Percy POV
Maybe I shouldn't have dropped the bomb on Jason like that. Don't tell Thalia I said this, but Jason's lightning bolts are way more powerful than hers.
Luckily, I was able to water travel out of the way before his second lightning bolt hit me but I didn't teleport far away enough and I was still within the area of impact.
When I did reveal myself to my old friends, I was immediately mobbed by them. At first, I thought I was getting a better welcome than I expected but when the first fist hit my face, I kind of embraced it and let myself get beaten. I knew I deserved it. Rachael could throw a mean right hook.
I had no regrets though. I was finally back home.
As bad as Jason's reception was, Nico's was much, much worse. If you think giant lightning bolts were bad, then try and imagine yourself getting held down by a dozen skeletons while your cousin, covered in moving shadows and a dark glow surrounding him, tries to advance on you. Thankfully, Will Solace was there to stop him and effectively probably, most likely saved my life.
The second I stepped into camp, I already noticed changes. When I had left, there were probably twenty or so cabins for the gods. Now, there was almost double that amount. There were a lot more cabins now and even though it was slightly crowded, I've never seen Camp Half-Blood so full of life. There had to be at least 100 campers now.
The cabins were not the only change at camp. Wherever I went, there were shrines. I was confused as to why there were suddenly dozens of random shrines within camp but then I remembered the conversation I had with Jason and my dear old sister Kym years ago. Jason had promised Kym that he would personally build her a shrine at both camps and it seemed like he kept his promise.
I was sad that most of my friends weren't at camp anymore. Most of them had resigned from their positions as head counsellors and had given their partial immortality to one of their siblings. They had gone to New Rome to attend college and live a normal life. Even though I missed them, I was happy for them. They deserved to live their lives without any fear of dying.
My cabin was the first place I went to after I recovered from the bruises and broken bones. It was the same on the outside: the low building with made with seashell-incrusted grey stone I had grown to love. On the inside, though, was a completely different story.
The second I stepped into the cabin, I knew something was different. Instead of the normal six bunk bedroom I was used to, my first impression of the changed cabin was empty.
Under further inspection, I realised that the cabin had indeed changed and it brought a small smile to my face.
All the bunk beds had been pushed to one wall, leaving the rest of the cabin free to use. On the opposite wall, however, was where the campers had evidently done something to.
In the middle of the room against the wall was a lifesize bronze sculpture. Around the statue itself was a bunch of beautifully drawn pictures and elaborate engravings. The images showed a young boy undergoing a number of quests, showing his hardships and accomplishments. It showed the boy fighting many monsters, from the hydra to the minotaur.
There were names engraved in Ancient Greek around certain scenes. Tears found its way into my eyes as I read them. I recognized the names. The names of the fallen. The names of the friends I lost over the years. The names of legends.
But above all the images was one large carving. It was simple, not too fancy or professional. It looked like it was hastily carved on with a knife and that was what made it look more fitting. Right above the statue was a word carved into the grey stone. Above the statue was my name in Ancient Greek, showing the name of the person in the images.
It was me. They made a whole piece of art depicting my life. I didn't know I was that important, that they would dedicate a whole section of my cabin to me.
I didn't know how long I stood there for but when Thalia found me in my cabin, I was still looking at the wall. I felt Thalia stand next to me and when I turned to face her, I found a bittersweet smile on her face.
'We built it a year after you disappeared,' she said 'Your father gave us permission to do this in his cabin.'
I was silent for a while. I mentally cursed myself, regretting that I decided to leave in the first place. For the millionth time, I reminded myself how bad the idea to disappear was. I unknowingly hurt so many people, and that made guilt swell up in me.
'Why?' I said softly, causing Thalia to turn to me 'Why would you guys do this? I mean, I'm just...me.'
Thalia chuckled softly, 'Exactly, Percy. You're you. We thought you would never come back, that we would never find you. So we made some sort of memorial. You're important to us, Perce. All of us.'
I looked Thalia in the eye to find that she was being genuine and sincere. This was a moment of seriousness she rarely showed. Her words made me smile. If I was truly that important then I would stay. I would stay with my family and never leave them again.
I walked up to Thalia and pulled her into a gentle hug. She returned it and we stood there for a while, just enjoying each other's company.
'Thanks, Thals,' I said gratefully after I pulled back 'I'm really sorry I put you through all of that. I promise I won't ever leave you again.'
Thalia smiled, 'You better, Kelp Head. Come on. I want to see how good you've gotten with your sword.'
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The new arena was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.
Not only was it filled to the brim with deadly new toys, but it was also upgraded so that it made training both more fun and effective. I could see new weapon racks filled with a variety of weapons, ranging from a pocketknife to a two-handed, double-bladed flaming battleaxe.
