Changing the End - Origins Of Olympus Au - Pt 1

Chapter 12 : Fighting in the Keep

Daffodil POV:

"AHHHHHHH!" "I swear by the gods if you freak out by another bug I am killing you myself," I said in a frustrated tone to Rose. Who once again panicked at a harmless little spider. "BRYAN! You ripped apart a whole bunch of monsters without flinching on our way in. You even looked like you were having fun. How are you afraid of bugs?" Asked Kaykrae as she stabbed her sword straight through a skeleton. Rose tip-toed around the spider, which was harmless and smaller than his foot. I groaned this tended to be a problem, but as long as he got the job done, I didn't exactly care, I just found it annoying considering I hated the things, but he was actually scared of them. Coward. "Why are there so many monsters here? I'd think places like this would be cleared out since it's so close to camp." Said Kaykrae who was feeling quite exasperated and worn down. "Agreed." Mumbled Rose, although I don't think he was completely referring to the monsters like Kaykrae. I rolled my eyes. I could do this place easily by myself. But that stupid eyeball insisted we had to do this together. We finally cleared the hallway, Kaykrae was catching her breath, as though she'd never done this before, and Rose was looking over the bodies and dust, seeing if they'd left anything valuable behind. I didn't care to check, I just wanted to finish what was here. I dashed ahead and as I did, I could hear Kaykrae's yelling. But I couldn't listen to what she was saying. Probably telling me to stop, maybe asking what I was doing. But why should I care? She'll be dead by the time Rose and I are done with this camp. I didn't plan on making a single attachment. Not now, not ever.

After running, dashing through halls, and taking random turns. Rose and Kaykrae probably lost track of me, and I found the place empty. "Were all the monsters just at the front entrance?" I muttered to myself. Puzzled. A little disappointed, I slowly walked through the empty hall keeping my sword ready until I entered what looked like a room belonging to the final boss. Or something like that. I scanned the room, it was like a throne room, long yet wide, with pillars that seemed to stretch taller than a mountain, and a pedestal with three amulets at the end. All of them radiated with power, I could smell the aura coming from them. It would be enough to keep Rose and I going for at least a few decades if we didn't have our vessels. But we had to be careful now. Too much power and we could destroy our hosts along with us. Rose and I could only gather artifacts from which we could slowly drain and consume the magic. I slowly approached the pedestal, yet I couldn't shake the odd feeling of how easy this was. There should have been more here. I stood five feet away from the pedestal. I took one last look around the room and took a step forward. Click I froze, the click came from across the room. And scurrying off a platform that slowly sank into the ground. Was a spider. "Damn Araneae" The room shook and a magical shield surrounded the pedestal. I felt the ground rumble as something approached. Unsheathing my sword, I prepared for the worst. Before I knew it, rocks and boulders scattered around floated, and spun into what looked like a large golem. "Why couldn't Athena just accept defeat? I would have appreciated not having the Araneae but no, just couldn't accept a mortal was better than you." I felt my legs lock as I grew even tenser, I couldn't beat this thing, not in this form, and even then, I'd need Rose's help. But Rose wasn't here, and it's disappointing really, I would have been fine, gotten the amulets, and made it back without any golems, if it hadn't been for that spider. WHOOSHH! A tornado was spiraling toward the golem. And it hit the golem hard enough it tumbled over with a crash. The golem was still alive, but it moved slowly. I guess that's what happens when you're made of nothing but rock. Running from the room entrance though, with my weather staff in one hand and his sword in the other was Rose. "YOU FORGOT SOMETHING BEASTLY!" He stopped running. Now standing next to me, he caught his breath and held my staff out to me. "Where's scaly?" I asked, feeling very confused as I assumed they stayed together. Rose pointed toward the entrance with his free hand. There stood Kaykrae, also catching her breath, but sword ready. Rose stood up and said, "You know I love you as a friend. But today is the day where I get to hate you. What did you do?" I side-eyed the amulets currently blocked by the shield, my eyes darted between them and the golem. "That wasn't me. I actually almost succeeded. It was an Aranaea." Rose raised an eyebrow and grinned, he covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing. I felt my face heat up as it turned red from embarrassment. "I'M NOT KIDDING! I CHECKED THE WHOLE ROOM!" Rose gathered his bearings and wiped the tears forming from his eyes, "I know you aren't, and that's what I find so funny." He looked back at the golem finally starting to stand and still in disbelief asked, "A tiny Aranaea caused that thing?" "Aren't you scared of them?" I retorted. He shrugged, "Terrified. But this is more hilarious than the demigods bickering on Olympus because they are the funniest thing I have ever seen. Especially when their wine's been switched." Kaykrae shot a beam of magic into the back of the golem's head, knocking it back down and giving her time to slither to us. "What was up with ditching us so recklessly, ever heard of sticking together, Bri?" Kaykrae asked as she looked down at me. She was taller than me currently. Her lower half made it easier to change her height to what she pleased. I couldn't wait to get my wings back to look down on her. See how she felt. I responded to her question in a sarcastic tone, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't hurt your feelings did I? What, did you need my help?" "Actually, it seems like you need ours at the moment." She remarked, gesturing at the golem behind her. It was finally starting to stand, but she shot another beam, this time at its face, knocking it backward this time. She was still staring at me as she did it. Neither of us broke eye contact. "So what's the plan, I don't think we can grab the artifacts and run. That shield seems dependent on the golem. And none of our magics can take that on their own." Said Rose. Kaykrae nodded, "He's right, no doing things on our own, the Oracle said we have to work together." "You're only doing this because the Oracle told you to." I said, still irritated. I didn't like Kaykrae. She was so judgemental, I know I haven't been 'nice', but she sucks as a counselor, I've seen better. I've had more fun killing better. When I kill her it'll be getting rid of an annoyance. "Beastly. Golem. Remember?" Said Rose, staring at me with a serious glare motioning his head at the large animated pile of rocks. I growled but didn't fight, when Rose got angry, I tended to listen. Maybe because by that point, I was going too far. And we did have better things to worry about than me and our little counselor fighting. We all thought for a few minutes in silence, knocking the golem down whenever it started standing, though with how many falls it already took, I was surprised it hadn't even started to break or chip. (The beams didn't do enough damage to hurt the thing on their own, and neither did the falling, but it did buy us time. I wonder if she's in control of how much damage she inflicts.) "Hey, Scaly, do you control how much damage you do? Or is that the maximum amount those beams do?" I asked, looking at Kaykrae. She narrowed her eyes and scowled in annoyance, "First, if you're giving me any nicknames, call me Kay, and to answer your question, yes, I can. I got them at fifty percent right now. And I don't think I can do any more than chipping that thing if I go full hundred, considering it has zero damage currently." "Maybe if we all shoot at full hundred and push it into something, it'd cause enough force to make it crumble. But how?" Said Rose. An idea popped into my head. "Bait run," I said as a mischievous grin appeared on my face. Rose's eyes widened, and he soon grinned himself, he then looked at Kaykrae and asked, "Kay, how would you feel like being a distraction?" Kakrae looked at the two of us in confusion. My excitement was growing, "Rosey, you read my mind." I said as I looked over at Rose. "Bryan, Bri, what are you two planning?" Asked Kaykrae, worry etching her voice. I popped my knuckles and stretched my arms forward, "Don't worry about it, just something that works perfectly for stuff with rocks for brains."

