5 Years Before The Lightning Thief
New York City, New York
"Hoooo.." A thirteen year old Sylas quietly exhales, breathing out into the crisp autumn air. His footsteps carried him further down the sidewalk of a suburb in New York, the lights of the street lamps the only source of light at this time of night. He rubbed his gloved hands together with a slightly hunched posture, trying maintain as much heat as possible despite the frigid winds. "Aurf!" An amused huff drew his attention to the wolf by his feet, no bigger than an adolescent dog and passing itself off as a pure white husky due to mage-craft.
"I'm not a wolf, It gets colder the closer it gets to winter." Sylas muttered, glaring at the amused wolf as he pulled his scarf tighter around his neck.
The student of Scathach had changed visibly only slightly in his time under the legendary trainer of Celtic heroes. He grew to a height of 5'5", standing above average height in his age group. His frayed silver scarf the only thing remaining of his old attire. Scathach, his teacher, took a vested interest in his wardrobe. He now wore a long-sleeved white turtleneck sweater, underneath a black windbreaker. Some black leather gloves covered his hands. A pair of navy blue jeans led into a pair of black boots, while a custom fit blue bodysuit was hidden underneath his multiple layers of clothes, enchanted by Scathach herself with many defensive runes. He raised a hand to feel his parted bangs, his hair having grown long during training, was held in a small ponytail at the back of his head.
Drip.. Sylas raised his head in confusion, noticing that during his walk the clear sky was now clouded and rain had begun to fall. Quickening his pace, he pulled his hood up to cover his hair. The demigod fought back a smirk seeing his companion's fluster and ignored the corresponding whine.
"Come along Lobo, we don't want to make Teacher and the others wait. We're already late as it is." Sylas patted his partner's back as he fast-walked behind the overeager wolf. "I hope the latest arrivals are adjusting well.." Sylas smiled lightly at the thought.
BOOOOM! A loud sound, most likely an explosion, caused the two to jump and drew the demigod's attention further down the street to a building on the right. Bright green flames erupted out of the second floor and looked to be making its way further into the house.
"Greek fire...?" He muttered, wondering what circumstances led to one of the Greek's most dangerous magical substances to being used in such a manner. The burning stench caused the demigod to recoil, and led Lobo to letting out a pitiful whine as the wolf sat down, covered his nose with his paws. The inheritor of Gilgamesh's power grimaced, realizing his companion would be of no help at the moment and that his ancestor's voice was still curiously absent from his mind. Shaking his head lightly, he increased his pace to a run as he got closer to the building and was able to make out more of the situation. Curiously, the surrounding buildings seemed to be abandoned, despite the neighborhood being closer to a shopping center. His senses were able to pick up a barrier formed by the Mist around the building, explaining why no emergency services seemed to be reacting to the fire.
Kneeling next to the barrier, he carved the Celtic rune for Search and Demigod into the ground. A transparent wave of magic visible to only him passed through the house, three still living and one deceased demigod appeared in corresponding blue and red silhouettes in the house. Realizing they were closing in on the front door, which to his eye seemed to be boarded up heavily on both sides, Sylas gestured to his right. A golden ripple formed behind him, a powerful mystic code shaped like a scepter appearing promptly. With a mental command, the mystic code discharged a moderately strong fireball that destroyed the door. The ripple closed afterword, and Sylas proceeded to wait to question the unknown demigods escaping the house. Their answers to his questions will decide how he acts in response.
Earlier...
"For Apollo!" The dying battle-cry of Halcyon Green resounded through the manor as the trio of demigods desperately tried to escape down the hall. A disturbingly human-like scream followed, signaling the apparent demise of the Leucrotae that the son of Apollo lured to them. Thalia Grace tried to calm the rising panic in her heart as she noticed that despite the monster situation being dealt with, the rapidly spreading Greek Fire could easily lead to their deaths if they didn't escape soon.
