Percy Jackson: War of the Gods [T] [Best Rookie 4Q '11]

[Nakuzami]

Luna Cynthia Krescent
[FONT=b62298e8dfb1244a116753a0#f82600]Camp Halfblood​

[FONT=b62298e8dfb1244a116753a0#f82600]Into the forest[/FONT]

[FONT=b62298e8dfb1244a116753a0#f82600]★[/FONT]

​

I was a little bit ahead of the rest of A1, scouting ahead and at the same time keeping away from so many people. I preferred to walk through the forest alone, although I liked being alone most of the time anyways. Or at least, away from people I didn't know very well. Sadly, I hardly knew anyone on the Blue Team. Really my only friend in camp was Solissa, and she was on the Red Team for this game. Figured.

"See anything yet, Shadow?" I asked the wolf walking next to me. He made no indication of a reply, he wasn't allowed to help me and he knew it. I didn't really mind, as long as he was allowed to walk with me through the forest.

I whirled around as I heard something move not that far away. I saw some branches out of place and the faint outline of footprints. Someone wasn't very good at keeping unseen. I gripped my bow and ran, following the trail of my prey. Tracking could be fun, and I loved it. Although, it was better if it was actually a challenge.

I raised my bow and shot an arrow in an instant as I sensed movement once more. I heard someone, a boy, cry out in pain. I ran over to where the sound came from and found an Apollo child, probably fourteen years old, lying on the ground with one of my arrows in his leg. Once he saw me he attempted to raise his bow, but I kicked it away from him.

"I'd like this back, thank you." The boy squeeled as I grabbed the arrow in his leg and pulled it out. I didn't think this boy would be eager to chase after me anytime soon. Good, he'd live longer that way.

I walked away and continued to search for the Red flag. I could tell that I'd strayed a ways away from A1 while chasing the Apollo boy, but they could do fine without me. I listened intently and silently as I stood next to a tree, trying to determine if there was anyone else around. Other than the now distant wimpering of the Apollo kid, I could hear. . . another boy a little ways away. I followed the voice, hoping to find the flag near it.

"You!" I turned to see a boy, obviously from the Aphrodite cabin, glaring at me. I raised my bow and aimed at the boy, but he continued to speak. "Now, you don't want to do that, do you, sweetheart?" The Aphrodite asked.

"Oh, but I think I do." I replied with a smirk on my face. His smile faltered for a fraction of a second, but he recovered quickly and turned on the charm, so to speak.

"I don't think you do," he said in a charming tone, typical of an Aphrodite. "Now why don't you just lower the bow, maybe lead me back to your flag?" The boy was wearing a wide smile, trying to act as charming as possible.

"I'm afraid charmspeak won't work on me, I'm the daughter of Artemis." I shot the arrow and hit the boy in the arm, causing him to cry out in pain and surprise. I kicked him and sent him flying into a tree, before I pried the arrow out of his arm. "Besides, I have a boyfriend."

I turned and began walking once more. I realized that his was not the voice I had been hearing, but I think I knew who the voice belonged to.

*****​

I stared at the owner of the voice, and my eyes wandered past him and to the Red flag. Sweet. I was staring at my brother and another Apollo boy, and I was ready to run in and grab the flag. Shadow was standing patiently beside me as I thought over my plan. I smiled, ready to snatch the flag, but I forgot to watch my actions for a moment and stepped on a twig, causing it to snap rather loudly.

"Son of a. . ." I whispered beneath my breath.
​

[/FONT]

 

[Beegu]

After the second horn, A1 charged across the river some of them yelling. They easily plowed through their first defense and plunged deeper into the woods. Soon, the mob of campers began to slow down. Besides a few stray defense Apollo's, Hermes's, and Aphrodite's, and another small defense group, the forest felt pretty empty. It was almost as if they sent all of their people on offense. Maddox stayed at the front of the group with Josh and a few other Ares. The Artemis girl, Luna, had scouted ahead to ensure a safe travel, although the A1 group easily conquered any enemy they met. The muffled silence of the forest made everyone keep a lookout. It was getting really boring, were they going in circles? It was large, but Maddox never recalled the forest being this big. If only they had a Demeter to lead them. If anyone could navigate the forest, they could. Maddox lost track of time after a while. This was getting to be the most uneventful game of capture the flag he could recall.

"Has the forest grown since last game?" Maddox asked quietly with a chuckle. The sudden noise made at least half of the group jump. A few mumbles came to his ears from the crowd. Apparently the rest of A1 was as stimulated by the game as Maddox.

"I think we may be going in circles. Anyone else share my philosophy?" He knew they were supposed to stay quiet but he doubted that there were any enemies in the proximity and A1 really needed a pick up. This was excruciating.

A faint cry cane from the right up ahead. It sounded like it came from a boy a bit younger that Maddox. Most of the group stopped and turned their heads towards the sound. Maddox mentally bet that is was the work of their scout's work and perked up. Perhaps the cry came from the flag guards. Either way, they should see what had happened up there. The crowd hadn't made a move.

"I say we check it out. It could be a final defense line or one of the flag guards. Come on!" Maddox started towards the noise at a brisk pace. The mob of campers behind him began to move, some faster than others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In hardly any time they spotted a boy huddled up in a vulnerable position.A bow lay many feet away. He was obviously from the Apollo child. He had a bleeding hole in his leg, which was probably why he made no attempt to attack them, let alone stand. He looked at us in horror before closing his eyes tight. A few of the Ares murmured and snickered. The way they reacted suggested that they were tempted to put the boy into a body cast for months. A shiver went through Maddox. Ares's sickened him. There was no need to further harm this boy. He was of no threat to them.

Faint indents in the ground led off further into the woods. They most likely belonged to Luna. An Athena was already studying them. A1 followed the footprints to another bleeding boy. He lay in the low branches of a tree with a large, bleeding hole in his arm. Even though he was unconscious, it was easy to categorize him as an Aphrodite. They continued to follow the footprints. However, they made special care to be as quiet as possible, as one Athena suggested that they probably were getting close to their destination. In hardly a minute, a few Athena's had held them back. Maddox couldn't understand why until he saw it. Luna was crouching motionless up ahead, peering into a clearing. Through the branches of a few conifers could see into the clearing well enough to see a bit of red was waving. A1 held perfectly still. After a few seconds of silence, it happened. A twig snapped!

 

[Wymsical]

(Finally sum action!)

Jared Angelo
Camp Half-Blood
Forest

Jared sighed one more time. Jayson had not said anything, and the rabbit still lay there, still. Jared didn't want to move from his position and claim his prize, but for a moment he was tempted.
Yes, that rabbit would make a fine lunch-or dinner-or whatever. Just food. It was a fully grown adult, that was nice and fat, almost as if it was raised to be eaten. Jared thought it a bit suspicious at first, but food was food not matter where it came from.

