Nico: Explaining what I saw while in the coma and afterward
Let me tell you, returning to consciousness after two weeks in a coma protected by Hypnos was not a wonderful experience. Yes, I had Percy there to help me wake up as well as other voices joining in but it was still a painful transition. Luckily, during my time in the coma, I had had visions that I supposed would relate to this fight against Prometheus. After waking up and getting back on my feet for a day or two, I told Percy to have Chiron calling a meeting strictly between the Cabin leaders.
"If what I explain is related to what's going on right now, we may be in for a surprise in the next few days or so. Gabriel will especially need to know this so have Chiron request his presence in this," I explained to him. Percy did as I instructed and soon, a meeting was underway about what I had seen in my visions. Gabriel was there in full battle armor and I knew this was probably one of if not the last meeting that we would have, as Gabriel was not the only one in battle armor.
In fact, I was the only one wearing no battle armor at that meeting until I requested that a suit be made for me. "Nico, it's good to have you back and are you sure you want to have this meeting now? We could postpone it until you're dressed in your armor and have had something to eat," Chiron asked. I shook my head no and said that if I told it any later then I might as well not remember what I saw while I was in that trance at all.
"So Nico, what have you to tell us that may concern the war?" Chiron inquired. I was a little thrown off by the tone of voice he used at first but I continued when Gabriel sneered at him then insisted I continue. "I had several visions while I was knocked out so I will only tell the ones that were real clear and very serious," I said. It was true, there were a whole bunch of visions I could recall but almost none of them except a few were really serious.
"The first serious vision occurred after I had been knocked out and foretold of Ouranos' death by Gabriel's blade. Did that come to pass?" I asked. "It did and I have obtained the Sky Sword out of it," Gabriel answered. Nico smiled and was glad to see that his friend had gone through with the mission because then they wouldn't be here talking right now.
"The next one happened shortly after the vision of Ouranos' death came to me. This one showed me some cabins on fire at Camp Half-Blood and demigods running all over the place to take positions for a battle that was destroying the camp. As far as I'm concerned that one has yet to happen but it still could with a little Titan help," I explained. "This vision tells me that I was right to have us prepare for war; it sounds to me like what the Camp would have been like if I never came here and the Titans caught you off guard," Gabriel said.
"Yes he's right but the next vision is one I don't really understand. It has some sort of dragon-bird mix carrying a woman off into a pit beneath the earth and a man in armor following them. Rope was tied to his leg that glowed blue and he jumped after the damsel as well as the monster carrying her off," I explained. "Is that the most vivid of them all?" Percy asked.
I nodded and said that to this day, I could not understand who the man or the woman were. Only that the monster carrying off the woman meant trouble for us in the future. "I had another one after that: one where an entire army of Grecian warriors came charging down a hill to possibly their deaths. The only thing was that I could read no signs of life in these warriors so my guess is that my power to bring up souls will have to be put to work again soon," I explained.
"But it's too soon after your greatest work, you still haven't fully recovered from the effects of raising that army that attacked Mount Orthys. You would surely die if you were to do it again too soon, I mean, you are lucky to be even alive after that last endeavor," Annabeth said. I assured her that due to the vagueness of it, I was not sure if it would be soon or if it would be later.
"Besides, I can always ask my father for permission to do it and that would not take any power out of me. Gabriel might know this army of Grecian warriors well enough to maybe even hand them over to Hades so that I could do it with his permission," I explained. "It's true, a long time ago I had been leased ten thousand Spartan souls by Ares since he never used them. When I found use for them more quickly than he ever could, he allowed me to keep them and now it seems to me that Hades will have to take ownership of the army," Gabriel admitted.
"The transfer won't be easy but one that is necessary if we are to surprise Prometheus should he attack this camp," I agreed. "He will try to surprise us but he will find that the only way to get any massive army into camp by land is to bring them to the front entrance. If he wants to send a smaller raiding party perhaps, then he will have to divide his men and send a battalion around to our flank where we can easily annihilate them," Annabeth added. "Yes, I don't know if this all relates to any of these visions but the last one might be of consequence to Gabriel," I said.
"Tell us or tell me at least if you think only I should hear this," Gabriel said. I sighed, deciding whether or not just to tell him in private. But I figured that if I had gone and told everyone else the other visions then I might as well tell them what the last one was. "The last real vision I had before I woke up showed a woman in a bed begging for Gabe to help her and then it flashes to a picture of this little girl being carried off by a large, black shape on an equally large horse," I explained.
I even added that the equestrian had scooped up the girl from the sea and from several mouthfuls of dangerous creatures in the water. "This sounds a lot like the story of how my cousin, Little Mary, died besides the horseman scooping her up and saving her. I don't know if that happened with my sister but you had to understand that I was young and knew nothing about comas or unconsciousness. She could have very easily have been alive, a heat-stroke waiting to happen since she was not a demigod and could not endure such pains like we can and killed when I threw her into the water," Gabriel said.
"Plus if she were still alive, you would have been saving her days if not weeks more of incredible physical pain. You were only doing what made sense to you although it went against your conscience," Annabeth said. Gabriel nodded and said nothing more about that part of his life but he did say he had experienced a similar vision to my own. "It was just a few hours ago when I was sleeping and it's recurred before," he added.
"Do explain further as it may help me unravel this mystery," I requested. Any clue as to what my visions meant and in any similar dreams in anyone else was helpful. Especially if that someone else just so happened to be Gabriel or Percy at the very least. "The details of a girl being saved had a similar vividness about them besides the fact that I heard the girl cry for help just before both she and the 'horseman' both disappeared.
