The Guardians of Artemis

The Seal of Sloth and Meeting Nullification

Clovis's P.O.V

It hurts. Everything hurts. 

We made it to the quarry, but the infection has now reached the midpoint between my elbow and shoulder, we must hurry.

Thankfully, though, the pain is making it impossible for me to sleep. Or at least fall asleep, I'm not about to sleep willingly on a quest.

In case anyone is wondering what I fight with, I only fight with a simple sword and dagger, nothing too special, although I did ask the Hephaestus Cabin to enchant it so that I fall asleep less often when I'm using them.

At this point, I don't even need my sword and dagger anymore.

"Okay, so any idea as to how to retrieve the seal? Do I have to break the ground?" I asked.

"No, I imagine Jason had to break the ground because the Wrath is the most violent of the sins, since you're looking for the Seal of Sloth, I imagine you'd have to fall asleep to get it." Leo said.

Never mind, hurting so much that I can't sleep may not be a good thing after all.

I lay down in the midst of the abandoned quarry, at the very bottom, and try to sleep.

I lay there for a very long time.

But nothing happened.

I sat back up, "Hey, Jason, can you knock me out?" I asked.

"I don't think being unconscious is the same as sleeping." He said.

Then, Leo came up to me and fed me something.

"Um, Leo, that was really embarrassing, and I thought you had a girlfriend." I said.

"Yeah, whatever, just shut up, be a good boy, and go. The fuck. To sleep." He whispered that last part in my ear.

I instantly passed out.

I imagine he fed me some sleeping pills or something. When did he get the time to buy some?

In my dream, I could see an apparition. 

"You are the chosen one? You are almost as slow and sleepy as Sloth." He remarked.

"Jeez, I can't help it if I'm a son of Hypnos." I muttered.

"Shut up, and give me your hand."

"Uh, what?"

He seized my right arm and held my hand, palm up.

He them laid his hand above it, palm down.

I saw something blue glow in the space between our hands, then I felt a spike of pain.

I tried to withdraw my hand, but the apparition, who shouldn't be able to touch me, being incorporeal and all, held fast.

I gritted my teeth, begging for the pain to stop in my mind, then, just as it became unbearable, it stopped.

The apparition let go.

"Ah, yes, I see now, you are truly a special case, son of Hypnos."

"uh... thanks? I guess? Doesn't really change the fact that you imprinted something painful into my hand."

"My apologies, that was the Seal of Sloth, I am Nullification, the counterpart of Sloth, you are a special child of Hypnos, you not only can force your enemies to sleep, but you can also nullify anything, fatigue, disease, powers, you name it, you can nullify it, that is why I believe you will be the perfect one to seal Sloth away."

"Great, uh, can I wake up now? I know I'm in a dream." I asked.

"Right, sorry about that, by the way, you will no longer fall asleep randomly, and your powers and fighting prowess are boosted, too, you'll wake up in three, two, one..." He snapped his fingers.

I jolted back to reality, and spotted my friends fighting off a horde of monsters.

Well, time to test out my newfound powers.

I leapt into battle like nothing before and held out my palms, a burst of light flashed from my palm and every monster that was hit by the light was either knocked out or unable use any of their special abilities.

Using my sword and dagger, I dusted the rest of the monsters, heck, I fought like a monster.

When I was done, my friends were all standing behind me, eyes wide open in shock.

I shrugged, "I dunno, Nullification just gave me this power, so I just used it, didn't realize it would be this powerful. Definitely didn't think that the fighting boost that I got would be this big." I said.

A scream rang out from behind me.

I turned around, Clarisse was standing there, a spear buried in her gut.

I panicked and nullified the wound, it stopped bleeding, but I suspect it would still kill her.

I charged the empousai who stabbed her and impaled her through the chest with my sword.

"Guys! We need to seek out the Seal of Greed right away! Any ideas as to where it is?" I yelled.

"The prophecy said: The Tyrant's Hoard, so could it be that we would have to raid another tomb?" Leo asked.

"Might as well, most hoards are buried underground." Piper reasoned.

"I know one of the greediest kings, follow me." Jason said, then dashed off, the others followed, leaving me to carry Clarisse all by myself, thankfully, the strength boost from the Seal of Sloth allowed me to carry her with no problem.

We ran to an underground entrance to what seems to me like a sewer, but when we went down, it opened up into some catacombs of some sort.

A/N: Shorter chapter, I was running out of ideas, sorry.

Nothing more to add.

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Shadowflame 95, signing out