Suddenly. *Snap* a twig cracking came from behind a nearby tree. A normal person might have gone to check it out, but the Artemis boy knew better.
"Sh*t! Jayson! They're here! Defend the flag, I'll cover you!" he exclaimed. He took an arrow from his quiver and shot, and shot, and shot. Three arrows were lunged deep into the tree, he held a fourth up and waited for someone to show themselves. Then, out of the blue, a little head. A dog's head. Jared readied his arrow, but then realized what this dog was. It was his sister's pet.
"They're coming soon." Jared said when silence came. The dog head withdrew itself back behind the tree. "You need to keep your eye on the flag and shoot anyone who tries to take it." he said, lightly. "I've got your back here, just try to watch your sides, too, huh?" he grinned. Then he focused again on the tree that had been impaled with arrows. "You might as well come out of hiding, sis." he mused, keeping his bow up and grinning. He was sure she would try to shoot him with her own bow, so he readied himself to dodge. He could hear a large hault not far. The stealth team was waiting. Luna had broken their cover. This was great. "By the way, thanks for blowing your team's cover. We'd be dead meat without you." he joked. Although it was true that Jared might never have noticed they were coming were it not for Luna's mistake. The wails of her previous victims echoed the sky still.
Jared did not doubt she was skilled. But was she skilled enough? He thought.

Jared looked to his sides, without turning his head. It had begun. He took his aim to where he predicted she might take cover, and her current cover. He also positioned his legs in a way that he could easily dodge if needed, and said, and not to one person in particular, but to the whole Blue Team...

"Now, let's dance."

 

[Aura Rift]

Joshua Alden Emeress
Camp Half-blood forest
​

Josh kept as silent as he could as he stood in the clearing. He also saw the flash of red in the shadows and drew his sword in response. The others were prepared for whatever the red team had prepared for them. He heard the boy talk to Luna, obviously her brother, but they hadn't moved. The flag was still too far away and covered by the trees to be openly seen, then what had it been? That strange red. Josh closed his eyes and thought of what he just saw, he entered his own mind, thousands upon millions of thoughts and parts of information floating through his mind. One match for the red came up and Josh turned to his left to see two beaming red eyes glaring out at him.

A blast of shadow energy exploded from the trees and Josh pulled back just in time for it to miss him. Another blast burst out and caught Joshs back, leaving long scrape marks in the armour, created from massive claws. He looked at his attackers to see two massive snarling hellhounds,glaring at him with fangs beared. But that wasn't possible! Chiron had warned them about the dangers of the forest but monsters as powerful and dangerous as hellhounds?! It simply couldn't be. Behind him Josh saw the glowing of six more sets of glowing red eyes, a full pack of eight hellhounds.

Josh regulated his breathing and drew his blade, he named it trinity for its three conflicting metals.

"A1! Changed tactics, the flag can wait, take down Hades dogs first and we can continue." Several of A1, including his own Athenas were terrified but they drew their weapons and stood strong.

A hellhound growled lowly. The young pups who lunged at the Athena was foolish, they had only been instructed to watch the half-bloods, make sure they didn't interfere with Lord Hades plan to win the war, however it seemed they would have to kill this group now anyway.

This hellhound, obviously the leader of the pack, lunged towards Josh, Josh charged and swung trinity in an arc, as the other hellhounds targeted other members of A1 and any nearby red team members.​

 

[The Noob Hacker]

At the sound of the twig snap, Jayson smiled and raised his bow. He was ready and itching to start. He quickly fit an arrow into the bow. He turned his head to Jared as he spoke. "You need to keep your eye on the flag and shoot anyone who tries to take it. I've got your back here, just try to watch your sides, too, huh?" he said grinning. Jayson better positioned himself over the flag, trying to get in a position where he had the widest possible range of vision, as he would assume that the stealth team hiding behind the trees was going to try to use sheer numbers to come from every direction at once.

Jayson tensed, he prepared himself to be able to turn on a dime and be able to get off arrows that would take out campers in one shot as quick as possible. A good and powerful leg shot would be pretty effective, as the natural response would be to crumple to the ground, and heavy armor would do the rest. The only problem was getting through the armor. Chest shots might disable them in one shot, but more likely it would take two or more, he always saw Ares and Hephaestus kids as pretty sturdy.

Once Jayson was sure he was ready, he nodded his head. "Don't worry, nobody's getting near here," Jayson said, though he knew that two archers could only hold out against a large group of people for so long. Jayson shook the idea off. Who even cares? Jayson asked himself. Even if we are destined to go down, we're taking as many people with us as possible. Jayson grinned and continued: "Just make sure to take care of your fair share. I don't want to do all of the work." he said, further raising his bow to shooting level.

 

[Karma Police]

Alex Newton
Forest​

"CHAAAARGE!" I yelled, and all of my people gave out a loud war cry as we charged towards the creek. This was definitely gonna be a helluva lotta fun. I smirked as we ran ahead, finally my cabin mates could unleash their bloodlust, and not bicker among each other like 8 year olds.

The whole group clashed into the place, and I was deafened by the sound of metal clashing against metal. The whole place felt as if it had erupted, water splashed everywhere, all I could see was people slashing at each other, defending, and some of them even fleeing. I slashed at the stupid Apollo kids, who tried to escape to a safe distance to shoot me with arrows.

I could see one Hermes kid try to sneak past me, but I ran towards him, giving chase. I slashed at him with my sword, managing to knock him backwards, sending him away. After I was done with him, I turned around with a proud smirk on my face, to see an Aphrodite kid talk to one of the girls from my cabin.

"Sooo... could you tell me the location of our flag, darlin'?" He said with a grin. Charmspeak, how charming. I could see the Ares girl blush, and I facepalmed. Dammit, I told them to stay away from those weaklings. I walked over to the Aphrodite kid as soon as the Ares girl opened her mouth to talk, and said, "Not today, sweetheart." I smacked him on his head, knocking him out. Poor kid, not his day today.

I looked around at the battlefield, currently we had the upper hand in battle. I grinned, I was ready to send that signal over to Josh and the guys. I turned around just in time, to see hellhounds attack the group. My immediate reaction was - What the hell? When I finally got back to my senses, I ran towards the A1 group, ready to take on the dogs. Before heading out though, I yelled at my team, "People, stay here, and keep fighting! I'm gonna go and fight some dogs..."

I got there just in time to see the hellhounds attack the group. I grabbed one by its tail with my bare hands, swung it, and chucked it at one of the trees nearby. The whole thing made me lose quite a lot of my energy, but I had to fight. This was dangerous, hellhounds inside the premises. The game would have to be stopped for a while.

I took out my sword, swinging it in my hand, and immediately slashed at a hellhound, and it burst into a lot of golden sand. I could see more hellhounds approach, I had to react fast. Chiron wasn't nearby, he probably didn't know what the hell was going on in here. I raised my sword and yelled, "Attack! There's an attack on the camp! Abandon all current activities and defend the camp!" hoping that the others would listen, and come and help us defend this place.

(OOC: Okay people, CtFs on a break right now, come and beat the hellhounds! 8D)

 

[Wymsical]

Jared Angelo
Camp Half-Blood
Forest

Suddenly, a large clash! The defensive lines had engaged with the Ares offense lines. There were cries of pain everywhere, Red Team forces were probably getting massacred. Jared wanted to go help, but he had to stay in his position. Especially since Luna was bound to attack at any point. He kept staring at the spot she was at, but she did not make a move. How boring, Jared was honestly expecting more. Was she intimidated or something?

