The Heroes of Olympus: The Black Swordsman

Hazel

"Stupid freaking demigods and mortals putting cars in my store!"

Pomona was grumbling as she threw a couple of apple slices and straberries into a blender preparing to make smoothies that probablly held the wrath of the fruit god within.

"Stupid idiots like you are the reason why I keep on having to move this store you know!!" Pomona complained further. "The last store I had in New York, some dope named Percy Jackson decided it would be a wonderfull idea to take my fruit and throw it at some stupid drakon. How are my fruit supposed to defeat a giant killer snake!!?"

Hazel, Kirito, Darren, and Yui were sitting around a dining table in the top living area of the store. Tiberius was pacing back and forth in front of the stairs that led back to the ruined store with the car.

"I'm sorry about your store." Said Hazel. "But there's more urgent bussiness we need to talk about."

"Yes, yes, Hestia and Hecate told me all about your little quest." said Pomona rolling her eyes. "You want to know a secret? You know why they made me the guardian to the Gates? Because I'm the last goddess anyone would suspect to be gaurding anything as serious as that. That way the location remains safe. Bah! I guess that's one use for being some powerless goddess of fruit."

"Pomona?" Kirito asked tentavely. "Could you please tell us what the Gates are? We haven't been able to get much information on them."

"WHAAAT?!" Exclaimed Pomona increduosly. "YOU WENT ON THIS QUEST WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR!!??"

'Jeez', thought Hazel. 'Get a grip.'

Pomona sat down on a chair and put her hands on her face. "It seems that before I guide you to the Gates, I must first explain what they are, as well as this ridiculous prophecy you have entangled yourself in."

"Daddy?" Yui squeeked. "That fruit lady is scary."

"Scary!?" Pomona looked increduosly at Yui. "You can't be saying that about me! All kids love me!!"

Hazel cleared her throat.

"Oh, right." Pomona sobered up a bit. "I was explaining the Gates."

Pomona handed out her apple and straberrie smoothies to everyone at the tables. "I suppose you have heard about the three signiture weapons of the gods have you?"

"Of course." said Darren. "The Helm of Darkness for Hades, Poseidon's Trident, and The Master Bolt which belongs to Zeus."

Pomona nodded. "The story of their creation is well known to many, but there is a secret to the source of their power. A secret that wasn't even explained in the myths. It's the ultimate secret of the Big Three's power you might say."

Pomona took out a piece of chalk and drew three arches on the table, with each arch she named it. "The Gate of Thunder..........The Gate of Oceanus.........and finally......The Gate of Fear. Each one of these Gates were created for one reason and one reason only..........to give an object power."

Hazel started to see where this was going. "They were intended to give the god's weapons their powers werent they?"

"Bingo lady Rome. The Master Bolt was passed through the Gate of Thunder, The Trident through the Gate of Oceanus, and the Helm through the Gate of Fear."

"So why do we need to find the Gates?" Kirito asked. "What does any of this have to do with stopping Kronos from reviving?"

"Nothing, because you're allready too late to stop Kronos from reviving."

"WHAT?!"

"You guys haven't looked up at the Chicago sky lately have you?"

Hazel and the others hurried over to the window and peered through the Blizzard looking closely at the sky. At first they didn't see anything.......but then they saw it. It was the most ginormous building they had ever seen, though they couldn't  see it clearly through the storm, they were able to make out numerous structures on the building that had to be thousands of feet in the air but yet still managed to be large enough to cover the entire sky. Hazel's mouth dropped, it was like looking at a real life Death Star.