The Demigod Games

Chapter Fifteen

Aelia let out shaky breaths as she forged through the endless desert known as the arena. Watching so many die right before her eyes was ultimately traumatizing, it nearly broke her to see so many young teenagers with blood stained shirts and blank, lifeless eyes.

She thought it was merely a miracle she made it out of the blood bath alive. She should have been dead, but she managed to escape with scarce supplies and no weapons. Aelia couldn't even get her hands onto a bow she had her eyes on. "When will it end?" she muttered, her throat getting dryer and dryer. After walking for miles, she hadn't been able to find a source of water. She had already been dehydrated for hours upon hours. Her head began to grow lighter and lighter from lack of water. Her mind began to float with the sand along the wind.

In the distance, she convinced herself that her eyes were playing tricks on her. A little boy wondered in the distance, taking steady steps like he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Of course, Aelia was under that belief that she was merely hallucinating the son of Minerva.

She didn't realize until the arrow hit her arm with a thud that he was in fact real.

--

Clarisse La Rue bit her lip anxiously. In the first twenty four hours, she had already taken down numerous tributes, hopefully pleasing her father beyond her own belief.

Since she was young, her father always would insist that she was a burden, an unworthy daughter of his. Her whole life she had to prove him wrong, but only succeeded once. All of the other opportunities were stolen by Jackson and that scrawny brain girl, Annabeth. Clarisse had been planning revenge on them for several years, and felt like the Demigod Games were the best time to do so.

Although she hadn't succeeded yet, Clarisse made it her sole purpose in the arena to find them. They would be together, it could be that hard. She had to kill them, it was her destiny to finally kill those great 'heros' without being punished herself. She would only be rewarded and showered with gifts and prizes.

Clarisse had already gotten off with a great start in the arena. She carried four miniature backpacks over her broad shoulders and had plenty of supplies to last her for the next few days. With a full stomach and completely hydrated state, Clarisse's only nuisance was the gleaming sun, it was getting in the way of seeing where Annabeth and Percy could possibly be hiding or running.

Ares had so kindly provided her with her spear, Maimer, which she clung onto with her right hand. She gripped it tighter as she trekked through endless piles of sand. Her teeth ground with each step she took.  Clarisse had to tell herself encouragements to keep her going.

"I will find you," she said to no one in particular. "And I swear to the Gods, I will kill you both. I will be the one who gets the glory of the war God. I will be the last one alive."

--

Lara immediately shot off the ground, going ten feet up in the air, towering over Thalia. "Try to keep up, daughter of Jupiter," she taunted and jeered. Water flew everywhere, sweet, precious water.

Thalia had to make up her mind; follow the bitch and defend her honor (thus facing her fear of heights) or remain safely on the ground. Making a rash decision, Thalia clenched her eyes shut, then leapt off the ground. She summoned a gust of wind to carry her up. Thalia already knew she wasn't exerting as much energy as the daughter of Neptune. "And to think, so many tributes are going to die of dehydration," Thalia snorted sarcastically.

The daughter of Neptune grunted angrily, then sent a wave of water towards Thalia's face.

Thalia easily deflected it with a wave of the arm. "Can't you do better than that?" she pouted her lower lip, jutting it out.

Lara seemed to get more and more frustrated as she sent various attacks at Thalia, all while ten feet above the sand, ten feet closer to the blazing hot sun.

"Getting tired already?" Thalia continued to taunt her.

While Thalia was off her guard, Lara sent her biggest wave yet hurtling over Thalia's head, crashing into her body and sweeping her off her cloud. It wasn't until Thalia landed on the soft, sun baked sand that she realized what she had done; she had finally faced her fear of heights.

But that minor achievement did nothing to blind her rage at the daughter of Neptune. With a roar of fury, Thalia sent a lightning bolt zapping right into her. Her own personal hurricane disappeared from beneath her feet, she plunged to the ground as Thalia did so. She watched in triumph as the electricity coursed through the girl's body, making it convulse with pain.

With a grave sigh, Lara passed out, still sprawled out on the sand. Thalia admired her achievement, watching down on the girl, then came to the truth about what she had done. She stumbled back in horror once she realized that she had in fact tried to kill Lara, and had nearly succeeded.

She never thought she could turn her powers and abilities against another human or demigod. The very thought was unthinkable. Yet, there she stood in the middle of a scorching desert holding her hands in front of her in sheer terror. The swift and easy movements of her hands could have stopped Lara's heart if Thalia pleased.

It was too much power for one person to handle. Tears coming to her eyes, Thalia fled the scene and ran. She had to stay as far away from anyone else as possible, before it was too late for them and not late enough for her.