Chapter 6: Council meeting

A note:

Just to say, in the last chapter I received a review from Darth Destroyer. He correctly pointed out that the prophecy doesn't rhyme well, but I have used techniques such as an Assonance, which is when vowel sounds are repeated but consonants are not, and also a half rhyme, when words are similar, but do not have matching vowel sounds. Just to let you know.

As we reached the big house, after having only just come from it 50 minutes ago, I suddenly realised that despite weirding the hell out of me, this was probably what life as a demigod was pretty much like 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"Chiron come quick, Rachel's collapsed again and hasn't woken up yet."

The centaur came cantering out of the door, and said for them to put her on his back, which we did.

Back in the medical room, Chiron and Apollo got to work, giving her a series of herbs and other remedies, as well as chanting healing incantations. Apollo was quite frustrated that he could not use his natural abilities for healing here, but that didn't stop him from trying to help out.

Eventually she woke up, and to everyone's horror, including mine, her hair gradually became a pale grey colour.

"That's not right, not right at all. I haven't seen that happen in...well, i've never seen that happen"

"Seen what happen? Tell me Chiron, what's happening to me!?" Her expression really hurt Chiron, but he tried not to let it show.

"Leo, would you please inform all of the other head councilors that we will be having a meeting. Tell them to stop whatever they are doing and come straight away."

Leo ran out and continued on his errand, and Apollo was invited to attend the meeting as well if he wished, which he accepted.

"Haxolo, you may also attend, seeing as you witnessed this incident. Rachel, you may want to stay in here and rest a while."

"Hell no! I mean no disrespect Chiron, but this affects me just as much as anyone else. I request to be present."

"Very well, you are entitled to that. Lead the way into the rec room would you HaxE?"

We walked through and quite a few people were already gathered around the ping pong table, and more were on their way inside. Leo was sat the 5th position down the left, which I guess corresponded with the 9th cabin belonging to Hephaestus, and Nico was in the 13th cabin seat. Chiron headed the table, and I was stuck nearer the far end. Apollo however, remained standing, and everyone was stealing glances at Rachel, whose hair had suddenly made it's way to black, in stark contrast to my white hair. She made her way to a comfy armchair in the corner.

"You are all called here today to discuss the most recent events that you may or may not be aware of. These events started with the recent mind wiping of Haxolo, after falling into the Lethe fighting Melinoë on a rather botched reconnaissance mission."

Mutters went on around the table, and not surprisingly a few questions were asked.

"Does that mean he won't remember the last couple of weeks?"

"He won't remember his whole life Connor, let alone the last couple of weeks."

"Thank you Percy, I couldn't have put it better." Chiron continued "This incident is highly unfortunate. However close we were to finding out his origins has been set back tenfold with Haxolo now having to piece together the history he has lived before as well as his ancestry.

"Now I must tell you, I have seen many things happen in my immortal life, I have trained many heroes, each with a unique history, and some have tragic endings, some have lived for many, many years. However, I have never seen anyone quite so like Haxolo, and it is very unusual for someone to remain unclaimed this long, especially after the agreement."

Nico clears his throat and the room goes silent. Evidently he carries heavy weight amongst the members of the council, and perhaps a hidden fear as well.

"As Rachel was giving him a tour of the place, they met us in the training arena after coming from the armory. He has picked a… particular choice of weapon if I may say so, and I think it may interest a few of you." Chiron lifted his head at that, and addressed me inquisitively

"Haxolo, would you mind drawing your weapon for everyone to see?"

I stood up and obliged, drawing my sword from it's scabbard, and I watched every person's face turn to amazement, but some people had a twinge of apprehension etched on their expressions as well.

Apollo spoke out next, and his response to this sounded a little intrigued,

"Now this is interesting. Your sword is of similar substance to Nico's is it not" Seeing as he addressed his question to me I reluctantly replied,

"So he tells me. It's Stygian Iron."

Murmurs echoed throughout the room as some people were clearly distraught by this news.

"Only creatures of the underworld tend to use such weapons" was one of the snippets I heard, as well as "Surely he can't be another son of Hades?". I tried not to show how I felt about this, surely the son or daughter of a particular god should be treated the same? How come everyone is treating this as some sort of armageddon? As I look across the room, Chloe catches my eye and mouths to me that I shouldn't worry, she'll talk to me later. It was almost as if she could sense my anxiety, but once she made this contact with me my worries faded away.

