A Bonfire Unlit

Back To Olympus

Another chapter of A Bonfire Unlit.

Sorry for the delay.

Enjoy!

Ash's P.O.V.

I licked my lips as I destroyed another shrub, trying to get through the dense thicket. The sun's heat beat down upon me, and the flies and mosquitoes surrounded me, filling my body with bites. It had been hours since I had died and last seen the hunter. During that hour I had been searching for the man, hoping to find him and kill him, but alas it turned out that my search was in vain. I let out a disappointed sigh at myself before trudging back through the forest, hoping to find anything on where he could be. I clicked my tongue as I destroyed another bush, and another, and another, hacking away at leaves, I hoped that this hell would stop. My face was drenched in sweat, my body was barely functioning, and I felt delirious. The only thing that kept me going was the fury I felt when I thought of the atrocities that the hunter had committed.

However, it wasn't too long till I had managed to reach an area deep in the forest which seemed to have housed a battle. Many of the trees in the area had been cut in half and others had long deep gashes engraved in them. I walked over and traced one of the markings, inspecting it closely. My eyes widened as I realized that the hunter had walked through this area recently and had probably gotten into another fight. But how? I had managed to cut off his arm, so how was he able to fight again? The question stayed unanswered in my head for a while because the Estus I use can only heal me to a certain extent, but growing back an entire arm was something even I was unable to do. I eventually stopped thinking about it, realizing how useless it was thinking about it in the middle of a forest.

I strayed further into the forest but found nothing but more decimated trees, and some blood. Even though it seemed that the hunter had been here earlier, it had been quite some time since he had left. But just as I was about to leave, a glint on the forest floor caught my eye, and I went towards it, picking it up and looking over it. It seemed to be some sort of vial and was half full of some blood, and I shrugged and pocketed it. It seemed that my search for him had resulted in my death, twice, and a vial half full of blood.

My eyebrows slightly clenched and I gritted my teeth, knowing the horrors I would face when back on Olympus. I sighed and pulled out a homeward bone, kneeling as I crushed it in my hand. My body turned into ash and I was sent back to the bonfire in the middle of the forest. The sun had started to set, and for some time I did nothing but stare at the sky, enamored by the stars in the sky. Back in Lothric, the nighttime was full of nothing but horrors, and you would be lucky to live through it. This world truly did seem like a dream. And if it was one, I never wanted it to end.

I raised my hand over the bonfire, chanting under my breath as my body turned into ash once more, and I was transported back over to Camp Half-Blood. Then a question popped into my head: How was I supposed to get back to Olympus? Last time I had been taken forcefully by a furious goddess, and this time there was no goddess to take me. I shrugged it off, however, as sitting here and pondering about it wouldn't bring me any closer to my goal, so I decided to take and break, and I took off all my armor, leaving only my loincloth on as I lay on the ground, going to sleep.

As I slept, I had a dream. This wasn't uncommon from where I came, but the dream itself confused me to a great degree. It showed a large pit with a smooth voice, in the background, coaxing me to enter it. It gave off an evil vibe but I had no control of my body as I took step after step, getting closer to the pit before finally falling in. I couldn't see anything for quite a while, and the only thing I could hear was the wind as it rushed past me. I squinted and looked around, but only darkness surrounded me. Then I heard yelling out above me, and as I stared towards where the noise was coming from, I heard a loud booming voice yell something along the lines of "Now, perish." before I woke up.