ᴾʰᵒᵇᵒᵖʰᵒᵇⁱᵃ [ᴶᵃˢᵒⁿ ᴳʳᵃᶜᵉ]

i.

Aza-Everett Malin was absolutely done with ourae - Gaea's primordial children, who ruled over mountains and valleys. Aza wondered if they still had wanted posters; or had the earth-goddess simply told all of her children to seek and destroy the demigods? Either way, it had been getting on Aza's nerves. It hadn't been too long after the second attack, and they had recovered fairly quickly; she leaned against a few supply crates she had to reposition and fiddled with her new weapon - a necklace with a sword charm that transformed into a three-foot long sword of incredible quality that Leo had somehow made whilst half-asleep and running on energy drinks and Aza slapping him awake (to his request).

The hilt had an unlocking mechanism that allowed her to twist and pull them apart, so she had the option of using separate blades should she choose. But her favorite thing, she discovered, was to hurl it like a spear - when she did, and after the blade hit its target, she could extend her hand and make a fist, and the sword would come hurtling back to her. Πιστός was engraved on the handle - Pistos, meaning faithful. In Aza's hands, the sword would never fail.

She missed her sword, of course. Mind-Cleaver had been her thirteenth birthday present from Clarisse - so she never had to go on another quest using the spare swords from Camp. But it was gone, lost somewhere in the Underworld beside her best friends.

The ship alarm's bell paused her shining of the blade, and she stood, using the tip to pull herself to her feet. From the foremast of the Argo II, Nico yelled, "Hard to port!"

Aza glanced back at the port, and Leo yanked the wheel; she yelped and held onto the mast as the ship veered left, its aerial oars slashing through the clouds like rows of knives. She heard Hazel yelp and flinched and ducked instinctually, her eyes widening - a boulder sailed closely overhead, and if she hadn't moved her head would have taken an unfortunate blow.

Unfortunately, she was right beside the mast, and the boulder snapped it with a sickening crack. The foremast collapsed - everything, including Nico, came crashing to the deck; she scrambled over to help Nico to his feet as Leo leveled the ship.

"I'm fine," Nico gently brushed Aza off of himself and kicked folds of canvas off his leg. Hazel skittered over, and Aza quickly checked her forehead, ignoring the girl's embarrassed mutters that she was okay.

Once Aza was sure they were okay, she peeked over the rail - the clouds parted just long enough for her to see the top of a mountain below them; dark rock jutting from emerald slopes of forest. One of the ourae stood at the summit; he was taller than even some giants, probably twenty feet and built like a child of Ares. This one was dressed in a simple white tunic, and had matching hair and a scraggly beard. The wild look in his eyes made her slightly nervous, and he bellowed something indecipherable. He pried another chunk from the mountain and began to shape it into a ball.

The clouds covered the view, but when the ourae bellowed again, other ones answered in the distance, their voices echoing through the valleys. Leo yelled and strangled the air, "Stupid rock gods! That's the third time I've had to replace that mast! You think they grow on trees?"

Nico frowned, "Masts are trees."

"That's not the point!" Leo grabbed his Wii controller and spun it in a circle - a few feet away, a trapdoor opened in the deck. A large Celestial bronze cannon rose, and Aza had just enough time to cover her ears with her hands before it fired; spraying a dozen metal spheres that trailed green fire. They disappeared into the fog, but not a moment later a series of explosions crackled across the mountains, followed by the furious screams of the ourae.

"Ha!" Leo shouted, fist-pumping the air.

Aza wasn't so optimistic; if this encounter was any like the last, that only would have irritated the ourae. And of course, she was right - another boulder whistled through the air off to their starboard side. Nico cursed and pointed at the son of Hephaestus with the tip of his sword, "Get us out of here!"