(A/N: Hell about to be unleashed soon, only question is who'll have the higher body count by the end: Percy or Colton? Small change in stuff: couple more chapters added so.. now it's Chapter 38 that I can't wait to write.)
Walking back to the cabin, down from the Big House.. hand in hand with Kayla that night, I will admit felt like we had truly arrived at the precipice of fate now. From here on, our fate would be in the hands of the fates.. though I had to suspect that given the prophecy I received yesterday meant that we would likely win this fight. I didn't know how we were going to win this, again it was only just a gut feeling which was all good in theory, but the reality was that anything could happen.
Speaking of the future, I had another set of dreams the night before.. this time the first one showed me, Percy, the traitor Luke, and Michael walking into a camp of some sort with a teenage boy that looked Chinese with a large stocky build and a babyish face with a bow and quiver of arrows on one side of us, and a girl in armor that had shoulder-length curly cinnamon brown hair and gold eyes holding a sword in her hand on the other. It was weird, since it seemed like this camp was like Camp Half Blood, but more militaristic, more war-like. It had a more Roman like feel to it.
The second dream was of four figures - two of them being sons of my father, Phobos and Deimos respectively.. what looked like the Goddess of Nightmares Melinoe, and the monster Arachne in a cave.. and they stood menacingly in front of a giant spider web up against the wall in which Thalia, Kayla, Percy, Annabeth, the traitor Luke, Katie, Miranda, both the Stolls, Clarisse, Chris, Sherman, Belle, Pollux and Castor, Lee, Michael, Will, Victoria, Aruna, Aurora, Silena, Charles, Austin, Caeli, Nico, Bianca, Jake, Zoe, as well as quite a few other people that I had never seen before were all struggling helplessly in it, entangled in the web and unable to get free, eyes wide with fear - Annabeth was seriously having a complete panic attack - while the monsters talked about what a delicious meal they would have. A monstrously hideous growl caused them to turn around and then one look at their faces would tell you that they were terrified now.
I couldn't exactly make out what it was they were terrified of, since it was blurry, but it was big. At least fifty feet tall.. maybe more. It was very muscular yet also possessed a slim frame too, looking more like a cross between multiple monsters at the same time with maybe a human head on top. And I think I could just about make out some sort of crown on the top of its head. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you more as it let out an unearthly sounding roar before the dreams changed again.
The next scene simply featured Porphyrion and Periboia - in their giant forms - standing in front of a massive tower that looked similar to the Empire State Building above which sat Olympus. But looking the sign placed next to it - a primitive wooden sign, but a sign nevertheless - in the stormy dark weather surrounding the place with no other buildings near here, a flash of lightning enabled me to see the sign said "Tower Of The Giants" on it.
"At last.." Porphyrion stated in a very deep voice that felt eerily similar to the voice of Darth Vader. "The tower of the giants is complete. From here, we can use this to revive our siblings for our final chance to conquer everything once Gaea and her replacements for me, you, and Enceladus have been taken care of."
Before Periboia could even reply, the dream changed again, but in that brief piece of communication from Porphyrion, I learned something. Enceladus, the bane of Athena, had joined them and gone basically rogue.. and Gaea with the help of Tartarus had - or would sire Giants to replace them, evidentially showing that Gaea was displeased with three of her giants going rogue like this. But still, it didn't explain why Porphyrion wanted the power of the Monster King inside me, if it even existed, so badly. It made zero sense at all honestly.
The third one was simply that of a single image. It was that of me standing in front of a snake in human form with a sword in its hand.. in what looked like Tartarus. It wasn't a Scythian Dracanae, no.. like I said, it was an actual snake but in completely human form, no joke. It was unnerving and weird to say the least about this particular dream, but something told me that this image wouldn't be the last time I encountered whoever stood before me.
The final one was probably the most puzzling of them all. A single giant man, looking a hard 30 years old with a haggard face, distended belly, weak chin, curly hair extended into a wrap-around neck beard, larger than Typhon in the sky laughing as Olympus burned. I didn't know who this man was, but I felt rage. Pure, unfiltered, maxed out rage, malice and hatred for this totally unknown man.
They were all very weird, troubling images to say the least. They could be visions of the future, but I didn't know. Visions of the future could happen in any demigod's dreams, but they could also be visions of the past or something, and more often than not, it's Apollo's kids, including Kayla, that have such visions.. though on occasion kids from other cabins can also receive such visions in their dreams.
Either way, it definitely was very troubling to me.
