Disclaimer: I don't own either PJO or TES
It had been three days since Njal had left his children at Camp Half Blood and set out to get Sally back from Hades. He had returned to his house ala teleportation after his talk with Annabeth and saying goodbye to both of his girls. If he was going to wage war against the underworld he needed a few things. The first and foremost was Starfang. That sword had killed it's fair share of undead, demons, monsters, dragons, the works. Next was Dawnbreaker, Auriel's Bow and Shield. The first two for their amazing undead destroying capabilities and the shield to give a nasty surprise to whatever hit him. Azura's Star was taken in case of needing to trap Hades, or another immortals, soul for blackmail and leverage.
He knew that his magic was drastically different from the ones the Greeks deployed so he doubted that the gods could break from that prison with ease. The Staff of Magnus he took so that if any magic got in his way, it would not stay like that. Njal was surprised that the artifacts he had obtained remained with him for all this time, but had attributed it to them not being able to return home….just like him. Well the Daedric Princes could always make new artifacts as he would be keeping their current ones. Finally Njal took the one last item he needed for his mission to be successful.
A double barrel shotgun.
Now if one were to compare this at first glance with his other baggage they may wonder why it is needed. Well obviously these people had never met Njal before. You see this was not any ordinary shotgun. No, this was a silver barrel, Ebony wood stock, hair trigger and etched with enough runes that it could turn the silver coated shells it fired into small explosives. In other words it was Njal's own custom Boomstick. He really had to thank Bruce Campbell for the idea ….and Doomguy. Slaying monsters with a double barrel was oh so satisfying. When a monster was there, *Bang*, no monster, only a golden mist and lots of property damage.
But alas it was very loud and so not very good for trying to be discreet. Not that anything about him was discreet to begin with but it was an even bigger attention grabber than him blasting lightning out of his hand. But still it was a very useful weapon when one felt to lazy to actually fight the monster that suicidally attacked him. So with all of his equipment stored into a pocket realm of Oblivion to withdraw when ever he needed, an inventory some would say. Njal had set out after using the spell he saw Master Neloth to locate his former apprentice to find the entrance to the Underworld, which was under a recording studio in L.A… which was fitting.
Having set off a few days ago on a motorcycle he had kept in storage after Annabeth was born Njal was currently making a pit stop in Colorado. He was slightly disappointed that along the way no monsters had tried to pick a fight. But from what he had heard from those that smelled monsters, demigods etc he smelled like a combo of monster and god so monsters might not want to pick a fight. But his disappointment would have to be put on hold as he picked up an interesting scent while filling up on gas. It was one of a few children, female by the smell and a large cluster of monsters only a few hundred yards away in the forest. Gaining a very psychopathic looking feral grin Njal grabbed his shotgun and Starfang off of his bike and set off towards the smells. Finally! Things were about to die.
Zoe Nightshade was not having the best of days at the present moment. It had started off fine as she and her fellow hunters had set up camp a few miles away and had set out to hunt for food. That quickly turned south as she and two of her fellows stumbled across as very large encampment of cyclops's. Deciding that discretion would be the better part of valor in that case she had turned to go get back up when she was detected by one of them who got lucky in seeing her. From there it was a lot of arrow shooting and running for her and the others, though they were quickly running low on ammo and there were still 15 cyclops. Having been pushed back to the edge of a cliff face things were not looking good for the hunters until something quite strange happened.
As a cyclops was lifting up one of the hunters, a girl no older than 12, and was about to devour her a loud bang rang out as the monster's head exploded. Another shot rang out and took one of the others leg out, and somehow lit it on fire. Zoe and the others, including the monsters looked around for the source of the attack and after two more shots, and two more dead cyclops, one of the tallest men Zoe had ever seen, barring a god, walked out of the woodwork towards the group. He was placing shells into a mortal shotgun, yet it looked heavily modified, on his back was a massive blue and black greatsword with white trimming and hilt. The closest cyclops to him attempted to bash him with a club but was reduced to a golden mist by the gun.
Zoe could tell by this man's smell that he was not a mortal or a demigod. He was a monster, and as such he would be destroyed…...after he killed all the cyclops. Which apparently was about to be sooner rather than latter as the monster showed a very good talent in regards to killing with his weapons. As he had closed the distance he had drawn his sword in one hand and kept his shotgun in the other. Try as the cyclops's might they could not land a hit despite having the numbers advantage. The monster moved with great speed and soon reduced the last of the cyclops to msit after removing it's head with a blast from the gun.