There were deactivated automatons piled up in a corner, waiting to be used. They were definitely an upgrade to the normal unmoving straw ones we used to use. The automatons were made to resemble a human, but it was made out of Celestial Bronze and they had wheels on their feet if anyone wished to challenge the higher difficulties. I wanted to try it out but Thalia had already asked to spar with me.
Word must have spread because before we even started, the seats of the arena were almost instantly filled with excited demigods, Hunters, and even a curious Artemis. I didn't know why people had come to watch. It was just a spar.
I was getting my stuff ready before we started. We weren't going to use armour or our powers but anything else was allowed.
I was waiting for Thalia to get ready since I didn't really have anything to check over when Jason came up to me to wish me luck.
'Good luck, man,' he said. After the whole 'striking-you-with-lightning-for-disappearing' thing, we were cool again. Jason still had his partial immortality and it was slightly humorous that I was physically five years older than him now.
'She's gotten really good with her spear,' he said as he looked at his sister on the other end of the arena 'And be careful of her shield.'
I rolled my eyes, 'You do know this is just a spar right?'
Jason looked back to me and nodded, 'Oh, I know. It's just that Thalia may or may not forget it's a spar.'
With that, he walked back to the stands where Piper was waiting for him. I looked over at Thalia a bit warily. I had to be careful with the fight. It could very well turn into something big if I dragged it on for too long.
After several minutes (the Hunters really took long saying good luck to their lieutenant), Thalia met me in the middle of the arena. We eyed each other carefully before she broke the silence.
'Don't you have a bow?' she asked curiously 'I completely forgot you had one. How are you able to shoot anyway? You sucked.'
I laughed. I did indeed 'suck' at archery.
How I could hit someone behind me with an arrow was beyond me.
I held out my left arm and showed Thalia the black ring on my middle finger. She looked at it confused before I used my thumb to twist it clockwise. In less than a second, the ring transformed into a beautiful black bow in my hand.
Thalia's jaw dropped. I looked around briefly to see everyone looking more or less exactly like Thalia.
I chuckled at Thalia's expression, 'Yeah, I do have a bow. As to how I can shoot properly, I was...uh...blessed by Apollo.'
If Thalia's jaw could go any lower, it would be on the floor.
'What?' she said stupefied 'I'm sorry, I must have misheard. Did you say you were blessed by Apollo?'
I nodded and Thalia probably almost had a stroke.
'Wow,' she mouthed 'Okay. Any more surprises?'
'None that I can think of.' I said a little too quickly. Thankfully, she didn't catch it.
'Okay. I guess we can start now.' Thalia said looking at Chiron.
Chiron trotted up in his horse form. He usually referees all competitive activities in camp anyway. When he positioned himself between myself and Thalia, the whole arena went silent waiting in anticipation for the fight to come.
'You two know the rules?' Chiron asked both me and Thalia 'No maiming or powers allowed. The winner will be decided when someone is either unconscious or of they have yielded.'
When both of us nodded, Chiron stepped back and raised his hand. I pulled out Riptide from my pocket and uncapped it, revealing Riptide in all its glory. Thalia slapped her bracelet, causing Aegis to spiral outwards before taking out her mace canister and willing her magic spear to elongate.
I looked straight into Thalia's shield, which surprised everyone. I knew they expected me to flinch or maybe even back up but the shield no longer had any effect on me. I had seen more terrible things than Medusa's head.
As soon as Chiron dropped his hand, Thalia shifted into a familiar offensive position. It was the same stance the Hunters were trained to use but it was slightly modified to fit someone using a spear and shield.
Thalia had her left foot in front of right, pointing diagonally to my left. She was crouched low for a spear and shield user but it was already raised from the usual stance. Her shield was placed in front of her and she was holding her spear in an underarm grip. She was shifting her foot slightly every time I moved so that she was always facing me and that her spear would always be levelled at my chest.
I raised my sword in front of me in a defensive stance because it was obvious Thalia was going to be the one to make the first move. I eyed Thalia's spear and her shoulders, trying to find any sign of when she was going to attack.
I saw her shoulder tense a millisecond before she struck. I saw Thalia's spear heading towards my stomach and I lowered my blade to block it. I immediately noticed how fast Thalia had gotten over the years so I decided to end the fight early.
When the spear was an inch away from impaling me, I sidestepped and whacked the flat of my sword on the spear shaft, embedding the point of the spear into the floor of the arena. When Thalia was trying to get over her surprise, I kicked the spear hard just under the socket, knocking it out of Thalia's hand.
After disarming her, I lunged forward and raised my sword to strike. Thinking quickly, Thalia raised her shield to block. Unfortunately for her, It was just a feint.
