XIII: Duel
-Oasis-
"May the prince rise from the ash and rubble. A world on fire before his eyes. Let it burn, or save it, he must decide. Friends will be made with unlikely allies. Lies, truths, and illusions aside. Everyone has something to hide? Fire or Light one side shall rise." Curious eyes wandered the room, drifting from person to person. Tilting my head to the side, I pondered the newfound prophecy.
"Is that all?" Chiron questioned. The girl began to squirm in her seat. She was beautiful but young, only appearing around thirteen or fourteen. Something still drew me towards her. Faint smell of the ocean breeze. Nico stepped forward, a hand settling on her shoulder. All his black had somehow gotten darker and more emo. Yikes.
"I don't think Winter is ready to recall the full vision. However, off the top of my head I can remember something about a fight on the beach, a forest aflame, and someone ordering to 'burn them all.'"
"Lines one, two, and three shouldn't take much thought." Hannah announced. "Focus on the ones following." Wide eyes fell upon her as she told the council to ignore part of a prophecy. After my 'speech' in the pavilion, a second meeting was called instantaneously. Now the council stood more mixed than ever, yet somehow unified in confusion.
"So you know who it is?" Annabeth questioned.
"No, words need not be taken exactly as they were given," Itchiama spoke up. Annabeth's momentary confusion ground my teeth into a sinister smile. Lucky no one could see. "What she means is we are likely limited on time as Oasis mentioned. Spending our time settling on a prophecies prince when no defining details are given is a waste."
"That's why I have quite a lot to say," Hannah told, her expression hardening. "And I'd hope no one will interrupt." Gulps echoed the chamber, but luckily no one was fighting this time. Fighting my sister never turned out well for any enemy, especially with me in the room.
"Yes, we are sorry," Piper replied sorrowfully. "Our camp is falling to pieces and with war on the horizon we fell apart. Amid our brokenness we spent spies and caused a fight when were supposed to be the mature veterans. Your suggestions and ideas will be fully accounted for." Manipulating jerk. No way your camp is just now falling apart.
"Thank you. Now I would like to discuss the battle plan prior to the prophecy. As any good prophecy it's ambiguous and complex to interpret, so instead we should prepare for the immediate. Prophecies can take years, who knows if it's even for this war, however impending attacks are top priority." Silence stood still in the room. Respectful people like Reyna looked on attentive, while others like Annabeth were only quiet to avoid a beating.
"Myself, Alpha, Sunset, Nico, and Leo must travel to the wall. Despite being in the most immediate danger it's where the only people who know remember how to and actively fight are. Not you all sitting around all day. So-"
"What about me!" The girl, Winter yelled jumping from her seat. With a creak of the wooden chair, it toppled over coating the air with dust. Horrified looks shot at her, as if by speaking she received a death warrant. Hannah wouldn't just attack someone for talking though, especially if they had that much passion to help. More of a grudge against those who wronged me.
"Your too important, the only one to truly have an idea what's coming. Keeping you safe shou-"
"But I can help! As much as any of these lame veterans I can help! I'll prove myself! To you, him, and everyone! I'm a child of the big three! Poseidon!" My look of confusion morphed into a shocked one. First Kyle, now another? Then cutting all correlations with camp and his endangered kids? I'll prove myself! To you, him, and everyone! No. There's no way she's. Exactly like me when I first found out.
"You can help more here," I told her. "Everyone thinks being on the front lines is the most important position when winning a war. Yet I've seen armies taken down by miniscule rebellions. While the army had strength and power, the rebels had strategy and prowess."
Campers seemed to go silent in anticipation of the next part of the plan. Dust blew through the room like a desert storm. I turned to Hannah but she beckoned for me to continue instead. Knowing the plan was one thing, convincing campers would be another.
"As mentioned in the last meeting, more of us should be stationed here to protect the young campers and train the older. This camp likely went downhill after the Percy Jackson incident I was informed about by Chaos."
"Listen here punk," Annabeth grimaced sounding all too much like Clarisse. "I can keep quiet a while, but for you to walk in and disparage our camp is out of the question." Faces of agreement filled even the campers who agreed with my plan. However it was the Percy comment that pushed them over. Speaking about my old self would be off limits.
"Apologies, but someone like you should understand learning fighting styles from across the Universe proves us much more versatile in combat than you all. It's a simple split of knowledge. We just want to share it with you." Chiron sent me an eyebrow raised look informing me he knew what I was doing. Lying and extending the truth to avoid
certain butthurt campers. Glazed eyes wandered the room as I walked the empty streets of my mind. Nico, Leo, Reyna, Tyson, Kyle, Travis, Conor, Grover, Rachel, Will. Will I ever see you guys as myself again? Thalia…
Shaking the thought off, I prepared a plan overview. "So all in all, some people go to the wall to prepare for defense against major attacks. Later today I'll send a note to Chaos requesting better armor and weapons, and take a trip to Olympus to re-establish communications. While I do that Hannah will create groups based on the weapons and fighting campers wish to do, and begin training. Whilst at the wall one of these three can scout," I finished gesturing the wall trio.
