When Worlds Collide

Beginning Pt. Two

Annabeth limped along, going as fast as she could with the huge cut on her calf. She was frustrated due to the fact that it was mostly her fault. She had gone after a griffon that was harassing the dragon at Thalia’s tree.

She slowed down, leaning against a tree as pain shot up her leg. Gosh, she wished Percy was here. Seaweed brain could have made it a lot easier, but he was off at Camp Jupiter, so she was on her own. She took her bookbag off her back, rummaging through it to find Nectar, Ambrosia, strips of cloth, and her dagger that she threw in there once she had finally killed the stupid thing. It had been something else - Which she hadn’t stayed around long enough to see - that had made her run.

She cut off a strip of cloth, putting it in her mouth, and got to work wrapping the rest of the cloth around her calf. She used her celestial bronze dagger to cut off the extra cloth, taking the strip in her mouth out. She ate some of the ambrosia before getting up, seeing where exactly she was.

She was in the middle of the woods and, based off what she knew, was an at least hour away from camp by foot if she was running the entire time, leaving her a ways to go. She didn’t want to use anyone’s car, since they would ask what was happening, and she didn’t want to use phones for the regular reason - Which, if you don’t know, is something that, as a demigod, you do not want to do.

She started back, putting all of her supplies away except for her dagger, and started in the direction she assumed was the camp. It wasn’t long till she heard something.

She held out her dagger, peering into the darkness of the woods for any sign of a monster. Luckily, the only thing that walked out was a man - an old one at that.

“Hey, now, I think you can put down the dagger there.” He said calmly once he saw Annabeth, looking straight at her dagger. She lowered it, but didn’t let it go, since who knew if he was some sort of monster.

“Who are you? And why are you out so late?” Annabeth asked, curiosity taking her over.

“My name’s Brom, and I was just walking around. May I ask you the same, since you are also out so late.” Brom asked. Annabeth quickly thought of a way to cover up for what had happened.

“My name’s Annabeth, and I thought I heard something, so I came out to investigate.” She answered. Wouldn’t any full mortal believe that?

“And your leg happened how?” He asked, pointing towards her wrapped up leg.

“Tripped on a rock, got cut badly.” She answered.

“May I see?” He asked. Annabeth gave him a confused look, and he laughed “Don’t worry, I might be able to help.” He told her. She hesitantly sat down, sticking her leg out to show him. He came over, unwrapping the bandage to inspect it.

“That’s a bad one,” He murmured “Nothing I can do for now, though I don’t see how a little rock could do this.”

“There’s a lot of surprising things in this world.” Annabeth replied, taking out her dagger to bite on it while she re-wrapped her leg.

“I’m camping not far from here, would you like to join me for the night, let your leg heal?” Brom asked as he stood up. Annabeth knew she should get back to camp, but she couldn’t with her leg. There was also something… odd about the old man.

“Ya, sure.” She replied, trying to get up. Brom offered her a hand, which she went ahead and took, hauling herself up.

The camp wasn’t much, just a hammock near an unlit fireplace. Brom sat down near the campfire, leaning over it, probably to light it.

“If you want to I can-” Annabeth started, cut off by him murmuring under his breath as a small flame appeared beneath his hands. Annabeth stared, since she knew he hadn’t even touched the fireplace.

“Okay, you are the child of what god?” She asked firmly, since she was almost positive there was no other way.

“What g- no, I’m human girl.” He told her “Have you ever heard of dragon riders?” He asked quietly. She thought for a moment before shaking her head, recalling no so-called myths about dragons riders. “Wait, what gods are you talking about then, because all of the myths including gods I know about include dragons. Even the dwarf myths.” He asked.

“The greek gods, though there are also the roman gods. Wait, hold up, dwarf myths?” She asked.

“You know, dwarfs. About this high?” He asked, holding his hand up right above his head from where he was sitting at.

“Dwarfs are usually in myths, but still, how did you do the magic?” She asked, giving up on that confusion.

“I told you, I’m a dragon rider. Watch this.” He told her, and saying something that sounded like ‘jierda’, a rock he was looking at exploded. Annabeth looked from where the rock was at to Brom, surprised.

“What? Never seen that before?” He laughed, smiling at her.

“By the gods, no I have never seen that before! How did you do that if you’re not a demigod?!” She asked.

“For the third time, I’m a dragon rider.” He told her. He held up his palm, showing a white mark “This is a gedwey ignasia.”

“A what?” She asked. This lead to a long conversation about what it was, where Brom was from, and much more stuff until it was time to rest. She used his extra hammock to sleep in, wondering how everyone back at camp was doing. She was going to have some story to tell.

 

The next morning they packed up their stuff, heading towards Camp Half-Blood at a very slow pace due to Annabeth’s limp, Annabeth explaining the Greek Gods stuff to him. Suddenly, they heard something in the woods next to them.

A griffon jumped out as Annabeth grabbed for her dagger, and she immediately noticed it was the griffon from earlier. Apparently she hadn’t killed it, only wounded it.

While Brom fumbled with getting his sword out, Annabeth immediately turned into attack mode, her strategic mind brainstorming what to do. She jumped towards the griffon, kicking it in the wing where she had wounded it earlier. Despite the effect it had on her bad leg, it had a worse one one the griffon. It screamed - if you could call it that - And reared back, striking out at Annabeth. She dodged, grabbing onto it’s neck and pulling herself onto it. She used her dagger to cut repeatedly at it’s neck until it finally dissolved into dust, like usual monsters. She jumped off as it dissolved, landing hard on her uninjured leg.

“Wow.” Brom said, and Annabeth was about to reply when another griffon came running in. Annabeth was surprised, but not because of the griffon.

Sitting on top of the griffon was a man in a white suit, holding a whip high in the air. “Stupid demigods.” He said in a raspy voice, sending his whip towards Annabeth. She dodged, lunging at his arm and stabbing it. He yelled in pain, turning around, running away.

“Weird.” She stared at where the man left, confused.

“Agreed.” Brom replied. They continued walking on their way, mystified at what had just happened.