Resurrected

Charlie's POV

When Kronos took Luke’s form, it wasn’t a pretty sight. Luke, no, Erebus, had he called himself? No, it was Kronos. Ugh, whatever, the thing inside Luke's body roared in pain and there was a ripping sound in the air as a black cloud exited Luke’s mouth. It looked like he was literally expelling a car’s exhaust pipe. For a moment, the black cloud took human form, and it said,

“Curse you, Kronos!”

Then, it dissipated into the air. After the presence was gone, Luke was still kneeling on the ground. We had all gathered in between the sword arena and the cabins. On the other side of the cabins was the Infirmary. We couldn’t let him get to the cabins. And if Kronos got to the Infirmary, he would easily kill Ethan and drag him into Tartarus. I personally couldn’t let that happen.

I looked around and saw Percy, Annabeth and the Athena Cabin, the Ares Cabin led by Clarisse, Tommy and Alex, the Apollo Cabin led by Will Solace, Nico di Angelo (which both surprised me and didn’t), and of course, the Hephaestus cabin behind me. Defending the cabins a few hundred yards behind us were the Aphrodite cabin, the minor gods’ cabins, and the Hermes cabin, leading the defense.

I quickly knelt as Luke was writhing in pain and offered a quick prayer to my father to protect Silena. I couldn’t bear it if she were to die tonight, or even get hurt. I tapped the steel container tucked under my chest plate for luck, and then a rough hand clapped my shoulder. Even through the calluses and my armor, I could feel the hand trembling.

“You know,” said the lightly Australian-accented voice of Jake Mason, “you need to be protected too, Beckendorf. Maybe you should stay back a bit, let the rest of us handle this.”

“Alright, matey,” I said, and I smiled, trying for a laugh. I teased him whenever his accent came out. His mother had been one of the main architects that built the Sydney Opera House, and he had lived there for a very long time before moving to Upstate New York.

“Shut up, Beckendorf!” He scolded, “C’mon, I’m trying to protect you and—”

“And I’m trying to save my soul!” I shouted, interrupting him, “I’m fine!”

He grunted, and went back to organizing the Hephaestus Cabin. All in all, we had about forty-five kids defending the first line. The rest were either on the second line, or hiding.

Not enough, I thought, not nearly enough.

Then, Luke got up, and I joined Percy up front. Luke stood up clumsily, and when he opened his eyes, they were pure gold.

“NAKAMURA!” He screamed in a raspy, scraping voice, “I pledged myself that I would never again stoop so low as to have to take a human form! You have made me break my pledge!”

“Wait!” I heard Annabeth say somewhere to my left, “how is that possible? Luke’s body…oh, Luke.”

“Yes, my darling!” Kronos sneered at her, “Did you think that a couple of years in Tartarus would wash off his Stygian coating? No! He is as impervious as ever!”

But I could see something in his eyes. And I knew the Crooked One was lying. Luke was only mortal now, his skin just like mine, not like steel.

Just then, Kronos raised his right hand up and six or seven dozens of soldiers suddenly appeared. They were pure skeletons, not spartoi like Percy had described. They didn’t form grey flesh, they just grew weapons. As they rose, Kronos rasped,

“Thank you, Ares, my grandson! I like your spoils of war!”

Then, they charged. We charged back, but we were outnumbered. We didn’t even realize Kronos’ amazingly simple plan until it was almost too late. As everyone became locked up in combat with one or two skeletons, Kronos simply walked towards the second line, at the Cabins, like he had all the time in the world. Which, technically speaking, he did.

I tried to sprint at him, to stop him from killing my friends, but a trio of skeletons cornered me.

“All right, fine!” I shouted at their bony figures, “we’ll do it the hard way!”

I summoned all of my anger, for once not controlled by Kronos, and produced Fulcrum. I smiled evilly at the familiar weight of the war hammer in my hands. Then, I struck.

The first skeletons raised a rusted sword and slammed down, but I blocked it with the shaft of the hammer. I then kicked it, and I could hear multiple ribs snap like twigs. I finished the skeleton off with a swipe of my hammer, splintering its body into countless pieces. The next two were easy. I slipped trough them and swiped my hammer across both their skulls, smashing them into dust.

I kept running towards the cabins, trying so hard to get to the second line before Kronos did. I could see Luke’s body, faintly glowing in the distance, and I zeroed in. I could hear the screams of both humans and the bony outcries of the skeletons. But I didn’t care.

He had to die.

After a short sprint, I was right on top of Luke. He seemed not to notice me, and I realized why. I could see my own body, or a hologram of my own body, sprinting towards the Lord of Time.

But it wasn’t me. It was a ghost of me.

Ghost Me raised his Ghost Fulcrum and tried to swing at Kronos, who seemed not to notice Ghost Me at all. Then, at the last second, Kronos turned, quicker than thought, and froze Time. Kronos then sliced his sickle across Ghost Me’s stomach area, going straight through Ghost Me’s armor and spilling a lot of Ghost Me’s blood. Then, I realized, again, his evil plan.

I heard a scream, a familiar scream, and realized that Silena had just seen Real Me die right in front of her eyes. She probably couldn’t see me, standing only a hundred feet away. She ran through the hasty barricade that had been set up and charged at Kronos. The Titan simply laughed at his good fortune.

“SILENA!” I screamed, trying to get her to stop running to her death, “NO!”

Then, Kronos turned at me. Silena and the body of Ghost me disappeared into the Mist.

I had been tricked.

Notes

There should be a part two sometime tomorrow.

Enjoy,
Grafon