[David's Pov]

The blur of collective visions panned out in front of my eyes like a book flipping over at the speed of sound.

My senses could barely register what was happening before it shifted over to something entirely different.

For a moment, I was staring at a black hole with a ring of light swirling into its unobservable center.

My skin burned against the energy of a dying star.

A faint scent of ocean tickled the tip of my nose, and then, I heard a herd of elephants let out a trumpet like roar as they trampled up the hill with armed men on their backs.

I blinked, and the scenery shifted again.

The hill was present, but everything else had changed.

The elephants morphed into a row of tanks.

Their thunderous footsteps were replaced with sounds of explosion, gunshots and cries of soldiers in various languages.

Acrid scent of gunpowder and ashes filled the air, clogging up my lungs and watering my eyes.

I was in the middle of a war zone.

A sharp pain around the pit of my stomach made me curse—only, I couldn't tell what language I cussed in.

I was merely borrowing some random soldier's experience with the power of the Chaos Magic.

The soldier looked down to check his wound, which was worse than it felt; and that was saying a lot.

A squelching red hole the size of a palm was located at my—his side, spurting out blood and something else that definitely belonged inside my body.

With a terrified sob, he dragged my body to the nearest trench and rolled down.

I landed on my shoulder with a loud crack. It was probably broken, but I couldn't care less about it when I was seconds away from death.

My eyelids were getting heavy. The air tasted oddly sweat and humid. The excruciating pain that tortured me a moment ago seemed far better.

I was dying.

I fumbled over the metal chain around my neck. The locket held a picture of my fiancé, yet I was too tired to even see it properly for the last time.

Right before my last blink, however, someone suddenly appeared right in front of me.

She was a tall, beautiful woman with a well-built body, and radiated a powerful aura of some sort.

On her side, there was a shield with a horrific face engraved on it.

"B, qui..." (W, who…)

The woman knelt in front of me. She looked down at the locket in my hand. Her grey eyes scrunched up just a little with what I realized was pitty.

Then, to my amazement, the woman shifted her outlook. With my last blink, my fiancée was sitting next to me.

It must be a dream, or an hallucination at the last brink of my life.

But whatever it was, I was glad to see her for the last time.

As my conscious faded into black, I heard her whisper.

"Repose-toi bien, soldat."(Rest well, soldier.)

I wanted to reply with a thank you to the angel that came to be, but before I could try and muster up the strength, she suddenly stood up.

Across the trench, a man wearing a flaming armor and two MP40s in his hands cackled with laughter.

"There you are, you owl brat!"

"Ares!"

The aura around the woman suddenly exuded immense power, which overwhelmed the last of my breath.

The horrific face etched on the shield grew large, opening its metal jaw and...

...and I was standing in front of a cave near the sea.

Various stone sculptures were displayed around the entrance of the cave, all looking horrified at something they saw.

"Medusa."

Right as I realized where I was, a young man ran out from the cavern.

He held a bloody sword in one hand, and a sack dripping blood in the other.

He weaved between the rows of statues and kicked off from the ground with his winged sandals.

Merely seconds later, a pair of anguish screech shook the entire cliff.

"MEDUSA!!!"

"SOMEONE KILLED MEDUSA!!!"

The gorgon sisters ran out of the cave, the headless body of Medusa clutched between them.

Bloody tears poured from their eyes as they scanned the area in a blind fury, searching for their youngest sister's murderer.

Then, one of the sisters looked up and pointed at the sky.

"THERE!"

The Gorgon sisters howled in rage when they spotted Perseus flying away with the Medusa's head.

A pair of bronze wings sprouted from their back and the gorgon sisters took flight after the hero, leaving Medusa's body behind.

For a moment, the valley was silent as if the fiasco a second ago never happened.

But then, the headless corpse of the snake lady lurched.

Her limbs flailed wildly, her claws ripped chunks of rock from the ground and threw them in what I could only explain as rage and despair.

"———!!! ———!!!"

The headless neck screamed, spraying blood everywhere.

The screams were inaudible, but I could tell what Medusa was howling at her death.

"Athena!!! Poseidon!!!"

During Medusa's fit, her neck expanded like a hot air balloon.

It got bigger until she looked like a reptilian version of a jellyfish, then the giant lump burst open and two figures flew out.

One was a massive stallion with a wingspan so big, merely flapping its wings once brushed the dust away in a forty mile radius.

The Pegasus glanced at the corpse of Medusa, snorted its nose once, and then took off to the sky.

