2 days later
It was two days after the mysterious appearance and disappearance of Chaos, and Camp Half-Blood was practically over flowing with both nerves and excitement. Once the cabin leaders had arrived back at camp from Mt. Olympus they had been quick to inform the other demi-gods about the danger they were in and of the visitors that would be arriving. After they had explained the situation the cabin leaders immediately asked if anyone had heard of these people Chaos was sending.
They asked all around, trying to see if anyone had any idea as to what they could expect. Jake of course was in a bad mood, he kept going on about how he was better than anything Chaos could dish out and that as soon as the four arrived he was going to put them in their rightful place. Jessica tried to comfort him, telling him that he would beat these assassins, to which Bruce and Amber rolled their eyes and scowled. They hated Jake, and even though they also blamed themselves for Ryan's disappearance, they blamed Jake more. The guy was a serious asshole. He thought just because he was a son of Poseidon he was someone everyone should look up to and respect. Ryan was never so selfish, he was kind to everyone. Jake was the exact opposite. His fighting abilities weren't overly impressive either. He relied heavily on his shield and could barely control his water magic. Yet for whatever reason most of the campers looked up to him.
Jessica walked nervously through the camp, her mind fizzing with questions and concerns she had no answer too. After a lot of research they had been able to find out a bit about the people Chaos was sending to fight Lucious. Jessica had been amazed with what she had found these people were practically legends. It was said that for the past thousands of years they have been roaming the world fighting off evil and ridding the world of those who wish harm upon it. There were all sorts of rumors about them.
One of them, Death, could supposedly turn into a huge raven that could spit blue fire. It was also said her heart was ripped out when she was younger and as such had no emotions. Another one of them, War as he was called, supposedly killed his sister and parents when he was only eight. He then proceeded to kill anyone who got in his way. This all seemed pretty farfetched to Annabeth, but that didn't stop it from scarring her. The third one, also called Famine, was said to be the oldest of all four of them. She first appeared during the 1700's and it was said that she froze her whole village and killed all their crops, thus earning her name. She was also said to be as beautiful as the dawn, and was known to trick men up the mountain where she would seduce and kill them. The final and most unheard of was Conquest, very little was known about him but it would seems as though he only first appeared in legends and stories some two thousand years ago. People believed he came from the sea, and was like some kind of merman who could grow legs. This made Jessica laugh, the very idea of it seemed silly.
The information she found hadn't been overly helpful to Jessica, most of it was just legend and was probably exaggerated, but what she had learned had scared her. Just who were these people? They seemed to do more bad than good, and it scared her to think they would be coming to her camp. But she was also curious, what were they really like? Was any of what she had read true? The idea made her shudder. Still, that morning Jessica found herself running all over the camp, making sure everything was prepared for their arrival. They had cleared out two cabins for them, two in each cabin, seeing as it seemed like there were two girls and two guys. Thunder grumbled overhead, and Jessica looked up as the sun was covered in thick gray clouds. Perhaps it would rain?
More thunder roared, but it seemed different this time. It seemed closer, and like it was coming from the ground and not the sky. To her horror the ground began to shake fiercely, and she climbed to the top of the looking tower, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was coming. Was it one of Chaos' assassins? The trees surrounding the camp began to shake, as if a large force was moving through them, it could have been them, Chaos said her fighters would come separately and silently.
Jessica suddenly realized in a moment of terror, they were coming, Lucious was coming for them already! Jessica began to panic, what do they do? They have no time to get ready, no time to form a defense! She began to ring the alarm bell frantically, hoping she could at least get all of the campers together in order to form some kind of strategy. It would take Lucious a few minutes to get through the trees, hopefully that would buy them some time.
Jessica jumped off the looking tower and sprinted through camp, confused campers watched her but began to follow slowly. When she finally reached the eating area many of the demi-gods had already gathered around. Among them Jessica saw Bruce, Amber, the Stoll brothers, and finally Jake. They all had weapons in hand and looked alert but confused.
"What's going on?" Jake asked, walking towards her.
"W-we are under attack!" Jessica managed to choke out "L-lucious is here! He's coming!"
