Nothing was happening.

Well... Nothing interesting.

Boring and borderline torture, that's how I'd describe my experience so far. The itch on my leg was getting worse with each passing second, and I was out of things to think about to take my mind off of it. Twenty minutes had probably passed since I had laid down, though for all my estimate was worth, it could easily have been over an hour since the horn signalling the start of the game was blown.

I couldn't see John or really anyone else for that matter. Only trees, mud, leaves and rain.

The dry spots that still remained under my armour, not soaking up the dampness of the mud covering me, had quickly disappeared once the downpour arrived. Deep down I was hoping against hope that my disguise was still intact enough to keep me hidden from any enemies arriving.

If not... Well, then I was screwed.

With the occasional movement of the foliage before me keeping me on the edge, I was sure that I was being watched by one of the monsters Chiron had mentioned. He had never really struck me as the type to joke about these things.

A while ago I had realised that the clashing of weapons was finally getting closer, and somewhere behind me, a loud yell had bounded through the forest, sounding like it had come from the sturdily built Hephaestus cabin counsellor. Whether it was a cry of defeat or a battle cry, I wasn't sure. Neither meant much good, no matter the case.

What the hell was I even doing here? How had things taken such a turn in such a small amount of time? Two weeks ago, I would've been at the orphanage, hiding under the stairs, but now that felt surreal to even think about. Such a cosy hideout, that had been, and one that only I knew about. It gave off a massive Harry Potterish feeling and it filled me with joy whenever I could escape there, which if I recalled correctly, was a feeling the fictional wizard boy wouldn't share with me.

I had to be careful when going there, so as to not give the location away, but if nobody watched me crawl inside it was so hidden it was practically impossible to find. Down in the basement, behind a stack of boxes that looked old enough to crumble upon the slightest touch... Perfect.

Inside my crib, a stack of comfortable, used pillows constantly lay scattered everywhere, most of which I had found on the street or in the trash. After a thorough cleaning, and trying my best not to think about what things they had gone through prior to me finding it, they were almost as good as new.

But my biggest achievement was the sponge mattress. A couple had been in the process of throwing it away when I happened to pass them by on the street. The moment they had gone back inside, I was pouncing on that opportunity. Running through the streets of New York with a mattress under your arm is something that warrants a few stares.

A small price to pay for ultimate comfort.

The size of it was something that I had to take into consideration... I couldn't just simply run inside with it. For three days, it was stored in an alleyway next to the orphanage. I had to wait until the iron-fisted autocrat of the building finally went on her shopping run, and only then could I get to work.

I had been worried about what would happen if she returned early, but in the end, no problems arose and I finally had the crown jewel of my bunker inside.

Now that I thought about it, I felt bad for the kids I had left behind to join this camp. While I hadn't exactly been a friend to most, I knew and saw enough to realize that they looked up to me. Nobody else really dared to stand up to that fucking demon that called herself headmistress... Well, except for me.

A feeling of anxiety suddenly overcame me and I was ripped away from my nostalgia trip, arriving back to the current situation I was stuck in.

In the distance rang the faint call of an owl... Only sounding slightly constipated.

I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword and shield, gritting my teeth, ready to jump up at a moment's notice.

Five minutes passed, and still, there was no sign of the enemy team...

Had that been a real owl after all?

I tried turning my head as slowly as I could, to look at where I hoped John was sitting, hidden by the branches.

Something blurred through the air, disappearing into the foliage with a metallic clang. Two seconds passed and a figure flopped out of a nearby bush, a blue cloth tied around their torso.

Fuck.

The foliage exploded into action, two dozen campers all wearing blue ribbons running out of hiding, most of them charging straight for the flag.

Straight at me.

The one at the forefront was from the Ares cabin, his sneer giving his family connections away instantly.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself off of the ground, surprising the guy as I bashed my shield into him as hard as I could. A jarring pain rushed up my cold, wet arm, but I kept my grip as best as I could, lifting my sword to face the horde descending onto me.

All of them skidded to a halt, two of them tripping in the mud, and one trying to grab my shield arm, only for their hands to slip off of my mud-covered bicep.