"Now would anyone like t-"
"Prove yourself." Turning to the voice I was faced with a very dark looking Jason. My head cocked to the side in confusion. "You said you and the army is all that, then prove it. Duel me in the arena so we can see your strength."
Multiple army members seemed to move towards stopping it but it was too late. Now was my chance. To beat up my worst nightmare. "Easy, I'm ready to go now." Everyone looked shocked at the agreement, campers and army members alike. Jason nodded and began to leave, campers filing out in tow. Chiron gave me a death glare which I returned through my mask, causing him to shrivel.
A soft hand lightly tugged my wrist. "Are you sure this is a good idea," Zoe asked. "I mean, one of us can bear the burden. If you get too mad you could kill him, or worse. Accidentally lose. And I don't want to see yo-" I silenced her by clasping my free hand to her mask.
"Relax. It's me."
Flames lit the free ends of the arena sending a trail of smoke into the sky. My sword lay dormant inside it's stealth, awaiting the battle to come. Footsteps echoed from the right side as the crowd erupted in cheers. Jason Grace stood across from me, a spear instead of his sword. And there Zoe was in the stands looking frightened. My reassuring must never have landed.
I want to beat him. I want to destroy him. I almost want to kill him. Everything he's done to me, take many friends, my girlfriend, my backstabbing godly dad. Well all of that's what led me here now. I would trade every camper in this audience for the Army of Chaos a million times over. To hurt me, Jason showed everyone's true colors and helped me.
So despite all my many feelings to stomp Jason, I would have to win this fight. Does not need to be quick, just a clear showing of our strength gaps. So when Chiron blew that sacred horn. I knew what needed to be done.
Sparks danced around Jason's body hairs on his skin standing. Fast as a bullet he shot towards me, spear extended. Removing my left hand from the cloaks pocket I froze a layer of ice onto it. Parrying the spear to the fight, I stuck out my leg, the momentum tripping him. Falling into a roll, he spun around confused. Unfortunately for him, I'd already turned the ice back into the water.
Freeze over was a way to take the water vapors from the air, gather them to a single place, and freeze them together into ice. Reversing the process shot the vapor back into the air, but the ice could be willed to stay in it's new forum. Ice had worked as a direct counter to lightning as long as it never melted.
On the other hand, his lightning speed seems to be the same technique Zoe's learning. However with improper training he isn't really as fast as lightning. Just it's delayed thunder. Two moves countered at once. His surprise ridden face made me smirk in excitement. What will you do now?
Another charge lead to him spinning his spear wildly cracks echoing with every attempted strike. One miss toward my stomach lead to a perfect opening. Leaping forward I landed a punch on his face, sending him sliding back. Immediately recuperating from the blow, he pointed his spear towards me, a bolt of lightning spiraling in my direction.
Drawing my sword, I cut through the lightning itself, only to find Jason gone. Whistles approached me from above, causing my head to jerk up. He had somehow jumped way above me and was throwing his spear down. Rocketing towards the Earth, his spear met my blade, cracks tearing through the arena floor and a crater where I stood. The spear crumbled to pieces, loud crackling now from behind.
Spinning around, Jason now with his famous gladius slashing towards me chest. Thinks he's caught me in a weak spot, it's written on his face. Backflipping over the strike, I landed smoothly, kicking in his direction. For a moment he stood still, wondering why I kicked the air, but it was cut off when an ice block shot from my foot knocking him backwards.
Impaling his gladius into the ground, he used it as a makeshift anchor to avoid flying out of bounds. Alright, my turn for offense. I rushed forward rivaling his speed, kicking at his chest. While he dodged to the side, I froze ice onto my left elbow, digging it into his chest. Once more the ball of my foot shot towards his chest, a pillar of ice following.
This time the ice hit his stomach in an upward arc so he wouldn't be able to stay inbounds. Hurling into the air he suddenly stopped and hovered. Oh yeah, the boy flies. Whatever, I was hoping for the opportunity to show true power. A pillar of ice erupted below me, sending my up to the same level as him.
Flying in my direction, Jason lit with more lightning. Hundreds of smaller pillars sprouted from the one I was standing on, all flying to meet him. At first his air mobility allowed for him to block or cut through most of them, also sending him higher than me, but eventually one hit off balancing him. Thirty more followed.
Now cut and bruised, the blonde boy freefell down to me where I rested my palm on his chest. Ice consumed his body, freezing him inside. With one swipe of my legendary sword his block of ice was shattered, blasting him right out of it, and through an arena wall. Shock washed over the audience like a tsunami. My final display of power. Zoe and Hannah gave looks of joy, while Luke's was pride. I could practically see through masks, able to read emotions of my team based on eyes and mouth alone.
"Excuse me!" A voice cut from below the pillar I stood atop. Turning, I saw something that stunned me, and sent the audience further into pure shock. A hunters uniform, in camp? Weren't they supposed to be long lost, or at least not in communication with camp. "A monster army is lurking right outside the walls!"