Cough..cough. The weak coughs of the young daughter of Athena drew Thalia's worried attention, noticing the girl struggling to keep up. "Come on Annabeth!" Thalia briefly glanced at Luke following his shout, before scooping the young girl into her arms. Annabeth curled into her arms, her face buried into Thalia's neck as she continued to cough. As they drew rushed down the stairs, which had barely escaped the ensuing blaze, they noticed the front door was still blocked. "Luke! Where should we..." Thalia's question was abruptly cut off by the door exploding inward before they could reach it.
BOOM! "What the hell!?" Luke screamed in shock, the other two demigods more than a little startled by the explosion. The son of Hermes readied his celestial bronze sword, not seeing what caused the explosion at a first glance. He cautiously edged towards the open doorway, only to be shoved aside by the frantic daughter of Zeus. "Wha-" Luke incredulously looked at Thalia as she barreled past him, Annabeth clinging to her tightly.
"No time! It's either whatever is out there, or we die to the flames!" Thalia yelled in reply as she rushed into the open night air, collapsing just after running down the steps of the house. The daughter of the Athena rolled out of her arms, greedily sucking in the clean air to her previously smoked filled lungs. A downpour of rain fell on them, helping to cool the group down. The older girl confusedly looked around, noticing the smoke from the manor was somehow being contained from escaping the building, perhaps the nature of flames? Luke stepped past her, holding his sword loosely in front of him as he glared ahead snapped her out of her funk as she noticed they were not alone. A teen, around their age stood in the middle of the street across from them. He was predominantly dressed in black, and was about of equal height with Luke. He seemed to be glaring intensely at a spot past them, somewhere on rapidly crumbling building.
"SCREEEEE!" A crash followed by an inhuman screech drew the trio's attention to the previously thought dead Leucrotae jumping from the burning building, its body covered in a large amount of burned flesh. Before either of them could react, a sound of rushing air met their ears as several glowing weapons rushed past them and buried themselves into the injured monster. Forcefully pushed back, the monster slumped to the ground as it slowly turned to gold dust. "Wahhhhh!" A sound frighteningly similar to a child's cry sounded in the monster's death throes, before it faded into the air.
Warily eyeing the mysterious teen, Thalia shakily rose to her feet, ready to summon her shield and spear at a moment's notice. No indication was shown on where the weapons came from, unseen by Thalia though, Annabeth noticed the weapons disappearing into a gold mist. Their eyes darted for possible exits before the stranger's voice sounded out, breaking them from their thoughts.
"That was undoubtedly a Leucrotae... curious what one of those monsters is doing here. Are you feeling alright?" The stranger questioned kindly, the glare in his eyes lightening as he smiled in the shadow of his hood. Startlingly enough, Thalia realizes she hadn't noticed the odd eye color the man possessed. A startling crimson, contrasting with his auburn bangs that were visible from his hood. His hands were held loosely at his sides, no weapon visible to her untrained eyes.
Cough..cough. A pair of wet coughs drew everyone's attention to the daughter of Athena, whose coughs seemed to have returned, blood visible on her lips. Thalia immediately dropped her ready state, rushing to Annabeth's side as she worriedly looked her over. Luke stepped closer to Thalia, his eyes clouded with frustration and worry as he glanced from them to the boy across the street. The loud blaring of sirens signaling that emergency services were on the way further added to their desperate situation. "No..no...no!" Annabeth worriedly mumbled. "I don't want to go back!" In between coughs Annabeth frantically clung to Thalia, her desperation and pain clear. Glancing back towards the stranger, who had gotten closer since she last glanced at him, she noted his pensive frown as he started at the trio. Coming to a decision he met their eyes before speaking.
"Questions will have to wait, you still haven't recovered from your exposure to those flames and clearly you don't want to be found if your worry is any indication." The teen crossed his arms as he stared at them unblinkingly. His gaze pointedly met Thalia's next as he made his next statement. "You have a very potent scent, undoubtedly a child of the big three. I'd escort you to the camp but I'm avoiding the eyes of the gods currently so I can't escort you to the camp for now. I'll respect whatever decision you make, but we're short on time." The boy's eyes shifted down the road, where the sirens seemed to be coming from. He took another step forward before holding out his hand to them, palm facing up invitingly.