Smacking them on the side with my weapon, my sword clanged off of armour, but it was enough of a shock to cause the guy in question to stumble backwards and sit on his ass.

"Get back!" Came the voice of Bruce. Amongst the crowd was the counsellor, wearing a boar-shaped helmet and carrying a spear that had sparks travelling across the weapon's metal surfaces every few seconds.

They formed back up properly and looked at me, some of the more nervous ones staring into the woods, waiting for more defenders to arrive.

The guy who I had first sent sprawling in the mud pulled off his helmet, caked heavily in mud. Hair reaching to his shoulders flopped out, and my grip tightened around the hilt of my sword.

Liz glared at me through the mud covering her in the shape of the helmet's slits. With the back of one of her fists, she wiped most of it off, spitting some from her mouth.

"Daniel! You can't take all of us on! Surrender!" Bruce ordered.

"No thank you!" I yelled, though even I could hear the wobble in my voice.

Bruce's eyes locked onto my shield, my reflexes kicking in and moving it in front of the strike already arcing towards me. I felt like I was way too slow for the son of Ares, which only added to my surprise when the spear's blade skittered off to the side.

My victory was short-lived as a jolt travelled up my arm, causing me to lose all feeling in it. It flopped to my side, and no matter how hard I tried to lift it back up, fighting through the pain, it wouldn't budge.

Without a shield, I'd not last long.

An arrow came sailing through the air, barely visible in the light and only betrayed by a whistling sound, Bruce instantly focusing on the incoming projectile... This was as much of a chance as I would ever get. A deep breath, then a second, and I was charging forward, ignoring the logical thoughts screaming in my head to run away from it all.

Almost instantly, a shield slammed into me, sending me sliding backwards through the mud, my cartwheeling arms barely stopping me from sprawling on the ground.

"John, come out!" Bruce yelled.

Two more arrows came from the foliage, but both did nothing more than dent shields. The soggy blonde figure of an archer emerged, holding his bow, and two arrows in his hand. He was staring straight at me.

I had no time to communicate silently with him, as someone came sprinting straight towards me. Unstrapping my shield from my barely usable arm, I threw it as hard as I could at the first of many opponents. While managing to dodge past it, the shield falling into the mud in between enemies, the guy didn't calculate in the slipperiness of the ground, and slid straight past me and the flag, helplessly flailing his arms.

John was now loosing arrow after arrow at our opponents, successfully distracting most of the demigods from advancing on their target. As I watched, one of the blunt projectiles flew above a shield, and struck the demigod behind it, sending them spinning through the air with a dislocated shoulder.

"Liz, dragon formation!" Bruce ordered, turning to those who weren't necessary for the defence against the son of Apollo's barrage. His sister nodded, smiling at whatever that meant, and positioning others in a way that made me take a step back, unsure of what to expect.

There was no warning, no shout to start, only the sight of two burly kids gunning it towards me, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye. The smell which reminded me of a boy's locker room filled my nostrils as I was covered by the large-bodied demigods, Liz sprinting past us to climb the pile of rocks and grab the flag.

Goddammit, I wasn't going to go down as the guy who failed at the one and only task he was given in his first-ever capture the flag...

"Get off me!" I grunted, pushing against them and feeling myself slip from their grip slightly. A second push and they were tumbling over each other as my body suddenly disappeared from underneath them. Gripping my sword once more, I locked eyes with the back of Liz's quickly-vanishing head and dashed after her. Every step, I feared I'd slip and fall, possibly impaling myself with my glowing weapon in the process, but with each leap my feet carried me forward, no such thing happened.

As I got closer to the trees, the mud was gone, replaced by dirt only slightly wetted by the rain thus far. A much more comfortable surface to run on.

I spotted her sword glint in the darkness, and couldn't help but groan at the distance between us. There was no way I'd catch her, not even if I put everything I had into it.

