Chaos Bringer (Percy Jackson; The God Slayer From Another World)

Chapter 7 Zoë the gallant

They have been walking for who knows how long. The land of the dead seemed endless. And they constantly fought against the wills of the anxious dead. Luke stopped, then trained his ears over the moaning of the dead on their heels.

"Something bad is going on." He told the other two.

"How do you know?" Maya asked.

     He closed his eyes and concentrated. His hair turned milky white from his blond. "I can sense when something is happening. And something is going on on the other side of Erebus."

"Will we have to worry about it?" she asked.

He gave her an unsure answer as he deactivated the form. "I can't tell yet. But it seems to be heading our way."

"Then we should keep moving," Zoë said. "Those dragons drained a lot of my abilities. We do not need to face them now."

"Okay then," he said. "The river must be ahead."

"I never imagined that Erebus would be this big," Maya said.

"It contains billions of people. In constantly expands to contain those souls."

For a brief moment, everything around them seemed to still. The souls of the waiting dead froze suddenly, and they immediately took noticed of the curious event. The dead's whispers of the dead also paused for a moment, before continuing in low, slow breaths to one another. They were puzzled until it was too late. Sounds of deep, thundering shuddering steps quickly grew louder.  A giant horn came swiftly from their flank and skewered Luke in the gut, and lifted him above its head like a prize. Luke screamed in pain, gouts of blood pouring from his wound as he was tousled.

"Oh," he said weakly, trying to pry himself off. "So . . . it was this thing."

"Luke!" Zoe fired an arrow, but the monster blocked it with its other horn. It was a giant bull, the size of two double decker buses stacked on top one another. It flung him off and his body fell in a heap a few yards away. Zoë tried to run and help, but it was incredibly fast, reacting and booting her away with a hoof. She shot an arrow, accurately in its eye, but the wound seemed to do little, the arrow popping out and the wound closing.

"It's magic," Zoë growled, looking back to Luke. "And I don't have enough power to fend it off now."

"I can," Maya said. "Go help Luke."

"Are you sure?"

   "Yes," she whispered. She reached into her pocket and took out what appeared to be a pen. It was silver and white with a golden cap. Zoë immediately noticed it's similarities to the riptide, and became even more curious. She included it, and instead of a gladius like Percy's, a broadsword was produced. Its golden hilt was ornate with carved images. White leather covered the hilt and a pummel was fashioned from a pearl. The bronze blade looked polished, yet worn down.

    Without a moment's hesitation, she charged the beast. She recognized an intelligent glow within the bull's eyes as it saw her. It stomped down, but she dodged it and sliced at its calf. The fur was too thick to be sliced, but that didn't stop her. She moved like a specter, and Zoë was left to marvel at how evenly she fought the monster armed only with her sword.

"Impressive," Zoë looked on. "So this is the type of demigod a chaos child can produce? No wonder everyone feared Percy."

She suddenly pulled out a flask of water, using it to slice off one of the horns. It roared in outrage and slammed her with its hooves once again, which she couldn't dodge. She had put her sword up in defense, but still, she was blown back several meters. Some blood slipped from her lip, but otherwise, she was minimally injured.