January 12th / Piper
By now, my life was at a new all-time low. I woke up in some kind of massive factory, chained to a wall on the third floor out of what looked like five floors. The factory was dark, but there was red lighting coming from lamps in the walls. Memories started to come back to me of what had happened, and I felt a tear trickle down my cheek.
"You've finally awaken. Magnificent" a voice said
I turned to my right and a figure stepped out of the shadows - a tall man with a business suit, except his face wasn't human, but a dragon's.
He must've read my facial expression, because he said "Forgive my manners. My name is Ira, and all you must know about me is that I'm the second of the seven supreme Shadow-Dragon's, and I have a very short temper"
"W-What do you want with me?" I croaked
"You, Piper McLean, will be the gate way to Olympus" Ira said. "Below us, The Hidden Archives are currently being dug up by other dragons. Toxicus may have suffered permanent death in the Netherworld, but his death gave us you. And you, are very important"
On my left, white smoke began to roll in. Ira held out a hand and a long red fencing sword formed. Loud and heavy footsteps boomed across the metal floor, and the silhouette of a man holding the handle to a sword appeared.
"What a pleasant surprise. Have you come to rejoin us?" Ira asked
"I was never with you" the figure stepped out into the light.
I recognized the armor immediately, except it had a different color to it. Instead of being black and having a red insignia, it was silver and had a golden insignia. The armor was battle damaged, and I wasn't sure wether to be horrified, surprised, or happy to see a familiar eye through a hole in the visor.
"The Shadow-Dragons will reign supreme, no matter what you do" Ira said shakily, clearly trying to cool his temper
"Not if I get my hands on that book" Layton said, raising the sword handle as the two blades popped out
"Your hands will go nowhere near that book" Ira growled, his suit ripping as his figure bulked up. Now, he looked like a body builder with dark red skin and a dragon's head.
Ira pounced onto Layton, who deflected him with the flat of his sword. I looked down at my jeans and saw that I had been disarmed of my dagger, and I knew that struggling against the chains would do no good. Piper McLean is useless again, what a surprise I thought to myself.
Looking back, Layton was having trouble keeping up with Ira's fast and aggressive strikes. If he wasn't wearing Vibranium armor, it would be a matter of moments until he got pierced by Ira's sword.
Suddenly, I felt the chains attached to my wrist snap as an arrow whizzed past me. From my right and out of the darkness, Chloe jogged up and slashed the chains attached to my legs off.
"You alright?" She asked
"Been better" I muttered as she handed me Katoptris
"We have to get that book" Chloe said
"And him" I pointed finger over at the fight just a few feet away
"He'll be fine" Chloe assured as Ira's sword went flying against the part of the wall in between us, making a loud clang
Layton had successfully disarmed Ira, but any damage he was inflicting on Ira was being regenerated almost instantaneously.
I let Chloe lead me down the stairs, and it took about two agonizing moments until we reached the bottom. A massive drill was digging into the black rock, and dragons with human body and construction gear were working with different tools to dig into the rock.
Chloe raised her bow and shot a quick arrow, vaporizing the dragon working on the drill to dust, effectively stopping their operation. All eyes turned to us, and I felt my heart rate pick up as I raised my dagger.
"Demigods..." they all groaned like zombies, raising their sharp claws
"Everyone, just calm down" I charmspoke, raising my palms out in front of me
Surprisingly they listened and lowered their arms, but it only lasted a few seconds until they snapped out of it.
"Your charmspeak is meaningless against us" a dragon said, as another hopped onto the pod operating the drill, resuming their mining
All of the dragons, about thirty or so, charged at us and Chloe quickly fired a blue arrow that froze the front three's feet. With one slash, I dusted them. Within moments, the two of us were being circled by a horde of dragons with nothing but their claws. Dusting them was easy at first, but the fatigue was getting to me and I was sure I was going to slip up soon enough and die... just like Jason did - impaled through the chest.
Luckily, I had Chloe backing me up, and we eventually cut away all of the dragons. The sound coming from the drill changed, meaning it was digging at a different material. Down in the pit they were excavating, about twenty-five feet down, the drill had finally made it to a golden chest with light bright enough to illuminate the entire hole, with some even escaping it. Chloe shot an arrow and dusted the last dragon.
"The Hidden Archives is in that chest?" I asked, pointing down at the hole as we approached it
Chloe shrugged. "Supposedly"
The ground shook, and Chloe nearly fell into the hole but I managed to save her from falling. Something burst out of the ground behind us, and it was maybe one of the ugliest things my eyes had ever bare witnessed - an obese mole with a pig's snout, and a crinkled face.
"You can't get rid of me for that long!" it said, it's voice ugly as well
"Do you know this guy?" I asked, turning to Chloe. Through her visor, I could see my reflection, and I definitely had better days.
"Believe it or not, it's another Shadow-Dragon" Chloe informed, her tone filled with annoyance
Multiple clanging sounds played, each closer than the last. Ira hit the ground next to the mole, falling on his back. Consequentially, Layton fell in the same way next to us, but he was quicker to get up.
"Looks like it's a double Shadow-Dragon play!" the mole exclaimed
"Shut up and help me" Ira ordered
In an instant, the mole transformed from the ugliest thing I had ever seen, to one of, if not the most, scariest things. It grew to about seven feet, sprouted wings, became slimmer and more muscular, and dorsal finds grew from the sides of its head while his claws grew several inches. On the other hand, Ira abandoned the need for a weapon by growing arm-blades, similar to the one Toxicus had.
