This chapter was super fun to write. I think, it's about introduces every character necessary to the story. Enjoy.
REBIRTH
As all things persist, they must endure and prevail or face the doors of extinction. All things will harbor the will to live. Everything that exists must begin at one point, as all stories do. Thus all beginnings blossom with the same fire of will.
This fire of birth burned so brightly white that Percy could not help but ponder the will of this entity. Had it understood it's action or was it merely fighting to exist?
The entangled form twitched, or rather it pulsed, like a living organ contracting then swelling. Its form bulged, stretching the thin white skin to an almost pale translucent one, it's inner workings blurrily visible to the naked eye, pumping and shifting hastily.
A bellowing cry ricochet through the forest following the quick pulse, and like before it shook the trees and set trimmers through the ground. Leaves shuffled into the air cascading down like mesmerizing showers of rain.
Percy almost missed it, if not for his previous train of thought. The howl did indeed bear a cry beneath the wind's rush. It was a strange and alarming cry, awkward and frightening to hear at such a volume. It was the cry of a child- no, it was the cry of an infant, a newborn.
The viridian cloaked figure whirled around, tearing her eyes from Percy. She quickly began to mutter the beginning of a string of lines in a dialect foreign to Percy. Her voice was fluid as if ready a poem or a song.
A runic circle locked together beneath her feet. Light wisped into the shimmering air around her like a spotlight.
Shuffling drew Percy's attention away from the stage before them. Around them, behind the trees, spots of eyes peered from the darkness, the yellow eyes of tigers. Low murmur of growls rumbled in every direction. Had the white entity drew the tigers like it had pushed them away earlier?
The monster cried once more, it's body jerking around in a whirl of panicked movements. Enlarged doughy arms and legs of children scrambled, rocking the mass of white flesh into a jittery motion akin to a darting spider.
On the top of the tangle of baby flesh churned and bubbled outwards, growing taller and slender, forming into a perfect chubby arm, larger than all the rest. The arm retracted, hooking the front of the white monster and into the belly beneath.
The monster was upon the viridian lady. It unhooked the largest arm into an upwards swing. Within the span of a blink the hooded lady drew out a slender sword, a rapier, in a swift arch.
A solid, thick circle of markings locked together before the sword. The massive arm shattered the rune shield with little resistance. The impact pushed the hooded lady off her feet, through the air, and tumbling across the dirt clearing.
Within a moment, the white monster crawled towards her in that disturbing fashion that was so unnatural, pounding hard on the ground. The upraised hand pulled down into a hammering smash above the sprawled girl.
The smash sounded thick, and muffled, as flesh met metal.
Percy poised over the hunched girl. His sword gripped in both hands, locked blade to flesh with the monstrous arm pressing down hard. His sword shook violently, emitting a shackling metal sound. Teeth gritting, Percy pushed the gigantic arm back with a swing, howling in the motion.
The monster repelled, the damaged arm retracting in size until it shriveled into a small whisker. It's frantic arms beating the dirt, pulling the lumbering body backwards.
Percy stomped forward breathing hard, more from excitement than exhaustion.
The monster cried out, the cry of an infant. The arms parted, stretched apart as if they were hastily attached with thick honey that was melting away.
In the bare white center, the flesh pinched together. Small erections formed into distinctive curves, a slit, then another, then another. Recognition dawned; it was the form of a face, an infant's face.
The eyes snapped open, wide and round. Underneath the lids were two orbs of bright, burning red and orange, like a fire contained within glass spheres, the left shown a black cross and the right a pupil within another circle.
The very sight repulsed Percy. Drilling a lump into his chest. It was a mix of disgust and terror. Unease raised every hair on the back of his neck, and agitation sparked his anger. He wanted to fight! But he was so afraid.
"Percy!" A voice, Annabeth's voice, whisked the spell away, pulling Percy from his sea of primal urges.
Percy spun around, feet panted in place. It was then that he remembered. The tigers that roamed restlessly around them, prowling, pulled by their deepest hungers. A tiger, promoted by the aura of the white monster pounced, claws deadly sharp, fangs deadly jagged.
Then, there she was. The viridian cloaked girl, stretching her arms out on either side. Blue light shimmered between her back and the tigers claws, however it did not solidify like it did before. The claw's impact was muffled.
