The Hidden Archives, Book 4: The Shadow-Dragons
Following the defeat of Gaea, Percy and Annabeth find their normal lives interrupted when mysterious and evil demigod attacks them. Through a stream of events, the two find themselves learning more about the Shadow-Dragons and Syn, the one who had helped them survived Tartarus.
However, in order to defeat this threat, they must get their hands on The Hidden Archives, after the one person who could summon it, Layton Striker, died following a fight with a netherworld demon.
Who is this evil demigod? Why is he so hellbent of slaying the demigods of the Prophecy of Seven and those who helped them? And what's his connection to the Shadow Dragons? Find out in Book 4 of 10.
Percy / December 25th / 8pm / 2009
"Do you think I looked good?" I asked
"Well I can't lie when I say your good-looking, but it depends on the context. Aren't you guys only going to hang out?"
"Yeah, but it's our first real Christmas together. It should be special" I pointed
"Well aren't you sweet" Thalia said. "Normally that would disgust me, but I always kind of thought you and Annabeth were good match since I first met you"
"Yeah, not the first person who said that" I mumbled
"Really? Who else?"
"Grover, Clarisse... my mom... even Chiron" I answered
Thalia laughed as she got up from my bed. "Well she should be here any minute, which means its my cue to head out before things get weird"
"Get weird? Thalia-"
"I know" She grinned. "What I mean to say, is don't push too far lover boy. I'll hear about this from her later, and don't think she won't tell me every detail"
"You sound like a high-school girl" I rolled my eyes
"Never got the experience, so you can't really blame me" Thalia argued
"Yeah yeah, whatever" I dismissed and watched as she made her way down the steps and walked away into the distance after one final wave
About a minute later, Annabeth arrived wearing her snow clothes - a pink sweater, a yellow beanie and brown snow boots - considering the surprisingly heavy snow that we got today.
"Hey" She smiled as she walked up the steps gracefully and kissed me
"Hey" I replied, grinning
"So..."
"So" Annabeth said. "What do you want to do first?"
"I thought we could take a walk around and enjoy the winter weather" I said
"Sounds good"
We walked hand in hand through the streets of New York, occasionally stopping to admire architecture that Annabeth pointed out. I didn't really understand what she was talking about with all the dimensions and stuff. I was pretty sure she even threw something about Calculus in there too, but I listened anyways - amused by the glisten in her eyes as she talked.
"You know, Majin Kai just kind of disappeared" I realized
"I remember Layton said something about he might've gone into hibernation..." Annabeth's voice quieted with each word as she spoke
"Not gonna lie, never really saw his death coming"
"It was either him or us. There was no one better fit to fight a reality-warping netherworld demon" Annabeth replied
"That's true, although his funeral was pretty neat" I said. "I even caught Hazel shedding a tear, but don't tell her I told you because she also has dirt on me"
"It does suck though. I feel bad for Chloe too. Those two were starting to get pretty close and then he got straight up murdered by a demon" Annabeth said. "Stabbed through the heart by a five foot sword"
"I remember how he said that if he did, it wouldn't bother him" I remembered
"Well, if I was forced to be an assassin and killed three thousand people, I wouldn't exactly be bother too much either" Annabeth agreed
"You think he might be alive? I mean he's died before..."
"It's been six months so I doubt it. Hera must not have felt as forgiving as last time. Plus, I doubt he would want to be resurrected"
We continued to walk through different streets, turning in sync at different intersections as if we already knew where the other wanted to turn. It had been about a year since we got out of Tartarus, and while the experience had made us much closer than we already were, it also scorched us with nightmares that never seemed to slow down.
And then there was Syn. The Shadow-Dragon that was the only reason we survived that wretched place. I had no idea what he would look like, but I wasn't exactly disappointed. He was a tall dragon-like humanoid at about seven feet tall. Two large, fleshy horns emerged from the top of his head and long black spikes protruded from his shoulders, elbows, back, knees, and the sides of his chest. His skin was white, but his abdomen and the back of his head were dark blue.
While we had suffered down there, Syn had effortlessly defeated any threats thrown our way - except for those arai, the floating demons that granted a curse upon death. Syn had watched with amusement as we struggled against those, until he noticed we were about to die. With one flick of his hands, he turned them all to dust using a blast of ki.
"Do you hear that?" Annabeth whispered
I was taken out of my thoughts. "What is it?"
"I don't know. Sounds like someones walking on the roof of the houses, but it's been following us for a couple of minutes" Annabeth answered
I stopped and so did Annabeth. She wasn't armed with her Drakonbone sword, but I fetched Riptide from my pocket, not uncapping the pen until there was definitely a threat.
The wind whirred as a figure made there presence clear down the street - stepping out of an alleyway. It was a man (or boy, not sure) who stood at a couple of inches taller than me. The strange part was that he wore black armor - nearly identical to Ryan and Chloe's - except the golden insignia on the helmet wasn't golden, but dark red and depicted a dragon's face.
"Any chance you know him?" I asked
"Nope" Annabeth said
"Maybe he's harmless" I hoped
The man pulled out the handle of a sword, and two blades erupted from either side. At four and a half feet, the dual-sided silver sword looking intimidating.
"I finally found you" He said, his voice deep and unfamiliar, and also carrying a slight echo
"Who are you?" I inquired
"My name is none of your concern" He dismissed, pointing the sword at me that was in his left-hand
"I know you don't like it, but you'll have to steer clear for this one" I told Annabeth
She sighed. "I knew I should've brought my sword"
"It'll be fine"
I got scared in the first few seconds of the fight. As the figure slowly approached, they stabbed their sword into the wall and dragged it along as they walked - the blade cutting the walls of houses.