I shivered at the sight of it, and Ira once again read my expression. "What's wrong, Piper? Scared of the very weapons that killed Jason Grace"
"Don't worry Piper, we won't kill you. We still need you" the ex-mole added. "When you get us into Olympus, and we slay the gods, I, Terram, shall rule the Earth with an iron fist"
"You don't even have a fist" I heard Chloe sigh quietly
"Because I'm in a rather nice mood today, I will present you demigods with an option. You may either stay and face penalty, or you can leave, with the exception of Piper, and I will spare you" Ira offered
"Clearly you don't want us to get that book, which means whatever is in it, we need to kill you" Layton replied. "Piper, use the crane and grab the chest. We'll defend you"
"But will he defend you, Piper? Are you sure you can really trust him?" Ira pointed out
My stomach did a couple of summersaults at the thought. He made a semi-fair point. From the looks of it, that demigod who had been trying so hard to kill us all along was Layton.
"It was mind control, Piper. They did it" Chloe said, placing her hand on my shoulder
"Mind control? How ridiculous" Ira retorted. "We simply unlocked that inner darkness that's always been there"
"Not to mention the fact that he let Toxicus go, which directly resulted in the death of that son of Jupiter" Terram said
"He didn't let him go, we failed to stop him" Chloe admitted in defense
"Exactly, they're failures" Ira argued. "Do you want failures backing you up Piper? Help us and we will spare your life, or we will be forced to kill you"
Though I couldn't see her facial expression, I could just tell that Chloe was looking at me as if saying make the right choice. I tried to think of different ways that the situation could play out, but I could only see one option where it worked out.
"Spare them and I'll help you" I agreed
"A wise decision" Ira said, motioning for me to come forward. "You two can leave and not face death. I won't stop you"
I walk forward, but stop halfway when the familiar roar of a dragon comes from outside. A blast of fire bursts open the roof of the factory, and I see Ferox hovering overhead.
"That book's mine" Layton declared, backing up towards the excavated hole
Ira lunged, but Ferox shot a blast of lightning that electrocuted and stunned him. Terram and Ira both transform into a large snake-shaped dragon made of smoke and soared upwards, engaging into a fight with Ferox. Layton's sword liquidized into a rope and he used it pull the chest up.
"How do we open the chest?" Chloe asked
"The touch of a demigod whose godly parent is an Olympian" Layton said
I stepped forward and knelt down, placing my hand over the lock. It glowed brightly and the chains snapped, falling off the chest. Layton opened it up and inside was that book I've seen a few times now - The Hidden Archives.
There's a loud boom up top, and I looked up just in time to see Ferox get shot out of the sky by a combined blast from the Shadow-Dragons.
"That's our cue to go" Layton said, flipping through the pages
"Our ride kind of just got shot out of the sky" Chloe pointed out
"I know, but there should be something in here we can use" Layton mumbled
Two spirals of smoke hit the ground, and Ira and Terram reappear, uninjured from the fight.
"Hand over the book" Ira threatened
"Too late, it's mine now" Layton replied, lifting up the book, which disappeared into thin air after a couple of moments
Both dragons lunge, and I get protected by my friends who know that their claws and blades would cut me open effortlessly. I wanted to help so bad, but I would most likely just get in their way.
I must have blanked out, because a thud at my feet captured my attention. Ira has Chloe in a headlock, with his arm-blade just over her neck. Terram stood over Layton, who got knocked down to the ground.
"Out of tricks, demigod?" Terram said
"I'm never out of tricks" Layton flipped his palm so that it faced up, and I watch Terram's facial expression go from a cocky one to an in-pain one as a blade stabbed straight through his chest and lifted him off the ground. "Two deaths in less than a day"
"H-How did you do that?" Terram croaked
"Don't you recognize it? It's your own trick - one that you gave me. I simply used the shadows to cast a phantom image" Layton explained, and Terram exploded into dust seconds after
"Well well, what an interesting change in circumstances" Ira said, flaunting the sword he had at Chloe's throat. Apparently her helmet had come off at some point in the fight. "Perhaps I can use this one to grant me access to Olympus"
"The only place your being granted access to is Tartarus" Layton shrugged
A purple arrow formed in Chloe's hand, and she stabbed it into Ira's leg. An explosion of purple energy went off, and both were pinned to the ground, forced to kneel. Layton threw his dual-sided blade and it decapitated Ira, causing him to explode into dust.
I opened my mouth to speak, but everything faded to black and I felt myself fall backwards. When I woke up I was still in the factory, and my first reflex was to unsheathe my knife and swing it. Luckily, my friends had been out of range.
Outside, it was clearly nighttime and the white glow of the moon cancelled out the red one from the inside of the factory. Chloe was knelt down next to me, while Layton was reading The Hidden Archives, sat down next to Ferox.
"You hit your head pretty hard" Chloe said
On cue, the pain rolled in and I groaned. "Got Aspirin by any chance?"
"I wish" She muttered as she helped me up
"So... what's our next move?" I asked
"We've got to take the book to camp. I'll explain everything on the way there" Chloe answered, a hint of disappoint in her voice
I decided to question it. "Something wrong?"
"Layton's not coming. Something happened on a beach in San Fransisco relating to another Shadow-Dragon, and he's also going to look for a way to bring Jason back in the meantime" Chloe replied
"You still like him, don't you?"
"I can't really help it. I guess I just look up to him in a sense" Chloe shrugged. "When I first began working for Hera, use to always hear the stories from her and other people about The Fist of Selene - the powerful demigod afraid of nothing and no one. I want to be like him - careless and brave"
"And he's 'just my type'"I quoted teasingly
"Whatever" She dismissed, putting her helmet back on to hide her blush
I spotted Ferox looking up into the sky, and I only caught a slight glimpse of something that passed overhead. Whatever it was, it was massive.
"That means its time to go" Chloe announced
Or in other words, on to wherever fate will take me next...