3 Darkness Arisen

The son of darkness shall bring the light

While delivering us from the war gods might

It shall be a brazly fight

With the war gods kin to pierce his skin

And a bold friend up till the end

"Command the darkness my son, It will obey." Those were the last words I heard before I awoke in a cold sweat, I snapped up and smacked my head against the shelf next to my bed. "Owwwww!" I yelped. I slowly got out of bed and got dressed, once I did I woke up to Argos. He stretched and followed. I walked outside and took a deep breath, all I could smell was burnt wood and hot steel. "A fresh new morning in the camp," I thought to myself. "Hey josh, you're finally awake!" I looked over and saw Emma standing next to her friends waving to me. She said goodbye to her friends and jogged over. "Yeah i just woke up, i had the weirdest dream," I began to describe what had led up to those final words before i awoke. "So you heard those words after you saw the man draped in darkness?" She asked. "Yeah, any idea what that means?" I asked. "The only thing i can think of is that it is a message from your father telling you to command the darkness." She responded. Well I kinda knew that, I thought to myself. "Bahhh alright whatever, it's not a huge deal." I said, shrugging the dream off like it was nothing. "Oh Borus wants to see us, something about adding a third member to our little squad." She said with a smirk. Argos let out a bark, Emma bent down, "sorry a fourth member" SHe said with a smile. Argos licked her face as she bent down to pet him, as I watched them play together I didn't notice a kid in a black hoodie and all black clothes walking up to us. "So your Joshua I'd guess." He said. I met his dark lifeless gaze, "Yeah that's me." He didn't move, and nor did I, "Meet me in the arena." He said he was still dull and lifeless. He walked away, I let him get a little farther away, then I bent down. "Who is that kid?" I asked. " His name is Thesus. Not THE Thesis, but he's new here. Still don't know who his godly parent is though, I know he challenged you. Be careful." Emma said cautiously. I pet argos, "Stay boy," he locked eyes with me and barked, as if to say, "Go get him." I got up and walked towards the arena, I could feel Emma's eyes locked on to my backside. I didn't look back, I could feel myself getting excited to fight someone new. I walked into the arena, looking around I saw him standing in the shadows. "I'm here, what is your issue?" I said suddenly sternly. "No Issues, I just wanted to gage my new teammate." Before I could respond he slammed his hands into the ground, and skeletons erupted at my feet. I sprang through the air, drew my blades and thought to myself, "This should be interesting." I raced forward, slicing his bone friends in two, and advanced to him. I went to strike and he vanished. I was so confused, I spun around, and saw him hidden in the shadows. He was standing in the shadows, with a bone shield and sword in each hand, one of his abilities I guess. "Good thing I had some of my own," I thought. I lit my blades aflame and channeled my darkness into my feet, I sped over, he barely had any time to react, I damn near took his head off with my dagger. He kept teleporting around and around, summoning the undead to do his dirty work. I took a deep breath and put away my weapons, braced my arms, then massive gloves with spikes on each knuckle appeared, I locked eyes with the Thesus and smiled. I charged his army of skeletons with a happy smirk on my face

One hour later

We were both exhausted, our clothes ripped and our bodys on the verge of collapse. I couldn't maintain my dark gloves anymore, they faded back into my regular hands. I had one trick up my sleeve, I placed my hands together and focused my darkness into the center of them. I had an actual name for this move, I called it my darkness bomb. If I could do the move correctly I could launch a ball of pure darkness at my opponent. I could feel the ball of purified darkness well up inside my hands. I aimed at Theseus with the intent to kill, and he knew it. He gave off a cruel smile, i was just about to release the bomb, as I heard Borus's voice scream "NOOOO!!!!" I saw him about to jump in front of my bomb. I was too far gone, I couldn't stop myself, I let it go. Before I could shut my eyes the dark ball was gone. I couldn't believe my eyes, I glanced up and saw a large ball of pitch black darkness, miles above the arena. At that exact moment I gazed past Borus and saw Theseus collapse, his head smacking on the hard arena floor with a thud. My eyes suddenly got blurry and dark, "Oh Crap" I thought, then I collapsed.

