The Battle for Olympus

Hazel

That was a lot braver than Hazel really felt. She was shaking so bad she could barely maintain her tower.

"Miss Levesque," Gaea rumbled. Her voice shook the walls of the buildings around them, threatening to crumble. "You are powerful, but I am the earth itself. Bow now, and perhaps I will spare you." Below Hazel, Annabeth stumbled to her feet beside Reyna, and Jason stood next to a girl Hazel had never seen before. The battlefield was frozen, like Gaea was the goddess of time and not the earth. She was so overbearing their previous conflict seemed totally obsolete.

Hazel glanced around at the demigods below, both Greek and Roman. They're so small and fragile, she thought. Hazel was really the last line of defense, and she wasn't a strong one. But Gaea didn't know that. She tried to kill Hazel once to prevent this, which meant that on some level Gaea was afraid of Hazel.

Hazel tightened grip on the earth below her. "I don't bow to anyone. But I have a deal to offer you. Go back to sleep and leave us alone, or I will destroy you."

Gaea shook her head in amusement. "You're strong, but you're not stronger than me. I'm a primordial goddess!" She spread her arms and whole chunks of the ground ripped out and buildings crumbled. "I raze cities with my bare hands, I lay waste to continents, I create forests and grasslands and you think you can beat me? Me?" The goddess laughed.

Gaea was right. Hazel was still half human, a blip on the cosmic scale. Her only hope was that Gaea was asleep for a millennia and would take a moment to reach her full power. What other choice was there?

"I'm getting tired of hearing your voice," Hazel growled. "Let's get this over with." She reached deep into the earth, stepped forward, and flung two tons of rock into Gaea's face.
The goddess flew back a hundred yards into a building, crumbling the brick in cloud of mortar. She likely wasn't expecting that.

"Get out of here!" Hazel yelled to the demigods below her. "I'll handle Gaea, you have to unite the camps!"

For a moment, no one moved. Annabeth's eyes were wider than quarters and Reyna seemed to have forgotten how to speak. Behind them, pieces of building fell away as Gaea pulled herself stone by stone from the rubble.

Hazel turned back. "Go!"

Annabeth and Reyna turned and ran, followed by the other girl and Jason.

Gaea laughed and the ground rumbled again, nearly throwing Hazel from her tower. "My roots go much deeper than yours, Hazel Levesque. Not even the gods could beat me."

"That's the thing," Hazel said. "I'm not a god." The gods might be powerful, but their egos controlled them, limited them in ways Hazel didn't have to worry about. She wasn't afraid to die. She'd done that already.

Hazel took a deep breath and flung a tidal wave of dirt across the gardens. Gaea spread her arms and the earth flew to both sides of her, crashing into the buildings of New Rome. Hazel prayed the mortals had evacuated, but she didn't have much time to think about it. Gaea hurled another blast of rock at her, forcing her to leap from her tower. She extended a hand and raised a platform of stone to land on, rolling to her feet.

Back where the two demigod armies stood, chaos ensued. Some demigods ran, other rallied to Annabeth and Reyna. But their movements were slowed, and Hazel realized the whole chunk of land they stood on had sunk nearly a foot. Their shoes sucked downward and tripped them on occasion, only the ground Hazel stood on was firm. Hazel realized something else too. Gaea's movements were sluggish and eyes glazed over, like she was groggy from a long nap. A nap of several millennia. It would explain why Hazel was still alive, why the surface of the earth hadn't been razed. As long as she didn't wake up fully, they had a chance. So maybe hitting her with rocks isn't the best idea, Hazel thought grimly. But what else could she do?