"Good luck, New Kid!" She screamed over her shoulder, carefully dodging trees. There was a whizzing sound, then a large crack as something smashed against the back of the girl, launching her into a tree she was about to circle around. The arrow clattered to the ground, as did the daughter of Ares a moment later. Reminding myself to thank John later, I caught up to her laying spread eagle on the ground, large chunks of bark covering her and the ground around her.

With a poof, a green-skinned woman appeared beside me and glared first at the daughter of Ares, then at me.

"Sorry!" I told the dryad, who grunted in annoyance before disappearing.

Grabbing the flag, I slapped the god of war's daughter in the arm as hard as I could with the flat of my sword. A dirty move, hitting someone on the ground, but it felt good nonetheless. Readying up to move back towards the Fist, I turned around took some deep breaths, when all of a sudden something struck me in the back, causing me to meet the ground in a painful way.

My cuirass was dented from behind, I could feel that, and there'd definitely be a bruise there later.

It didn't feel so good when it was me getting hit by arrows, but I had to push past the pain... I had to get the flag back to the Fist.

Hauling myself off of the ground, I turned around just in time to spot the counsellor of the Hermes cabin standing over the dropped flag, grinning. Surrounding him were half a dozen others, all carrying bows.

George swung his bow over his shoulder and unsheathed his sword, which he promptly lifted up to his face, illuminating his sopping wet, brown hair. "Sucks to be you," Was all he said, before throwing a business card before my feet.

"George! Put it down!" Came a low growl, "Now!"

Rob stepped out from behind a bush, along with Darryl and some girls who looked like they were from Demeter's cabin. The cabin nine counsellor held a large two-handed war hammer, flames burning across its surface, not at all hindered by the rain falling around us.

"Gotta catch me for-" The Hermes cabin counsellor started, sprinting away faster than what was humanly possible, when all of a sudden, he was wrenched back by an invisible force, stopping him in his tracks.

The counsellor screamed in surprise, both the flag and his sword continuing their journey without him. It looked like a solid barrier of water had formed around most of his body.

From above, illuminated by the crash of lightning, came Nico, flying in on a spiralling tornado of water.

As he landed, the group John had been entertaining entered the circle, John joining us a moment later. A solid three minutes passed with us staring at each other, more and more demigods joining the brewing fight with every passing second.

Whatever was going to happen, I was going to be in the middle of it all.

"Umm..." I muttered, my nerves getting the better of me.

With a scream, Robert charged forward, and I felt my legs turn to jelly as both sides followed the lead of those at the forefront.

Sophia

"There's hardly anyone around..." I muttered, "This isn't something Bruce would do, leaving this position so open."

After managing to break through the creek guards with my smaller force sneaking past the larger distraction, it had been a peaceful and slow walk through the woods right up until my scouts had found the flag. We had ever so carefully made our way close to it, noticing the two not-so-hidden guards almost instantly. The faint glow of their armour wasn't enough to reveal many details, but I had a gut feeling they were Nike kids.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing Malc, just that I had accounted for way more resistance, maybe some soldiers in the woods just far enough away to technically not be guards, but ready to jump into the fray at a moment's notice."

"They could be laying in waiting, no?"

"That is also a valid idea, one that the plan's already incorporated." I looked back towards Zeus' Fist, from where too many sword clashes were coming from for my liking, "We're outnumbered, and I feel like they're going to be surrounding the Fist soon enough. If we can take back some of our folks to attack them from the back, we can stop them from taking our flag before we take theirs."

"Sounds like a solid plan."

I smirked, "Alright, Roger, Will, Lizzy, you three keep the two guards busy. They're going to be Nike kids, so prepare yourselves for a tough fight. Bob, Jim, Anton, Malcolm and Tat, you four go around and take the flag. Defend it at all costs and prepare for some sort of trap. Everyone else, we're going back to our side and helping out with that fight."

Everyone nodded and got into position, me looking at Malcolm and Roger one last time, both of whom bowed their head as a sign of understanding their roles. Both were children of Athena, Malcolm being my vice-counsellor as well as simply my half-brother. They were born to be strategists.

The second Lizzy started yelling, me and the ten others that were assigned the job of returning back legged it through the forest. Felix, even with his portly size, was running faster than anyone else, the smell of alcohol a constant companion as we barged through the foliage.

