Zoe blocked the twin silver blades with her shield before shoving the goddess back. Artemis flipped backwards and landed several feet away. A light drizzle fell upon the clearing, giving Zoe a clearer picture of the battlefield. Not to mention the forest around them could use the sprinkle. This was the third training session in as many days. She still bore the bruises of the last two. By the looks of it, she wasn't done collecting them. The demiprimordial spun Riptide in hand, the blade igniting in flames.

Artemis quirked an eyebrow. "Do you expect that to help you?" she asked as she began stalking the girl.

Zoe followed her movements, a grin plastered on her face as she brought her shield to bear. "Maybe not, but it's cool," she boasted childishly. Zoe blitzed the goddess, trying to strike her with her shield.

Artemis sidestepped the attack, pushing on the girl's back and throwing her off balance. "Gimmicks have no purpose on the battlefield. If it can not help you win, then you should save it for later," she advised her sparring partner. The goddess backed up, avoiding Zoe's flaming sword arcing through the air.

Zoe grinned. "It does help me cut through armor," Zoe explained knowing the goddess's response.

Artemis glanced down at her attire. Zoe lunged forward, swinging her sword at the goddess. Artemis fell onto her back and kicked Zoe into the air. "Nice try, Zoe," Artemis laughed.

Zoe hit the ground with a thud, knocking the wind from her lungs. The girl stayed on the wet ground as she tried to catch her breath. "You...suck," Zoe wheezed out as she slowly climbed to her feet.

"Little harsh don't you think?" Thalia asked Artemis from her place on a boulder, her Aegis shield held in hand.

"Isn't that your job? Make sure I don't over do it?" Artemis asked her lieutenant. "You're doing a terrible job of refereeing."

Thalia shrugged. "Hard to referee when I can barely track your movements," she told the goddess as Zoe rose to her feet on unsteady legs. "You two are moving so fast that I can barely see your next moves."

Artemis hummed in thought. "I didn't even notice we were moving that fast," she revealed before turning to her lieutenant. "Are you sure?"

Thalia nodded, her eyes looking to Zoe who was pacing to regain her breath. "It's like two blurs of silver."

"Interesting," Artemis said before turning to Zoe. "You ready to continue?"

"Yes ma'am," Zoe replied as she rubbed at her stomach. "Its probably going to bruise." She drew Riptide and brought her shield to bear.

Artemis shook her head before sheathing her knives. "No. We are done with weapons training today,"

Zoe raised an eyebrow but capped Riptide and her shield reformed into a watch. "So what are we going to do?"

"We are going to work on your powers," Artemis answered her. "Specifically your inherited gifts."

Dread creeped into Zoe's veins at her suggestion. "I-I don't want to," she said as she rubbed her arm.

Artemis noticed the change in her demeanor and grew concerned. "Is something wrong?" she asked the girl.

"I just don't want to," Zoe answered. She didn't want to use those powers. "It won't end well."

Artemis walked up to Zoe and gave her a gentle smile. "It's okay, Zoe," she tried to console the girl. "This is the point of us doing this. You won't hurt me."

"You were there," Zoe countered as she wrapped her arms around herself. "On Olympus, when I lost control. You don't know that I can't hurt you."

"Then don't lose control," Artemis told the girl. She placed a hand on her shoulder. "We believe in you."

Zoe huffed before letting her arms fall. "Alright. How do you want to do this?"

Artemis thought for a moment. "Try to hit me. Use your starlight and your darkness. You win if you touch me with either of them. I win if I manage to evade you for five minutes."

"Five minutes?" Zoe asked in surprise.

Artemis smiled at the girl. "What? Do you think you can't go five minutes? I was of the impression you are overflowing with energy."

Zoe smiled at the goddess' attempt to cheer her up. "Oh, I'll show you how much I got." Her eyes glowed brilliantly. Starlight pierced the clouds above like a flaming sword through flesh.

Artemis rolled out of the way of the attack, the light scorching the ground where she stood. Artemis hopped to her feet with a grin. "There we go," she cheered as she bounced on her toes. "Come on girl, give me all you got!"

Darkness creeped into Zoe's vision as she reached for the shadows. Tendrils of darkness slithered around her like a den of snakes. She could feel the darkness pressing against her, begging to be used. She forced the urge back. She was in control, not the primordial within. Multiple tendrils lashed out at Artemis. The moon goddess weaved through the tendrils with unmatched grace. Zoe frowned as she failed to land a blow. She threw more tendrils at the goddess and called forth more starlight. Several beams of light pierced the earth as Artemis deftly evaded each of them.

"Come on, Zoe," Artemis called out with a grin. "All that power and you can't even touch little old me?"

Darkness forced its way into Zoe's vision, the urge to subjugate and destroy growing within her. No, I refuse to lose control. She snapped at the presence; the powerful build up retreated within her mind. The darkness retreated, if ever so slightly, from her vision. The tendrils continued trying to grab the goddess, who weaved through them like vines in a forest. Zoe gritted her teeth. A beam of starlight peppered the ground where Artemis once stood.

"You will face beings far more powerful than myself before the end," the moon goddess called out as she dodged the tendrils. "How will you protect your friends?"

Annoyance grew within Zoe. She knew the goddess was trying to rile her up. It didn't change the fact that she was right. The darkness pressed against Zoe's vision. The primordial within yearned to be unleashed. To be put to the test against her foe. Zoe forced it back. She would not give in. Artemis used her knives to divert several more tendrils of darkness.

