Ascension of the Fallen

The Beginning of the End

"Annabeth, stop!" the lieutenant of the hunters ordered her, frantically running towards her.

The ten-year-old was inches away from touching the gadget when the daughter of Enyo quickly tackled her, stopping her from touching it and landing with her on the ground.

Annabeth's eyes were instantly wide with regret, and Thalia harshly scolded her for trying to reach the gadget and potentially putting all of their lives in danger.

"But it-it was calling to me..."

"Annabeth, you know we would all be dead right now if you had touched that."

The ten-year-old started crumpling under the pressure of all the girls glaring at her, and she started sobbing, bawling her eyes out.

Celyn comforted the daughter of Athena, knowing that she was still a kid despite her Athenian heritage and accelerated development.

She turned to the others with a light glare. "I don't want to see any of you pushing her too far on this quest. Annabeth is still a child after all."

The others relented in their gaze as they realized what the daughter of Apollo said was true and turned around to keep moving.

More than a few things appealed to the daughter of Zeus, including an ancient spear that seemed to fiercely call out to her. Decorated with ancient runes, Thalia guessed that it was of east Asian origin, and it was just pulsing with pure, blue power. She almost reached out to touch it, but the girl resisted, knowing that any touching would trigger something, and it was best left alone.

They walked for hours straight, pausing to rest here and there to rest.

Things were actually going well for once. No random monster had tried to attack them, and the five were all keeping away from the gigantic piles of junk that now surrounded them, avoiding even getting close to the junk in fear of touching anything.

From bows to shields to even mortal guns, crashed chariots to refrigerators, the never-ending mountain range of numerous divine metals and mortal metals were filled with tens of thousands of items.

And all of them kept away from the piles like they were some kind of plague.

Of course, that all had to go to shit.

The instant indication of danger that the group had was an ear-piercing screech made all of the group cover their eardrums in pain, cringing as the sound vibrated throughout the area.

Thalia immediately expanded her watch into her copy of Aegis as her can of mace turned into her spear. She crouched, scanning the horizon for anything that was looking to come kill them.

It looked like a normal mortal, except gigantic, and full of celestial bronze.

"Holy shit!" The daughter of Enyo exclaimed, voicing the thoughts of the rest of the group, "What the actual FUCK is that?"

Standing in front of the five girls and towering more than thirty feet high was an utter monstrosity of celestial bronze and mortal steel just aching to kill them.

"Who touched something?" Zoe and Thalia called out in unison, as everyone simultaneously turned their eyes to Annabeth, who raised her hands in defense.

The group started searching each other, checking each other's pockets and even the insides of boots.

Thalia spotted something glimmering on Phoebe's boot, and she gestured for her to lift her foot up.

A coin.

A fucking coin was stuck to the bottom of Phoebe's boot.

The daughter of Zeus almost wanted to rip her hair out in frustration, as she cursed loudly, attracting the rest of the group's attention.