"Ritchie!"

"Ritchie! Wake up!"

Ritchie yelped when he felt someone push him off the comfort of his bed. He groaned as he rubbed the back of his head where it had hit his bed side drawer.

"Ritchie!"

The blue eyed demigod looked up and saw Michael standing at the other side of his bed. The son of Athena had his shield and spear out. His dark brown hair was unusually messy and his clothes were wrinkled like it was pulled on in a hurry.

"What's going on?" Ritchie asked when he saw the panic in his friend's dark brown eyes.

"The camp's protective shield has been breached, that's what!" Michael almost yelled. "We need everyone out there! Now!"

Ritchie's eyes widened and he wasted no time in grabbing his stuff and following Michael outside. The moment they stepped out the door, both demigods found themselves surrounded by a horde of monsters. The oldest son of Hermes would have been surprised to see monsters inside the camp if Michael hadn't already told him the situation.

Upon instinct, Ritchie summoned a tornado, which took care of most of the monsters. Those that remained were quickly taken care of by Michael with several slashes of his spear, the Art of War.

"Come on, we gotta help the others." The purple clad demigod said before running towards the main field.

Ritchie followed, using his Rending Gale to fly on top of a tree. He noticed that the sky was still dark, which only meant that it was very early in the morning. He wasn't able to think much of it, however, when he saw just how bad the situation was.

Everywhere on camp, monsters of all shapes and sizes are either attacking campers or just wrecking havoc. Ritchie can also see that a handful of the campers were fighting against the trespassers.

He can see Daveed and Jake fighting over by the oracle's building, with Daveed slashing with his sword and Jake using his ice magic and bubble spell. The two demigods didn't really get along, so they were having trouble working together. But thanks to Michael's team building exercises, they were managing to at least not hit each other.

Mitch was fighting with his trident at the docks with an invisible Inmo using his magic to place traps or teleport monsters away. Ritchie almost didn't see his brother, but he has been getting better at seeing invisible objects. Thanks to his two brothers, who both loved going invisible on him every time they hang out.

Ritchie can also see Xylo, Mario and Kaykrae fighting side by side by the baseball field. Xylo and Mario were using fire and lightning respectively while Kaykrae flew around them, hitting whatever she can with her large sword.

It seems almost everyone is here, Ritchie thought, remembering the last time there were this many campers.

A couple of figures in the air caught Ritchie's eye and he looked up and saw three of the campers who he knew were able to fly.

Brick and Seekah were flying around, attacking anything in the air with their blades (the older son of Ares using fire magic every now and again), while Colin was acting as an assist, using his various spells to support anyone on the ground who might need help.

"Gah!"

Ritchie snapped out of his thoughts and realized that he spent too long observing the scene. He looked down below him and saw Michael clutching his shoulder where an arrow had hit. Monsters were closing in on him and all the purple clad demigod can do was block the attacks with his shield, Aegis.

Without a second thought, Ritchie dropped down and unleashed tornadoes and using his whirlwind spells to push them back. Taking out his sword, Ritchie swiftly dealt with the remaining monsters. Once they were clear, Ritchie helped Michael up.

"Thanks," the only son of Athena said with a nod. His eyes looked at something behind Ritchie and in one swift movement, he took out his spear and stabbed a zombie that was creeping behind the son of Hermes.

The auburn haired male shook off his surprise and decided to focus. "These things just keep on coming." He complained.

"We need to help the others," Michael said as he pointed towards the direction of the camp entrance. "The other campers are trying to keep the monsters from coming. We think the portion of the shield there is broken, hence why there are so many monsters."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ritchie didn't wait for a response as he was already running towards the entrance with Michael trying to keep up with his speed.

When they reached the garden, Ritchie quickly assessed the scene. The people that Ritchie didn't see a while ago were here.

Austin was perched on top of one of the statues, shooting arrows and using his sword when monsters came near him. Bri was hovering beside him, using her spells to assist the son of Apollo. Across from them were Marshie and Relena.

