Reyna's POV

"Thalia?" There was no response. "This isn't funny, answer me. Do you copy?"

Everyone had been ordered back to defend the second wall with everything we had left. As much as both Frank and hated it the Hades siblings were some of the few still keeping us in the fight.

Hazel was underground opening and closing tunnels swallowing massive amounts of the enemy every now and then she'd pop up in a random spot and having collected dozens of weapons from fallen warriors good and bad, would shoot them all in a scatter shot, skewering and crippling anything nearby.

Nico had his arms extended raising wave after wave of dead soldiers to shore up the defenses. His eyes were almost completely black now, his lips curled up in a cruel smile as he contorted the shadows to his will. They would creep and crawl like demons from hell grabbing anyone unsuspecting of their presence.

At some point Tyson had managed to gather help from his brethren and was riding Mrs. O'Leary into battle club in hand , a large force to be reckoned with. Percy had joined Poseidon at the creek water swirled and swallowed up the monsters as Percy protected his father from anything dangerous. Poseidon was locked in a duel with Lach.

Blade and Trident clashing, sparks flying dangerously. Water and ground roaring in outrage. Athena was working in unison with her daughter. The two of them ducking and weaving like two cobras striking at the prime moment. They were winning their fight but they had the constant problem of outside interference.

Artemis was shifting between animal and human form at too fast of a pace for the human eye to pick up on, she was nothing more than a silver blur. Her attacks were savage though as her opponent one of Aphrodite's daughters struggled to fend her off. I could only imagine she was being fueled by rage for her formerly dead Hunters.

Hermes was a blur as well. A flash of gold light here and there as he ran helping pull kids away from danger in the nick of time while leaving some surprise traps behind. We should have been winning. But there was only so much one could do because although they wouldn't say it, even the gods were weakening.

As faith and morale fell, as their children fell, as grief gripped everyone, it was getting to be nearly impossible to hold our ground. We would need a miracle to survive.

"She's not picking up I don't know what happened." I said to Frank panic clear in my voice. His eyes were trained on the battle field.

"There!" He pointed and in an instant I followed where he was pointing. There was a flash hardly noticeable but it was her, only Thalia could run that fast.

"Why is she-" But then I saw it. Páthos wielding a bow. Páthos didn't use a bow. Swallowing hard I recalled the long almost guarded stare I'd held with him. The eyes. They were red yes, but they were not aflame with passion. "Oh no."

"What?" Frank asked shooting an arrow at an empousai who attempted to fly over the wall.

"I need to go. Now!" I started to run off when Frank caught my arm. I wasn't sure as to why when suddenly the entire portion of the wall in front of me crumbled. My eyes widened and I felt my heart plummet. "No."

"Fall back!" Frank yelled and a few others repeated the order. My eyes landed on something I couldn't see. It was the invisible monster but the only person who could beat it was now gone.
But in order to bust the wall down like that it had to have been stunned even if it was only for a little.

Gritting my teeth I had a wild idea. Wriggling out of Frank's grasp I leapt off the side of the wall. As expected I slammed into it hard and with shaking hands plunged my blade into it not sure what I had hit exactly. It didn't matter though as a long tear of flesh could now be seen. It was an indicator that the monster existed.

"Frank concentrate fire power here!" I yelled just before being batted backwards. I landed hard on the ground and winced but sprang to my feet. "Keep things together! I'll be back but I gotta stop her."

"Stay safe." Frank called shifting into an elephant and charging at the monster.

My next battle ahead was managing to wade through the hundreds of foes before me. But I had a mission and nothing was going to stop me. Drawing my sword I set my jaw. I made a silent prayer to my mother that if she existed, that if she really cared she'd aid me. I didn't care how futile and pathetic my pleas were but I needed to do something.

A dracnae approached spear tip lowered and in one powerful swing I sliced it in half. Catching the tip in mid air I spun planting it in her chest. There was a rush of air as she dissipated into dust. I broke into a run ducking and weaving slashing and cutting. Nothing in my path was going to stop me from getting to my destination.

It was like cutting through butter. Time seemed to slow down, weaknesses of the enemy sharpened in my mind. Strength surged through my veins. I'd only done it a few other times but I was tapping into my true power. Speed became my ally not my enemy. Their weakness became my strength as power ran through my veins fueling my attacks.

Their weapons felt heavier to them while mine felt lighter, their doubts were my confidence, their exhaustion was my persistence, their fear became my anger.