Suddenly, Jared heard someone from the lines cry "Hellhounds!!" Jared quickly withdrew from his position and looked to his sides, a hellhound was stalking him in the bushes! He heard the roar of the other hellhounds, before he heard Chiron cry "Attack! There's an attack on the camp! Abandon all current activities and defend the camp!" with great urgence. Jared wanted to get back to camp and help, but he knew if he made a move he was dead. The last time he'd come across a hellhound was when he mistook one for a wolf and shot at it. He growled lightly and turned his bow, without hesitation the creature lunged at him, but Jared managed to get a few arrows in its stomach before it came tumbling down. He rolled out of its way as it hit the floor on its stomach, causing the arrows to push into the body and come out the back. It was a gross sight, but at least it was dead. Jared turned it over and withdrew his arrows. They were covered in hellhound blood.

He then ran to the battle, to find out that both defense and attack lines were now fighting against hellhounds. It was terrible. People could get killed. Before he could even mull it over, Jared leaped into the clash.

"I should probably help people in need, not everybody can take these things on" Jared thought. Ares kids could probably handle themselves, but he worried for the Aphrodites. Before long, he saw one trying to resist a hound with his knife. He shot a few arrows at the creature causing it to turn to him. It ran at him, but before it could even get close, Jared shot two arrows to blind it, and another into its open mouth. It was about ten feet from him when it gave in and fell down. Jared took his arrows back, although he couldn't get the last one back because the hit was so successful it had actually entered the body of the disgusting thing. The Aphrodite thanked Jared and ran along, probably attempting to escape the chaos.

Jared wandered the battle for a few more minutes, trying to find another hellhound to kill. Soon he saw one, it was stalking an unaware Ares kid. Jared knew this Ares, he was a good acquaintance from the Ares cabin: Alex Newton. He was surprisingly smart for an Ares, and he showed Jared that the Ares cabin was not all what the others thought. Jared couldn't say he disagreed, as he thought a lot of people misjudged the Ares kids around here.

Trying not to make a sound, Jared snuck up behind the hellhound that was about to pounce on Alex. Then, just as it pounced, he shot its head with five arrows. By the time it landed on Alex it was dead. "Hey, Alex, watch your sides, huh?" he said, playfully, as he approached to take his arrows from the beast's head. He didn't think the Ares boy would attack him, since that was technically disobeying Chiron. He had said to forget CTF and defend the camp. It was still quite distubring that the camp was under attack, though. That hadn't happened since he'd arrived.

Moving on, he noticed the battle was still not done. This pack of hellhounds was large. Too large. Jared thought maybe they had some source. Where were they coming from?! As he shot another one dead, he thought about it. He had to find their source. He figured it wouldn't be here in the forest, since the whole Camp was under attack. So he ran out of the battle to the camp. When he got there, he saw a whole bunch of hellhounds attacking the cabins, which were being defended by their inhabitants. But hold on, who was defending his cabin?! Crap!

Jared was in for a big disappointment when he reached his cabin: It was too late. He stared at his ruined cabin. His home. Its roof was utterly destroyed, there were holes in the walls and the windows were shattered, and worst of all: It was on fire. He knew there was nothing he could do, even if the fire was put out it wouldn't be habitable anymore without repairs.

Angry beyond belief, Jared took two arrows from his quiver and joined the fight.

 

[The Noob Hacker]

"Attack! There's an attack on the camp! Abandon all current activities and defend the camp!" Jayson heard the cry from the woods. An attack on the camp? Impossible! It must be some trick or somet- his thoughts were broken as some sort of dog jumped from the forest and on to Jared. Jayson, without thinking, loosed at least two arrows into the thing as it nearly tackled Jared, who was also rapidly firing off arrows until the thing was dead, or at least presumably dead.

Without word, Jared ran off. Jayson gave chase, but at the moment he heard snarling and screaming coming from the woods behind him. He can handle himself Jayson thought, turning and running towards the source of the sound.

Once Jayson arrived, he saw that the hellhounds had pounced upon a clashing group of Apollos, Hermes, Ares, and perhaps a few Hephaestus children. Jayson had slightly higher ground for the time being, as well as the element of surprise. The sounds of battle were so loud he didn't even have to try to be stealthy. Jayson loaded one arrow from his quiver, and took careful aim at the head of a hellhound that was brutalizing one the kids. Jayson took a deep breath, knowing he wouldn't have the luxury of taking slow aim after he shoots.

Jayson shot the arrow, which lodged itself in the hellhounds lower head, almost at its neck. The thing was greatly wounded, but not yet dead. Jayson let a group of Ares descend upon it like sharks to a drop of blood and nearly tear it to ribbons. Jayson was somewhat disturbed by the blood lust that was more than satisfied by the gore show. But there was no time for that now, he still had more hounds to shoot. It seems that most of the hellhounds had the intent of focusing on only one target, as none of them turned towards Jayson when he shot them. In time, the Apollos that were still able to fight had joined Jayson on his vantage point and were raining a storm of arrows upon the hellhounds which seemed to always be pouring from the trees. They and the Ares turned out to work in some sort of strange harmony that made it seem as if they had always been partners in war. An Apollo would shoot a hellhound, and one or two Ares would be there right away to finish the job. They were marking targets and the warriors on the ground would execute. It was truly a glorious sight if it were to be seen by some sort of war leader, not so much did it appeal to one's sense of beauty, but perhaps to the Ares children it did.

"This is useless!" Jayson yelled aloud. "They're just gonna keep on coming and we can't even see 'em! We need to get to open area!" Yet it seemed as if his cries were doing no good. Even though he was yelling, most of the children probably couldn't hear him anyways. Even if they could, they weren't doing anything. The part of the woods they were in was still teeming with hellhounds, and apparently they wanted to kill every last one of them.

Just then, Jayson heard a savage roar from behind. Without thinking, he rolled forward, turning around as he stood up. Right in front of his was another hellhound. They were coming from all directions now! Right next to Jayson, on of his fellow Apollos was tackled by a hound. Jayson loosed an arrow into the things head. This only seemed to make it more enraged. It lunged again, just as Jayson shot another arrow into its chest. Hellhound blood splashed on Jaysons face as the momentum of the creature brought it upon him, making the both crash to the ground. The hellhound snarled and bared teeth before raising its head for a bite. In a panic, Jayson felt around and somehow clutched one of his arrows that had spilled from his quiver when he had fallen. No questions asked, Jayson plunged what he hoped was the tip into the hound's neck. It cried aloud and fell off of Jayson as more droplets of blood, which was now merging with his own, fell onto Jayson face and neck.

As soon as Jayson got up, he saw that the Apollos were already retreating from his position. Some of the Ares were quick to follow their target-markers. The maybe-alive body of the Apollo that had been pounced upon was left. Jayson ran over to the boy and grabbed him be the underarms and did his best to drag the fellow Apollo to safety. The farthest he could go was a group of densely-packed trees not far from the original position. Hellhounds would at least have some difficulty navigating this part of the woods. Jayson propped the Apollo against a tree, hoping that the harpies, or at least a Demeter, would find him. "Hope you don't mind if I take these." Jayson said as he took a great amount of arrows from the Apollo's quiver and put them in his own.

Once Jayson was able to catch up with the group, they were in a large clearing and were already fighting off more hellhounds. This position wasn't much better than the last, but it worked simply because now it was easier to see the hellhounds charging in, and therefore easier to weaken before the reached an Ares. Yet even though the Ares were great fighters, the would have to tire out eventually. But still, the group had little option but to hold out at their new position for a little while.

