Commander Alpha

Chapter 20

"The seven, minus the one who was betrayed,

Shall face the one for whom to fight they were made;

The one who was Kronos's puppet turned bane,   

Will have to repeat his service again;

The one who thinks his burden has been relieved,

Will be stopped by the one he conceived;

The fire blessed one must win no matter the cost,

For if she loses against Night, then all will be lost;

One will fight their foe on an unfair terrain;

And when tempted by the enemy, they must refrain."

With those cryptic words, Rachel collapsed.  Chiron caught her and placed her in a chair. 
"Odd." He muttered.
"What?" Bianca asked.
"The smoke, it was a much darker color that it is normally." He explained.  I heard a noise from Emma.  Her eyes were wide in terror, her face pale.
'You figured out the prophecy, didn't you?' I mind messaged her.  She nodded.
"The prophecy, aside from the first two lines, is for us, the Warriors, not you guys." Chiron looked ready to object, but Emma continued.  "Besides the seven, all of the descriptions are matched perfectly by someone in our group.  Just trust me, okay?" She pleaded.  Chiron nodded, although it was obvious he was still unsure.  "Inform the campers of the prophecy.  Meanwhile, the Warriors need to have a meeting."

• • •
     

"So, you deciphered the prophecy, right?" Castor asked.
"Most of it, yeah, but you guys aren't going to like it."  She sighed.  "Okay, so the first line: 'The seven, minute the one who was betrayed, shall face the one for whom to fight they were made.' That means that the seven, minus Percy, are fighting Gaea." Percy didn't look happy about his friends fighting Gaea without him, but he didn't say anything.  "Next line: 'The one who was Kronos's puppet turned bane, will have to repeat his service again.' That means that Luke, you're fighting Kronos." Luke looked grim at the news.  "The third line: 'The one who thinks his burden has been relieved, shall be stopped by the one he conceived'.  I'm not sure-"
"It's me." Zoë looked nervous.  "I have to fight Atlas.  He conceived me and his burden of the sky has been briefly removed.  It has to be me." She looked around, as if daring one of us to object.  When no one did, she turned back to Emma.  "Contine."
"Next up is my personal favorite line," Emma said sarcastically.  "'The fire blessed one must win no matter the cost, for if she loses against Night then all will be lost'.  That means that I'm fighting Nyx and have to win, no matter what, or else... or else, I don't know.  However, I do know that I do not like the sound of that.  The last line is the one that really concerns me: 'One will fight his foe on an unfair terrain, and when tempted by the enemy, he must refrain'. There's no indication to the person's identity.  Also, it says they will fight on an unfair terrain."  Silena shrugged.
"Hey, for all we know, it could be unfair to the other side." She suggested, trying to remain upbeat.  
"With our luck and the fates' passion for torturing me, that won't be the case." Percy scoffed.  I frowned.
"We should talk to Chiron about the last line.  It could be about a camper" I recommend, receiving a chorus of approvals.
"Also, I was thinking, Zoë, Luke, Percy, and I should reveal ourselves to Chiron.  He doesn't seem to trust us fully yet, and we can't have our side divided.  We're already at enough of a disadvantage."  Percy and Luke traded stares, probably having a mental talk about the proposal.
"Okay," Percy decided.  "I trust Chiron.  But first, let's get Chaos to briefly change our voices back, and we can tell him the prophecy."  Percy pushed back the sleeve of his cloak to reveal a simple bracelet he was wearing around his left wrist.  It had a button in the front that alerted Chaos that we needed him wherever we were.  I had just created and distributed them to the group a few days ago.  Their invention was inspired by the whole Percy-blowing-off-Emma's-leg thing.  Percy pressed the button, and a few seconds later, Chaos appeared.
"You rang?"
"Yeah, two things actually.  First, can you change Percy, Zoë, Emma, and I's voices back to normal for a half hour so we can reveal ourselves to Chiron?" Luke asked.  Chaos snapped his fingers.
"Done.  And the second thing?" Emma told Chaos the prophecy and explained the meanings that we'd come up with so far.  Chaos laughed, turning to Percy.  "Man, you're a prophecy magnet I tell you."
"I mean, I'm not specifically mentioned in this one, so that's an improvement." Percy laughed back, sounding like himself again.
"Thanks, Chaos." Emma said, hinting that he should leave.  Chaos picked up on this.
"Yeah, nice to visit and all, but I have important things to attend to.  Creator of the universe stuff, y'know?"
"Like beating your highscore on Flappy Bird?" Percy asked like it was some kind of inside joke between them.
"Maybe." Chaos teleported away before we could make fun of him.
"Flappy Bird, really?" Silena exclaimed.  "That came out, what, 2013?" I shrugged.
"I mean, he is older than the universe itself, so time must feel a little different to him." I suggested.  
Castor sighed. "But Flappy Bird?  Really?"

Sorry for being late!  I was having formatting issues on my phone and didn't have access to my computer...