I've been really busy later, but I promise updates will be more more regular!

In other news… The 2 chapters in which Lezal happens will be rewritten to be more dramatic. I'm completely redoing Circle of Life with the same early plot, but it really deepens as the story progresses and will be much better.

XXX

Jason

Jason tried to ignore the looks people gave him as he headed back onboard the Argo II. He was still extremely guilty for ignoring mortals, and prayed to the gods their sacrifice would pay off.

Some demigods looked at him in confusion, others in anger, and even others in horror. It felt so different leading here than back on Mount Tam. It was all so simple- the other 2 praetors have been killed, and as a son of Jupiter, Jason was supposed to lead them to victory, and it worked.

Although most of the Romans didn't bother him, many of the Greek demigods went out of their way to stay away. Romans, Jason knew never questioned their orders, even if it meant laying them their lives or abandoning comrades. In the Greek camp, you could get badly accused of making a wrong decision, mostly because in order to become a leader, you had to work hard and earn fame, in which people would look up to you as a perfect soldier.

Jason was finally beginning to understand just how stressful it had for Percy and Annabeth to lead Camp Half Blood. Even now, they were still recovering from massive losses in the Giant War. Campers had told him that only 10 campers were able to fight Kronos by the time the entire war was over.

Although only minor injuries were reported since the last attack, a lot of supplies were destroyed and several ship had sunk, so the fleet had stopped in Crete to refit and repair.

Today was July 22nd already. Only 10 days until August 1st, the day Gaea said she would rise. Speaking of which, the Earth goddess hadn't made any form of contact with anyone for the past weeks. Jason took that as a bad sign.

As Jason walked aboard the ship, Piper grabbed his arm and he looked away to hide his depressed face. "Jason, you made the right decision out there," Piper said, but both of them knew he should've stopped and saved the mortals.

"I don't know, Pipes. Did I?" He questioned himself, looking into the sky hoping someone or something would help him get out of this.

She didn't answer, which meant "no."

Jason crashed in his bunk, hopefully for a sleepless night. But demigods don't have any good luck.

He was standing in a reddish-black landscape, with small hills. Screams and moans could be heard continuously, and as Jason blocked his ears unsuccessfully, he realized that he was in Tartarus.

Suddenly, the thick fog on the ground cleared and his hearing focused. Ahead of him was Percy, Annabeth and a fragile-looking adult fighting off something that looked like the Minotaur's dad that was on fire.

"Percy!" Jason tried to call, but his voice didn't work. He couldn't move either. Jason could only watch as the apparently intelligent bull thing struck a sword into Annabeth's unprotected chest and Percy yelling. Then everything swirled.

It is hopeless, Gaea's voice muttered as another darker scene came into view.

Nothing was visible under the zero-light situation. He could hear voices though. One sounded like multiple screeching women, yet not human.

"The time comes," It hissed. Jason realized with a start that it was Arachne. "The lovers are taking the bait."

It was talking about Percy and Annabeth. Jason shuddered.

"What about their friends above?" A more deep, but human voice asked.

Arachne stirred in the darkness. "The telkhines' idea is quite… fictional based, but it will delay Jason Grace long enough. They say only a few more hours and the monster will be completed. Made from the best metals, unbeatable, they say. We will see. When this is all over, I will finally see light again."

The human figured bowed, and the dream dissipated.

oOo

Jason woke up, fortunately not to an alarm. The steady roll and pitch of his room meant the Argo II was in motion. He got up from his bed and numbly brushed and took a quick shower, then headed upstairs.

"Captain," Leo said glumly as he reached the top deck. "Marathon Plains are 10 miles out. All landing procedures are ready," he sighed.

Obviously, Leo still was upset his prototype weapon had demolished an entire mortal fleet.

"Anyways," he said before Jason could say anything. "Malcolm tapped into the NATO database. Turns out the battleships were full battle operational, and hoping to bombard some hostile targets to provide support for a withdrawing battalion."

Jason gulped. "Were the ground troops OK?"

"Yeah. Anyways, to them, some Middle Eastern battle group just unleashed a massive explosive and destroyed their fleet. They've got the entire 4th and 5th US fleet and a lot of British ships mobilizing. We're going to have to be careful to avoid getting tangled with them again."

Jason nodded as a thin strip of land came into view. He remembered his dream. "Leo, make sure to be careful. In a dream, Arachne was talking about some sort of super weapon that would be unleashed against us."

Leo nodded, eyes glued to the horizon.

As it grew bigger, the rest of the 7 came upstairs. Nobody said a word. About 5 minutes later, a deep horn sounded. (The Gondorian horn in Lord of the Rings) People scrambled onboard the other ships and the fleet took up a pincer formation- the outside ships landed first to secure the flanks and allowed the center, where the main force was to dock. Although strong signatures of monsters were only detected several miles inland, it never hurt to be careful.

In the distance, with the shore growing all the nearer, the first boats docked and demigods jumped overboard. Everything seemed to be in order.

Just as the Argo II hit the turfs and Jason jumped onto the ground, suddenly the sand exploded all across the beach.

Jason yelled and covered his eyes and crushed rock flew everywhere. He instinctively pushed himself flat to the ground, and fortunately, made the right decision. Overhead, the whistling of an arrow sounded. People yelled in the distance as he jumped up. The beach was suddenly layered in defensive structures like barricades, barbed wire, caltrops and signs that said, "Hello! Prepare to die!"

"Forward!" Someone yelled and the demigods surged passed the defenses, over a small crest to find…. oh gods, Jason thought.

Less than half a mile away, a huge monster army was gathered. Mostly telkhines, they were dressed in an assortment of armor, from black obsidian sets to shiny steel ones to rags, moving in almost perfect sync. They screamed defiance at the demigods as everyone abruptly stopped at the crest of the small hill. But the thousand or so monsters weren't even the bad part.

Among them were 3 huge elephants, much bigger than normal. They were probably as tall as the church tower of Notre Dame. The elephants were painted red and orange, and Jason could see the battle designs even from the distance.

The monsters were steadily advancing, the elephants trumpeting and shaking their heads. "Form ranks! Legionaries with armor piercing pila in 3 ranks and Greeks on either flank!" Jason shouted and shot a couple feet into the air to survey the demigod situation.

Although some people seemed hesitant to follow Jason's orders, high-tech javelins were being retrieved and lines began forming as the artillery ships in the Greek navy began blasting enormous holes in the monster lines. 40 pegasus were airborne in seconds, all with either a son of Athena, Apollo or Hermes (they had deadly stink bombs).

Then Jason heard a blood-chilling horn sound (I don't know how to describe it, it sounds like the Haradiam horn in Lord of the Rings).

Jason could feel the terrifying sound strike terror deep into the hearts of the demigods as the monsters' roars increased and the elephants trumpeted even louder. Now that they were close, Jason could see that each of the 3 elephants had a multi-layered platform on their back, with wooden railings. On the platform were more monster archers dressed in shiny white armor and logos that said, "One for the monsters!"

"Sound the advance!" Jason shouted. "Charge!"

Another sharper, slightly higher horn (Elven horn) sounded across the beach and the demigods yelled and charged forwards, Jason at the head.

Then the two sides collided, and everything disintegrated into chaos.

And don't worry, in the future, everything will be Greek mythology or something similar. I haven't had time lately so this is the best I could do, sorry.

oO shoutout to anybody that can tell me what the elephants are called (directly from Lord of the Rings).

Quote of the chapter- Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares?… He`s a mile away and you've got his shoes!

Entertainment of the chapter- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Song of the chapter- Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys

xXx