A Dark Cloud Over the Future Ch 18

Chapter 18: A Tale of Flying Pigs
Nico and Thalia walked back toward the Empire State Building and took the elevator up to Olympus. Nico help the jar in his hands and while it felt cold in Thalia’s, it felt warm to him. They reached the top where there were demigods getting patched up. Some had moved here from the hotel and others had been fighting off the few forces that had made it into the city. They walked into the throne room and there was a small flash of light as the fire peaked.

“Lady Hestia,” Thalia said as she bowed her head. Nico did the same and the small child at the fire turned around.

“There is no need for that,” she said. “Please, rise. We have much to talk about.”

“What do we need to talk about?” Nico said as the two raised their heads in the presence of the goddess.

“We need to talk about you,” she said, but the two demigods looked confused. “Events are about to pass, but you two may not be able to make the correct choices. You don’t always know when to step back, when to yield.”

“What do you mean?” Nico asked, not sure what she meant.

“When Dionysus was brought up to Mount Olympus, one of the gods would be forced to give up their throne and the balance of gods and goddesses would be uneven. However, in order to prevent a war, I stepped down and allowed him to take my throne. I now exist only at the hearth, the home. Even if Olympus falls, I will remain the last Olympian. However, when the time comes, will you be able to yield to another? Thalia, you are a strong warrior, but the curse you wear could cloud your judgement. Nico, you hold grudges that could rip you apart from the inside. I need to learn to let go. This is the only advice I can give you.”

The two looked at each other nervously as they both knew that she was right. Nico looked away and remembered the pithos in his hands.

“Hestia, I think you should take this,” Nico said. “All that is left inside is hope, and hope exists the best at the hearth.”

Hestia took the jar and put it on her back before vanishing into the flames.

“We should get some rest while we can, come on,” Nico said to Thalia and they both went down the elevator and found a few benches to sleep on. They were only asleep for a few hours when a horrible screech could be heard above their heads. They ran outside and saw a pig with wings flying around the sky, diving down and trying to attack their forces. The Apollo archers tried to hit it with arrows, but it would dodge or speed out of the way.

“Try and get a rope around it!” Thalia ordered and the Apollo campers traded their bows for lassos and began tossing them at the flying pig. One of them managed to make it around the pigs neck and Thalia ran over to help grab the rope.

“I got it!” Thalia yelled, but a second later, she was pulled into the air and down the street as she saw demigods scrabbling to try and keep up. Thalia then made the biggest mistake, she looked down. She was currently flying at least 30 feet in the air and she grabbed the rope tightly saying something like I want to get down under her breath. She gripped the rope even tighter and she started generating tiny sparks of static out of fear. The static managed to climb up the rope and the sow began to feel the effects. It began to scream at the constant shocks and Thalia looked up to see what was happening. She looked at her body and realized what she was doing.

“Alright pig, tonight I’m having Clazmonian Bacon!” she screamed up the rope, not daring to look down again. She began to climb as the sow was now the one that was afraid. It began to fly around sporadically as Thalia sent more shock waves up the rope. When she got close enough, she pulled out her spear and placed the tip right under the pig’s belly. Then, air pressure seemed to drop and thunder clouds formed in the sky. A bolt of lightning fell from the heavens and went straight through the sow and into Thalia’s spear. The sow was covered in burned fur and feathers and started turning to dust. It was then that Thalia remembered how high she was began climbing down the rope before the monster vanished completely. She was still about 10 feet off the ground when the rope dropped and she went tumbling to the ground. However, when she hit the ground, it didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would, possibly because of the curse, but for a second she thought she felt the wind protect her. Maybe her father really was looking out for her.

She began her walk back when she noticed that they were once again being attacked. Nico and the other campers were holding them off for now, but it was visible that they were no match. She ran over and began stabbing monster with her spear while running through the group of monsters. A few giants then began to walk down the street and started knocking away campers with their clubs or knocking people off balance with their footsteps. They managed to simply walk past the front line and went right for the archers who were starting to fall back after running out of arrows. One of the giants picked one of them up and dangled him over his mouth. Thalia tried to get there in time, but she was fighting off monsters of her own. All of a sudden, an arrow landed right in the middle of his head and he turned to dust. Everyone stopped for a second as Chiron appeared on the roof of a nearby building.

“Party Ponies, attack!” Chiron screamed and at least a hundred centaurs appeared on the roofs of about ten different buildings. The all notched their arrows and began to destroy monsters left and right as the confusion provided a perfect opportunity to kill as many monsters as possible. Some got away and retreated, possibly all the way back to the bridges or possibly the Titans had set up a base closer. The demigods were being pushed back all over the city and Malcolm had already complained that there was too much for him to control. Pretty soon they would be pushed back to the Empire State Building. And there was still that monster that Prometheus had mentioned, but was he talking about the sow and what did the Ares cabin have to do with anything. It isn’t like the answer was going to fall out of the sky, Thalia thought inside her head, but as she looked up she saw a helicopter falling from the sky.

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive  18:17, October 23, 2011 (UTC)