The Flames of War Have Caught
*Third Person Point of View*
Télionix watched the exchange with fire in his eyes. He was supposed to be torn apart! He had been forced to reveal his identity to not only his peers, but also to the very people who had betrayed him and allowed him to be blasted to ash by their king!
"I must do something," he muttered, leaning forwards on his throne to slash through the image. He left the tent he'd claimed for his own, and addressed his monsters.
"My brothers and sisters! We must destroy the demigods while they are weakened! They have grown lazy in their training! They rely on the guardians to protect them! We must target the guardians and force them to surrender! We must strike in all places! Split them up so that they cannot call reinforcements! Half of you will go to the Greek camp, and the other half will go to the Roman camp! As for me, I will deal with Perseus and those pesky hunters."
The monsters all let out cries of rage and war. They were ready to finally exact their vengeance upon the demigods and the gods who banished them to the dark pits of Tartarus. They all gathered and sharpened their weapons, whether they be swords, maces, or claws.
They were ready to attack.
It was the middle of the night, but Percy woke up. He sat straight up in his bed, his breath coming in short gasps. He could feel droplets of ice cold sweat trickling down his spine, sending his body into frantic shivers. Something bad was happening. He could feel it. Somewhere, somehow, his family and friends were in danger.
He quickly jumped out of bed, changing into his guardian's outfit. Leaving his tent, he saw… nothing. Relaxing for only a moment, he stepped fully out of the safety of his tent, grabbing his sword from his belt.
He stood guard for the remainder of the night, absolutely certain that something was going to happen. He didn't know what, and he didn't know when, but it would happen to his hunters. It would happen to his charge, Artemis, and he swore that he would protect her with his renewed life.
As always, his instincts never lied, as he felt a sudden change of temperature and air pressure, and suddenly, Télionix stood before him.
"I see you have been expecting me," he said, his voice conversational.
"Of course. I mustn't be rude to guests," Percy replied, his voice taking on the same conversational tone as his enemy. His fingers loosened on his sword, allowing himself to give off a less threatening appearance. He was ready to jump into action right away though, as his many years of training allowed him to do.
"No," Télionix agreed, nodding his head, "You mustn't." He turned away from Percy for a moment, taking a few steps away from the camp with his hands clasped behind his back.
Suddenly he turned back to face Percy, "Are the others awake?" His eyes flickered to the tents, as if expecting an ambush.
"I don't think that concerns you. We are having such a nice talk, why interrupt it?"
A smirk grew on Télionix's face. "Very well. How are you?"
"I'm good, thanks. And you?" Percy silently willed for his goddess and her followers to awaken, hoping that they would be able to fight along at his side and not be helpless to become collateral damage.
"I am very well, thank you. I was just telling some of my friends about you. We plan to destroy you all." His tone was light, and there was a bright smile on his face, neither of which were matching his words in any way.
"Of course. I was expecting as much. Nothing you can say or do will break our spirits, my friend."
"Oh, no, no, no! I did not mean to give you such an idea! I do not wish to break your spirits! No! I wish to break your neck!" He suddenly lunged at Percy, two abyss-coloured duel swords appearing in his hands.
Percy sprung into action, blocking both swords with his own. They both pulled away from where their weapons collided, and spun away from each other, stopping in the general dual positions. Together, they bowed, and lunged at each other once again, the clash of swords turning into a clash of lightning as the weapons moved faster and faster.
The clanging and scraping of their swords must've been loud enough to wake elephants, because before long, the hunters were all out of their tents, half dressed, but all with their bows. Artemis appeared at the flaps of her tent as well, though she was fully dressed and fully alert.
All seeing the dual between Percy and the crazy madman, they readied their bows and waited for openings to attack.
"Stop!" Percy cried suddenly before they could fire.
Everything immediately froze, Télionix and Percy included. They were both panting from their dual, but both respected the pause, using it to its fullest.
"You are so noble! Aren't you Perseus?" Télionix asked. His breaths were short, and his struggled to pull in anything longer than a gasp. On his face however, there was a wide cheshire grin, and a crazy spark in his eyes.
"You would not let any opponent attack another in a proper dual either, would you? I can tell that you are a stickler for tradition," Percy observed.
"Of course! I invented these rules!"
"Really?"
Télionix let out a laugh. "I was once a noble man. I invented the rules of honor for duelling. I was the one who enforced the laws. But, for whatever reason, my father－your master－banished me! It's only a matter of time before he banishes you to the dark realm as well for a crime you didn't do."
