A Few Days Later
Third POV
"Alright Chaos, what's next? We've told the Olympians. We should send at least three Elite to train the campers." said Zoe.
"Well we also need people at Camp Jupiter." Luke noted.
"So you, Zoe and Ethan will train Camp Half-Blood. Dakota, Lee and Michael will train Camp Jupiter. The rest will remain here to train the Eternals." Chaos said.
"Sounds good to me," said Luke.
Everyone nodded. "When do we leave?" asked Ethan.
"As soon as possible. When we got Percy out, we destroyed Aeon's scrolls and plans, remember? We've probably got a few years before they wage war. They've got a large army. So Chaos, have you gotten Tartarus and Nyx on our side?" said Castor.
"Yeah, we have their support. It took a while, but I promised them a truce and being able to live up here in peace, as long as they don't attack us." She continued, "Okay, Luke, Zoe and Ethan, prepare to travel to Camp Half-Blood. I want you there by tonight, but you have to have the gods with you there. As for Dakota, Lee and Michael I want you there at Camp Jupiter by tonight, having the other gods who won't be at Camp Half-Blood to be with you. Bianca, Silena, Charles and Castor begin training now. I will also help, but I will mostly be travelling between our camp and the other camps, also checking in on Tartarus and Nyx."
"Okay, sounds good. Let's get ready," Dakota gestured to Lee and Michael.
"We'll also get ready," said Zoe.
Everyone nodded at each other, and the Elite dispersed. They went to their quarters. Zoe packed her things, along with the others.
"Let's go to the gods," said Luke.
And so they went.
"Alright! I want you two groups with me!" said Charles. "I want you two groups with SIlena, you two with Bianca, and you two with Castor! The rest of you, huddle together. I want you to then spilt into groups of fifteen."
The Eternals did as they were told, and soon everyone was jumbled together. The only way you could tell which group someone was from was the hemming of the cloaks. Percy's group was hemmed with white. Silena's was pink. Luke's was yellow. Bianca's was bronze. Dakota, red. Castor, gray. Ethan, green. Zoe, silver. Michael, blue. Lee, purple. Charles, orange.
"I'll be training you on stealth, and how to hunt and things like that!" said Charles.
"You'll know how to use every single weapon by the end of the week!" said Castor.
"From me, you'll learn to manifest powers!" yelled Bianca.
"And from me, you'll be learning better survival tactics and other tactics useful in all areas! Starting off with the schedule, you'll be waking up at 6:00 in the morning, I want you all ready and make sure you've already had breakfast by 7:00! We'll begin training, six hours in the morning, lunch break, and then another six hours! The rotation will be from Charles to Castor, Castor to me, me to Bianca, and Bianca to Charles. After dinner, you'll be training on your agility, strength and flexibility. And don't worry about any of them, you all will reach the same level when we're done with training. Understood?"
"Yes," was what Silena got.
"Alright, come on, then!" Silena marched off to a huge building built by the Eternals. She pulled a bunch of boxes out and pointed to them. "Five people at each table, you all will be teams for the next week, so choose wisely. After you've chosen, select a table and send two people to collect a box."
People rushed around, teaming up with others and sitting at their chosen table. There were eleven teams, and two from each table came forward and picked up a box. Then they headed back to their table and set it down.
"Open the boxes," ordered Silena.
In each box was different materials. Either some string, or a pencil, or a pocket knife, anything. Silena walked up to one table and picked up their materials.
"Create something from the things given, you have two and a half hours. This will test your creativity to use what you have when under the pressure of time, the most common situation to be stuck in when you only have a few seconds." She said while setting the materials down. They trainees got to work.
"Your first test will be choosing what you wear. Clothing is important in stealth, so you make sure that your outfit will not make any noise in a case where you have to stand in a tight space or something like that. You have five minutes to select light, durable and quiet clothing for yourselves, GO!" Charles clicked his stop watch, and everyone rushed forward to get the things they were eyeing.
"Remember, light shoes, light clothing, less noise." said Charles.
Some quickly put their pants and shirt on, and stood back. Others simply wished for their cloaks to become what they wanted it to become. The last people were a bit troubled in finding what they wanted, but eventually they got it.
"Now to practice stealth moves! We'll be walking in silence, and simply doing this movement over and over again. Heel to toe to heel to toe. Side steps, leaps and more. Repeat." Charles demonstrated the movements he talked about, everyone followed.
First they walked silently on the grass, making slow, small movements. They side stepped, leaped over their obstacles and landed with small noises.
"Keep working, I'll be checking your movements in ten minutes. Keep it nice and slow. It would be amazing if you could perform it quicker, but the objective is to make no noises. Then we'll move on to tighter spaces."
"And thrust forward!" Castor showed a simple throw by the spear. It flew long and high, even against the winds. Then it disappeared into the skyline.
Everyone followed him, but they didn't get as high or far as Castor.
