Chapter 32: The First Horseman

So where did we leave off last time? Oh yeah, Mount Saint Helens, big fight, Selena gets disowned. People are gonna die in this chapter, be warned.

Chapter 32: The First Horseman

The blade which cut a thousand throats,

Cut a thousand more with one strike.

Vengeance, Vilification, Victory.

πέφτει ο πρώτος ιππέας

Percy stepped into the garden and took a breath, looking around warily with a small smirk on his face. "Ready or not, here I come!" He announced, before stepping further into the fragment of nature.

It was extremely rare for such life to be present in a realm of darkness such as the one he resided, but they had made it work. Nyx thought it would be a good place for the children to play, and for Percy to clear his head. The more he used it, the more he found himself admitting she was right.

Despite the sky above being dark and foggy, the garden was almost yellow. The bushes sprung to life in the breeze, the few trees sat softly among the flora. If only they had birds to give song to the dull atmosphere, but Percy knew that was a bad idea. Monsters got hungry.

He inspected every bush as he passed, checked under all the benches. He looked everywhere in the immediate area he thought one of the rats could be, until he heard a slight rustling from above him.

The man froze with a smirk on his face, and slowly turned his head up. "Found you." He whispered, and the young voice groaned, before a body fell out of the tree onto the ground in front of him.

In the present, a showdown was in effect. A family was torn, as Selena and Arianna stood face to face, one less willing than the other to fight. It was ironic, she had come here to fight alongside her family, and now seriously considered laying down her weapon.

No, it was too late for that. Ari, the girl she thought of as a sister, was prepared to strike her down.

Perseus slashed at Jason, the son of Jupiter wearily blocked his strike. The blade of the villain was cursed, able to shift into any weapon he so desired. He would cut down on the god, before bringing it back up as a mace, then swooping it in as an axe and stabbing it as a spear.

Jason found that his trusty gladius was nothing compared to the magic and evil behind the Blade of Perseus.

Near the pits of magma, Larissa struggled to climb to her feet. The knife was still embedded in her left hand, so she had to use her right to pull herself up. Leaving no mercy for the girl, Michael hobbled over with the strength of only one foot. She saw the glint of his blade, but there was no time for her to block the sword before it was sent right through her knee.

Her shriek sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the room, including one Calix Jackson. "Sis!" He yelled, finding himself more desperate to help her than to defend himself. He looked at his attackers and made a swift charge, catching them off their feet. Frank fell back onto the floor while Alex spun around in confusion.

Calix sprinted over to his sister's assailants and tackled Michael, landing the crippled teen hard on the rocky ground. This distracted Piper enough for Larissa to regain her composure, and she whacked at Piper's knee with the hilt of her blade. With the sudden jolt of pain, Piper fell down, and in a very un-gentleman way, Calix kicked her in the face and almost knocked her out.

Before Michael could get back up, Calix pushed him to the ground and got on top of him. "I got this." He told his twin, before proceeding to beat down on Michael's face to subdue him.

Larissa looked across the room and saw her sister in a standoff with the daughter of Poseidon, and cursed under her breath. Despite her intense injuries, she was going to have to help her, for she knew Selena would rather die than lift a blade against her friend, though it looked like the friend in question did not feel the same way.

There were few things in her life that had been more challenging than that crawl. Putting one hand in front and the other elbow next. Her knee was destroyed, he hand crippled, there really wasn't much the daughter of Perseus could do. But she had to try, didn't she?

She must have looked like a snake, slithering along amongst the chaos. The serpent crawled its way across the room, finally reaching its destination, and it seemed not a moment too soon. As Ari was beginning to take the first strike at Selena, the daughter of Percy and Artemis saw her elder sister on the ground and her eyes widened.

With enough force to tear her tendons out if she so wished, Larissa bit down on the back of Ari's leg, and a scream resonated throughout the room. Though she didn't take any tendons with it, she still took a reasonable chunk of flesh, and Ari almost fell to the ground.

She spat out the flesh and grinned up at the demigod, but that grin faded when Ari whirled around and brought her blade up to strike her down. She fully expected to be cut down finally right then and there, but it seemed that the Fates did not wish for that, as Ari was quickly shoved out of the way.