Once he was about six feet in front of me, he wildly slashed his blade horizontally and I ducked out of the way as the dual-sided blade barely missed decapitating me.
I stepped to his left and attempted my disarm trick, but he quickly parried the strike and kicked my chest, pushing me back. I swung Riptide vertically and he blocked, using the bottom side of the blade. He pushed his sword down and as it came down, the top side nearly chopped my arm off, had I not rolled out of the way.
As I recovered, I swiped my sword at his legs, but he stepped back in anticipation of the attack. He simply stared at me, his sword arm limp at his side. "You're not very impressive"
Scowling, I lunged and attempted to step inside his guard like Jason could skillfully do, but he side stepped and disarmed me of Riptide, which went skidding across the ground.
"I thought killing Percy Jackson would be a hard task" The man used the tip of his blade to lift my chin up. "But you turned out to be a total disappointment"
"I'll ask again. Who are you?"
"Your worst nightmare" He said. "Sounds cheesy, but it's true. Believe me"
I gulped, unwillingly. "Ok worst nightmare. How can I help you?"
"You can't help me. I just need you dead" He replied. "But I suppose you should know my name before you die. They just call me Samael"
An arrow whizzed across the air and hit Samael's helmet, but it simply bounced off and landed on the ground harmlessly. He stepped back and lowered his sword, turning to the right where Thalia stood besides Annabeth.
"More demigods. I suppose I should have some fun before I kill you" Samael said
"You know this guy Percy?" Thalia asked as she put another arrow into her bow
"Um, nope" I said
A sound similar to one a plane makes as the engine fires up and it readies for take off played. The two blades on Samael's sword began to spin, picking up pace until they spun rapidly in front of him, like a helicopter blade. Thalia fired the arrow but it simply bounced off the blade.
Samael began to slowly approach Thalia and I quickly went to fetch Riptide. By the time I was done, in about ten seconds, Thalia was already stabbing her electric spear at Samael, who was casually parrying the strikes.
"Thalia, the fierce daughter of Zeus" Samael lowered his sword and allowed Thalia to strike his armor, which did nothing but make a clang. "And the lieutenant of Artemis's hunters. A fine catch"
"Catch?" Thalia growled
"A lucky find" Samael corrected himself and casually swiped his blade, snapping Thalia's spear in two
I went to attack Samael from behind, but he somehow knew I was going to and turned around blocking Riptide easily with the top side of his sword. He quickly spun and did a 360, barely missing cutting both mine and Thalia's head off with one slash. Fate sure seemed to be on my side this fight, because I had never gotten this lucky before.
"Your senes are sharp but mine are sharper" Samael said. "And what a beautiful day to kill the famed son of Poseidon"
"December twenty-fifth" I mumbled. "What are you? The Grinch who stole Christmas?"
Thalia burst out into laughter but Samael quickly swiped his foot and tripped her, causing her head to hit the ground with a thud. She scowled as Annabeth jogged over and knelt down to make sure she was fine.
"Who are you?" Samael demanded, pointing his sword at Annabeth
"I'll tell you once you tell me exactly who you are" She replied
"Does it matter? You'll be dead soon anyways" Samael retorted
"Not the first time I've been told that" Annabeth muttered
"Then it'll be the last" Samael said and I quickly lunged at the single sight of an inch of movement from him
Somehow, I managed to disarm him, and his dual sided blade rolled down the street until it came to a stop a few feet away. I swung Riptide but Samael blocked using his forearm.
"A nice try, but I always keep a spare" Samael kicked me back and Annabeth and Thalia caught me
Black smoke surrounded Samael and then contorted inwards, forming a feather-shaped dagger. The blade was white but lined with black, and at the bottom of the handle, there was a small red stone sticking out that glowed brightly and intensely.
"Any last words? Or perhaps you have a death wish" Samael said
"You talk a lot about killing me but you've failed to do that so far" I growled
"At ease, son of Poseidon. I only wished to test your abilities before giving you a nice clean death" Samael pretended to write something in the air using the feather-dagger
At the bottom of the dagger, the red stone glowed brighter as a frenzy of electric-yellow arrows floated around in the air, pointing directly at us. But then, Samael twitched and nearly dropped his dagger.
"Out of time" He muttered angrily. "I'll be back. Count on it"
Samael dissipated into black smoke, and the dual-sided blade behind us followed after. The floating arrows dropped and disintegrated into small piles of yellow dust.
"So much for dinner..."
Hazel / 11pm
"I... am the lord of darkness" Nico said to the small mirror in his hand
"Maybe more menacingly" I suggested
"I am... the lord of darkness" Nico fixed himself
"Sounds good enough" I said
Nico frowned. "But I can still do it better. Let me see... I am-"
"Nico! Come help me choose which shirt looks better on me!" Will called from inside his tent
"Coming!" Nico called back
Suddenly, a sharp sensation hit me and I stood up from the log I was sitting on. "Something's happening"
"What do you mean something's happening?"
"I don't know, I can just feel it" I shook my head
"So what do we do?" Nico asked
"Something tell me we need to find Percy and Annabeth. I think we're done camping for now" I answered
A twig snapped somewhere in the distance just as Will poked his head out of his tent.
"What's happening?" He asked
"I don't know but there's something in that darkness" Nico whispered and pointed
More twigs snapped from the pitch-black darkness in between two large trees. The first thing came into view was a long and silver dual-sided blade, and a black-armored man stepped in after, holding the sword in his left hand.
"You both should have died a long time ago" He said. "I'm here to fix that"