Moments later, in the infirmary

I opened my eyes, the bright lights of the medical rest bay shining, I looked around but the only person I saw was Thesus. He hadn't woken yet so I kept quiet, and within moments I saw his eyes flutter open, "You're finally awake," I said. "Yeah, you knocked my shit pretty good, that magic darkness you use is decent," He said, "Yeah, I think the way you summon those bone weapons is, let's say ok." I said, I noticed he was still wearing his old ripped shirt, he had scars as far as the eye can see, he saw me looking at them. "You want to know how i got so many?" He asked, his eyes and voice suddenly lifeless and dull. "Sure," I responded. He slid up his shirt, to show a huge long scar on his abdomen. "I once faced the nemean lion, the damned beast gave me this." He said as he pointed to the scar. "I don't have any scars but I got stories if you want to share." I asked quietly. "You go first," He said. I began to tell him about the attack on the camp, the labyrinth, and the harpy queen. "Jesus christ man. I've been attacked by every monster in the greek book, that's it, I feel bad for you, i'd rather have been attacked then have that." He said, a look of concern in his eyes. I began to look around, there we no other patients. That almost never happens, I called for a nurse. "Yes, how can I help you?" SHe said with a smile. "Where are the other patients?" I asked. Her smile dropped, "There has been a outbreak of Cronobacter in the camp." She said solemnly. Thesus sat up instantly, "What!" He yelled. "Yes, we have roughly twenty cases." She replied. "What is gonna happen to them?" I asked, "We don't know, the cure is hard to make.." SHe trailed off. Thesus's expression hardened instantly, "What do you need?" He asked. Her head dropped as she said, "Gorgon's blood…" "Let me out of here, i'll go get some." I began to pry at the pipes and wires in my body. "I'm going to," Thesus said. He began to rip at the IV tube in his arm. The nurse frantically tried to help. "I have to find Emma." I said quietly. The nurse must have heard me, her expression changed from frantic to fearful. "What happened to her," I ask quietly, rage bubbling up inside me. "She was the first victim…" The nurse said, her voice was shaking. I had to control this rage I felt. I had to focus on what we needed for her cure. I got up, found my blades and ran, Thesus in toe. I found Borus in the hall, "How far to the nearest gorgon," I said sternly. He didn't miss a beat, "You are aware the nearest one is medusa," He said. I froze for a split second, Thesus responded, "I don't care, I've taken her on before." We both looked at him with rage in our eyes. "She lives near New york, in a small stone shop." He said reluctantly. We raced off to the stables, somewhere along the way Argos found us. Once we got to the stables I bent down and said "Medusa," Softly in his ear, and he raced off. "Where's he going," Thesus asked. "Hurry, we have to follow him." I said. We grabbed our horses and followed. We had to keep our eyes on him at all times, after we took off we flew north.