To both of their surprises, Selena stood over her Larissa, sword in a defensive stance. "Back away from my sister!" She yelled, primed and ready to fight both Hazel and Ari if need be.

Ari hissed as the pain from her leg caught up with her. "This is insane! Why are we fighting? There's no reason for us to get hurt." She said, trying to defuse the situation.

Selena stood tall, her eyes narrowed. "You said it yourself, bitch. You're no family of mine."

The girl charged, and Ari's eyes widened as she brought her sword up in defense. Thankfully, she was saved by Hazel, who jumped in front of her and parried Selena's strike. The daughter of Artemis stepped back in surprise at the Hero of Olympus' sudden entrance, but continued to fight nonetheless. The sound of their blades crashing blended in with the rest, and Ari looked around.

It was a bloodbath, neither side was winning. Perseus and his spawn were some of the most capable fighters, but facing off against a god and one or two demigods was tough. Some were seriously injured, like Crassus, who had been the brunt of many attacks by Achilles and Urion, and Larissa, she had perhaps suffered the worst of everyone in the room.

She whirled around, seeing who she could help now that the situation was under control, but yelped when Larissa yanked her leg out from under her, throwing her to the ground. Her skull smashed against the stone, possibly giving her a concussion, and she struggled to open her eyes.

She had dropped her blade in the fall, and it was now laying a mere two metres away. She watched as the serpent struggled to crawl over to it, panting heavily as it placed one elbow after the other in front of her. She knew she had to get up, but her head was throbbing and her body felt like it was asleep.

Larissa's breathing was raggedy, like she had an illness of the lungs, and she finally reached the damned xiphos. Ari watched as she set her hand on the sword, before an ear-splitting shriek rang out as Michael stomped down hard on her hand, the same hand his own mother had impaled not five minutes before.

Larissa thrashed around under his boot, and he raised his foot, allowing her to grab her wrist and hiss in pain. The girl rolled around, her clothes torn and her skin dirty and both were stained heavily with blood. She looked like the victim of a mutilation, which was not far from the truth. Her arm and knee was destroyed, and she suffered several gashes all over her body.

Michael spat out blood from his previous engagement with her twin over the floor, and picked up the blade. All thoughts of mercy were gone, he cared not if this was the eldest child of his own godfather. In the moment they were nothing more than monsters, who brutalized his mother and attacked his friends.

Larissa tried vainly to push him away as he sat on top of her, clawing at his face. Her left hand was very much useless, but her right could still do a bit of damage. And as Murphy's Law states, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and how true that was for Michael.

He lifted his blade to silence her, but Larissa made a desperate clutch at his face. She gripped his hair tight with her fingers like a child fighting on the playground, and in a very un-childlike way, dug her finger into his left eye.

The son of Jason screamed like nothing Ari had ever heard before, and he dropped the blade behind him. Blood started to leak from his eye and drip onto Larissa's face. Seeing her greatest enemy suffer was pleasing to the daughter of Perseus, and she cackled madly at Michael's torturous experience.

Perhaps saving his eye from being completely torn out, Michael fell back. He desperately crawled away clutching at his eye, but Larissa decided she wasn't done. He wanted a fight, he would get a fight.

Despite being far more injured than he was, the son of Jason was stunned, so she was much faster than him at the whole crawling thing. It's hard to properly do so, but she essentially tackled him, landing on top.

Michael was now in the position his enemy had once been in, desperately clutching at her face, trying to find a means of escape. Larissa mustered up all the strength she had in her hands and went to town on his face. She had always been one of those girls who kept her nails relatively long, so she scratched and clawed at his skin like a tiger without teeth.

Michael hissed as flesh was literally torn away from his face like her fingers were knives. One scratched past the severe wound in his eye, resulting in a scream and major thrashing fit. Larissa chuckled quietly as she slowed down, more so in the trauma of the situation than the pain her enemy was in.

Michael took this time to attack, pushing back on her neck and sending her flying off of him. Larissa yelped like a fog that had just been kicked as she rolled over, blood pouring from every wound once more.