The other figure was a full-grown man, thankfully equipped with full Greek armor.

His most noticeable trait was the giant golden sword held in his left hand, which was the first thing the newborn man examined.

Then, the man flinched. The disintegrating Medusa had gripped the man's ankle tightly.

More blood spurted out of the severed neck, but this time, I could actually hear what Medusa was saying as her last breath.

"Athena…Poseidon…avenge them, for me…Chrysaor…"

The man with the golden sword watched Medusa's corpse turn into a pile of gold dust.

He nudged the pile with his toe as if he expected something dramatic to happen again.

When nothing did, the man shrugged and walked down the hillside with his trusty sword in hand.

I stood where I was, stunned at all the things that had panned out in front of me in less than 5 minutes until I remembered what I was doing.

I snapped my head toward the Pegasus.

He was now smaller than a hummingbird in the middle of the vast sky, but if I focused hard enough, catching up to him wouldn't be much of a problem.

With enough concentration, I felt my body whizz through the air until I reached the first Pegasus in history.

Through the Pegasus's eyes, I could see where every pegasi was.

Most of them were flying over diverse sceneries all over the world.

Some were taking a rest in the middle of a forest or treating themselves to some grass on a wide plain.

A handful of the pegasi were kept in stables. I could sense that the Pegasus was displeased.

His children were meant to enjoy nature, especially the sky and seas, not be kept under a roof like a flock of hens.

Still, they seemed to be treated well enough, unlike his poor few children who were caught in the worst-case scenario.

There were pegasi held inside cages, kept as pets or products without much regard for the wellbeing of the steeds.

Just watching his children in such pain and suffering made Pegasus's blood boil with rage, but that was not what I was looking for.

Through the myriad of visions, I found what I was looking for: The view of the six pegasi that ran away from the camp.

To my relief, three of them seemed to have flown over to Percy's place.

Percy seemed stressed, naturally. I'll have to find a way to make it up to him one day.

The other two were raiding a Dunkin Donuts with Blackjack leading them. Go figures.

At least they won't be a hassle to find.

All we'd have to do is follow the local news report about a trio of giant pigeons attacking civilians who were unlucky enough to visit said donut shop.

The last one, however, was much more troubling.

The vision showed the pegasus in the middle of the woods, surrounded by dozens of girls in silver hunting outfits.

There was only one group who dressed like that.

Maybe Zoë was with them, the hopeful part of myself thought, which was a mistake.

The Chaos Magic caught my attention shifting elsewhere, and it reacted immediately.

The countless visions of pegasi merged into a one giant grey mess before reforming into a scene in the middle of the night.

I was sitting on a cloud, haning over the cresent moon.

Two of my best hunters stood at my side—Phoebe and Polyphonte.

We gazed at a couple arguing at the edge of an endless cliff.

"What do you mean 'This is where it ends.' ?!" The girl screamed. Her voice ruffled the grass around her like a cold breeze of the winter.

"Ugh," Phoebe wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Another man throwing his girl away."

"Maybe there is a rationable reason," Polyphonte suggested, after stealing a glance in my direction, "He is supposed to be The Hero, isn't he?"

It was a natural reaction to check my mood; defending a man who was about to discard his woman in my presence was more than often a horrible idea.

However, that man in particular...I had at least some respect. And a drop of pitty, even. He and I were loathed by the same deity, afterall.

On the other hand, Phoebe wasn't cutting any slacks. She scowled loudly and glared at her comrade.

"I don't care if he is destined to save Olympus twice; he is the same as to any other stinking male heroes roaming the earth!

They only view woman as a gift, a trophy, or a possession to be owned!"

"What about that Perseus fellow? He was a nice guy," Polyphonte pointed out.

"Only because there is one exception doesn't justify the whole group!"

"Silence, both of you," I said.

The two huntresses immediately became quiet.

I leaned over the cloud to get a better hearing of the conversation at hand.

"Say something!"

She stomped her foot onto the ground in frustration.

"Why can't I go with you anymore? Where are you going?"

"I already said all I wanted to say. I told you to leave me alone. So do that, or..."

"But why? "

I could see the patience snap behind The Hero's eyes. He was crafted to be the pinnacle of mortal heroes, so naturally, he lacked self-containing abilities.

"Because I'm done with you!" He growled.

The girl gasped. I closed my eyes in disappointment.

Out of all the answers she must have thought of, that would have been the worst one.

Out of all the excuses he could have said, that should have been the last one to bring out.