Thalia and Luke's eyes met, a silent conversation being held in their eyes. Every option currently seemed a bad one, but the boy across from them had saved their lives. Whether from the monster or most likely breaking them out of the manor, although he hasn't admitted to that yet. The statement he made about her smell stuck in Thalia's mind however, as she turned and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the boy. Only monsters had ever said anything like that to the young demigod, so her suspicions were definitely peaked. However, Annabeth's worries weren't unfounded. Neither of them wanted to be found by the authorities yet, nor were they trusting of the gods currently.
Thalia stepped towards the teen, her eyes narrowed at him as she gestured with her left arm at the man. Sparks seemed to hop along her arm as she tensed upon getting closer to him. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed by the demigod she was approaching. However, her next action got a tilt of the head from the teen, before his eyes widened as a round bronze shield manifested on her arm as she ducked behind it.
"Hooh... that's interesting. That's undoubtedly Aegis... well a copy rather." The boy put his fingers under his chin, completely shocking the trio at his reaction to the shield. Thalia completely slackened unable to comprehend the being across from her. Sighing in exasperation, Thalia made the decision for the group.
"Alright... we'll go with you. But you better tell us who you are, I won't trust someone who won't give us his name!" Thalia stubbornly stated as she boldly stepped up to the teen, pushing her finger on his chest. This rude gesture only resulted in a smile from the teen before he swiped his hood back, exposing his face to the world. Auburn bangs were parted to expose his forehead while his hair was pulled back into a pony tail. Bright red eyes glinted in the street lights, a warm smile spread on the other teens lips.
"Sylas Eclipse, pleasure to meet you. Further introductions will have to wait for now, it's time to leave." Sylas gestured with his thumb behind him to a gold portal. A large boat appeared out of the ripple, a set of chairs were present on top, all made of resplendent gold. The boat had several fin like protrusions that had the appearance of green crystalline glass along the side. Using two of his fingers, he whistled while looking in the opposite direction of the sirens. A husky came bolting around corner, splashing through several puddles before skidding to a stop in front of them. Tongue lolling out carelessly, the husky tilted its head as it regarded the trio of demigods. "Lobo! Let's go, you can play with them later." Sylas lightly bopped the husky on the head, getting a whine in response hopping aboard the floating craft. "This is Vimana, my personal air ship. It'll take us to my base quickly and out of sight of any monsters." He extended his hand out towards Thalia, only just noticing how badly she was fidgeting seeing the aircraft.
"I..." Thalia stuttered, her fear of flying causing her to completely freeze up. She would've continued to stall had Luke taken the decision out of her hands. Hiking his arms under the rigid demigod, Luke ignored her protests before hopping onto the aircraft. Putting her onto one of the chairs, he hopped back down to gingerly pick up Annabeth, ignoring the bemused look being sent to him by the red haired stranger. Sitting down onto a chair and holding the sickly girl on his lab, he avoided eye contact with Sylas while holding Annabeth tightly. Belatedly he noticed there was a distinct lack of seat-belts or anything tying them down to the ship.
"Alright. Next stop, Haven." The red haired demigod shook his head at the other demigod's behavior before sitting in the lead chair on the personal air ship, with a mental command it lifted itself in the air. The mist, Luke noticed, seemed to be coated the ship, based on the fact that no one seemed to be looking up at the air ship as it took off at fast speeds. He also noted that he didn't feel the wind at all as they passed through the air at jet liner speeds. He glanced to the chair behind him, noticing that Thalia was clinging to her chair as if her life depended on it. Luke himself, if he wasn't still feeling so suspicious of their newfound "ally", would be awed by just what this airship could do. As it was, his only worry was making sure Annabeth got the help she needed, then making sure they survived. His thoughts were broken by the stranger speaking up, only now noticing that they had stopped and were hovering near a lake. A large amount of glowing purple lights illuminating the lake and surrounding area.
Haven, Nebraska
"Welcome, to Haven." Sylas gestured with his arm towards a series of houses that were loosely arrayed on the west side of the lake, with evidence of construction building out further along the sides of the lake. The design seemed to hold a mish-mash of architecture designs, with some favoring a more Celtic theme (The second largest), and the largest have blue patterned walls and animals depicted on the outside. Luke's attention was drawn to a group of people going through training katas, although he couldn't make their features out from the distance they were at. As they came in closer, Thalia hurriedly rushed off the air ship and onto the ground. She fell onto the ground facing up, taking labored but grateful breaths of air. Luke sent her a smirk, only to be sent a baleful glare in return as he dismounted holding tightly onto Annabeth.