 

[Conjurer]

(OOC: WHY IS NONE OF THE CHARMSPEAKING WORKING?!?!?!)

Guinevere McCastor
Daugther of Aphrodite
The Forest

​

After the encounter with the Ares demigod, nothing eventful happened, for which Gwen was thankful. She ran into a few demigods, of course, but most of them had been Demeters gathering herbs. She picked up traps here and there, able to set them apart thanks to the Hermes's demonstration before the game, and set them on the paths the Blue Team was most likely going to take. Still a bit traumatized from the experience from earlier, she kept to herself for a while and avoided any and all hostilities.

She kept wandering around in unfamiliar territory, hoping to meet a weak-looking Hephaestus or two. As she beat back several vines and waded through leaves, she reached yet another clearing, and yet again she wasn't alone. There were three enormous dogs, with teeth the size of daggers. Their eyes were shining with destructive instincts, and the worst part of it all is that they're all directed at Gwen.

"Uh, oh..."

The hellhounds lunged.

Gwen got out her rapier and began to move in a swift dance, avoiding claws and teeth and thrusting her blade into the hearts of the hellhounds. Because it was three against one, it wasn't very easy.

The first hellhound, the smallest one but the most ferocious-looking, launched a frontal attack at Gwen, and she repelled it with a slash of her blade and impaled the hellhound with a strike through its heart.

The second, a uniquely brown-colored one, was not as easy. Its fur--or maybe it was its skin, Gwen wasn't sure--was apparently very thick, and Gwen's numerous slashes didn't even faze it. It continuously lunged at Gwen, who had to repel its attacks and avoid the other hellhound at the same time, who began circling around the duel to find a weak spot in Gwen's defense. After some time, though, the attacking hellhound became tired, and the intensity of its attacks began to waver. At the first signs of an opening, Gwen thrusted her rapier into the heart of the beast.

Almost the instant after her blade went through the hellhound's heart, the third hellhound launched a powerful tackle from behind, which sent Gwen flying and into a tree, knocking her out cold.

(OOC: Someone save me! :P)

 

[SylveonStar]

Ariala followed after her sister when suddenly she heard a yell "Attack! There's an attack on the camp! Abandon all current activities and defend the camp!". Her eyes widened and her grip tightened on her lotus staff. She was a Demeter what much could she do to help. But either way she ran away from her sister towards the sounds of fighting. "If anyone is hurt I can help" she muttered to herself as she ran when suddenly she heard a growl behind her. Whirling around she came face to face with a Hellhound. Ariala's eyes grew wider. She didn't have much fighting skills she had a little but she didn't know what to do.

The creature pounced and Ariala shrieked eyes closing she just swung the staff hitting the beast in the face. The Hellhound was stunned momentarily and Ariala took that chance to run as fast as she could glancing behind her as the creature gave chase. Ariala ended up tripping and rolling down a hill losing her grip on her staff and all she could do was scream as loud as she could as she saw the Hellhound get closer "Help!"

 

[Wymsical]

Jared Angelo
Camp Half-Blood
At The Cabins

Jared's heart pumped as he murdered one hellhound after another. He was covered in blood, both his own and the hellhounds', and his arrows looked more red than Celestial Bronze now. He was consumed by rage. These stupid, Hades slaves had destroyed his home. The Artemis Cabin. By now, people must've figured the place was a useless old monument standing by the armory, but to Jared it was home. Now it was gone, because of a bunch of firebreathing dogs. As he rolled to one side to avoid certain death at the claws of a hellhound, he stood back up and hit it in the eye with an arrow. It charged at him again, but he shot two arrows to pin its feet to the ground, causing it to flip over while attempting to move again. Then, he shot two more arrows into its head to finish it off, and took them all back. He kicked its head too, causing some of the beast's blood to squirt from its impaled eye and up at Jared's face. Jared squinted for a moment, as he realized that the blood had entered his own eye.

After he got his sight straight, he rushed back into battle. He shot at a hellhound who was beating a Demeter, diverting its attention to himself. He shot at it three times, and then rolled out of the way to avoid its razor-sharp claws. Then he shot its sides twice, before it slashed at him. He jumped back, but he could feel a terrible pain coming from his arm. The creature had made a gaping wound in Jared's left arm. Jared screamed in pain, as he avoided the creature's assault once more. He couldn't keep on going like this for much longer. Maybe this was the end. He layed down, accepting defeat. And as the great slobbering creature stood over him, all went dark.

*******​

Jared awoke in a strange place. The walls were painted in different colors all around, and went up as far as Jared's eye could see. The weirdest part about them were the fact that they were covered in lockers. Vaults. Whatever you wanted to call them. They looked slightly more sophisticated than a locker, but slightly less sophisticated than a vault. A wall safe, perhaps? Either way, the walls were covered with these safes. And the room did not have a roof, clouds concealed the roof, and the rest of the safe-covered multicolor walls. Looking further into the hall, Jared saw that it was also endless. Behind him, too, and there was a deep fog ahead of him. His Camp Half-Blood shirt and jeans were gone, as was his bow and quiver full of arrows. He was back in his beloved Frankenstein Halloween shirt, and wearing what appeared to be green jeans. "That was one hell of a CtF" Jared joked, even in this funny realm. His voice echoed across the walls of the hall. "Am...I dead?" he asked. He expected someone to answer, like Dumbledore had in Harry Potter or his mother Artemis.

Nobody answered.

Jared felt totally alone here. He didn't like it. It felt cold, uncomfortable. He didn't feel at ease in this place. The only good thing about it was that it had somehow drenched all his anger away. Suddenly, he remembered what had happened with the hellhound. I must be dead, then, he thought. But he didn't think it was heaven. Or Olympus. Or whatever. It felt too cold to be any of that. Maybe he was in hell, in the underworld. But that couldn't be either, the underworld was a far more terrible place. He took a step forward, and another step. With each one he half-expected to be thrust into the underworld.

Nothing happened.

Frankly, by now, Jared would've expected something like a strange sound, or a hellhound lighting up the fog ahead. It was rather disappointing. Why throw him here if nothing was going to happen? He was done wondering where he was, he just wanted something to happen. Why was he here?
Suddenly, a thought struck Jared right between the eyes. Instead taking another step forward, he took a step sideways and turned. What were in these safes? He walked over to one and inspected it closely. It was covered in splotches of red, yellow, blue, green and white. It was high tech, despite its seemingly spontaneous look. In the middle was a little rectangle with six zeros in it, and beside that was a number pad. Jared touched the number pad. Nothing happened. He tried punching in three numbers, 892678, the digits just reset to zero and glowed red for a moment.
Jared tried again and again, but the numbers just kept glowing red. Then he had an idea, maybe he was here for a reason. Maybe it was mean for him. The next thing he did was punch in his birth date. 940715. It took a moment, but the safe beeped, and the digits glowed green. He had done it. Jared pulled the safe open and peeped inside. On the inside, he found only an item: a sword. He pulled it out, it was beautiful. The handle was a beautiful Celestial Bronze, and engraved with several beautiful patterns. The crossguard spread from both sides into a semicircle shape, before rising upwards. The rainguard seemed like a miniature duplicate of the crossguard, and all was made of Celestial Bronze and engraved with beautiful markings. But this was not the chief characteristic of the sword, for its blade was pure black, and had a Greek engraving on it. It said: "HADES' BLADE: ONLY FOR THE TRUE OF BLOOD"

Just after Jared read its inscription, a wave of water came rushing from the fog. Before long, it was apparent that it was a wave of blood. Jared ran as fast as he could from it in a panic, sword in hand. And just before it swallowed him...

