The Proposal of Chaos (PJO)

Chapter 5

The summer sun was beating down on Percy, his black cloak absorbing the heat and and making him sweat. 

The white cloak would've been better.

He shook the thought out of his head. The white one would make him stick out.

The black one also sticks out in the day, and besides, why do you even need a cloak?.

He wished he could shut off the negative part of his brain, knowing that he wasn't going to go back to his cabin just for a cloak.

It would be better than sweating for the whole da-

He stopped the thought before it actually convinced him. He was in the forest for a purpose. Today, he had decided to practice archery. It was a hopeless task, but he sought to improve. 

Percy stared at his bow, which was disguised as the ring on his hand, his marriage ring. Chaos had given it to him four years earlier, a day after he was injured.

Ranged combat allows you to kill enemies without risking your life, excluding other archers, of course. Chaos had explained. The bow was beautiful, with sea green swirls all over the strong wood. An arrow appeared on the bow automatically when he pulled it back, which was nice. But for him, the real enemy was himself. Chaos had learned that when Percy had almost dismembered his own leg by a shot Percy was aiming at a target in front of him. They both had hurriedly put a stop at his learning, afraid he was going to accidentally kill himself. 

Four years later, or an hour before he went in the forest, Percy had gotten enough bravery to try again. When he aimed at a target in the archery range, he missed the target by at least a hundred feet, the celestial bronze tipped arrow flying into the green, lush forest with a whiz.

At least it went forward that time. Percy chucked at the thought. After the somewhat failed experiment, Percy had decided to mist travel to a random forest and practice on moving targets, which were animals. 

So far, the only thing he learned was to get a cloak for summer and spring time, presumably green, which would be light enough that would prevent him from sweating buckets, which was happening right now.

Percy decided to move to another spot, since staying at this spot proved to be ineffective. He walked forward, scanning the area for good spots to hide in. So far, he saw only trees, trees, and more trees. Oh, and some leaves. 

The forest slowly cleared out into a small, grass-rich clearing. It had a stream at the far side, looking very pleasant with its clear, cold water in the summer's warm, and dry weather. The sun was in the sky, providing random, dappled sunlight and heat, filtered by the eagerly awaiting green leaves of the trees.

Percy thought this was the perfect spot to wait, since what animal did not want to cool off during the hot summer day? He started looking for a tree to perch on. He saw a gigantic maple tree. To test if he could climb on it, he pulled on one of the branches. Some of the outside dry bark fractured and cracked off, but the branch was strong enough to take his weight. 

Percy started climbing, the branches bending slightly under his weight, but holding. The rough texture of the brown branches made tiny scratches on his arms, even scratching him through his cloak, while the bright green leaves brushed passed his body, each individual once swaying in a different direction with the wind. The branches started thinning out but were still big enough to stand on. When he was about fifty feet above the ground, he decided that he would wait here. Percy looked down, the ground was far enough he got a bit dizzy looking down.

Percy decided to get his bow out, not wanting to transform it at the last moment and make a sound to alert the animal. He sat on the branch, legs off, hands holding the branch, and leaning against the trunk. He then took his right hand off the dark brown wood and touched his ring. Before he could twist it and summon his bow, a strong wind came and swayed the tree. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem, but he was fifty feet above the ground, usually a dangerous height to climb, since the branches get thinner and thinner. So thin in fact, they could be swayed enough by the wind that a person could fall. 

That's exactly what happened.

Talk about perfect timing, right? He thought.

Percy yelled in surprise and panic as he plummeted to the ground, the branches snapping painfully at his face while the leaves impaired his eyesight. He wildly swung his hands, trying to grab onto a branch to stop himself from meeting an untimely demise. As the green grass rushed up to meet him, Percy forgot about his powers, instead relying on his adrenaline. His back suddenly hit something, knocking the air out of his lungs with an oomph. He felt like his back was broken. 

Percy opened his eyes, staring at the ground backwards as the blood rushed to his brain, making his light headed. His head was upside down, the middle of his back catching a branch just enough so he stopped. As he balanced on the branch and got up dazedly, he saw that he was still  a good twenty-five feet above the ground. He sat down, holding the brown tree trunk for support, and waited.

✱✱✱

A twig snapped in the distance. Percy stood stock still, scanning the environment. He has been sitting on a branch for a few hours, waiting for an animal, fueled only by determination. A stag bounded into the clearing, immediately running to the stream. It stepped on a pile of orange leaves, dried by the summer sun at the same time Percy lifted his bow. He started pulling the arrow back at the same time as the stag tarted drinking the water, making sure he was not making any noise.

The hard string creaked in protest as he aimed the arrow. The stag froze, its ears coming up, scanning the background. Percy held his breath, making sure to stand completely still. The stag relaxed, giving a quick cursory glance to the surrounding area one more time before happily lapping at the cool water, a slight wind moving the tiny strands of its reddish-brown coat. 

Percy raised his bow and got ready to fire. He decided to try a different strategy, since he has only tried to hit targets without wind. He relaxed and closed his eyes, letting his instincts take over. His whole body shifted, and his arms moved over, tightening. He opened his eyes and saw that the bow was aimed a little left of the animal. He was doubtful it was going to work, but decided to trust his instincts.

The sea green arrow glinted in the afternoon sun, refracting the light as Percy let it go from the string, the string whiplashing back to its original shape, almost grazing his arm. The arrow went through the air silently, the wind stopping from going straight. Percy held his breath as the arrow sailed through the air, and hit the stag in the head. Not the shot to the heart as he wanted it to be, but it still hit. He closed his eyes and smiled in victory. He didn't see two other objects speedily approach the dead deer, both silently thwacking into its heart, one after the other, a moment after his arrow hit. 

When Percy looked back, he saw the objects and stopped smiling, freezing in place. 

The objects were arrows, one silver, and one black.