Quest of the Half Gods

Chapter 9: Απόλλων

Annabeth and Percy surged forward to greet the Romans, leaving Apollo standing alone with the note clutched tightly in his hand. The campers coward behind him, only a few of the older ones familiar with the Legion. 

Apollo looked between the Praetors and the counselors and shook his head in confusion, "Hazel, where is the rest of the Legion?" He asked, afraid of the answer. Frank's smile quickly faded as he looked at his dejected girlfriend before answering, "Dead. We encountered some of the New Gods after receiving a note telling us to come to Camp Half-Blood."

Percy frowned, "What note are you talking about?" Frank paused, exchanging a look with Hazel. "We received a note from Camp Half-Blood about a week ago telling us to come here for something you needed our forces for," Hazel said, doubt creeping into her voice. Annabeth shook her head, "We never sent a note." Frank started to speak but Apollo cut him off. 

"You said you encountered the New Gods," He said, looking between the praetors, "What were they like? Who were they?" Frank hesitated before saying, "They were lares. Notorious people from history. They shouldn't have been a problem but, they were carefully selected and impossible to kill. You can't kill lares or shades as you call them. They could hurt us though. Prometheus was leading them and he must have manipulated their abilities with his own Titan magic to make them able to do what they did."

Apollo tried to ignore the panic that he felt in his gut. How would they defeat an unkillable army without the gods? "How many of them were there?" He asked, not wanting the answer. "Attacking us?" Hazel asked, "Two hundred. Prometheus called them off after they desecrated us. His parting words were that that was not even a fraction of their power, so, essentially, we are screwed. After they kill Zeus, they will have the power to become an entirely new pantheon of gods and will remake the world as they see fit." 

Apollo shook his head, "They need people to worship them in order for them to become gods though." He said, confused. Hazel raised an eyebrow, "When was the last time you were in civilization?" Apollo frowned, "Yesterday. A man gave me a ride to Central Park." Percy narrowed his eyes, "What were you doing in Central Park?" Apollo ignored him, "There was no one there." Hazel nodded, "On our way here, we encountered all types of people. They're faithless at this point. They don't know what to believe in. Some people have accepted the New Gods as their own from the things that they've seen and the things that they've planted in their minds, some people have started cults, worshipping their own made-up deities, and some people have just plain panicked. It's a disaster." 

Apollo stepped back, letting this wash over him as he sat down at a table. They're winning. They've been winning from the start. Suddenly, Annabeth spoke up, "Apollo?" His head snapped up, "What?" "What does the note say?" Apollo remembered the note and began trying to smooth out the wrinkles as it had gotten crushed in his shaking hands. He cleared his throat and started reading aloud:

"Dear Roman and Greek demigods, we, the New Gods (our official title has yet to be decided), would like to formally invite you to come to the execution ceremony of Zeus, King of the Gods, which will take place in exactly one day's time in Times Square, New York, New York. We would be delighted for you to attend, no need to RSVP, we will kill him whether or not you come. P.S. Come dressed for the terrible weather we are having. We promise it shall be resolved once we remake the world."

There was silence all around them. All Apollo could hear was the sound of his own heart racing, accompanied by the symphony of screaming voices that filled his head. 

"Lester?" Meg asked, breaking the silence. Apollo didn't look at her as he said, "We have exactly one day to train like Hades to be ready to take them all out. If we can save Zeus, we can figure out some way to save the other gods." One of the Stoll brothers spoke up, "But...I can't be the only one thinking this- do we want to save that traitor?" He asked, looking around at the silent campers, his eyes lingering on Apollo. "I mean," He continued cautiously, "He sided with them to guarantee his survival. It doesn't matter that they are going to kill him, he signed off the rest of our family for his own safety." 

Apollo thought about what Connor said. Everything inside of him wanted to agree with him and throw his father to the crows. Even still, Apollo knew that they couldn't do that. Deep down they all did. It was just like his father to force them into an impossible situation where his own salvation was the only answer.

Apollo stood, "I agree with you Connor, unfortunately, we have no other option." He looked around at the campers, he counted fifty in total and turned to the dregs of the Roman Legion. Together, there were only seventy-five demigods and perhaps thirty nature spirits to help them. Chiron had informed Apollo that only the dryads inside the camp's borders had not turned rogue since Persephone's death and that many of them had died trying to coax the evil ones into helping them. 

He took in the sight before him. He knew that the odds were against them, that there was an incredibly large chance that every single one of them would die, but he also knew that they had all lost everything. Well, everything besides the one, specific thing that demigods all had: something to fight for, and Apollo knew that all of these demigods would rather die with a weapon in their hands than give themselves over to a cause that they didn't believe in.

"We have one shot at this." Apollo said, addressing the crowd, "We have one shot to save our world and to avenge the ones we've lost." He said, his voice faltering on the last word. He took a deep breath and started again, "We have one last chance, to fight for what's ours, and to save what little we have left! Who's with me?" He shouted. The campers were silent for a moment before each made a three-fingered claw with their hands and pushed it outward from their hearts, an ancient gesture that they all knew well. Apollo joined in and took a deep breath before shouting, "Για τους Θεούς!" The other campers repeated his shout, "For the Gods!" and set off to train for their last day.