V: Promise
-Oasis-
The loud whistle of birds cut through the forest. The colorful autumn leaves gently blew off trees. Nothing but nature could be heard for miles. No citizens, no machines, no workers. It's beautiful. That's the only thought I can conjure. Taking it all in is hard, considering most planets are packed to the brim with cities and towns, leaving forests to be harvested for wood or cut down the acquire more building space. Still, the beauty of nature isn't enough for me to lose my tactful thinking.
"Why are we here," I asked Chaos calmly, who was standing across from me stiff as a board. Chaos offering to teleport my team back from a mission was incredibly rare, but her teleporting me into a forest without giving me a reason why was just suspicious. Not that I thought anything bad would happen, but something was off. You know she'll always be there for you, I mean come on, she's your mom! I bit my tongue remembering the conversation I had five years ago upon joining the army. Not all parents are like her.
"Like I was starting to say on Ulkreia, we have a problem. There is a new enemy force rising for you to go fight." I smiled faintly.
"That's no problem for us. I mean assuming it's not a solo mission or anything. Either way, I'm fine," I responded happily. I didn't think of myself as bloodthirsty or war hungry. I actually hated having to fight and risk friends dying, but in the end, it's what I'm trained and basically paid to do.
"It's on Earth," she said averting her eyes from my direction. My smile diminished upon hearing that. I wasn't mad, just mildly upset. The only place I have never offered to go to is Earth. The only place I promised myself I'd never give a second thought. My homeland, the place I'm never returning to. That's what I thought anyway. Counting my five years of partial immortality I'm an adult and have no reason to pout about something like returning to a planet I don't really like.
"I know you Oasis, you won't refuse to take this offer, but you won't like one bit of what you're doing. Just let me explain everything and that we know so far about this mission. If all goes as planned, you might be able to pull it in only a week."
"A full week~, that's too~ much," I groaned collapsing dramatically. Chaos just ignored me and went on with what she was saying.
"So basically something went down on Earth and some gods pissed off Tartarus which is somehow causing Kronos to rise. I realize Kronos practically disintegrated into the air after Luke made his sacrifice, but he's rising and I don't even know how. Kronos shouldn't be much of a problem for you in your current state, so I haven't even bothered to research anything." She paused and took a deep breath.
"You will be staying at the new and improved Camp Half-Blood or Camp Demigod." She looked at me, expecting me to be mad but caught her breath when she saw my calm look. "I'll tell you the rest when you gather the other in the meeting room."