The Power of Eriz Chapter 3

The News at Camp Half Blood
ARRIVING AT CAMP HALF BLOOD WASN'T THE BAD PART, now what awaited was even scarier than expecting. Imagine the toughest person you'd ever met, and keep in mind how scary they are. Now ampliphy that by a thousand megawatts and that's how scary it was. I was pretty much drenched in sweat when I met with Alexus right outside the camp boundaries.

Alexus was the daughter of Zeus, the lean and mean mister authority, so compared to her father, she was as tough as they'd have 'em. I casually walked up to her and smiled, giving her my please don't kill me eyes as I said hello.

"Your late." Her response. Alexus has long black hair and stormy blue eys, pretty much the only thing she retained from her father were her eyes, although he could change them whenever he wanted.

"Sorry about that, I had to take the Subway, because of a . . . ugh problem at school."

"Yeah, I know." She said a bit bitterly. Her eyes glanced at me up and down as if to say, you reak of gunpowder. "You were playing with a crocodile aswell. Do you know that they aren't even supposed to be around us. Their Egyptians."

I hesitated. "Ok, anyways nice to see you too, can we get inside because I kinda have to tell Chiron something ."

"Yeah, no worries, but before we do that, why not pay some attention to Jasmine, she's been worried about you all day."

I raised an eyebrow intrigued by this. Jasmine never worried about me at all. She knew I could take care of myself, and considering with my new found strength thanks to Zac and the others, I actually had muscles now.

"Ok, sure I'll make a quick visit."

Camp was exactly how I had left it this morning. Compared to everyon else I was one of the few dozen kids that actually went to school in the mortal world. I definitely needed it. It was my only way out, to relax and get away from all these Greek gods and their problems. I mean sure, being a demigod could be kinda cool, but it was also a nightmare. You'd live your life running from monsters, barely make it to adulthood and on top of that, you could never hang out with friends like a real teenager.

I mean yeah, you'd have demigod friends, and on occasion make a friend or two in the mortal world, but not like the mortals did. They had it great, never bothering to notice a world of mythological creatures is lapping them by.

When I finally reached the Hades cabin, I remembered all my swim-team budds. Even Rosemary. They were all dead. It was hard trying to fit in at normal schools for a demigod, and considering it seemed like a second home to me, I kinda wanted to make it last, but, now they were all gone.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door and immediately the door opened and Jasmine looked scared out of her mind. Alexus had told me she was worried, but not crazy worried. Jasmine's hair was completely Eistein-like, she looked like a mad scientist tried to figure out how asitopine works.

I sat on her bed and began to tell her how my day was. The usual stuff that i'd do when I got back from school. On normal days, she'd offer advice on how to deal with things, but today she just listened in horror. It was like she had known all of that was going to happen and was trying to prevent it.

"You knew, didn't you?" I said shocked at the realization.

"mmhm," She gestured biting her lip. "It's just that, no one can defy fate, Exavier, not even you. I just wanted you not to get hurt, not to find out what was going on in the underworld, in the sea of the dead. I wanted you to think that Eriz was still plotting, and not active."

I glanced at the floor. "Did you also know about Nyx?" I asked.

"Yes, I knew that she would rise first, as she is the one that resembles Eriz in power, but not in appearance. I doubt that Nyx would side with her mother, but as for her plans, I know she is attacking the gods."

"What does this all mean, and how is Nyx the first, wasn't Gaea the first. In the old stories of Rome, Terra would rise soon after Chaos gave birth to the protogentoi, leading the siblings and later forming Uranus who she qurted and had children with."

"That old folk lore is true, but Nyx was the first to be born. Nyx is darkness itself. As a result, Chaos gave birth to Nyx followed by Erebos and Tartarus to later give birth to Gaea. Gaea is known as the fourth child of Chaos."

"And the most deceiving." I added. "So does, this mean that Erebos would rise soon enough?"

Jasmine took a deep breath, and suddenly shadows fixed her hair and composure. Her eyes slowly and gradually began to shine copper brown, just as the day I first met her. "Erebos is still in the Underworld, he is bound to Tartarus, which is bound to the Underworld. Erebos wouldn't leave his home unless the place in question is being destroyed. We shouldn't have to fear for his appearance in Eriz's games."

I nodded. "I see, but first things first. We have to speak with Chiron, he would know what to say about this, and more importantly how to handle the situation."

"Exavier, this time, I'm going to be the one helping you out, I've learned my limits with my powers and of course, you've taught me Roman combat." She smiled.

"Either way, you are important and essential to the quest. I wouldn't want any other people besides you and Alexus at my side." I smiled and we headed out to the big house, and to have a word with Chiron.

When we arrived at the Big House, Chiron was sitting in his wheelchair form, having a game of checker with Dionysus, which from my understanding was rare. I had only seen this man actually think twice before, once was during the spring time after the spring harvest festival, and the other time was when he was to be giving swordsmenship lessons in combat. He actually hated everybody at camp. Well, all except one person and that was Alexus Grace, the daughter of Zeus. He didn't hate her because unlike the other demigods, she wasn't that heroic or overconfident when it came to leading, she just did it.

On the foot note, that kinda has to do with me too. I helped her be more laid back after our quest to stop Chaos from rising last winter. Now he was just living it with her excellency.

Glaring at me, he held a pretencious look on his face. "I see you didn't die on your last day of school, good for you Ethan. I'm proud that you didn't have any trouble this year. Normally demigods of high status draw a lot of monsters, its all because of . . ." He paused thinking on his next move.

"Because of a child of Hecate, Lamia, she casted a spell on all the demigods to make their blood smell a unique odor in order for them to be killed by monsters."

"I see, this one's more interesting than old Peter Johanson, I like him. He's gonna do just fine." Dionysus commented. With a swift move, he quadriple jumped Chiron and secured another king. Now with four kings, Dionysus had an overwhelming odd against Chiron, who only secured two.

I glanced at Chiron as he studied the openings. "Hmph, Mr D. I pitty you, I win again." He said closing his eyes in disgust. Taking one of his kings, he jumped all four of the kings in one movement upward crossing boxes as he made it to the other side. "Checkmate, my old friend."

Ashamed, Dionysus rose. "I see. Very well, I'll be leaving now . . ." Dionysus said with dread in his eyes. The purple coloring had faded to nothing but dark brown.

Turning at us Chiron decided to hear us out. We told him everything that had happened. Everything from beginning to end, I even decided to confide in him on my dream, about Nyx and how she was sending Alabaster after me.

Soon after hearing the entire story, Chiron's expression hardened. "I see, this is bad. I fear the gods have grown reckless over the years, and this has something to do with one of the previous generations. But the past is only helpful in myth not in modern times, so let's just wait till tommarow, it's June 14th, we could be wrong about our course of action in a very primative time. Take it easy and have a wonderful day, we'll talk about this later tommarow morning."

Understanding this, I decided to head back to my cabin and await till dinner.

The Power of Eriz Chapter 4