The Son of Time

Prologue

ANNABETH

     I WAS TIRED. For days we had been running. The monsters were very close now. Up ahead was the worst thing possible- a dead end. As life drew closer to its end, flashbacks started in my mind of how we ended up in this position.

     It was the Giant War. The Seven from the Prophecy of Seven, me, Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, and Leo Valdez, were headed for Greece to prevent the Giants from destroying Mt. Olympus and awakening Gaea.

     We failed miserably.

     Gaea stayed asleep, but that was our only success. The Giants destroyed Mt. Olympus, both the mountain and the palace. Without the thrones of power, the gods have been forced to flee. Lacking their former strength, they were now vulnerable to be banished forever from memory. Now they must hide from the Giants that are personally hunting them. Some have already fallen.

     As for our losses, it was Percy and Frank. In our last battle, Percy saved my life by taking a spear for me. I remember that too well. I was fighting a hellhound when Hazel scream to me, "Look out!" Someone pushed me out of the way. I hit the ground and turned to see a spear plunge straight through Percy. I screamed for all I was worth.

     We had survived the Titan war, being separated, and even managed to get out of Tartarus alive. And now, here was Percy, dying with a spear in his stomach, because of me. Slowly, he handed Riptide to me and spoke his last words, "I love you..." And he was gone. Next went Frank, using his life force-a piece of driftwood-to light a pile of explosives, sacrificing himself to cripple the main force of the monsters. Afterwards, we headed back to Camp Half-Blood in a badly damaged Argo II. Chiron told us that we could never return, as monsters would all know us, so we had to leave, but they let us stay long enough for the ceremony to honor Frank and Percy. Grover got the unfortunate job of informing Sally of Percy's passing. I reminded him to tell her it was my fault.

     We then flew to Camp Jupiter to inform the Romans. They didn't take it as well. The entire Legion rallied and destroyed the Argo II. We managed to get out, but they hunted us down and forced us out of the camp. We immediately encountered a army of monsters. They chased us towards the coast of California, and now here we are, running south along a rocky ledge, towards a drop-off.

      We stopped several feet in front of the edge and looked down. It was a several story drop to the jagged rocks on protruding the surface of the ocean. That left us two options-jump to our deaths or fight and die. We chose to fight. In unison, we turned to face the beasts that closed down on us. Knowing we were trapped, they were slowing down.

     Leo tried to summon fire, but instead slumped against the cliff. Hazel went to care for him as Jason and Piper went fell to their knees. Leaving me. I got out my dagger and Riptide, waiting as the monsters got closer. This pack consisted of manticores, hellhounds, Dracanae. They stopped ten feet away from us and the head manticore got up on his hind legs.

     "So, here lies the prophesied ones, weak and defeated, awaiting death. So pitiful." He grinned. " I will enjoy breaking you to bits."

     With me as the only defense, I knew we were going to die. And I readied myself for this death. Suddenly, I hear a whistling noise coming from behind the manticore. An arrow planted itself into the ground in front of the manticore.

     "What in Hades! Who fired the arrow?" He roared at his army. They all shrugged and looked at each other in confusion. One of the Dracanae hissed, "Ssir, that arrow wass not one of ourss." Meanwhile, while they bickered, I quickly analyzed the arrow. From the angle in which it was implanted in the ground, it should have gone... straight through the Manticore...

     "ENOUGH!!!" the head manticore roared. He turned back to me. "That was a bit of a minor waste of our time. But rest assured, you will still die, Daughter of Athena. Meet your fate." He prepared to issue the charge, but dropped on his knees, gasping. He held his hand over his chest, right above his heart. When he pulled away his hand, gold dust was pouring from a growing hole in his chest. He looked up with a stunned expression on his face.  All eyes were on him, and everyone was as surprised as he was.

    "Kill them," he croaked. With that, he crumbles to dust.

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So, just a minor change, I simply added more to the ending. I'll try to make Chapter 1 ASAP. Keep waiting, my almost non-existent audience!!! :)

(i think...)