Chapter 2 - The Prophecy
published: Wednesday, 2 January 2019

[ 5 years later || May ]

Hazel Levesque paced her way along the border of Camp Half-Blood atop Arion, her cavalry sword at the ready.

Her eyes darted between the trees of the lush forest, watching, waiting for anything to appear.

To her left, her boyfriend Frank Zhang was seated on the rock next to her, a notebook and a pen on his lap.

He was filling in the empty boxes with numbers, and Hazel desperately wanted to ask him what he was doing, but she didn't know how to.

That problem had come up a lot lately. Hazel didn't know how to talk to Frank anymore, and it worried her. Frank had always been her best friend, the one person she was never afraid to confide in. Now, she never knew how to start conversations, and she always worried about what she said.

Fortunately, Frank glanced up and noticed her intent gaze on his activity book.

"It's Sudoku," Frank explained. "They're Chinese puzzles that my grandmother used to do with me when I was a kid. She gave me this book when I left for Camp Jupiter."

Hazel nodded in understanding.

She tried not to think about how awkward their relationship had become that they had to resort to the topic of puzzles.

A rustle in the trees drew her attention away from Frank's Sudoku.

A figure clad in black emerged, a wicked sword of midnight-black hanging from his belt.

In an instant, Hazel had her longsword in the air, Frank at her side with an arrow knocked and aimed at the intruder.

"Woah, guys!" A familiar voice of surprise echoed around the clearing. The intruder raised his hands in fake surrender.

A grin spread across Frank's face. He lowered his bow.

Hazel slid off Arion's back. "Nico!" She ran forward and leaped onto her brother.

Nico staggered back from the weight of the hug, laughing. "I missed you too, Hazel."

Hazel blushed as she retracted her arms. "Sorry." She punched him in the arm. "I haven't seen you in months! Where the hell have you been?"

Nico raised his eyebrows. "You kiss Frank with that mouth?"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Where have you been, Nico?"

He shuffled his feet. "Around. The Underworld, checking Camp Jupiter again."

Hazel's face fell as the celebratory mood of her brother's arrival was replaced with dismay at his news. "No news, huh?"

Nico shook his head glumly. "If Percy had died, I would've felt it, I'm a hundred percent sure of that. But I haven't, so he's definitely alive somewhere."

"We just don't know where," Hazel finished.

She sighed. "We haven't had much luck over here either. We've had attacks nearly every day now. Chiron's implemented border patrol because the invicta's surprise attacks are starting to impact the camp."

"Hey," Nico waved in greeting to Frank. "Look, I'd love to talk to you guys for a bit, but I've really got to report to Chiron. And I should drop by and check on Annabeth too." He looked between them warily. "Is she any better?"

Frank winced. "Depends on your definition of 'better'."

"She's thrown herself into work so much," Hazel said in a low voice. "She's been that way since Percy disappeared."

Nico's expression darkened. He exchanged looks with Frank. "Well, I should go say hi then. And..." He trailed off like he didn't know how to phrase his sentence.

"Will's in the infirmary," Hazel informed him.

"Oh, okay," Nico said with false nonchalance.

Hazel could tell he was excited to see his boyfriend again.

In the next second, a few things happened at once.

A crack of a twig was the only thing that alerted Hazel.

She and Frank spun around simultaneously just as Nico froze in his tracks.

A deafening roar split the air, and the army burst out from the trees.

"Reinforcements!" Hazel yelled, frantically scrambling atop Arion. She yanked the conch horn from her belt and blew into it as loudly as she could.

The attack signal spread across camp, and chatter started rippling across the demigods.

Hazel stood her ground and slashed at as many monsters as she could as the first wave overcame her. Arion whinnied cuss words at the monsters.

Frank shot multiple arrows at once, but he was quickly overwhelmed.

"Serve me!" Nico's shouts were drowned out by the thudding of paws on the ground and snarling.

Hazel couldn't see her brother behind the monsters, but walls of obsidian rock erupted out of the ground, sending groups of monsters flying into the air and blocking their way into the camp.

A loud battle cry drew Hazel's attention to the oncoming reinforcements.

It was Clarisse La Rue who had been closest during the attack. She was a burly girl from the Ares cabin who scared Hazel to death. She charged the sea of monsters with her siblings at her sides.