The harpy was dual wielding her large battle axes, movements swift for someone carrying weapons that were twice her size, while Relena used her sword and was shapeshifting every now and then.

Michael ran past Ritchie, running towards the main entrance and starting to fight. That's when Ritchie noticed Brandeen. The second son of Ares was taking out more monsters with the help of his large blade and the claw on his left hand.

Pulling out his staff, Ritchie yelled, "Heads up!" to the others before summoning tornadoes. The three girls flew out of the way (with Relena turning into a bird), Austin held onto the statue, while Michael and Brandeen simply dodged the tornadoes.

"Hey! Watch it!" Austin shouted. "That almost hit me!"

"Suck it up," was all the eldest son of Hermes said.

The six demigods (plus one harpy) proceeded to take care of the remaining monsters. There were some monsters that got past them, but they didn't bother running after them, knowing that the other campers will take care of it. They were able to reduce the numbers but monsters kept on coming in through the entrance. Since it was still dark, the monsters kept on coming and the demigods were starting to feel tired.

"Argh! This is pointless!" Brandeen complained as he barely dodged another projectile from a monster.

"They'll never stop coming unless we patch up that hole," Michael said over the sounds of battle.

"How about we just block it off with a wall," the son of Apollo suggested.

"That won't hold them." Ritchie pointed out before using his whirlwind spell to push a skeleton away.

"We need something similar to the shield." Marshie said, turning around to face another monster. She yelped when she saw a centaur behind her and she quickly flew up just as it swung its weapon at her. Relena ran over and quickly defeated it.

"Does anyone have any diamond torches (idk what those were called)?" The adopted daughter of Artemis asked. The other demigods voiced their confusion.

"I have regular torches... and a diamond." Austin called, pulling out said items. "Do these count?"

Relena sighed and said, "I read somewhere that a diamond torch emits a protective barrier around it that keeps monsters away."

Marshie flew down beside her, her purple feathers slightly ruffled from fighting. "So we just need to find one or two of it and we can patch up the shield?" She asked.

When the satyr nodded, Marshie quickly flew away saying, "I'll ask the others!"

With that, the six demigods continued to fend off the monsters. Luckily, the sun began to rise and most of the monsters began to burn in the sunlight.

"Aha! Take that, ya creeps!" Austin yelled as he watched some zombies set on fire. The black haired demigod then looked directly at the sun and smiled. "Thanks, Dad!"

«¤»

The remaining demigods made quick work of the rest of the monsters and they were able to clear the garden in no time. As they all tried to catch their breaths, Bri landed and let out a laugh.

"Oh man, that was intense. I like it!" The daughter of Aphrodite said as she put away her wand.

The other demigods were about to put away their weapons as well, when the ground shook.

Once.

Twice.

It seemed to be getting closer. It was like something big was walking towards them.

Ritchie turned to look outside and slowly raised his staff. "We can't celebrate yet." He muttered, blue eyes narrowed.

All eyes turned to where the auburn haired male was looking and their eyes widened.

Walking towards them, just coming up from behind the hill, was a cyclops. But it looked larger and bulkier than regular cyclops and it was carrying a large tree (which it probably pulled from the ground). It had scars and patches of black all over its body. And even from the distance, they could see that it had purple veins around its eye.

"Is that..." Bri squinted her eyes to make sure she was seeing it right. "A cyclops?"

"A-are they supposed to be that large?" Relena asked, her voice wavering a bit. Austin jumped down beside her.

"I don't think that's a normal cyclops." He muttered, taking out an arrow and notching it onto his bow. Just in case.

"No," Michael said fearfully. "It definitely isn't."

The large cyclops gave a high-pitched roar that seemed to echo everywhere, and began to charge. The ground shook with every step the large monster took, and as it drew closer the demigods prepared to stand their ground.

Michael gulped and tightened his grip on the Art of War. He's never fought a cyclops this large before, and he was afraid of what might happen. They were already tired from fighting so many monsters. Sure, the endurance training he's been giving the other campers were coming in useful, but they're still just humans. One misstep because of fatigue can be fatal.

