Rift Duology #2: Rift of Shadow

Chapter 22: Defending the Half-Bloods

—Jayden's POV—

"Great, just what we needed. This camp can't handle another attack! We barely won last time, if you even consider it a win!" Owen yelled.

"Not to be narcissistic, but last time you didn't have me." The person said.
"If you don't know who I am, like I said earlier, I'm the former commander of Camp Cetus, Leto. I'm also a daughter of Symbos- the guy that made the Runestone your holding, Owen." Leto explained.

"Okay- but what can you even do then? Words can't help us." Aspen replied.

"Words alone, no. Being a child of Symbos gives you a better power. Watch." Leto told Aspen and symbols appeared from thin air and glowed a bright white.

9 Letters appeared in front of Leto, and accelerated slowly in vibration, as if struggling to contain power.
When the hordes of monsters ran above the hill, Leto let go of the word and a huge, circular blast shot from the symbols into the monsters, throwing them behind the hills.

"Holy Hellion- You can use the word summoning thing, like the Runestone?" Aspen asked.

"It's exhausting, but yes. When more monsters come, we need to go to the Lake.
Since you're a Glacial, you could use the extra water, and we might be able to drown a few monsters." Leto commanded and we all waited.

Several minutes later, another horde of monsters jumped above the hills and landed many feet away from us, and we all ran to the Lake.

"Aspen, use the water to your advantage. Owen, try and calm Aspen down and make those monsters fear anyone that can help us. Jayden, you and I will hold them off until people can get to safety." Leto commanded.

"I'm sure these people are capable of protecting themselves—" I told her.

"Clearly, they're not. They would've done something by now, but no more wasting time." Leto replied and in a Silver Flash, a spear with a silver spearhead appeared in her hands.
Either Elysian Silver or Torturous Titanium- both deadly to monsters.
While she did that, I unsheathed my dagger.
It was pretty dull, so I'd have to focus on using my Smoke ability.

"Jayden, to your right!" Leto commanded as she went left.
In front of me were a few hydras, which was one of the first monsters I encountered.

"Nyctos would've been handy here.." I muttered.
Thankfully, I had another idea. Hydras only regenerative part of their body are their heads, so their body is vulnerable.

A few heads spat poison at me and I rolled out of the way, and Black Smoke rose from the grass under the hydra and launched it towards the Lake, which Aspen made a large blob of water freeze around it.

"Jayden, pay attention!" Leto yelled and several symbols appeared in front of her, and one of the Hydras was cut into many small pieces.

"Sorry- thank you?" I told her and looked ahead.
The monsters covered the entire hill, and didn't seem to stop coming.

"Leto- there's too many. We'll never be able to fight them off before becoming exhausted." Owen said.
"Maybe it's time to retreat, I mean—"

"No. I already lost one camp, and I refuse to lose another." Leto replied.
"Where are the Chroma Shards? We can use them to fight these monsters off."

I shrugged as the frontline monsters ran closer and closer.
Aspen lifted her arms and sent a huge wave at them and froze it, which bought us a few more minutes.

Owen opened his backpack and took out a brown pouch.
"They're in here- but they're too unstable." He said.

"Why? What happened to them?" I asked.

"Well, after you absorbed your Shard, the rest began to rapidly glow at random intervals. I assume putting the Chromatica Magic back should fix it, but I'm not sure." Owen said.

"I will. After we defeat these monsters." I replied and faced forward.

Around a dozen feet away, the thick wall of ice was cracking.

"Be ready, demigods." Leto warned.
"This is the fight we cannot lose!"

I unsheathed my scythe- Sorcerous Saphhire, and it was already charged with a few stored spells from my previous adventures.

The hydras hissed at me and spat acid towards me, and I quickly dodged to the side and swung my scythe down on the hydras.
Of course, one of their heads got cut off by the blade, only for it to grow 2 more.

"Dammit!" I yelled and commanded the scythe to use a spell- Magmatic Magic, and the ground split open and spurted lava around the monsters.

I turned to Leto and she was holding off surprisingly well. The symbols in front of her all glowed red, and vibrated as if it strained holding together.

Owen and Aspen were doing great, considering all the monsters floating in ice cubes on the lake.

Ahead on the hill, there were much fewer monsters than earlier.
"Jayden, actually do something!" Leto yelled, and I saw a monster I haven't seen before.

"A Shiftoid- be careful, and get rid of it quickly." Leto commanded.

"On it!" I responded and prepared another spell. Space Magic, and the Shiftoid shot into the air and didn't return.

"After these next monsters, we should be done." Leto said, and I nodded.

"I don't think I can last that long." Aspen called out.
"I'm running out of Magic, and I'm exhausted."

"It's fine, final resort is to use the Shards." I reassured, and the monsters finally arrived.
These had metal armor protecting their head, body and legs.

"Finally, a challenge!" I yelled and smoke rose behind me. They lunged at several monsters, and turned into spikes midair.

"Good job, Jayden!" Leto said as several symbols appeared around her, and created a crescent arc of lightning, and shocked a whole battalion of monsters.

"That should do it." Leto said as Aspen and I finished off the remaining monsters.

The grass and remaining buildings were on fire, and Aspen had to put the fire out.

"We did it!" Owen cheered and we all sighed in relief.
"Thank gods, I'm exhausted." Aspen said.
"I used way more magic than I'm used to. It was nice, but too tiring."

"Yeah.. good job, though. You did great." I told her as I laid down on the dead grass, and stared at the moon.

"Wait a minute.. todays the 29th?" I asked.

"Yes, it is. Why?" Leto asked.

"We better hurry and return to Mythos-" I said and quickly got up.
"We're late for a 'date' with Cassiopeia."