Ugliest Monster I've Yet to Face
Fire shot out at my friends and I. We all easily avoided it but it was hard when the monster was so huge. I rolled into a fighting stance with Riptide facing the new monster. I suppose Hades was right when he said the old Olympus was filled with monsters…we were already attacked seconds into our arrival.
"Percy," Annabeth called, with her dagger in hand. "It's a Chimera." At first I was thinking, a what?! But then Chiron's classes in Latin came back to mind as I stared at the figure in front of me. A large lion was growling at me but I saw staring at Tyson and Grover was a goat's head from the center of the lioness's back. The tail was flicking towards Annabeth with a snake's head at the very end. Not one of the Gods better creatures if you asked me. It's breath smelled of moldy pizza.
"How do we win?" I managed to call before avoiding another burst of flame. There was no way we could attack with the three heads. Plus, the Chimera had three talents it was known for; the strength of a lioness, the stealth of a snake, and the knowledge of a goat.
I know, goats aren't that smart, but apparently in ancient Greek they were.
So we were dealing with a pretty strong monster if you didn't catch my drift.
Annabeth managed to block the snake with her dagger, "The last person to defeat the Chimera used a Pegasus and shot bow and arrows from the sky." I sighed. This would've been perfect timing for Blackjack and his herd to come flying in unexpectedly trying to help me out. He tended to do that. But we were on a different continent.
Luckily, we were in an empty field so there were no pedestrians who didn't speak English gathering around trying to see what Annabeth, Tyson, Grover, and I were doing. They wouldn't have been able to see the Chimera. I began thinking while avoiding the three heads and the breathing fire. So, we couldn't fly.
"Percy, Grover, Tyson, distract the heads," Annabeth called out. Her idea was complete obvious- three heads against the four of us. We could distract the thing as Annabeth snuck in for attack.
Completely trusting her, I brushed forward, Tyson behind the lion's head to face the snake, and Grover on the right to deal with the goat's head on the back. I swung Riptide a bit, ducking and dodging snarling white teeth and gusts of fire breath. I honestly didn't want my already burnt shorts or any other part of me to catch on fire.
Close up the Chimera looked like a lion with a lot of wrinkles. Its lips pulled back in an odd smile and its yellow eyes wide as if it was on a sugar high. My muscles tensed as adrenaline rushed through my blood in quick motions. Paws digging into the ground, sniffing the air and intently watching me, then its ears perked up in excitement.
The Chimera completely turned its body to its left where Annabeth had been sneaking up on it. Catching the threat of her, the Chimera jumped towards her, pushing its large, odd shaped form off the ground in the air. Annabeth screamed loudly as it pushed her down on the ground. As if to tease her, the Chimera just stood on top of her watching her carefully.
Seconds ticked, as the goat's head stared at me and the snake's head watched Tyson and Grover. That's when another idea hit me, "Grover, talk to it." I mumbled. The goat tilted its head, completely understanding me. The snake hissed.
Grover stepped forward and the snake jumped at him. Grover jumped before realizing the snake couldn't reach him. Then, in a mixture of snake, goat, and lion sounds, Grover began speaking to the Chimera. At first, I don't think it understood and then Grover completely switched to goat language.
I watched in amazement as the Chimera stepped off Annabeth and turned to face Grover. There was an odd twinkle of humor in the Chimera's eyes that I hadn't noticed before. The goat's head was nodding as it listened to Grover. I felt my mouth open in shock as Annabeth managed to run towards me.
"What did you tell him?" I asked when Grover went silent. The Chimera walked towards us in a slower manner than let's say jumping at us and trying to kill us. We remained still and I kept Riptide pointing towards the ground so it didn't feel threatened.
"I said we were friends. Apparently, the goat does all of the thinking. The lion is the heart and all but in the end, the goat makes the most decisions." The lion roared- well, purred really but with a lion you don't use soft, kitten words like that. "The lion says he didn't want to attack but the snake was insisting that they do and so was the goat. They work as a system. Two overrules the one. The goat and lion don't want to attack so the snake must also not attack."
Wow, I wondered why heroes didn't try that before on the Chimera. Then it occurred to me, not many heroes had satyrs like Grover around to help them. Then, to my surprise, the Chimera connected eyes with Grover and bowed. "Mighty apprentice of Pan, we are at your service." All voices of the Chimera spoke at once.
The lion was very low pitched, the snake was still a little bit of a hiss, and the goat was sort of girly in tone. I felt my heart race up a thousand notches at the shock. It can talk? Grover was going into cardiac arrest though by what the Chimera had said. "N-No, I just found Pan- I'm not next."
Slowly, the Chimera rose and stared at all of us. "Daughter of Athena, Sons of Poseidon, here standing before you is the future god Pan. When the world is at need once more for the balancer and savior of magic, he who is at your side will be given his complete power. Pan never dies, just as nature never truly dies, he simply continues in a long line of predecessors." Chimera's voice was quite soothing with the three voices in harmony.
I observed Grover who did not like the sound of the Chimera's rose. That would explain all that had happened to him during the battle at Camp Half-Blood and the Labyrinth was destroyed. "Grover, it makes sense," I tried to pull him into reality. I watched as he glared up at me.
"I know it makes sense Percy! But I didn't ask to be a god! I simply wanted to bring Pan back- not in this way of course!" Grover let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. His curly red hair couldn't reveal his full grown horns now.
Chimera stepped forward delicately and stared directly at me. "Well Son of Poseidon, a lot hangs on your shoulders doesn't it? I find it quite amusing how the Half-Bloods must come between our wars. You seem strong and able- as long as you can hold your bearings." He stared at me as if he was looking into my soul. With three heads and the ability to speak, I supposed the Chimera had other hidden abilities.
Then all of its eyes rested on Annabeth, "Understand Percy Jackson that sacrifices will be made."