She pulverised the monsters in her path and cut a line into their ranks.

Haze charged the monsters, Arion zipping through the throngs. She spotted some dracanae, a couple of hellhounds, and some Cyclopes. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

More armed demigods were starting to arrive at the battle, and the monsters were starting to deplete.

Then another wave of monsters emerged from behind the trees. This time, they were a mix of hissing vampire-liking creatures, and worst of all, lines upon lines of invicta.

Hazel lopped off heads and snakes as she sped through the crowd, but fighting an invictus on a horse was no use - she'd learnt that the hard way when Arion broke his leg a few years ago.

She stayed back and fought the easier monsters, leaving the invicta to Clarisse and her siblings.

Nico waded into the battle with Stygian iron sword cutting arcs through their ranks, dispelling multiple monsters in one strike.

"Archers!" Hazel recognised Chiron's yell from behind, and a volley of arrows struck down a whole group of hellhounds.

"Go, boy!" Hazel urged Arion. She slid off his back and disappeared into the fight, letting her horse escape to wherever he usually went.

Her longsword gave her an advantage, since the length allowed her to cut through several creatures at once.

"Hazel!" Frank released an arrow that struck an empousai about to sink her teeth into Hazel's neck. Hazel took her down with a final blow.

"Be careful," Nico warned her, coming up from behind. He hardly seemed tired from summoning the obsidian earlier, and Hazel wondered what he'd been doing that had made his powers so much stronger. "If you fall, you'll get trampled."

Together, they backed up an invictus against a tree, where Nico impaled it with his sword and let the water leak out until the empty shell flattered to the ground.

The familiar loud clanking of metal gave Hazel warning, and she hit the ground, dragging Nico with her.

Just in time, as a column of fire seared out above their heads. Festus the dragon clanked and creaked as he walked into the clearing.

Leo's loud whooping filled her ears. "Your Mr McShizzle is here to the rescue!"

Nico rolled his eyes and helped Hazel up.

"Where were you?" Hazel shouted to Leo.

"Bunker 9," Annabeth yelled back. She was fighting beside Leo, and they must've been working on a project together.

Leo let out a cheer and threw a fireball at the nearest invictus. "Eat fire!" The invictus and the monsters beside it evaporated into dust.

Hazel watched as Annabeth whirled through the monsters' ranks, fighting like the devil. Her bronze dagger glinted in the sunlight as she stabbed and parried.

Hazel still found it strange when Annabeth fought with her dagger, a new one she'd taken after the Massacre at Camp Jupiter. It was similar to her first dagger that had been lost in Tartarus, but Hazel always imagined Annabeth fighting with her drakon-bone sword.

Hazel blocked a strike from an invictus, but the force pushed her back into a tree. Three other invicta cornered her, blocking off all paths of escape. Her mind raced to find a new strategy, but there was no way out.

A bolt of lightning streaks through the sky and zapped the invicta to dust. Hazel glanced up to see Jason flying in, golden spatha in hand, and Piper held by the waist.

They landed a bit away from Hazel, and instantly engaged in the fight. Hazel was proud of Piper for remembering all the moves that Hazel had taught her.

As Hazel scanned the battlefield, she had to admit that it was going pretty well so far. Their defences were holding up, and the wave of monsters were being pushed back.

The trees rustled again, and Hazel stumbled backwards and braced herself for another line of monsters.

Instead, a single figure dressed in a black cloak emerged. The hood hid his face, but the warrior was a human.

Demigods seemed to pause in confusion. Hazel stopped short next to Nico. This was new. Humans had never been part of an attack.

Then the warrior attack.

Hazel had never seen anyone move at such blinding speed, with such smooth execution of technique.

He slashed through the demigod ranks, cutting down everything in his path.

Hazel watched in horror as demigods fell from stab wounds and cuts. She made to intercept, but Frank pulled her back.

She could see his eyes flashing with worry.

"Don't," Frank said. "We need to take care of the monsters. Others are already going to intercept. It's fine."

He gestured towards where the blonde daughter of Athena was wading her way towards the fight.

Hazel turned back reluctantly. She knew she wouldn't stand a chance against the warrior anyway.

She tried not to look at Frank.