"The spear is like your arm. Follow it. Guide it. Make it obey, let it's goal be clear. Once you have guided it and its goal is clear, follow through, and it will reach its goal. The strength is in your arm, that's the key. Step forward thrice, as you will get the build-up you want."
"But won't that sometimes make us miss the goal?" A girl asked.
Castor smiled warmly at her. "Not unless you guide it properly. After you master this, I'll teach you to do a more advanced move; taking one step forward, tilting your body and throwing the spear at a different angle than normal. It's a good tactic, but first you need to do this."
The girl nodded and got back to practice. She took a deep breath and ran her fingers along the spear. She stopped, and gripped it at the balance point with enough force to make sure it would be easy to control but it wouldn't hurt too much to grip it so tightly. Her thumb was on the bottom side, and her fingers curled around. Then she raised the spear equivalent to her ear, and took a step forward. At the second step, she changed her position ever so slightly, her right foot now in forward and just the tiniest bit diagonal. The girl leapt forward like a lion, her left hand outstretched marking the goal. Then she thrust forward, keeping her balance and T-stance. Her eyes watched as the spear hit the target, directly in the bullseye.
"Good," Castor put a hand on her shoulder. She smiled in response, and went to pick up her spear for another try.
"Now close your eyes. Focus on what is most dear to you, and search every part of your body. Interact with yourself, and make sure to breathe with slow and deep breaths." Bianca demonstrated. After a few seconds, she started to glow, and a spiral of the earth flew up directly in front of her, shocking her students. "Find your balance, achieve what you want. You must be sure of yourself at all times, channeling you energy to what matters the most."
She got up as the trainees closed their eyes and began to connect with themselves. Bianca didn't expect them to get it straight away. It took her hours before she finally found a part of herself and connected with some of her powers. She knew she would have to reassure them.
"Stay focused. It had took me a long time, but you must know thy are hidden inside you, waiting to come out. As a child of Hades, I got those powers immediately, as they weren't hidden. But you can manifest what's hidden inside of you, deep inside of you. You just have to search and search, call for it, make it yours. It will come, do not worry, it will come. It took me hours just to find a portion of my powers."
They kept their eyes closed, and took another deep breath in response. Bianca smiled, knowing they would get it soon if they continued to concentrate.
"As we previously met, I am Glider. This is Nightstar. And we have four other Elite with us," said Luke.
"Who will be going where?" Athena raised an eyebrow.
"We will have Leopard, Archer and Shooter go to Camp Jupiter along with Lord Mars and Lord Jupiter to clear things up for the campers. Razor, Nightstar and I will train Camp Half-Blood with Lord Poseidon and Lord Hades to announce our presence. As soon as you leave, we will have complete authority over the camps."
"Excuse you?!" boomed Zeus.
"You heard him right," Dakota said. Zeus sat back, having three spears thrown at him. One narrowly missed his heart, another next to his head, and the last near his crotch.
"Enough, Leopard. Like Glider said, we'll have complete authority over the camps if you want to win this war," said Zoe as she stepped forward.
"Then let's go," said Poseidon.
"One thing, first. We need you to clarify something. Are the campers aware of the prophecy?"
"How do you know about it?" Apollo's eyes widened.
"We have our ways. Now answer the question."
"Yes, they do know."
"Lords Poseidon and Hades with us!" yelled Luke. They grumbled, not wanting to follow another's orders, but they reluctantly got up anyway.
"And Lord Jupiter and Lord Mars with us," Dakota finished. The two gods changed forms and went over to the three Elite.
"The rest of you will notify us of anything new, is that clear?" declared Zoe.
The gods agreed with unhappy moods, and flashed out. Then the two groups separated, one to Camp Half-Blood and the other to Camp Jupiter.
"Demigods!" roared Jupiter.
Everyone quickly assembled on the Field of Mars. They noticed the three hooded figures standing by their two most respected Olympians. The demigods bowed.
"You may rise. My son and I have come to tell you something. As you know, there is a new prophecy. The enemy is beyond us, a Primordial."
Groans were heard.
"But this time," Mars added, "There will be three Primordials."
They gasped at this. "How are we supposed to hold against them, milord?"
"That's where these three figures come in. Empress Chaos, the first Primordial, has agreed to help us. These three figures are some of her..."
"We are her partners. We have our own group called the Eternals, which we lead. There are eleven Elite Eternals, three being us, three at another camp, and four with the other Eternals." said Dakota while stepping forward.
"Where is the eleventh one?" A kid yelled.
"He died in battle, taking deadly bullets for Empress Chaos that could've killed her and almost did."
Mars and Jupiter looked shocked at this, already knowing that Percy was the eleventh Elite. They were sad, but not too surprised at the way Percy died. They knew he would take bullets for anyone.
"From now on, these three figures will have full authority over this camp!" boomed Zeus.
