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Aurelia's POV
To say that she hated camp would be an understatement. She knew that it wouldn't be easy to relax or let her guard down around the camp considering both her heritage and that she was arriving as one of the hunters, but she would never have guessed the amount of pure animosity that awaited her from the campers.
...
Her first day at Camp Half – Blood had not gone as well as she had hoped, but then again what had she expected.
Crash landing in the camp's lake was the most enjoyable part of her day, and it had been fun to fly, that much she would admit.
Once she reached the lake's shore however it started to go down hill where she was faced with the eyes of, what she guessed was, every single demigod currently staying at the camp. The looks she got were rejecting, immediately recognising her as a part of the Hunt in her new hunter's uniform consisting of a silver parka and combat boots as well as black pants.
It was only after the rest of the hunters were ashore and Zoë had told Chiron, who arrived on scene shortly after, that the hunters would be staying in Artemis' cabin for a while, that she could start to relax.
Cabin eight was a magnificent sight, made out of silver which gleamed in the light and decorated with the paintings and carvings of wild animals. From the inside it looked like one would imagine the home of a prospering big game hunter to look like. Where the cabin's outside was a shiny silver the inside instead was made of wood and full of earthen colours. Hunting trophies, like hell hound fur and the toothed head of what seemed to be a large dragon, gave the cabin a lived-in feel while telling of the residents skill along with a large fireplace spreading warmth and light. From the main room was two doorways, one containing a small hallway leading to the dormitories where the hunters would sleep when they made their, usually short-lived, stays in camp, while the other door held a large bathing area which the hunt always made sure to enjoy and take advantage of on their stays.
Just as she had started to settle down after receiving her new clothing, consisting of a second set of the hunters uniform and some summer clothes, and being assigned a place to sleep however, a knock on the door interrupted the entire hunt as they were preparing the cabin for their stay.
The tall redheaded hunter, Phoebe, who quickly opened the cabin's door quickly demanded in an rude tone – "What do you want?"
There came an answer from beyond the threshold and then Phoebe turned, looking right at her. - "Chiron and Dionysus want to see you."
Aurelia sighed, closing her eyes briefly, and then stood, she had expected to be summoned sooner or later, preferably later, but that didn't change that she had no idea what to do or say when facing the two ancient beings.
Thank the gods for Zoë – Were her thoughts when said girl appeared in the door leading to the dormitory with blazing eyes, quickly saying she would accompany her and handle the speaking.
Zoë was a beautiful girl with long black hair and obsidian eyes, she looked to be around fourteen but was from what she heard well over a millenium old. She held an aura of authority around herself like a cloak, an aura of confidence coming from living to an old age and experience.
As they stepped outside she was surprised by the level of sheer hostility she was facing coming from the campers. Before they had only disliked her for being a hunter, now however it was pure hate she saw burning in their gazes. Apparently the knowledge of her heritage had came to the campers attention.
The whole way leading to the "Big House", a rather large blue building, she felt their gazes on her back and was forced to hear the mutterings of how she 'should be imprisoned' or 'never should have been allowed to enter camp'. And those were the tame ones, at least in comparison, with one red eyed burly teenager even demanding she should be killed.
She had known that she wouldn't find any friends here after hearing warnings from Pan and Artemis, the hunters she had spoken to had been clear as well. She was just glad that the hunt had been so welcoming, the hunters treating her kindly and helping her when they could.
In front of the Big House there even was a small but rowdy crowd which quickly parted on seeing Zoë angry face striding towards them. Aurelia wasn't hurt by the camps reaction to her, she had expected it after all. The first thing she noticed as they entered the large house, standing at the head of the large table taking up most of the space inside, was a rather pudgy fat man wearing a hat and a centaur standing at attention.
"Ah, hello I'm sorry to interrupt your evening but we have just a few questions for you." – The centaur, Chiron, spoke while eying her up and down critically.
Before anyone could say anything else Zoë quickly started – "There shouldn't be any questions to be asked. My Lady already knows all about Aurelia and what she is, haven't your campers mentioned that? If Artemis is convinced of the good of character that should be good enough for you."
If the angry voice and her furious expression were anything to go by Aurelia would say that the campers behaviour had brought out the 'mother bear' in her.
"It's nothing like that but we ..." - Chiron didn't get any further before he was once again interrupted.
"What is this all about? Are you two questioning Lady Artemis' judgement?"
At that there was a short pause of silence, Chiron looking for a good way to formulate an answer and Mr. D, as Dionysus was called, looking on in a disinterested manner.
"Zoë, look, no ones questioning Lady Artemis. But I must know if she is a threat to any of my campers."
How is that not questioning Artemis? - Aurelia thought to herself but didn't say anything deciding it would be best to let Zoë handle things, she had far more experience with situations like these.
"You mean the same campers forming a mob and demanding that Aurelia should be killed? The same campers standing right out there? Those campers?" - Zoë was on fire. Not bending a single millimetre. - "I don't think Aurelia is the threat here, thou precious campers are!"
