The Chiaroscuro: Chapter 23

Damions POV

His body laid on the table. Cold. Lifeless. Memories of him flooded my mind. The first time we met. When we became close. When he betrayed us.

Nick was in the infirmary, Sean was doing his best to help him recover. Chelan had to be flown out to the Mediterranean Sea for healing. Josh had really hurt her badly. They should be back soon. It was just me and Garret left in the main part of the base. There were only six of us left. Everyone else was dead or had defected. The defectors weren't allowed back into the base on orders of the primordial goddess Nyx herself. We were just waiting for orders now.

Things were so messed up. We were all scared out of our minds that we would be attacked by the defectors or the Center of Light, or even those mortals. Justin and the rest of the order of spies had disappeared. Our ranks had been depleted. Both our leaders had perished in the last battle. We were leaderless.

“It seems that the Dark Circle has made a bloody mess of things,” The voice rang out in the darkness

A figure stood in the doorway. He wore a cloak that covered his entire face. A longsword hung at his side. But by far his most notable feature was a large pair of white wings.

“Who are you?!?” I yelled, drawing my sword.

“Someone that was born for this day,” Came his response. He spoke in a cold lifeless british accent.

“And just what is that supposed to mean?”

“The day Dark Circle fell. The day the protogenoi go to war”

Anger swelled up inside of me. Who was this guy to march into our base and tell us what to do. Garret had now walked up behind the guy his weapon drawn. Then out of nowhere there was a flash and Garret had been shoved against a wall by a chair.

“Do you honestly think I wasn't prepared for an attack?” He said, now walking towards me

“I am Philip child of Phanes. The new leader of the Dark Circle”

By now Sean, Nick, Chelan, and Ariel ran to the room. All weapons drawn.

“Put down your weapons. Never again should a demi-protogenoi raise his blade to another,” He commanded. Then something happened. The defectors led by Adeline walked into the room. You could almost feel the tension between us. “Today, the Dark Circle is united again! Adeline, you have been relieved of duty.”

She opened her mouth in protest, but then quickly stopped.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Now, a Protogenoi means to make war with t he olympians, already demigods are attemting to stop them. They need us. Prepare to move out.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">No one moved, we all just stared at him. He then scanned the room looking at all our faces

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Your scared, your tired. You want all this to end, but it can't unless we do something. The chaos in the world will never subside, unless there are those to keep peace. Thats why the DC was formed. It's been reduced to a rebellious group. To a civil war. Today we redeem ourselves for the wrongs we committed, today we redeem the Dark Circle. Who's with me!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I paused, it seemed like I had frozen time. Then I raised my hand. “I am.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“I am,” said Sean, quickly following my lead.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“I'm in,” Adeline whispered.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Soon all the members had once again been united. It was good feeling.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Alright now lets move!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">10 Hours later

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Alright, drop zone right ahead! You can probably hear the noise from here!” Yelled Philip

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">We had gone over the plan. We try to find as many of the demigods as possible and either help them or take their places. As for the gods, me, Adeline, and Phillip were gonna deal with them.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">We had all taken our positions I held onto Sean and Stuart. Adeline was holding Nick and Phillip. Anyone that could fly, teleport, or shadow travel was holding onto someone.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“NOW!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">With that we all teleported. I landed in a clearing. We saw Josh, Drake, and Hiro battling Ceto and Erebus. The area was flooding. No sign of the mortals. Or anyone else for that matter.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Ah looks like more have joined the party,” Erebus laughed. He grabbed Josh and threw his head into the water.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">However, just as he did it, the water subsided. I saw Sean and Chelan using their powers to suck the water away, while Ceto violently fought back.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I ran towards Erebus, brandishing my claymore. He in turn drew a large shadow hammer. “This ones for Caleb!” Our weapons collided. “This ones for Layla!” There was a crash yet again. “And this ones for Beatrice!” However he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me into the air. The other ran to help me, but he waved his hand and they were sent back by a wave of darkness. He then snapped his fingers, and we heard helicopters, tanks, and mortal running towards us.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Surprised? As you see, my mortal army has gained some numbers. With the mist fading, the American government is very concerned about these “freaks”, and wish to solve the problem by getting rid of them,” He said, smiling smugly.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I struggled to talk. “Yeah...just..like...you got rid of Caleb.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“His death was not my fault. Khione ordered it. Right now she just ended a fight with members of the Center of Light, pathetic group by th way, however when she arrives, she will meet her punishment. The death of my son has not been taken lightly.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“You...act like you don't even care. He was willingly to die for you!”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The mortals had engaged in combat with the Dark Circle. Drake, Hiro, and Adeline were fighting Ceto. Nick and Chelan had fainted of exhaustion. Philip led the offensive against the mortals.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">He clicked on his radio.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">''“Ariel! Launch pod 5B46 and fire bombing run on coordinates 55886”''

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">Almost immediately after he had said that a pod landed in the clearing. It opened and our mecha came out. Brandishing its mini gun and flaming spear it ran to met our opponents.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">“Ahh so the Dark Circle has a new toy,” Erebus laughed.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal">Then I teleported. I landed on the other side of Erebus and stabbed him with my claymore. He acted like he didn't even feel it. He turned around and backhanded me, I went flying into the ground. I could see, the Dark Circle on the retreat. There was no way we could win this. Josh was back up and was battling Erebus again. I was in so much pain. I was beginning to black out. Then I saw a blimp in the sky, I couldn't see who was on it. I prayed it wasn't anymore mortals. The people landed in the clearing, brandishing swords. The Center of Light. They had come. I got back up and ran towards Erebus, I took out Caleb's right hand sword. Today we end this!