So I know it has been forever since I last updated and I'm sorry. I had a lot going on and am know getting this up cause I'm stuck at home with a torn ligament keeping me from volleyball :( Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW AND VOTE ON THE POLL! Thanks! :)
Bellatores Prata kept the Demigods surprisingly busy while the Nephilim were away. Thalia had found an archery range, keeping herself thoroughly entertained with some of it's special features. Annabeth, a library that engulfed half of the second floor, ranging in books from Tolstoy, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Shakespear, Steinbeck, and so many other great authors' and books. Ranging from philosophy, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and everything in between, Annabeth was in heaven. Nico had disappeared for a short time, yet when he returned the Demigods found themselves at a lake about a mile in the forest behind the house. They spent the majority of the day swinging rope into the clear water, and diving off the rocky waterfall. They laughed until they thought they would throw up and their stomachs protested from a lack of food.
They were all laughing in the kitchen in fresh cloths having a late lunch when the screech of tires alerted them to trouble. Devin burst through the door, nearly breaking off the hinges, as Brandon came up behind her. Holding a lifeless and pallor Tess in his arms.
"Grams! Grams!" Devin cried as Brandon lay Tess on the living room table.
"What happened?" Percy asked.
"Ambush." Was all Brandon managed to say, his calm demeanor only masking the swarm of emotions he felt. It was only then that the Demigods noticed their change of attire. Devin, Brandon, and even Tess wore black mail and leather armor that stretched around their limbs, heavy boots protected their feet while gloves and braces protected their arms.
"Tess! Tess! Can you hear me?" Devin cried as she began removing Tess' blood coated armor. Tess didn't respond, blue veins running along her nearly translucent skin. Annabeth hated to think how much blood the girl had lost. Both Devin and Brandon cursed as their pleas to Tess were met with silence.
"Where the hell is Lily?" Brandon's frustration showing.
"She left for the High Council." Thalia informed them. Nico looked as if he was irrevocable in his place. The crimson blood matted into Tess' hair and destroyed armor were only small indications to Nico. He could feel her life slowly dying, her fierce desire to survive, yet he couldn't be sure if she would live or die.
"Opus aviae uestra!" Devin's voice rose an octave as she began rapidly speaking in Latin. Finally after several seconds of dead silence Lily's form began to appear. At the sight of Tess slowly bleeding out she asked no questions only raced to the girl's side. Swirling balls of white energy swam around Tess, encasing her in a cocoon of white light.
"What happened?" Lily directed the question towards the Nephilim, who's eyes were still glued to Tess.
"Aractites." Devin said, "They ambushed us after meeting Tess' parents, they made a deal."
"What sort of deal?"
"They said if they couldn't have her, no one could." Brandon's voice was edged in sorrow and hatred.
"The harm humans inflict on their loved ones is unforgivable. They shall be dealt with, but first, let us ensure Tess makes a full recovery. And then, I believe I owe you all an explanation." Demigods, and Nephilim alike nodded in agreement. Brandon scooped up Tess in her cocoon of energy, placing her in her bed, before retiring to his own room in attempt to clean his armor and body of her blood. Devin scrubbed herself with scalding hot water until her dark skin was raw and faintly pink. She then sat at the edge of Tess' bed with Brandon, sitting, watching, hoping that she would be okay.
When Tess finally showed the first signs of life, it just a flicker, yet it was enough to put their minds at ease. "Remember when we first met, and I told you, you were destined for something greater?"
"How could I forget?" Brandon countered in his charming manner that made Devin smile.
"I had been on my own for three months, and you were first Nephilim I had come across. Of course, just like me, you had no idea what awaited you. Yet, when I told you that, when told you we had a chance to find out who we really are you couldn't resist. And now our best friend is fighting to live in front of our very eyes."
"What's your point D?"
"Do you regret it?"
"Regret what?"
"Coming with me. Finding Tess and finding this world."
"Sometimes I wonder, what my life would have been like if I had stayed. Yet, I always come to the same conclusion that I did then."
