The Heroes of Olympus: The Black Swordsman

Hazel

Hazel couldn't believe her eyes. She had seen her share of sword duels before. Her friend Percy was largely considered the best swordsman in camp Halfblood. But she had never seen anything like this. When Kirito fought he became a completely different person. His face had an expression that looked like he was being chased by demons, and his fighting style involved so much speed it was almost painful to keep up with just your eyes. It was a wonder Jones was able to keep up as long as he did. Then when he suddenly took Hazels sword, he became a hurricane of blades, taking his opponent down in a matter of seconds. The fighting style was neither Greek, Roman, or any fighting style she had ever heard of before. It was as if he had picked up a sword one day, improvised some movements, than practiced those moves intensely over a course of years. The end result was a sword technique that was both deadly and graceful. The barracks that night were an absolute uproar, the lares were flickering like candles, their aura like forms absolutely excited. Campers still had Kirito on their shoulders. Kirito however, though he was initially flattered by the attention he got after the victory in the war games, was now attempting to tell the left over enthusiasts that he really wanted to get some shut eye.

" Really, " he said, " I'm kind of tired so could you please put me Dow- OUCH!" His head bumped against the roof.

Like Percy, Kirito did not seem like the type who liked attention. In fact, by Hazels standards, Kirito seemed more like a lone wolf. While he was very kind and prized his friends, he also preferred to distance himself from large crowds. The way he requested a one on one battle from Jones despite the possible difference in strength was proof of that. He didn't want people getting hurt, so he distanced himself. Hazel guessed that in a way, this made Kirito similar to her brother Nico.

"Okay, that's enough",Darren was saying to the rambunctious cheer fest.

Today, seemed like a good day for Darren as well, Hazel noticed that since that nights match, he had a new bounce in his step. Plus Darren hadn't complained about his terrible luck once, which was odd.

"Alright, we won, he gets it!" Hazel shouted, " Now put him down, he needs sleep!"

The others obeyed, putting down a relieved looking Kirito, who also looked dazed from his bump in the head.

" So.... how do you feel?" Darren asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Like the throbbing might get worse" said Kirito dizzily. Hazel almost burst into giggles.

"He meant about the game today Kirito."

"Oh! You meant that..... I don't know, okay I guess."

Darren shook his head. " Swords for Brains. You, a newbie and a mortal, come into this camp and completely show up one of our best fighters, and your telling me that you aren't even slightly thrilled?"

Kirito shrugged.

" Darren, it's not Kirito's fault," said Hazel, " he's just extremely weird."

Kirito frowned. "Hey, that's a little uncalled for." He paused a bit than sighed. " Alright, I guess I am pretty weird."

Hazel started laughing. She was soon joined in by Darren and Kirito.

"But seriously man" said Darren once the laughter had stopped. "What was that? You went totally bonkers out there."

Kirito scratched his head. "Did I? To be completely honest, when I fight everything goes by so fast, I barely remember anything in the end."

" Speaking of the fight, I hope you learn to ask people before you go taking swords from your team members." Hazel said sternly.

Kirito looked down. "Yeah, sorry about that, it was sort of a heat of the moment thing."

Darren whistled." How did you learn to fight like that, I've never seen anybody dual wield before. I mean did Romans even know how to dual wield, heck, did Greeks even?"

Kirito looked a little strained now, " I don't know, I can't remember anything. Everything stay the Wolf House is like one big blank in my head."

That's right, Hazel thought. He's got amnesia like Percy did. What should she do? Reyna had been very specific to her about not revealing the full details of the new prophecy. Nobody quite knew what to make of it yet, or if it specifically involved Kirito at all. However she didn't like keeping anyone in the dark, especially someone like Kirito. She could tell that deep down Kirito was actually extremely smart. Eventually he would find out. And if he really was a part of this, than there was a great possibility that he would dream about it. In the mythological world, dreams acted as omens to large events, both mortals and Demigods had them. Hazel had also had her share of dreams, none of them pleasant, and all of them had either come true, or showed her other events in real time.

"Kirito," Hazel said, her mind made up. "Meet tomorrow morning in front of the barracks, there is something I need to tell you." Without waiting for an answer, she walked out of the barracks. As she left, she could practically hear the gears working in Kazuto Kirigaya's brain.