I tried not to focus on that right now as Kayla and I approached the Ares cabin, looking for the gift Typhon left us that would help with the prophecy. What it was, he hadn't said so we had no clue what exactly we were even looking for. We were just about to give up, looking around the grounds near the cabin, when we found it. It was what looked like a sword, wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper complete with ribbons and a bow on top to keep it together, propped upright against a tree in the woods near Cabin Five with a sticky note with the words: 'To Colton. From Typhon' on it. How no one else saw this, I still have no idea to even this very day.
Kayla and I ran over, reaching the tree in moments. "Looks like this is it.." she said to me nervously. We glanced left and right, noticing no one outside any of the cabins at least for now. Clarisse had already gone back into the cabin with Chris, and there was already arguing coming from inside Cabin Five. It probably would not stay that way for long, so I turned to Kayla. "I'm going to tell Clarisse that I would like to spend some time with you by the lake, and I'll be back to the cabins a bit later. You tell Michael the same. Once done, we take the gift and head down to the beach to open it.. be easier to hide the evidence down there.." I told her, and she nodded. The Harpies were still attacking monsters at the border at night time these days, so it was a perfect opportunity. So, we both took it right there.
- — - — - — - — -
Kayla had set up a single torch on the beach when I arrived a few minutes after she had, due to the argument in Cabin Five, carrying Typhon's gift in my hands. It felt rather light to carry, despite being a sword for some odd reason. I had no clue why. At this point though, all I cared about was how would this sword affect the great prophecy in what way. The sword itself was an unknown factor, that much we knew as of right this very moment. No joke.
Kayla and I just stared at Typhon's gift with apprehension. The gift wrapping was a very odd touch, especially since it was about to be the middle of August, a bit too early for Christmas. Then again, given the situation, we really could use all the help - and gifts that we demigods were able to get our hands on now. Like, we really needed it right now to be honest.
So, with the flames from the torch flickering as the 8 foot tall pole stood up in the sand, the flames gently pushed around by the gentle calm wind.. the proverbial calm before the storm in a seemingly literal sense right now if you may, I tore at the wrapping, tearing it off and revealing what lay within. Kayla had brought a garbage bag from the Big House, and despite her father's domain of truth, had surprisingly been able to lie to Mr. D and Chiron about what she was using the bag for. Why this was shocking at all was because since one of their father's domains was truth.. as much as Apollo's kids were literal lie detectors, they were also completely terrible at keeping secrets or telling lies themselves so anytime someone wanted to know something that an Apollo kid wasn't allowed to tell them, all they could do was simply keep their mouths shut.
I am not kidding. So the fact that Kayla managed to lie was pretty shocking in and of itself, but I had no time to be distracted by it right now, as me and her gazed at what had been inside the wrapping paper. As could have probably have been expected, there was definitely a sword in there, but there was also a folded piece of notebook paper laying on top of the sword, with the words 'Read Me!' written in pencil on the top of the triple folded paper. I took the note and unfolded it and took a deep breath before I read what was on the other side of the paper.
This sword is one of the avenues of access to the power of the Monster King, granted by me to those that I bestow the title to throughout the centuries. You can access it without using the sword, but I will explain at a later date. Without the power and authority of the Monster King transferred to the wielder of the sword, one cannot use either method to access the power I have entrusted to you. As to when to use this weapon, you will know the moment when you feel the rage at the foot of the gateway to Olympus. Trust your gut and instinct when that time comes, for if timed right, it will set you on a path beyond anyone's comprehension.
As to you, Monster Queen, your gift from me, bestowed to the few that I have had the honor to crown Monster Queen since most holders of the title rarely are in relationships with others, will come soon. Very soon.
- Typhon
There was a long silence between me and Kayla after I read that note aloud to her. She looked about as confused as I did when it came to what it meant. We were both baffled as to its true meaning. The paper crinkled as it held it in my hands. It was very mysterious all the same to us.
"So this sword will give me at least an avenue to access the power that the father of monsters has granted me.." I muttered after a few minutes of silence as the two of us stood there in the dark of the beach, illuminated only by the torch nearby. We both gazed at the sword, and believe me, it was a very interesting thing to even look at unquestionably so.