We ran past a surprised rearguard of Hermes kids, who could only yelp before getting knocked to the side by our superior numbers. They didn't follow us, and after crossing the creek, we were sure we'd not be bringing more combatants to the fight, trailing behind us.

A bright flash of lightning briefly illuminated the forest, the whole lot of us dashing through a wall of bushes only to be revealed almost the entirety of the two teams duelling across this section of forest, the combined glow of everyone's equipment acting as a light source brighter than tonight's moonlight.

Fighting at the Fist? That was easy because thanks to the clearing around it, there was nothing to get in your way.

In the forest, that was a much different question.

Where the fuck was Daniel? Knowing John, he would've told him to defend the flag itself, while he sent Nico and Rob away and climbed a tree himself. Always the same tactic... Couldn't argue against it if it worked.

So I was looking for a scared, mud-covered teenager.

Perfect camouflage in the darkness around us, not to mention there was more than one person who fit that description.

Fuck it, I'd slap him around later for letting the flag get carried this far.

With a grunt, I struck the breastplate of one of the Aphrodite girls in front of me, who turned around to block the next hit. Her scream of shock soon rang out as I flung dirt into her face with a flick of my sword. Kicking her legs out from underneath her, she crashed against the ground, and I walked on, searching for the next target.

"Fucking hell, why are there so many people here?!" I muttered, dodging a sword swing from someone I didn't recognize.

Daniel

This was insanity.

"Wha- What the fuck?!" I took a deep gulp of air, "What the actual fuck?!"

I was hyperventilating like crazy, my surroundings getting more and more insane with every passing moment.

This was fucking lunacy.

Arrows whizzed through the darkness, some hitting trees while others struck campers. The only source of light was the dim glow of the few clean parts of celestial bronze armour still visible, along with Robert, being the bastion of light that he was.

That guy was downright pyromaniacal, using his hammer to shoot flames at whatever and whoever came close. I was sure there'd be many more pissed off dryads by the end of the day.

Right now, he was fighting against the Boreas twins, his flamethrower hammer a perfect counter against both the sword carried by one of the twins and the horn being used by the other, which with each blow seemed to spew out a whirlwind of ice in the direction it was blown.

Nico was flying around like superman, pushing people over with jets of water, or picking them up and dropping them roughly to the ground.

As for John, he was fighting against Bruce and a maddened Liz, dodging swings with ease, and using any openings he could to his advantage, striking with his knives only to be blocked on each try. A stalemate, to be won by whoever had the greatest endurance.

The battle was growing wilder with every passing minute, with new combatants arriving and leaping into the thick of it. At one point, Sophia's blonde-haired head ran past me, and I averted my gaze while dodging a sword swing from one of the Aphrodite boys.

Slowly, over the course of god knows how long, the entire fight shifted closer and closer to the creek because of the flag. Picked up by a member of team two, it managed to travel all of about two meters in one direction before someone from our team intercepted it, and took it back towards the Fist by a meter or so. That fun game would end shortly... One light-footed camper was all that they needed, and they'd win. The Hermes cabin wasn't lacking in that department.

I steeled my nerves and took a deep breath.

"Come on... I can do this." I muttered, and before I could properly think things through, I was sprinting forward. Pushing through individual duels, watching arrows pass by me only barely, and deflecting the occasional random swing coming my way, I was waiting for the moment where I'd be knocked to the ground.

Glancing at a nearby camper also staring at the flag, blue sash tied around his waist, I could almost see the gears turn in his head, putting together why I was going where I was going.

He wasted no time shoving himself forward, sprinting across the wet ground like he was being chased by the devil himself.

Neither of us slowed down as we met with a metallic crash, and I found myself tumbling forward, looking into my opponent's eyes.

The Nike cabin counsellor, Ralph Fireta, stared back at me, surprised that I was on top rather than him. Hands pushed against my chest, but they slipped off of the mud-covered surface, and I felt my heart start to beat in my throat, my fist already moving.