Michael rushed over and got on top of her again, taking hold of the blade that belonged to Ari. The girl in question was starting to get up, finally getting over her concussion. Larissa saw the bronze blade and gasped, reaching up to stop him.

Both hands wrapped tight around his wrists as they tried desperately for control. The two godlings wrestled for power, needing to be the victor in that small battle. This was the deciding moment.

Larissa tried so hard to push his hands back up, but the weight of her injuries was finally catching up to her. Her hand was injured, and could barely wrapped around his wrist, let alone hold it up. Blood was pumping to her leg, where several blood vessels had been severed. Many gashes littered her body, all of them leaking and causing her to lose a lot of blood and strength.

With the force of his stab weighing in on her, Larissa couldn't take it anymore. Across the room, Calix finally finished his duel with Piper, only to turn around and be greeted with the opposite outcome he was expecting and hoping for.

Larissa's remaining arm collapsed as the son of Jason drove the blade through her stomach.

"LARISSA!" He cried, sprinting over to his twin. Michael looked up when he heard the rapidly approaching footsteps, only to be kicked aside by the son of Perseus.

Calix fell to his twin sister's side as everyone else in the room noticed the commotion. Most stopped to view what had happened, noticing the two mutilated bodies and the son of Perseus sobbing on his knees.

Larissa's breathing was ragged, and she was barely holding on.

In the center of the room, Percy and Jason were still dueling, but the former heard his son's cries of anguish. He looked aside to see what happened, and his heart sank when he saw the body of his daughter laying on the cold ground.

"No." He whispered to himself, running over to her. He got down on one knee beside her, tears in his eyes. His firstborn was hardly breathing, in a stage between life and death. His little girl had been massacred, and he looked over to the culprit in a rage.

"You!" He roared, dropping his blade and running over to Michael. He picked up the boy by the collar, and paying no heed to his eye injury and with no holding back whatsoever, began to beat down on his face.

Michael grunted with every punch. He was weak, and perhaps would have died if it were not for Jason and Frank coming over and dragging Percy off. The armored man tumbled over onto his hands and knees, looking at them in a fury.

At the sound of his daughter's coughing, his priorities shifted, and he quickly crawled over to be next to her.

Jason picked his son up, almost in tears himself at the wounds he had suffered. His eye still bled, not hardly even an eye. It was more just a red orb that sat where a real eyeball once sat.

Larissa's siblings had gathered round, and knelt down in worry for their sister. Selena and Calix each grabbed one of her hands, and her twin almost fell back in shock at how destroyed her left hand was. Percy knelt down next to her face, cupping it and stroking her bloody cheek.

"It's gonna be okay, you'll be okay princess. Nyx! NYX!" He roared, a sound that could be heard for miles. The demigods in that room backed up in shock as a small storm of blackness manifested next to him, before the very goddess he summoned appeared next to Percy. "Oh no." She whispered, kneeling down next to the girl.

Jason knew if they stayed any longer, more people would die, so he gave the order. "Come on everyone, let's go. We need to head back." He said. They all complied. The injured like Ari were helped by those who came out relatively unscathed, and they hobbled their way down the dark hallway towards the entrance of the forge.

Larissa shivered as blood trickled out of the side of her mouth. "It hurts..." She told him, and Percy nodded. "I know, sweetie. It's gonna be okay. Nyx will fix you, it'll be alright. You can help her, right?" He said, turning to look at the goddess. He needed a yes, oh how he desperately needed a yes.

Nyx bit her lip in thought, but nodded. "With very intensive care she could survive, but she will be scarred for the rest of her life." She told him. Percy nodded frantically. "Yes, yes! Just save her, please Nyx..." He begged, tears leaking out of her eyes.

Nyx nodded, and flashed herself and the girl away, but not before they all said what could be their final goodbyes. "I love you, sis." Calix whispered, and she reciprocated the twin's affection. "Love you too, bro."

Peecy didn't say anything, instead merely kissing her on the forehead as Nyx took her away.

