Chapter 4

Sofia POV

For the second time that day the campers stopped and stared. This time at the magnificent bird that was circling above them like they were its next prey, wings splayed across the darkening blue sky. It circled lower and lower, the breeze ruffling its ebony black feathers.

War yawned and stretched back, still looking a bit irritated, but a bit more bored now. Looking back to the vulture, I saw it opening its mouth and emitted a loud screech that echoed off…well, everything. The sound resonated throughout the whole valley, and I did not doubt that the mortals in China or Antarctica had not heard the sound. The campers keeled over and blocked their ears, faces scrunching up with unbearable pain. It was like dozens of needles of pain and sound thrust into our eardrums and twisted in further and further. I managed to glance up in time to see the monsters doing pretty much the exact same thing, but, if possible in even more pain. I looked at War. He was casually sharpening one of his thousands of swords, his snake coiling itself around the handlebars of the bike. Why weren't they reacting? Surely he could hear it. I wrenched my head back towards the monsters and saw about a tenth of the slightly less menacing looking monsters explode into dust. Wow. If this was what Death's bird could do, then…well, I'm glad Death's on our side.

I think.

The bird glided to the ground and gently landed on a black figure that had definitely not been there a minute ago. The vultures claws gripped the figure's shoulder's and it bowed it's head and scanned us with small beady eyes that made you feel like the world had come to an end. The figure half stepped out of t he shadows, and although you couldn't see her face, you could see the dark wispy hair and the black dress that fell in waves above her pale knees, that melted into the shadows. You could also see the dark stormy blue. They were like pits of doom, not unlike War's, but more…dread in it, more horror and wailing and it was like they were the windows to the worst depths of Tarturus, sucking you in, daring you to enter.

She stepped out of the shadows, and you could see why her name was Death. Three quarters of her face was normal. Perhaps the skin was unnaturally pale, and a bit wan. But the other quarter of her face was a thin layer of grey skin, covering ghostly white bones. I mentally rescanned my knowledge. Nothing said anything about her face. But there was the fact she had no emotions. No heart. Ripped out when she was but five. Ouch. We were all staring at the hauntingly beautiful figure that was Death, until we heard a sound from behind. Someone was applauding. We turned around. War was standing up from leaning against his bike, his snake slithering around his arm.

"Congratulations, dear old friend," War was saying, his words sounding like someone had chucked a bucket of sarcasm at them. Death's eyes flicked dangerously toward War. Her thin lips tugged upwards into a forced smile.

"War. How… nice…to see you again," Death said. Apparently there had been two buckets of sarcasm chucked today, "It's been, what two thousand years?" she said nonchalantly, but you could see the tension the eyes, and the way her knuckles turned white. Even her bird was glaring at him.

"Nah, more five thousand ish. You know, when we 'bumped into' each other in London?" War said, thumbs in pockets, and I'd probably say he looked like the average mortal high school play boy, had it not been for the fact his lips were pursed into a line of attempted to control hate, his eyes filled with annoyance, and the weapons lined across his belt, plus the fact he had a snake coiled around him. Wow, these assassins were the best of friends.

"And if I do remember, we caused the Black Death. Pity that was," she replied emotionlessly. War threw her a cocky grin, simply made to annoy her, eyes flashing dangerously.

"You remember correctly. But if I do remember correctly, we were supposed to be doing something more productive than reminiscing the past," War said, slightly more serious now. Slightly.

"After you, of course," Death said. War inclined his head.

"Of course." And he flew into action. Honestly, I knew from the second he began moving, that he was waaaaay better than Cadmus. And apparently Cadmus knew that too. He was staring at War with bitter venom, that almost rivalled War's previous glare for him. Almost. War was literally flying around the field, leaving trails of dead monster dust. I saw a pure red sabre tooth tiger looking like creature spring up behind him. He didn't seem to notice. That's it. He's done for. And it looked like he was. The tiger grinned , baring its creepily sharp fangs, that seemed longer than my hand. Honestly, how does that thing eat? It's claws were fully extended, ready to tear out the spinal cord of the infamous elite assassin. And then I saw this blur in front of my eyes, like a slight smudge in the air. My head spun around to follow the blur. All I saw was a pure black dagger quivering in a pile of ash where the wolf that had been lunging towards War had been merely milliseconds before. I turned to where the knife had come from and saw Death casually twirling around a similar knife to the one that was quivering in the dirt, studying a line of intricate engraving on the hilt. I was slightly shocked about the fact that Death had saved War's life, whom she had seemed to hate a minute ago, and I honestly expected Chaos' elite assassin to have the slightest of manners to thank the person who had, as I had seen it, saved his immortal life. Instead War spun around to glare at Death who was still nonchalantly playing with the knife, stabbing two monsters without looking. A slight smirk playing on her emotionless lips.

"What the heck? You could have killed me!" War screamed at Death who glanced up casually.

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?" she said flatly, eyes suddenly bearing a slight sparkle "My name is Death, after all."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean you can attempt to kill your fellow assassins!" With each word, he killed about five monsters, using some pretty sick moves. Umm, why would a scratch from a knife kill you? I thought. Then Death turned and pinned her freaky eyes on me. She smiled. I felt myself quaking.

"Because, honey, this is Sirian Metal. If you get scraped by it, it will burn away your empty soul away and kill you, inside out. It's also the only material that can kill immortals. Forever. Even gods. A bit like electrum, I suppose but with mortals and immortals," she said in a soft yet deadly voice. I saw Cadmus glance up.

"Yeah right," he yelled. Death's gaze was immediately on him. I saw him pale.

"You want to try it, little demigod?" she hissed. He shook his head frantically, face still white as sheet.

"Hell yeah you don't," I heard a gruff voice said, and we turned to see War still killing monsters, hardly breaking sweat. He was dual wielding, a slim, long, sharp deadly looking swords, one sword half steel half Celestial Bronze, the other half Imperial gold and what looked like Stygian Iron. It was hard to distinguish the materials, with the smooth efficiency as it cut through the air and monster guts. Remind me not to get on his bad side. After a while, Death joined in, a swirling tornado of black and pure destruction. War might be a good fighter, but Death was…Death. And she loved causing it.It slowly dawned upon me that the facts about Death not having emotions weren't...well facts. She felt joy, all right. Joy with every kill she made, every body she sliced through. I dimly noticed that Death and War remained on their own half of the field, successfully keeping there part remotely deprived of monsters, but also successfully leaving the middle bare, having not like the fact that they would have to be within a few metres of each other. Therefore leaving the monsters to charge towards us. The remaining of us. We were forced to pick up our swords again and advance towards us. It was going to be a long night. I thought to myself.

Evil Dude POV

I watched from behind the layers of trees and darkness, through a seeing mirror I had picked up from… somewhere. ηλίθιος was watching from next to me, having to stoop till his chin was brushing the ground to talk to me.

"When can we attack sir?" he said in his slow, dumb, insanely annoying voice. I glanced around at the majority of the army I had brought to attack the camp.

"Soon, ηλίθιος. Have I not told you hundreds of times? We must wait till all the scum are assembled," I said. Never refer Chaos's current slaves as a name they do not deserve.

"You mean wait till the other two Horsemen…" Hearing the word, I raised a finger, causing a spark of magic to shut his lips tight.

"Never utter that word… You hear me? Never," I spat in his face. He nodded forlornly, eyes wide. I released him. I studied the scene again. When were these stupid people coming? It was past there due date. But I'll be ready for them when they come…

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-Talia .