Camp Half-Blood New Age Book One Chapter Four

The Quest

I woke up at 4:00 as usual to start training. I put on my camp shirt and my black shorts. When I got out there, no one was up. Back in Greece I usually wake up at 4, and everyone else wakes up at 5. I decided that I would go to the forest and practice my abilities instead of my swordsmanship. I learned pretty quickly, and I could control my power quite well.

It was about 6:00 when everyone else started coming out of their cabins. Chiron called us to the Amphitheater for morning announcements, “Children of the gods, you are in grave danger, the titan Perses, titan god of destruction, has formed a red lightning tornado and is sucking in buildings and power. He has taken the lives of younger demigods already, and he will soon come for camp half blood to absorb your power. You must be ready for the titan and his men to come.” A kid shouted out, “Someone should go on a quest to stop him before he gets here.” Chiron narrowed his eyes, “Absolutely not, this quest is too dangerous, it’s—” “I’ll do it”, I interrupted, “I just don’t want anybody getting hurt, I have the right to choose a quest correct?”

“Well yes, but—”

“So then I accept this quest.”

“But you're only twelve, you have a life to live.”

“Yeah and so does everyone else here.”

“Alright, well let me know the two you will take with you on the quest.”

“Okay, I know who I’m taking with me.”

“Who would that be?”

I looked at Chiron then I looked into the crowd, “I will be taking…Onyx Youngblood, and Asteria Maple.” They both accepted. Chiron called them to the stage, “These three noble warriors will travel to Terminal Tower in Cleveland, Ohio.” The crowd applauded.

Chiron took us to the big house while the rest of the demigods continued on with their training. Chiron sat down. Onyx sat down but there was only one more seat. “You can sit, Asteria”, I offered. “Thanks”, she smiled and sat.

Chiron looked at us, “Okay, it is still early in the morning, so you guys will leave as soon as possible. Every cabin has an arsenal and armory. I see you finally picked a weapon, Asteria. The Imperial Gold and Celestial Bronze dual daggers, they are called the Blades of War. Take good care of them. Now Onyx and Asteria you two will need to go to your cabin armory and select an outfit. When you guys are done, make sure to take the cornucopia and then leave.

Both Onyx and Asteria went to their cabins to change while I waited at the gates for them. I wondered what going on a quest would be like. It’s my second day of camp and I’m already doing something that has A high chance of killing me.

Onyx was the first one to arrive at the gates with me. He was wearing all black leather. You could see his muscles through his outfit. He was wearing a thin black velvet cape that had his sword tucked under like mine. His shoulders had small golden blades coming out of them. Talk about shoulder blades. He had a golden belt on, the buckle was in the shape of a crow, it had red eyes. His gloves were all black except for the fingertips, which were gold. His cape was outlined in gold. His sword still with a purple glow under his cape. His boots were U shaped with gold lining at the top of them. It’s only then I realized his eyes were purple.

If he is darkness and shadows and his eyes are purple, and I’m fire and light and my eyes are a fiery amber color, then maybe our eyes are the color of our parents element. My eyes have always been one of a kind.

When Asteria got to the gates, I almost drooled. She was so beautiful. Her outfit was leather, it was colored crimson/blood red. She had fingerless gloves, she had a thin velvet cloak with no hood that came a little over, covering her shoulders and her bicep area. The top of her boots were outlined black, she had soft gray blue eyes, and her beautiful blonde hair sweeping over her cloak. On each of her wrists, she had black with a red line down the middle, colored snakes about half an inch thick, around her wrists, acting as bracelets. The snakes had red eyes. Her belt was black with a ruby as the buckle. She had strap pockets on the side of her thighs, sheathed in them were her daggers.

Luckily I had learned how to control my battle suit. So since we were ready I decided to flame it on. I looked up and down Asteria, “Well you look nice”, I looked at Onyx, “And you look sharp”. They both laughed. “Thanks you look great too, and…strong”, Asteria said. I smiled. She pointed, “Give me the cornucopia, I can use my magic to store it in the air, then we can take it out when we need it.” We all got some breakfast out of it, then I handed it to her. Her hands glowed with a dark rainbow, she held her hands out like she was giving a double high five. Then she whispered an incantation in Greek, katástima, which I understood meant store. After she whispered the magic word, a short rainbow line appeared in midair, then she opened her arms like she was giving a hug, the air followed her movement, and split open. The inside was dark with stars, I just assumed it was space. She stuffed the cornucopia in it and closed it back up.

“Okay is everyone ready to leave?” I asked. “I definitely am”, Asteria said eagerly. “Let’s get this show on the road”, Onyx added. We walked out the camp gates, then I stopped, “Okay, I’m from Greece, I know somewhat about U.S. geography, but just to make sure I’m right, isn’t Ohio a few states away?”

“It sure is”, Onyx said.

“Why doesn’t Perses just suck up souls somewhere closer to here?”

“Because his goal is to make our life hard.”

“Yeah and to capture us, and us is over here, not over there”, I decided to stop complaining since Chiron originally told me not to go on the quest, and I made him let me.

Asteria grabbed a little piece of paper out of her magical store, “Chiron gave me this, it’s some instructions on what to do.” “So what’s first?” I asked. “Well first, we need to find the antikathistó, a weapon that destroys the aporrofó, Perses demigod sucker. If we destroy the aporrofó, then the tornado will stop, and the destruction will stop.” “So where is it located?” Onyx questioned. Asteria squinted at the paper, “It says we have to go to Liberty street, in Franklin, Pennsylvania. It lies somewhere in an alleyway. And it says be careful, there is a monster there called the Chimera.” “My mother said something about a Chimera, it is very deadly”, I remembered. “Well let’s kill it”, Onyx said hopefully.