Annie's PoV

"Drakon," Gab muttered before ze fell forward, unconscious.

Ze almost dragged me down with em, but I managed to get out from under zeir arm. "No no no no. Gab! What's a drakon?" I shook em frantically, but ze remained lifeless. I looked up and found myself staring straight into the yellow eyes of a reptilian monster. It looked like a wingless dragon, and it smelled like fresh pine and ginger. "Oh." I whimpered. I slowly lifted my eyes and saw a giant that was taller than Bob sitting on top of the monster. He was holding a (flamethrower! Ha ha just kidding) sword that looked as if it was made out of bone.

"Annie, look out!" Bob's broom sailed over my head and sliced an amphisbaena. I jumped out of the way, and before I could run forward to get Gab away from the giant and the drakon, the drakon spat acid at the rest of the amphisbaenae.

"Nice one," Bob grunted as he caught his broom again.

The giant slid off of the drakon before saying, "There isn't much time. A wave of monsters will be here soon. Why do you get yourself caught up in the affairs of demigods? Why are they even down here in the first place? Will they ever learn?" The giant kept grumbling to himself as he picked up Gab.

I whimpered a little before I stood up straight and walked up to the giant. "Excuse me, who are you?"

The giant looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Currently, I'm the giant who is going to help keep you all alive, but my name is Damasen." He got back on the drakon and turned back to me. "Do you want to ride? It would be faster, and your friend here isn't going to last long with this poison."

I only hesitated for a fraction of a second before I nodded and climbed on. Gab had said something about a giant named Damasen. If he was the one ze was talking about, then I guess I could trust him for now. Especially since he and Bob had my friends. The drakon roared, and Damasen got it under control before making it turn around. It lunged at an impossible speed with Bob running behind it. After what felt like a few minutes, we stopped in the middle of a swamp. There was a tree at the edge of a cave with its roots going through a huge skull. On the other side was a hut that was the same color as the drakon's skin. Then I realized it was the drakon's skin. I swallowed hard and slid off the monster, careful not to go anywhere near its mouth. Bob took Nelson and Nico inside the hut, and Damasen followed him with Gab before turning to me. "Well? Are you just going to stand there, or are you coming inside?" He turned and walked back inside, and I scrambled in behind him.

The hut was definitely not what I expected. It was warm with a bonfire burning in the center of the hut. The smoke escaped through a small hole in the ceiling. There was a pot boiling over the fire, and the contents of it actually smelled good. Against the back wall of the hut was a giant bed made out of sheep skin. Nelson, Nico, and Gab were laying on the bed either asleep or unconscious. It felt... cozy.

I turned around to tell Damasen that I thought he had a nice hut, but he was busy mixing herbs, chewing on other herbs, and putting some soup or stew into bowls. He mixed three different herb combinations, including the herbs he had been chewing on, into three bowls, and he walked to the bed. He sat my friends up one at a time and forced some of the soupy contents in the bowls down their throats. Nelson gasped and sat up while clutching his head. Nico sighed and relaxed into a deep sleep. Gab's face was pale and sweaty, but it slowly gained color. Ze moaned and turned over before falling asleep.

"What's going on? I remember walking, and I fell asleep. Where are we? Who is he? What happened?" Nelson said with wide eyes and looking around.

"How do you feel?" I asked cautiously.

Nelson looked at me in confusion. "Awake. Energized. Alive. Alive is good. What happened?"

I ran up to Damasen and gave him a hug. He looked surprised, and he awkwardly patted my back. "Thank you for saving us and healing them!" I exclaimed.

Damasen still looked shocked  when I pulled away. Then he grunted, "Well, I couldn't let you all die." His tone was more gentle now than before. He turned away and got the soup thing from the pot into four more bowls. He turned back around with a small smile and passed it out to everyone. "Now, I think it's story time. Tell me about your life. Why are you here?"

Hey guys! I hope you liked this chapter! Sorry it took me forever to update it. I did have this one prewritten, but I kept getting interrupted to do stuff. I hope you all have a great day!