Connecting with his face, I watched as shock overcame him, blood splattering his face from my own hand. There was no time to check the small wound caused by the metal cheek guard of my opponent, and scrambling towards the flag I picked it up and ran without looking back. Tripping over roots and circling startled-faced campers, I had one target in mind. Take the flag back towards Zeus' Fist.

"Keep going!" John yelled, kicking a distracted Bruce in the side, causing the son of Ares to stumble to one knee and freeing up John, who tagged along behind me.

My imagination was trying to work out just how many people were running after me... It sure as hell sounded like most if not all of those battling in the woods were now focused on following me, and I could almost feel the arrow that would come flying into the square of my back from some Hermes kids' bow.

I could hear little besides the sound of blood pumping in my ear, yet I could swear there were cheers accompanying my every step.

Entering the clearing around Zeus' Fist once more, I three the banner shaft-first into the mud and spun around, sword at the ready. Dozens of demigods crashed through the foliage after me, the majority being my own teammates who had defended my back, the enemy arriving soon after.

And once more, the duels started, the clattering of weapons and the grunting of tiring demigods filling my ears where a minute ago only the sound of my own heartbeat had pumped.

But out of the crowd, one of the blue-sashed campers was striding straight towards me, still without a helmet.

"Dipshit!" Liz yelled over the din, swinging her sword at me. Smashing the kopis out of the way, the blade continued into the mud, sticking in deep. Raising my own sword to batter her sword-arm to the side, a sideways kick stopped me in my tracks as it connected with my breastplate.

Once again, I found myself laying on the ground, my arm resting on a mud-covered shield.

"Fuck," I muttered, spitting muck from my mouth as I slowly got back up, just as the daughter of the war god pulled her blade from the ground.

I needed that shield, I'd not stand a chance otherwise, so picking it up, I wiped it off a bit, revealing the design of a boar on its surface.

Liz's eyes narrowed as she looked at my newfound piece of equipment.

"Get your bloody hands off of my shield!" She growled, charging towards me.

Panic overcame me and I did the first thing that came to mind. Throwing as hard as I could, the shield flew straight towards her.

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, she grabbed it mid-air and chucked it back. There was no time to react, and again I was laying in the mud, my breastplate dented not just on my back, but now on my front as well. The brutish girl wasted no time jumping onto me and aiming a punch at my face. Beside us, the flag lay in the mud, forgotten for the time being.

I only just managed to move my head out of the way, and as her fist sank into the sticky ground, I grabbed one of her legs with both of mine and shouldered her to the side as hard as I could manage. It probably came as a surprise for her, because she flopped to the side, suddenly bringing me on top.

Picking up my blade from the mud, I pointed it at Liz.

"Give up," I said, out of breath, "I've won this time around."

She frowned, her eyes focusing on something behind me, "The fuck is-"

Someone grabbed hold of my shoulder from behind me, lifting me up off of the daughter of Ares and spinning me around. Fuck...

I was so focused on her that I had completely forgotten that others could still come from behind.

Looking into the eyes of the victor of this fight, a wave of confusion washed over me. Blonde hair and light blue eyes, his face contorted in anger...

"You are weak... Uncle." He smirked, the words in a foreign language, yet the meaning so clear that he could've said it in English, "And you will not interfere with our plans."

A sharp pain stabbed into my abdomen just slightly off from where I had been wounded during the encounter with the Drakon. I could no longer control my actions and a scream erupted from my lips as the pain radiated across my body, the feeling doubling as I tried weakly to leave his grasp.

The edges of my vision went blurry, and I looked down to see a sword sticking through my armour.

A final thought rushed through my head as I was thrown to the ground, thinking about the rules that Chiron had stated.

Then there was only darkness.

Sophia

These were the type of battles I lived for.

Capture the Flag becoming an all-out melee was rare, but the few times it did happen was always satisfying to watch. With the enemy flag in the process of being secured, all that remained was to keep our own flag at Zeus' Fist. I could kiss the person who had brought it back here... They had single-handedly tipped the scales for us.