She cried out, but only a little.
Her hood drew back, revealing short blue-black hair, pulled back into a tail that barely reached her neck. Her bangs danced across her face. Her face wasn't contorted with pain; it was hard, clenched with willpower.
She fell. Percy caught her.
Her chin rested on Percy's shoulder, drawing in a shaky breath. She felt so light against him. Percy pulled his hand from the girl's back, covered in a deep crimson red.
Percy knelt down, placing the viridian girl slowly on her side, her eyes shut tightly as small moan escaped her parted lips. Her eyes fluttered open, dazed.
Percy rose. A boiling flame knotted in his stomach, but he didn't let it show. His sword swung sharply to his side. Two strides forward, the tiger mimicked the approach. The third stride happened in a flash, the silver blade whirled into the air, his weight shifted. His body pulled and his sword glanced across the tigers outstretched arm swipe. Another stride, the sword counterweight his body, forcing him into another swing. The metal met the soft flesh of the tiger's neck. And the last stride; catching his sword in both hands, Percy whirled with all his weight. The sword hissed through the air, sinking deep into the tiger's chest as it bulged upwards.
"Crescent strike!" Luke had always teased Percy for his size, claiming Percy will never win with strength. Therefore, Luke drilled the importance of balance into Percy's training. Speed and balance will never betray him when strength fails, and against a larger opponent, that was his only option.
Percy sighed his bottled breath. Feeling unnaturally calm.
The cry of the infant imposter pulled Percy's head away from the limp tiger. The white entity jerked its swollen face; it's facial muscles spazzed, contorting disturbingly into a form of pain.
"P-Perseus..."
Percy's heart skipped a beat. Some distances beside him was the sitting figure of the viridian girl, pushing herself from the grass. A dark spot stained the ground where she had laid. Her face was pale, and her breaths were only shutters.
For a moment, Percy was going to jump to her side, but her voice stopped him.
"I require... time. To complete the seal." The viridian girl gasped for air. "If thou grant the necessary time... I will subdue the Birth." She raised one shaking hand to her chest, unhooking the first button for more air. She turned her head, grunting as the movement pulled on her injured back. Her eyes were half lidded; a haze swam in her vision. Blood was in her mouth, drooling from the corner of her lips to her chin. Even from her disheveled state, she smiled, it wasn't reassuring, nor was it wary. It was a familiar smile, like one that you would give to long departed friend. It was a happy smile, a relieved smile, maybe even a hopeful smile.
Percy nodded, firmly. He took his sword in both hands, darting away from the kneeling girl. From behind, under the wind, he could hear a soft, brittle voice singing the song of some foreign language.
The monstrous cluster of arms lulled, its eyes halted it's whizzing and locked onto Percy's moving form. White arms slid into motion, lugging the body to turn and begin its slow scurrying.
Birth's arms blurred with sudden boost of speed, pounding the ground like a wild child, tearing the grass and dirt as it launched, intercepting Percy's path. From the left of its face, several arms molded together into a thick, unidentifiable lump.
The mutated arm swung horizontally. Percy jumped back, drawing more distance between him and the white thing.
The arm was too large; there was no way Percy could even get close enough.
The blood red eyes nailed down on Percy. They seemed every bit ancient despite the infant frames, like monsters wearing the skin of men. The eyes stared, boring down, instilling the well of emotions and fear that had flood Percy before.
However it the thumping anxiety did not come. It was strange; something in the air soothed the pounding in his chest. It was like a whispering or a song that eased his twitching fingers
There was a tug in the pit of Percy's stomach. A dull pain that grew stronger with every pulse. The hair on his arms stood and his breath became strained. A tingling sensation spread trough his arms to his fingertips as Dusk corralled into his body. Percy focused the Dusk into knots of formula in the air.
The monster made to swig again. Blue shimmers of light highlighted the sky, whisks of light webbed onto the surface of the monster white skin.
Currents of rushing water broke through the air like glass, roaring like a serpent, drowning out the sound of the forest and it's creatures. Crystal blue water gushed onto the monster from above, twisting with the violent force of a coursing river.
The white monster resisted, like tilting stone in a stream. Then it tumbled, whirling in the churning water.
The ground became moist and soft. The monster fell then the face would swim across the surface of its creamy body so that it was upright once more.