"However, I don't think there was a horseman that saved her. I think it was more like a god floating on air that had fetched her and then taken her under his armpit before returning to wherever he came from," Gabriel explained. "Anything else besides that in the vision that you saw?" I asked. "Just her crying for me to help her-to save her to be more precise- from the god taking her away," Gabriel answered.
"Maybe it was meant more for you than it was for me considering that it was deeper for and had more detail than when I had it. I don't know much in the way of visions and dreams when compared to the Oracle but I do have my suspicions about this one," I told him. "Then perhaps Rachel can confirm the dreams for you both, she is the Oracle after all," Annabeth said. "It's worth a shot and it's certainly a lot better than attempting to go at it blind," Percy agreed.
Chiron authorized a temporary recess in the meeting while Gabriel and I went down to the Oracle and asked for an explanation of the visions we had received. Heading over to the attic of the Big Cabin, we didn't know until it was too late that we were in for a surprise. Gabriel was the first to go in and to go see the Oracle while I followed closely behind him, as it was his vision more than mine was although I also had it. "Hello Nico, how have you been?" Rachel asked.
"I have been just fine and you?" I answered. She said that she was good and was glad that she had a chance to see Gabriel again. "Glad to see you too but we come with a favor to ask you," Gabriel replied to her. "Ask and hope that I can find the answer to your question," Rachel said
"Nico and I have both had a vision to which, I am clearer to. In it, there was this girl floating in water and dangerous creatures were coming to consume her from below. Then something that seemed like a wraith or a god floating on air came in and fetched her just in the nick of time," Gabriel explained. "You both have had this vision?" she asked.
"Yes and as he told you, his is more clear and I am sure it was meant for him more than me," I answered. "I'll see what I can do, lately the Oracle's spirit has been kind of silent for some odd reason," she said. "I don't need a prophecy, just to use her power to find the answer to this dream," Gabriel assured her. After that Rachel closed her eyes, placed the index and middle fingers of each hand against each side of her forehead, and tried to tap into the spirit of the Oracle within her.
For several minutes, nothing happened besides her constant humming that was either part of the ritual or had unconsciously came up from her throat anyway. Then something I recognized (though Gabriel somehow did since he held me back) began to happen to her. She began to shake and spasm out of control until at last, when her eyes opened, she seemed possessed by some other deity and at first I thought it was the Oracle. "Turn back from this path, Gabriel Johnson!" a foreign voice said.
Then it added that the dangers of following the vision were greater than either of us knew. "Well, from that comment, I can guess that it wasn't you who gave us the vision. Was it Hera?" Gabriel asked. "No, it was not I but I cannot tell you who it was," Hera answered through Rachel.
"You know this sort of thing when it happens?" I asked. "Yes, sometimes the gods will possess those that serve them and aren't demigods in order to more quickly deliver a message to a demigod if necessary. It's seldom used even with me but when it is, it's either with people who can already see visions or those who are dead," he answered. "You remember the last time I used this power don't you?" Hera asked.
"Yeah, last time you used this power was to prevent Thanatos from killing me. That conversation using dead bodies was weird as hell but definitely not as weird as this," Gabriel answered. I decided it was not something for me to concern myself with and let it continue. "Retreat now, keep going with your war effort, and forget this vision that you have been told," Hera said.
"I will not for there may be a clue to victory over this war hidden in the vision. Maybe even several clues that we would miss when trying to go at it any other way," Gabriel replied. "It is a vision best left untouched, please-" Hera began before Gabriel interrupted her. "If it's something related to my cousin, you would do good to stay out of my way," Gabriel said.
Hera's hold over Rachel left and she was back to her normal self with surprisingly no knowledge of the conversation she had been used for transpiration. "Believe me, you're better off not knowing what had been said for it concerns me more than it concerns you or Nico really," Gabriel told her. "That's comforting, well, I hope you get it all sorted out but I really wish it had been a prophecy rather than some goddess possessing my mind and then erasing my memory of the conversation that happened," Rachel said. "How did you know your memory was erased?" I asked, surprised.
"Well, there's this big space of blackness between when I tried to connect with the spirit of the Oracle and now. Hey Gabe, you're the expert on deities, do you know how or why that would happen?" Rachel inquired. "Well it's actually quite simple: it's a question of confidentiality on the part of the god possessing you. It's a rarely used power because it's dangerous and can sometimes kill those in their possession if they're not already dead," Gabriel explained.
"Better to know nothing than to be dead for knowing, I guess. Good to see you again Gabe and you, Nico," she said. "Yeah good seeing you too, hope nothing else that's weird happens to you now," I teased. "Let us know if the Oracle randomly tells you anything or not, it would be good to be informed of what lies ahead," Gabriel said.
Rachel nodded and wished us goodbye before we headed back out the door and to the rest of Camp. The war formations were good, the walls were lined with every Grecian weapon you could think of from pots of molten metal to crossbows the size of a cannon that shot out javelin-sized arrows. Actually, they were at least four times the size of javelins with a deadliness to match. "These weapons serve only one purpose: to destroy the enemies of the gods," Gabriel said.
He carried a certain weight about those words as though they were poison he needed to spit out before he swallowed it. I even said it aloud to him and his answer to that comment surprised me. "Whenever all the gods are concerned, a weight falls on me for two reasons: first, it may mean the end of my love Eos if I fail and second, the fact that Hera has put me through so much misery that it is only logical to seek some form of justice or revenge," he explained. "How much do you love Eos and hate Hera?" I asked. He looked at me as though he wanted to kill me and for a little bit, I thought he was initially. Then he answered, "Did you really have to ask that question of me at this moment?" I replied to that by shaking my head and asking if we should proceed to which he agreed.