Jake instantly paled, his eyes widening. "Oh gods…" he stuttered.
Jake seemed to be paralyzed on the spot, his grip loose on his sword and shield. Sensing his fear, the other campers began to panic. Cries of panic and terror broke out as the demi-gods began to run around frantically.
"Stop!"
Movement stopped, everyone turned to look at Amber who had been yelling. "We have to stay calm, we are only wasting time! Bruce, you, me and the rest of the cabin leaders will go to face this Lucious, the rest of you head for Half-Blood Hill! From there go to the forest, climb the trees and stay there, don't make any sounds and whatever you do don't come after us."
"Amber, we cannot fight them off! It's an army!" Jessica yelled at the dark haired girl in rage. "It's a suicide mission!"
Amber looked remorseful, "Yes. But we can hold them off long enough for the others to escape and hide, maybe even long enough for Chaos' assassins to get here. We have to try, if we don't it will simply be a blood bath."
Bruce nodded his head in agreement, the other cabin leaders looked scared but muttered their agreements as well. Jessica sighed, but agreed with Amber. There was no other way, they had to protect the younger ones.
"Very well." She said, Jake finally seemed to shake out of his daze and gave a slight, terrified nod in response. Jessica turned to one of her cabin-mates, a pretty girl with short brown hair and gray eyes. "Lead the others to safety. If we are able to pull out of this we will come get you, otherwise stay put."
The girl looked completely terrified but nodded anyway and ran off, the others sending the cabin leader sad looks as they followed. Amber and Bruce exchanged a look before Amber spoke up.
"Let's go."
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The silence was deafening.
Jessica always thought it would be loud, standing there as she waited for the army of beasts to emerge from the trees, but there was nothing. No one moved, no one spoke, no one dared say a word. There were no birds singing, no frogs croaking, nothing. It was as if the whole world had come to a standstill.
A quiet rumbling began to grow louder and louder. Jessica knew they were close. Any minute now they would pop out of the forest like daisies, killing everything in their path. She felt her hands begin to shake uncontrollably.
Finally, someone emerged from the forest or something really. The creature was a gross nude color with black eyes that sunk deep into its thinly covered skull. Flaky, light brown flesh clung to the things skeletal form in folds and some of it was even peeling off, hanging from its body like ribbons. The worst thing about the creature however was its mouth. Jagged pieces of broken glass stuck out from the things blackening gums, as if it had put them there in replace of teeth. It was appalling. Behind it more creatures began to emerge. Some walked on two legs, others on four. Some even had wings. They were things the cabin leaders had never seen before, and were obviously from very different cultures from their own. A huge yellow-green snake the size of a small car slithered to the front line, along with a huge black dog that had red liquid dripping from its mouth and hollow white eyes.
"Well I must say I'm slightly disappointed." A voice hissed, and everyone realized with a start it was coming from the skinny creature at the front. "I was expecting something more impressive really, not a bunch of teenagers with wooden swords."
"Shut up." Amber snapped, her eyes blazing. "If you are going to kill us just get on with it."
"Oh, an impatient one are you?" The thing smirked "Very well, I suppose I can honor that wish."
The other cabin leaders braced themselves for the inevitable, telling themselves this was for the good of the others. "Well what are you waiting for?" the creature hissed to the monsters behind him. "Kill them, all of them."
The large black dog from before howled savagely before bounding forward, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. The snake followed more calmly, slinking through the grass. Jessica tightened her grip on her sword. "Is this it? Is this the end?"
She waited for the monsters to reach her, she didn't even know how to fight these creatures, much less beat them. They would die here, all of them. Chaos' help would not come in time…
"Woah woah woah hold up!"
Jessica whipped around as a strange voice drifted out from the forest.
"What's with all the doom and despair stuff here? Jeez you'd think you all wanted to die or something." All movement stopped as an engine roared to life and a black motorcycle skidded out of the trees. Sitting on it was a tall man with wind-blown blond hair and stunning green eyes.
