Champion of Olympus Sneak Peek: Enter the Hunter
(Author's Note)
(Quick note here, this is a rewrite. I rushed this chapter to get it out before work and I'm honestly not happy with it. So I'm gonna revise it. I'll mostly do small, grammatical/structural edits, but I will also be lengthening some scenes here and there. Please let me know how you liked the changes with a Review)
Hey everyone! This is the Sneak Peek for "Champion of Olympus". There WILL be more Prequel Stories before it, though, so Follow ME do get notified when they come out.
We get a look at a new character in this preview as well as the Prophecy Artemis and Apollo spoke about last chapter.
I hope you all enjoy it, please please please leave a Review, Follow, Favorite, and all that jazz. Please also vote in my Poll on my Profile and Follow me on Twitter.
(*1)Brobdingnagian means giant. It's the race of giants from Gulliver's Travels.
Please read the AN at the bottom! Thanks!
Champion of Olympus Sneak Peek: Enter the Hunter
(Dec/1/2010. Location: Temperate forest, North America. Time: Early Morning)
A mammoth figure stalked silently through the thick, lush trees, making no sound and causing no movement in the brush around it, it was as if a phantom were drifting through the woods instead of a towering figure. No leaf crunched under its foot, no twig snapped, no bird chirped at its presence as it crept through the dense brush, it was as if were not even there. The unknown figure, enveloped in various animal pelts, skins and hides, with a myriad of antlers and horns decorating its shoulders and back like trophies, stilled at the subtle sound of a leaf under foot from over 100 yards away.
It raised it's slightly glowing wooden bow so slowly that it could have been mistaken for a statue, the figure drew an arrow from its quiver and knocked it in a single methodical, fluid movement. The arrow lay motionless for a full minute, the bow drawn, until another barely audible noise sounded from the swaying trees.
The arrow was released faster than the eye could track.
The arrow sliced through the tranquil morning air, through several bushes and between branches on several trees before finding its target after nearly half a minute. The barely visible, silver-speckled prey dropped instantly, a muffled 'thud' against the soft leaf-covered ground was all the sound it made, unnoticeable through the myriad of faint bird cries, wind drifting smoothly through the leaves and animals grazing in the warm morning sun. It was as if the forest did not even notice one of its inhabitants fell. No, the forest did not care that one of its protectors had just fallen, it was once the hunter, but today it was the prey.
The enormous figure dragged its newly killed prey silently behind it as it traveled through the dense underbrush and trees as if it were a part of nature itself. Finding the nearest clearing, the figure approached the lone tree at its center and unceremoniously skewered its prey to the tree off the ground with a sharpened wooden spike through the heart. Stopping a brief moment to close the prey's eyes with thick, callused fingers, the figure bowed its head, an inaudible murmur escaped its lips before it performed a gesture over it's heart, looking up at the sky. Taking the prey's now bloody silver travel bag, the large cloaked figure salvaged what supplies it could from its prey before melding back into the wall of trees and brush like it were never there.
The trap was set, the bait in place, the hunter ready.
oooOooo
Several lithe figures rushed through the dense trees, dancing around the brush and stone silently and without alerting the forest of their presence. The roughly dozen figures traveled in crude formation, eyeing the forest around them while constantly watching the back of the silver-speckled figure next to them. Searching for their missing sister.
The figure at the lead halted to a stop, raising a closed fist, commanding the others to follow suit. Silently, the agile figures spread out, raising their silver bows and drawing arrows. They moved as one into the clearing, each step in unison as they neared the lone tree in the center. Drawing closer the eleven figures all gasped, lowering their bows and staring wide eyed in shock at the sight before them. "Gods aboveā¦" One of them mumbled.
One of the smaller figures dropped her bow and rushed to her fallen sister in haste. The girl at the lead reached out to stop her sister, but it was too late.
"Sarah, wait!"
As the young girl reached her sister, an arrow silently sliced through the air and into her head, killing her instantly. The silver-speckled girl dropped to the leaves with a soft 'thud'. Her remaining ten sisters raised their bows in unison, spinning around to aim their silver bows in the direction of the arrow.