And with that they were done, not much else could be said. Chiron even apologised for the camps behaviour towards her and the whole hunt. Dionysus muttering something about 'always having trouble with the campers'.
It was amazing how Zoë could just come in and overtake the whole situation, though she had the feeling it might not have been that easy if "Mr. D" wasn't so desinterested in the campers health or things in general.
Chiron dissolved the crowd as soon as they were done talking, all the while looking rather upset at seeing his wards doing such a thing.
...
"It's always the same. They are always looking for any reason to start fights with us. Those campers are nothing but hypocrites. " - After returning to cabin eight Zoë took her aside to speak with her, although it quickly turned into more of a rant about the camp.
After letting off steam with her venting and about males and the camp, Zoë and Aurelia both found themselves in a deep conversation with eachother.
Both quickly discovered they had many things in common and how similar they were to each other. Zoë and Aurelia were both looked down on as threats and lesser beings by campers because of their heritage, Zoë as a Titan spawn and Aurelia as a Monster's, they had both sworn allegiance to Artemis who was the only reason they were treated as well as they were, as it could have been a lot worse, they had also found a home and a place to belong in the hunt.
That night while they were laying in their beds they both treasured the feeling of having made a new friend today, someone to share the good and the bad with. They both fell asleep with a small smile on it faces.
Tomorrow, after breakfast, training would begin.
...
Breakfast with the hunters was an interesting affair. Sitting together at the Artemis table exchanging the tales of past hunts and encouraging her to be a part of the group by asking questions about herself. It was great fun to be feel so integrated and a part of such a close kitted group. The other new hunter Bianca Di Angelo too was a nice person. She rather strangely looked pale despite her tanned skin, although her shiny black hair didn't help with that much.
After offering a large portion of her food to Artemis for taking her in, she noticed Zoë's far away look it wasn't there as they bid each other a good night the day before. Asking her about 'what was wrong' she only got a distracted 'nothing' as an answer, so she let it drop, her friend would tell her when she was ready.
After breakfast, it was announced that there was going to be a special "Capture the Flag" game, with the hunters against the campers, so the hunters quickly left to prepare. All were eager to see how the two newbies would do.
As it turned out Bianca was pretty good with a bow even if a decent part of it was because of Artemis' blessing endowing better Archery skills, and what she lacked in experience and technique she could compensate, at least mostly, through the improved strength and agility granted the other benefits of the blessing. Though since they didn't know who her Godly Parent was, they sadly couldn't train in that field.
Aurelia was another story, while she wasn't bad with a bow she wasn't particularly good either, by hunter standards at least. However in close quarter combat she plain dominated her fights. Her claws and staff combined with her own impressive strength and speed with was additionally boosted by Artemis blessing, gave her an incomprehensible advantage over the knife wielding hunters. Her intense training with Pan also helping out.
It showed that they were different kinds of hunters.
Artemis and her handmaidens epitomising the human variant, moving in the woods, stalking their prey, chasing it over long distances, following traces before striking from a safe distance and capitalizing on surprise and speed.
Aurelia on the other hand was a similar but yet different sort of hunter, a more wild and bestial variant, she too stalked her prey but she depended on her advanced body and senses to track then surprised her prey by attacking and pouncing from the shadows using her entire body, with her strong skin and natural weapons giving her the protection to fight most of her enemies head on.
Nevertheless the hunters, especially Zoë, were ecstatic, already planning on how to use her against the demigods in todays game. Not only was she already trained but also opening up a multitude of new ways to fight and eventually hunt.
...
The plan was relatively simple. While Zoë would lead the largest part of the hunters into enemy territory, she and two other hunters, one of them Bianca, would guard their flag.
Aurelia was placed in a bush near the flag to ambush anyone stupid enaough to try and get it. Bianca and the other hunter, Silvia, were in two trees opposite to each other ready to give her back up if needed and also support her from afar with their bows.
The rest, meaning those not in Zoe's attack group or with Aurelia, would form a loose ring surrounding the clearing and ward the flag defenders from the bulk of the campers attack.
...
Soon after the hunters left the sounds of battle were heard resounding through the woods.
It was about fifteen minutes into the game when Aurelia began to heard footsteps approaching, after a few seconds she knew that the incoming attackers were enemies were when she didn't hear the agreed upon signal of an eagle owl bird call, that they would use to indicate that their incoming group was friendly.
Knowing she had better senses than the rest of her group of defenders she quickly imitated the sharp cry of a hawk to inform her two companions to get ready and that they had enemies approaching.
Not even a full minute later Thalia and two other campers entered the clearing where the hunters flag was stationed in.
Aurelia had seen the daughter of Zeus fighting before and had decided that she would be a formidable opponent when using her spear and shield to their fullest potential while her powers over lightning would gave her a strong edge while fighting in close quarters.
She quickly prepared herself to launch an attack as soon as Thalia was in range in hopes of surprising her and potentially taking her down too fast for her to react to, if that didn't work she would try to overwhelm her by with her enhanced body and if she needed to then her magic although she hoped she wouldn't have to show that yet, but it was something she could use to contest Thalia's lightning.
