A Dark Cloud Over the Future Ch 7

Chapter 7: The Battle Begins
Thalia ran over after hearing all the commotion and looked at the figure walking out of Zeus’ Fist. Annabeth and Thalia just looked at Nico for a few seconds as he had somehow aged two or three years in a matter of hours.

“What happened to you?” Annabeth finally asked not knowing what else to say.

“Well, after I ran out of the workshop after Daedalus, he gave me the slip after he turned down a hallway that vanished a few seconds later as if the labyrinth was trying to hide him. After that, I started walking around looking for an exit, any exit, but the halls kept going. Before long I was going around in circles. In order to keep my head on straight, I would summon dead heroes of the past to train me in sword fighting or for simple conversation. I even asked Theseus if he could help me escape the maze, but he claimed it had changed too much since his time. I started to lose hope until I ran into Luke’s forces about a year ago. They were still walking in the maze heading for the camp. It was then I learned that I was moving around the maze at a faster rate of time, a day for me was like a second for everything else. I can’t explain it but it felt like fate was controlling the maze,” he explained before taking a second to examine the faces of those around him.

“Time does move differently inside the labyrinth,” Annabeth explained. “When Percy and I first fell in, we were gone for only a few minutes but on the outside, campers had been looking for us for hours. It makes sense that a few hours for us could have been years for someone else,” Annabeth said, trying to find a rational way of explaining it.

“We don’t have time for the details,” Thalia commented. “Luke’s army is heading in our direction and we need to be ready.”

She ran back to rejoin her hunters while Annabeth started directing the campers to strategic positions around the entrance. Nico walked over to the large field and placed his hands on the ground. It began to rumble and about twenty undead warriors appeared out of the ground.

“Nico,” one of them asked. “Why have you once again summoned us? Do you want another sparing match?”

“Not this time Ajax,” Nico said before drawing his sword. “This time it is for real. An army of monsters is about to attack our camp. Do you have enough life in you for one more fight?”

The warriors looked at each other for a second, but they all raised their weapons into the air and let out a shout that echoed through the camp. Nico raised his sword with the others and they all marched back to Zeus’ Fist. The other camps only watched as a small unit of undead soldiers walked onto the battle field. Some just looked in shock while others cheered at the unexpected help. However, the cheers died down as the ground began to rumble beneath their feet.

“Lock shields!” Clarisse ordered. A moment later, the Titan army erupted from the small entrance. Several Laistrygonian giants started swinging his tree trunk club at the Ares cabin and they were pushed to the side, allowing the enemy to break through the front line. The Hephaestus cabin launched their catapults at the giants, but they were blocked by the giant’s shields. The Apollo cabin launched their arrows at the giants and they were pushed back until the second wave of monsters jumped out of the entrance, including a group of empousa. They slithered around the battle field past a group of demigods and headed for the camp. Nico stood in their way and stabbed one with his sword while Ajax smashed another with his large hammer like weapon. Another undead warrior was firing arrow after arrow at the enemies, never missing a shot.

“I haven’t seen arrows that accurate since the Trojan War Odysseus,” Ajax said before smashing another monster. After another minute, a loud scream could be heard from the labyrinth entrance. Everyone froze for a second as Kampe flew out into the sky and drew her blades.

“We never finished out fight,” Kampe yelled toward Thalia who was busy fighting another demigod that had joined the Titan Army. She knocked him out before ordering her hunter’s to take aim. Kampe swooped down and was met with a wall of arrows that blocked out the light of the moon for a second. Kampe knocked a few away but was hit by just as many. She let out another scream and flew faster than before and almost ran her blade into Thalia who was in the middle of reloading, but one of her hunters jumped in her path and felt the sword pass into her. Thalia could only look on in shock as her friend and fellow hunter grabbed onto Kampe, not letting her retreat.

“Please Thalia, now’s your chance!” she cried as the pain began to overtake her. Thalia overcame her shock, but instead of pulling out a bow, she pulled out her spear and rammed it into Kampe’s mid section. The monster screamed and finally managed to toss the hunter off her blade before taking off into the sky. She looked down at Thalia who’s eyes began to spark with the power of Zeus and a lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the spear like a lightning rod, turning Kampe to dust.

The hunters cheered before going back to destroying monsters who flowed endlessly from the cave entrance. Everything seemed to be going well until a demigod with blonde hair and gold eyes appeared out of the labyrinth.

“Luke,” Annabeth whispered under her breath. She saw that it was him but he felt so different that it almost caused her to not believe it was him. Castor, a son of Dionysus charged at him, but as he got closer to Luke he seemed to be moving in slow motion until he stopped completely. Luke let out a small evil laugh before taking out his scythe and decapitating him. Several demigods looked on in horror as the limp body fell to the ground at half the speed he should have. From that moment on, the tide quickly began to turn as more powerful monsters erupted onto the battle field. The monsters were unaffected by the shifting of time while the arrows and demigods themselves seem to freeze whenever they went in to attack.

“Retreat,” Chiron called to the demigods and they followed his orders. The demigods turned around and followed Chiron into the deepest parts of the woods. Several Apollo and Artemis demigods provided cover fire. Annabeth watched as the monsters started ripping the camp apart, cabins were burned to the ground. She then turned to help coordinate the retreat and lead campers into the direction that Chiron had run to. As the enemy started moving in, she watched as the campers further back were being slowed down as they ran and were quickly picked off by hellhounds. Luke appeared over the hill and Annabeth told the demigods to keep moving. When everyone had managed to escape into the woods, Annabeth stood her ground and waited for Luke to come closer.

“Luke, what has happened to you?” she called out to him. However, the name didn’t seem to register in his mind. “Luke!” she called again and this time she got some kind of response. He stopped walking and looked directly at her.

“Luke and I are now one. I will soon ascend to my true form and just like in days long past, all will fear the name Kronos!” he yelled causing a round of roars and howls from his army. Then, for a split second his eyes became a mix of gold and blue. “I will once again offer you a chance to join our ranks. You will be treated well and be given the chance to rebuild the world as you see fit.”

Annabeth thought about this longer than she should have, but took out her knife and held it up in a defensive position.

“I’ll never join you,” she said as the last bits of blue once again faded from his eyes and tears began to fill up in hers.

“Chase the demigods into the woods and kill them…slowly,” Kronos said and at first the monsters started charging into the woods until Annabeth slashed at them with her knife and they backed up fearing the bronze blade.

“I will give my friends all the time I can to escape,” she said taking up her attack stance once again. “You won’t get by me so easily!”

“I guess I have to do everything myself,” Kronos said as he once again took out his scythe and walked painfully slow at Annabeth.

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive  19:18, July 21, 2011 (UTC)