Scribbles of light trace the ground, curving and intercepting into a long line of cryptic symbols and unfamiliar words. Together, the writing formed into a circle, then another, lastly a cross that hashed the center of the rune marking.
From the outline of light, pillars jutted from the ground, following the light patterns. The pillars curved, arching over the beast, and locked together. The 3 arches, formed from 6 pillars, resembled a birdcage.
Percy gasped as he released his tight grasp of Dusk. The rush of water vanished like a water gate shutting. The flood of water evaporated into the air, not in steams or vapors, simply dried away.
"Yevon devir yuri." The three words ringed with a quiet loudness. Percy's eyes fell on the girl standing pass the white fiend. Her arms outstretched before her, fingers out. Her cloak flared behind her, in a gust of wind. Her short blue-black hair danced in the wind, her eyes gleamed bright, and sheen of sweat coated her forehead.
The cage gushed in spring of white, shielding the view of the viridian girl. A flourish of movements climbed into the air and upwards, towards the sky. Vines of glistening white snaked through each other, bulging in areas and thinning in others. Thick limbs shot from the body of light, reaching over the clearing and dividing into more numerous branches.
The pillar of light pierced the tree line, standing tall and thick, spraying outwards like a geyser. Thick roots dug into the dirt and barreled trough the forest, pulling up dirt and grass. Upon the countless arms that hung overhead, clustering of plump beads twisted open in a lavish motion. They were strange, pale, long petal flowers. Red and orange and yellow light sputtered alive at the centers of these millions of flowers. They were flames; small, floating flames that hung as buds of the flower.
It was a tree, a tree holding thousands and thousands of small buds of fire.
"Percy—!" It was Annabeth's yelp that jolted Percy from his childlike awe. All the while Percy's attention was locked on the atrocious monster the forest creatures became bold. The tigers skirted around the clearing, roaming onto the grass.
A larger tiger stalked close to the sprawled Annabeth. Humming a deep growl.
Percy made to move, when his knees buckled. His legs gave out beneath him and he crumbled to the ground, his face pressed numbly against the wet grass. Fingers digging into the dirt, he breathed hard, pushing himself up, sliding the mud. He lodged the blade of his sword into the dirt, using it as leverage.
In a vain attempt, he reached out.
Yellow flash of movements. There sang a song of metal through the air, and the beast falls to the ground, rolling away with force.
A broadsword that trickled with dark red blood against its double sided blade, one steel silver and the other bronze orange.
There, Luke Castellan stood, his broadsword wrapped beside him. With a crack of the arm, the sword blurred in an arch, the blood spattered on the grass blades. His head turn to one side, falling hard on Annabeth over his shoulder. Then they roamed to Percy, immediately a sense of distress softened his scowl.
In the confusion a tint of red covered the clearing. Perhaps simply due to the exhaustion, Percy hadn't notice until fierce bolts of raw energy cleaved through the sky, plowing into the flanks of wild beasts. The sound erupted a heartbeat later, shaking the ground, roaring with carnal anger, somewhat resembling the hums of the Argo II's engine room. Swirls of fire torrent into the air like unrestraint towers, completely eradicating the small mob of tigers. The red fires bore no smoke; they simply evaporated into dancing ember.
Percy had fallen in the display of horrific destruction. Luke was over him, one leg kneeling, his left arm hooked under Percy's chest. Slowly, he craned Percy up onto his knees. Percy took Luke's shoulder, dropping his sword as Luke had.
A thunder of footsteps announced the troops entrance into the clearing; nine in all, standing in two rows, spears ready. In front was the every stolid Commandant of the Radiating Corona Special Task Force.
Nero strode onto the scene with a stern calmness, his eyes acute to danger behind the gleam of his glasses. Quickly weighing the situation, he gestured with his right arm.
"Medical support, attend to Annabeth!" Two men in the rear pulled out a contractible stretcher and a backpack of tools, hurrying to the girl's aid. "Spread out and secure the premises. Keep vigilance for forest monsters."
Nero gave the ginormous white tree half a second of attention before moving swiftly to Percy's side.
"Are you injured?" Nero's eyes locked deeply into Percy's. A faintest nod gave Nero the permission to continue. "What happened here?" The question sounded more demanding.