The cyclops was only a couple meters away, its movements making the earth shake and the demigods had to keep from falling over. But before any of them could move, a blur of pink flew past them.

The blur began to fly around the cyclops, glimmers of stars coming down from the sky every now and then to attack the beast. The cyclops roared again and swung the tree it was holding over its head to try to fight back.

The blur dodged with a yelp and hovered out of the monster's reach. Michael didn't recognize the mop of orange hair right away, but Ritchie apparently did.

"Colin! Get out of there!" The older son of Hermes called, worried for his brother.

The orange haired demigod looked back at them over his shoulder and gave a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, bro! I got this- ACK!"

The cyclops swung the tree at the demigod and it sent him flying back. The force was so strong that Colin flew back to the entrance and into Ritchie, who was about to try and catch him mid air.

The two sons of Hermes groaned as they sat up from the ground, where they ended up on top of each other. Marshie landed behind them with a confused expression.

"Okay! So, apparently, I don't got this." Colin said sheepishly. Ritchie, who was under his brother, glared at him. All Colin did was give him a sheepish grin.

"Heads up!" They heard Michael shout. They turned their heads to see Michael and Brandeen raising their weapons and blocking the cyclop's attack.

But despite the two's combined strengths, the cyclop was stronger. Still tired from fighting the hordes of monsters, the two demigods falter.

Austin wasted no time in pulling the string of his bow back and shooting an arrow at the exposed eye of the cyclops. The arrow hit its mark, but the cyclops barely even flinched as it reached up a hand to pull out the arrow. It only made the beast more angry.

Michael and Brandeen both grunted as they tried to push back with everything they had. Marshie and Relena went to help while Austin shot an arrow again, but like last time, it did nothing to harm the monster.

"What the!?"

"Isn't that supposed to hurt it?" Bri asked frantically.

Ritchie huffed from behind as the two sons of Hermes got up. "I think we've already established that that thing isn't normal." He said, sounding angry.

"How do we defeat it then?" Colin asked his brother. He only ever fought a cyclops once before (when he found that cave under the camp), and this thing is apparently stronger.

"We need to get that thing away from the others first." Bri pointed out.

Ritchie turned to his brother. "Colin, the tornadoes!"

Colin nodded and the two took out their staffs. In an unspoken signal, the two brothers summoned tornadoes at the cyclops. It worked as they had hoped and the tornadoes pushed the cyclops back. But it also affected their friends and they got thrown in different directions.

Colin and Bri quickly flew up and caught Michael and Brandeen while Relena and Marshie simply flew. Once everyone was safe on the ground they turned their attention back to the cyclops.

The beast got up from where it was thrown back and it let out an ear-splitting roar. It then began to come at them in a speed faster than before.

"Colin, quick, the torches!" Marshie shouted frantically.

Colin sputtered for a good minute as he pulled out a transmutation tablet and took out two diamond torches. He then tossed one to Marshie and the two of them swiftly placed it on either side of the entrance.

At the same moment, the cyclops reached out to grab them, but was pushed back as the torches activated. The cyclops got up and began smashing its fists against the invisible barrier.

The seven campers held their breaths and readied their weapons in case the cyclops was able to break through.

The cyclops let out another ear-splitting roar and raised its fist high above its head. But the second its fist came down, a swirling, red portal appeared under it. The cyclops fell in and the portal closed like it was never there.

The demigods stared at where the portal was moments ago before their eyes raised to the girl who was standing a few feet away from them, a red and orange staff with a red gem at the top held in front of her.

She had brown hair that reached down to her mid back and tan skin. She was wearing a black jacket with yellow cuffs, an orange shirt underneath, dark gray pants, and black combat boots. Her bright red eyes were wide as she lowered her staff.

The other demigods looked at the girl with confusion. But Michael and Ritchie looked like they've just seen a ghost. The girl smiled awkwardly.

"Hey, guys." She greeted. "Sorry I'm late."