That's when the protests started.
"They're strangers!"
"We can't trust them!"
"Why are you so afraid of them, you guys can strike them down!"
Michael turned to Zeus. he spoke with a calm voice, but everyone heard it. "Lord Jupiter, I suggest you silence your campers' protests or we will do it for you."
Jupiter nodded, "It is true, they have full control over the camp. The praetors will also listen to them. They will not make you do anything ridiculous. They will only train you and leave when they think you are ready. As for being more powerful than us... well..."
"Did you hear you Lord?" Dakota said, saving Jupiter from the embarrassment.
They nodded glumly, not liking the fact that the strangers words were law.
"You two may go now," Lee said dismissively.
For a second, the Olympians looked outraged. But they knew any kind of retorts would lead to violence which would end bad for them.
"Who are you?" Someone else yelled after the Olympians left.
"I am Leopard, and my comrades are Shooter and Archer. We will basically train you on fighting, powers and tactics."
"We already know these things," spoke Frank.
"You do? Really? Would you like to fight one of my Eternals, they haven't manifested their powers yet. I bet they could beat you with one weapon, while you have your powers and everything at your disposal."
Reyna looked at Dakota with a scrutinizing look. Hearing no response, Michael said, "If that is all, then we will tell you your schedule. We expect you to be ready by 7:00, including having breakfast and warming up for training. You will train for approximately nine hours everyday. Four and a half in the morning, four and a half in the afternoon. Lunch break and dinner break will be in between and after those periods of time. After dinner, we will just be improving your speed and strength for a little bit before you get some free time, and then your off to bed. This will continue for as long as everyone is up to the same level and trained."
"But for today, we will just be doing some... tests. See where your level is," said Lee.
"Praetors, please step forward." said Dakota.
Frank and Hazel stepped forward.
"Archer, take sixty-five demigods and lead them to the far end of the Field of Mars. Shooter, take another sixty-five and lead them to another half of the Field of Mars."
"We actually don't divide them up that way, we have five cohorts and-" Hazel began, but Dakota cut her off.
"Praetors, you will keep the demigods in check. You report to us, is that understood?"
They glared at the three figures, but nodded rather hesitantly.
"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!"
Lee and Michael went off, grouping up the demigods. Dakota also went another way and got his demigods. But two angry Praetors stormed up to him, stopping him in the middle of his work.
"Listen up, they said you are in charge, but the stronger person should be in charge," Frank started. "I challenge you to a duel."
"Get with my group, as I don't have time for petty duel," Dakota snapped his fingers.
Frank and Hazel didn't close their mouths, though. Their mouths were wide open at the Field of Mars which was divided into different sections. Obstacles had been laid out everywhere, and it all appeared magically by the snap of his fingers.
He turned around and addressed everyone. "LET'S BEGIN! I want every group to run through this obstacle course three times each! Don't try to cheat, we know if you will!"
Meanwhile...
"Demigods," Poseidon flashed in along with Hades and the three figures.
Chiron came up with all of the demigods following behind. "Lord Poseidon, what do you need?"
"Well, Chiron, there is a new prophecy, as you all know. Our enemies are three Primordials. We can hold off one, but not all three. The very first Primordial, Empress Chaos, has offered her help. Her comrades, the Elite Eternals, are a group of eleven, well, used to be eleven. They lead a group called the Eternals. These three will train you."
"I am Glider. This is Nightstar. And this is Razor. We are three Elite. Three of our friends are training the Romans as of right now. Four are back at our camp with the rest of the Eternals. The eleventh isn't with us, as Poseidon said. He died, taking deadly bullets for Empress Chaos that would've killed her."
Poseidon's whole mood changed, but he didn't show it. He felt depressed even further if possible, knowing his son died like a hero. But still, he died, and he died knowing his father betrayed him and his trust, and all of the things in between.
"They have complete authority over the camp!" said Hades.
Cue the yells of protest.
"Are you going to do what they say or are you going to even further disrespect your own lords?" said Luke, shutting them up.
"You may go," said Nightstar, talking to the Olympians.
"Chiron, please make sure the demigods will be assembled by the climbing wall," said Ethan.
"Of course," he gave a strained smile. He galloped away, herding the campers to the climbing wall. The three figures turned to each other.
"I'm pretty sure the Amazons will go to Camp Jupiter, and the Hunters of Artemis will come here," said Zoe.
Luke nodded.
"I say we do drills for today, and actually start training them tomorrow?" Ethan suggested.
"Sounds good," said Luke.
They made their way over to the climbing wall, where the numerous amounts of campers were chattering loudly.
"Please step back," said Zoe.
The campers did as they were told, and then Zoe waved her hand over the empty space. Little separate lanes were made, several of them.
"Get ready to run." Luke ordered.
The campers groaned, and the training began.
(2945 words)
I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you in the next chapter! Bye! ✌