Percy remained silent, for the words struck him directly in his soul.
"We're not so different, you and I. I wonder what made you decide to forgive such a ruthless act. You could've been like me. Get revenge on those who wronged you! I am on the winning side! Join me, and we can be brothers!" Télionix kept getting louder and louder as he spoke. He spread his arms, as if praising the Lord, but all those present knew that it wasn't what he was doing.
"No…"
Télionix's arms faltered, and he looked at Percy. "No?"
"I didn't forgive those who wronged me. I couldn't then, and I still haven't now. I'm not doing this for them. I'm doing it for those who didn't turn against me. I came back because there were still people I cared about in danger. You didn't have any other loved ones. Your father probably saw this darkness inside of you from the beginning, and sealed you away, in hopes of hiding this part of you deep inside. Unfortunately, you allowed the feelings of betrayal and darkness grow and take over. You were too weak to fight the evil inside of you. I am not like you. I will never let my inner demons reveal themselves, because I will forever fight them. I still have light inside me. That is how we are different, Télionix. That is why I still fight for on the side of life!"
Percy then lunged once more at his opponent, and seeing that he couldn't win against percy when his mindset was so overpowering, Télionix fled.
Percy swung just as Télionix's body turned to wind, and he stumbled for a moment, regaining his balance.
He stood straight, breathing heavy after his long, motivational speech. Sheathing his sword, he turned back to his charge and her followers.
"Percy…?" Thalia asked cautiously.
"Thalia."
"Are you alright?"
"No."
Percy turned and walked back to his tent. His guardian outfit swished behind him, for he was walking quite fast, and the flaps of his tent were tossed aside so forcefully that they swayed for several minutes after he disappeared.
Camp Jupiter was peaceful at last. The Romans continued their training as usual, but the fun and games had increased. Training seemed to no longer be the most important thing in everyone's schedules. They resorted to playing Mythomagic, or play pranks on their fellow legionnaires.
Reyna, as the Praetor, could barely contain her new recruits. They were nowhere near as loyal to her as the conditioned veterans. Her new co-praetor was no help either, as he usually spent his time training the demigods in combat, and rarely had time for anything else.
She didn't mind that he helped to train the demigods though. It helped them to stay prepared for attack. They were strengthening their borders and adding more and more Romans to the border patrol, but it didn't seem to be enough.
The constant inflow of lax demigods was going to destroy them eventually. Reyna only hoped that they'd be able to survive the eminent war before that they survived the war, they'd be able to survive anything.
A particular blonde-haired girl walked through Camp Half-Blood, inspecting all of the new trainees that they'd received recently.
Ever since the guardians showed up, they'd been nearly overflowing with campers. Before, they'd had barely over two hundred, but now, they had over eight hundred! She could see both the pros and cons of having the guardians around.
The pros were pretty straightforward. More and more demigods were safe, and they had protection from monsters.
The cons though, were numerous. Firstly, with so many demigods in one place, the magical borders were barely holding the location from monsters, so they could find the camp even without the help of a powerful being guiding them. Secondly, with so many demigods not even knowing basics and not enough trainers, training had slackened. Classes were larger, and there was barely any one-on-one contact between the teachers and students anymore. Also regarding to training, since the guardians were around to defeat any and all monsters that dared come close, the campers no longer felt the need to train so hard.
Once the blonde arrived at the arena, she saw that her class of fifty was already there, waiting for her.
"Sorry class! I had to attend to other matters, but I'm here now!" she called.
She saw her son, Anthony in the crowd. He was smiling at her. He'd always been ready to learn. She was glad, because she'd always worried that he'd take after the rest of the demigods, most of whom were his friends, as he'd been born and raised within the camp. He was only seven, but he knew how to wield his weapon of choice, a dagger, quite well already.
His father had been the one to craft that weapon for him. He was a kind son of Hephaestus whom she'd met nearly five years after Percy, her first love, had been executed.
After that dreadful day, she'd mourned for three years, only finding comfort in her closest friends. Finally, she'd realized that he would have wanted her to be happy, and she tried to move on. She spent two years on her own, catching up on her training, and one day, a new demigod stumbled into camp, and caught her eye.
From that day forwards, they became inseparable, and he'd found that he'd fallen for her as well. He proposed, and they were married, right there at camp, and soon their son Anthony came along.
The blonde was pulled from her fond memories as her class responded to her. "What will we be learning today, Mrs. Chase?"
Word Count: 1922
CSP2708
Dylan Walts