Divergent Path

A War on Three Fronts

Chapter 22: A War on Three Fronts

"T-Typhon, how?" Artemis asked after a collective moment of silence, her voice trembling.

Percy mirrored her fearful expression at the threat of the Father of all Monsters. The gears turned in his head as he realized that that must've been what Tartarus was waiting for; he had needed another year for Typhon to wake.

"Um, we don't actually know yet," Hermes started, "We just know he's tearing a warpath headed north, and we believe his target is, this time, the original Mount Olympus."

Artemis steeled her nerves and her bow materialized in her hand.

"Alright, where are we headed? Where is he now?" she asked.

"He's running right up the border between the African countries Ethiopia and South Sudan,"

"What about the people?" Percy cut in.

Hermes appreciated his concern.

"Most countries in the region have centrally located populations. Thankfully, that means Typhon has avoided all major cities in the area. The Olympians there now are going to direct him towards the Red Sea to minimize casualties in Sudan and Egypt. We think he won't notice since it's still essentially en route to his target," the god explained.

Percy nodded and turned to Artemis.

"I'm coming with you," he affirmed.

Artemis' eyes widened as she immediately shook her head, causing a brief argument before Hermes murmured in the background.

"I can't believe he was sleeping under Kilimanjaro this entire time; that mountain is probably in tatters now."

Percy's nerves turned to ice as he whirled around towards the traveler god.

"That's where my dad is. That's where Oceanus told me they were holding Poseidon," he breathed before turning back to Artemis.

"I'm going to go get my dad, and then we're coming to deal with Typhon," Percy said definitively and Artemis knew there was no point to argue with the determination in his voice.

The goddess simply nodded and said goodbye to the surrounding hunters when Hermes' phone pinged with a dozen texts in rapid succession. He confusedly pulled it out and the surrounding parties watched his eyes widen further and further as they ambled down the screen.

"What happened?" Percy asked worriedly.

Hermes swallowed a lump in his throat before he spoke.

"Uh, that was Iris; she was also on the team assigned to finding Poseidon. She had sent out her butterfly scanners to Africa, the last continent we had to search, just hours ago at the moment the yearlong search pause was done. Her rainbow drones just sent these images back from deep in the Sahara Desert and well... see for yourself," he said, turning the phone towards their prying eyes.

Grainy winds fuzzied the quality of the images, but there was no mistaking the return of monsters to the world. What was most concerning was the gaping holes they were climbing out of by the hundreds. Inlaid at the base of dozens of sand dunes were massive endless pits filled with fire that glowed a dark orange. The burning red haze sauntering out of the openings struck a nerve with Percy, and he knew those passages originated in Tartarus. He identified every monster he could think of clawing its way out of the bottomless craters and amassing into a mob as a sandstorm raged around them.

Percy's mind raced as he thought about what they should do. Artemis beat him to it, quickly snapping out of her stupor after seeing monsters for the first time in a year.