He slowly got off his bike and propped it up. "Yo." He said finally, directing his words at the creature from before. "You've got the wrong target there buddy. The one you're looking for is me." He didn't even turn to look at the demi-gods, who were staring at him wide-eyed.
The thing from before chuckled darkly. "You? You must be joking, you can't take down us, it's impossible!"
"Hmm, yea not so much." The man said, smirking as he pulled out two silver guns from his jacket. He twirled them lazily in his fingers, looking bored. "Your move," he said "I will let you play first bone bag."
The creature growled, his eyes beginning to go red. "Get him." On command several of the creatures rushed forward. They were almost within striking distance when a shot broke through the air. A creature that none of the campers recognized had leapt and the man, but was now dead on the ground, black blood flowing from a hole in his head.
It seemed as if everything was in slow motion after that. Beasts of every shape and size sprung at the blond man, but he twisted and turned to dodge before shooting them dead with a single bullet. A huge blood red jackal like animal sprung from the shadows, three inch claws bared at the man's throat. The cabin leaders all gasped in far as the beast closed in on the man's back, but before the thing could reach him the blond rolled away in a neat dive before springing to his feet and firing several bullets at the monster, shooting it dead.
"Wow…" Amber breathed from beside Jessica, "Where do you learn moves like that? He hasn't gotten a single scratch yet!"
"He is pretty cool…" Jessica admitted as the man took down yet another monster. By this point blood stained the grass, contrasting the green, and some of it splattered onto the man's clothes and hair. Despite the situation the man had a lazy grin on his face.
From above a black shadow in the shape of a bird drifted across the grass, traveling over Jessica and causing her to look up. A large black raven looked back down at her from above, its odd blue eyes staring at her. Jessica tried to ignore the strange feeling that clouded her mind when a sudden movement startled her. The huge green snake from before leaped from the grass like a cat out of a bag. Its huge scaly mouth opened wide to reveal long fangs the size of kitchen knives dripping with venom aimed straight for the man's throat. He didn't have time to react, his green eyes widened in surprise as the snake came closer and closer. Everyone sucked in a breath, terrified of the scene that was only seconds away.
That moment never came though, right before the serpents teeth were about to clamp down a dagger flew from the trees and hit the snake square in its right eye. The beast fell to the ground dead, blood and venom pooling around its head and mixing into a sickening brown color. All eyes turned towards the woods as a shadow slowly appeared from the trees. A beautiful woman stepped from the shadows, her long black hair swaying behind her back. Dark jeans hugged her legs and a black shirt hung off one shoulder to reveal a swirling black tattoo. A black fedora perched on her head and sapphire blue eyes shone from under the brim dangerously. The raven from before swooped down and landed on the woman's shoulder, but its eyes were now a normal black.
"You're lucky I got here when I did." She said smoothly, looking at the blond man who was staring at her wide eyed. Jessica and the rest of the demi-gods where pretty shocked too, even the monsters seemed subdued at the pure power that rippled off this woman in waves. This must be Death. Jessica suddenly realized. Of course, the woman was Death and the man was War, two of Chaos' assassins. The girl looked at them with narrowed eyes, "Honestly, I have to do everything."
Without warning the woman leapt into action, daggers and knives flew from her hands at blazing speeds, yet she never ran out. They just seemed to appear in her hands like they magically returned to her after they had hit her target. The atmosphere in the area had suddenly changed. War's aura had been one of someone cool and confident, the playful gleam in his eyes and the smirk on his face proved that, but with Death it was like all the sound and happiness had been sucked from the air. She moved like a hurricane, demolishing anything that was foolish enough to get in her way. The demi-gods looked truly scared, this girl really was insane. Blood splattered her clothes and her hands and tips of her long hair were stained red. Her raven friend was also doing damage, going after the monsters' eyes and blinding them before flying away.
War looked a little shocked at first, but soon recovered. He jumped into action right next to her, but they were far from in synch. He crashed into her, causing her to lose her balance and sent a dagger flying from her hand. The deathly sharp blade whizzed dangerously close to Bruce's head, who had ducked just in time.
"Watch it!" Death shouted irritably at War, her eyes narrowed.