Parrying the strike of the Hebe cabin's counsellor, I punched his shoulder as it overstretched past me, and Michael Larson went down with a pained yelp as his shoulder moved out of place. He was out of the fight, so I gestured for one of the helmeted Hecate kids to take him to Chiron.

Some distance away from me, John was once again in a duel with Bruce, the two counsellors equally talented in their own right. Bruce was precise with his bladework, but John knew better than to exchange blow with him, using his agility instead to dodge every swing that came his way, or glancing it off of his sword or knife he was duel-wielding.

The order to do jumping jacks reached my ear and I felt the sudden compulsion to follow them, only just stopping myself from listening to the charmspeak. My eyes fell on Susan, who was spreading confusion near the treeline, quite a few of our teammates following her nonsensical orders, though among them were dotted a few of our opponents doing just the same.

It was time to get the two lovebirds to fight.

Most people who knew Susan well could resist her charmspeak to a degree, but John was by far the best at it. Kind of a must if you happen to date said daughter of Aphrodite.

"But how to get Bruce off of him?" I mused to myself, as I strode towards the pair.

Touching my belt I felt my cap still swinging there, and smiled. The Mets cap... A gift from Athena, giving me the same hat that had once protected Annabeth. It was my most prized possession to date, and probably would be for the rest of my life.

Slapping it onto my head, I felt no different, except for the fact that when I looked down, I couldn't see my own body anymore.

Satisfied that I was completely gone from sight, I ran towards the duelling pair, kicking Bruce's legs out from underneath him. Poking his hand as he fell he let go of Boarhunter, the spear quickly getting enveloped by the mud as he crashed onto his back.

Finally, I whipped my cap off once more, my sword tip pointed at Bruce's face. The counsellor after getting over his shock stopped himself from getting back up and only groaned.

"That hat is bullshit, and you know it." He looked at his hand, a steady stream of blood painting his fingers.

I gave him a curt smile, before turning to John, "You have a girlfriend to stop." I told him, and he nodded, understanding what I was getting at.

"Anything else?" He asked, right before he set off.

"Where's Daniel?"

"He was the one who ran back with the flag, couldn't have gotten far from it." That felt like a slap in the face, in a good way. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

"So... If you're done getting over that surprise of yours, what are you going to do with me?" Bruce asked, talking like we weren't in the middle of a forest, standing in the rain and surrounded by roughly two hundred fighting campers. The rain certainly added an extra challenge layer, and I couldn't even begin to understand what it was like when Dionysus had been the camp director, and rain falling inside the camp's boundaries was basically unheard of.

"I'll take you to Chiron so you don't get any ideas about rejoining the fight."

"Way to fuck my mood." He groaned, starting to stand up, before his eyes widened, "Is that... Toby?" He asked.

"Good one, I haven't heard that one yet... You're getting better at this acting stuff, you know." I told him sarcastically.

"Sophia, I'm fucking serious. Look!" I wasn't about to get tricked in such a way, but something about Bruce's expression made me feel like he wasn't joking.

Turning my head, I glimpsed a blond kid standing behind someone covered in mud and straddling a member of the opposing team.

Daniel.

If Toby, after disappearing for almost a week, was going to join the game and attack his own teammate who had just saved the game, he'd have a whole lot more to answer for.

As I watched, the son of Apollo lifted Daniel up off of the ground, with supernatural ease. I saw his mouth move before his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. All of a sudden, the whites of his eyes stood out starkly against the rest of his mud-covered face.

I'd be surprised too if someone suddenly appeared behind me after not having seen them in a week.

Yet, something felt off about their interaction and leaving Bruce on the ground, I started walking towards them, the game forgotten for now.

Daniel's pupils rolled up into his head, and Toby let go of him, the New Kid's feet buckling underneath him, collapsing onto whoever was still laying on the ground.

A sword hilt was sticking out of his armour.

It felt like a cold hand gripped my heart as I was struck by indecision.

"What the fuck..." I muttered, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" I roared above the noise of the battle and sprinted towards Toby, who turned to face me while more and more people disengaged to see what I was doing.