"I am done with how useless you are in combat! How you complain we're walking too much, or how you get in trouble with nymphs every ten feet!

You are just a brat, who can't do anything on your own and never look around for people around you! Things like you make me sick!

Get out of my sight, and never show up again!"

The Hero swung his club and smashed the ground between them. The force was enough to shake the cloud we were sitting on.

The girl scrambled away in panic, too breath-taken to even scream as she ran into the forest, hurt and terrified.

"That's it, I'm—"

I raised my hand in front of Phoebe's bow before she could take a shot.

"Phoebe, get back to the Hunt and get ready to welcome a new recruit."

Phoebe lowered her arms with the utmost disappointed look, "But, My Lady!"

I swept my hand across the air and teleported her to the campsite.

"Polyphonte, why don't you go help the girl out before some hostile nymphs get to her?"

Polyphonte nodded and whisked off like a breeze, courtesy to her motherly heritage.

I jumped down from the cloud and swiftly landed on the soft grass.

The Hero didn't bat an eyelash at my sudden appearance, which was a bummer. When we had met before, he had a much more lively reaction.

"Lady Artemis. You...came at an interesting timing."

"I am where the moon is," I replied.

It was so hard to try and sound so mystical and hierarchical.

The corner of The Hero's lips twitched as if he wanted to smile, but couldn't bring himself to do so.

"Are you here to recruit a new member or something?"

The Hero shrugged toward the woods.

"I might," I answered with a shrug of my own.

Truthfully, it would be best if she did, but the choice was ultimately up to the girl.

"Take good care of her."

"I do not take orders from a man, nor a mortal."

The Hero scowled, which made me giggle.

With the unearthly strength and surprising amount of wits, things usually tended to go as the Hero wanted to.

But an Olympian goddess was not something he could try to punch at, nor try and trick without risking a severe payback.

The Hero noticed that I was poking fun at him. He sat at the edge of the cliff and sighed.

"I'm not in the mood for casual banters, goddess. Unless you want to help me finish my labor, leave me."

"Maybe if you say please?"

"I said, I'm not in the mood!"

The Hero swung his arm.

That punch would have easily smashed a 40-foot-tall boar's skull open—I've seen it happen before, but it fell short at my fingertip.

I pushed his arm down with my forefinger. The Hero grunted in irritation, but he let his arm fall down.

"I won't help you on your labor, Herakles.

Whatever the intention was, you have severly maimed a maiden's heart. A daughter of Atlas, at that."

Herakles snorted, "You're starting to sound like Aphrodite."

It was my turn to scowl at him.

For a tenth of a blink, I toyed with the idea of slitting his throat and explain to others that I was only helping him get to the Underworld.

...no, father wouldn't buy the excuse. Besides, that would make our eventual reunion very ackward.

"But I do know who can help you go to the Underworld without killing yourself."

"Who's that?"

"Hermes. I'll help you find him...but there is a cost."

Herakles scowled more deeply, "Haven't I payed enough to the gods by now?"

I didn't answer the question. Mortals always asked that exact question when they were angry with us, and whatever answer we gave them, they didn't like it anyway.

"It won't be something unreasonable," I promised him, "Since you have maimed the heart of the maiden, you shall sacrifice what she had given to you."

"What are you talking about? She didn't..."

Herakles's voice faltered as he realized what I was referring to. He rummaged through his sack of belongings and pulled out a small hair clip.

"Anaklusmos," Herakles muttered.

After a brief hesitation, he handed the sword to me.

I tapped the edge of the blade, and the weapon vanished with a whisp of silver smoke. Herakles looked up at the smoke fade into the night.

"Where did it go?"

"I sent it to Chiron. He'll find a worthy wielder one day, don't you think?"

Herakles snorted, "You could've told me father brought him back to the earth when he did.

Do you have any idea how devastated I was whenever I looked at the constellation?"

I shrugged, although it was hard to suppress the grin that struggled to spread over my lips.

"Whatever. I'll tell Hermes to come here. That would be easier for the both of you, anyway."

Then, I felt another maiden had just finished reciting the oath. It was time for me to leave.

"Herakles. I hope your last journey would finally give the peace you desperately wanted."

"Thank you, Lady Artemis."

I gave Herakles a wave before flashing into the woods, where Polyphonte was waiting for me with our newest recruit.

The girl looked a lot better already. She was holding a small leaf between her fingers as she looked up at me in awe.

"Hello, My name is Artemis, goddess of the hunt," I said with a smile and held out a hand, "Welcome amongst us, Zoë Nightshade."

