Hey guys, Goose here.
This is my first story here, also my first time publishing any writing anywhere. Reviews are very much appreciated, constructive criticism is craved. I may add lemons later in this story, not sure. I will warn you if that happens. Set post hidden oracle, pre dark prophecy from Percy's perspective, like PJO. I hope you enjoy.
Strolling along the lake, the sun turning the sky a pale pink, I looked out over the water. Life was, well, as good as it could ever be. Sure, we had a mortal god running around fulfilling another prophecy, but I wasn't part of it. I didn't really worry too much about Apollo's job; when someone gets a prophecy, they must do it themselves. I'd only get pulled in if the fates wanted me to, and I couldn't change that. For now, I was happy. The camp was fixed after the giant statue attack, and I had a few more weeks before my school started back up.
I dove into the lake, water lapping over my head. Water was where I was meant to be, it's where I felt most at home. I swam around a bit, before straightening out and using my power to shoot myself down to the bottom of the lake. The bottom of the lake had been my favourite spot in camp, ever after Annabeth and I had shared a kiss down here after the second titan war. I smiled as the memory came back to be.
After the giant war, I felt like my relationship with Annabeth had been growing. It was still fragile, and still scared me, but it didn't feel glass fragile anymore. More like, well, it's hard to describe. Suffice it to say, I loved her, and she loved me. I was still her seaweed brain, and to me that was perfect.
I realized that I had almost dozed off when a disturbance on the surface of the lake caught my attention. My eyes shot open, and I sent my senses through the water to feel what it felt like. It was a hectic disturbance, a stressed disturbance. Someone was running into the lake, in a considerable hurry. It was no secret that I hung out at the bottom, so it was logical to assume that they were after me. With the hurry they were in, I didn't waste any time. I spun up the water around me and shot myself up to the surface, launching a meter out of the water and landing on the shore, using my waterspout to soften the impact.
I turned around to see Clarisse, the daughter of Ares, already making her way out of the water.
"Prissy, we need you. There's a battle going on just outside of the border; a bunch of monsters followed a new kid. We're locked in a stalemate and need all the fighters we can get." Clarisse sounded like ever, the bossy Ares kid.
I sighed. "Clarisse, for the millionth time, my name isn't Prissy, it's PER-CY." I dragged out the proper pronunciation. "I know you're an Ares kid, but if you can pronounce Lacedaemonians, you can pronounce Percy, right?" I knew that Clarisse could pronounce that name because she wouldn't shut up about how they were the best example of what some kind of warfare could achieve. I can't remember what exactly it was. Blame the ADHD.
"Yea, whatever Prissy. Maybe if you did anything as well as the Lacedaemonians, it'd be easier to remember." Clarisse snarled at me. Then she ran off towards Thalia's pine tree. I could see, even from the lake, the barrier flashing as something hit it. Most likely monsters. I didn't waste any more time. I started running.
As I reached the top of this hill, I could see what Clarisse meant. It was a rather large battle, but the campers were doing well. Nonetheless, we didn't have a lot of campers, and the battle was a deadlock. I pulled riptide out of my pocket, uncapped it and ran into the fray.
The first thing I noticed was someone huddled up against Thalia's tree, screaming and trying to merge with the tree, or so it appeared. He was fine for the moment, but his screaming was bound to attract unwanted attention soon. As I had the thought, I felt the ground rumble beneath my feet. I looked over the battle to see a large shape moving fast towards the battle, with two ominous pearly white horns. I moaned internally.
After the battle on the bridge, I had hoped that it would take longer for this particular monster to crawl and climb its way back out of Tartarus, but apparently, the fates quite enjoy seeing me fight the minotaur. I started running to meet it. I jumped over discarded equipment and ran my way straight through piles of monster dust, creating puffs of the disintegrated essence in my wake. I vaulted over a rogue centaur back, and he turned, intending to run me through with his spear. He never got the chance as an arrow split the air in front of him, and he fell into a heap of powder. I hadn't seen who'd shot the arrow, but I made a mental note to ask. It was a good shot, and I wanted to thank them for it.
Finally, I made it past all the fray. The minotaur was a dozen meters away and closing fast. Acting instead of thinking, I sheathed riptide. As the minotaur was about to flatten me like a blue pancake, I dodged to the side and grabbed his left horn, swinging up onto his back. The minotaur had gotten smarter since our last fight though, and he stopped abruptly. I was only holding on to one horn. My hands slid all the way to the top of his horn and then off, and I was catapulted back into the fighting fray.