Was that why he didn't want her to go? Was it because he thought she was too inexperienced?

Hazel swallowed and pushed the dismal thoughts out of her mind. She lifted her sword and plunged into battle.

^^^^

Annabeth leaped onto a hellhound and stabbed it through the maw. She nimbly slid of its back as it disintegrated.

The warrior was still a few feet away, but barely anyone was slowing him down.

Annabeth's gaze flickered towards camp. She couldn't let him reach.

Her stomach growled, but her practice of ignoring it paid off. She hardly felt it anymore.

Annabeth took down another empousai, which brought back memories, and ducked under a dracanae's blade. She was almost to the warrior.

A grunt of pain spurred Annabeth on even more. "Jason," she breathed.

Her friend was facing the warrior, and he was having trouble trying to block a strike. The warrior easily danced around him, deflecting blows.

The warrior drew back his sword and ran it through Jason's gut.

"No!" Piper's shout of anguish matched Annabeth's exact thoughts, and both of them instantly raced towards him.

Annabeth tackled the warrior with a flying leap, and they tumbled away from Jason. Annabeth was vaguely aware of Piper rushing to Jason's side.

She recovered quickly and scrambled to her feet, only to see the warrior already charging her.

The warrior brought down his sword, and Annabeth caught the strike on the hilt of her dagger. She twisted her arm in an attempt to disarm him, but the warrior held fast.

He slashed at her throat, and Annabeth parried the strike. She gritted her teeth with effort and let out a huff as she pushed the blade away.

In her peripheral vision, Annabeth saw Piper standing above Jason, defending him from the other monsters.

Annabeth went for the warrior's legs, but he simply jumped over her dagger. The flat of his blade whacked her across the side, sending her stumbling back.

Annabeth jumped forward and their swords clashed. He parried, she struck, he blocked.

The fight kept going, and Annabeth wasn't sure how she was keeping up. In the back of her mind, Annabeth recognised his fighting pattern, all the moves he was using. It was all too familiar.

Annabeth was starting to tire, and the warrior didn't seem at all fazed. His moves were flawless and he never made a mistake.

Annabeth scrutinised him a bit more, and she noticed that his left side was less defended because his sword was on the right. She feinted to the right and landed a well-placed kick on his left side.

The warrior stumbled to the ground.

Annabeth rushed forward, pinning him down with her knee. The blood pounded in her ears as she tentatively lifted up his hood.

It revealed a young man with brown hair and a hooked nose. His eyes were a void of black, without any whites.

Annabeth dropped the hood with disappointment. Then she chided herself for doin so.

Who had she expected it to be anyways?

Percy, her mind replied.

Unfortunately, Annabeth's moment of distraction lent the warrior an advantage. He kicked her off him with a blow to the gut, grabbed his sword and slashed at her.

Unprotected and caught by surprise, Annabeth felt the sting on her wrists as the sword cut across her arms. She dropped her dagger with a yelp of pain, and the warrior knocked her flat again.

He lifted the sword over her, and Annabeth prepared herself to be struck down.

Instead, the warrior hesitated. Then he spun on his heel and sprinted towards Jason.

"No!" Annabeth shouted. She'd forgotten all about Jason. She scrambled for her dagger, but it was too late.

The warrior approached Piper, who was standing over Jason's body with a determined look on her face.

The warrior struck at her and parried her defending blow, disarming her instantly.

He bashed the hilt of his sword against her head, and Piper's limp body collapsed into his arms.

By the time Annabeth realises what was happening, the warrior had already opened a portal. He sprinted through with Piper in his arms, an injured and pale Jason unable to do anything.

Annabeth went slack as the portal closed.

The warrior was gone, as was Piper.

She should've done more. If she'd been a better fighter, she could've saved her.

You can't do anything, Annabeth told herself miserably. Why couldn't you be better? More perfect?

Annabeth felt something wet against her knee, and she looked down to see blood from the cuts on her wrist oozing out. The sight of so much of her own blood made her dizzy, and she felt her mind go into a daze.

Annabeth's head hit the ground.

Piper was gone. Hazel was shouting her name and running over to her. The monsters were retreating back into the forest, disappearing behind the trees.

Annabeth's eyelids fluttered close. Her world darkened.