The family sat there in silence, a pool of blood on the rocky floor in front of them. Percy was shaking furiously. "What now?" Urion asked, and Percy looked up at him. "Get them. Take revenge. I... I need to take a breath of fresh air."

Ari couldn't bear to look towards the battlefield as they exited, afraid of what she may see. It was all quiet, suggesting the worst. The lot of them returned to their jeeps, loading the wounded in quickly before finding other available seats for themselves.

A world away, in the realm of eternal darkness, a black flash spread throughout the room, before Artemis entered. "You're back, what did they-" She was cut off upon seeing the body that Nyx had placed on the bed. Her heart sank, and she rushed over to view it.

It was honestly hard to identify the body at first, as she could only see a mutilated corpse that still breathed ever so slightly. It didn't take long though. Long black hair, a blue shirt, sea-green eyes. She thought for a second that it was her dear daughter Selena, until she saw the familiar silver hair streak of her eldest child.

"Larissa." She whispered in horror as she came to her daughter's side. The girl blinked slowly, turning her head to the sound of her name. "M~mom?" She asked shakily while Artemis took hold of her hand, walking up to the bed.

She whimpered at the contact, and Artemis' hand shot back. She saw the blood pooling over the sheets from her hand, and the goddess fought the urge to cry. "Oh, my baby. What did they do to you." She said in distress.

Larissa looked over as Nyx set to work on stabilising her. "The, uh, the demigods. We fought them, and the Se-even. I fought the son of Jason and his mother, and she did this to me." She said, gesturing to her hand. "He did the rest."

Artemis shook her head. She couldn't believe the boy Selena had been raised with had brutalized her daughter like this. "Michael? But... how?"

Larissa laughed, her voice weak. "Like I said, there was a fight, and him and the daughter of Aphrodite teamed up on me. I got her, Calix helped me with him. Then I went to help Selena with Dad's sister, but the guy jumped me. We fought for a bit, and I think I got him."

She laughed, remembering the way she clawd away his face. Her nails were broken, but it was worth it to hear that bastard scream. Her laughs were choked. "I got him pretty good."

Artemis frowned, wondering if the son of Jason and Piper was still alive. She hoped so, despite what he had done to her daughter. "It's okay, you're home now. Nyx will take care of you." She reassured the teen, holding her hand tight.

Ari had faded out of consciousness once she was seated in the jeep, and almost immediately knew she was having a demigod dream. Despite her extreme fatigue, she knew to pay attention, as such a dream during a time like this could make or break the war for their side.

When she could properly decipher her location, she found herself suffering extreme vertigo, and she could see the ground. Only problem was that the ground was many miles down, they were on the brink of space. Almost instantaneously, she knew where she was. The invisible watchtower seemingly towering out of Mount Saint Helens.

"I know you're here." She heard a voice, making her whirl around. She was incredibly shocked to find Perseus, her brother, sitting on the cliffside, his legs dangling miles above the ground.

He looked up, not at her but at the skyline ahead. "I can't see you, I don't know where you are, but I know you are here. I know you're listening, watching. I used to have these dreams too, you know." He said, standing up.

Assured that she was safe standing next to this great villain, she stepped closer to him. He was rubbing something in his hands with his thumb, and so she peeked over his shoulder to see what it was. It looked like a horn of a bull or something, long and curved. It was white, but covered in blue markings, of which origin she had no idea. She could not read them, so she assumed they weren't Greek.

Thankfully Perseus answered the unasked question for her. "This is a horn, very old. My dear friend Charlie found it in the junkyard of the gods, down south. It was given to Olympus by the Norse as a gift. A horn with the power to call upon all monsters and bend them to your will." He said, looking out.

Ari's eyes widened. She thought he did have all the monsters under his control already, and the thought of more worried her. "The gods appreciated the thought, but hated the gift. There was little that the gods loathed more than monsters, and did not wish to disgrace their authority by having to recruit the worst of Earth's creations into their army. They'd rather a thousand lives be lost killing monsters than using the monsters to their advantage."

