The Queen's Champion

Mystery Man

Ch. 2

(Five Years Later)

Five years since anyone had seen the Hero of Olympus. Poseidon was in a deep depression, the seas had been restless for over three years. Everyone believed Percy would return on his own. They thought he would travel, kill a few monsters to blow off some steam, then return to camp. But after a year and no word, people began to worry. After two, Zeus sent the Hunters of Artemis to track Percy down, simply to check on him. Since his disappearance, most of the gods had let go of their grudges toward Percy, realizing his heart and intentions were pure. After the third year and no luck in tracking him, people began to worry about his safety. Hades assured the council that Percy was still alive, but people still worried. After the fourth year, people began to think he would never return. He was immortal; but after no contact, it seemed Percy was cutting himself off from the godly world. Despite losing hope, the hunters continued to search for Percy. It was mostly because Thalia had never been the same after Percy disappeared. She knew Annabeth's betrayal had hurt Percy the worst but losing him made the loss that much tougher for Thalia. Artemis was also furious a demigod had managed to evade her hunters for so long. They had never failed a mission. Until Percy Jackson that is. It was as if he had vanished from the face of the Earth. Close, but not quite.

Two years after Percy's disappearance, demigods began showing up at Camp Half Blood seemingly by themselves. The demigods said they were found by a man who helped them travel to camp but refused to go into camp with them. People had hoped it was Percy but when the demigods described the man, they said he had brown hair and brown eyes, crushing the hope that Percy was around.

After the first half dozen demigods showed up at camp accompanied by this mysterious man, the gods began to wonder who he was and why he was rescuing demigods. The man had even managed to bring girls into the hunter's camp unnoticed, vanishing before the hunters noticed a new girl had entered their camp; something that infuriated Artemis immensely. When Artemis questioned the girls, they would explain their stories, usually horrific tales of abuse both physical and sexual. They said the man would show up and rescue them while dealing horrific fates to their abusers. When asked about the man the young girls would smile and say that he was nice and caring, like a big brother who came to their rescue. When they described the man, the girls gave the same descriptions as the campers, brown hair and brown eyes. The only clue to his identity was the name Blake. Despite how angry Artemis was that the man managed to sneak into her camp unnoticed, she couldn't help but hold a small amout of respect for the man. From the young girls' stories, the man dealt with abusive men in a way that was just as, if not more brutally than Artemis did.

Zeus ordered the man be found and brought to Olympus so his identity could be revealed. Despite their best efforts, neither the hunters nor any gods sent could find this man. He was an enigma. He appeared when needed by demigods but vanished before his identity or origins could be discovered.

The hunters were currently tracking Echidna and the Chimera and were currently a little ways outside of Chicago. As they travelled, they were ambushed by a small army of monsters consisting of Cyclops, Dracaena, Empousa and Hellhounds. A number of hunters were injured when they were caught by surprise. The remaining hunters tried to protect the wounded ones but were starting to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of monsters.

Thalia was firing arrows and fast as she could but the monsters were closing in fast. As she fired, she didn't see a Cyclops sneaking up to her left. Artemis noticed but couldn't reach her in time. Thalia turned just in time to see the monster's club raised to strike her down. As she braced herself for the impact, she closed her eyes. The strike never came. She opened her eyes to see and arrow imbedded in the Cyclop's forehead before it crumbled to dust. What shocked her was that the arrow was not silver, it was black.