Sylas set a brisk pace ahead of them, the husky from before by his side, heading towards the group he could see before. As they made there way closer, Thalia noticeably lagging behind, Luke could make out several people dressed in tight fitting bodysuits holding a variety of weapons, dominantly spears. The women leading them however, completely took Luke's breath away. Being a mess of teenage hormones, the teenage demigod stared dumbly at the curvy dark red, almost violet haired woman. She, unlike the ones she was teaching, was dressed in a white turtleneck sweater, a black skirt, black leggings, and white shoes. However, the most eye catching thing was the bright red spear she held that glimmered in the sunlight. She turned around having noticed their audience, she motioned the others to stop before stepping closer to Sylas who had stopped ahead of Luke. The spear she wielded dissolving into motes of red light. Sylas met the woman's eyes before gesturing towards Luke. The woman followed his gaze before zeroing in on Annabeth, her eyes widening slightly before she briskly walked over and pried Annabeth from his arms.
"Hey!" Luke and Thalia protested loudly, only to be held back by Sylas arm as the woman briskly walked over to the Celtic themed building that was colored in purples and whites.
"Relax. Your friend needs immediate attention and she's the best person to help, the only person here who could help really. She'll make sure she's okay." Sylas reassured them, nodding to the trainees who then bowed before walking to the third largest building they could see there. Thalia looked worriedly on before her stomach growled loudly, drawing the attention of both boys. Sylas smirked as Luke's stomach then protested and both glared at him almost pouting. "Come along now, the others are headed to the cafeteria. If you two plan on staying here for longer, you might as well get to know the others staying here as well." Sylas stated before walking ahead of them with his hands held behind his back. The husky they saw before glanced at them, before trotting off on its own to somewhere else in the camp. Thalia briefly glanced at Luke before following along, trying to catch up, Luke only a second behind her.
"You better not be lying." Thalia muttered as she walked side by side with Sylas. She only got an easy smile in response. "Just what is this place anyways?" Thalia questioned, as he gazed at the mysterious teen as Luke came up on his other side.
"Haven. A safe haven I've been building over the past three years for demigods, hence the name Haven." Sylas' smile brightened after his statement. However this statement served to only confuse the other two.
"There's places like that for demigods? I didn't think she was telling the truth." Thalia muttered, which served to confuse Sylas before he raised his eyebrows in astonishment. Also he looked the same age as them, building a place like this by himself seemed a bit ridiculous.
"You haven't or have heard of Camp Half-Blood then? Or Camp Jupiter?" Sylas queried, realizing that these demigods were even greener than he originally assumed. "There are camps set up by the Greek and Roman pantheons that train demigods to protect them, as well as be their soldiers." Sylas stated pointedly, gazing at the two as they closed in on the cafeteria. "You won't have to worry about either for as long as you want to stay here though, this I promise." Sylas clasped his right hand over his heart as he looked at them both.
"...Thanks." Luke muttered, as Thalia could only look on in amazement. As far as she could tell the teen hadn't lied to them once, his demeanor was so similar to someone she had met before they picked up Annabeth. That thought stirred something in her mind as she looked at him intensely, which garnered the demigod in question's curiousity.
"You... look really similar to someone we met before. You act very similar to her too. She was... very kind despite the rest of the girls there were very rude to Luke." This statement caused the teen's eyes to widen, completely stopping in shock. Thalia was oblivious to this as she looked into the night sky as she remembered that night a year ago. Luke however looked on worriedly at their host's demeanor seemed to completely change, as he looked very intensely at Thalia. "She was a part of the hunters. I think her name was..." Thalia muttered in thought as she tried to remember her name.
"Elenore. Her name was Elenore, right?" Thalia could only look on in shock as Sylas was basically in her face, looking down due to his height, staring intensely into her eyes after his question.
