrated red light burst from under the surface and slammed onto the black knight completely engulfing his frame like a spotlight. The knight relaxed his stance and dropped the sword to his side.
The light pulled the black knight upwards into the sky. The knight didn't so much as spare us a glance as he ascended into the ball of light. The pillars snapped shut and the ball of light disappeared into oblivion. The pillars themselves washed away in the wind like ember and ash.
The air was silent once again.
Nico was the first to drop his sword. The sound of the tip of his sword hitting the ground startled me.
I realized I forgot to breathe.
"Damn." Thalia grunted.
"What do you mean 'damn?'" I sighed out my breath.
"We had that guy!" Thalia exclaimed something close to disappointment or maybe humiliation.
"That's debatable." Nico didn't sound too interested as if he wasn't just fighting for his life.
"Of course we did!" Thalia yelled back. She turned to me with with mild displeasure. "Didn't we Anny?"
I shrugged. "How am I suppose to know?"
"I'm just saying that I was totally right and Nico was totally wrong for not wanting to fight that guy." Thalia reverted her spear into bracelet form.
"We didn't defeat it, though." Nico answered nonchalantly.
Thalia turned around and began to walk.
"Keep telling yourself—" Thalia fell.
I sprang and grabbed Thalia. I lowered her onto her knees. Her eyes were fluttering. Slowly they opened.
"D-Damn." Thalia grunted, definitely humiliated now.
IV
The trees were twisting now. They're moving around me, I can see it. They were laughing, swing their hands in a dance. The wind was touching me, like hands rubbing across my face, slowing me down, pulling me back.
It was hard to see. The sky was dark now, almost black. The rain was pouring down hard. It was like I was breathing in more water than air. My lungs struggled to keep up. My breath were like the beating of drums.
My left arm throbs with every step. I couldn't feel my hands. I can't move my fingers. The skin is getting cold. Don't think about it!
Keep moving.
Lightning growled overhead. Monsters growled behind. They were close, right on my scent.
There was nothing in front of me but trees. Trees like black figures, hunched over me.
Crap. I just realized something. If I stopped now I would die. This isn't a joke or a game. I would die.
I don't want to die.
How?
How did I do it?
What kind of a monster was I?
"One versus an army." How was that possible? What is the difference between then and now? The body is the same. So, what? What am I doing wrong? The Percy before me had the same body, so why was he so much stronger than me?
How do I become a monster?
There a light in the distance. A warm, soft light. I felt life breathe into my bones. I need to make it there.
For a briefest moments, the pain in my arm numbed, and the stings of my cuts dulled. Maybe I'm going into shock? Maybe I lost too much blood, but I need to take advantage of this moment of numbness.
I ran. I ran to the light.
The trees peeled back. The ground flattened. And before me was a grand and old building. Large and classic in design. Sharp roofs and tall windows.
The building was lit from within.
I moved to the entrance. The doors were tall and smooth. The wood was a deep brown almost black. The door groaned as it opened.
Inside was a dimly lit hallway. It was wide from side to side and long. The ceiling was tall supported by columns of wood.
Pews lined both sides of the hall leading to a small set of stairs at the end of the hallway. I dragged my body through the rows of benches until I reached the very end. I dropped onto the first bench right as the last drop of energy left my body.
Someone turned around from on top of the stage. He walked down the stairs and stood before me. He bent down on one knee.
Curled blond hair. Royal blue eyes. A cross necklace.
I recognized him. Arthur.
"Perseus, you have ventured far." Arthur spoke quietly, softly. His hands touched my left one. I felt warmth. "You have endure such adversaries, yet your quest has merely began to unravel."
Arthur took my hand in his.
"I see." Arthur spoke, his voice solemn. "I see, now. You are afraid of becoming a monster." Arthur closed eyes. "Your fear is familiar to me. So this is why we are destined to meet. Two of the same metal, forged into different coins.
"Let me say this, Perseus. The man fear and love for the same reason. The King and the Monster is divided by a thin thread. Do not be afraid of strength. However take care to resist the lull across that transparent line."
Arthur rose.
"Allow me to lend you a reprieve." Arthur walked pass me. His steps echoed through the pews.
The gate whined open somewhere in the back of the hall. The sound of rain and wind filled the room.
Growls. Howls. Hisses.
"You step before the holy grounds under my jurisdiction. Prey for forgiveness."
The doors groaned close, engulfing the hallway in darkness.
I bet you didn't see that coming, huh? I love how everything makes perfect sense to me but all of the reviews are so confused, ha ha. Worry not. It'll all make sense when I decide to answer some questions.
I'm so hyped for when the black knight returns, eventually ;)
So, if you're at all curious, I've already planned out the backstory and motivations of Thalia, Nico, Percy, and the black knight (which are the main characters of this story). Not so much Annabeth. She doesn't have any crazy secrets or ulterior motive. All of her struggle is in the now. Which is why she and Percy are both the MC, because they're not transfixed on the past or the future, they're focused on the present.
Hopefully, act 1 ends on chapter 19. With a bang ;)
Tell me what you guys think.