Perseus Jackson: A New Order

The War Games

After dinner, the fourth and the  fifth cohort had assembled on the fields of Mars, while the first, second and third were inside a fortress that they had built.

Dakota and I stood side by side, waiting for the signal.

"Looks like the immortals are joining us today," he said, pointing towards an empty patch in the middle of the field. The spot glowed brightly, causing everyone but me to shield their eyes. Out of the light, came my ex-friends who had been turned into gods. They were Leo, Frank, Hazel, Annabeth, Jason and Piper.

A lot of the legionaries bowed to them, while few went to greet them. Frank and Hazel nodded towards me, while Jason and Piper glanced at me for a few moments.

Reyna then spoke up, loud and clear. "The gods of the prophesy of the seven will be helping with defence. Let the games begin!"

We took our positions and charged. Blinded with anger and fresh betrayal, I charged Jason head on.

He flicked his finger and I was blasted with lightning, but it was absorbed by my sword. He was then joined by Piper and Leo, while the other three flashed somewhere else.

Leo threw balls of fire at me, but they just bounced off. Piper then used charm-speak on me. "Drop your weapon," she said. I let my arm dip so that they don't suspect me, but I raised it again and slashed towards Jason. He blocked and stabbed. I parried his strike and hit him with the flat of my blade, which dazed him. Leo then charged me, with hands blazing with fire.

I used the water from the cannons and sprayed water at him with such force that he was blown out of the fields of Mars.

Piper tried to stab me in the back with Katoptris, like she hasn't already done it, but I parried her stike and knocked the blade out of her hands. Jason tried getting up but I slammed the flat end of my blade on him again.

I then heard a trumpet and I rolled out of the way, just as Hannibal flattened Jason. "Good work Praedo," Bobby shouted from on top of Hannibal.

"Storm the fort," I shouted back. He nodded and started to charge the fortress along with me keeping up with Hannibal.

I caused all the water cannons on the inside to blow up and cause mayhem on the inside. Our cohorts formed a shield wall and we charged the fort, blocking all the arrows. They stood no chance, as Hannibal mowed down the fort and we picked up their banner.

We had just started celebrating when I felt a cold feeling in my back. I turned around to see Annabeth, dagger raised about to  stab me. I would have been dead, had it not been for Frank and Hazel who disarmed her held her back.

"It's not him," Frank exclaimed at her. She shrugged but gave me a death glare that would have frightened me a few years back, but now I just shrugged it off.

I was unstrapping my armor near the armory, when Dakota approached me, taking a swig of his cool aid. "You got a nice weapon," he said.

"Yep," I responded, pulling out riptide in pen form and uncapping it. I watched as it grew into the three foot long celestial bronze and silver blade.

Dakota took one look at the blade and fainted. This caused a bunch of other legionaries to look in our direction, which caused Reyna to storm towards me.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw my sword. "Who gave you that?" She asked.

"Neptune," I replied. "He said that it was a gift for me from him to correct his wrong of taking it from the previous owner."

She nodded.

"I'm the previous owner," a shrill and annoying voice said. Soon, hands grabbed riptide by it's hilt and wrenched it out of my grasp.

I looked around to see Mrs. Selfish, Egoistic, Power Hungry, Prideful and Stupid in all her glory. A.K.A Annabeth Chase.

I controlled myself from making the molecules in her body explode. "Give it back," I yelled.

The minute those words left my mouth, she gasped and dropped the blade. I looked to see that her hands were steaming and ichor was seeping down them.

She then pulled out her blade and charged me.

I dodged her first strike and rolled under her second and third. She was fighting with absolutely no skill and pure rage. That may work for a child of Ares or Mars, but for a child of Athena, that's suicide. Riptide then flew into my hands and I used the tip of my sword to wrench her dagger from her hand. I then pointed my sword at her neck.

"What's your problem?" I shouted. "Just because I look like someone you claim is an outcast, all you want to do is kill me. Two of you have already tried to kill me from behind."

Jason nodded towards me and approached me. "You did well back there," he said, pointing towards the fields of Mars. "I hope you would like to become my sparring partner in the future," he said. I nodded and clasped his hand in a friendly manner.

Reyna then cleared her throat, "Now that all the bonding is over, GET BACK TO THE BARRACKS NOW! AND DON'T MAKE ME TELL YOU AGAIN," she yelled.

Everyone including the six scampered away. Dakota took my shoulder and veered me off towards the barracks, where hopefully, I won't be stabbed in my sleep.

It puzzled me why she wanted to kill me so badly. Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Jason and Leo seemed fine. I was still unsure about Piper because she tried to stab me in the back. Another thing that puzzled me was that Reyna was not immortal. Last I remember, she was offered godhood like the rest of us.

I walked over to Dakota, who was refilling his cool aid flask. I needed to be subtle about asking this question. "Were the seven the only ones who received immortality?" I asked, "What about Reyna and the centurions?"

He shook his head. "We were not offered immortality, instead, they gave us any gift we would like. Most asked for new weapons or money, I asked for a set of armour," he said, pointing towards his set of purple and gold armour lying underneath his bunk. "Reyna became immortal, but when she found out about the truth behind the reason why Annabeth wanted Percy Jackson to be thrown into Tartarus, she rebelled against the gods, claiming that Romans were loyal people and do not stab their comrades in the back. Annabeth then claimed that Reyna was fit to be only a Praetor. Her mother, forgetting all that Reyna did for her, supported her daughter and along with the rest council, they stripped the immortality away from her.

I nodded sadly. "Well, goodnight," I told him, before walking off to my bunk and lying down after a long day. Hopefully, I don't get stabbed in my sleep or get any bad dreams, now that I was back on Earth and in a camp.