Just two chapters to go! Sorry about this short chapter everyone, but it's not done yet!

Chapter Twenty One

Capture the Flag

When teams were decided on which cabins would be allies with each other. I was relieved because this time the Athena, Apollo, Hephaestus, and Hermes would team up against the Ares, Demeter, and Dionysus cabins. I was glad because this meant I would be on the same team as Zelda. While she had given no obvious clue that others would notice, I knew she still had the same thing from our last incarnation of being very distressed to see me get hurt.

I always wordlessly reassured her before every game. Reminding her that my getting hurt was unlikely given my unique abilities exclusive to this incarnation of me. Well, this one and the last that is. She always replied with an eye roll and playful swat.

We set up our base in one part of the woods, while the other team set up theirs on the other side. I, in my innate combat oriented mentality knew this particular game would be a challenge. Even though it was four cabins against three, the number of players on each was about the same. That and the Ares campers were very skilled at combat obviously. But most significantly though was that the Demeter and Dionysus campers had their special abilities to manipulate plants.

I have personally seen the Demeter campers in particular use their abilities to create vines that snatch and restrain players on the opposite team faster than they can even react. Though I've never yet had to test it, I am sure that my flurry rush ability is quick enough to counter it.

The signal for the game to start has me bracing and ready to go. My team quickly draws up a plan of action. We decide to have half of us go to grab the flag, and the other half stay and protect ours. I am selected for the attack group, Zelda is chosen for the defense contingent. I see her unspoken request for me to be careful. I wordlessly respond that I will be careful, for her.

My group sets off into the trees, they are focused on the goal, though not neglecting caution of course. They all have their weapons drawn except for me. This is due to the Master Sword's much brighter glow, and the idea obviously being to be stealthy, not show everyone where we were. We cross the stream that marks the boundary between the two sides and I suddenly become tense and on edge. I flick my eyes around, but don't see anything, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. I don't like the feeling I'm getting, there is nothing around that I see that could be putting me on edge, yet my instincts are screaming that something is wrong.

We are two hundred feet past the stream when it happens. Suddenly and without warning, vines explode from the forest floor, flailing and lashing about like whips. I immediately backflip over one and draw the Master Sword. Rushing forward I hack and slice at the vines, severing them all in just a couple moments. It was over so fast my groupmates registered nothing other than me becoming a blur of green and bright blue as I moved with lightning speed, my famous green outfit blurring into a green streak, and the Master Sword a bright arc in the air.

Everyone turns around and sees the severed vines laying around me, they stare in stunned silence for a moment. Lexa, who is leading the group, asks me since when was I able to move like that. I simply shrug while staring right back at her, wordlessly signaling her to wait a moment while everyone else continues ahead. She instructs the others to continue on, then turns back to me. I tell her this is from my previous life, she suddenly understands and nods. I had forgotten to mention how all the head counselors had been ordered by Chiron to under no circumstances reveal to anyone else the unusual truth about me and Zelda, not yet at least.

He felt it best to keep it a secret for now. As my group continued on I mused how it had gone from being me, Lexa, and Austin to me, Lexa, Austin, and Chiron. And from there to us four and all the head counselors. Though the inclusion of the other head counselors other than Lexa and Austin was as a result of the prophecy.

We continued on through the woods, quietly making our way amongst the trees. We heard the sounds of fighting off in the distance from one of the other groups who were hopefully keeping the other side's attention away from their base. We were getting close when something unusual happened.

We had stopped about maybe a thousand feet away, and were debating how to proceed when it happened. There was a slight sound behind us that immediately got my attention. No, wait, not a sound exactly, more of a tremble in the ground. I and everyone else turned our heads around and stared into the darkness of the woods. I cursed our terrible night vision, seeing nothing and wishing we saw better in low light levels.

The rumble continued for another moment then stopped. A few moments passed with nothing happening, then it repeated. We started stealthily approaching the source, some of the older campers suddenly tensed up at the realization that we were nearing the rock pile known as Zeus's fist. This area had been the site of a rather intense battle some years ago, and seen the deaths of a number of campers. This was quite a few years ago. It wasn't a good day that was for sure.

We saw nothing, then the rock pile moved. It lifted slightly, then again. I almost thought something was trapped underneath and was trying to get out until I noticed the way the rocks were moving. The central boulder was moving more, with the smaller ones moving more like a rotating in place. It looked more like the rock was trying to lift itself up, out of the ground. I stared, this seemed very familiar somehow.

The recognition came as it finally raised up, showing a huge boulder with two smaller ones on the sides. There were also two smaller boulders placed underneath the big one. As it raised up fully I caught a glint of something atop it. A large ore deposit, I now knew what we were looking at. Somehow this pile of rocks was a stone talus.