I managed to turn what would've been a winding fall into a clumsy roll. I still ended up spread eagle face down, but hey, at least I could breathe. I scrambled to my feet, trying to formulate a new plan. As Annabeth can tell you, plans aren't really my strong suit. The minotaur had stopped charging, which was good. As I patted my pockets, trying to find riptide, he threw his head back and roared, adding another layer of noise to the cacophony that was battle. I winced. It was quite a lot louder than the actual battle, but I didn't have time to think all of that. I just grabbed the nearest weapon I could, a long spear, and ran back at the minotaur.
As I approached, the minotaur crouched slightly, his bullhead and horns about a head above mine. I thought for a second about jabbing at his head, but that would leave the rest of me open. Instead, I decided to jab at his lower gut and groin. With his height, it wasn't easy to parry a blow there. He swiped at my spear when I darted in, but I retracted it faster, just barely. Then I jabbed again and again and again. The Minotaur roared in frustration, but I had him stuck parrying my lighting fast jabs. However, I knew this couldn't last. I had some basic training in the spear, but sooner or later I would mess up.
It must be said that I never did have a good appreciation of irony. As I was patting my pockets to try and find riptide to prevent my failure with a spear, I was caught off guard by the Minotaur and he knocked the spear out of my hand. It flew, spinning, at least a dozen meters away. I now stood, unarmed, in front of a monster with the head of a bull and two very sharp horns to go along with it.
"Crap" was the one thought I had, before I was forced to desperately jump aside as the Minotaur swiped at me. I was about to jump back in to try and grab his horns, intending to get on his back and choke him, when he reversed his stroke, fast as a flash current. I felt my legs go out from under me, and I fell, landing heavily on my back.
"Oof" I grunted, as some of the breath was knocked out of me. I saw the Minotaur straighten and scream his victory cry to the heavens.
"Percy!" I hear the desperate yell from behind me. I couldn't see who it is, but what I did see is the spear that landed beside me. Not a second too late, as the minotaur lowered his head and started charging at me. I grabbed the spear and winced. The spear must've landed with the point being the closest to my head, and that's exactly what I grabbed. I didn't have any time to think about it. I pulled the spear towards me, pointing it in front of me and reaching down the shaft hand over hand. Just before the minotaur impaled himself on it, I planted the butt of the spear firmly in the ground and held on for dear life.
Have you ever had a Minotaur exhale in your face? It's not a pleasant experience. Having one scream all his breath into your face is even less so. But, if that was the price of my insane last-ditch idea working, I would take it. The Minotaur howled in pain and rage, but he began to pull backwards, off of the spear. He wouldn't be stuck for much longer, so I acted. I let go of the spear and stood up. Riptide thankfully had returned to my pocket. I pulled out the pen and, yelling a cry of "For Camp Half-Blood!" I took a few running paces forward and launched myself. In midair, I uncapped riptide, the pen growing into the three-foot-long bronze leaf-shaped blade that had slain this monster twice before. I took it into a two-handed grip and raised it, ready to bring it down on the Minotaur's head.
Quite unfortunately for the Minotaur, he managed to get himself off my spear at just the wrong moment. He staggered backwards slightly, and as one naturally would, raised himself to his full height. Right into riptides blade as I was coming down.
The Minotaur has a very thick skull, and the force of the impact ripped my sword out of my hands. I landed, flexing my knees and ankles to absorb the shock, and looked up. The minotaur, riptide sunk about a half-foot into his head, his eyes glazed, swayed, and then slowly toppled backwards, landing and shaking the ground with a thud that I felt in my teeth. I walked to the head of the monster and watched as he dissolved. Then I picked up riptide and turned to face the ongoing battle.
Fortunately for me, because I didn't have enough strength left to keep fighting for another ten minutes, the rest of the campers had managed to clear up the rest of the monsters. Just a few small skirmishes going on, but most of the campers where hauling injured campers to the hospital or beginning to clean up the piles of monster dust. I was about to leave, with the intention of getting a broom to sweep up all the remains, when I remembered the new kid, squeezing himself against the tree during the battle. I knew it could be disconcerting for newcomers, so I decided to go and help him instead.
I found him huddled at the base of Thalia's tree, alone. The other campers must have forgotten about him, which was reasonable, considering he sat there in absolute silence, not moving or making a sound. I walked up to him.
"Hey," I said, because how else should you start a conversation after a battle with creatures from Greek mythology?
"Is, is… is it over?" he asked, and I couldn't blame him for stuttering. After my arrival at camp, I'd passed out cold.
"Yes," I answered. "They're all gone, for now. Come on, let's get you some food, water, and an introduction." And, grabbing him by the elbow, I pulled him to his feet and started walking to the big house, to introduce our new demigod to Chiron.
Hope you guys enjoyed. I will try to keep updating this story, but it probably won't be regular. Again, reviews are appreciated.
Signing off for now,
Honk Honk am Goose.