Abandoned- a pertemis story Ψ ☑️

Does the soul burn? Chapter 11

Alright, Alright. I know what your going to say. "Gamer, why is your story so awesome?" "Gamer, why are you so cool?" And I have two words for you. Fake. Ego. That's right. Act like your the best and eventually you will be the best. Obviously it works because *smug laugh* it worked for me. Law of attraction, gotta love it.- Internet Head

ΦArtemisΦ
Everything was chaotic. Hunter's screamed and ran around, stabbing and shooting at anything in their path. It was the most disorganized I'd ever seen them. I turned to Perseus "I don't suppose we can rally the troops?" I gave him a look that he always referred to as the "I'm so done" look "not a chance. They're everywhere. Too many monsters." He looked tired "you guys aren't concerned at all with the entire army of dragontooth warriors!?" Alexus growled, rubbing her bloody cheek "cut 'em some slack. They're veterans, they've seen this a lot." Carmen moved Alexus's hand from her cheek, getting blood on his hand in the process "that doesn't mean..." she was too preoccupied with her now healed cut "drop it." He replied, licking the blood off of his hand "I don't believe that's sanitary..." I furrowed my brow as everyone stood in silence looking at him. Percy broke the silence with a question "how did you do... that." He made a explosion motion with his hands "do you have explosives on you or something?" He said probably thinking about Leo Valdez's toolbelt of mayhem which I was not inclined to forget after Hephaestus bragged about it. Carmen looked confused "what? No. I don't have any bombs. I am the bomb." He said incredulously as if Percy's question was stupid and weird "how does that... work exactly?" I couldn't tell if he was genuinely curious or not "Katsuki Bakugo. Or maybe Chroma. More like Ember." Carmen said to himself more than anyone. He looked disappointed at our looks of confusion "you don't watch anime then? And you don't play warframe. Ahh, your so boring." He said, starting to walk off "do you know what he's talking about?" I whispered to Alexus "no clue." She shook her head "I thought you could only light small fires and stuff..." Percy said, electing to ignore what Carmen just said "what? No, I can do so much more than that!" He laughed as he ran off, his sword appearing in his hand as he sliced through a couple of Dragontooth warriors.

We stood around looking at one another in confusion for a little while longer until Percy broke the silence once more "we need to get you a weapon." He said, spying my empty hands "that would be appreciated." I confessed, flexing my fingers with anticipation "for now we have to protect her." Alexus said, turning to me "stay close to him, I'll provide rear guard." Percy nodded, uncapping Riptide. He started forward and I followed him, Alexus bringing up the rear with an arrow drawn. We made our way past hunters clumped together and Dragontooth warrior platoons. Percy stabbed anything that got close while Alexus picked off things that looked our way. It was a hard trip but eventually we made it (read. Forced into) inside of a hunter's tent, a small place for refuge. We looked out the tent flap, moving aside as a silver blur came barreling in. It was Thalia Grace, who nearly ran Percy over "Thalia! Your okay!" Percy said, moving Riptide in an awkward way as to avoid stabbing anybody "I'm as good as can be in this situation. They came out of nowhere." Thalia breathed. Suddenly Alexus reached behind a wardrobe in the tent, revealing a silver lance "here." She threw it to me "can you even use that?" Percy asked "this is a hunter's spear. I am a hunter. Of course I can." I gave him a glowering look, angry at his doubts, twirling the spear for dramatic effect "yep. Of course you can. Why did I even ask?" Percy muttered to himself, Riptide glowing in his hands. The world outside was still chaotic, filled with the sounds of battle. Just then, something was thrown just in front of the tent. All of us recoiled, readying our weapons at once, until we realized who it was. Carmen the idiot was chucked onto the ground, his clothes torn and soaked with blood. He flipped himself over, now on all fours like an animal. A large cyclops lumbered over, towering above Carmen's hunched body. "Hey! In here!" Percy called out to him, about to charge out and help. Carmen either didn't hear him or was just ignoring him because instead of running into the tent he ran forward towards the cyclops, still on all fours, and slid under the cyclops's legs. Two shadows ejected from his sleeves and they whirled about in a circle, effectively slicing of the Cyclops's feet. Carmen turned around quickly and disarmed the cyclops, quite literally, and before the cyclops fell to the ground he swung downwards with both shadows. A decapitation. Not my style but still very cool. The cyclops disintegrated and left behind spoils of war, a large animal skin, which Carmen stabbed with one sword, throwing it up and yanking it to the side just in time to stop an arrow made of carved bone. "Or, uh, you could do that. That works too." Percy swallowed and relaxed as Carmen darted into the tent "it sucks out there. There's no room to breath." Carmen jabbed a thumb towards the tent flap "I don't think I've ever seen that fighting style before." Percy said, tapping Riptide nervously against the ground "I learned it from somebody back in the syndicate. Feral fighting style." He explained, while shoving anything that looked remotely dangerous away from the entrance  "um... syndicate?" Percy laughed nervously "you were part of a syndicate?" I asked, naturally suspicious "yeah. Focus, we've got to figure out a way to deal with all of these guys." Carmen replied, speeding through the sentence like it was nothing "we're just not gonna talk abou-" Thalia started but was cut off by Percy "Alright. Carmen, how much fire can you produce without passing out?" He asked "excuse me. Fire?" Thalia said "I've never passed out before. I can produce a lot." Carmen gave us a wicked smile "even though it's raining?" Alexus asked, an arrow I hadn't noticed drawn "I can boil the rain." He replied, frowning "I like this plan. It does not involve any of us nor my hunter's dying." I gave my approval "all right Carmen. We'll cover you. You do whatever you do." Percy said, his body tensing up in preparation to run "Alright. On three." Alexus said "one-" I started, readying my spear "-two-" Thalia rubbed her wrist and Aegis sprang forth, an apparition of fear "-three." Carmen said, and his eyes glowed like hot coals in a furnace.