The hilt of this weapon had a mostly Norman design to it, with the pommel - or the rounded knob on the end of the handle - being that of a nut. The cross guard was also of Norman design, being longer than any of the Greek swords we had in camp, which was weird since the Normans came later than the Greeks, so design elements from their time shouldn't be appearing in a sword gifted down by a Greek mythological figure. Then again, it was quite possible that since the location of Olympus had changed from Mount Olympus in Greece to the Roman Empire and then to England prior to the time of the Normans around maybe 850 C.E., according to the history I was able to learn, the design elements included in this sword from the Normans and other groups - as you shall soon see - could have been the result of the various holders of the Monster King title incorporating elements that they liked into the design as they saw fit.
The grip in between the Norman designed pommel and cross-guard was that found on a Curtana, which was a ceremonial sword used at the coronation of British Kings and Queens. However, while it had the definite shape of the grip of a Curtana, it was longer than the one found on those examples, as much as approx. 7 inches long - I was estimating - and also not made out of wood bound with wire. The hilt on this sword was made out of forged steel, unlike anything I had ever seen before. I was definitely sure that the material wasn't even Celestial Bronze. It was bizarre, adding even more interest in the unusual design of this particular sword that was connected to the whole Monster King business that me and Kayla were a part of now.
If the grip was made out of a different material, then the same could be said for the rest of the sword as a whole, especially the blade. It had a similar, yet longer, shape to it that looked like the same design found on that traitor Luke's sword Backbiter, which if you'll recall, I saw it get reforged into Kronos' scythe last summer, but the edges looked sharper than on that sword, as if this sword was made to cut through anything. Even the tip had an unique appearance that gave the impression that it was meant to do plenty of damage. All in all here to be honest, it was an extremely unique sword, colored in black, red, grey, and a slight tint of orange that flickered like lava and with quite a few jewels molded into the metals used to make this blade. It had an overall refined, yet still slightly unfinished appearance to it, even though all the parts for a sword were there. It was completely weird, but the name.. oh that gave us chills.
Engraved along the blade, on both sides of it, was the words Αποκαλυπτική οργή. In ancient Greek, that stood for Apocalyptic Wrath. So yeah.. if you are getting chills from the name, believe me, I don't even blame you at all for feeling like that.
Not at all.
I looked at Kayla, and Kayla looked back at me. It was then I noticed that there was an open sword case right next to us that hadn't been there before, open and the shape of the sword that was supposed to fit into it remarkably fit the exact shape of the sword in my hands. Kayla looked where I was looking and saw it too.
"So we'll put this thing in there?" she asked me. I nodded, picked up the case, put the sword in there, and zipped the zipper shut. It then proceeded to morph itself into merely a combination padlock. Yes, a combination padlock like the kind you can buy from places like Staples or Lowe's.. I forget which. There were no numbers on it though. Kayla stood there as I turned it to the right. With one simple click, it morphed back into the sword, but without the case. This time, the padlock was attached to the pommel at the bottom of it. I turned the knob and with another click, it morphed back into just the padlock.
Kayla and I looked at each other, filled with more questions than answers now, as I placed the padlock in my pocket, and we trekked off the beach, first to dump the bag of wrapping paper into the garbage bin behind the Big House, and second to get back to my cabin and get some sleep. We would need it, for tomorrow.. I had a bad feeling about what tomorrow would bring honestly.
For some reason, as we tried to go to sleep - we eventually did - while back in my cabin, we did hear the chime of a church bell off in the distance from the direction of New York City. The thing was, despite its distance, it sounded like it was coming from a church inside Manhattan, which was weird. I checked the time as Kayla fell asleep next to me.
12:00 am.
I fell asleep not long after, my stomach filled with dread at what was to come.
- — - — - — - — -
Meanwhile, unknown to anyone, six figures decked in Greek armor, each set of armor either made out of water, fire, earth, wind, darkness, and light, trekked towards NYC through the woods along I-95 in New Jersey, appearing to mortals as a bunch of ghosts that they thought they saw, but couldn't prove. Although they seemed to be heading in the same direction as groups of demigods and monsters in ships and on land on either side of them that belonged to Kronos' army, these six were not members of Kronos' army, nor did the army know of their existence.
Unknown to Kronos or anyone else except the father of monsters himself, other forces were converging on NYC, their movements concealed by magic that obscured their presence to even the Fates. Their purpose was not to destroy Olympus, though if their leader demanded it, they would.
For their ruler was a king.
The king of monsters.
For better or worse, the followers of the Monster King were awakening from over a century of slumber all over the Earth. While Gaea could sense their presence, the magic obscuring them prevented the primordial for understanding their true loyalty. The mythological world, across all pantheons, was unprepared for what was about to go down in NYC over three days.