She could not say anything to him, as it was a dream, she could only watch as he walked closer to the cliffside. "I am going to do what the gods were too prideful to do, I'm not afraid to play all my cards. I will burn New Rome to the ground, I will have Jason's son's head on a spike for what he did to my daughter. Besides, what's a Roman love more than conquering?"

He turned his head and looked directly at her, despite allegedly not being able to see her. "I know you understand."

The god raised the horn to his lips, and after a deep inhale, blew on it as hard as he could. The roar could be heard for hundreds of miles, and all throughout the North monsters heard the call of war.

Selena watched out on the horizon, able to see as far into Alaska from this height. It took a while, but she finally saw it. In the middle of Alaska, the land beyond the gods, a light flickered on, one that was so big it could be seen from Washington, USA.

Slowly, more flickered on around the surrounding area, and then the fuse was lit. Like a flame flicking too close to a curtain, all across the Northern border lights were lit, and she knew what they were. Monsters, answering the call to war.

Perseus' army was massive, far too much for the Romans to handle. Their Fates were sealed. Nothing could save them from the hordes.

Ari's eyes snapped open as she struggled to breathe, her heart pounding. She could feel her pulse tight in her neck, and her locks of hair floated around next to her. She soon noticed that she was bleeding, but it felt strange to her. The blood was travelling up her cheek.

The world outside the jeep became clear to Ari, and she noticed that it was a bit different. The upside-down kind of different. Panic immediately set it, and her head darted back and forth between each window.

She could hear commotion coming from outside, and set to work trying to get her seatbelt off. The teen cursed as she found that it was stuck, but being a demigod did have its perks. She drew her xiphos and quickly cut the strap, but instantly regretted it as she fell to the ground.

Unfortunately, this was one of those jeeps with windows, so upon impact Ari was sliced all over by broken glass shards. She cursed and writhed from the pain, but upon taking more damage by doing that, quickly learned to stay still.

She looked out the window and could see feet running past not too far ahead, and so took the incentive to crawl out of the wrecked car. She had no recollection of what had happened, but the daughter of Poseidon had a real good idea.

Once her knees hit dirt, she stood up, and stumbled away.

Jason ran as fast as his legs could take him while footsteps crunched all around him. He had to get the demigods to safety, including his own son. The boy was severely wounded from his fight with the daughter of Perseus, and both Frank and Aaron were having to support him out of there.

Estelle ran past him, and as he looked his eyes widened as a large black dog came into view, wolf-sized and biting at the huntress' heels. The god cursed and turned in an arc, coming up alongside the dog.

The second it noticed him, it strafed to the side to try and knock him over, but Jason was smarter than that. He placed one hand on its head and pushed down, disorienting the dog who eventually tripped and fell behind.

Aaron and Frank brought Michael further into the clearing, but were interrupted by an arrow piercing Frank's shoulder. He cursed and fell. "Go! Take him!" He yelled to Aaron, who nodded frantically.

The rest of the Seven and demigods entered the clearing, but soon found that they had been cornered. The sons of Perseus, Achilles and Calix, flanked from either side, while Selena came up the front with the wolf. Alex thought for a second that they could reason with her, but that thought vanished the second he saw her face.

She was fuming, Riptide gripped tight in her hand. Blood was smeared over her face from the previous fight.

Michael panted from his spot leaning on Aaron's shoulder. "Leave me." He said, feeling like he was weighing them down. Piper looked back horrified, and Aaron shook his head. "Hell no man, we're getting you out of here." He promised.

Michael smiled, his face torn and bloody. Skin was missing from his cheeks and forehead, and he had a small gash over his cheekbone. "You're a good friend, man." He muttered, and Aaron smiled.

As the group backed up, Aaron turned to run up the hill behind him with their hostage, only to receive an arrow to the throat.

As the two fell to the ground and rolled down the hill, the rest of them turned around to see what happened. "NO!" Estelle screamed, seeing her friend roll down the hill bleeding severely from the throat. She ran over to help her friends, but was stopped by an arrow landing on the ground in front of her.

Down from the setting sun came Urion, the youngest son, wielding his golden bow and aiming at Estelle threateningly. She backed up, looking conflicted between the arrowhead and her dying friend.