"How about your family? How will you protect them?"

Annoyance turned to frustration. Zoe knew she had to be better. To be stronger. She pushed herself as far as she dared, dozens of dark tendrils flew at the goddess. Orbs of darkness coalesced before launching forward.

Artemis grinned at the challenge, dodging those she could and deflecting the rest with her knives. "If that is all you can muster, then maybe we don't have a chance. Maybe we should just submit to your mother and save her the trouble."

Fury and blazing heat surged within Zoe's being at the mention of Nyx. Her concentration failed. Darkness encompassed her vision.

The primordial force within her surged forth, blanketing Zoe in a miasma of shadow. Earthquakes shook the clearing; huge swathes of dirt and stone broke through the surface like jagged teeth. A deafening boom of thunder rattled the clearing.

"Shut! Up!" she screamed, throwing both hands out towards the goddess, her blood boiling as power flooded her being. Spears of starlight crashed into the earth around them. A wave of darkness overcame Zoe and rolled throughout the forest.

The demiprimodrial faintly heard Thalia shouting at her. Her words lost to the thunderous roaring of darkness clouding her mind.

Fear coursed through Zoe as she watched the darkness consuming Artemis, the goddess shouting in surprise. She slammed her consciousness against the darkness, but it refused to budge.

The power drained from her body as quickly as it came. The roar of darkness lessened into an eerie whisper. Zoe snapped back at the darkness within, forcing it back within her soul. She forced the eldritch element back deep into her mind, the starlight and darkness reluctantly draining from the woodland.

Zoe collapsed onto the ground heaving, rising from her body as the cold winter air brushed her skin.

Artemis pulled herself out of the trench her body had dug into the earth. She had been too stunned to evade the wave of darkness before it came crashing down on her. She spotted Zoe on her hands and knees, heaving for air with tears streaming down her face. Artemis' heart went out for the girl, but she needed to check on Thalia first. The moon goddess picked some twigs out of her hair as she approached the boulder her lieutenant had resided. "Thalia?" she called out, looking around for her sister.

"I'm good," Thalia called out as she appeared from behind a tree, the face of which was stripped of bark. "Got a little worried there for a moment." She noticed Zoe on the ground and jogged go to the girl, her shield changing back into its bracelet form. She kneeled next to the girl and gently rubbed her back. "Hey, Zoe," she said calmly to the girl. "It's okay. Everything is okay."

Zoe took a shaky breath and looked up at her, tear streaks marring her face. "I-I lost co-control," she stuttered through her heavy breathing. "I knew I should have-"

Thalia pulled the younger girl into a hug, shushing the girl gently. "You're okay. You didn't do anything wrong. This is why we are training."

"Y-you don't understand," Zoe tried to regain her breath. "It was t-terrifying. I-I wasn't in control. It was like I was s-stuffed in a box and was looking t-through a peephole." She looked between the demigod and goddess, both of whom bore concerned expressions.

"You are genuinely one of a kind," Artemis said to the girl as she kneeled before her. "It is understandable that you will have unique challenges." She placed a hand on her shoulder opposite of Thalia's. "You will overcome this, and we will be here to help you." Zoe stayed silent as she slowly regained control of her breathing. "Let's get back to camp, we are done for today," she told them as she helped Zoe up.

"I don't want to be near anyone right now," Zoe said as she wiped her tears away.

Artemis nodded and looked to Thalia. "Are you okay to stay with her?"

Thalia nodded. "I got her," she answered the goddess. "We will meet you at camp later." Artemis nodded and patted Zoe's shoulder before departing. Thalia wrapped an arm around Zoe before mostly carrying her to a remarkably untouched tree. The pair weaved between mounds of upturned earth before settling down at the base of the tree. Thalia bumped her shoulder against Zoe's. "How are you feeling?"

Zoe rubbed at her eyes. "Like I was possessed and fighting against the wrath of the ocean. An ocean without a master that only wished to destroy," she answered truthfully, exhaustion dominated her body as she sat against the tree. It would be a minute before she would have the energy to move on her own.

"That's...descriptive?" she questioned. Thalia looked the girl over before examining the clearing, if it could really be called that. Upturned and destroyed trees littered the torn landscape. Small fires pocketed the ruined clearing. It looked like a battlefield between gods. Which, she supposed, it kinda was. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Zoe took a deep breath. "It's...it's like someone is breathing down the back of my neck," Zoe explained with a shiver. "Just waiting for me to slip up and once I do it pounces. Once that happens, it's like I am watching the world through someone else's eyes." She looked down at her hands. "Like...I know it's me. I can feel myself move, feel myself manipulate the domains I wield, but also...not me."

Thalia grabbed Zoe's shoulder again and squeezed. "You'll learn to control it Zoe," she promised Zoe with a smile. "I have faith, and so does Percy and Reyna."

Zoe returned the smile. "Thanks Aunty Thals," she said. Zoe rested her head against the tree trunk. "I just wish I had more time."

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked with a raised eyebrow.

Zoe sighed. "I don't know. It's just a feeling I have," Zoe explained. "Like something is going to happen soon."

"Something bad?"

"Probably," Zoe shrugged. "Would be pretty par for the course for me by now." She yawned. Maybe she was more tired than she thought.

Thalia looked the girl over again. "How about you take a nap? You'll feel better."

Zoe nodded as she rested her head against Thalia's shoulder, too tired to really argue with her.