******​

"-red! Jared! Wake up!" Jared felt a surge of power hit his chest as he got up and coughed up blood. He squinted as the sun hit his eyes, then opened them. He was back in the forest. "He's alive! Thank Zeus!" cried someone. Jared looked to his right to see T-J. He looked to his left and saw an Ares (Undoubtedly the source of the hit on his chest) called Mark at his side. "Where-where am I?" Jared muttered. "You're in the forest, bro, you're alive." T-J said. It took Jared a moment, but he realized the mysterious sword in the vault he had visited was not in his hand anymore. All that, it felt so real.

Unknown to Jared, or anyone in Camp Half-Blood for that matter, it was real.

 

[Aura Rift]

Joshua Alden Emeress
Camp Half-Blood Forest
​

Josh threw the Hellhound pack leader off of him. They had been brawling the whole time, he was doing well, but he couldn't keep it up. Things were different for the hellhound.

However Josh heard a cry for help and decided that this battle would have to wait, he shrunk down his armour so he could move quicker and ran from the hellhound. For some reason it didn't follow.

***

Josh arived to see an Aphrodite girl curled against a tree with a hellhound slowly approaching her. She was out cold. Josh left out from the bushes with trinity held in adefensive stance.

"You hellish creatures... you have no honour!" He cried.

The hellhound lunged, Josh jumped and span a kick in the air knocking the hellhound off balance. It in a fluster of claws jumped at Josh one scraped his cheek and he felt a strange anger boil in him.

The hellhound lunged again and Josh caught by the throat and held it above him. The hellhoun d was shocked into stillness and Josh drove the stygian Iron tip of Trinity into the beast. The beasts being shattered, its very essence absorbed into Trinitys blade. The celestial bronze, often shocked by absorbed essence rushing through it, let out a unique shrill ring and seemed to flash black for half a second. As if the metal itself felt the pain of the dying creature.

Josh picked up the Aphrodite and pulled her rapier from a deceased hellhound.

He rushed through the forest with the girl slung over his shoulders he left her with a group of Demeters.

Josh rushed off to rejoin the battle, when he heard another cry for help. One he recognised. Jen.

Josh rushed back towards the blue flag. He almost hurled of shock when he arrived. The Hellhound leader stood a few meters away, snarling to himself in triumph. Jen lay on the ground her stomach dripping blood. Josh charged forward completely ignoring the hellhound and dropped to his knees before Jens incredibly still body.

"Jen... c'mon little sis I'm getting you out of here!" Josh whispered.

"I can't move Josh, it hurts too much..." Jen murmured weakly.

"Jen, c'mon you have to move, you can't stay here, you'll... you'll..." Josh could feel tears in his eyes for his litte sister, at fourteen she was only a year younger than Josh.

"You know, you were right Josh... I, I always was a little... jealous of you..." Jen sighed, she closed her eyes. Jen was gone.

Josh felt the tears of shock and sadness openly roll down his face.

He stood up silently, the hellhound howling mockingly at him, their pack leader, the one he had left to save the Aphrodite.

Josh felt the anger boil in him again, a strangely familiar voice spoke in his head, one he recognised from somewhere in his past.

It spoke only three words.

Kill
Them
All

Josh reactivated his armour, a cruel evil in his eyes and a tear covered scowl upon his lips.

The hellhound lunged and Josh rolled out of the way he sliced through the hellhounds flesh and it howled in pain from the celestial bronze and stygian iron. Josh didn't stop he leathered into the monster. Slash after slah after slash. He screamed in anger and pain with every slash. Making sure not to kill the beast by accident. He finnal kicked the beast onto its side and took his hidden blade, driving it into the beasts neck full force. He pulled Trinity high above the hellhounds terrified eyes.

"Your lucky, I don't just torture you to death you sick and twisted creature." He cursed.

Josh drove trinity into The hellhound skull and listened with sadness aas trinitys rung with the beasts pain.

He walked back over to and dropped to the ground beside Jenn. If only he had been just a little bit stronger, or faster. Maybe he could have saved her.​

 

[Wymsical]

Jared Angelo
Camp Half-Blood
Forest

Jared felt cleansed. After the dream, it was like nothing had ever hit him. All his wounds had gone, but there was still an annoying twitch in his left eye from time to time. He felt he needed to advance...needed to kill more hellhounds. Since he had come back from the dream, the anger he had felt had re-awakened.
Before long, Jared Angelo w as once again covered in blood. But this time, hardly any of it was his. It was like he was more capable now. The boy slew one hound after another, using the thing's own slowness against it. It was like suddenly he was an expert on hellhound killing. A hellhound pounced at him from the bushes, he saw it coming, rolled to the left and shot the hellhound in the skull twice. Before long, he was back where he started: Near the river where the red flag stood. the thing was clearly already gone, eaten by the damn hellhounds no doubt. Dead bodies now littered the ground. It was a gross sight to behold, and it only made Jared more angry. Luckily, his sister, or Henri, was no among the bodies. But he recognized others, others he had known well.

Jared heard a rustle in the bushes, even among all the screams, and shot two arrows. The hellhound was dead. But sticking out from the bush was an arm. Jared went to investigate, and found an all but familiar face: Ron. Ron was a Aphrodite, and Jared's first real friend. He'd introduced him to the Camp when he was sixteen, and he'd stuck by him against various threats. One of the amazing things about Ron, also, is that he never charmspoke anyone. He said it was against his standards, and frankly, Jared respected him for it. Ron and Jared didn't talk much lately because Ron had his own affairs. He was sort of the odd child too, but among his siblings in the Aphrodite cabin, so he was someone Jared could relate to.

Jared kneeled before the injured Ron. He had huge gashes across his chest and his face. He looked at Jared in the eye. Jared could tell there was a hellhound charging twoard them this very moment, but her decided to listen to what the dying Ron had to say first. Jared always knew Ron was a good person, he didn't want to use his powers, and above all he was a pacifist. He didn't deserve this. "Jared...is that you..?" Ron muttered. "Yeah, Ronald, what's up?" Jared half smiled half frowned. Ron chuckled a little and said "Ha, you always were the funny one." weakly. "I'll see you on Olympus, yeah?" Ron said, lifting his bloody arm weakly and placing it on Jared's shoulder. "Sure. Don't be late." Jared replied, before Ron's hand slipped off of his shoulder.

That was it. Jared turned to the hellhound behind him, it was snarling and driving toward him ready to bash him with its ugly face. Jared let it come, and drew a single arrow from his quiver, he did not place it on his bow, he just held it like a sword. The hellhound charged, and when it finally was within reached, Jared quickly stepped to the side, grabbed the hound by its head, stopped it, and drove his arrow through the hounds chin, it drove the whole way through its head and came out the head. The hound struggled for a moment before falling. Jared left the arrow in the hound's head and moved on. Now it was nothing but kill.

