He lost his heart. Shattered, torn apart by those who he loved... Those who he thought loved him. He gave up all hope of ever finding it again. Yet he did, but he would have never thought that he would have to go tens of thousands of years to the pa...
Once we reached the castle, Mael took me through a shortcut, and within minutes, I was standing in the room where I had met him. I walked up to the door and stopped right in front of it.
"Do you have any idea what's on the other side?", no matter how much I tried, whatever was on the other side was blocking me from sensing anything.
"No, master... All I do know is that those few who have attempted before found out that they couldn't use their powers and had to rely solely on their weapons and stamina but even then couldn't last five minutes, let alone long enough to conquer the domain."
"Just weapons, huh?", I responded, feeling a bit uncertain. I didn't have a riptide and there was no way of getting the sword from Hephaestus, even if he was done with it. But I'm pretty sure I've faced worse so how bad could it be?
"I'm guessing you won't be coming with me, am I right?", I asked Mael, already knowing the answer. No, he had to stay behind so it was all me.
I sighed, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open, infusing my water powers into my strength. The door creaked open and I cautiously walked in. It was dark... I was standing in complete darkness, and the only thing illuminated was a throne, about fifteen feet high, that stood on an elevated platform at the opposite end of the room, emitting a dull green glow. There was such a huge, huge distance between where I was standing and the throne that it looked so tiny from where I stood (like it would easily fit in my palm).
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My water senses (using water to get an idea of the surroundings) were cut so I had to rely more on my other senses, and of course, I couldn't see nor smell anything; tasting was completely useless in this case (unless the challenge is to eat stuff, which I highly doubt) so all that was felt was sound. I had taken a step toward the throne, which, in hindsight, might not have been a good idea.
It was at this moment that I heard an all too familiar 'whoosh' and, thanks to my quick reflexes, I flipped midair, avoiding an incoming arrow. At times like this, I couldn't help but be grateful to Thalia. Thanks to her cruelly chasing me around and treating me like a pincushion on numerous occasions, I was accustomed and familiar with the sound of an arrow zipping through the air, though electric arrows are easier to hear.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, I was attacked by a volley of arrows from all directions, forcing me to be in motion, continuously swerving to the right and left, ducking down, or jumping up. At one point, I had caught one of the arrows, barely inches from my face, and flung it in the direction it had come. Seconds later, I heard a 'thud'.
That gave me an idea; I summoned two karambits from my space, making it appear. I bid my time, twirling it around my index finger, trying to pinpoint where the arrows were coming from while dodging them. Once I knew where to throw it, I'd fling it into the air, catch it, and throw it with dead aim. I heard the 'thud' and moved on until there were no more arrows to worry about.
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(A/N: For those who don't know, this is a karambit. (I only found out that it was called that after asking my brother.)
By now, I had moved away from the door and towards the throne, but it still seemed as far as ever, as though I hadn't moved an inch. Knowing that the throne was where I needed to reach, I wanted to just race towards it, as if anything would be that easy.
It was obvious that the test had started, but it was also clear that I wasn't anywhere near done yet. I closed my eyes and concentrated until I heard another sound that went, 'clank, clank', more like about a dozen of them. Whatever that thing was, it was definitely big and metallic. Whenever it took a step, the metallic clang reverberated loudly all over the room, making it difficult to tell from where it was originating.
CLANK, CLANK...
It was at this second that I remembered that I had night vision contacts in my space that I had created but never used. I felt like smacking myself on the head for not recalling that sooner, as I whipped it out and put it in my eyes. Seconds later, I saw them—fifty... hundred—who am I kidding, most probably tens of thousands of them (a bit of an exaggeration, I know)!
Metallic knights, holding all sorts of weapons, from swords to spears to axes to maces and all sorts of other weapons. By the time I had managed to shut my gaping mouth, I was horrified, to say the least. Each of the knights lunged in my direction, brandishing their weapons.