"T-There was a monster waiting here when we arrived." Percy sat on the grass, his hands on his knees beside him. "The girl had been working on some kind of seal."
"Girl?" Nero didn't look up to resurvey the area.
Percy made to get up when his vision blurred, his body went limp and everything turned black. There was a vague touch of impact, then his consciousness slipped away.
Nero straightened, adjusting his glasses.
Luke's head snapped up, the worry vanished into alertness.
"This— was not what I've expected." Their attention drawn to the edge of the clearing. A squadron on soldiers stationed on the opposing side of where Nero's group emerged. Clad in black and green attire, armor padded, and weapons drawn.
The leader of the group, a boy, visor with blue glass, a lieutenant badge clipped on the sleeve of his left bicep, a curved sheath of a katana strapped on his left hip.
The lieutenant bought a gloved hand onto his forehead, taking his fingers through his black hair.
"This is so troublesome." The lieutenant sighed with an exasperation that grows with long suffering experience.
Nero rose from his knelt, pressing his right hand to her chest. The soldiers of the Radiant Corona stiffened at attention.
"And what purpose would the lieutenant of the Seven Skies seek here?" Nero spoke with iron calmness.
The lieutenant turned to the side, his breath purposefully loud.
"Conflict. Apparently." He spoke in such disinterest that he might as well have shrugged. "I'm afraid this area have been officially dictated restricted military access only. Please, don't hassle."
"I don't suppose you will be kind enough to release us peacefully?" Nero said.
"Nope," the lieutenant turned back towards them. He bought his hand on the hilt of his sword and drew the blade with a sharp whine. The sword brandished in front of him, resting in a readied stance. "Not gonna happen."
Luke carefully lay Percy's limp form on the grass before standing himself, all words lost in his sharp eyes. He rested his hands lightly on the hilt of his sword.
A gust of wind blew through the clearing, the trees rustled and the grass danced. A single stray leaf fluttered into the opening, swiveling in the flow of the wind. It fluttered into the line of the opposing swordsmen, then it tore in half.
A cry of metal against metal ranged into the air, sparks glistening the evening light. The two swordsmen had landed reversely of one another, backs to one another. The lieutenant's katana drawn in both hands, stretching low above the grass and Luke's one handed swing ended in the air, to his side.
The lieutenant twisted around, his katana shivered into a mere gleam of light. Luke bounded upwards, his body spiraling over the lieutenant's sword, his leg propelled over his head. Using the momentum of his spin, Luke swung an under arched swing for the lieutenant's head.
The lieutenant knelt, twisting around once more following Luke's movement and bringing his katana up to block the blade. Sparks crackled from their contact.
Luke landed in a crouch. He swung his sword in a flourish around him. He rose within a blink of an eye just as the lieutenant pulled his sword back for another strike.
The lieutenant's sword rewind behind him, he took a single step forward, then froze. A blur of light- faster than a beat of the heart- whizzed past his head narrowly blinding the shocked lieutenant.
The light plummeted into the forest behind the squadron. A breath of silence. Then light, an explosion of orange blossomed from the trees. A strum of high-pitched thumps roared. Wild whiplash ravaged through the ranks of soldiers, blowing the tree branches into frenzy.
More leafs cascaded into the clearing, like rain. Quiet rested over the clearing once more.
The lieutenant's eyes narrowed pass Luke, on Nero's outstretched arm. An elegant silver spear held, pointing right past his head, a light coat of smoke rose from the spear's tip.
Luke's eyes scrunched as he read the exposed badge on the lieutenant's arm: Ethan Nakamura.
The lieutenant, Ethan, straightened. He loosened his grip on his katana, swinging it in a light arch over his head, sliding the blade back into its sheath.
"It seems we can come to an agreement." Nero spoke, pressing his glasses back once more.
Ethan snorted, turning away.
Luke relaxed, his sword still firmly beside him.
"I suppose." Ethan sighed out. "Retreat," He turned back to Nero, his glare under his visor more explicit than without the glass. "For now."
Whoa, is that Ethan! No way!
And, yes, the Viridian Girl is Zoë. I cut her hair a bit. It's a symbol. She's also a bit paler. And my favorite character. I'm considering her a candidate for the eventual love interest, trust me and see what happens next.
Leave your souls with a review! Thanks.