artemis ; pjo

Fullfilled

That voice made my eyes snap open. I wasn't even seeing as I wrapped my arms around them, embracing them in a hug. I pulled away and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Me?" James asked, taken aback. He wasn't the one who almost died.

"Yeah."

"Uh, yeah, I'm dandy."

"Great, I just- Behind you!" I shouted. James spun around in time to behead a creature with Riptide. I struggled to stand up, but I used the building for support. Using my bow, I picked off five, and James took out six. In the midst of the chaos, I saw Madi plunge a dagger into a creature's head. Relief washed over me, knowing she was here.

   From beside me, James tore fabric from his shirt and grabbed onto my shoulders. He turned me around to my back where the long cut ran diagonally. James made a make shift bandage to soak the blood.

"Take it easy," he said before returning to the fight.

   I limped deeper into the swarm, stabbing two altitude a dagger, taking out another two with my bow. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sadie and Megan back to back. Sadie charmspeaking the creatures into killing their comrades; Megan taking slashes at them with a sword. The crowd of creatures were thinning, but we were still out numbered by hundreds.

   There was a flash of light and I saw a rainbow arc into the sky. A choir of screeches followed by silence. Dan had taken out a lot, but not enough. I killed three more, but one caught me by surprise. It tangled its claws in my hair, pulling out a chunk. I screamed in pain. A vine wrapped around the creature's neck and it dropped dead. MK emerged from the swarm, holding two others with vines. I smiled.

"Thanks," I shouted over the screaming.

   She nodded with a grin and went to go strangle more. I took my dagger to three more before running to the outside of the fight. From out there I used my bow to take out plenty. Beside me, Eric conjured up some dead to assist me along the outside. The dead stumbled along, lazily swinging their swords, yet still killing some. I was hoping that the rainbows would be the freakiest thing I saw, but then I saw something that I never thought I would live to see. Over the tops of the heads of the the creatures, I saw James and Ben working together to kill demons, covering for each other.

   All 10 of us fought in this jumble until the ground began trembling. At first it felt like a minor earthquake, but then it became extreme, knocking both me and the demon I was sparing off our feet. Inches of water seeped from the ground, pooling around my hands and legs where I was sitting on the ground. Then, all the water began drifting to my far right. It collected into a wall of water. At first it just sat there. Nine feet of towering water. All of a sudden, it began shaking violently until it exploded, forcefully crashing down.

   I screamed and closed my eyes, curling into a fetal position. Surprisingly, the water felt like nothing. Soon all was quiet, and I opened my eyes. I was completely dry, and alive. Looking around, all I saw was mountain of dust. Not a demon in sight. 9 of us were lying on the ground, wide eyed and scared. Only James was upright and unfazed, standing on a mount of dust.

I gasped.
"That was amaz-"

   A long howl cut me off. It was coming from inside the throne room. We all looked at each other before sprinting around the building. Peeking inside, I saw the large shadow-like creature stalking around the Fire, clearly in distress. Behind the monster, there was a white glow in the silhouette of a girl.

"I can't have distractions. Take care of these wretched demigods at once," it said. The girl nodded with a quick "Yes your Greatness." Then disappeared. We all exchanged a nervous glance. This wasn't going to be easy.