...
Thalia's POV
Advancing on the flag Thalia felt like she was watched as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, which considering her enemies, was most likely the case.
She activated her shield and her spear before quickly signalling the two children of Ares to be ready.
Only a few short feet divided her and the flag as sudden movement from the corner of her eyes caught her attention.
She got her shield up the last second before the end of a staff could collide with her head. She was momentarily surprised by a staff wielder for from what she knew the hunters didn't use them. Stepping out of range of the weapon she lowered her shield coming eye to eye with the 'monster spawn' as the other campers called her, Aurelia Potter. She personally had no problem with the half monster, beside her being a hunter. But this was nothing personal this was business and she would do everything she could to prove herself as the more skilled fighter.
Charging she thrust her spear at the low crouching girl in front of her and was surprised by the speed Aurelia displayed in dodging the attack.
The girl was far faster than the other hunters she had seen, and from the hits she blocked with her shield she gathered that she also was a lot stronger.
With such high strength and speed against her Thalia knew to take her opponent seriously, immediately charging her weapon with electricity.
...
Aurelia's POV
With Thalia beginning to use lightning the fight just got serious and Aurelia could feel it.
Around them, both the campers Thalia brought with her and the hunters who stayed to protect the flag, had already engaged in battle.
As the fight continued it quickly became clear that Aurelia would win the fight sooner or later with her advanced body, and would have already if it weren't for Thalia's control over lightning.
Aurelia decided to end the fight now as the last lightning attack had taken her by surprise and come close to hitting her if she had not swiftly gotten out of the way. She had not used her magic during the fight up until now. She originally wanted to keep it a secret but she didn't want to lose now after such an exciting battle, she wanted to bring the win for the hunt that had taken her in and treated her so kindly and she was like one of them.
Using her staff, which was a more defensive weapon than a spear, to gain a bit of ground by swinging it in a wide circle, she quickly gathered her magic and spoke simultaneously with slamming her staff to the ground in a loud voice – "incrementum gramen"
Immediately the grass on the ground started to grow and crawled up the campers legs binding their legs together before they could react. Thalia looked at her in utter shock from the ground, she was so stunned that she didn't know what to do and was soon bound to the ground by grass of all things.
...
After formally taking the campers as prisoners it wasn't long until they heard the cheering from the other hunters. With their win and the game over, they released their prisoners and started to walk in the rivers direction.
...
Percy's POV
Percy's day had gone badly so far and it looked to him like that was going continue, the previous night he had dreamed of Annabeth being tricked by Luke into holding the sky, Mr D still refused to send a quest to rescue her. The atmosphere Camp was not at all like he remembered it from his previous summers here. Not only did the hunters stay complicate things, the half monster caused unintended problems. He noticed that many of the other Demigods took offence at her very presence even if she was just walking by, they took just having her in the camp as an insult. And now they had this friendly capture the flag game.
The game had only just started and he just knew it wouldn't go well for them.
Thalia had taken command and planned how they should go to win this and naturally every camper followed Zeus' daughter.
He was to protect their flag while Thalia would go for the hunter's taking the long way around while Silena would lead a decoy attack taking a shorter way, but he just knew that if he were the one to go for the flag instead of Thalia they would win, he just knew it.
So when he was guarding the flag together with the Stoll brothers and saw an opening he was more than tempted to take the chance and go for it and he would have if it weren't for the surprise attack from a few hunters who must have seen the opening and thought they would take the chance too.
In the resulting unprepared battle they had to face a bitter defeat, Connor even ending the fight with two arrows lodged in his helmet. It ended as suddenly as it had begun as Zoë who lead the hunters jumped over the creek holding the camp's flag, causing the hunters to start cheering.
Not five minutes later a red faced Thalia came stamping in his face and started screaming at him about doing a horrible job at guarding the flag. Mentioning that he didn't saw a flag in her hand either was maybe not the best idea, he would admit that, but that gave her no right to shock him with her lightning before throwing him back into the water...
...
Aurelia's POV
Watching Percy and Thalia scream at each other was like watching little kids fight over who was to be blamed for breaking a toy, only these kids had super powers like heaving an entire creek into the air in their anger. The towering water was an impressive sight, one showcasing the true power of a child of the big three. Luckily for everyone around them the water quickly withdrew when Percy stopped and stared at something approaching from the direction of the camp.
Turning to follow Percy's stunned line of sight Aurelia quickly determined what had caused Percy to stop his attack. If she didn't know better she would say a zombie was on the loose.
The walking dead woman stopped right in front of Zoë, every word she spoke resulting in green smoke coming out of her mouth. - "I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach seeker, and ask."
All eyes had turned to the two of them, everyone in earshot quickly dropping what they were doing before to witness the scene.
Zoë stepped forward and said – "How can I save My Lady Artemis?"
"Six shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain,
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and Hunters combined prevail,
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
One will only survive by a silver hand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand."
Well that wasn't cryptical at all was it – Aurelia thought.
...
So how was it?