The Guardians of Artemis

The Bow and Arrows of Death

Bronze's P.O.V

I looked at the water.

Dammit, I wish I had some kind of ability to allow me to breathe underwater.

Percy or Nick would've been good right about now.

I decided there was no use waiting, my bow uses all sorts of arrows, but none for water. 

I held my breath and dived in.

Before I did, though, I remembered something.

*Flashback*

"Remember, if you ever need a favour from me, just pray, but I might not be able to help you depending on your request." Artemis told me.

"Is it possible if I pray to you to find another god to help me?" I asked.

"Depends on which god." She said.

"Okay then, I won't push my luck, but thank you, Lady Artemis." I said.

*Flashback ended*

"O great Artemis, I require your help. Would it be possible for you to convince Poseidon to help me?" I closed my eyes and prayed to Artemis.

"You called?" A voice said next to me.

"Huh?" I turned around, and Poseidon was right next to me, "Ah! Uh, Lord Poseidon!" I knelt on one knee.

"Ah, no need for that, I heard you needed help, I'll give it to you, seeing as you are my sons' friend." He said.

"Really? Thanks so much!" I squealed, then regained my composure, "Ahem, I mean, you have my thanks."

"Heh, sheesh, Apollo's right, you are more excitable than you seem." Poseidon chuckled.

"Heh heh, yeah, um, I have a quest to recover the Bow and Arrows of... Death? From the ocean? I really don't understand the logic of that, but... can you help me?" I asked.

"You have nothing in that special quiver of yours?" He asked.

"Yeah, I have a lot of things in here, just nothing that allows me to breathe underwater." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Now you do." Poseidon snapped his fingers and I felt something weigh down in my quiver.

I drew the new addition.

"Huh? This is..." I trailed off.

"Yeah, that's an arrow that creates an air tunnel wherever it goes underwater, you should be able to swim fast enough to get through before the tunnel collapses." He said.

"Thank you so much, Lord Poseidon! I'll be sure to sacrifice the best of my food when I get back!" I knelt at his feet.

I stood up, regained my composure, and headed off into the ocean.

I swam for a bit, then, when I ran out of oxygen, I drew the water arrow and held it next to my ear. It created an air bubble around my head so I could breathe, then I explored down there.

Poseidon told me that it created an air bubble, but he did not tell me that I could communicate with sea creatures whilst in that bubble.

I found that out the hard way.

I kept hearing voices around me, I kept looking around, but I saw no-one, then a school of fish swam near me, and a select few voices got louder, I backed away from them, and the voices faded away.

I looked strangely at the arrow, then I took a deep breath, and moved the arrow to my side, immediately, the voices faded away, I put the arrow back next to my head, and the voices immediately resurfaced.

I then nodded in understanding.

I asked around with the fish, asking if they've heard of the Bow and Arrows of Death, but they kept avoiding the question, either by trying to distract me or by cracking a joke, usually both.

After hours of searching, I finally managed to find an angler fish willing to give me an answer.

"The Bow and Arrows of Death? Yeah, I know of it, it's over there, why do you ask?" He asked me, pointing with his light at the temple.

"Fantastic, um, have you heard from Lord Poseidon about the Great Prophecy?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, that's why I'm here, to guard the bow and arrows, only when you pass the test will you be able to retrieve the Bow and Arrows of Death. Believe me, thousands have already tried, all have failed." He said.

"What's the test?" I asked.

"You'll need to be willing to face the dead that come back. I'm going to look inside your memories and bring back people who died that are close to you, depending on your reaction, I will determine whether you've passed or not, ready? Here we go." He then stared at me, as if peering into my soul. 

Then, a thick mist started pouring into the air bubble.

When the mist dispersed, I saw an apparition of my mom standing there.

"M-mom? You're here!" I started to cry already.

"Yes, sweetie, I'm here, come, take my hand, let's go home." She said, giving me her hand.

"M-mom, I'd l-love to, b-but... Camp Half-Blood is my home now, a-and... I have to be strong for my new family, I am one of the heroes in the prophecy, and I need to be here to save my friends and family." I sobbed, my heart breaking. 

"Sweetie, please, forget about the prophecy, it's too dangerous for you, I don't want to lose you like you lost me, please, just take my hand, and we can go back home." She smiled at me sadly, and stretched out her hand even further.

"Mom... I'm sorry." I sobbed, "I can't, and that's final. I'll be sure to visit you in the underworld when this entire ordeal is over, but I can't go with you just yet." 

She sighed, "I understand sweetie, I'll be waiting for you." Then, she disappeared.

At that point, I couldn't take it anymore, I fell onto my knees and openly wept, "Mom... why'd you leave me?" I sobbed.

*Flashback*

My mom was driving a 10-year-old me from school, suddenly, a drunkard came in with his car and crashed into ours. 

I passed out from the impact, and when I woke up, I was in the hospital, on the bed next to me was a body connected to a monitor that showed no pulse.

I couldn't remember anything.

Not until weeks afterwards.

When I suddenly remembered that I had a mom and that the body that I saw was hers, I immediately broke down and when my step-dad, who was actually nice back then, called the hospital and told them my amnesia has worn off.

He's taken care of me up until I was 15 years old, then he realized that the person who killed mom was him and that he was fucking drunk. Then he started treating me like shit.

One year. It took one year until Percy and Nick finally killed him.

*Flashback ended*

Eyy, and guess what? He was actually affected by the Sin of Wrath at that time and actually loved me! Now he's fucking dead!

Whoever is being possessed by the Sin of Wrath right now is going to die.

"Congratulations, you passed, now take the bow and arrows from the temple and get outta here." The angler fish said.

I nodded, I walked to the temple, grabbed the bow and the arrows, and swam back to the surface.

A/N: Wow, that one took longer than I expected. To be fair, I am watching anime and Minecraft Roleplays through all this. Has anyone else watched MyStreet? I just found it recently, and by recently I mean like three weeks ago, and I'm already on Season 4.

So, yeah, that's about it.

Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow. Peace out, everybody, goodbye.

Shadowflame 95, signing out