Author's Note:
Hello readers, if this story looks vaguely familiar, that's because it is. This is Const3llations on his burner. I've begun re-uploading my previously deleted stories onto this account. I've changed nothing, and left the writing as it was; I will not continue them either. I promise you I write better stories now. Maybe.
When the Sky Falls
Chapter I:
"Are you sure?" She asked Scipio as they circled the sky.
The pegasus neighed strongly in response, her fleet of war eagles cried loudly above them.
Mount Tampalis, where her fellow praetor Jason Grace had recently toppled the Black Throne and the Titan Krios, stood menacingly in the background.
Reyna looked back down at the city, where a monster was flinging cars across the street viciously. Mortals had been reporting disturbances of a "rabid tiger" on television, which got the Legion's attention. She had been tracking the monster for most of the evening, only now did it decide to release its energy on the rest of downtown San Francisco.
The monster was nothing like she had ever seen before, it had the body of a leopard, the neck of a serpent, and the head of a wolf.
Unfortunate participants of a nearby car show screamed and ran for cover as the monster tore a vintage Toyota Supra into scrap metal.
"I see it," the praetor told her pegasus. "Get me on top of that high-rise."
Scipio skillfully performed an acrobatic loop and rolled into a nosedive, plummeting below the cloudline. Her heart began to race as she lent him the energy of her mother Bellona, exactly how they had practiced a thousand times before.
Reyna dismounted and immediately unsheathed her Imperial Gold sword. Alarms blared from all directions as she tried to relocate the monster.
Finally, a hundred meters away from the base of the tower, it reappeared and attacked an innocent fire hydrant. She suddenly regretted not having Jason alongside her, whatever Pluto had cooked up in the Underworld was the size of your average suburban minivan. That wasn't a good thing.
"Go warn Camp Jupiter, I need backup." Reyna commanded Scipio, who understood the gravity of the situation and promptly took off. The giant eagles of the Twelfth Legion followed suit. She knew that it would be a good three hours before help would arrive.
The monster was now clearing a path to her ten-story building, attracted by the smell of fresh demigod. Reyna made direct eye contact with the wolf head, whose eyes gleamed blood-red.
Just as she began to formulate a plan of action, a girl appeared on the bottom of the building across from her. She looked nothing like a legionnaire, she was dressed in all black, and carried a menacing shield and spear.
Reyna's first guess was that she was a goddess, perhaps Diana. A silver circlet glimmered on top of the mystery girl's head. Her next theory was that she was a rogue Roman demigod, who had yet to make her way to the Caldecott Tunnel.
The girl moved like a bullet, swiftly maneuvering through the throng of wailing mortals towards the thrashing monster.
Reyna snapped herself out of her trance and reassessed the situation, the girl now in the mix and possibly a threat, and she had lost precious seconds. Reyna located a clothesline that descended all the way to the ground below. Bravely, she grabbed the hilt and the flat end of her blade and rappelled rapidly down to the concrete sidewalk, James Bond style.
Expertly, she let go of the sword with one hand and hit the road running. The mystery girl was definitely not mortal, sparkling tendrils of light shot out of her spear as she gracefully tangoed with the monster. The girl couldn't be an unclaimed demigod, she was far too skilled. Reyna figured that this was some sort of weird test that the Gods had given her, probably Apollo being a royal douche. Maybe Mars.
Reyna heard the girl yell in anger from twenty meters away as she struck the monster again. The wolf head yelled in agony and swung it's leopard hind leg around, the impact sent the girl flying into a brick wall.
In an incredibly athletic feat, Reyna leapt forward and blocked the wolf head from administering a fatal blow to the girl with her sword.
For a moment, they stared at each other, the girl seemed equally surprised to meet her. Up close Reyna noted the girl's choppy black hair and electric blue eyes. Everything about her screamed...not Roman.
Both of them silently acknowledged the other's weapons, which was another indication to Reyna that she carried the blood of the Gods.