The rest of them were forced to back up into a circle by the approaching attackers, coming back to back and looking all around for a means of escape. Urion put his bow away and pulled out a knife, coming closer to Michael.

Piper saw this and cried out in horror, attempting to charge him. She was held back by both Annabeth and Hazel, knowing that any wrong moves could result in their deaths. Jason was forced to watch on in horror as the archer got down on one knee and grabbed his son by the collar.

He looked up at the group who watched on in horror, then at his siblings. Calix and Achilles both gave him a nod, and Estelle looked to see what Selena's reaction was. She gave no support, but offered no attempt to stop the teen from killing her former friend. That look she gave Michael broke Estelle's heart.

Urion brought the knife to the decimated son of Jason's body. "This... is for my sister."

Michael's hand swung up to Urion's gut, and in his hand was Aaron's spare knife, which went right through into the son of Perseus' intestines.

Selena saw it first, and reacted immediately. With an ear-piercing shriek, she cried out her brother's name. The boy in question fell over, clutching his bleeding stomach. Calix and Achilles prepared to slaughter all of them, but were stopped when Calix took a stone to the head from behind.

They whirled around, expecting an army, but instead only saw a wounded Ari. Her crippled form stumbled over, bleeding from the side of the head and with a furious expression on her face. "YOU!" She hissed, heading straight for Selena.

The girl's eyes widened, but she easily side stepped Ari. The daughter of Poseidon came around for another punch, but it was caught by Selena. "You fucking traitor!" She hissed, throwing her back.

Selena stood there for a moment, staring at her former sister with shock, panting heavily. They kept eye contact for half a minute, before Selena made the decision. "Leave."

Calix laughed in shock and disbelief. "What? You're just gonna let the-" He doubted her, but Selena was having none of it. "Leave! I'm not gonna stand here and watch everyone I love die. Go!" She said, and her orders were not questioned by the demigods.

Both the demigods and the Seven hightailed it out of that clearing, supporting Ari and Michael as they went. Soon it was just the four of them left, and they rushed over to Urion.

"Shit, DAD!" Achilles yelled, and their call was heard and responded with a flash. Percy stood there, looking around in confusion. When he noticed his youngest son on the ground, he choked. "Uri?" He whispered, falling to his knees.

Urion was pushed over onto his back so that he may look upon his father and brothers. Selena mind-messaged her mother, who arrived in seconds at the sound of distress in her daughter's head.

"Urion!" Artemis cried, coming to kneel next to Calix on the opposite side of Urion.

Percy was crying, something his children rarely saw until that day. He placed pressure on the wound desperately, trying to find a way to save him. "It's okay, Uri. We'll fix you. Everything'll be alright, we'll take you home just like 'Rissy. It's gonna be fine." He mumbled, more to calm himself than his son.

"Wha~" His voice was faded, he could barely speak. "What am I... gonna tell Saph?" He asked, his eyes becoming dimmer.

Calix held his brother's head, trying to calm him. "No. Don't speak like that, Uri. You'll be okay. Please, be okay."

Urion looked up at him, then at his mother. "Mom." He said simply, looking at Artemis who silently cried. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she smiled at her son. "I love you, my son. I love you so much." She told him.

Urion smiled, closing his eyes. His father held him tight as the rest of his family crowded around him, Selena standing behind them all trying to muffle her sobs. She could hardly stand to look upon her baby brother.

"Saph..." Urion whispered, and not long after his breath halted, and his soul passed on into the afterlife.

The family cried together that day, as the youngest son died in his father's arms. Percy swore to take revenge on all of them, he would make sure they paid. But now, now was only time for weeping.

I told ya'll people would die. Did I throw any of you for a loop at the Larissa and Michael parts? I'm sorry for killing off both Aaron and Urion in one chapter, but it just shows you I'm not one to be trusted. They are only the first in a list of characters that shall die in this story. Goodbye, au revoir. It is 3am and I am sitting in a hospital waiting room while my girlfriend gets her fucked up ankle checked and I wanna watch South Park with my sister on the laptop. Ba-bye.

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