The monster turned and looked at Zoe and her two friends. She hoped Lady Artemis would arrive soon as fighting the man in their current state would be suicide. The monster's hand glowed gold for a bit then three blasts of light hit her and the others. Immediately she felt all her strength return and her wounds healed. The man turned away from them and began to walk into the forest. Just as he did that her mistress busted through the trees with the rest of the hunt.
Njal had just finished dealing with the minor annoyance that was the group cyclops and healed the wounded girls. Seeing as his job was done, as the girls appeared to be armed to combat monsters, he had began to walk back to the gas station. Then all of a sudden her got this itching feeling in his back, like a really annoying itch. It was actually starting to piss him off. Why was he itchy? Turning his head he found his answer. He had been shot in the back by approximately 24 arrows. Oh, that explains it. Turning all the way around Njal faced a now large group of silver dressed girls armed with bows. Most had wide eyes at their attack not doing anything, but one was very familiar. Artemis Goddess of the Hunt. She in fact was the only one present with a bow drawn who had not fired.
"You know where I come from shooting someone who just saved your friends life with arrows is considered rude. Now I'm not totally familiar with Greek customs but I doubt that this is a form of gratitude." He spoke directly to the Olympian.
"You are a beast and as such it falls to me and my hunters to end you." She spoke with a glare, though she still did not fire. Njal noted her hesitation and broke down the scene for tactical advantages should this go south.
"I would believe you slightly more if you had released the arrow, but you haven't. That means you are unsure of what to do." Njal replied with a straight face as he channeled restoration magic through his tattoos and had the arrows be dislodged from his back. Artemis looked ready to fire even more but still did not shoot. Her eyes narrowed as her hunters had reloaded their arrows.
"The cause of my hesitation is that I remember the meeting from a few years ago. You are not simply a monster, but one with an immortal soul and with immense power. Power that can kill my hunters if caught in the crossfire." Ah that was it. She didn't want her hunters to die because she picked a wrong fight. As noble as that was, her hunters still looked ready to release another volley. Now while they were silver arrows, Njal would not be killed, or even seriously wounded by them. Turns out having a constant stream of various 'flesh' spells go through your body leaves a lasting effect. I.e his skin was very tough in the front and silver, as well as most weapons didn't hurt anymore. Now he still felt it, but it didn't burn like it used to. Ah magic, you had no rules and could promptly make everything else irrelevant.
"While your concern for your hunters is nice to see, your mention of our "meeting" is the more likely source of your fear. After all with a single word I can reshape the world. But if this little meet and greet is done I do have more important matters to attend to." Njal replied and then turned to walk back towards the gas station. He had taken two steps before the itch in his back returned. Only now one spot in particular annoyed him more than the others. Letting out a sigh and channeling his magic through his runic tattoos, forcing the arrows out and closing the wounds, he spoke.
"Well then. I guess an ass kicking is in order." He quickly turned and sprinted with lightning fast speed into the group of hunters with Starfang.
Annabeth's first few days at Camp Half Blood were interesting to say the least. She had been sent to her mother's cabin where she met her step-siblings. The cabin itself looked more like a library with beds than an actual cabin but she wasn't complaining. Her siblings were nice enough, and nowhere near as rambunctious and trouble making as Katie or her father. But one down side she noticed was most of them had a hubris problem, at least in terms of what they thought they were capable of. Now she would admit she had the same problem, at first anyways. Her dad was a very good teacher when explaining that no one was good at everything and that if you found something you couldn't do, despite you giving it your all, it was not your fault. That lesson was present throughout their magic training since Katie was able to pack more punch behind her spells than Annabeth, but Annabeth was much better at the theory and creation of spells. At first this counter to one another had made Annabeth angry as she tried to cast much stronger spells like Katie, but due to the amount of magic in her necklace she never could. This lead to a bit of resentment, which her dad put down. Fast. She tried to counter that her dad could do anything he wanted and probably only a god could match him in combat. He corrected her by mentioning someone named Juane Sanglune.
Apparently her dad had a deep respect/ hatred of this man since he was both a Dragonborn and a vampire. She had asked how he had met this man since Njal was the Last Dragonborn, but alas her dad was tight lipped on the how part. What he was willing to tell her though was that Juane was far more powerful than he was, even now. The way that happened was not only was Juane Dovahkiin and a vampire, but also a master in all forms of magic, even the darkest and most forgotten forms of it, a master assassin and thief, and he had meditated on every single word of power. All of this made the most powerful creature Njal had ever seen, but also the most depressed.