Toby turned around, and his face barely resembled the boy I had come to know these past few years. His eyes were no longer blue, or any colour really, and his features seemed to be constantly moving, shifting.

"It's a fucking demon!" Liz Hall yelled from underneath the unconscious body of Daniel, scrambling backwards from the scene. As tough as she looked, she had a fear of the supernatural that both her and her brother refused to talk about.

"Daniel!" John exclaimed from somewhere behind me, reaching the proximity of Toby roughly at the same time I did, "What the fuck were you think Toby?!" He screamed at his half-brother, opening his mouth to continue berating him, only to get backhanded across the clearing.

That was definitely not Toby.

"The fuck?!" Someone yelled from behind me.

"Toby? What the hell are you doing?!" That was Darryl.

"I'm not-" He started as I readied my sword to fight him. Suddenly, he wasn't standing anymore.

The half-conscious Daniel had kicked him in the shin, kneeing the falling... Thing... In the head, stopping all forms of coherent speech emerging from his mouth. Blood was pouring out of the unclaimed kid's stab wound, the blade still very much stuck in there. A good sign.

"Dick..." I heard Dan mutter hazily.

"Halt this at once!" Came the shrill call of a woman, half a dozen dryads running out of the forest, lead by one of the oldest ones in the forest, her voice carrying weight even in the meetings of the Council of the Cloven Elders, "This has gone too far." Juniper spat, her fellow nymphs and herself crouching next to Daniel who was trying his best to sit up, but strength was leaving his arms fast. His skin was pale, the contrast between it and the mud caking it making the scene all the more haunting.

It very much seemed that they'd need to pull the sword out to get to the wound until they inspected the armour from closer and discovered that it had been damaged enough for Bruce to remove it with a deep growl and a violent pull.

Waking up today, this had been the last thing I would've thought would happen. Light wounds were one thing, but a stab to the gut was not something to take lightly, nor did it happen during Capture the Flag. At the end of the day, nobody wanted to kill the other while playing this game.

"Is John okay?" I asked, looking over to where he had landed. He seemed shocked and confused as to how he had gotten there, but he was sitting upright, and apart from wincing from pain, he seemed okay. Bruce jogged over to him, hearing the request to check on him hidden within my question.

"Connie, run to Chiron at once, bring everyone, the satyrs included. There's only so much I can do with pretty words and herbs. On that note, Fleur and Peach, get me herbs." Juniper ordered, and the rest of the Dryads nodded, running off.

"Come on, Johnny boy. We need your expertise." Bruce grunted, helping the son of Apollo stand up.

When I looked at him, concerned, he waved his hand in dismissal.

"Broken rib or two. Nothing I can't survive."

Putting him down beside Daniel, our resident doctor started treating the wound as best as he could, checking Daniel's pulse and breathing.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Toby's body twitch, but it happened too quickly to point it out. In one move, the previously comatose guy unsheathed one of John's exposed daggers, pushing past him and jumping towards his target once again.

Daniel.

Yet the sound of impact was followed by a feminine scream of pain, and as both Bruce and I tackled the guy, I saw the body of Juniper slump onto Daniel from the corner of my eye, the nearby nymphs quickly rushing over to help her.

For a moment we managed to hold him down, but with more strength than what was humanely possible, we were flung backwards. He stood up, a sword appearing in his hand from thin air, a mixture of red and black coloured metals. At the same time, the sword lodged into Daniel's intestines disappeared, and his blood started pouring out significantly faster. John cursed and pounced onto the wound, trying his best to stem the flow.

Whatever this thing was, it could no longer be called Toby.

Smashing my shield into him, his blade cut right through the celestial bronze, missing my arm by only an inch, while Bruce threw his spear and drew his kopis. Though the spear was smacked to the side by whatever creature Toby had become, it yelled in pain as electricity travelled through its body.

"Umm, something's happening! SOPH!" John yelled, fear suddenly palpable in his voice.

He crawled away from Daniel's body, staring at both the unconscious body and his own hand, though Juniper stayed, laying on top of him.

"Juniper, get away from there!" I shouted.

