The guardian

The Prophecy is told.

Guardian was sharpening his knives when he heard the shouting. His head snapped up to asses the situation. The shouting was coming from what sounded like the big house.
Guardian pocketed his sharpening stone, sheathed his knives and ran towards the sound. He ran threw the forrest and broke through the line of trees to find an odd but familiar sight.
Rachel Dare floated two feet off the ground, her head had fallen back and her mouth was wide open. A green light was shining from her eyes and her mouth and a green mist hung around her. Her hair was frizzy and red as always, and her clothes were covered in paint.
Guardian saw that Artemis and her hunters had gathered in a group to Rachel's left. The rest of the campers had gathered around her with the head councillors and most experienced standing right in front of her. Guardian strode over to Artemis' side and stood next to her but kept his eyes firmly on Rachel. The moment he stopped moving, Rachel started to speak.

"Hunters and campers must find the sword
So that they may defeat, the impeccable lord.
The sword can be found in the land beyond death
But beware, the ghosts lingering breath.
One shall be lost and one shall be found.
And one shall be sent, damnation bound."

Her voice was raspy and hoarse as the words of the Oracle of Delphi came through her mouth.
The moment she stopped speaking, the green mist vanished and the green light that was shining  from her eyes and mouth, vanished.
Two campers had positioned themselves underneath her and when she fell, they caught her. No words had to be said, as the leaders of each cabin made their way up to the big house and the rest of the camp dispersed.
Thalia made her way up to the big house but Artemis made no move to follow. Instead Artemis turned to Guardian "you should go as well, if the prophecy means what I think it does, then I want you to go on the quest". Guardian's brow furrowed in confusion but then the meaning of her words sunk in and Guardian realised what she meant. He did not say anything but instead, nodded and followed Thalia up the hill.
As Guardian walked up the hill, he saw Alpha come from the forrest and follow him up.

