Sorry for the delay. This is a bit of a short one. Enjoy!
The wind howled and Percy grumbled as his fingers fiddled with an earpiece looking device. The night blanketed the forest, hiding the now fourteen year old perched in a tree branch in thick shadows. It would have been a beautiful night to go camping, except Percy wasn't here for recreational purposes. Tasked by Alex, Percy was to spy on an encampment of Empousa near the borders of Camp Half-Blood. He had been doing an excellent job too, but the earpiece that he had made had given out on him halfway through, and the empousa had begun talking about a quest.
"Lousy craftsmanship," he muttered as he reconnected a copper wire that had been hanging loose.
"Should've redesigned… silver wire… stupid copper."
After a few minutes of venting to no one but the wind, he finally managed to get his earpiece in working order. He had lost too much time paying attention to his device than to the camp of monsters. He cringed once he realized that Alex would punish him for his carelessness towards his equipment. Percy would probably end up having to make about a dozen of earpieces, and all to impeccable quality, no mass production as punishment.
He sighed as he nestled the earpiece into his ear and then promptly clicked the button. Once the static faded, and as he adjusted the settings, he was able to make out the conversation taking place in the encampment below.
"I'm telling you, Anthea, a prophecy has been given. Demigods will be sent out of the camp's borders." Spoke one of the empousa. The one named Anthea approached the fire in the middle of their encampment and ripped a chunk of meat out of the dead pegasus they had on a spit roast. She eyed it as if it were the most vile thing in existence.
"They send out demigods in groups of three. One for each of us." She shoved the chunk of meat into her mouth and swallowed it whole.
"And then we'll be fed for a good while. No more having to kill pegasi." She continued.
The empousa that had spoken before piped up again. "The others say that cooking it is supposed to make it taste more like raw demigod flesh, but it still tastes like winged horse."
Percy scowled. His hand itched to the cube shaped pouch hanging from his belt. While he held no love for the children of the Gods, some part of him begrudged that they were innocent and deserved death no more than a mortal. Innocent animals like pegasi were, unlike the demigods, cared for by Percy. He held no ill will towards them, which is why his blood boiled at the sight of one's roasted carcass.
"Larisa," spoke Anthea, grabbing another chunk of meat from the pegasus. "Do you know what the prophecy was about?"
Larisa nodded as she swallowed her chunk of meat. "Our friend on the other side told it to me." She cleared her throat.
"Guardians to Angels
One shall be lost
A friend that betrays,
at the end of it all."
Percy's face contorted into a sneering smile. Bingo. He had undeniable proof that there was a mole inside the camp and that a proper quest had been issued. With that out of the way, he was clear to take out the monsters.
Percy gladly reached into his cube shaped pouch and pulled out a rubik's cube. He tapped the yellow centerpiece and twisted the top. In his hand, in place of the cube, was now a simple wooden bow. Along with his weapon, a quiver of short arrows appeared on his back.
Wasting no time, he nocked an arrow, breathed in, held it, and released his grip on the fletchling.
Due to the howling of the wind, the whistle of the arrow was masked, giving the targeted empousa no warning of their fate. Percy smirked as the arrow pierced through the eye of the unnamed empousa. Dust exploded from the back of her head as the arrow passed cleanly through.
Percy had already nocked another arrow by the time Anthea and Larisa registered what had just happened. The fourteen year old's grip on the fletchling nearly failed as both remaining empousa let out a blood curdling wail.
The fire in the middle of the camp died instantly, drowning the encampment in near absolute darkness, leaving Percy alone, unable to see where the wailing was coming from.
He cursed to himself as he heard the lamenting move closer to his position. Unwilling to be discovered, Percy placed the arrow back in his quiver, quietly dropped down from his branch, and carefully moved through the trees, making sure to move away and around the remaining empousa.
He tapped the center of his bow, transforming it back into a rubik's cube. Despite being in a dire situation, Percy couldn't help the swell of pride that rose in him at the fact that the transformation was without sound or light. He probably would have been discovered by now if he had gone down Alex's more dramatic form of smithing and enchanting. But his pride quickly died as he realized that he had never really planned for the eventuality that he might not be able to see the six different sides of his cube.
Impeccable design, Perce. He thought to himself.
So now he was running literal circles around two creepy monsters in the dark while he had no idea what weapon he would get the second he tapped and twisted his cube.