*******​

Jared moved through the forest, killing every hellhound he saw. Before long, he heard a cry. "Help!" it sounded like a little girl. "Oh no you don't" he growled, obviously addressing the hellhounds. The little girl repeated her cry twice more until Jared found her. She was lying on the ground, a staff near her. Jared approached the hellhound that was ready to pounce on her. He punched its stomach hard, causing it to turn and slash at him. He instinctively defended his body with his bow, drew an arrow, and impaled the creature as if he was using a sword. He then jumped back, took two more arrows from the quiver and shot the thing thrice in the head. It lunged at him, blinded by the arrows, giving Jared a chance to jump to the side and kick it over. It fell to the ground, Jared kneeled before it, grabbed its head and broke its neck. He then took back his arrows, and walked past the little girl. He grabbed her staff and handed it to her. "You have to get out of here." he warned her. But even though she knew the forest well, obviously being a Demeter, she stil probably wouldn't escape the wrath of the dogs. "Come with me. I know a place in the forest that's safe." Jared said. He was, of course, talking about a cave T-J and Mark had found. The place was very remote and there seemed to be no hellhounds there. Jared and the Ares Mark were collecting incapable battlers and sheltering them at the cave, on order to prevent any more casualties like Ron's.

 

[SylveonStar]

Ariala opened her eyes just as a boy ran to her rescue. She watched as he defended himself against the Hellhound before snapping it's neck and giving her the staff she had dropped. "You have to get out of here." he said and Ariala recognized him as Jared one of the boys on her capture the flag team. "Come with me. I know a place in the forest that's safe." he added and Ariala nodded standing shakily.

That was honestly the scariest thing she had ever experienced, worse than the bullying at the orphanage. "T-Thank you Jared" she said shakily looking at the dead Hellhound. "I should have stayed with Mallory but I had to try to help in some way" she said before looking at the older boy "you know a safe place?" she said "what if it doesn't stay safe? Why are the Hellhounds here?" she asked trying to keep herself calm but she was still so scared not just for herself but for everyone at camp.

 

[SkyisUmbreon]

-When I was close enough to the clearing, I stopped running, and held up my open hand to stop the others as well. We all crouched low, and crawled slowly toward the edge of the clearing and when we were close enough, peeked through. I arched a brow in silent suspicion as I beheld the flag, but no one around to guard it, not even in the trees and then narrowed my eyes, realising that it would be best for me to take advantage of the situation. Quickly yet cautiously, I crawled out into the forest clearing and began to quickly walk towards the flag, and just as I was about to grab it, my ears sensed the sound of swords, knives and bows being drawn. Wordlessly and with alarm clear on my face, I jumped back and over the bush line and breaking off in a controlled sprint with the others not too far behind. After a few intense minutes of running, I myself stopped, and and saw that there were no enemies following us and turned around, puzzled.

It was only then that I heard the announcement that Chiron made in his megaphone voice, which exclaimed "Attack! There is an attack on the camp! Abandon all current activities and defend the camp!" At first, I thought it was a joke, it was impossible for there to be an actual attack on camp becuase of the impenetrable magical borders that surrounded the camp and kept monsters and regular mortals out. But just as that thought entered my mind, it was destroyed by the knowlage that Chiron never joked around when he yelled like that, and I realized that the sounds of swords and bows had not been part of an ambush, but rather it was real. I turned to the group of people behind me, my facial expression a mixture of anxiety and seriousness and said, "Well? You heard him, its time to fight and this time, its for real. I don't know exactly what we are up against, but from what I'm hearing right now, I'm sure its a very aggressive and numerous enemy. There is absolutely no guarentee of each of us coming back, so are you guys up for it?" Rebecca was the first to respond, short and simply, speaking with confidence "Geeze, stop trying to make it sound so ghastly. Of course we're ready!" and I remembered she was one of the more rowdy members of that cabin. Josh was more serious, only nodding and taking one arrow from his magic quiver, a gift from his father which never emptied... or rather it did, but only during extensive use, after which it would replenish arrow supply.

At both of their responses I grinned and reached back with my left hand into my small bag and removed my shades, placing them over my eyes, while im my hands, my snakelike rings melted, then solidified into the celestial bronze cadeceus my father had gifted me with. Motioning with my staff towards the main part of the creek.-

"Lets go help our friends out huh? I'm sure they would greatly appreciate our assistance!"

________________________________________________________________________

"Hellhounds? Dayum!" I exclaimed as I saw the once peaceful creek, now a battlefeild littered with the golden dust and black fur of the hellhounds, as well as some wounded demigods... actually more than I had expected to find. We were attacked when we were all scattered about playing a game, we had been caught off guard... Quickly I dismissed these thoughts and dispersered the other members of my group, each of them wanting to go off and find their other friends. I turned around, and jumped into the fray yelling a crazy war cry, almost like an Ares kid and smashed my staff onto the head of the nearest hellhound, who's eyes at first got all confused and distant, then just dimmed as my cadeceus's hidden blade sunk into its brain. After a few seconds, it burst into a mixture of dust and black fur and I stood over the mess, looking off into the distance, surveying the field and with my shades still on, I grasped my staff and charged off to go help the other campers. At least I knew my arrival was no secret to the monsters, because a few of them started charging after me.-

((@Snow: I kinda bunnied you a bit to keep you in this, and not just leave you off in the forest, I hope its fine with you. You can go fight and stuffs now.))

 

[Beegu]

Maddox was almost knocked back by shock when the first hellhound pounced on Josh. A fraction of a second later, tons of hellhounds advanced on A1. All the campers in their group had turned to face them and had forgoten the flag. Maddox was no exception. He swung his celestial bronze hammer and pounded several hellhounds to the ground. When he paused for two seconds to regain his breath, he realized that there were hellhounds as far as the eye could see through the dense trees. They were attacking the camp for some reason. He turned back to the hellhounds and was shocked to find that there were still more, advancing out of the trees. Even after the campers pounded one set of the beasts, another group would pounce on them. Then he heard Chirons voice echo through the forest.

"Attack! There is an attack on the camp! Abandon all current activities and defend the camp!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minutes later, Maddox and the rest of the camp was still fighting the seemingly endless supply of hellhound. Maddox crushed skulls and sent the large dogs flying one after the other with his hammer. Unfortunately, he had hardly any time before another one attacked. Bodies of campers and hellhounds alike lined the forest floor, and the amount of campers falling in this battle seemed stunning. Of course, The hellhounds had had the upper hand, there were much more of them and they had launched a sneak attack. All the campers still standing were fighting their hearts out. Swiping, jabbing, slashing, and shooting tirelessly. Maddox was also fighting with all his might, but it was certainly exhausting. Maddox could feel himself weakening. At a point it became too much. Maddox saw a cave in a steep hill and ran for it. Luckily, only a few hellhounds followed and he managed to bash them before ducking into the cave.