Somewhere near NY, A stoneworks shop

Argos stopped outside the door of a stone shop with the sign, Mamas Flower works on the top of the building. We landed nearby and got ready. We readied our weapons, and advanced to the door. We walked through the old glass door, our nerves high and our blades higher. We shifted from a single file line to back to back, as we walked deeper into the old store, I realized it was morphing into a dark, damp cave. We walked deeper and deeper, then we began to hear hissing that got louder and louder. We walked into a deep open canyon, this hissing got closer and closer. I could faintly see something moving at the edge of the shadows, all I could see was a long, green, slimy tail. Then she struck, a blur of teeth and scales came flying at us from the corner of the cavern, I whirled around, looking at her scaly fingers and teeth. Me and Theseus worked in perfect sync, when one of us got knocked down the other was right in her face. We narrowly avoided her eyes, only looking at her snakes for hair or her green teeth. But then with a burst of speed she slashed at my arm, I felt her long talon like claws pierce my shirt and skin. I got separation, she must have some kind of special ability that allows her to weaken her prey. I tried to get up, stumbling to my feet I set my blades on fire to get her attention, "Hey ugly," I screamed, she knocked Thesis on his back, I saw him hit his head on a pile of rubble nearby. "Oh no," I thought. I tried to channel my darkness but I couldn't, I couldn't feel it. I looked up with a panicked look in my eyes, "You like that," Medusa hissed, "It's a special concoction to dampen your emotions, no darkness for you…" She let out something that sounded like a laugh, "you two are the first demigods to get me this excited since percy jackson, Now look into my eyes and let me turn you into a beautiful stone statue." She hissed. I shut my eyes tight, fumbling backwards until I fell onto my back. I could feel her slimy scales as she began to climb over me to get to my eyes, I could feel my fear rising, I've never felt fear in a situation like this before. I had the urge to scream for help, before I could do anything I could hear Argos jumping onto her back and he began biting and clawing at the base of her neck. I heard her let out a scream of surprised agony. Then before I could move to help him I heard a massive slice and the sound of something heavy hitting the cavern floor. I hesitantly opened up my eyes, I looked up to see Argos standing ontop of me. That instantly put a smile on my face, I tried to get up but i could hardly move. "Easy there you suicidal bastard," Thesus said. He helped me to my feet and leaned me against a nearby rock. I tried to clear my mind, and slowly but surely I began to feel like my old self again. Thesus began to wrap medusas head in a ragged cloth, her head was frozen in a face of shocked anguish. Her open neck wound was slowly oozing blood, thesus grabbed a bottle from one of the nearby corpes and began to fill it to the top. "You think that will be enough?' I asked. "It should be, the antidote only said it needed a drop of the blood…" Thesus said slowly. I knew they had never told us how much they needed, but i did know that he had encountered her before, so i let it go. "That should be enough, but lets see if we can get some more just so we have it." I said, I tried to get but and help but i nearly fell to my knees the second I tried. I could feel myself slowly slipping down into the abiss of sleep, "Thesus.." I managed to murmur, the last thing I saw was him rushing toward me.

Then I blacked out.

I awoke in the camp infirmary, tubes sticking out of every part of my body. All thought I had died, all I saw was a bright light, I heard someone say, "come on wake up, there you go!" One nurse said. "His vitals are improving, but he still in critical condition. The other nurse said. I couldn't feel anything, I tried to stay awake but I couldn't, I could feel myself slipping back in to the darkness, "hey, hey stay with us!" A nurse screamed. I lost consciousness, but I was still awake, I was looking at a bulky shadowy figure. I was in shock, I couldn't say a word. All I could do was stand and watch as the shadowy figure walked closer, my heart rate skyrocketed, but nothing happened. All I could see was the figures smile, "well done, child, you truly are worthy of being my son." He whispered. Then he vanished, but one thing was left ringing in my ears, "it is not your time to die, fight this!" With that I snapped awake, all I could hear was some woman screaming, I realized it was my mom, "Oh, my son! Borus, you son of a bitch! Save my son!! You save my boy!" She kept screaming and screaming, I had to fix this, I channeled my darkness throughout my intire body, I couldn't feel my body convulsing, but I could feel it healing itself. I had to keep going, it felt like every cell in my body was on fire, I began to think about all the good I had done, all the people I had met. Then a voice echoed inside my head, "it is not your time to die, fight this!", I let out a scream that sounded like a dying animal, I forced my body to expel the poison, excreting it out through my tears, I could hear the nurses saying, "he's growing stable,". I knew I was going to be ok, I stopped convulsing, my heart settled and my mind became calm. Before I could open my eyes, I heard a loud booming laugh echo. All the booming voice said was, "Well done son of darkness, well done!" Then silence, everyone in the operating room just looked at each other with looks of shocked awe, we had no idea what that was, or WHO it was. I didn't have the strength to speak, I wanted to stay awake, but my body put me into a deep slumber.

End