At the last second, I slid into a baseball slide and extended my free arm, effectively toppling Thalia onto her own shield with a yelp of surprise. I quickly got up and before Thalia could recover, I placed the tip of my sword behind her neck.
I looked around to see everyone silent and looking upon us in shock, none more than the Hunters. I could even see some jaws on the floor. I turned back towards Thalia who had gone still at the feeling of the cold metal behind her neck. I leaned in so that I was right next to her ear.
'Yield?' I whispered grinning.
'I yield.' Thalia said meekly.
I chuckled as I stood up and helped my cousin up. The campers had gotten over their surprise and were clapping and cheering for my victory. Even the Hunters were clapping, albeit grudgingly.
I had just beaten their lieutenant in under a minute.
'You-what-how did you-,' Thalia stuttered 'That was the fastest I've ever been beaten in a spar.'
I felt my face heat up at all the stares I was getting, 'It wasn't that good.'
Thalia scoffed, 'Yeah right. I've never seen anything like that. You beat me faster than milady did. In fact, I honestly think you would be able to beat Lady Artemis.'
I immediately froze. Thalia didn't just say what I thought she just said.
I turned towards Thalia slowly, 'What did you say?'
'I said you would be able to beat Lady Artemis.' she repeated casually.
Everyone gasped at her words while I paled. I looked over to the Hunters to see them staring at their lieutenant wide-eyed. Artemis herself was looking at me with raised eyebrows.
'Are you trying to get me killed?' I hissed at my cousin.
'No, why would you say that?' Thalia asked genuinely confused.
'You do fight really well, Percy,' Artemis said suddenly appearing next to me 'As for you to be able to beat me...well, we can find out.'
I gulped. It wasn't every day when one of the best, if not the best, fighter on Olympus accepts a challenge from a mere demigod like me.
'Uh, I don't think that's a-' I started before I was interrupted.
'Oh, come on Percy,' Thalia whined 'Spar with milady, please. That is one thing I would love to see.'
I turned towards Artemis to find her looking at me with an encouraging smile. So she was fine with the idea.
I was so dead.
'I am fine with it,' Artemis nodded 'It had been a while since I had a good spar.'
I was about to protest when Jason, who was sitting in the front row of the arena, shouted out.
'Fight! Fight! Fight!' he shouted with an annoying grin on his face 'Come on, Perce!'
Soon enough, the entire crowd of roughly 75 campers was chanting for me to accept the challenge. Artemis was looking at me patiently, waiting for me to make my decision.
I looked around the crowd until my eyes fell on Nico. He had hardly changed since I last saw him. The only difference I could see was that he was now a lot happier, unlike the usual brooding self he was when I last saw him. I met his dark brown eyes to find him smiling at me. I sighed when he nodded encouragingly at me.
'Fine,' I said finally 'I'll do it if it makes you guys happy.'
The arena erupted in loud cheers at my response. I looked over to Artemis to find her smiling at me. I didn't know whether to smile back or run away at the situation I put myself in.
'This will be fun,' Artemis said as she stretched her back and pulled out her two hunting knives 'I promise I won't kill you, Percy.'
'That's reassuring,' I muttered as I took a few steps back preparing for the spar 'Let's get this over with.'
Thalia walked back to the stands and took a seat next to Jason, excited for the match to come. Artemis took her place opposite me as Chiron walked up in between us.
'I hope you know what you are doing, my boy,' Chiron whispered to me before looking at Artemis 'Whenever you are ready.'
Chiron backed out of the way as Artemis and I circled each other. I noted the way she was using her knives. She was holding her knives in an icepick grip, the points of her blades pointing outwards. She was crouched low like Thalia, except that Artemis was crouched a bit lower, giving her the necessary agility and quick footwork needed in a fight.
I raised my sword preparing for the quick attacks I have seen Artemis use against monsters on hunts. I knew that I would need to use all the skills I have in order to hold my ground.
Just before either of us could make the first move, a younger camper burst through the entrance of the arena and sprinted towards Chiron, startling everyone in their seats. I relaxed from my defensive stance as I looked at the running camper in confusion.
'What is it, child?' Chiron asked in concern as he leaned down to the young demigod.
The kid, a ten-year-old son of Apollo, held onto Chiron as he tried to catch his breath.
'Cave-green eyes-' the boy's eyes flitted towards me for a brief second before going back to Chiron 'Big house, now.'
'Slow down,' Chiron said gently 'What happened?'
The young camper looked around nervously before he took a deep breath and composed himself.
'Rachael recited a new prophecy.'
A/N: Sorry for the late chapter, people. Here is what you have been waiting for.
Guess what? This story just passed 1000 views. How crazy is that? Thank you all for reading and supporting this fanfiction. Means a lot to me!
So a prophecy. Yeah. Going to have fun making one up.
Note the sarcasm.
~Sacai2005