"Y-yeah. Elenore, that was her name. Who is she to you?" Thalia questioned, as Sylas seemed to realize his misstep and took a few steps back to collect himself. After he breathed deeply before meeting her eyes again.
"Her full name is Elenore Luna Eclipse. And she is my little sister." Sylas declared as he zoned off in his memories, his words causing the two demigods to widen their eyes almost comically. Thalia in particular barely could stand in shock at the statement, the two really were very similar, she doesn't know why she didn't see the connection before. She could almost feel a kinship with Sylas, who had lost his sibling in his own way if she's a part of the Hunters. However, that also sent a flash of realization through her as she realized the implications of his words.
"Wait... if she's your sister.. then that means!?" Thalia's voice noticeably rose in incredulity as she realized something about Sylas' identity. The demigod in question could only smile, this time tinged with a small bitterness at her realization.
"Yes, Elenore like myself... is a child of Artemis." Sylas' sad smile seemed to irk something inside of Thalia, before his next words made her stiffen for what seemed like the hundreth time that night. "I'm glad she's doing alright, thank you Thalia... Daughter of Zeus." His smile lost its melancholy and took a teasing note to it. "Our next discussion will have to wait as its late and you still need to eat, we seemed to have wasted a lot of time and I don't want you to sleep on an empty stomach. After you eat you'll room in my teacher's villa for now until your friend recovers. After that you can make your decision moving forward. Have a nice night you two." Sylas left the two flabberghasted teens alone as he strolled to the largest building in the area, before disappearing from sight.
Luke and Thalia stared at each other, the only thought going through their minds, "What just happened..?"
"Haa...I really lost control there." Sylas berated himself as he looked down into his bathroom sink, water dripping from his damp hair. His windbreaker and gloves having been removed along with his shoes as he stood alone in his house. Hearing any news of his sister is one surefire way to crack right through any walls he had mentally. "Still though... a daughter of Zeus and two other unknown demigods. I sure know how to pick them." He muttered thoughtfully. He's run into quite a few demigods during his three year stint under his teacher's guidance. They had relocated to the states due to the previously thought Celtic gods not being as faded as he thought. Scathach thought it best they relocate to the country of his birth so his very presence doesn't agitate the war-like gods present in Scotland. He grabbed a nearby towel, and proceeded to wipe down his face before covering his damp hair. Rubbing the towel on his head he walked into his bedroom, noticing that his teacher had let herself in... as per usual.
"One of these days you should really learn how to knock, Teacher." Sylas said pointedly as he locked eyes with the legendary witch. "Although that's less important now, how is the girl?" He asked, ignoring his teacher's rolled eyes to his exasperated statement.
"She'll live, no permanent damage was done to her lungs thanks to my magic. Where did you pick up this bunch from?" Scathach leaned against of the walls, her hip cocked to the side as she questioned her student. "That girl you brought in is undoubtedly a child of Athena, she matches that woman down to the smallest detail." Her left index finger tapped lightly on her lip as she recalled the Goddess of Wisdom,. "A prideful and stuck up girl, but a fine warrior all the same." Besides that her time in the West had let her encounter many demigods of similar features, entirely because of her student.
"Athena huh? I suppose it makes sense, I haven't spoken a word to the girl yet so I can't tell from features alone." Sylas stated as he sat on his bed, tossing his towel into a nearby hamper. He sweatdropped however at the second and third statement she made. His teacher is probably one of the few people besides the elder gods that would refer to Athena in such a way. "I found this group in New York. I don't know the circumstances yet but they clearly used Greek Fire to fight a Leucrotae." Sylas held his palm up towards his teacher in a half shrug. "Another demigod was in the building as it burned down, but they were long dead by the time I arrived. I was going to question them but the circumstances led to me just bringing them along." His sentence was met with a raised eyebrow from the witch, her only not of surprise to his words.
"That's really surprising from you, you've never rushed with the other groups. But I suppose you got lucky and they weren't in such a bad state as well." Scathach stepped closer to her student as a smile spread across her face, a very innocent and fake smile. "Even if you brought quite the interesting group this time, a son of Hermes, a daughter of Athena, and a daughter of Zeus..." One Sylas has learned to be very fearful of when it comes to the woman. His attempts to scoot away were for naught when she grabbed on his ear and yanked on it, hard. "You're still going to get your punishment."
