MARTYR | A Luke Castellan Love Story

23 - Battle Ready

Percy watched as the campers somberly began preparing for war. Hephaestus kids forged new weapons, Ares kids trained harder than ever before, and Athena kids poured over battle strategies for hours on end. Why? They had received a new threat from Luke, or rather, Kronos.

The titan controlling Luke's body had sent them a threatening message, one delivered by a monster itself.

A golden bull had appeared outside of the camp's borders, alerting the campers guarding it. However, it did not attack. It instead threw down a sack, which made the campers gasp in horror.

Out of the sack came a bloodied camp shirt, the stains a dark red compared the the bright orange fabric. It belonged to a camper who went missing two nights before, but everyone assumed they defected and joined Luke's side like Jay. They were sadly mistaken.

However, that wasn't the only message the creature had brought.
As it stood with steam billowing out of its nose, a small capsule glew from the edge of the sack, and a hologram appeared. The rays of light quickly manifested into an image of Luke, his hair amuck and his skin pale, eyes glowing like embers.

"Be warned. Your end is near, demigods."

And with that, his image flickered away.

Meanwhile, Percy was anxious. He was worried sick about his sister, but he had a plan.

Once the demigods storm Kronos' army, he will find Jay. He will break her free from Kronos' grasp. He slowly built the plan up in his head, and his determination grew more and more.

Jay, on the other hand, was a prisoner. She was forbidden to leave the building, and she was confined to a few rooms on the top floor. There, she paced uneasily. Kronos was getting more aggressive by the day, and more and more monsters were seen coming into their hideout. That could only mean one thing: it was time.

The girl hid her face in her hands, feeling defeated. Regret flooded her concious, and she wanted nothing more than for this to be a nightmare, a terrible nightmare.

At the same time, Kronos stood in his designated room, two cyclops fitting him with golden armor that shone like his sinister eyes. He admired himself in the mirror, satisfied with how intimidating he looked. His vessel was already a tall, muscular young man, but the thick armor and the scar with his glowing eyes made him look like a god himself.

"This will suffice. Bring the girl to me. You are dismissed." He ordered, still gazing at himself in the mirror of the dim room.

A few moments later, the two cyclops came in with Jay, their hands gripping her arms to ensure she wouldn't escape.

When she saw him, she instantly became nervous. His skin was pale and his eyes were ablaze, and the armor made him look terrifying. When his cold eyes went to hers, she froze.

"It is time. I have armor for you also. You will be one of our greatest weapons. I hope you are up for it." He said, his tone having a threatening edge to it, as if daring her to disobey.

She meekly nodded and was directed to a set of armor on a stand. It too, was gold and menacing, with it's fitted chest piece and plumed helmet, the horse hair on top being a jet black. She stood still as the cyclops put the armor on her, it being surprisingly light.

Once she had the armor on, she looked at herself in the mirror, and she felt a weight in her stomach. She didn't look like herself at all. The bags under her eyes showed her exhaustion, her hair was paled and her face showed resentment for what she was becoming.

"Excellent." Kronos commented. "And how are your powers coming along?"

With a hesitant swipe of her hand, a nearby faucet shot water out in a powerful jet, almost putting a hole at the bottom of the metal sink from the force. Ever since Jay came back to Kronos, he had let her live, but for only one reason. She was trained every day on her powers, and they grew stronger and stronger.

Kronos gave a look of approval, his face smug.

"You surely won't have a problem piercing armor it seems."

With that thought, Jay's heart sunk. She was going to have to kill demigods.

She knew it was coming, but she couldn't actually believe it.
Why else would he have me get trained?

She kept staring at herself in the mirror, feeling stuck with no place to go. She had done this to herself.

Maybe if she hadn't had a stupid crush, maybe if she thought for herself, maybe if she wasn't so desperate for love-

No. I will stop this. From the inside. I shouldn't have been so naive. Kronos won't save any demigods. He wants to kill them all. He won't stop at camp half blood.

She had made up her mind. She was going to defeat Kronos. One way or another. Maybe she could save Luke at the same time? This had gone on for far too long. She would succeed, or die trying.