Apollo's Eclipse - a PJO halfblood story

Chapter XXV

Chapter 25: The battle of the temple, P1

I gasped for air as I sat up. The others were sitting around a campfire, and it was dark. They were talking. My eyes adjusted, and I saw around us some columns and golden blocks. "Where are we?"

Everyone noticed my being awake. "Oh, Ollie, you're awake!" Tris said. "You were unconscious for so long. We're... I don't really know where." I looked around. There were some abandoned buildings, all in golden Greek architecture and styling. In the distance, there was a vast golden temple with a huge telescope-like thing pointing out from the top that stood many meters above the rest of the place. Ouranos's temple.

"Why are we here though? We should be at the temple," I wondered.

"We came to the conclusion that the stone sends you to the temple. You shot the stone, so instead, it missed its target. Behold, the old kingdom of the sky," Teddy spread his hands like in a dramatic way. 

"There's a kingdom?" I asked. "Why didn't I know about this?"

"No one did," Maria explained. "You've been out for, like, eight hours just sleeping. We've fended off the Ouranakouldies, and you just didn't wake up, so we set up camp and got a bit of rest."

"This makes no sense." I suppose that there'd be no plotline if this didn't happen, but still! It's a stretch. "I was out for eight hours?"

"Ollie, you shot a magical artefact that transports you to another world. Did you think you'd get away with that?" Will asked. "Besides, we're here now, and we need to get going soon."

I sighed. "So what's the kingdom like?"

"Abandoned. And elevated on a platform several thousands of meters above the Earth. So... we're very high up," Maria told me. 

I must be pretty powerful here. "Ok. I don't wanna waste time. Can we go? An did you see the other demigods?"

"Yes, we can go, no, I didn't see them," Tris answered. "We're probably alone here."

"Ok. Let's go," I said, standing to my feet and nearly falling over. "Did you all go unconscious?"

"Yeah. Me and Tris woke up first," Teddy explained. "There was a Ouranokouldiariarides just staring at us. They're gone now, but more came." I nodded. 

"But why did... Nevermind. Can we just go?" I pleaded. The others agreed, and got up to stand. "Also, why is it night here?"

"It's been night ever since we got here. Something about the solar eclipse happening must've made these guys want to change the sky," Will suggested. "But we need to go."

"Not so fast, schistheads," said a voice from behind me. We all turned around, to see a Ouranokouldie standing there without a mask. They had a dark, feminine face, and her breastplate was golden rather than bronze.

"Yeah, move over or we will run you down and rip up that cloak of yours," Tris threatened. The woman smiled.

"Y'all don't get it, do you?" She smiled evilly. "What's happening here isn't what you think. So go away."

"Not what we think?" I snarked. "Well, either way, it's bad! So move over."

She shook her head. "Please, we don't want to do this. But we will."

"We?" Will asked. Then two more Ouranokouldies stepped out from behind the columns around us. These two had masks. I assume the woman is the leader.

"We can send you back to Mount Havannadalshnjúkur. This is your final warning," she uttered clearly.

"No, it's yours." I fired three shards of light, one at each cloaked figure, yet only one of them hit. The other two jumped into combat. The woman opened her hands, and a small tornado appeared. Then she threw it at us, as the other one sent a barrage of rain falling from the sky.