"Sorry!" he yelled back, just as irritated.
The next few moments were rather awkward, the two extremely powerful assassins kept getting in each other's way causing them to yell at each other once more. Still, even though all the yelling they managed to fell a lot more monsters then they had when they had alone. However, just as the tension began to decrease a chill swept over the field. Frost began to cover the grass and the freezing air caused the demi-god's ears to redden.
It was eerie, and Jessica looked around confused. It was only fall, where did this chill come from? The sudden change in weather had stopped the monsters movement too. They looked around and sniffed the air curiously, looking for the source of the sudden cold. War looked slightly concerned, but Death had a scowl on her face that said she knew what was coming and she knew she wouldn't like it.
As if on cue a slender figure emerged from the tree line. Ice covered the ground below their feet and long auburn hair flowed down their back. The demi-gods gasped slightly in shock as what had appeared became visible. A distance away stood a stunningly beautiful woman with icy blue eyes and ivory pale skin. A thick furry scarf hung from around her neck and long hair in curly waves flowed past her hips. Jessica instantly knew who she was, this had to be Famine… just look at her.
"Hi!" She said happily as everyone gaped at her. "Nice to see I got here in time to do some damage." She reached into her boot and pulled out a small dagger with an icy blue stone shinning in the handle.
"Ha!" The ugly pink creature laughed at her weapon. "You think just that tiny little kitchen knife will do damage?"
She looked down at her knife, "Ahh your right, it's a little small." She placed her finger to the blue stone on the dagger and it began to glow before stretching out to a huge silver halberd. A set of elaborate blades decorated the top of the weapon, and the tip was a dangerously sharp point. "Is this better?" Famine asked, a smirk on her lips. Before anyone could react she slammed the tip of the halberd into the ground and a sheet of slippery ice spread across the entire field, turning it into a skating rink. Creatures slipped and fell when they tried to move, and even Death and War looked to be having a hard time keeping their balance.
Famine however looked to be even happier than before. She danced across the now frozen grass like a professional ice skater, her feet never slipped once as she slashed at the unbalanced foes. The monsters stood what seemed like no chance now, they weren't even fast enough to counter Famine's attacks and they fell one by one, their blood staining the ice. A flapping sound filled the air and a giant red bird with a flat face swooped down at Famine from behind, but just as it drew near the woman's furry scarf moved and a delicate white head lifted itself from her shoulder. It was a small white fox, and just as the birds talons were about to reach Famine the fox leaped from her shoulder and onto the birds neck, sinking it's teeth deep it's red feathers.
The bird screeched in pain as it fell dead to the ground and the little fox jumped nimbly away. It's small paws balanced easily on the ice and it looked up at Famine, who smiled down at it.
"So you're done giving me the silent treatment eh?" The fox seemed to answer by jumping onto the woman's shoulder and baring her teeth in a toothy grin.
"Oi!" Death yelled at Famine, both her and War were unable to move from the ice. "Not that this is inconvenient but this is really inconvenient so could ya do something?"
War seemed to be thinking the same thing but sent an amused glance at Death. Death's raven cawed from above, catching everyone's attention. The black bird indicated with its wing to the shore line and everyone's eyes followed.
"What the hell…" War muttered as they all realized what the bird was pointing out. A huge wave was rushing straight towards them. The waves seemed to crash and pull towards the shore like they were being forced and a shadow seemed to be hidden underneath the surface.
What is that? It looked almost like a boat, but that was impossible… right? Before anyone could think on it any further the wave crashed to the shore, water flowing through the field and whipping away what was left of the once powerful army of monstrous creatures. The pink creature who seemed to be the leader of the group managed to grab hold of a tree and cling on as the water rushed through the field. Somehow the water miraculously avoided the campers, but they were sprayed by the crashing waves and were now soaking wet. Death, War and Famine had been right in the middle of the blast and they were now submerged in the roaring tide.
After a few minutes the water cleared out in mist, rising into the sky and away in what would seem like rain. Was it water magic? A large thud shook the ground and all eyes turned to see a magnificent sight. A large white sailboat rested on the ground, its rudder making it tilt slightly sideways. The beautiful boat had a sea-green stripe going down the side and the words Vortex were printed in bold letters on the side in black.