Their introduction was short-lived, however, as the monster recovered and reared back, dislodging it's teeth from the blade.
"We need to find it's weak point!" The girl yelled as she scrambled to her feet. Her accent was definitely not from California either.
Reyna tumbled to her left and gripped her sword in an aggressive stance. The proud praetor wasn't used to taking orders from somebody else, especially someone who had yet to earn her respect.
She took the time to study her opponent as it prepared to strike again. The wolf head looked identical to one of Lupa's pack, it's distinct iron fur shimmered in the setting sun. Reyna focused on its neck, where strange letters seemed to glow from it's green scales.
They exchanged blows with the monster, trying to learn it's tendencies, while it did the same with them. She finally noticed the detail on the girl's shield, a creepy engraving of Medusa, which confirmed her suspicions that she was a demigod.
"The neck!" Reyna called out. "Aim for it!"
An opportunity finally presented itself when it chose to attack the other girl. Reyna whipped her sword in a deadly arch and connected with its thick hide.
Thunk!
The wolf head hit the asphalt, but to her horror it began to regenerate, and a second one sprouted from the first. The foreign letters began to glow brighter.
"Di immortales, of course it's part Hydra!" The girl cursed, her first words sounded vaguely familiar. Reyna recalled the Hydra from one of her classes, the heads would duplicate when chopped off. The only way to defeat it was to burn the stumps, and neither of them seemed capable of such a feat.
They stood side by side, the wolf-hydra-leopard monster was almost fully healed. Reyna couldn't help but gape when the girl slammed her spear, causing a lightning bolt to extend outwards to the sky.
"Jupiter?" Reyna asked, still unsure on how she had never met a demigod as powerful as her before. She was a fantastic fighter, was it possible that Jupiter had another child?
The girl gave her a strange look. "No, Zeus."
Reyna had no time to register that the girl was a Greek, the monster wasn't going to wait.
She parried the sharp claws while the daughter of Zeus repeatedly electrocuted the wolf heads whenever one got too close. But no matter what they did, it seemed like it only got more angry. Thankfully, it seemed like all the mortals had vacated the area.
Her mind swarmed with questions between blows. Greeks? They exist? What is she doing here? Reyna couldn't help but draw comparisons to Jason, the girl's killer mentality was equal only to his.
Back and forth they challenged the monster, but neither of them were able to make a dent in it's defense. Without a way to stop the heads, they were dead in the water.
To complete Reyna's list of things she'd never thought she would see, a slender girl, dressed in all white robes, appeared on their right flank. The new girl had a Middle Eastern complexion, and carried what looked like a very large stick.
"Oh great, welcome to the freak show." The Greek muttered.
Now there were three girls, and one very pissed off monster. The "rabid tiger" wouldn't be the only thing on mortal television programs tonight.
It decided to pounce at the new girl first. Reyna thought she was toast, but the girl extended her piece of wood and yelled. Massive symbols formed over the girl's head as seven purple ribbons magically appeared out of the now glowing stick. The wolf heads howled as it was completely wrapped in the godly cloth. Reyna pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"What is that thing?" The new girl called out, her accent was strangely New Yorkish. Reyna guessed that she might be a child of Hekate, the Roman goddess of magic. The stick was obviously a godly item, just like Jason's coin. The ribbons began to smolder as the monster thrashed inside.
The Greek girl laughed crazily. "I'll do you one better, who are you?"
Unfortunately, the monster didn't give a damn about their antics, as it broke free from the new girl's prison and bared its canines. They hastily formed a defensive triangle, forcing the monster to rotate rapidly on its feet to account for all of them.
"Can that thing make fire?" Reyna pointed at the new girl's super stick, clearly she wasn't mortal either.
The girl's eyes flitted to the gold sword and the crackling spear. "My staff? Yeah, why?"
"When we chop this sucker's heads off, you need to burn the stumps!" The Greek, who Reyna had mentally named 'Lightning Girl,' said as she narrowly avoided decapitation before blasting back at it with electricity.
