Thalia: Artemis leaves a warning for her loyal Hunters

I was on the patrol for spies from Mount Orthys when I suddenly saw a girl that looked like one of my Hunters killing off a draconae. Three more approached from her flak but I destroyed them before they reached her. She saw another one behind her after I had dealt with the ones coming from her flank and destroyed it. "Thanks for your help Lieutenant Thalia," she said after we finished off two more draconae.

I told her she was welcome then asked her who she was since I had never seen her before. "Well, let's put it this way: what name begins with the letter A and ends with the letter S and is of relevance to the group?" the girl replied. I thought about it for a little bit then I remembered the name with such letters: Artemis, my commander and founder of the Hunters! "My mistress, what brings you to this side of the world?" I asked.

"I came to tell you the situation on Olympus ad leave you a warning. Our father Zeus has forbidden the intervention of the gods in the matter of Prometheus and Ouranos, believing Gabriel to be enough godly force to lead you to victory without them. I agree but his original idea was just to leave you all unaware of that," Artemis explained. "Gabriel is not a god, what gives Zeus the impression that he counts as godly intervention?" I asked.

"He has all the same powers as most of the gods of Olympus, including Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Not only that but he has also been in the service of Olympus long enough to be considered one of us after all his heroic deeds. But now, I have to give the warning that I must leave you with," Artemis answered. A warning from a goddess was never good but one from our commander Artemis was even worse when it considered things like this.

"The Hunters of Artemis must temporarily put aside their discomfort of men and fight with them if you are to survive with Olympus' divine intervention. United, the demigods of the Olympian gods and goddesses can conquer all but divide and you shall be destroyed," Artemis said. Then she made to leave but I stopped her because I had a question for her. "What's so special about Gabriel that Zeus has decided to make him on of you in all but immortality?" I asked.

Artemis looked at me for a long moment without answering than she said something that made no sense at first. "He is the one who will destroy the sky god then become him," she said. She added that our Hunters would be coming and I had to be prepared for their arrival within the next two days. I knew Phoebe was going to despise having to work with men especially since one of them had practically killed her in their first encounter. Nonetheless, I had to make sure that all my Hunters understood that Artemis had ordered us to do our work with men for best results.

Normally, I would agree with them about it being crazy to have to work with men when they were made to swear abstinence from the company of men. But this time, I knew that Artemis had her reasons for ordering us to work with Percy, Nico, and Gabriel. "Also be warned Thalia, tension in the ranks of the Titans may change the outcome of your battle against them for the worst," Artemis said. I asked her how that was possible and she explained that though Prometheus presently held power, Atlas was not sitting too well with that.

"Very soon, Atlas could lead a coup to overthrow his brother and rule the Titans in place of Kronos and Gabriel. When that happens, you must look forward to a fight between yourselves and Atlas," Artemis explained. So Atlas would undermine his brother's authority even when it would have been common sense not to. I asked why he would do that and was told that Atlas' loyalty lies with only two figures: himself and Kronos.

Since the latter was dead, he relied on no one else besides himself and mentally outcast everyone he knew, even the closest family connections. "Is it best to try and stop this from happening if at all possible?" I asked. "Don't do anything yet, I have a better idea than destroying him but it has to work," Artemis answered. At first, I had to think about it after she looked at me in a clever way then I realized what it was.

She intended to use Atlas as her pawn to somewhat infiltrate the Titans and destroy Prometheus without even actually laying a finger. "If it works, we might not need Gabriel to destroy Prometheus after all. But that's just assuming this works out the way I intend it to do," Artemis added. "But one ambitious shall replace the old one, Atlas will be a more horrifying evil than Prometheus," I said.

"Not if we destroy him from inside than outside first. He can't be evil if he's shattered by the deaths of his brothers," Artemis replied. "No, don't proceed with this Artemis! Doing this will only make you just as evil as the Titans and you're not a Titan!" I begged.

"Wouldn't you at least like to know what your enemy's moves are?" Artemis asked. "Give Gabriel that power but don't give it to me, he is the leader of this expedition after all," I answered. "Very well, be it so that Gabriel shall have the power to see what the Titans are up to through the eyes of Atlas," Artemis said. She added on a side note that it was a shame I turned down the power to see what Atlas sees.

"Give it to him as a gift of congratulations for the victory if he defeats Ouranos though. We will be needing that ability to see when the Titans intend to strike at Camp Half-Blood in the event of Ouranos' death," I told her. "You are wise beyond your years mortal, a perfect child for Athena to have spawned from her own head but even better for being a daughter of Zeus and a member of my group," Artemis said to me. We said our goodbyes than I gathered the Hunters to prepare for what might be our final stand together.

Many of them had taken the fight against Gabriel as a serious blow to their pride but a few of them were like me since they chose to look at it as a humbling experience. However, my second-in-command Phoebe was not one of those humble ones since she was one of the elder Hunters of Artemis. And the eldest of the Hunters were seldom ever girls who took defeat by the hands of a man at all much less as well as the younger Hunters and I did. But now at last, Artemis had decreed that we do what was best and in this case, it meant standing alongside men.

I gathered all my Hunters and made them swear on the River Styx to not value the Golden Rule of Artemis over what will save humanity from destruction in situations like this. Even though we all knew how reluctant she was to agree to it, Phoebe ultimately swore to know the difference between when to obey the code and when not to. "Just understand that I intend to keep this kind of civil disobedience against Artemis to a very extreme minimum," she said.

We all hoped for the same thing and even I told her that we all hoped it was kept at a minimum. But as we know from experience, Fate has a way of messing with us all.