The son of darkness shall bring the light
While delivering us from the war gods might
It shall be a brazly fight
With the war gods kin to pierce his skin
And a bold friend up till the end
I couldn't comprehend what was going on, I was completely dumbfounded. Before the army of harpies could attack the three of us, an army of crows came flying into the cave like a wave of darkness, with feathers. My wits came back in the nick of time, two harpies managed to get close to us. I moved with blazing speed, grabbed one by its humanoid face, slammed it to the cold earth of the cave, and crushed it with the sole of my shoe. The creature's skull let out a satisfying crunch, its blood completely soaking my right shoe and sock. "One down" I thought. I set my hands aflame and grabbed the last one by the back of its wings and burned its wings off. I left it screaming and trying to fly away, which brought a smile to my face. I grabbed Emma by the wrist and pulled her towards the exit, Borus grabbed her other arm, we practically had to drag her, once the harpies descended on us she collapsed with fear. We made it out, racing like our lives depended on it, "In that cave,quick!" Borus said. We raced inside, still carrying Emma between us, once we got inside I collapsed from exhaustion, still conscious I barely pulled myself against the damp cave wall. I began to look around, I noticed something strange, there was writing on the walls, and torches. I knew we had to leave before whatever or whoever came back, then I heard noise from deeper within the cave. "We need to move these dogs now, the dark lord will not be happy if they are late." Someone said. "Yes I know this you fool, come let us get the transport carts ready," Someone hissed in reply. Suddenly it dawned on me, a tunnel with old faded writing and torches. We had wandered into the labyrinth, I knew this was bad, I knew I couldn't let these people leave with a pack of dogs for the "Dark Lord''. I knew if I told borus what my plan was he'd shoot it down, I managed to pull myself up to my feet, walking down the tunnel I could hear borus frantically whispering my name, telling me to come back. I knew I couldn't, I kept walking. What was my plan? I had none. But I knew I had to set the dogs free. I turned the corner and stopped in my tracks. There were thousands of crates, All full of half beaten, starved dogs, I felt a new sense of rage, I began frantically trying to free the dogs from their prisons, one after the other they raced free and into the open world. I lost count of how many I had opened, I heard two sets of footsteps coming down the hall, I scrambled to open one more cage, a large black dog sprang free, I grabbed my dagger from its holster and raced to a wall, the dog didn't move, it just looked at me. I tried to motion him to leave, he wouldn't. The footsteps got closer, "Oh shit," I thought. I tried to think, one thought kept flooding in, killing them, I knew there was no other viable option. I braced myself as they turned the corner, before I could move the dog sprang into action, latching its vice like jaw onto the first man, I opened my eyes in shock, he was human, but before i could do anything the second person swung his fist at me, I took a closer look, that wasn't a fist, but a hoof. I looked closer. It was a half man, half goat person. I blocked his kick and killed him. "Too easy" I thought. Suddenly I heard hundreds of other footsteps rushing this way, I raced toward the way I came, pausing only briefly to look at the other dogs frantically barking at me to set them free, I could feel their longing for freedom, it saddened me deeply. I could barely manage to keep a cool head, I pressed my eyes shut and shed one tear, just one. They suddenly stopped barking, they knew what was going to happen, I wanted to save them so badly it killed me to turn that corner. The black dog still in toe, we raced towards the exit, Borus jumped up and raced out of the cave, Emma right behind him.
Once we were safe
Everyone collapsed in an open field, all nearly dying with exhaustion. I could barely breathe, Borus however had a new burst of strength. He sprung on top of me, grabbed me by the shirt and screamed, "Are you insane!?" I tried to open my mouth to respond but he kept going, "You could have gotten us all killed, all for what? To save some stupid mutts!" He paused, I screamed, "They were dead anyway, going to someone named the dark lord! What did you want me to do!" "You did realize you could have turned one wrong corner and you would have been lost forever, that was the LABYRINTH! You could have died!" He screamed back. "I know, I'm a hero, what can I do, I want to stop the dark lord! Im not going to let him kill innocent animals!" He froze, "What name did you say?" He said, suddenly scared. "The dark lord.." I said confused. "Lets go, we have to get back to camp." He said sternly. He whistles for the pegusi, they come flying out of the sky, each horse landing next to its rider, Emma still stone faced silence, climbed on. Followed by Borus, then me, I heard a bark, glanced at the dog, He had a smile on his face. I was happy to save those animals, no matter what Borus said. "Josh, leave him. We need to go." Borsus said. Before I could say anything to him, he raced off to the north. As if to say, thank you. I climbed on my horse and we took off.
