Chapter 9: I Get Some Bad News

Chapter VIII

Mark

I have got to say, the ADAV worked like a charm. When we entered the strange bubble around the Four Corners Monument, and saw the forces arrayed against us, I thought we were doomed. Then I noticed that most of them weren’t alive. Apparently Caligula was a fan of some of the old Chinese legends. He made a few thousand Terracotta Legionaries.

They break nicely.

I drove the car straight into the horde, Alex blasted away at the monsters and the soldiers, Steve and Jackie fired off their weapons into the crowd and it seemed like we were getting nowhere.

Because really, when fighting a million clay figures, when you break one or two hundred it really doesn’t make a difference. What saved us against the horde was the fact that they were stupid. I mean really stupid. They ended up marching into each other and attacking their fellows. Most chopped the monsters to bits, and the Celestial Steel Bolts Alex fired into them just finished the work. Around sundown, the whole mess was taken care of.

Unfortunately, so was the ADAV. The vehicle had taken a lot of damage. Run into one soldier, not too much happens. Run into a few thousand, and things go wrong. I was able to get to the bottom of the hill, right at the path that lead up to the front of the City of Gold. Then I told everyone to get what weapons they wanted to take and get out of the car.

Jackie and Steve grabbed a few guns, just in case I suppose, and then got out after Alex. Once I was out, I opened the weapon compartments there. A variety of swords, axes, stave's, and other handheld weapons were there. Steve grabbed some daggers, no surprise. Alex didn’t take anything, insisting that Agni would get her through. I didn’t need anything either, and Jackie took a long sword and strapped it to her waist. Once we were done arming ourselves, I closed up the car and folded it back into its briefcase. It made some noises, like metal scratching against metal, that was not good, but it folded up properly. Once I put it away, we started up the hill.

The road twisted up for a long, long way. When we were about half way up, the sun had gone down. We figured we had better make camp, Monsters were stronger during the night hours and we really did not want to fight in poor lighting. We split the watch into four ways, with me taking the first watch. We ate and the others went to sleep. I sat on a rock that gave me decent cover while I could watch the camp and the one entrance to our little cave and sat watch. I figured my watch was almost done when I heard the noises.

It was a noisy creak like what you hear when the gears aren't properly oiled, along with a steady tread of footsteps. Outside the cave three figures were marching as if being controlled by a remote of some kind. They were each seven feet tall, and each carried a sword that must have been at least as tall as they were. In front of them was a figure who was shorter, probably around six feet. As they got closer to our camp, I could tell that it was a he, and his weapon was a hammer.

“Alright you three,” he said. “Patrol this section of the road. Emperor Caligula thinks that the Greeks will be stupid enough to charge up the path here, if they survive the gift we left for them down there.”

“Yes, Forger.” The three said in unison in hollow voices. The Forger started to walk off, mumbling to himself.

“I left a present for the Romans, I hope that they get it. It should keep them out of our hair until its too late.”

This told me a couple of things. One, Caligula was here. Two, he had Demigods who worked with him, unfortunately it appeared that they may be related to me - which made me a little angry. And three, all that remained of his forces were automatons.

As my watch ended, I woke Alex for her turn, then went to sleep myself. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

First thing I could tell, this was no ordinary dream. I am pretty sure that the cave was not glowing red when we first went in. The next thing I noticed, there was one other person there with me.

“Hello boy,” the person who was in the cave with me said.

“Who the - Oh, Dad?” I asked.

“Yes, yes I am. We don’t have much time here. Zeus is still trying to make us keep silent to the world, plus Caligula is some sort of abomination now. If he senses my presence you and your friends will be doomed.”

“Well, that sounds pleasant.”

“Oh it is not I - Sarcasm?” He sighed. “I hate sarcasm. Anyways Caligula has activated the transfer, by this time tomorrow, the Gods will be no more. Unless you stop him anyways. There is a second problem. He has abused one of the blessed metals. The automatons are abominations in every sense of the word. Be careful when fighting them, if you block them directly, your weapon will break. Guaranteed. Now wake.”

With that, I got up.

Chapter 10