The talus began to turn toward us and I suddenly broke the silence.

"SCATTER!" I yelled as the talus leaned to one side, one boulder arm cocked back.

Everyone immediately complied, likely out the surprise at my sudden shout. It wasn't a moment too soon, as the boulder flew through the air and slammed into the ground where we just were. It broke apart on impact, sending pieces of rock everywhere. The talus turned towards me and tossed its other rock. I dove out of the way, and raced over to where the others were hiding. Lexa peeked out at the talus as did I, it tilted itself to one side to touch the ground and then the other as it somehow found itself new boulder arms.

"Retreat!" Lexa whispered frantically as it began approaching us again.

I was just about to speak when I heard the sound of other people approaching, probably drawn in by my yell earlier as well as the huge crash of the boulders slamming into the ground.

"WHAT IN HERA'S NAME IS THAT?" Someone yelled.

The talus turned toward the speaker, I couldn't tell who it was in the darkness. Without a thought for myself I immediately broke into a run towards them. The talus got ready to launch its boulder, I tackled the person out of the way as the projectile sailed past, bowling over several trees before coming to a stop. This upset quite a few dryads, who began going into hysterics. An Ares camper raced up, for what I have no idea, and before I could utter a sound the talus raised its remaining boulder up high above them and slammed it down. There were many gasps, but the sudden tension was alleviated when they came out from behind it. They had dodged the hit, barely. More of the players began flooding into the clearing.

Oh great, I thought, more people means more targets. With this many people here, how were we going to prevent fatalities?

Then I remembered how to deal with taluses, they were impervious to damage except on the ore deposit.

"ARCHERS, AIM FOR THE ORE ON THE TOP!" I yelled out.

Due to how dire the situation was, no one questioned me as twenty archers all fired arrows at the weak point. The arrows hit home, stunning the talus and bringing it crashing to the ground. I dashed towards it, drawing the Master Sword and sprinted onto its back. As the talus started to get up again I struck again and again with my blade. After six hits, the talus staggered back to its "feet". I jumped off it just before it shook itself, it turned back to face us, ready for another attack. It cocked back a boulder and everyone dove out of the way of the boulder as it ploughed through more trees, pissing off several more dryads. All the dryads whose trees had been destroyed all joined our cause without a word and used their nature magic to help in the fight against the talus.

They caused tree branches and roots to grow towards it, wrapping around its "limbs", restraining it. I leapt onto the side of it and launched myself upward onto its back. I struck it several more times with my sword. The talus strained against the roots and branches, a few smaller ones broke and fell away but were quickly replaced by larger and stronger ones. With it effectively locked in place, I kept striking it. A few more hits and the ore deposit on top of it shattered. I gestured to the dryads to retract the roots and branches. It collapsed to the ground, going limp before exploding into dust that went everywhere and sending chunks of minerals scattering across the clearing.

Everyone went silent, I looked around and saw all the players present. Somehow, they must have known the yell they'd heard meant trouble. I was glad in that moment, all things aside, it was still clear when others needed help just from a single sound. I looked around at the various people, trying to assess the expressions on each of their faces.

Many were fearful, others confused, some unsure, and a few looked relieved. The dryads faded into the tree line to go find other suitable trees to live in. Finally, my eyes met Zelda's. She was looking back at me at me with a smile that radiated pride, she was proud of me. That feeling chased away all my exhaustion in a moment. That pride in her gaze was reserved for me and no one else.

It was, to put it simply, quick paced from there. Chiron called the game done, not without many groans and complaints from everyone else, but he firmly stated that under the circumstances, we had to head back out of the woods. Lest there be more things like, as he put it, '"that giant rock beast"' out there.

We all trudged back towards the cabins, as we made our way towards the tree line Zelda slowed her pace to walk beside me. She subtly looked at the others ahead of us, we were right at the back of the line. She took my hand in hers and squeezed it as she looked me in the eyes and gave me that smile.

"That was quite the impressive display back there, my hero" she said softly, passionately.

"Oh, that little match with the talus? That was just a warm-up exercise" I said with a pretend scoff, as though it was no big deal whatsoever.

She huffed playfully and set her face in a pretend pout.

"Well, sir knight, I rescind my compliment then!" she said, playing the part of the insulted individual.

I just chuckled, seeing right through her façade of being upset. I had seen her when she was actually upset, and this wasn't it at all. She dropped the expression and beamed back at me. We didn't let go of each other's hands until we left the tree line and came into view of the cabins.