Rift Duology #2: Rift of Shadow

Chapter 2: Half-Blood Ruins

-Riley's POV-

As soon as I said 'legacy of Keros', I knew I lost their trust, even if they didn't show it.
My grandfather made them suffer- almost killed 2 and already kidnapped one, and took their home, family, friends and camp.

But that didn't matter- camp was under attack,
and we had to do something about it. This time, Keros was here.
He shot a volley of red lightning bolts, and it completely shattered the barrier.

The hoards of monsters quickly ran in, and I saw the 5 Mythonian warriors get ready.

The tan skinned one, Jayden if I remember correctly, had a dagger with an ominous white glow. It had a marbled water design as well, and he shot gusts of wind at the monsters, throwing them back.
His twin sister, a bit paler, readied her Elysian Silver Sword and seemed to infuse a red magic inside, making her arc attacks more powerful.

The rest of the demigods didn't seem to have a special weapon, so I payed no attention.
"Who're the new kids? And why are they even here?!" Clarisse said. She was a daughter of Ares. I felt the Hate twins and Clarisse could either be best friends, or worst enemies.

"They're demigods of another pantheon, Clarisse. They're the ones who sent the distress call?" I answered.

Clarisse looked at the twins fight.
They were back to back, each fighting skillfully with their blades.
Longer and bigger blades were meant for slower but more powerful attacks- smaller and shorter blades were meant for weaker but quicker attacks.
But somehow, they used it reversed.
Jayden had slower attacks, but they seemed to be heavier. Jayus' were quicker and not as strong, but still were because the magic.

"They can fight! I gotta meet em' after this!" Clarisse said as she ran to attack monsters.

The Hate Twins were clearly skilled fighters, doing this as if there was a war god doing it for them! What an interesting thought..
I'm sure it didn't matter.

The monsters just kept coming, and I realized why.
I had heard of this 'rift', a portal between realms. Keros must've moved it behind him, because the monsters and demons came from that rift.

I caught a glimpse of his staff- a black staff with a yang at the bottom, and a crescent moon hook on top. It held 5 Cassiopian Fragments, and had a faint, gray outline for the last one.

Keros pointed it at Half-Blood Hill, and the dirt seemed to melt into lava. Everyone quickly scrambled away, but the lava grew quickly.
The lava bubbled to the bottom of the hill and abruptly stopped.

Luckily for us, Cassiopeia's Ghost didn't like being used, so it 'buffered' sometimes.
During the running away from the lava, the monsters took the opportunity to progress forward, pushing us back to the amphitheater. We already lost so much, we can't lost the camp now.

I looked around and saw the hate twins, fighting off a smaller hoard by themselves.
Jayden ditched his dagger for a scythe with an eerie blue crystal as the blade.
Every time he swung the scythe and hit a monster, the monster turned into a point of colored light and entered the crystal, making a glowing mark on it.

After most of the monsters were killed, Keros rose above the hill and Thalia's Tree, and pointed his staff at Jayden.

"Why is he pointing at me?" Jayden whispered.
"I don't know- be careful." Jayus whispered back.

The staff shot a bright beam, and Jayden disappeared.

"What'd you- I'll kill you!" Jayus lunged forwards and quickly made a purple energy ball and threw it at Keros, blasting him into the farther hills.

"We have to leave!" I yelled, but it was too chaotic. Everyone was running around, trying to protect themselves.
In the midst of the chaos, Nyctos pulled Owen away from the crowd, and Xavier followed soon after.

Aftwerwards, Jayus also disappeared. Then, Keros, the monsters and the Rift all disappeared. During the mess, other monsters must've snuck behind us, because buldings and most of the cabins were on fire. The Big House already collapsed, and a few other buildings did as well.
Keros only needed a distraction to take what he needed- the Golden Fleece, probably to strip it of its powers and recharge his fragments.

It only took a few minutes for me to notice that a lot of demigods were missing- Percy, Connor, Clarisse and several others.

"Where did they go?! They were just here!" Nyctos yelled, looking around the crowd of demigods.

"Nyctos, calm down, okay? They're probably perfectly f-"

"Owen, don't you understand?! I was supposed to protect them, and I couldn't do that! Now they're gone, because of me. What type of big brother doesn't protect their younger siblings?"
Nyctos asked, but it was rhetorical.

After everyone put out the fires and recovered what they could, we all sat around the dim, black hearth fire. It responded to emotion- and absolutely no one was feeling happy.
We had just been under attack from a god in a distant pantheon, and our gods hadn't even helped. Maybe they were gone too..
I looked at the sky and saw a trail of light blue coming from the distant clouds, and crashed in the nearby forest.

"What was that?" Xavier asked me. I guess he assumed I was the 'boss' around here, but Chiron and Mr. D had already been taken.

"I don't know- we should go check it out!" I responded and quickly ran towards the smoke.

When Xavier and I arrived, it was a chariot with dark cloud designs and horses made of.. water? A few were made of clouds, and they disappeared a few seconds later.

"Hello..?" I called out, waiting for a response.

A man with dark skin and white hair popped out of the chariot, with his hair acting like a cloud.
"Hello, mortals! My name is Azure, and I need your help."