"Excuse me, has anyone got a pillow?"

"Just go to sleep Clovis" shouted someone from across the room, with a ruckus of laughter erupting all around.

"Can we get back to this please? I think what Chiron's trying to get us to talk about is really important, if you hadn't noticed." This blonde girl's stormy eyes pierced everyone else that dared to look into them. Any stereotypes against blondes were instantly thrown out of the window with this one, just by looking at her you could tell she was, bar Chiron, the smartest in the room.

"Sorry Annabeth." came the mumbled replies.

"Anyway, what we haven't asked yet is what has happened to Rachel. Your hair doesn't just turn black for no apparent reason, that must mean something really bad has happened, doesn't it?"

"Not necessarily, although again, I have never seen this happen to any other oracle that I have had the pleasure of knowing, just to point it out there" Apollo tried to reassure the council, but I don't think it helped much. A girl that was sat in the 10th position spoke next, and her voice seemed to calm everyone in the room, but rather unnaturally (she did say later on that she didn't mean to, but then again she is the daughter of Aphrodite).

"Black is again the colour of shadows and stuff right? Hades can manipulate shadows, so could this be the work of Hades?"

Nico shook his head incredulously at what she just said and gave an awkward laugh

"Piper, you have seriously got to be kidding me! Hades couldn't do such a thing as that, I would say that this has some other cause, one we cannot actually know yet."

I felt we were getting away from the major point of the issue and as much as I disliked the idea of speaking out but I did so anyway.

"Just after she collapsed and began the colour change, Rachel spoke about something that I think might be important." I look around at where Rachel was sat, but she was barely conscious, so I continued "It said something about the child of the first ones, and about darkness reigning."

Annabeth spoke up again, and she didn't hold back her "Chiron, what can this even mean? Child of the first ones? Does that mean the big three or some other first ones?" But Chiron didn't answer. He looked like he was in conflict about this, and that he didn't know how to reply. When he did speak, he wasn't even sure himself what this meant.

"I do not know child, I just don't know." He sighs and speaks to Leo and Apollo next "My lord Apollo, Leo, you witnessed this event, can you remember what was said? Word for word if you can."

Leo shrugged his shoulders and offered a "meh, too busy focusing on Rachel to be honest", but Apollo gave a much more productive response,

"I would advise everyone to be weary of what they are about to hear, for I have reason to believe that it is potentially a new great prophecy:

Child of the first ones finds his way, through trial and torment, death and dismay. Foes be friends, friends be foes, darkness reigns, but darkness falls. His quest for peace, may never find, until at last, the end of time.

Believe me when I say that that sounds real bad."

"Thank you Apollo" Chiron's expression did not improve upon hearing the entire prophecy. In fact I think I saw it darken five shades. If anyone in the room wasn't already agitated by what was said earlier, they were all mortified now. There was a wave of panic spreading across faces, and at that moment Chiron adjourned the meeting, saying to counselors they should inform the rest of their cabin that a quest will be held to gather information about what this could possibly mean, and any campers that would wish to lead the quest should put their name forward by the end of the day.

As everyone else got up to leave, I stayed behind, along with a few others. Some of them I already knew, some I had only really met at the meeting. Apollo said he would leave immediately for Olympus and inform the gods of this new prophecy, which he proceeded to do. The one's remaining were Annabeth, Nico, Chloe, Percy, Leo, Piper, Will and myself, with Rachel in the corner, fast asleep. I took a deep breathe, trying to anticipate what could possibly happen next.

Now I definately know you will hate me after this chapter. I mean, the suspense must be killing you, right? So many questions you must be asking remain unanswered, and now a whole new batch has been forced upon you. Is Haxolo the son of Hades/Pluto, or is he a relation of some other underworld deity? What is both the significance of both Rachel's hair turning black, but also it being in complete contrast to Haxolo's hair colour?

If you thought Chapter 6 as being deep, it won't compare to the next one, I can assure you. Just to make it worse for all of you. Being evil is so fun!

Thanks for reading, I can't wait for all your responses to this. See ya!