In a dark room she stood alone, a woman with long black hair flowed down past her waist and a long flowing dress that seemed to be cut from the fabric of the universe. It was speckled with stars planets and galaxies, and hung from her shoulders by two thin straps. Her skin, paler than ivory, seemed to glow, providing a small amount of light to the dark room. She leaned over the side of what seemed to be a large bowl of water, and when she waved her hand the surface ripped, changing to show a horrifying image.
Thousands of monsters, all rallied under a full blue moon as they screeched and howled in an angry rabble. At their front was a man with sickly gray skin and red eyes that sunk into his head. Skin hung from his frame in disgusting folds, and the strange tattoos decorated his chest and back. The woman's eyes narrowed in rage as her lips pulled back into a deadly snarl.
"Lucious." She practically growled. She continued to examine the image, listening to Lucious rave on to the monsters below him. She couldn't hear much, but she managed to catch a single word that sent her mind reeling.
"That parasite." She hissed under her breath, "Very well, if he wants a fight, it's a fight he shall have." With a graceful turn the woman whipped around and quickly opened a portal in the space in front of her. Grabbing her long black cloak she walked through the portal was practiced ease.
On the other side she found herself on the deck of a beautiful sailboat. The huge deck was covered in dark wooden floors and perfect white sail arched in the strong breeze. The woman smiled as she looked around, her dark eyes taking in every detail of the ship. Upon hearing her arrival, a head poked out of the door leading to the ships quarters.
"Ah! Lady Chaos!" The man said, quickly coming up on deck and bowing respectfully. He looked to be about twenty years of age with tan skin a lean frame. A faded t-shirt clung to his torso and he had on a pair of blue swim trunks. His hair was a an odd pale black color, meaning his hair used to be black but so many days in the sun had bleached a lot of the color out of it. His eyes were is most notable feature though; they were a vibrant sea-green, the exact color of the ocean the boat floated on.
The woman, apparently Chaos sighed "Enough with the bowing, we have known each other far too long for that."
"Apologizes Miss," the man said, flashing a broad smile, "But you are a deity of great power mi' lady, t'would be disrespectful."
"If you don't drop that phony accent I'm going to show you just how powerful I am." Chaos growled playfully.
"Sorry, sorry." He instantly dropped the charade "Just having a bit of fun is all, you have not graced me with you presence for quite some time, what's wrong? Some wacky old coot trying to take over the world again? How weird is he this time?"
"Very." Chaos muttered "Accept I'm afraid it's not some little problem this time."
He sat up immediately, "What do you mean?"
"There is a creature by the name of Lucious, he is an extremely powerful creature from ancient ancient times."
The man narrowed his eyes "Just how powerful?"
Chaos sighed "Extremely. And on top of that he is rising up an army, an army made of monsters from every continent, every country, every culture of the world, and he as his eyes set on a single target which he means to destroy completely."
"So you want me to go after him?"
Chaos shook her head "No, not alone. I am going to contact three others how will help you on this, you will need their help."
The man cocked his head, "Who is this? "
"They are just as powerful as you are, which we both know is saying something, and they come from very different cultures from all over the world, that is all I can say, you will have to figure out the rest yourself."
The man sighed "Fine, that works. Now, where are we going? And who are they planning to take out? You realize we are currently in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? It's going to take me at least five days to get to land."
Chaos smirked "Really? Come now, you and I both know that's a joke, you can use water magic. You could be there in twenty minutes if you wanted to, and as for the people in danger…. Well…"
"What?"
Chaos scratched her neck, "I couldn't make out much of what Lucious was saying to his rabble of subordinates… but I know I heard their target… it's Olympus."
The man's sea-green eyes widened, before he snapped "No. You said I would never have to go back there, you said I would never have to see that place again! That was our deal, I wouldn't go back there if I was to die otherwise, and I couldn't give a damn if they all perished."
Chaos looked at him with soft eyes "Ryan… you and I both know you don't mean that."
