Forgotten prophecy

Chapter 6

The Hunters' were going to win. Ryker knew it. The normally high energy game had quickly turned into a war of attrition and the Hunters had adjusted their tactics accordingly as they had begun to capture campers and incapacitating them. Jason, Ryker, and Piper had been the last three left standing against the hunters and though they fought well the Hunters overwhelmed them. Jason had been the first of the trio to be captured. Several silver pitons had wrapped around his legs and he had been dragged off into the forest. Piper had been next. She had ran after Jason with the intent to release him and had been subsequently captured herself. That left Ryker alone to guard the campers' flag. He was dangerously low on arrows and a dozen welts from the hunters' attacks ran all along his body.

The hunters walked out of the forest in a straight line, all of them grinning with anticipation. "And here we are again, Ryker." Thalia laughed. "Come on, give up the flag. We captured the others. It's just you left."

"Yeah, about that..." Ryker grinned back at them. "I don't give up. This is my flag. You can't have it."

Which is fine in theory, but I'm outmatched here. His thoughts were serious, a contradiction to the cheerful demeanor he had thrown up. Why do I even care? It's a stupid game.

Aah yes. A breathy voice whispered in his mind. Ryker's head whipped around, searching for the source of the voice. Your father always was the competitive one. I suppose that's the hunter in you.

"Who said that?" Ryker demanded. He gazed accusingly at Thalia and the huntresses. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Thalia asked confusedly, looking up and down at her huntresses. They all shook their heads in confusion. "We didn't do anything."

It is not them. The voice told him. It is I. Your mother.

Ryker's eyes widened and he dropped his bow in shock. The huntresses didn't hesitate. Once his weapon hit the ground they sent a volley of arrow at Ryker. He thought for certain that he was done for when he suddenly began to fall. The earth had opened a perfect circle beneath his feet and he fell through, all of the arrows sailing harmlessly over his head. He fell perhaps ten feet before he found the cave's floor. The hole he had fallen through closed above him and Ryker was plunged into darkness. "Well shit." He sighed. "Alright, listen, whoever you are, I appreciate the assistance but it wasn't necessary."

Yes, very much your father's son. He always believed in doing everything himself as well. A laugh echoed around in Ryker's head. But that's what intrigued me the most about him.

Look, 'mom' if it really is you, why show up now? Ryker demanded. You've let me fend for myself all this time. Why take an interest now that I'm at camp Half-Blood?

Because before you came here you were safe. She said simply. A bright light suddenly illuminated the cave Ryker was standing in and a woman seemed to step forward from the earth. A woman clad in a chiton that covered her entire body. She had the same light brown hair that Ryker had and his same forest green eyes. Even her sun kissed complexion matched his own. At her side sat a golden lion that stared curiously at Ryker. "I was able to hide you in the forest, where I am at my most powerful. When Gaea made war on the gods Zeus called for all of us to fight. I was not able to continue hiding you as my power was needed to fight the Titans and Giants."

"You know, this isn't much of a reunion." Ryker remarked, watching the lion warily.

"Forgive me, I have been remiss in my duties as your mother." She opened her arms welcomingly and stepped forward. "Embrace me, my son."

"No, I don't think so." Ryker said, holding up a hand. "I don't even know your name. Besides, I'm not much for hugs."

"I suppose you are right." She let her arms fall to her side. "My name is Cybele. I am the goddess of wild animals, mountains, forests, and caverns. That is why it was so easy for me to hide your existence."

"Why hide me at all?" Ryker asked, spreading his arms wide. "Why not come find me after dad died?"

"Because coming to camp would not have been safe for you at the time." She said sadly. "I sensed the stirrings of Gaea many years before you were born. The children of the earth gods would have been put at even greater risk as you are so closely bound to the earth. There was even talk about eradicating all the demigods who were associated with the earth. When you were born I knew that I had to protect you. You are my first born son. I have borne daughters before but never a son. All my other children had taken after their mortal parents, but you were the first one whom I sensed my own powers in. When your father passed away I ensure that you would find your way into the forest. Once you were there I sent some of my most trusted forest companions to watch over you. When Pan discovered your existence it took a fair amount of convincing on my part for him not to report your existence to Zeus. He sensed that I had hidden you. But after he spent time with you he agreed that you should be hidden until the war with Gaea had ended. If Olympus had fallen it would not have mattered that I hid you regardless. All humans would have been slaughtered."

"So why not send me to camp when you realized that you couldn't hide me anymore?" Ryker questioned. He wasn't mad. If anything, he was relieved to know that he had never been completely abandoned. It had been an issue that he had struggled with for quite some time. "You knew that monsters would have come for me."

"Because you needed to grow into the fighter you are now." She said simply. "Your trials have not yet even begun, Ryker. The other demigods have been raised into the mold that all great heroes have been made from. But you are one that was shaped by a new one. You are a new type of warrior, one that fights with all the ferocity of the beasts of the forest and yet has the compassion to control the wild animals."

"So what are these trials you are talking about?" Ryker asked.

Cybele shook her head slightly. "Unfortunately it is not my place to say. Return to camp my son, and you will find out soon enough."

"Wait!" He said as she began to glow again. He half raised an arm before letting it fall to his side again. "Those marks that climb down my arms whenever the forest is hurt... what are they?"

"Ah, yes." Cybele appeared to remember something. "That was Pan's gift to both you and me. He declared you a Guardian of the Forest. That mark was a both a trump card and an added layer of protection. If the forest was ever harmed the power of the Wild would awaken inside of you and give you extra power. That is why none of the wounds you suffered ever killed you though some should have."

"Handy." Ryker admitted. "And the added protection?"

"It further disguised your presence. You can't know this, but that mark somewhat conceals your scent under the smell of the forest. Combined with my own protection monsters wouldn't notice you until you were within at least a mile of them." She moved forward and Ryker suddenly found himself wrapped in his mother's arms. He froze in surprise, but his arms moved on their own accord and wrapped themselves around her in response. "You have made me proud, my son. I suspect that you have more great things in store for you. But you will have to do them on your own without Pan's protection."

Ryker's back suddenly crawled and itched and he felt something being pulled from his very soul. When it finally stopped he felt different. He realized with a start that he could no longer feel the earth around him. "What just happened?" He demanded. "I thought you said that Guardian of the Forest thing saved my life! Why would you take it?"

"Because it only hindered your abilities as my son." Cybele told him firmly. "You have much more power than you know, more than perhaps most demigods. At least, when you are in the forest that is. It's time you learned to use that power. Your first test will be escaping this cavern. Remember what I told you. Everything I hold dominion over you can control as well." She began to glow again, as did the lion at her side.

"You're leaving?" Ryker found it hard to mask the disappointment in his words. "Just like that?"

"I am needed elsewhere." She told him. "But worry not, you and I will see each other again my son. But for now, enjoy your time at camp and do try to make friends. Tonight at the evening revelries I will send a sign claiming you as my son so that all may know."

"Well... good bye then." Ryker muttered. He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at the dirt floor of the cave. "Nice talking to you."

She smiled at him again and ruffled his long brown hair. "I have wanted to do that again for years. Good-bye my son."

Cybele disappeared in a flash of brilliant white light and Ryker was plunged into darkness again.