Annabeth awoke to the sound of battle.
Her eyes shot open and she instinctively moved her head to the side, just barely missing the gleaming sword that slid silently into the ground, before being wrenched free.
The dracaena snarled before swinging the blade around nearly taking off Annabeth's head.
"Annabeth!" Jason yelled, swinging his spear around, disintegrating several monsters before rushing over to her, "Are you all right?" he asked, defending her back as she managed to keep dodging the monster, it becoming even more annoyed and its attacks even more wild.
"Do I look to be alright?" Annabeth yelled over the sound of the clashing metal, "And where the Hades is my knife?"
"Yeah, one of the Stolls didn't have a weapon and they took yours," Jason apologized
"Then can I have it back now?"
"He also lost it," Jason added as a side note.
"I'm going to kill him, that was my second knife," Annabeth muttered before suddenly spinning out of the way of the dracaena's sword and kicked her wrist.
The sword dropped and for a spilt second, both demigod and monster stared at one another before Annabeth caught the falling sword and sliced the monster in half with one fluid movement.
"Is anyone injured?" Annabeth called out, as they finished off the remaining monsters.
No one called out so she assumed everyone was fine.
"Everyone get close, we need to do a head count," commanded Jason, trying to have some form of order.
There were fourteen of them, the Stoll brothers, Chris, Clarisse, Katie, Will, Jake, Rachel and the remaining 6 of the Seven.
"So this is Tartarus?" Clarisse asked uncharacteristically serious, her grip on her spear tightening.
"Y-yes it is, we need to stick together at all times," Annabeth's voice started out shaky but grew stronger towards the end. She was a daughter of Athena, she wouldn't give up so easily.
Rachel surprisingly was the first to start moving, she looked back and stared expectantly at them.
"Well? We all know where we have to go," she said before she continued heading off in her chosen direction.
"What is she talking about? Connor asked,
"The Phlegethon, we must go to the River of Fire to complete the prophecy," Annabeth murmured, her mind putting the pieces together.
It was at least the seventh time they were attacked in the span in an hour.
Most of them had already stopped counting as they had become exhausted. Clarisse and Jason were the only ones still leading their forced march, concentrating on getting them to the bright flare of lights on the other side of a massive hill.
Their skins were streaked with ash and sweat, boils and rashes appearing all over their skin and face.
Rachel came up from the rear, armed with a short sword she had wrestled from a monster, adding to their increasing armory as Clarisse had refused to part with any war prize.
"Are we close?" she asked Annabeth, as she brushed her curly hair out of her eyes.
"Yes, it is right over this hill, I'm just worried though…" Annabeth trailed off.
"Stop moving!" Annabeth yelled as the shadows in front of them wavered.
Everyone grouped together and brandished their weapons, "I knew it was too easy," Annabeth said quietly.
Four massive drakons burst forth, each carrying a small army of monsters.
Each side watched each other warily before suddenly a sole empousa stood from the head of one of the glittering drakons.
"Look at the proud demigods now, not so strong and now?" she spat before drawing an object from a sheath.
"Look here daughter of wisdom, I have your precious dagger, the one that killed Lord Kronos for a second time."
Annabeth stiffened in rage, how dare that creature keep her dagger, one of her most prized possessions.
"It's funny how such a small object could have taken down one of the strongest deities to ever exist," the empousa continued before a malicious smile grew on her face.
"Kill them all,"
The demigods went for the drakons first, knowing they were the biggest threat, separating into smaller groups so they could take each of them at once.
Annabeth went for her knife.
Running as fast as she could in her weakened state, she lunged at a telekine which in its fear raised its bent up bronze shield to protect itself.
She jumped on the shield using it to propel herself up the drakons, landing on its face and quickly scrabbling up to its back.
"Wisdom spawn, ready to meet your maker?" the empousa taunted, holding Annabeth's dagger.
"As long as you are ready to meet yours," Annabeth countered
They fought, a towering mountain above the rest, as demigod and monster fought to the death.
"Give up demigod, there is no you can win this fight," said the empousa as they reached a stalemate, neither side yielding, their blades locked together.
"That's what you think,"
And Annabeth went on a devastating offensive, swinging her blade in calculated patterns, all designed to inflict massive amounts of damage.
The monster could hardly keep up, frantically blocking each attack.
Annabeth had experience, but so did the empousa.
But what the empousa didn't have was anger.
Annabeth was so angry at the Fates, angry at the gods, angry at everything for putting her back into this hell pit.
And with practiced skill, the daughter of Wisdom drove her sword straight in the heart of the monster, it dissolving into gold dust that spread into the harsh air of Tartarus.
As the dagger fell, Annabeth could see her reflection glance up at her in the bronze blade before it flipped again.
Time slowed down as grabbed the dagger, discarding her sword and drove it straight into a chink in the drakon's armor.
The drakon gave a shriek of pain before turning sharply and trying to snap at Annabeth.
She vaulted off and joined her friends in finishing off the stragglers.
Soon enough, all the monsters were dead, golden dust filled the air.
"Hurry up! We need to get to the river before our adrenaline wears off!" Annabeth screamed, as they all made a mad run to the river.
Travis supported his brother who had a deep wound on his leg but they managed to reach the edge of the river along with everyone else.
The river flowed quietly, very much unlike it did earlier, where they could hear the slamming waves crash down on the shore.
Annabeth went down to the river's edge to drink but before she could even cup her hands, the river froze.
It swirled up into a massive flaming water spout, Annabeth was about to tell the others to back away but the spout exploded in a violent display of power.
There was a beautiful woman floating just above the water's surface, the water seemingly supporting her.
Her red hair, very much like the oracle's, flowed in the air, as if she were underwater.
Her pale skin with her rosy lips only helped her sense of beauty while her eyes gazed at the demigods curiously.
"I am the goddess of this River, what brings demigods to this part of the world?"
Bla bla bla excuse bla bla
Yes it's late.
School is tough and I've had some personal problems lately.
Don't worry they are fixed and hopefully I can update more now.
Dedication to PikaKipz the joint account of Strider1237 and matchbox7
They are great people who played minecraft with me!
Catch ya on the flipside Pixels!
-PixelUp