In the cave the found several injured and inexperienced campers. He sat against a wall panting. he retracted his hammer, gears humming and the surface of the arm locking to cover the inner mechanisms. Ignoring the stares of a few of the campers, he racked his mind to come up with what to do next. It was times like this when he wished he was a child of Athena. No thoughts came to mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a while spent with no ideas, he decided just to use the same tactic as before, only with a different weapon. A long range one seemed more desireable. Without making his arm into a hammer, he charged back outside. He ran into the pack of hellhounds, noting that the beasts seemed to have the upper hand now. He cursed himeself for not acting sooner. As he sprinted towards the hellhounds, many turned and ran to him. Holding up both arms and closing his eyes, he thought of fire. A huge fire. As he opened his eyes, he saw large red flames flying from both of his palms, although he did not feel any heat. Several hellhounds whimpered as Maqddox's fire scorched their fur. He kept running through the crowd, burning hellhounds and carefully maneuvering around campers. He slowed in a clearing. Noting his threat, a fairly large group of hellhounds were advancing slowly on him. As one pounced, he shot a blast of fire at the large dog's face. It toppled beside him. It was not completely dead yet, and it tried to stand. Before it regained its balance, Maddox hopped on it. It tried to shake him, but Maddox held strong. Half of its face was burned to the skin. Panicing, the hound charged away from its family, but Maddox maneuvered it back around to charge the group. One hand keeping hold of the beast, he lifted the other and drowned the hellhounds in a strong fire. He continued this method for a while. The longer he rode the hellhound, the more of them payed attention to him. He charged across the river, a thought coming to mind. he led the hellhound into the forest, keeping a carefull track of where his mount would trample. He heard an explosion behind him. Looking back, the whole group of hellhounds were fast asleep, a misty pink gas floating above them. Turning around, Maddox head back across the river and back into the fight.

 

[Wymsical]

Jared Angelo
Camp Half-Blood
Fortress Cave

It didn't take too long for Jared and his young companion to arrive at the cave. It was a cave the T-J had known about for a while, and was saving for emergencies such as this one. At first, Mark wanted to beat him up for not revealing it sooner, but Jared stopped him, saying that the point was they had it now. It was true, everyone was still rather angry at T-J for revealing it so late, many lives could've been saved if they'd used the big cave as a fort. Since the cabins would certainly not do. T-Thank you Jared" the girl said as they approached the cave. They'd named it fortress cave, as it was to be used as a fort in emergencies. "I should have stayed with Mallory but I had to try to help in some way" she continued. Jared admitted she was stupid to leave the company of her older sister, but Jared knew what it was like to feel useless. So he said nothing.
"You know a safe place?" she said "What if it doesn't stay safe? Why are the Hellhounds here?" she said hurriedly. Jared could tell she was going to freak out if she didn't get some rest soon. "Calm down. We've got some of our best fighters guarding it, and it's a really big cave. It's also well concealed, they say only a Hermes can find it." Jared said. He had no idea whether or not T-J was complimenting himself when he said this, and he certainly hoped not.

Soon, the two arrived at the cave. Jared looked at one of the Athena Guards and said "Take this kid into the cave. She's injured and she needs medical attention." Jared said, as he handed the girl over to the Athena. "I'm gonna go fight some more. We're gonna do our best to get them outta here, you just hang tight and don't do anything stupid." he said to the girl, walking off into the distance, toward the screams.

**********​

"Don't. Even. Think. About. It." Jared cried word after word, as he lunged an arrow into the belly of a hellhound. "When are these frikkin' things gonna stop?!" he thought aloud. Their numbers seemed to have decreased, but the Demigods were still dramatically outnumbered. While they probably didn't even have numbers beyond 200, the evil things looked like their numbers were limitless. Before long, Jared and T-J were cornered by five hellhounds. "You slice I'll cover" Jared said. "Sure." T-J grinned. Before you knew it, T-J was slicing at the hellhound's necks, and Jared was shooting the paws of the hellhounds who tried to slash at him first. As the last hellhound dropped dead, Jared and T-J high fived and moved on.

 

[for him.]

Running with John wasn't bad, that's what Evan had decided. He was jogging at the moment, but it seemed that John's pace was faster than his. It was fine though because it was just refreshing to have someone that he in a way could compete with.

The other two were horrid runners. They were already panting heavily. If they lost more stamina at this rate they would probably be out of breath when Evan and John needed protecting. Sure, they had their skills in speed and they could think of maneuvers to get by, but having backup was a safe option.

The group had reached close to the other team's flag. It was surprising that we weren't attacked yet, so we seemed pretty lucky. They used the cover the trees provided to hide their presence, but they creek they walked over made it obvious when they dashed across it. Evan would have been worried, but it didn't seem like the other team was worried about it. John was about to grab the flag when sounds of swords and weapons being unsheathed were heard making him jump back into cover.

"Attack! There is an attack on the camp! Abandon all current activities and defend the camp!"

And the next thing Evan knew, he and his group were rushing back to the creek to fight whatever had invaded camp.

--

"Hellhounds? Dayum!" John explained.

"Hellhounds? Aren't they under Hades' rule? What are they doing here? And how did they get in?" Evan wondered mentally.

Dust and black fur were being carried by the once clean and peaceful creek. The once peaceful creek had become a battle ground with Hellhounds vs. Demigods. It made Evan wonder what these hounds wanted. Most of the demigods were doing well, but some were having a hard time with the hounds' ability to shadow travel. Demeter's children were running around helping the injured, but at the state Evan and his group saw, they needed help. John was the first to jump into action and like a bloody child of Ares he gave a bloody insane war cry before charging with his caduceus. John was swinging the staff around like some crazy madman who liked hitting things on happy drugs at some hellhounds.

The hellhounds now knew they were there as five more came from the shrubs and bushes and came rushing at John. Evan had jumped out from his cover and stood in front of John. With five celestial bronze darts in his right hand he flung them all at once at the five hellhounds. These darts had hit their mark and the hounds turned into dust and hair. Evan had then sprinted to pick up his darts before taking two light jumps backwards. Three more had come and Evan rushed at them, hoping to pull off some stabs or even short ranged throws because he didn't want to go through the same process of running to pick up his darts again. He wanted to save as much as he could. If only his darts had the ability to return to his pouch after a short amount of time. It wold have been very useful. However, they sank into the ground before rushing the rest of his group mates. Evan cursed before turning around to throw three darts at the back of their heads. They fell limply onto the ground before turning into three piles of dust and hair.

"Evan look out!"

It was already too late when Evan turned around. He was pushed to the ground by the weight of the hellhound. His skin was being clawed and Evan was screaming, struggling to get one of his remaining darts in his pouch. An arrow had whizzed by and struck the hound by they head and it fell limply to the ground. Ash, hair, and a single arrow had fell on his chest. Evan stood up, shaking as he did.

His heart was pounding in his ears, his throat felt dry, and blood was rushing up to his cheeks, "That was a close call, thanks to whoever killed that hound."

 

[Aura Rift]

Joshua Alden Emeress
Camp Half-Blood Forest

​

Josh sat in silence over his sisters body, he heard the screams of other campers and realised he had to help. He brushed his sisters hair out of her face and kissed her forehead.

"Goodbye Jenn..." He whispered through choked sobs.

He heard a rustle behind him and quickly turned in a spinning ark shattering a hellhounds form into a fine golden dust. He thought for a moment.

"How could the hellhounds have gotten past the barrier..." He thought.

An idea popped into his head... he ran at full speed to Zeus' rock.

When he arrived his fears were confirmed. A small crack in the rock led down to a dark chamber. The labrinth.