The letters now levitated around the monster's necks, which didn't seem like a good thing. They were running out of options. Reyna tried to draw it's attention in hopes of getting the new girl a clean shot.
"The ribbons! Can you do it again!" Reyna asked.
The new girl deflected a strike and shook her head. "No!"
Overhead, a dark storm cloud began to brew. Reyna looked over just in time to see Lightning Girl emit a guttural yell.
A massive bolt came down from the heavens, evaporating the right head of the monster completely.
The daughter of Bellona wasted no time and sliced the left head cleanly off while it was disoriented. Balls of fire discharged themselves from the girl's staff and enveloped the stumps in a pair of mini infernos.
Reyna went for the killshot, submerging the Imperial Gold deep into the leopard's heart.
The monster began to collapse in on itself, repeatedly folding inward, creating a real-life optical illusion. The three of them cautiously approached the deceased monster, who was now the size of a small backpack.
POP!
Reyna closed her eyes at the blinding flash, instinctively reaching out with her sword. When her vision cleared, she was surprised to find three luminous charms on the ground in place of the monster.
The tokens were attached to a jaded bracelet. Upon further inspection, she realized each one represented a part of the monster: leopard, hydra, and wolf.
"I think that one's meant for me." The new girl said, pointing at the leopard. "I recognized the monster's body, it's from an Egyptian Serpopard."
"Egyptian?" Lightning Girl questioned. "One of your parents is an Egyptian goddess?"
The new girl frowned her brow. "No?"
"You're accent, it's Brooklyn." The daughter of Zeus gave the new girl a onceover.
"Yeah, and yours is from Queens." She responded back.
"Well obviously all of us here aren't mortals, so what's your story?" Reyna asked the new girl. Somebody had to be the adult in this situation. "Reyna RamÃrez-Arellano, daughter of Bellona."
"Zia Rashid, magician from the House of Life." She held out her staff. "Egyptian magic."
Lightning Girl held out her hand. "Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of Artemis and daughter of Zeus."
Reyna felt the weight of the world crash down on her shoulders.
Grace.
It couldn't be. Reyna prayed that it was just a coincidence, she looked nothing like Jason. Plus, she was Greek and he was Roman. No way.
She tried not to let her wave of emotions show. "Three different pantheons...I never knew that there were Greek and Egyptian demigods."
"Demigod?" Zia questioned.
"A child that is half-mortal, half-god." Thalia answered. "My father is Zeus."
Zia's jaws dropped. "Your father is Zeus, the king of the Greek Gods."
Thalia snorted. "Don't put him up on a pedestal, he's an idiot most of the time."
A loud thunder clap boomed almost instantaneously.
"Blah blah blah!" Thalia said sarcastically to the sky.
"You said you are Artemis's Lieutenant, the Greek equivalent of Diana." Reyna exclaimed incredulously. "We have our own group of Roman hunters."
Thalia retracted her shield into a metal bracelet on her wrist, which was very impressive. "I was wondering about that the other day. It would explain why Lady Artemis would always leave periodically, she must have been switching between groups."
"And you," Reyna looked at Zia, her mind still spinning. "Do you have a godly parent?"
Zia shook her head. "No, my parents are both mortal. Some magicians have the ability to host an Egyptian god."
"Are you telling me there's a god inside of you right now?" Thalia gaped. "That's disgusting."
Reyna had to agree with her. The thought of anybody else taking up space in her brain was enough to make her hurl.
"Not exactly, I kind of call on him whenever it's necessary." Zia explained. "It's complicated."
Reyna studied the Zia, she was clearly the youngest out of the three, maybe thirteen or fourteen. She guessed that Thalia was around her age. "And who's him?"
"Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun."
Thalia clapped her hands together and laughed. "Well then, does anybody have anything else to say that will blow my mind?"
"The charms, what do we do with them?" Zia said.
They all looked back down at the three tokens, the jaded beads on the bands glowed eerily.
Impulsively, Reyna's hand touched the wolf head, and her world turned into a misty white.