"You know they would recognize me if I went back! I may have left hundreds of years ago, but that doesn't mean they don't remember what I look like." Quietly Ryan looked down and muttered "Then again they might have, who knows?"
Chaos placed a hand lightly on the man's shoulder "Ryan, I know you are still upset about what has happened to you, no one could blame you, but you cannot let that get in the way of this mission. Lives are at stake here, I need your help in this. I know it's hard, but I wouldn't give you this assignment if I didn't think you could handle it. "
Ryan scowled, but ignored the comment, "They will recognize me, you know they will."
"Will they?" Chaos smirked "You may not have looked in the mirror lately, but you don't exactly look like you did back then. For one you at least a foot taller, and for two you hair is practically blond. It's true, the ones you knew all those years ago are still alive, for they are immortal like you, but they are still in their teens. They haven't aged past that."
"Really? That's funny, if I wasn't so pissed off right now I would probably be laughing." Ryan chuckled darkly. Chaos gave him a long look, her black eyes staring at him intensely. Ryan shifted a bit before groaning "Fine. I'll do it. But I think I should get some time off after this."
Chaos laughed "Okay, I think I can arrange that. But thank you, you should arrive at Camp-Half Blood in two days, the other three will get there around the same time."
Ryan scowled but nodded. Chaos smiled before opening up a portal. "You know how to contact me if you need to Ryan, good luck. Oh yea, the other three who will be joining you will know who you really are, but they also understand why you wish to remain anonymous to the demi-gods."
Ryan gaped "What the- hey! Who are these people? Lady Chaos!"
Chaos looked at him out of the corner of her eye "Well who do you think?"
Ryan's eyes widened "You mean…" But the woman was already gone.
"Bah." Ryan muttered "How do I always get dragged into these things?" Walking up to the bow of the ship he looked out over the water. "Ugh, this is gonna be such a pain."
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Mount Olympus shook as the great Greek deities yelled at each other. Nearby a small group of demi-gods waited patiently as their parents battled it out. Among them were several familiar faces; Jessica, the daughter of Athena, Bruce, the son of Hades, Amber, the daughter of Zeus, the Stoll brothers, and several other immortal cabin leaders. Also among them was an unfamiliar face. The boy looked to be about seventeen with dirty blond hair and sea-green eyes, he also had a cocky grin on his face as he held Jessica's hand. They had come to the home of the gods today because they had received a message this morning requesting their presence.
After several minutes mystery boy spoke up. "Father please, all of you stop this fighting, what is it even about?"
Poseidon looked over at the demi-gods. "Jake? Why are you here?"
"You called us remember?" Jessica said, somewhat irritated.
Zeus cocked his head "No we didn't."
"Well someone did!" Amber snapped at her father.
"Wait," Bruce spoke up "If you didn't… then who did?"
"I did."
A calm, collected voice rang out through the great hall. Everyone whipped around to see a tall figure with a hood covering their eyes.
"Who are you?!" Zeus boomed.
The person was not fazed by the god's outburst and simply smiled. "Come now," they said "Surely you recognize your own family, if you could call us that." The person flicked off their hood to reveal a beautiful woman with pale skin and dark eyes.
"L-lady Chaos!" Athena gasped her gray eyes wide. Murmuring instantly broke out among the gods whilst their children looked on in amazement. "T-to what do we owe the pleasure?"
The smile instantly slipped off Chaos' lips. "I bring grave news, you are in danger." She told the Greeks of the rise of Lucious and his army and of how Olympus is their first topic. The gods stood petrified in shook as the campers looked on in terror.
"Wh-why us?" Poseidon asked.
"You are an easy target, and taking you out will show their power to other, more powerful, deities." Zeus moved to interrupt but Chaos stopped him. "Face it Zeus, you are in trouble. Your so called army is a group of children, all of which are still in their teens. Many of them aren't even old enough to lift a sword."
"Hey!" Jake, Poseidon's son barked "We will be fine, I will lead them."