Needless to say, chaotic wasn't the word for it. Perhaps discord would be better. Hunter's lay unconscious everywhere, protected by their kin, while monsters raged everywhere. As soon as we left the tent a Dragontooth warrior charged me, it's boney structure slick with rain, so I punctured it's ribcage with my spear. I threw the skeleton aside and moved on to batting away anything that threatened to get near Carmen. We ran, tripping up and cutting ourselves, until we managed to get to the middle of the camp where the most hunters were gathered. Sadly this meant we were surrounded, there were still plenty of Dragontooth warriors and two cyclopses remained. We swatted at things that tried to corral us into a tighter circle but we were running out of time "Carmen! Do something!" Percy shouted, disarming a skeleton and then bashing in its skull with Riptide's hilt, the rain swirling around him and buffering against the opposing forces which kept them from completely overrunning us. "don't rush him!" Thalia said, though obviously swamped. Carmen stood calmly in the middle, eyes closed and his weapons nowhere to be seen. He opened his eyes, ever so slowly, and they glowed and burned brighter than ever before. He raised his head to the heavens, his clothes and hair soaking wet as we all were. He smiled as warm air rolled over us in waves "You want me to-" he was cut off by the roars of the cyclopses, their clothing suddenly enveloped in orange flames "-set the world on fire!" Carmen finished, grinning maniacally as anything remotely flammable on the monsters burst into flames. The air around us felt like Death Valley, our clothes suddenly dry. I watched in amazement when the rain that was pouring above boiled and evaporated into steam before it could hit us. I saw the Dragontooth warrior's armor melt before me, as their very bones seemed to liquify. And then it was gone just as sudden and fast as it happened. The rain slammed down upon us again, soaking us head to toe once more. The air became frigid again, cold and sharp like ice. The previously dry baked dirt became muddy in seconds, this time mixed with steaming piles of monster loot, melting bones, and monster dust. Everything was silent. Nobody moved, or dared to breath. Thalia, being the bravest of us by far, turned and looked Carmen in the eye. He was smoking, literally, and his eyes no longer glowed. Instead they looked kind of downcast. Regardless of this Thalia strode over and grabbed him by the shoulder "okay, Lighter. That was a nice show but can you cook?" She asked, lightening the mood. Carmen's face softened, a watery smile appearing on his face "like you wouldn't believe." And everyone loosened up. Some laughed and talked to one another, showing off new scars or bragging about monster kills while others started to fix up the camp. Thalia patted Carmen on the shoulder with a wide smile of her own before attempting to put up a tent that had been knocked over. Carmen started over to help but Percy beat him to it. Instead Carmen walked over to the only intact fireplace and sat down. He reached out and touched the slick muddy log with his hand and it caught fire. Nobody else watched this happen, preoccupied with other tasks, but I saw his hand twitch and seize with pain before he withdrew it. I leaned on my spear in thought as I attempted to remember the story of DragonRot. "A force that could only be trapped and not destroyed. Something that infected the minds of the most noblest of creatures, even gods." Were the only words I could recall along with a sketch of a Wyvern that screeched and flew through the air with corroded wings, it's eyes blank. That wasn't all too peculiar by itself but two other Wyverns were attached to the first one, the same corrosion on its wings binding them together into one creature. Yes. A darker story indeed. I couldn't bring myself to dwell on this fact however. I walked over to Thalia and Percy. We can settle all of this trouble later. For now we can relax.