Ascension - Chapter 3

Seth

Seth was exasperated as he attempted to follow the girl through the vast forest. She would jump over stumps and logs with ease, while Seth could barely keep up. As they approached enemy blue soldiers, she would take them out before he could even see their faces.

“This way! We’re almost there,” She yelled back at him. She pulled her bow back and let loose three more arrows into the chests of some Ares’ kids.

An arrow barely missed Seth and hit a tree directly behind him. He turned to find a squad of Apollo archers releasing a barrage of arrows. He ducked behind the tree and fired an arrow in return. It bounced off a rock three yards from his targets.

Seth turned to find Hannah climbing into the trees skillfully dodging her attackers. When she reached the top she ran across the branches into another tree letting loose arrows upon her victims.

Seth reached for an arrow and fired again, then ran at his attackers sword drawn. They were unprepared for a direct attack, and they soon fell to either Seth’s blade or her arrows.

Hannah leapt from the tree and landed a few feet in front of Seth taking off again at lightning speeds. He grumbled then chased after her as they approached their target.

They could now see the flag at the top of a large tree. There were about twenty kids surrounding the tree and taking cover on the branches.

“Don’t use your bow,” The girl said bluntly. “You’re useless with it”

“Hey, I’m not that bad with it!” Seth knew she was right, but had to maintain his cover.

“And your definitely not a son of Lelantos. You're awful at keeping up with me and can’t hit a target to save your life. I could tell right at the beginning of the game”

Seth was dumbfounded and couldn’t manage to speak. He tried to mumble an excuse but to no avail.

“If you’re hiding something, that's fine. I don’t care and I won’t say anything. Just don’t make us lose over it. Now draw you damn sword Seth”

Seth slowly placed his bow against a tree and drew his sword. Unfortunately, his swordplay wasn’t that much better than his archery, but he decided against telling her that.

“Uh…thanks…I never got your name”

Hannah stared at him plainly.

“It’s Hannah. Now wait for the scouts to attack”

Seth could see about a dozen more red campers hiding around the big tree. None of them looked exceptionally strong, but he knew they stood a chance as long as they had Hannah. Seth couldn’t figure her out. She was an amazing archer, but Apollo kids were on the other team, so where she got her skills was unclear.

He held his sword tightly waiting for the other scouts to attack. Suddenly there was a battle cry from among the woods and the scouts charged at the blue soldiers. Hannah was leapt into battle and had already taken three out before Seth took a step.

He charged at the tree swinging his sword at a few campers but missing. They were soon taken out by Hannah as she climbed onto the branches. A camper brandishing a mace charged at him. He jumped to the side and slashed at the camper’s legs. He then finished him off by hitting him with the hilt of his sword. A few other scouts charged at the tree and began to climb its branches. There were barely any blue defenders left.

Suddenly, the scouts in the trees were thrown down. Their bodies crumpled to the ground. Seth looked up to see Lionel standing in the trees. He wore only a t shirt and jeans and twirled a chain in his hands.

“Hey Seth, you might want to brace yourself,” Lionel grinned and jumped to the ground as Seth barely got out of the way.

Lionel spun the chain around and caught Seth’s leg pulling him to the ground. Lionel lifted his fist and punched down as Seth rolled out of the way. Seth jumped back to his feet and swung at Lionel. He missed as Lionel easily dodged the blow and parried by swinging the chain around and forcing Seth to the ground again.

The blue flag suddenly fell between the two. Hannah stood above them both; arrows notched on her bow. She rapidly fired off arrows at Lionel as he spun the chain blocking each one. He grabbed an axe from one of the fallen defenders and swung at the tree almost slicing it in two. It began to sway and Hannah fell from the tree, but managed to land on her feet.

Hannah notched another arrow, but was too slow, as Lionel grabbed her by the neck and tossed her into a boulder. She however managed to fire off another arrow into Lionel’s hand.

“Damn it!” Lionel’s hand oozed blood. Seth quickly got up hit Lionel with the blunt side of his sword as hard as he could. Lionel crumpled to the ground.

“No hard feelings, dude,” Seth grabbed the flag and ran over to Hannah. She was completely out cold. He hoisted her body up over his shoulder and began to quickly trudge back to his side. He turned to see Lionel start to stir and quickened his pace.