"Show yourself!" Cried the hooded girl at the lead. "You dare attack the Hunters of Artemis? Our Lady will kill you for your-" An arrow through the neck silenced the girl of fifteen. Her body dropped to the earth, her sisters scattering like roaches.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Cried one of the Hunters, throwing out orders in rapid succession. "Haley, circle around! Wendy, cover her! Lizzy, call Lady Artemis, we may need-" The enormous cloaked figure flew from the trees at a speed that would make a child of Hermes envious and swung its elbow into the commanding Hunter's chest.
"Aaahhh!" The girl cried, being knocked back several dozen feet. After rolling a few times the girl managed to stop herself and climb to one knee, holding her throbbing chest as the white-hot flashes of pain consumed her. She could feel at least three broken ribs, though she could possibly have more. If she didn't receive medical attention soon, one of her ribs could easily pierce her lungs killing her almost instantly. But the girl shook away those thoughts, her sisters were fighting for their lives and she was the eldest one among them now, it was up to her to see her sisters back to Lady Artemis safely.
Blinking away the pain, the Hunter rose to her feet just as two more of her younger sisters fell to the cloaked figure. One of their arms being pulled from its socket with a deafening cry from its body. The second Hunter made no noise as her head was snapped backwards with a massive fist to face her fellow sisters. The snapping sound, however, filled the entire clearing.
What proceeded could only have been described as a slaughter. The Hunters of Artemis were formidable warriors, being immensely more skilled than the average camper, but they stood no chance against the cloaked figure that could snap their bows and bones with his bare hands. Arrows merely bounced off of his golden cloak harmlessly as he cut a swath through the next set of Hunters.
One of the more experienced Hunters, Ashley recognized her as Danni, nimbly danced around the six foot eight(203.2cm) hooded man.
Yes, Ashley could now recognize this beast as a man under the glowing golden cloak and animal pelts. His bare arms could barely be made out as they flew out from the cloak in a series of moves that would make any professional martial artist jealous. His hulking arms, like coiled rebar, took the brunt of all the attacks that the Hunters sent his way. The way he shrugged off kicks, punches, daggers, strikes from the bows, and arrows themselves with his bare forearms scared Ashley even more. She watched in awe as this brobdingnagian(*1) man caught arrows in his bare hands and used them to impale another Hunter to a tree a foot off the ground.
"What in Hades name is this man?! Some sort of minor god or Titan?" Lizzy's fear-filled cry shook Ashley to her senses. Only six of her sisters were remaining until the mountainous man used Wendy's body as a shield and then as a projectile and threw her at another Hunter. Make that five.
"Call Lady Artemis!" Ashley yelled to her sister as she jumped next to her, recognizing her as Lizzy. "What are you waiting for? We need her right now!"
"I tired!" Lizzy called back, letting loose a barrage of arrows only to have them bounce harmlessly off of the golden animal pelt that hung around the mysterious man's shoulders like a cloak. "But she's not responding!" Lizzy blew on a silver whistle again to demonstrate. "Something's wrong, she's never ignored our calls before!"
The Hunters watched in tearful awe as another one of their sisters fell at the man's feet. He moved so fast that it was hard to determine his features, but Ashley could swear that he had a smile on his face. That pissed her off even more, causing her to see red. Drawing her hunting dagger she turned to her sister as she did the same.
"We are the Hunters of Artemis!" Ashley yelled her rallying cry to her remaining five sisters. "We will not fall to this man! Come on, sisters! Let us slay this bastard for our fallen sisters and for Lady Artemis!"
"For Lady Artemis!" Come their combined replies.
"Come at me, filthy male!" Lizzy cried as she raced towards the towering man and jumped at him, her blade aiming for his neck. "My blade thirsts for your blood-"
The imposing man turned faster than the eye could see and caught Lizzy by her head with a single, beefy hand. He held her like that, arm extended fully as Lizzy kicked and slashed at him to no avail because of the distance. Lizzy sent the man a glare that could have scared a Titan before spitting in his face.
"Do your worst, filthy male!" She cried in defiance. "You do not frighten me, my Lady will-"
'Crrrccchhh!' The massive man squeezed his bare fist around her head with a sickening 'crunch'. The remaining four Hunters all stepped back, cries and gags escaping their lips. One of the Hunters even threw up at the sight of her sister's brains and blood dripping to the ground through the thick fingers of the burly man.