Jessica nodded from his side. "We can take anything that tries to waste us."
Chaos looked at her sadly. "No you can't. Your 'camp' is deteriorating with the standards of your parents, if a real threat should attack you would be as good as dead. And your only chance of victory vanished thousands of years ago."
Amber's eyes widened "You mean Ryan...?"
"Have you seen him?" Bruce demanded.
Chaos shrugged "Perhaps, either way he's probably long dead now. He would have to be immortal to live this long."
Jessica looked down guiltily while Poseidon ducked his head. Everyone remembered the day Ryan vanished from Camp, it was over two thousand years ago, shortly after the giant wars. Jake, Ryan's half-brother, had arrived at camp and immediately snagged all the attention. Everyone eventually forgot about Ryan, until only Bruce, Amber and Jessica remained. However even his cousins left him, and then Jessica and Jake started dating. Still Ryan, always loyal, watched quietly from the side lines as everything was taken away from him. One day he got a phone call from someone and dashed out in a rush, he came back the next morning looking dead and hollow, but no one bothered to ask him what had happened, not even Jessica. Finally the last straw was when Poseidon showed up to spend time with Jake, the sea god doesn't even said a word to Ryan.
Two days later, he silently disappeared. The camp searched for weeks but they never found a trace of the boy they had nearly forgotten. Bruce and Amber had been affected most by their cousin's disappearance, Amber even left the hunters to search for him, but they never found anything. Poseidon was also deeply shaken by his son's disappearance, it took years before his brothers could convince him to give up the search. The god blamed himself for not caring more for his son, for not being there for him. They had found out shortly after Ryan left that his mother and stepfather had been killed in a fire caused by a gas leak at their apartment, that was the call that Ryan had gotten the day he rushed out of camp.
The cabin leaders, most of them being survivors of the giant wars, became immortal so that they could look after the campers. After several years they finally gave up on the hope that Ryan would ever come back and moved on, but a few still felt guilty over his disappearance.
"Anyway," Chaos' voice jerked everyone out of their memoires,"Lucious commands an army of ten thousand strong, and it's growing every day. Your forces are weak at best, and this is a threat much different from anything you have ever faced before. Lucious is one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet, and he's out for your blood. You need help."
Zeus was seething, but Athena spoke first. "What do you propose?"
Chaos smiled, "I suppose I could lend a hand." She stroked her chin in thought "But don't think I'm going to risk a lot in helping you. Not to be blunt but I don't like you or your ethics very much, but it would be easiest to use your camp as a base to lure out Lucious." The Greeks all stared at her in shock and wonder as she continued. "Now, I can't send a large amount of troops because Lucius will see this and grow suspicious… no what you need is a small group of people capable of bringing down armies." Chaos smirked "I can provide that."
"Hold on one second," an irritating voice piped up. Chaos sent a bored glance at Jake, the one who opened his big mouth. "I'm sure me and the rest of the cabin leaders can do just as much as this group you talk about, if not better."
"Pftt," Chaos snickered "That was terrible use of the English language. And I hate to break it to you kiddo but you don't stand a chance against Lucious, you are not your half-brother."
Jake sputtered, along with half of the other demi-gods. "I-I'm sorry?"
"You heard me. Anyway as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted I have a way to help you. You see I have four people on this planet who I trust to take care of any problems this world may face. They travel the world and only pop up when I need them, and this is one of those times. Normally I would only send one of them on a mission but seeing how this is a very… special cause I am going to be sending all four. Even though I warn you they have never even met each other before, much less worked together. This shall be interesting."
"Lady Chaos, don't you think a team that can work together would be better?" Poseidon asked.
Chaos shrugged, "Their grown-ups, they will work it out. So, do you accept?"
The Greek gods and goddesses all looked at each other, Zeus still looked mad but once again Athena took the high road. "Yes, thank you Lady Chaos."
"Excellent!" The dark deity exclaimed clapping her hands together. "Now because of their locations they will not be able to arrive at Camp-Half Blood for two days, I hope you can handle yourselves until then."