10 minutes later -

Rose stood on top of the now silent pile of rubble, holding his sword up in victory. "WOOOOOOO! WORKS EVERY TIME!" He yelled out grinning. Kaykrae and I were grabbing the amulets as the shield fell when we finally killed the golem. I grabbed two and left the final one for Kaykrae, I wasn't unfair, she got what we all earned. What we had done was finally let the golem gather its bearings. Then Rose and I hid while Kaykrae flew around it. Once she had it interested enough in her, she had it follow her to a wall and got it close enough before darting away. Thankfully it was slow enough. By the time it turned, all three of us already had our magic charged up and ready to fire. The pressure of the magic from all of us and the prolonged contact combined with it being pressed against the wall made it explode into bits. Rose and I couldn't help but smile as we could notice a small hint of emotion. Perhaps it was capable of feeling pain. The thought made me giddy. Kaykrae stretched, "Well, that was a lovely way to spend my morning, but we should head back to camp." I waved her off, "Alright Scaly, we'll see you there." I was watching as Rose explored the rubble, probably looking for minerals, he was one for valuables. I was merely supervising, making sure he didn't do anything stupid. Kaykrae grumbled most likely upset I was still nicknaming her Scaly, but she began to ask, "Are you sure, it's a bit of a hike back and-" "WE CAN HANDLE OURSELVES! DON'T WORRY! BESIDES, WE REMEMBER THE WAY!" Yelled Rose. Kaykrae's worry was visible, this time when I spoke, I was calm, and with no sarcasm. "Don't worry, we'll be alright, not the first time we've done stuff like this. Head back, you probably have counselor duties or something." Kaykrae seemed surprised at my tone. I wouldn't blame her, I don't sound this genuine ever. Especially not with her. She looked between me and Rose. I only gave her a quick glance. But Rose waved and smiled. He was much better at faking to like the demigods than I was. But I guess it works since we are possessing twins. Kaykrae left, and I felt her aura get farther. Rose pulled out what looked like an emerald from between two boulders. He grinned and looked at me. His eyes said it all. I told you something was here. I smiled, he then jumped to some boulders that were covered in moss. Then growing a rose and daffodil, he couldn't grow them normally, but the son of Aphrodite had some interesting magic. He floated the daffodil into my hands. He held up the rose in his hand and said, "To us. The Seductive Rose and Ensnaring Daffodil. Another victory." I smiled and raised the daffodil, "To us, another victory."