Once we got back to camp
We got back to camp in the nick of time, we flew over a massive army of all kinds of monsters, but they all had one thing in common, they were out for demigod blood. We landed in the courtyard, three campers raced to Borus with frantic looks on there faces, Borus didn't miss a beat, "Gather the weapons, have the athena cabin make a plan, Ares cabin needs to organize the troops, hephaestus cabin needs to make a massive shield." He raced off to see that his orders were followed. I hopped off my horse, and tried to help Emma off her horse. SHe pushed me away, "IM fine, Im fine." She whispered. "Come on, you have to go to the infirmary,'" She smacked me across the face. "Screw you, I'm fine." She said sternly. "I'm going to the front lines." She said. I almost believed she was fine if she had not collapsed once her feet hit the ground. "You're not going anywhere. I'm taking you to somewhere safe, No ifs or buts about it." I said sternly. I knew shed needed to get away from the fighting, I had to take care of this. She needed medical attention, but I couldn't take her there, she's too stubborn. I needed to delay the army, we weren't gonna get enough people ready in time, I dragged Emma over to a bench next to what looked like the Ares cabin. I knelt down in front of her, "I'm going to the front lines, I'm going to delay this army so everyone else has time to get ready." I said. I knew shed object, "No you fool, your going to die," She began to cry, she began murmuring under her breath, I couldn't make out much but what I could catch was, "Take me with you my hero," I was in shock for a moment, I had no idea what she was talking about, but I could think about that now. I had to go before the army got to close, she grasped my face, her eyes red with tears. "Don't go," She said. I gave her a smile, if I was to die let her last memory of me be a smile. I got up and raced off, blades in my hands, I could have sworn she said something before she collapsed in a ball of tears and pain. I couldn't catch it, but i couldn't focus on that now. I raced towards the army's last known location, all I could think of was what I planned on doing one i got to the army. I didn't have a plan. I could hear them, along with noises like a herd of animals rushing this way. All I could think about was those dogs I had let stay in those cages, I pushed it out of my head. I entered a clearing at the same time as the front lines of the army, as I feared it was those dogs being controlled by those half goat man hybrids. That filled me with rage, how could someone force animals to do their bidding. Before I could make my first move, I heard something large and big burst through the tree line. To my shock it was the black dog I set free from the cage. I was so happy to see him, I could believe he was here. He had grown from the size of a normal dog, his body mass increased ten fold. He was now as tall as me, he was snarling, glaring at the enemy. I knew he was there to help me, again before I could move I noted the amount of humans behind the dogs, they stopped glaring at me. I could feel myself giving the urge to smile, the dog looked at me and smiled. I grinded back, I focused my darkness on my feet, and raced forth. I moved like a blur of steel and rage, I went straight for the kill of the goat men, but I had to kill the dogs, it saddened me because I knew I was doing them a favor. I knew I had to keep going, no matter what,I looked over and saw the dog was tearing the men and dogs apart, he was fighting like he had done this before. I heard a set of huge footsteps, then a huge giant busted through the tree line, "What is the hold up!" He screamed. His one eye locked onto me, I was mowing his forces down like lambs to the slaughter, all of a sudden I noticed him, he was sixteen feet tall at least, with armor and a spear, all made from bronze. He charged me, spear in hand, "DIE!" He screamed as he threw the spear, I was frozen in my tracks, what can I do? It was huge. All of a sudden a crow flew in front of the spear, and adjusted its angle just enough to make sure I didn't die. I snapped back into reality, and rage bubbled in my chest, kept killing and killing his troops, I could sense his bloodlust and rage, it made me happy that I was pissing him off. "Back Up the lot of you!" He screamed. "This one is mine, he wants to die by the hand of Ragnar, the bane of poseidon! SO be it!" He charged me with bare hands, "you fool," I thought. He swung at me, I sprang onto his bulging arm, raced to his one eye but before I could stab him with my blades, an even bigger cyclops busted out of the woods. He threw his spear at me, without a second thought about his comrades. The spear was thrown with such force it blasted out the other side of his face. I fell to the ground, realizing that I was in way over my head. All I could hear was "Archers, FIRE'' My first thought was, "Oh