The girl seemed shocked at my behavior. She glanced at Polyphonte, who gave her a reassuring nood.

"Th, thank you, M'Lady."

[Line Break]

When I opened my eyes, I was confused.

Why was I sprawled on the ground in late afternoon? I just welcomed Zoë as one of my hunters and...

...no, wait. That's not...

My name is David. That was just a vision I saw with Chaos Magic.

"Was it successful?" A voice asked.

I turned around and found a giant black wolf with purple eyes staring at me.

I looked back at it for a good few seconds before remembering who she was and what she was referring to.

"Hecuba," I told myself. My head spun as memories clashed with the visions I'd seen in different perspectives, "I...used the magic to look for my subjects—no, the pegasi aren't my subjects."

"No, they are not."

"I, I need to find them because they killed my sister—"

"Closer, but no. Do you believe your sister is dead, David?"

"I—"

What was this wolf talking about? I saw the limp, dead body of Medusa with my own eyes. The killer flew off with a winged sandals.

No! Medusa is not my sister. My sister is named Rose Pamadala.

I don't know where she was, or what she is doing, but I was going to find her and help her before she gets lost. She was not dead.

I slapped my hands on both of my cheeks and let out a deep, calming breath.

Hecuba nuzzled into my chest. I didn't want to admit it, but her soft fur made my mind ease up a little more.

She nudged my stomach until I sat down on a log.

The wolf rested her head on my knees and flapped her ears once or twice, letting me recover from the Chaos Magic.

"Feeling better?" Hecuba asked after an half an hour of animal therapy.

I scratched the back of her ears once or twice, earning a pleasent growl.

"Yeah, much better. Thanks, Hecuba."

"You are welcome."

When I got up to leave, Hecuba warned that I should regularly practice using Chaos Magic if I didn't want it to blow up in my face.

"I wasn't exaggerating when I told you Chaos Magic was the only way to rescue your sister.

You need to be abke to master it before you even attempt to get close to the being holding her."

"Yeah, I get it. I'll remember to practice it from time to time."

"Not time to time, you idiot!" Hecuba snapped, "You need to practice it on a regular basis, deepen the level. You need to be abke to control Chaos!"

"I said I get it," I waved aside Hecuba's sermon and ran back to the campground before it got worse.

Look, it wasn't that I didn't want to save my sister. If I had to cut off my arm to do so, I'd do it without a blink.

But Chaos Magic was something else, something more...archaic, undefined, and dangerous.

When I used the Magic, it felt as if I was erased from existence and ggot replaced by whiever's point of view I was in.

I was the French soldier getting comforted by Athena.

I was the Pegasus.

And I was Artemis...during the vision.

What if next time, I got overwhelmed and lost my sense of self?

Then, I would probably be regarded as insane and be locked up at the Big House with Mr. D.

Not only was that a terrifying idea, I doubted if even the God of Insanity would be able to repel the strength of the Chaos Magic.

Judging from what Hecuba had told me, the Chaos Magic was extremely difficult to use, but it was thrice the difficulty to interfere or un-do.

So if something went wrong, I was a goner for sure.

I wasn't ready to risk that possibility...yet.

Borrowing Annabeth's words, "It is always better to think of a plan before making decisions."

"Hey!" Annabeth's voice called from my back.

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

I whirled in place to find the blonde pentagon demigod marching through a patch of thorn bushes.

Annabeth frowned as soon as she got close enough to see my expression.

"What were you doing here? " She demanded.

"Nothing," I answered a bit too quickly, a detail that no children of Athena would let slide.

The wiry demigoddess squinted her grey eyes.

Her brain was probably thinking of various clever ways to make me reveal what I was hiding.

I wasn't confident enough to survive the ordeal, so I decided to beat her on the chase.

"Say, do you know where Thalia is?

We need to get back the Pegesai that ran away..."

That seemed to distract Annabeth. Thank Ares.

"Chiron gathered the news about Blackjack and Reindolf raiding Dunkin Donuts. Thalia left with Argus to retrieve them 15 minutes ago.

Also, Percy would arrive with the three pegasi in 10 minutes or so."

"Oh."

I felt pretty stupid when I heard the news.

Apparently, I had risked my existence to get information that was also available by turning on a cable TV.

Annabeth sighed and kicked a small pebble with the edge of her sneakers.

"Before she left, Thalia asked me if I could tell you she already won."

I nodded.

"Because she found two, and there is only one more left to find."

Knowing Thalia, she was probably snickering all the way to the DD shop.

