The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 67 - Jason - The War With The Earth, Part 1

I watched as Alexandra opened her eyes. 

"Cheeseburgers," she muttered.

Reyna yelled, "Eiaculare flammas!" and a wave of flaming arrows arced over the legion's shield wall, destroying a platoon of ogres. The Roman ranks moved forward, impaling centaurs and trampling wounded ogres under their bronze-tipped boots.

Somewhere downhill, Frank Zhang yelled in Latin: "Repellere equites!"

A massive herd of centaurs parted in a panic as the legion's other three cohorts ploughed through in perfect formation, their spears bright with monster blood. Frank marched before them. On the left flank, riding Arion, Hazel beamed with pride.

"Ave, Praetor Zhang!" Reyna called.

"Ave, Praetor Ramírez-Arellano!" Frank said. "Let's do this. Legion, CLOSE RANKS!"

A cheer went up among the Romans as the five cohorts melded into one massive killing machine. Frank pointed his sword forward and, from the golden eagle standard, tendrils of lightning swept across the enemy, turning several hundred monsters to toast.

"Legion, cuneum formate!" Reyna yelled. "Advance!"

Alexandra stood up and walked through the battle ground, the fire following her from the shoulders like a long cloak. She pulled out her trident. The centaurs seemed to make way for her, bowing at the same time.

Another cheer sounded as Percy, Annabeth and she reunited with the forces of Camp Half-Blood.

"It is time," Alex told her brother. 

Percy grinned at her and nodded. "I'd hug you," he said, "but I'm not fond of that fire."

"It'll die out soon," smiling. She turned to the Greeks, her eyes blazing.

"Greeks!" she yelled. 

Percy yelled, "Let's, um, fight stuff!"

They yelled like banshees and charged. 

Under our feet, the earth rippled as if Half-Blood Hill had become a giant water mattress. Demigods fell. Ogres slipped. Centaurs charged face-first into the grass.

AWAKE, a voice boomed all around us.

A hundred yards away, at the crest of the next hill, the grass and soil swirled upward like the point of a massive drill. The column of earth thickened into the twenty-foot-tall figure of a woman – her dress woven from blades of grass, her skin as white as quartz, her hair brown and tangled like tree roots.

"Little fools." Gaia the Earth Mother opened her pure green eyes. "The paltry magic of your statue cannot contain me."

The Athena Parthenos had been protecting the demigods, holding back the wrath of the earth, but even Athena's might could only last so long against a primordial goddess.

Fear as palpable as a cold front washed over the demigod army.

Alex stepped forward. "Hi, great-grandmother!" she said.

Gaia looked at her with distaste.

"You look beautiful for a whole millennia of sleep-"

And then her words drowned away as the ground under her fell in, and she tumbled underground. The Greeks gasped loudly, as though they had witnessed the impossible.

"Stand fast!" Piper shouted, her charmspeak clear and loud. But everyone looked at the Earth goddess nervously.

Gaia smiled. "Your charmspeak does not work-"

Gaia stopped abruptly. The ground shook violently under me. Cracks opened up. Gaia's smile twisted downwards. She frowned, as though she was in pain.

The ground broke apart. Rocks and soil rained from a height as Alexandra flew into the air, radiating the same power as the goddess did. 

The Romans looked at her in confusion. The Greeks were beaming proudly. Percy was cheering as though he was watching a match. The other six demigods alone stared at her in confusion.

"Rule number one of fighting a god," Alex said, smiling, "never throw them into their own domain." 

A large wave of water made its way from the shores next to Cabin Three and washed away Gaia into shock. Percy stood atop the wave and he slashed the Earth Mother with his sword.

For a moment, Gaia's beautiful face turned into a dark brown scar and golden ichor began flowing. 

To storm the world shall fall, I remembered. Perhaps it was Percy.

"No!" Alex shouted in warning. 

 She watched in despair as a single drop of golden ichor fell to the ground.

In what seemed like moments, a new figure rose from the Earth. 

The figure that had terrorized the demigods- a woman with her dress woven from blades of grass, her skin as white as quartz, her hair brown and tangled like tree roots. 

Gaia smiled again. The demigods looked in shock at the two Gaias stood side by side. They looked the same, except the real Gaia had a little scratch on her face.

Alex came down to the ground, her trident ready in hand. She looked at Piper and nodded.

Piper straightened up. "Greeks and Romans, we can fight her together!"

Real Gaia laughed. She spread her arms and the earth bent towards her – trees tilting, bedrock groaning, soil rippling in waves. I rose on the wind, but all around me monsters and demigods alike started to sink into the ground. One of Octavian's onagers capsized and disappeared into the side of the hill.

"The whole earth is my body," Gaia boomed. "How would you fight the goddess of –"

FOOOOMP!

In a flash of bronze, Real Gaia was swept off the hillside, snarled in the claws of a fifty-ton metal dragon.

Festus, reborn, rose into the sky on gleaming wings, spewing fire from his maw triumphantly. As he ascended, the rider on his back got smaller and more difficult to discern, but Leo's grin was unmistakable.

"Pipes! Jason!" he shouted down. "You coming? The fight is up here!"

As soon as Real Gaia had achieved lift off, the ground solidified.

Demigods stopped sinking, though many were still buried up to their waists. Sadly, the monsters seemed to be digging themselves out more quickly. They charged the Greek and Roman ranks, taking advantage of the demigods' disorganization.

"I'll take care of the Fake one here," Alex said, pointing her trident to Fake Gaia. "Go and kill the more important one."

I put my arms around Piper's waist. I was about to take off when Percy yelled, "Wait! Frank can fly the rest of us up there! We can all –"

"No, man," I said. "They need you here. There's still an army to defeat. Besides, the prophecy –"

"He's right." Frank gripped Percy's arm. "You have to let them do this, Percy. It's like Annabeth's quest in Rome. Or Hazel at the Doors of Death. This part can only be them."

"And besides, we need a storm down here," I said, smiling. 

Percy obviously didn't like it, but at that moment a flood of monsters swept over the Greek forces. Annabeth called to him, "Hey! Problem over here!" Percy ran to join her.

Frank and Hazel turned to me. They raised their arms in the Roman salute, then ran off to regroup the legion.

Piper and I spiralled upward on the wind.

"I've got the cure," Piper murmured like a chant. "It'll be fine. I've got the cure."

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