Explanation chapter.
Forced Cooperation
Thrusting blurs and rustling leaves mesmerizing to the tired eyes, edging near the cliff of pain and over a vast sea if unconscious. Yet, the wind never stopped. His hand flew up and brushed away the hard fingers of wood and jolted another direction.
A wheezing grunt called out from behind him, as if pleading.
"P-Percy!" The feeble girl cried. She was jerked again in a different direction, this time uphill. "What are you doing?"
"Zigzags!" Percy gasped for breath.
"Zigzags don't work on Nighí Hounds!" She exclaimed. "They hunt base off scent not sight!"
Percy gulped. His eyes widened as they came up before a wall of black leaves. Very doubtfully, Percy jumped into the wall, his body splitting nature apart.
The greenery parted and closed behind them as they reached a small clearing. Under the pale moon, a small pathway could be seen only beyond the trees.
Percy could feel tears rim his eyes; the dirt road was the most beautiful thing he has ever seen thus far.
"We're almost there..." He whispered out with a hint of disbelief.
As his feet picked up from the ground the leaves shuffled once more. The bush behind them burst. A black form shot out, twisting in the air and hit the dirt floor, its body was low and suspenseful.
Before the two was a canine like creature with deep blue and black fur, long pointed ears that flowed along its lean body. Its rib cage was prominent while the four legs were thick with muscles. Upon its skull were two pairs of nostrils and no eyes.
"Anything else you know about Nighí's?" Percy's voice was more pleading than smug, as Amnabeth had expected.
"They have horribly sharp teeth." She recited absently.
"Duly noted." Percy's eyes were already on the fangs that stuck out at them.
"I thought I was safe?" Annabeth mumbled to herself. Maybe she should have stayed locked up if this was her "escape".
"Alright..." Percy released his grip on Annabeth's hand, surprising her with the sudden coldness.
Amnabeth's eyes narrowed. Was he going to make a run for it? Was he going to abandon her? They both knew Annabeth barely had any strength left to walk. "I thought you where going to save me...?"
"I'll grab its attention, you have to run as fast as possible to the road and... hopefully reach a town." Percy's speech was quick and haste, he was afraid.
"Percy..." Annabeth wanted to reject the idea, but she couldn't. "We could fight." She wanted to say, but she didn't. She knew better, she knew they couldn't survive this together and she didn't want to die, even if it meant that this boy might have to die for her. She hated herself. She was disgusted.
"Run." Percy whispered as he grabbed the hilt of his blade, his eyes still wide and fearful.
The hound leaped, it's claws hatched out, pointed at a curve, like hooks. The dark body was truly frightening in the bleak night.
Clack! A snap echoed in the night, like a thick branch breaking in two. The trees lighted up like fire dancing on the leaves.
Suddenly, the creature jerked to the side, it's body hit the ground rolling. A trail of dark crimson blood painted the dry soil.
Percy's head darted to the opposite direction of the dead Nighí Hound. There stood a tall soldier, clad in gold and black. Leather coated lined with yellow and filled with black. A red scarf layered over his chest and neatly around his neck. The scarf was pinned on either side on the shoulder and extended— almost cape-like— behind him. His coat was very similar to a suit with golden buttons and collar folds. The dress rimmed around his thighs, black leggings and military boots, very fine for a nobleman.
The, clearly high ranked, soldier turned his brilliant blue gaze upon Percy and Annabeth. It was then that Percy noticed the pendant on the soldier's chest, a golden metal with the engraving of the sun.
"Radiant Corona." Percy breathed out.
The man merely smirked.
[]
The cold forest night was replaced with a heated metal room. The darkness stayed similar, also the tension of danger still lingered in the air.
Annabeth slouched, sitting on the bottom bunk of the beds skewed into the wall. The thin mattress did little to ease her heightened body. Her long time drowsiness seemed to have washed away with the threat of death, now she sits bitterly without rest.
Percy was posted on the other side of the room, his head hung low. Now that his adrenaline finally came to an end, true terror consumed him along with realization. If his father were to ever find him... Better yet, when his father finds him... Suspension seemed like such fun and lightheartedness when Percy thought of the countless misconducts and infinitely more punishments that were to come.
How would Luke act? How would mother act? What would happen to Luke? Was no one safe from the wrath of The Lord of Avalon?
The door creaked open with the whining of the stiff metal.
The same soldier whom saved them back in the clearing now stood in the frame of the door with posture beyond perfection.
Four guards followed the soldiers into the room, all wearing similar, however simpler, uniforms as the first.
The man didn't look old, but very much mature. His age was hard to guess, he could be countless, yet only recently graduated. Angular jaw and sharp, deep eyes made the appearance of a young scholar, yet, at full height, there seems an overpowering presences of authority and command.
The man pulled the single chair on the other side of the table and sat down, gesturing briefly with his hand for the other two to do so as well.
After they have seated, Percy realized the penetrating stare of the man, cutting through them like paper. He feared those eyes, those mysterious and all-knowing eyes.
"If I may inquire: why were you individuals middling within a heavily dangerous Zero Zone?" The man spoke the question as if it was a trick rather than an interrogation.