From the ship a hooded man jumped out, two swords strapped to his back. Dark blond hair peaked out from his hood but the man's eyes were hidden. A kind of nostalgic wave seemed to pass over the campers as they stared at the fourth and final assassin of Chaos. He seemed too familiar to them, the powerful aura that rolled off him was dark and mysterious but also kind and protective. It was just strange.
So this is Conquest. His name was fitting. He must have been in control of that huge wave the entire time, he whipped out the rest of the monsters without raising a finger, yes Conquest fit him. Conquest stopped in front of the demi-gods, he faced away from them and scanned the grassy field for any signs of movement. The tidal wave had washed away the corpses and blood the other assassins had so creatively killed. Speaking of the others, Death, War and Famine were glaring at Conquest. They were dripping wet and looked winded from having to fight that huge wave.
"Was that really necessary?" War asked, scowling.
Conquest shrugged, a sheepish smile appearing under his hood. "Sorry, I wanted to wash all the scum away."
"Yea, well don't wash us away with it you peasant!" Death spat as water made her fedora droop. Famine was in a similar state, her blue flowing shirt clinging to her thin frame. Her fox looked extremely pissed off as well, its fluffy white tail was dripping water and sopping wet and its long white hair fell into its eyes, making it paw at its face repeatedly. Death's raven was miraculously dry, it probably flew up away from the water when the wave hit the shore.
"Here," Conquest walked over to them, "I can fix this." He reached one hand forward and seemed to concentrate. Slowly water droplets began to evaporate off the three soaking assassins until they were completely dry and the water that was once on them was now in a big ball in front of them. "Neat huh?" Conquest laughed before making the ball of water disperse. He then turned to what was believed to be the former leader of the monster army, who had managed to survive the tsunami by holding on to a tree.
"I'm impressed you're still alive." Conquest said darkly, his tone from before completely gone, "I expected you to be washed away with the rest of your band of miscreants. Tell me is this all this famous Lucious can send, is this all he can rally?"
The walking mummy coughed and glared at Conquest. "He knows you are here, he will be back and he will defeat you! I was just a mere test of your strength, I must say I was somewhat disappointed."
"Sorry about that, we will work on our presentation. But those are bold words for one who is about to die."
"I don't fear death." Flabby mummy spat.
Conquest smirked and flicked off his hood, revealing to the campers a head of messy bleached hair. "Oh good, this will make things easy then." With stunning speed Conquest whipped out one of his double swords and impaled it right through the creature's chest. "Have fun in Hell." He pulled the blade back out and let the dead beast fall to the grass in a pale heap. His sword dripped sticking black blood which he whipped on the grass before turning around to face the campers.
Gasps of shock could be heard all over the field once the campers saw his eyes. They were sea-green, a similar shade to Jake's and the exact same shade as Ryan's eyes. The cabin leaders didn't have long to dwell on it though, because now the four assassins were facing each other, weapons bared. The campers grew nervous, they wouldn't fight right? They all looked at each other, each seeming to take in just what the other three were capable.
"Well this will be fun." War said, his voice low.
"Loads, I believed I told Chaos once I don't work well with others." Death muttered.
"Well that explains a lot." Famine added sarcastically.
"Like your one to talk! You and Conquest nearly killed us in the process of fighting the monsters!" Death retorted.
"It wasn't my fault you weren't prepared." Conquest shot at her.
"How the hell were we supposed to avoid that?" War shouted, "Grow wings?"
They continued bickering as the demi-gods looked on nervously. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife, even Death's raven and Famine's fox were in a battle stance.
"That's it!" War said angrily, drawing his twin pistols "Let's go sea shrimp!" He aimed at Conquest who was quick to retaliate, drawing his swords.
"Ha! I'd like to see you try." He snarled.
Death's daggers popped out of her sleeves and Famine raised her halberd. Electricity seemed to crackle through the air as they glared at each other.
This really wasn't good.