crap," Thankfully the dog pulled me away, swung me on his back and raced for the camp. "Hopefully the army was ready." I thought We raced up the hill, the army stood ready, "Now we have a chance." I said to myself. I raced behind the lines, straight to Borus, "I delayed them as long as I could," I got off the dog, raced to the front lines, the dog in toe, I tried to think of a speech for the troops, but I couldn't. I turned toward them and said simply, "these monsters want to take our homes, they want to take our lives, but more importantly they want to take our happiness away from us. They want to ruin our lives, are we going to let them!!" "NO!!" They replied. As they busted through the tree line, I screamed, "CHARGE!!!" I raced forward, my darkness going straight into my hands on reflex, I was the first one to sink my blades into an enemy, and I loved it. I could feel the fear level rising among the troops, then I heard the same set of huge footsteps, I struggled with one of the half goat men, "Brace yourself" I screamed. The cyclops busted out from the trees spear in hand, he swung it back and forth, mowing down the back few lines in mere moments. "He has to go down," I had to cut him down, I raced towards his legs, bobbing and weaving through enemies, I racked my sword into his achilles heel, he let out a scream of agony, "Puny human," He said as one of his giant hands came to grab me, I raked my blades down his hand, severing one of his fingers. He recoiled in pain, I cut his other heel, he fell to one knee. I climbed on his back and raked my dagger over his back. He tried to swat me like a fly, but I hung on. I sprang up to his head, and raced to his singular eye. He frantically covered it, I latched onto his face and tried to stab through his hand, I kept stabbing and stabbing. He swung his lumburus body back and forth, but to no avail, I was stuck on him like a bug stuck in glue. I refused to let go, I had to bring him down. "Arrgghaaaa!!!" He let out a scream of pure agony. "Retreat!!" He bellowed. I jumped off of the monster's face, as they raced off the demigod troops gave chase, hoping to kill what was left of the army, one particular enemy caught my eye. He was a man dressed in full roman armor, with around six glittering medals on his chest. Hes high ranking, I smiled as I chased him down, he looked at me last second, a look of fear in his eyes. I tackled him to the ground, and kicked his helmet off. He tried to get away but I managed to scream, "Get me some handcuffs!" Two men in chest plates and bracers came rushing over with a pair of cuffs and ankle bracers. I stood him up for the men to cuff, "Take him somewhere i can talk with him." I spat. They walked away, Emma came rushing towards me, her face red with the blood of the enemy, I knew shed been fighting. She got me to my feet, i tried to pull away, she gripped me so tight it hurt. "That hurts you know," I said with a grin. "Dont talk, im mad at you." She said. I let out a hearty laugh, "Im fine, i need to go talk to our prisoner." I said. "No, not yet. You need medical attention for that cut." She said sternly. "What cut?" I asked. She proceded to punch me in the leg, "OWWW" I screamed. That felt like i had a hot rod of iron going straight through my leg. I looked where she punched, my pant leg was soaked in blood. "Well maybe wraping it wouldnt hurt, I didnt even feel it happen." I smiled. She dragged me into a medial tent, sat me down on a bed and went to grab some bandages. I was sitting and waiting for her to get back, when she came back i could see she had tears in her eyes. "Whats wrong?" I asked. "Dumb question" I thought. Before i could take it back she looked me in my eyes, I could see she was scared, not for herself but for me. "I had to do what i did ok?" My eyes suddenly turned sad. "I know you did ok, i get it, but I was so scared of losing you." She said as she wrapped up my leg. "I didnt want to lose you, I hate losing people I care about." SHe said sadly. "People I care about." I couldnt get that out of my head. She cared about me, I couldnt believe it. My heart did a flutter, even though she doesnt know my feelings quite yet I still did a little happy dance. I felt like I should tell her, she deserves to know if i feel the same. Before I could say another word, Borus busted in, "Josh, the prisoner is ready for you," He said. "To do what?" I asked, I immediately felt stupid for asking, I knew what he was gonna say. "To gather information from him." Borus said sternly. Then he walked out. "Go, find out what is happening." Emma said, her head down, I knew she wanted me to stay. But I had to go find out what was happening, all that they have built could be destroyed. I couldnt let that happen, I wanted to know more about this mysterious magical world that i had been thrown into. I was determined to get every bit of info out of that man. I got up with surprising strength, "Take me to