"Which is?"
"Life is too short."
"I found you, and together we found Tess, and now she's dying in front of my eyes. It's my fault."
"No. Face it D, if you hadn't brought us together you'd still be living in the Firehouse you were abandoned at wondering what caused your parents to leave you. I would be going through life without any sense of true direction. And Tess, Tess would have died a long time ago." With those words Brandon ended their conversation, Devin knew Brandon was right. She had saved them. Not matter how much she believed she had condemned them to death, they all would have been hunted like moths to a flame if they hadn't realized who, what they were.
Devin awoke, along with Brandon to the bell-like voice she never thought she would be so happy to hear. "What in hell is going on?"
Devin didn't respond, instead she tackled Tess in a bone-crushing hug. When she finally released Tess she raced out of the room, partially to give Tess and Brandon some privacy and partially to tell everyone that Tess had survived. She found the Demigods first, all four of them in Percy's room.
"She's awake." Was all Devin managed to say before racing down the stairs, the half-bloods, not missing a beat, followed suit. In the living room, Tess lay on one of the oversized couches with Brandon, Lily sat in a chair to their left. Percy, Annabeth and Devin took the other couch opposite of Tess and Brandon, while Thalia and Nico both took chairs opposite to Lily.
"I promised you I would tell of Dru. Yet, I do not know where to begin, her story is long, very long and harsh, brutal even."
"How about the beginning?" Devin questioned her grandmother.
"Very well." Lily sighed heavily. "Everything in our world leads back to her. Our path intertwined with Dru's. Thirty-thousand years ago Dru appeared in the barren wasteland that is now our majestic homeland. It is said she appeared in a blinding flash of energy, the same energy that created her. Legend states that when Dru bared witness to death on Earth she made a deal."
"What sort of deal?" Thalia asked.
"She vowed to create a race descendant of Angles to rid the world of demons so long as they answered to a higher power. The Tribe Elders, overjoyed with her proposition, showered her in gifts and praise in exchanged for salvation. Disgusted with their belief that she wanted to be worshiped she left, vowing she would not return until the desert wept. The desert never wept. Then, one day, after a thousand years of despair, a baby was born. She was named Nekoda Origen, the Marked Origin. For on the day of her birth, the desert shed a single tear. The Estonians called her Tähistatud. The Marked. Born with the mark of Nephilim."
"So Dru created Nephilim?" Percy asked.
"No. She only facilitated the task. Dru does not have the will or the…capability to create races. It goes against the balance, she can aid a race or forsake them."
"Dru told Villis she had been the Preliator for five-thousand years ago, now your telling us she was around thirty-thousand years ago. How is that even possible?" Annabeth asked.
"Preliator is just a title given to Dru, they come and go throughout the ages. She despise them all. The code of Preolation is more of a guidebook, it has been since before Rome. Traditionally, she is known as Lady Dru of the Echanti, she hates that even more. The Sanhelli only use the name to spite Dru."
"What are the Sanhelli anyway?" Percy asked.
"The Sanhelli are a race of Myth Warriors, very old, very powerful. They were once guardians, protectors, for the God San Helios–"
"Apollo?" Tess questioned, she knew Dru the best out of all the Nephilim in the room. However, the Greeks had always been an….odd… subject for Dru.
"Yes, yet, when they went against him, broke their sacred vows, they were Forsaken. Stripped of their white magic, cast down to these monsters they are now. Their sole purpose now is to seek vengeance to the one they blame for being Forsaken."
"Dru?" Devin asked courteously, she feared eventually her grandmother would not continue. In almost two years of knowing her Devin still had no idea what happened to her parents. Now she was closer than ever before, she had to know.
"Yes, they blame her for breaking their vows."
"And did she?" Brandon couldn't help but ask. Dru always did the right thing, no matter the collateral damage.
"Yes." It wasn't Lily who answered Brandon's question though. It was Nico. He hadn't spoken a word throughout the entire conversation, only listening, remember all that he had learned from the Nephilim he had met in the Underworld.
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