"Ouch! You crazy woman what did I do?!" Sylas yelped, more than a little indignant at the pain he felt from her actions. As far as he recall he didn't do anything...oh.
"I can see from the look on your face that you realized. You were over three hours late, and it doesn't take you that long to grab a group of wayward demigods. You were slacking off, and you must be punished." Her smile positively oozed malice at this point. Several glowing red spears manifested around her as her smile widened. "I'll give you a five second head start."
Sylas wasted no time as he bolted from the villa, his eyes meeting those of his trusted partner. Only to get a look that said, "You're on your own." "Tch!" Sylas grunted as he grabbed his throbbing ear, knowing that he will need all of these 5 seconds to get even a little distance from his teacher. Feeling the prana core in his body filled with divine energy, Sylas used his Mana Burst (C) to greatly increase his speed. One of the many skills he needed to thank his teacher for personally teaching him, a special skill that vastly increases his base abilities and his raw power. His variant only possible cause of his divine blood in his veins. In this case, he's using it get an optimal distance so that he can attempt to mount a defense, against his very pissed off teacher.
Crack..BOOM! The answering explosion revealed his teacher bursting from the roof of his house, something that annoyed him to no end, while the amount of spears she had around her tripled to a whopping 60. The other members of the camp except the new arrivals, have long since been used to the antics of the teacher and student. So they diligently ignored the familiar explosion from Sylas' house.
However, even at the realization of the inevitable loss of this fight, as he'd be hard pressed to be his teacher even when she's holding back, Sylas felt his blood sing and a challenging smile dancing across his lips. Although it's a shame he'd have to get another pair of clothes...again. Various nameless noble phantasms manifested around him, numbering 15 in all as he gazed down at his teacher from a large tree he was perched on. Every single one was between C+ and B- ranked in strength, his answer to his teacher's volley. His plan to fire repeating amounts of weapons to match her output as he reached into a ripple behind him and pulled out Tauropolos. He took a loose stance as he the held the bow, a set of three arrows in his hand as more were ready to be manifested by his prana.
Their eyes met as Scathach's grin mirrored his own as their weapons fired, just another battle in future Haven of demigods.
Aegis - The legendary shield given to Perseus by Athena, completely indestructible and able to force most away in terror just by the sight of it. (The one wielded by Thalia however is just a mere copy.)
Vimana - The personal aircraft of the King of Heroes, capable of defying the laws of physics and moving backwards without a loss of speed. The vehicle is capable of modifications according to Sylas' will, hence the multiple chairs to aid in carrying more passengers.
Faded - The Celtic gods were believed to be faded from history due to a loss in their faith, but that has proven to be a false statement by Scathach.
Mana Burst (C) - A special skill taught by Scathach to Sylas to make up for his lack of speed to match stronger opponents. It is essentially a weaker variant of Arturia's mana burst as Sylas has very little experience and power to amplify it.
Tauropolos - The divine bow gifted by Artemis to Atalanta, the Chaste Huntress. Sylas possesses the bow along with many other legendary greek weapons in his vault. Using the bow with Sylas' natural archery skill makes a deadly combination, although he is unable to use the activation of the noble phantasm due to it directly contacting Artemis and Apollo.
So that's a wrap for chapter 5, I took longer than I wanted on this and was going to make this chapter even longer... but I decided I'd split the chapter up into two with how long it took me to write this and how much more I plan for the next chapter. A canon divergence in this chapter I decided on was to have Annabeth already with Thalia and Luke at this point, which I've read is non-canon, to make it easier to ease her into the flow of the story. Furthermore, next chapter will get into some of the other demigods in the camp as well as Thalia's group adjusting to life in the growing Haven. Furthermore, the first meeting between Sylas and an Olympian will happen next chapter. Thanks again for reading and I'll try to get the next chapter out ASAP.
Also any skills Sylas will have at this point, and he will have quite a few, will be only at rank C with maybe one exception for now.