him," I gestured to Emma. She didnt move, "Borus!" She screamed. He walked in, "Hes ready." She said, hidden rage deep in her voice. Ill deal with her later, I had more important matters at hand. Borus led me to another tent farther into the camp, once we walked in the prisoner was tied and bound to a chair. I gave off a cruel smile, "Leave us." I said. He left, and i knew this man was going to regret attacking us. I slowly walked closer and closer, I could see the fear growing in his eyes and it made me happy to strike fear into his heart. I got within arms length, and everything let lose. I proceeded to punch him in the face over and over, harder and harder. I stopped, grabbed his shoulders and screamed, "Who attacked us!" "He wont be stopped," He said omninusly. I struck him in the nose, blood gusted from his face, I knew id broken it. "Who attacked us?" I said again. "He will kill you, and no one can stop him." I grabbed his left index finger, and proceeded to break it at each knuckle. He didnt do anything besides flinch a small bit, "Hes got some loyalty" I thought. Its gonna take a lot more to break this guy. I placed my hands on his hands, and channaled my darkness into my hands, even then he still didnt move or flinch. I pushed all my strength into my hands, he just looked at me, with a blank face. That pissed me off, I let go, his hands were burned to a crisp. I knew he felt that, I decided to try something new, I pushed the darkness into both my index fingers. A tiny black flame appeared at the tip of each finger, that brought a smile to my face. I pushed my fingers into his cheeks, but not his bones, the flabby part so he can feel more pain. Then I said one thing, "Anwswer my question or ill torture you until your just so close to death, then ill do the best part. Ill burn your body so badly that no one will recognize you, ill chop you up into little pieces and mail your body to your family bit by bit." I could feel the malice dripping from my own voice, it scared me. But I couldnt let him know, "Maybe ill burn your eyes out so youll never know when its coming." I said dangerously. I inched my finger closer and closer until it was deep in his right eye. He let out a scream that sounded like a wounded animal, almost made me think I was torturing a starved dog. Then I remembered those poor dogs in the labrinth, "Are you working for the Dark Lord!?" I screamed. Then he broke, "Yes!! We are!" I ripped my finger out of his eye. "What does he want?" He collapsed in his chair, gasping for air. I inched closer again, He recoiled in fear. "He wants your head." He said, scared. "What else in knew" I thought to myself. "Why did he attack the camp?" I asked forcfully. "To draw you out!" He yelped, hoping I would hurt him any farther. "Whats his endgame," I asked. Suddenly he got really quite, "His endgame? He wants to take your power and use it for himself… then hell kill you and all those you love.." He began to shake violently. "Is that what you want? Everyone you love killed?" He began to laugh histerically. "He drove us insane in that damn labrynth. Drove us to want to die for him." He kept laughing. I was caught off guard when he lunged at me, he began biting like a rabid dog. I grabbed his face and pressed my hands deep in his skull. He collapsed dead at my side. I knew he was dead, I got up and walked out. Once I was out of that tent Borus came up to me, "Did he give us anything important?" He asked. "Yes, the Dark Lord is behind the attack,That dark lord drove his soldiers mad in that place, He was using the dogs in part of the camp attack, We need to take him down." As if on que the dog trotted up to me, I bent down and rubbed his ear, I knew he wouldnt leave. "Hey Argos, whats up bud?" I said happily. He barked and spun in a circle, happily wagging his tail. "I agree, but we cant go yet, no one in the camp is strong enough to face him yet." He gave me a stern look. I know i didnt tell him everything but if I can go on that mission I can take care of it myself. He didnt need to know that someone was after my head again. "Hes dead." I said cassually. "He killed himself." I walked away. I walked away with argos in toe, I noticed everyone giving me weird and different look, some grateful some bad. I could only catch murmurs, "He saved us," "He brought the monsters here," "I heard him torture that enemy, Hes a monster". I didnt care, I wasnt here to make friends, I knew I had earned some respect, but everyone had a respectable fear of me, and that was ok. I knew they should be. I couldnt focus on that now, I had to get stronger, I had to get better at using my power, I knew I had just scratched the surface. I knew I had to surpass everyone, just like I knew I could. I couldnt wait, I raced around helping with the cleanups, the burials, and the rebuild. I knew Id need to train long and hard, I had to. To protect the ones I loved, I was determined to get stronger.