I slammed the hilt of my sword against the skull of a wolf. It crippled in an instant. One swift motion later four bodies hit the ground at the same moment. Everyone backed away eager to stay far away from my blade but no one was going to be safe as long as someone stood in my way of Thalia and Olympus.

I felt the burning gaze of Cupid glowering at me but even he stayed far away turning back to his fight. I left nothing but a trail of destruction in my wake and at last broke through to the other side. It was open land from here on out.

So I did what anyone would do. I ran. Sheathing my sword I ran with everything in me not caring about the burning that spread through my chest.

I needed to get to Olympus as fast as possible. I ran along the dirt road leading to camp for what felt like forever before finally connecting to the city. Hundreds of people were out and about mingling with one another as if children weren't dying only miles away by a horde of darkness. Pausing for nothing more than a quick sharp breath I took off again pushing and slamming into people just wanting them to move out of my way.

With an angry growl I gave up on taking the main roads and ducked into the alleys. The Empire State Building was tall and prominent and slowly grew closer with each stride. I darted around a corner and vaulted a stack of old shipping crates.

I was mid stride when something unexplainable happened. A searing pain flared in my chest unlike anything I'd ever felt before in my entire life. Crying out in pain I collapsed onto the alley floor, sword skittering out of hand. No breath no matter how shallow was enough to keep me from growing dizzy, because with each breath the pain seemed to grow worse.

Panicking I tried to relax but I couldn't. Something was wrong, horribly wrong, and something became very clear to me. Whatever was happening on Olympus was bad. Very bad. I rolled onto my stomach and struggled to push myself up. The pain was so intense I couldn't keep from yelling.
Staggering to my feet I leaned on the alley wall trying to gather myself. My sword seemed to shimmer at my feet and with shaking legs I knelt down and picked it up. It flashed brightly and I had to turn away from what I saw before my eyes adjusted.

It was Olympus alright. But it was horribly wrong. Buildings were on fire and damaged as minor gods, muses, and satyrd scrambled about in fear while others tried to fight. Páthos had taken a separate group of people to Olympus, his elite warriors, most of them were rogue demigods.

"No. No this can't be happening." I felt tears threaten to spill over my eyes but the worst was yet to come. The image shifted and I saw the throne room fade slowly from its original glory into the horror it was now.

The marble floor was cracked in multiple places spider webbing outwards. The pillars were crumbling and falling apart. Even the hearth at the center of the throne room was extinguished.

But that wasn't entirely what was sad. No my heart nearly broke when I saw what was next. Páthos was in a frenzied rage his blade swinging to and fro as he struck everything and anything in his path.

Thalia the beautiful idiot was struggling to her feet blood running down her arms and body, legs shaking and weak, standing defiantly in front of her Father's throne a look of pure anger on her face as Páthos defaced the most important structure of her heritage.

He swung downwards blade plunging into the marble of the throne I knew as Artemis's. The image shifted back to the battlefield at camp. Artemis shifted back to human form a look of shock and pain on her face. She was knocked backwards and managed to roll to her knees but it was clear the effect it had in her. She looked weaker, in pain, sad almost.

"No." I shook my head feeling the tears spill down my cheeks. "Why are you showing me this?"

"Because I need your help." I glanced up to see Apollo's shimmering form standing above me.

"Why? You should be on Olympus protecting your home!" I said. Apollo shook his head.

"No, I must aid my sister. You need to go to Olympus." Apollo said and for once I could see pain on his face regarding something different than himself, and it worsened when he talked of Artemis. "Take this."

He handed me a bow that shimmered in gold light. I took it shakily and felt myself slowly begin to regain my strength.

"What's it for?" I asked. His look softened to a bitter type of sadness.

"I am a prophet. I've seen the future Reyna. You'll know what to do when the time comes." He said and helped me stand and compose myself. "Now go. There isn't much time. Páthos can lose. You must trust yourself and each other."

"But-" Before I could say anything he vanished in front of me leaving nothing but the feeling of warm sun on my skin but even that disappeared. I turned staring up at the Empire State Building. From down here no one would have a clue what was going on. Not even those who could see through the mist.

Sheathing my sword I glanced down at the bow in my hands. I took a shaky breath though I felt a sullenness in my heart I couldn't quite explain. Drying the last of my tears I set off again running on tired legs, to a burning paradise, and I couldn't help but think how poetic all of this was.

People back home used to talk about heaven, how it was perfect and that everything you could ever want waited for you there. But I guess they forgot to mention one very important thing. Even heaven can burn.