"Zero Zone?" Annabeth spoke and immediately regretted it. It seemed like some sort of a bad habit to ask questions.
"That means zero survivability area for commoners." Percy answered flawlessly.
"May I presume that you, miss..." He nodded toward Annabeth. "... does not reside in this country, nor Avalon? Considering you know so little of basic knowledge." He turned toward Percy. "And you are regarded highly in class and also a foreigner?" Percy winced. "Zero Zone is considered areas with which is highly inaccessible to reconstruction. Or at least that's the Valhalla definitions, where as the Avalon version is the one you've recited."
Percy's eyes locked on the scratched table, his fingers tightly locked together. Annabeth blinked, not completely certain what exactly happened.
The man smiled briefly as if he was their long time friend. He leaned in, almost interested in the two.
"Let's cut to the chase here." As he talked, his eyes carefully moved between the two. "I've recently received a report that a certain strange female, between the age of 14 to 16 attempted to assassinate the visiting Prince of Avalon."
Percy frowned, he could feel this man's words stab into him. Next to him, he could see the carious tilt of Annabeth's head, her eyebrows pinched together.
The man almost definitely took note of her reaction with his over observant eyes.
"And even curiouser," he leaned back, placing his left index finger on his chin and elbow on his right arm in an analytical pose. "I've received word from my network that said strange female with blonde hair, gray eyes, and pale skin, escaped the detention center."
"But how?" Percy muttered. How did they know that they were here?
"How did we find you?" The man pushed his thinly bordered glasses with his middle finger. "Around the same time, we caught a large spike within the Dosk, leading us to the you two unfortunate strangers."
Annabeth's hand reached up and grabbed her shoulder, she didn't exactly catch all that, but she knew she was in trouble. Whereas, Percy seemed almost frightened to death. After all that, they were simply going to be escorted back to his father?
Once again, the man smiled, as if this was a joke. His expression, as fake as it might have been, eased the two.
"Let me introduce myself, considering your identities have been apprehended." He straightened in his seat. "My name is Nero De Deva. I am the colonel of the Radiant Corona, currently aboard the Argo II."
Percy nearly choked on his breath. He knew the man was high ranked, but not colonel-high ranked!
"Colonel?" Percy voiced his surprise.
"Yes." Nero's smile never left his face. "Of course you would someday outrank my position, Sir Artorius. However this is neither the time nor place for you to access that rank of power." Percy gulped. "So I am allowing you two options, rather than forcing you to return, I am a reasonable man. Your first option is to return home, escorted by myself to Lord Zeus and Lord Poseidon." He waited a moment, leaving the two to grovel in the discomfort of the choice. "Or, you may be escorted with us to Mt Maria, where we will require a few simple task from the two of you."
Percy's eyebrow rose. Was that seriously the choices? Was Nero allowing them to escape?
"What tasks?" Annabeth asked, surprising Percy with her force and tone.
"Nothing difficult." Nero had expected them to ask. "We require two tasks to be completed. The first is to navigate through Mt Maria—"
"Why can't you navigate it?" Annabeth bit.
"Simply because I am unfit to navigate, nor are my men." This seemed to brought the two's attention. Before Annabeth could question further, Nero continued. "You see, a barrier has settle over the mountain, and strangely only personals with the Dosk between the spectrum of 'light' to 'bright' may be able to enter."
"'Light' to 'bright' is a shade of Dosk that only some have, everyone has a certain color of Dosk." Percy explained to the confused Annabeth.
"Quite a rare range, actually. Very, very few people have such an Dosk." Nero added.
"What's the second task?" Annabeth shot up.
This time Nero didn't respond immediately. Something serious was happening, and Percy wasn't sure he wanted to know what.
"The second task is for Perseus ve Artorius personally." Percy stiffened. "We require you to arrange a meeting between the Crusadist Association, Lord Poseidon, and us." Nero locked eyes with Percy for a really long time, the minutes passed with no one daring to speak. "The reason for such an assembly is to introduce an minor agreement of cooperation in research and protection of the common welfare."
"Protection?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Protection from what?"
"Monster, mostly." Nero waved her off. "Some stranger and some simpler, much like the ones chancing you this night." Annabeth quieted down. Percy fumbled with his fingers, his eyes seemed at unease. "Do not worry. If you should agree with the two requests, I will personally escort you to Avalon, in order to fulfill the second part of out agreement. So, your choices?"
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other, unintentionally sharing their emotions. She was fearful and confused. He was hesitant, he didn't know whither to follow the right path or the true path. However they both held a similar thought: neither of them wanted to be hurt nor the other to suffer.
"We'll do it." Percy said, still looking into Annabeth's eyes. Annabeth knew that the choice was never hers. Everything was both Percy's doing and choice. It was because of him, that she could live, and it is because of him that she will continue to live.
Oh, I just remembered something to say. On the subject of the names of the cities and countries, I don't like them. It was in a frenzy of youthful impatience that I decided on those names. It just serves to complicate the story with little to no benefit, some foreshadowing and some mystery-ing, mystification? Is it too late to change it? would it be to confusing? I don't really care anymore, I suppose we'll just run with it.