This was supposed to have been quick and easy and stealthy. Now it's neither quick, nor easy, nor stealt-
Wait.
Percy eyed the faint outlines of the trees in the dark. He carefully maneuvered through them until he couldn't make them out anymore.
There, that should be the center of camp.
He made his way through the encampment, making sure to not step too harshly. Finally, he found himself in front of the dying campfire.
Regularly, he should have been able to make out the faint orange glow of a dying fire, but the darkness seemed unnatural. It was too dark.
Percy wiped the sweat off his forehead as he began cycling through his cube's faces.
Sword. Bow…
He grimaced as he kept getting the wrong item, and the empousa were nearing his location.
Spear. Empty slot.
Percy cursed. "Come on."
Change of clothes… There! Medical Supplies.
Percy rummaged through the sack, his head snapping up as he heard the empousa enter the encampment. He grabbed ahold of the bottle of alcohol.
Hearing the wailing get nearer, he dumped the alcohol into the dying embers of the fire. He muttered an enchantment under his breath, his hand outstretched over the embers, and just like a lion making its presence known, the fire roared back to life, the shadows cowering beneath it.
The wailing, however, didn't stop. Now that the encampment was back in the light, the empousa's red eyes locked onto Percy. They screeched as they bounded towards him, fireballs in hand.
"Die demigod!" Screamed Anthea, her beautiful face contorted into one of rage.
She threw the fire ball, aiming it at Percy's head. Using the magical skills that Alex had taught him, he thrust his hands over the campfire, and as if lifting a heavy object, pulled the fire upwards, creating a curtain of fire.
Several fireballs slammed into it, pushing Percy back slightly. Grimacing, he dug his heels into the dirt beneath and heaved the wall of flames forward. He couldn't keep this up for too long. He could already feel his muscles beginning to slack and his eyes droop from the energy exertion.
He sent a tongue of fire towards Larisa. The empousa, although immune to fire, wasn't immune to the blinding nature of it. Taking his chance, Percy let go of his control over the fire and tapped the white centerpiece of his rubik's cube. Before he could twist the top, Anthea managed to throw one more fireball towards him, knocking him backwards and the cube out of his hand.
The cube landed a few feet from him, the distance between him and it equal to the distance between the cube and the monsters.
Percy cursed as he caught his breath. He hadn't been expecting this to be a long fight. In fact, he thought he'd be enjoying a nice bowl of leftover spaghetti by now. Clearly he had been as wrong as he could be, and now Anthea and Larisa were slowly stalking towards him.
"You demigods are only good for your flesh." Snarled Anthea. Percy rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He muttered as he slowly got up. He grimaced as both empousa stopped a few feet in front of him, his rubik's cube behind them. He'd need to get to it somehow, but he was running out of options. And it wasn't like he could talk himself ou- oh wait, he could.
Percy raised his hands in mock surrender. "Now, now, ladies. No need to do anything you'll end up regretting."
Anthea and Larisa snarled at him. "The only thing we regret is that you got to Sersa. But we'll get our revenge."
Percy nodded and pointed at her. "But!" He said, "you plan to kill innocent demigods, I couldn't let that happen."
Both monsters barked out in laughter. "We plan nothing. It is in our nature. We were created by our lady Hecate like this."
Percy scowled, his plan for lighthearted yet clever distraction replaced with burning fury. If they were created to be monsters, then they should die like them too. Percy lunged at Anthea, the empousa baring her fangs, ready for her next meal. Just before entering her arm's reach, Percy feinted to the left and past both monsters, booking it to the cube.
Wising up to what Percy intended to do, Anthea and Larisa followed close behind, their red stained claws outstretched, ready to tear the skin off his bones. Unluckily for them, Percy dropped to a slide, snatching the cube with his left hand, twisting the top with his right, and stabbing the blade of the cube-turned-sword into the stomach of Anthea.
Her body dissolved into golden dust before she could utter a word in reaction. Taking the opportunity, Percy lopped off the head of Larisa as well while she processed the death of her friend.
With the camp empty, save for him and the dead carcass of the pegasus, Percy dropped to the floor, panting. He was going to have to report his near failure to Alex, and the man would make him train hard in response, something that Percy was not looking forward to at all. But that was for tomorrow, for now, he would rest.
Let the future come when it comes.
I hope you enjoyed it. Please make sure to leave a review, it really does help, both to keep morale, and to improve my writing. Thanks again!