Angels and Death

Persephone's Task

          For a second, both Nico and Adri were blinded but as soon as they could see again they saw the place they were in. At first it seemed as if they were in a different world, but then Adrienne realized they were still in the Underworld. She saw cavernous stretches above them and desolate plains around them. They were on a hill of sorts that was covered in various trees that were known for their strength and withstanding harsh climates.

          "So what are these Australian Buttocks??" Adri smiled in spite of herself. "Australian Bulokes. Scientists say they are the strongest trees in the world. And the seeds Persephone was speaking about must be really rare for them to be guarded by these dryads..." Adri did a 360, taking in every little detail.

          "Morte, come here.." Nico called out. Adri walked over, looking at what Nico was pointing at. She let out a surprised gasp. "Nico, that's Blossoming Tanzanite!! It's literally the rarest plant in the world!!" Nico looked at her and then back at the small plant with Tanzanite flowers. "Maybe we can just take a few seeds from the flower??" he asked. "I dunno..." "Only one way to find out.." Took huffed and gently scraped a few of the seeds into his palm.

          "It worked!!" he said, grinning. Adri squeaked a 'nope' and turned him around. Emerging from three trees that surrounded the small sapling were three beautiful dryads with skin that looked as if made from the trees logs. Their hair bellowed around them, dark brown and beautiful, with leaves popping here and there.

          "WHO DARES HARVEST THE SEEDS OF THE BLOSSOMING TANZANITE??" the dryad in the middle spoke up. "Lady Persephone has sent us!!" Adri replied in a authoritative tone. "AND?? THAT MEANS NOTHING TO US!! IF YOU SEEK THE SEEDS OF THE BLOSSOMING TANZANITE, YOU MUST DUEL US!!" The one on the right, said. "DUEL?? There are three of you and only two of us!!" "WELL, OUR LEADER WILL STEP ASIDE AND KEEP SCORE!!" The one on the left said.

          Nico turned to Adri. "Ready Morte??" "Born ready!!" "Fine Ms. Dryads. We agree to a duel. We must be allowed our weapons, however.." Nico stated. The two dryads on the sides looked at their leader. As soon as she nodded, the three dryads put their hands together and made a motion like raising something into the air.

          The ground trembled and all around them rose walls, each fifty feet high, resembling a colosseum. Beside Nico, Adri gulped and muttered 'I'm ready for whatever.' Somewhere around them, a horn blew, signalling the start of the duel. 

          The two dryads stalked towards them and Nico and Adri stood back-to-back. One of them pounced at Adri, seemingly having no trouble fighting in her chiton. In the blink of an eye, Adri's sword was in her hand, as she fend off the dryad. Dryad-Lady seemed to have no trouble making contact with the metal which made sense, saying she lived in the Underworld.

          Behind Adri, Nico too, was fighting a dryad who kept launching herself at him. He swung his sword at her abdomen. He only managed to slice her dress, but it grew back in seconds. The demigods were having troubling damaging the dryads who seemed undestructable.

          The dryads didn't seem to need weapons as with one swipe of her hands, Adri went sprawling about 20 meters from her original point. Nico looked at her, concerned, but had to look away as both the dryads attention was, now, on him. 

          He continued jabbing and parrying with his blades, but felt his swings grow sluggish. He thought he was done for. 'At least I took down one of it.' he thought dryly. The last dryad pounced at him to end the duel. But just as she was a foot away, she flew sideways to the left, as if blown away by a huge fan.

          He look to his right, surprised, and saw Adrienne Morte standing there, in all her winged glory. She was grinning maniacally, her scythe in front of her. Nico turned his head to the left, but saw nothing but a few twigs and leafs. In front of his face hovered Adri's hand. He took it and let her help him stand up.

          "How'd you mana-" he was cut short by the leader of the three dryads. "YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELVES WORTHY, SON OF HADES AND DAUGHTER OF DEATH!! YOU MAY CLAIM THE SEEDS OF BLOSSOMING TANZANITE!!" The seeds Nico had dropped hovered at eye-level. The moment the pair touched them, they got whisked back to Persephone, seeds in hand.

          "Aha!! Thank you so much, Nico and Adri!! I knew you would succeed, that is why I kept a pitcher full of nectar for you!!" she handed them the pitcher took the seeds. Still battered from their duel, Adri decided she'd test the nectar and drank a sip of it.

          After a minute, she stretched and looked at Nico in amazement. "My broken rib is healed!!" "You had a broken rib??" "Yep." she said and handed Nico the pitcher. He drank a sip too and said that he too, felt healed. "Well, it works very well then." Adri stated, smiling. Persephone, who was watching silently, then chose to speak. "Well, of course it does. That nectar was collected from Apollo's sacred Flowers-of-Health." Adri and Nico nodded and said their goodbyes.

          As they were walking to a shadow, Adri commented, "I don't think those dryads ever went to school... They seriously have no idea what an inside voice is..." Nico cracked a smile at that and took Adri's hand for the shadow-travel. Unbeknownst to the pair, Alex and Magnus had some disturbing news for them.

AN: So, um... Yeah. As you found out, I suck at writing fight scenes. Obviously I'd get better if I wrote more of them. So, wish me luck, as I have a lot more fights to compose in the future, for this book ;)

Yours,

Helene 🐺