Without preamble, the cloaked man tossed the lifeless body to the ground behind him as if it were nothing worth his time. He stepped towards the remaining girls, his giant foot shaking the earth and causing the four girls to step back in fear. All of the fight had drained from their eyes. The realization had finally set in, they were going to die. Ashley could see that they were about to drop their weapons, so she spoke up.
"Do not surrender, sisters!" She cried to them, raising her blade in protest. "Even if we die, will will have died in service of Lady Artemis! We will run forever in the Fields of Elysium with our fallen sisters! Let us not let them have died in vain!"
Her three sisters seemed to catch a second wind at her words and raced to the cloaked man with a yell that could have shaken Mount Olympus. "For Artemis!" The all cried before screaming with all of their might as they ran at the man.
But it was no use.
The man before them, who had seemingly gotten bored of them, dashed to meet them at a blinding speed, grabbing the throat of two of the girls, one in each hand, he clenched his fist, killing them instantly. The third Hunter, the youngest, Molly of only ten, was next to fall as her petite body was crushed under the bodies of her sisters as the man used their lifeless bodies as weapons, lifting the two bodies in the air above his head and slamming them onto the young girl. A muffled cry was all the sound the little girl could make until she joined her sisters in Hades.
Ashley held back her tears as she rose defiantly to face the man, her hunting dagger raised in a show of fearlessness and defiance. The behemoth of a man rose to his feet slowly and turned to face her, dropping the lifeless bodies of her sisters unceremoniously. Silently he crept up to her slowly before stopping a dozen feet in front of her. Ashley could now see him in full detail. He was truly enormous in both height and size. He wore traditional Spartan boots and greaves. His waist was covered by a leather and hide wrap that hung loosely in the wind. A large Celestial Bronze and leather belt harness rose up to the top of his abs. His muscled chest was otherwise bare, bar a leather strap that slung across his chest and held his cloak in place. A large Celestial Bronze ornate lion head with an open mouth sat at the center of the belt harness. Atop his shoulders sat a glowing golden animal pelt that Ashley could now differ was from a lion. The large lion skin, far larger than any mortal lion that had ever lived, flowed down to his ankles, drifting in the light wind, making him seem like he stepped out of a Greek mural.
Ashley dared her eyes to meet his face and stumbled back to the ground. He was an extremely handsome man -even to a Hunter of Artemis-, truly touched by Aphrodite, though his reddish-brown eyes, like amber, held his true nature. That of a hunter. He had a fews days growth of beard on his squared jaw, his face was hardened by smoke and battle, though no scars were visible on it. But what really made Ashley's heart stop was on top of his head. He wore the lion's head as a helmet, its glowing golden mane flowing out in all directions, catching the morning sun. The lion's upper jaw sat atop his head, as if his face were sprouting from its mouth. Ashley's breath left her as she stared at the imposing man in front of her. She had been in the presence of Lady Artemis, Apollo, Hermes and even Ares, she had fought in the battle of Manhattan, but never before had Ashley ever felt the kind of presence this man was emittingā¦
...It felt as if she were facing the embodiment of might himself.
Without warning, the man closed the distance in a gust of wind, lifting Ashley by her silver-speckled camo cloak, bringing her to meet his eye. "You will get no satisfaction from my death, male." She spat the word 'male' like an insult. "I will not scream nor beg for my life. I will not give you the honor!"
With her useable hand, Ashley pulled a hidden blade from her belt and drove it into his arm with all of her might. The dagger only penetrated his skin a fraction of an inch before shattering against his skin. Ashley stared wide-eyed as her shattered silver dagger fell to the ground harmlessly. She looked up to the man's face slowly, all determination and fight gone from her eyes.
Her eyes met his and she shivered, her voice barely audible she spoke, "What kind of monster are you?"
"I am but a man serving his mistress. Now," His deep baritone voice rumbled lowly in his throat, sending more shivers down Ashley's spine. "Tell me, where is your mistress?"
(Author's Note)
Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought about the chapter with a Review.
We also saw my OC for "COO" as well. He's brutal. You guys have no idea how excited I am to have him finally show up. PLEASE, speculate below who you think he is. He'll be an important character going forward. I want to know what you guys are thinking. In case you're interested, I have an concept image for him that I got from a Hercules comic book on my Twitter.