It was closed by a few great heroes before... it seemed Hades used the broken and empty opening chamber to create a gate from the underworld. Hellhounds were climbing out, at least five at a time.

Josh thought he was done for when the hoard of them concentrated on him and began to pounce.

A sword clashed and swiped down the group like butter with a swift swing of celestial bronze.

"Get up Josh!" Angelo cried.

He had cuts all over, he had been at this for a while.

"I've sent reinforcments of satyrs to the lake in the form of the spirits of nature but we have to get away from here!" He cried as he chopped down another hellhound.

"Angelo! Under the rock, in the labrynths ruined entrance, theres a portal to the underworld! Hades found a loophole!" Josh cried.

"What?!" Angelo cried in shock a hellhound pounced and knocked him off his feet, knocking him out cold.

"Angelo!" Josh ran and stood in front of his wounded friend. There was no way he could stop this many hellhounds but he had to try.

Josh braced hiself and winced.

Suddenly a barage of at leasdt one hundred arrows fell from the sky and impaled the hellhounds.

All at once a group of at least fifteen girls jumped down, dressed in the traditional gear of a hunter.

Half of the drew arrows while the others swapped to daggers.

"H... how?" Josh murmured.

One girl... the leader Turned to face Josh.

"Stupid boy, we are the hunters of lady Artemis! Get the satyr out of here! We will hold them off!" She cried as she shot down another hellhound.

"W wait! Artemis is here?!" Josh asked in shock.

"Yes we have come to.... urk help you!" The girl obviously didn't like the idea.

"Now get out of here!"

***

Josh dragged Angelos limp body to a group of satyrs who took care of him and Josh ran out to the battle.

Beside him ran Angelos reinforcements of at least twenty satyrs.

He jumped out onto a creekside rock to the battle taking place.

"SATYRS! Charge!" The group of protectors charged with weapons of every calibur and began to fight. Josh jumped down and began to fight alongside them.

Soon the numbers of the hellhounds began to dwindle.

The battle was being won.​

 

[The Noob Hacker]

Jayson fired arrows for gods know how long. Nothing mattered anymore, nothing made sense besides the heat of the fight, which was sometimes quite literal. The monotony of firing an arrow, pulling the next from the quiver, and repeating the process, the aiming that had to be done with the utmost precision, for the slightest error would spell death, the sweat and blood mingling together as they flowed over his body like a waterfall, the sounds of bronze blades sinking into flesh, the horrible shrieks of pain and deat, both beastly and human, which became all too common to the point where Jayson had become desensitized to it. Such confusion yet such clarity. Doubt was a constant presence, yet the objective was always within sight. The time an arrow took to reach its mark seemed an eternity, yet the flurry of movement seemed to was lightning. How where there so many hellhounds? Where do they come from? Why are there so many? These questions no longer mattered to Jayson as he felled yet another hound with a twinge of bowstring and the sinking of arrow into flesh. All that existed was Jayson and the hellhounds, and only one could survive. There was no question of motive, there was only purpose: Kill the hellhounds, drive them back, don't die.

Yet despite his determined mind, despite the strange clarity of battle, Jayson's own body betrayed him. His arms trembled with each shot of the bow, he could feel himself slowing until he was rooted in position, barely able to grasp the arrows from his quiver. His legs would not hold either, They shook under the weight of his own body, and threatened to give in. Jayson could feel himself sinking to a kneel, yet he could not do anything about it. His body no longer was in his control. His mind was so focused on archery that Jayson didn't even notice himself loading and unloading his bow. Now his was stuck, a moving statue, almost a machine. He knelt and shot still as people around him were being massacred. Jayson wanted to move, wanted to do something, but couldn't bring himself to. Soon, even the actions not in his control became too much for his body. Jayson loaded no arrows, not even raising his bow. It fell from his hand to the ground without a sound, Jayson made no effort to retrieve it. He was deaf to the world now, could hear nothing but the sound of his heartbeat and heavy breathing, which inexplicably became increasingly more difficult by the second. He now was no both knees and had his hands on the ground. Jayson no longer thought, he only breathed, as if he were waiting, anticipating.

And then nothing. Jayson could hear no sound, could see no light, could not feel the earth beneath his palms, could not feel the warmth of light, the cold of darkness.

Jayson was sure he was dead now. Stroke from behind by some hellhound, no doubt. Perhaps accidentally shot with an arrow, even. Yet, even in this state of death, life, unconsciousness, or whatever it was, Jayson felt nothing. As he felt the sensation sink in, he felt not frigid death, nor life's warmth. All the boy could feel was a nothingness enveloping him, consuming him until he too was nothing. Until his very soul was a void.

Then there was... something. It was intangible, yet its presence was easily known. It did not project itself through thought or feeling either, it was simply there. It was a beam, at least it seemed as if it were a beam. Yes! It must be a beam. A beam of, something. It was a warmth, almost. A warmth without a temperature. It warmed, but Jayson felt no hotter. The warmth grew, but Jayson's body temperature did not. It warmed and warmed until Jayson could see nothing more than a brilliant and blinding white light that slowly faded into splashes of all different colors: blue, brown, and green mainly.

Jayson was in the forest, a clearing from the looks of it. He saw legs, many, may legs standing upright. As it turned out, these were connected to bodies. These bodies were moving, especially their arms and mouths. Slowly, their sounds faded in. It was a loud sound, a collective cheer made up of several individual cries of joy. Jayson remembered where he was and what he was doing. He jumped to his feet , snatched his bow from the ground, somehow he knew exactly where it was, and without thinking loaded an arrow and scanned the environment, looking for his next target. But the clearing was empty. There were no hellhounds to be spotted. It was quiet, and still. Was the battle over? Had they won? It was only then that Jayson realized the pain in his body was mostly gone, even though Jayson couldn't have been out that long. Could he? His body was still covered in a fine layer of sweat, blood, and now dirt, and it seemed about the same time. What had happened?

Jayson, his group in tow, soon found himself walking about the woods. He had previously told everyone that they needed to find survivors and get medical attention to their wounded, and there were many. At least, that's what Jayson had been told the last time he asked. His mind was racing, yet he wasn't remembering anything he had just thought. It wasn't long before he was mumbling to himself, hoping in vain that saying the words aloud would help him remember.

Then by some miracle, the group came across a tightly packed group of trees, difficult for the group to navigate with any coordination, or even individual grace. Leaned up against one of the tress was a boy. His skin was pale, his quiver was empty, a bow lay sprawled across the corpse. Jayson, wordlessly and mouth ajar, knelt by this boy for several minutes. He didn't weep, he didn't say anything. He merely keeled, when he had the strength looking in the boy's face before quickly averting his eyes. None dared to approach him.

"How?" Jayson silently mouthed to himself. In his carelessness, in his weakness, his stupidity, he had let this boy, fellow Apollo, fellow demigod, fellow human being, die. It was within Jayson's power to save him when he could, but he didn't. Jayson could have called for help, but he didn't. He simply took his arrows and left hid to die. He placed his faith in unlikely chances and left without second thought. But now it was too late to do anything. He had already made his mistake, and it was far to terrible to take back. Wordlessly, except for some grunts, Jayson picked up the corpse and slung it over his shoulder. He continued walking, his group hesitantly, and from a distance, followed.

"And yet I still live..." Jayson murmured.