Turns out Juane was tired of his power and wanted nothing more than for someone to kill him by besting him in some manner. He had been so preoccupied with gaining as much power and knowledge as he could that his hubris never once let him question whether or not doing so was a good idea. So when Njal met him, convinced that the vampire would attack due to what he was, he was surprised to find an immortal that had, in it own words, "Lived too long and done too much". In fact it was Njal's talk with Juane that was one of the main reasons he initially did not go full immortal.
Annabeth had asked how this applied to her, to which her dad had said that 'Understanding and accepting one's limitations is necessary, I can not be stealthy in any sense of the word without the aid of Illusion magic, which even then I am too large to be sneaky. Even the gods understand their limitations, Apollo does not try and control the sky, Athena does not attempt to play match maker, Demeter does not claim to be able to work the forge. They know something others will be better at than others. Juane did not, and as a result is….what he is now. You are gifted in the art of the mind and strategy of battle. Katie has martial prowess to smash her foes and magic to hammer them further but she will not think about it. Know that your lack of tougher spells is not a weakness, it is a tool to be used in combo with another. Instead of being a hammer like Katie, be a scalpel. Use the basics to your advantage and out think you foes. Now then, never let jealousy and your desire to be the best get to you again.'
While his story had taken her some time to think about she eventually got the point of it, play to your strengths and don't fret over things you can't do. Her sibling often learned the hard way that lesson whenever the sparring classes would be going on. As it turns out you give Katie a hammer and and giant metal shield and she will crush whoever is in her way. Hades, even some of the Ares kids got creeped out when she went all 'feral Nord' on her opponents. Turns out her dad's metaphor for Katie was pretty accurate. As she watched the current fighter put up against Katie, some poor kid from Apollo's cabin, Luke Castellan the counselor for Hermes cabin walked up besides her.
"Your little sister is kind of…...scary." He whispered to her as Katie smashed her shield into the Apollo kids face. As it turns out having a violent child of Demeter is abnormal, one that fights like a viking hopped up on PCP is even rarer. Suffice to say Katie was feared by a good chunk of the other campers who were not used to her…...ways. Her step siblings seemed pretty happy about it for some reason. Maybe they thought since Katie was one of them Ares kids would stop trying to bully them.
"You should see dad, he threw a massive garbage can, the big green ones, at a Hellhound the day he told me and Katie about what we were. It would have been pretty cool had I not almost had my face ripped off. Though he did show me and her how to rip a man's tongue out through his neck with our hands one time. So maybe he is not the best influence on us." Annabeth commented as if she were talking about the weather. Luke took a step away from Annabeth and really hoped that the girls father did not ruin his plans. He had considered taking one hostage should that happen and he needed leverage, but now he was scrubbing that idea. Katie scared him, like most other campers, and Annabeth just disturbed him with that little comment. If Njal somehow found out…..he would just cross that bridge when he got to it. Besides, how tough can he really be?
Njal had just gotten back to the gas station after some rather hostile words with the hunters. He didn't kill any of them, he is not a child killer, even if the were immortal. Besides half of them went down after some well placed super punched to the head, the others who had more experience got blasted by paralysis spells and some bruises from boulders he had summoned and hurled at them . Artemis was the real challenge, as she should be, but it was a fight between a hunter and a dragon. The hunter could try all they wanted but the dragon would still get its prey. Though in this instance it was a lot of her trying to stab him after he closed the distance, the blades bouncing off due to Ebony Flesh, and then him using Fus to throw her off the cliff and then bombing the forest below with an ass load of fireball spells. Then to be on the safe side he made sure she was alright, which despite several serious burn that her healing factor was trying to deal with, she was, he then excused himself like a gentleman and promptly left. Well he tried then she got mad, activated her godly form so he spoke the first word of dragon aspect Mul.
Turns out after mastering and using a shout for 80 years it evolves. His first word form granted him the eyes, armor, and strength of a dragon that would be at his Thu'um power level. In other words a dragon god's eyes, armor, and strength. Besting Alduin does have its perks. Long story short he was fine, she questioned what he did, he grabbed her and lifted her by the throat and made some nasty death threats while staring into her eyes, and then left after she was successfully horrified and wanted him to do nothing more than leave. Apparently he was also banned from the Hunt now. Didn't know what that meant, didn't care. All he did care about now was that he had three tickets on his bike for leaving his vehicle in an unmarked area and loitering.
The universe would forever note that this is how the rivalry between the Dragon and the Huntress would begin. With one being beaten and threatened by the other, whilst the other received two tickets inadvertently due to the other.