"She's been hurt!" One of the nymphs cried back, but I saw them drag her off of Daniel ever so carefully.

Taking a glance at the New Kid's still body, his wound was illuminated by the glow of his celestial bronze armour. No longer was blood spilling from it, instead, it was spewing out black smoke. My mind took me back to the sacrificial brazier every time Daniel had poured something into it.

Who the hell was he?

I was so focused on what was happening with Daniel that only thanks to Bruce pushing me out of the way did I survive Toby's swing. The son of Apollo grunted, and looking over, I saw a cut on his wrist from Bruce's sword, golden blood dripping from it.

Was that... Ichor?

The sound of a galloping horse arrived from the woods, Chiron breaking through the treeline with Sam on his back. They swerved through the crowd of demigods staring at the unfolding scene, dumbstruck, before finally Sam jumped off and looked at Toby, his face carrying a look of anger that I had never before seen him wear.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing... Boy?" Sam questioned, his voice never before having sounded more similar to his father.

"Drop that sword, Toby," Chiron ordered sternly.

Toby replied in a language that I couldn't decipher, however, the camp director was visibly taken aback.

The centaur replied in the strange language, while demigods covered in mud surrounded this thing that Toby had become.

As for Daniel, he was doing something that you normally didn't do for many days after such a wound.

He was standing up.

Looking at Juniper's limp body beside him, it was clear he was deeply upset by the knife stuck hilt-deep in her back.

"I am sorry, my dear. I cannot change fate." Daniel muttered, but there was an echo to the words he spoke. As if there was a much older force behind every word of ancient greek he spoke.

He turned towards Toby and looked him over from head to toe.

Much to my horror, Daniel's eyes started turning black, starting from his pupils and spreading out to engulf the entirety of his eyes.

His wound was oozing some sort of black substance, reminding me of fog, only this was coloured black, and it seemed to churn around his wound.

All eyes were on him now, as if Toby's sword trick and newfound strength was a thing of the past.

"You hide behind puppets, as you always do, but you serve someone who will bring nothing but death and destruction. Now, you harm my creations? Do. Not. Anger. Me. Further." With each word, Dan rose higher and higher off of the ground, his feet no longer touching the mud.

He was flying.

Toby replied in the unknown language again.

"You know as much as I do that prophecies cannot be circumvented, and I will not let you interfere. Begone-" He said, black tendrils suddenly erupting from his body and racing towards Toby. His sword cut through one of them, but it passed through it like it was made of air. The tendrils curled around the son of Apollo, his scream cutting off Daniel's final words, and with a massive boom, he was gone.

The New Kid looked around the entirety of the camp gathered before him, and with a sigh, he dropped back to the ground with a grunt.

Even the creatures of the forest were silent.

"The fuck was that?" Bruce asked his voice like a gunshot amidst the silence.

Chiron was white as chalk and without saying anything he strode forward and looked at Juniper first, who had flipped on her back and was looking up at the sky. As I stepped closer to them, a tear rolled down the centaur's face.

"I never thought it'd end this way." The dryad choked, her voice distant.

"Noone expects their demise" Chiron replied, solemnly.

"I just wish Grover could've been here... With me..." Her eyes closed.

"Rest in Peace," Chiron whispered in greek.

The dryad turned to dust a moment later.

Bruce was the first to take his helmet off, and like a wave, it travelled through the ranks of campers.

She had been a part of Camp Half-Blood's history. And now she was gone. Forever.

"Goodbye, Juniper," The centaur said, ripping his eyes from where the dryad had laid, and looking at Daniel.

"Was Daniel claimed?" I asked quietly.

"Yes..." He hesitated before saying more, "This is a bad omen. Born from a broken oath, born as both the to-be saviour and potential enemy of Olympus..."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He looked around the clearing.

"The past cannot be changed, and everything happens for a reason, does it not?" Chiron asked rhetorically, staring up at the sky.

I nodded as if I had been the one to be questioned.

Who the hell was Daniel?

Bending one of his legs, he knelt before the figure, still standing upright in a stupor.

"Please kneel for Daniel James Greenfield, the son of Lord Chaos."