Two Years Before: Camp Half Blood
Things were back to normal, except for Percy and Annabeth as per usual. They spent their days as normal campers, but their nights in a cave with First.
"First, are you in here?" Percy called out.
First stood, she frowned at the name, as she always did.
"Do you want us to call you something else?" Annabeth asked, as she always did.
"No." First sighed.
It had been a year, and she still hated the name. But she didn't yet trust anyone enough. So she went by the name the scientists called her at the OMS.
"How was today? Have things gotten any better?" Percy questioned, setting down the bag of clothes and food he brought.
"Do you want to see?" First asked.
Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances and then nodded in unison.
"Creepy." First whispered.
Then she released a shallow breath and a peaceful darkness left her fingertips, it reached her floor and spread around the cave. It reached up the walls and painted the area around them like the universe. Stars like her eyes were painted all over the cavern. Percy and Annabeth saw the darkness spreading toward their feet. It wasn't stopping.
"First!" Annabeth cried out.
She turned to them and hung her head.
"I almost did it again didn't I, killed you." She sighed.
"Hey," Annabeth smiled and took a step toward her "It's not your fault, you're still learning. We can control it I swear."
First sighed, then shook her head, shifting her dark hair that had grown out significantly in the past year. It was her shield, but as she was, it was a weapon too.
"No, you can't. There is something I haven't told you about the darkness." First whispered.
Percy placed his hand on her shoulder and then gave a soft smile.
"What is it?"
"I am not alone, and I remember everything from the organization." She confessed.
"Can you tell us?" Annabeth asked.
First looked conflicted, but then she raised her head.
"I was made, not born. I was made by the Organization of Modern Science, where weapons were made for anyone who would pay the high enough price. My sisters and I were the bringers of the three different types of death. I bring the peaceful death for women and children. Caligo, bringer of darkness."
That was the last day of First.
Present Day: Half Blood Hill
"Which one are you?" Percy asked.
They had removed themselves from the meeting and gone into another room. Cahira growled for a second, and then smirked.
Cahira growled and then a smirk crossed her face.
"Tell me where Caligo is and I'll tell you which one I am." She smirked.
Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances, then Annabeth took a step forward.
"We don't know where she is anymore."
Cahira's eyes widened, this was not the first time that this had happened.
"I am Cahira."
Thirty Years Before: Organization of Modern Science
"Each one is different, several unnamed buyers are interested." One scientist claimed.
In the sterile white room, three toddlers sat in separate cribs, each had their own nanny so that their would be no fits thrown. Twenty scientist were around the room observing and watching the children's every move. There was a woman and a man who had just entered.
"I don't understand how they are only toddlers still. We donated these subjects five years ago. They should be older by now." The woman said.
"And they look nothing like us..." The man chimed in gesturing to the cribs.
"I can explain. We modified their genetics so that they age at a rate 15% slower than the average human being, so that whichever government wins the auction can have their weapon for longer." The head of the Organization, Nicholas Chermovsky, said as he entered the room.
"You are going to sell them? I thought this was for research purposes only." The woman, their mother, said.
The man, their father, looked up at Dr. Chermovsky and raised an eyebrow.
"You didn't think to tell us that our daughters would be used as weapons?" He asked.
"Oh we did," Dr. Chermovsky quipped and made his way toward the cribs "but these are not your daughters, they are simply subjects that you donated. But if you are going to get possessive, I assume that you should not meet them."
"Please, we are thrilled to have served the Organization in such a wonderful way. We would love to see the subjects." The mother said.
Dr. Chermovsky nodded and then stopped in front of the first crib, the nanny at the side looked extremely nervous.
"This is Caligo, her powers have been given to her in order to spare innocent women and children in war heavy areas. Her death has no sting, it is simply like falling asleep. When designing her, we imagined a night sky, so we made her that way." He said.
The parents looked in muted horror at their child, no, the subject was sitting with skin darker than night and hair dark. The couple stared into her entrancing eyes.
"That was our favorite thing to make, her eyes. They distract from the fact that you are dying or have ever been in pain. The interns call her First, because she was the first to be made. Now lets move on."
The next stop was a baby who was sleeping, her skin was sunkissed golden and her hair was actual gold.
"You can't see them now, but her eyes are gold as well, another trance sort of thing. She is Cahira, she brings the deaths of valiant warriors who fight for a cause. The only thing that has gone wrong here is that she can summon fire, it was meant to be metaphorical but we decided that she should bring a truly honorable death."
The mother reached out to touch her baby's cheek but Dr. Chermovsky grabbed her hand.
"It's best not to wake Second." He clucked.
The next stop was a truly terrifying child, she was small and delicate and in between her hands was a ball of angry and deep darkness. It seemed to be coming from her fingertips. Her skin was grey and her hair was a dark brown, her eyes though were like knives, extremely painful to meet.
"Now she, was the hardest to make. She brings the deaths of cowards, traitors, and those who are cruel. The deaths that she administers is extremely painful and we do not take sending her out lightly. She is extremely temperamental and has the bad habit of trying to touch things that not ought to be touched."
"What do you call her?" The father asked.
"We do not speak her name, it is a call to open the dam that holds back her power. I am the only one who knows her name. I intend to keep it that way." Chermovsky whispered.
"So, she is called Third I am assuming..." The mother continued.
Dr. Chermovsky gave them a pitiful look, then he scribbled something down onto paper and folded it up.
"You may read that, but only once you have left these premises."
But the parents looked down at the paper and read.
'Malum, bringer of doom'