"Y-yes, but who are these people Lady Chaos?" Hermes asked.
Chaos shifted her dark eyes over to the messenger god, looking amused. "You will see soon enough. They will arrive in two days. The first will come from the west, the second from the east, the third from the north and the fourth by sea. They should all be there within a few hours of each other. The first, sometimes called War, is relatively easygoing until you piss him off… so don't do that. The second, affectionately named Death, well….. just be careful, I'm slightly concerned for her sanity. The third, Famine, is probably the nicest out of all of them… but she talks softly and carries a big stick… literally. And as for the fourth, whom I call Conquest sometimes, yea I would just stay away from him entirely. I think that's it, best of luck to you all, see ya!"
With that she opened a portal and left the room leaving thousands of questions and gaping mouths in her wake.
Jessica looked uneasily at her mother, "W-what do we do now?"
Except Athena could only shake her head solemnly, "I wish I knew…."
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Meanwhile in a busy city a tall man in a black leather jacket walked briskly through a parking garage. His eyes were emerald green and dirty blond hair reached the nape of his neck. He walked up to a black motorcycle and quickly turned on the engine. He pulled out of the parking garage and raced through the brightly lit city streets.
"Well this should be interesting…" he said to himself. "Those campers better know what they're in for." A huge grin spread across his face as he sped on into the night.
In a dark and empty dessert a black raven sored high through the night, its wings blacking out stars. Its unusual sapphire blue eyes scanned the deserted sands critically. After a few minutes it swooped down gracefully before landing on the shoulder of a beautiful woman with long black hair down her that fell past her waist and the same sapphire blue eyes. A white fedora with a black ribbon sat crookedly on her head as she sent a sideways glace at the bird.
"Good hunting I presume?" she asked it. Surprisingly the bird tipped its head a bit in understanding. "Good. Well I suppose we should get going then, the area looks clear for now so we should move quickly, we need to be at that camp in two days."
The girl started to move, the bird taking flight once more and flying ahead. Then they seemed to dissolve into the darkness and were gone.
Snow fell softly from the sky in large flakes covering a forest in a light layer of white. In the middle of a small clearing stood a woman with long amber hair that fell down her back in small waves. She had remarkable light blue eyes that seemed like ice as she held her hands up to catch some of the falling snow flakes. Despite the snow the woman had on only a light blue sweater and white jeans with leather boots and a suspicious looking furry white scarf wrapped around her shoulders. Her pale skin looked like it had never seen sunlight and her posture made her seem nibble and quick.
"The snows have arrived." She said in a musical voice, her eyes shining. "Such a shame we are going to miss it huh?" Her furry scarf sifted slightly, as if in response.
The girl laughed. "So your giving me the silent treatment? Hey it's not like I want to do this, but orders are orders. I suppose we should get going then, the sooner we get there the sooner we can leave right?"
The woman began walking easily through the dense forest, her eyes taking in every detail. The snow began to come down harder but she paid it now mind. She slowly disappeared into the forest, leaving behind a trail of ice in her wake.
Waves crashed gently against a beautiful white sail boat as it sped through the sea, the wind giving it speed. Ryan stood at the bow, taking in the ocean breeze. His sea-green eyes looked troubled as he stared ahead. He was currently lost in thought, his mind sorting through everything that had happened today. He wondered how camp had changed over the years and what had become of all the people he once knew. "Will they recognize me?" He asked himself, grabbing a piece of his sun-bleached hair and examining it. Ryan was also really curious about the other three Chaos had mentioned. What were they like? He had heard the rumors, they sounded like something out of legend. Then again, he supposed he did too.
Ryan sighed deeply, "Well I guess there isn't anything to it but to do it."
The sailboat suddenly picked up speed, racing through the water in a way that should have been impossible for a boat of its size. Ryan closed his eyes as the wind blew back his hair. Everything was about to change, Ryan just didn't know how much.