"I have a good guess on where the last one might be. I'll need a transport, but I don't think the pegasi are willing to let me ride them."

"You can call the Grey Sisters."

I frowned.

"You mean the three old ladies with one eye and tooth toal? The ones OG Perseus threatened?"

"Yeah. They run a taxi service in New York."

Annabeth answered as if her sentence was completely acceptable and normal thing to say.

How could a vague-prophecy spouting group of old ladies could become a taxi driver?

They have one eye for three bodies; I don't think they are even qualified to drive—and that's without bringing up their age!

Even before I could begin wrapping my head around the utter madness of the concept, Annabeth addressed me again.

"David, can you do me a favor?"

For once, it was my turn to frown at Annabeth.

"Why would you ask me for a favor? You can beat up anyone you want by yourself?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and scoffed. She muttered an Ancient Greek word under her words, which roughly translated to "Typical!"

In my defense, when anyone asked Cabin 5 for a favor, it was always because they needed brute muscle for some beat-down.

But Annabeth's following words were something far beyond my imagination.

"After this incident settles down, stay away from Thalia."

I blinked at her.

Did I just hear correctly?

"You want me...to stay away from Thalia?" I repeated like an idiot.

Annabeth didn't reply. Her grey eyes were fixated on Thalia's tree as we walking into the clearing of the camp.

There was no way Annabeth believed the rumors spread by Cabin 10, right? She was too smart

"...Annabeth, I think you are misunderstanding our relationship.

Annabeth's tightly pursed lips twitched, as if she yerned to say a thousand words and was barely keeping them at bey.

For once, it was my turn to frown at Annabeth.

"Why would you ask me for a favor? You can beat up anyone you want by yourself?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and scoffed. She muttered an Ancient Greek word under her words, which roughly translated to "Typical!"

In my defense, when anyone asked Cabin 5 for a favor, it was always because they needed brute muscle for some beat-down.

But Annabeth's following words were something far beyond my imagination.

Thalia is the one that always cling on to me to spar again when I—"

"She never used to."

"I—what?"

Annabeth stopped her footsteps.

When she turned to face me, I was taken aback to find that her usual stone-cold, stoic expression was no longer there.

Her grey eyes were scrunched up as if someone threw a handful of sand at her face. Her cheeks were flushed red, and her lips trembled.

"Thalia, Thalia never clung on to someone else.

She never did, not even to me...or Luke. She always moved forward, until you came along."

Now I was even more confused.

What was she trying to imply?

Why was she suddenly so angry...while also looking like she was going to burst into tears.

I'd already handled with one crying girl, I can't deal with another. Especially not when she was one of the most intimidated girls in Camp Half-Blood.

"Annabeth, I don't get what you are trying to tell me here."

"I don't care," Annabeth snapped, "Just stay away from Thalia."

Then she ran off to Cabin 6 before I could ask a single question.

...Marcus is right.

Girls are f@#$ing weird.

She also forgot to tell me how to contact the "Grey Sisters", which meant I'll have to go to the Big House as I'd originally planned.

This is a long, long one day.

I hope there is nothing waiting me at the forest with the pegasus...

[Line Break]

A giant figure lumbered through the woods. The heavy armor around it clattered against the tree barks and boulders stroon about.

It's stomach rumbled in a deep noise, scaring small forests critters away.

The single eye embedded in the middle of the giant's face darted around, tracking the squirrels and rabbits scurrying about.

It licked its dirty, cracked yellow teeth.

"So...hungry..."

A sharp needle shot out and pierced a brown rabbit through its neck. The rabbit tensed, then went limp—dead even before it could realized what killed it.

The cyclops clumsily shuffled over moss and grass to pick up the rabbit.

It tossed the entire body into its maw and chewed. Small bones made dozens of cracking noises inside its mouth before the monster swallowed.

But a small rabbit was far from enough to quench it's hunger.

"...So hungry..."

So, the cyclops continued to move through the forest.

"Travenon promised Silver Ladies...

Silver Ladies...killed Kintos friends...

So...Kintos...eat them..."

The member of the 【Ageli Lykon】, Kintos mumbled to himself as he trudged through the woods.


A/N:

Hey, everyone. It's your favorite(hopefully) lazy fanfic writer with yet another chapter that took way longer than deserved!

I'm working on multiple projects at the moment, so it is hard to focus on one story only...but don't worry. This one is my first baby.

I'll return with the next chapter, where some action(finally) happens, alongside an unexpected reunion!

Ta ta~