After Percy's death, a lot of new cabins had been built and the leaders of those cabins had demanded their right to make decisions after the issuing of a prophecy and a place on the war councils. As a result, the ping pong table was no longer big enough for all the cabin leaders and so, the cabin leaders went through the big house and went through the backdoor.
The sight that he was greeted with as he exited the big house was quite extraordinary. There was an area of flat ground and then a small hill that was about 10 metres long. There was a seven metre long table on that mound and there were fifteen seats behind that table and there were 13 banners behind 13 of the chairs . The chair in the middle of the table was Zeus's chair, the cabin leader of the Zeus table sat in the chair, he was a blonde haired boy that reminded Guardian a lot of Jason Grace. To his right sat the cabin leaders of Poseidon, Hades, Hephaestus, Ares, Apollo and Hermes. To his left sat the cabin leaders of Hera, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite and Hestia. The chairs of Hera and Hestia were empty as both were maiden goddesses, Artemis' chair would usually be empty but right now Thalia sat in the chair. Guardian briefly wondered why Dionysus was not on the head table but dismissed it as unimportant.
There were banners behind each of their chairs and every god had their symbol on their banner. There were 15 seats on the head table however and there were two extra seats. These were presumably for guests, and so Alpha sat down in the chair to Hestia's left, and Guardian sat down in the chair to Hermes' right.
In the open ground, before the mound, were the head table was positioned, were four long tables that pointed towards the head table. The cabin leaders that sat on these tables were the cabin leaders of minor gods. There were no banners that showed which camper represented which god so Guardian guessed it must have been a first-in-best-dressed situation. He saw a few familiar faces but could pin no names to the faces. After looking through the crowd of demigods for a second, Guardian decided to continue with his knife sharpening, as he doubted he would have much to contribute to the discussion.
When everybody had sat down, Annabeth stood up and started the meeting. "The prophecy states that hunters and campers must find the sword. The meaning for this is fairly obvious, as it means that this must be a joint mission between the hunters and the campers and the sword is most likely the sword that Order used, to kill Chaos." She let that hang in the air for a while before sitting back down.
The son of Zeus slowly rose to his feet and added his thoughts. "The next two lines of the prophecy are also fairly simple to understand." He said loudly so that everyone could hear him. "The second line talks of an impeccable lord, we can be almost certain that this is in reference to Order, are we agreed on that?" No one spoke and the son of Zeus took that as agreement. "The third line tells us that the sword can be found in the land beyond death." the boy continued. "The land beyond death is definitely the underworld, as that is where you go after your death." At this, Guardian chose to interject. "Maybe, maybe not" he said quietly, but still loud enough for everyone to hear him. All eyes turned to him but he kept his eyes focused on the knife in his hand that he was still sharpening. "What did you mean?" The son of Zeus, who was still standing, asked.
Guardian stopped sharpening his knife, held it up to his eyes and inspected it, satisfied with the blade for now he sheathed it, while putting the rock back in his belt. It was only after this series of movements, that he directed his gaze towards the son of Zeus and answered him. "Maybe you are right, maybe the sword can be found in the underworld and maybe that is what the prophecy means." Everyone was deathly quite as they listened intently to Guardian's words, scared that if they were distracted, they would miss them. "However in my experience, prophecies so very rarely mean exactly what you think they do. The land beyond death could be referring to something far more sinister, a land, beyond the land of death perhaps." The necks of every single camper were craning towards Guardian, wondering if he meant what he was implying. "Tartarus" he said confirming the implications and with that one word everyone on the tables started muttering. After a minute, the muttering died down and Guardian started to talk again. "It is a land unlike any other, a land of fear and horror that will brake even the strongest of heroes. That is where I believe you will find the sword, and only two campers have ever been down there."
"Three campers. Three campers have been to Tartarus." Annabeth, who had stood back up to get a better look of Guardian, said coldly.
Guardian turned his head towards her before speaking in an extremely sarcastic voice. "Is that right? Three campers, well then, were is the third? Having three experienced campers who have already been to Tartarus should help this quest, immensely." Guardian finished and everyone was silent. They all knew to whom Guardian had been referring. Guardian went coldly serious again in the blink if an eye "you only have two campers still alive that have been to Tartarus and one of them was captured a couple of days after arrival. Your going to need them on the quest, your going to need your toughest campers if you want this quest to go well. I suggest three campers and two hunters for the quest and I will be going as one of the hunters." Guardian said it not as an offer but as a demand. No body said anything but all eyes turned towards Thalia. Thalia's eyes widened as she realised that she was being given the decision to allow him to come. She knew Percy had been to Tartarus before and was tough enough to be able to survive, it was the logical thing to allow him to come. She nodded slowly and a look of shock came upon faces of Annabeth and everyone else.
Muttering once again broke out as people talked amongst themselves, it was well known that the hunters hated men however, now one had been accepted into their ranks and was being given seniority over every hunter but Artemis' lieutenant.
"I will also be going on behalf of the hunters" Thalia said, still seated in the silver chair of Artemis.
There was a moment of silence before the black chair of Hades scraped backwards and Nico Di Angelo stood up.
"I only spent two days in Tartarus before being captured, but that's still two more days than everyone but Annabeth. I volunteer for the quest." Nico's words had been uncertain for the entirety of his talking, but his voice hardened and his eyes showed that he was determined as he said the last five words.
After three of the five positions for the quest had gone, the blood red chair of Ares also grated back and Clarisse La Rue stood up.
"I'll be damned if I let anyone else call them self a tougher camper than me, I volunteer for the quest." Typical Clarisse, Guardian thought, she coudn't let anything hurt her reputation of, toughest camper, even if that meant going to Tartarus. That pride is going to kill her one day Guardian thought to himself.
Annabeth had remained standing and did not have to scrape her chair back.
"I have spent longer in Tartarus than any mortal alive. I volunteer to lead this quest." It was logical for her to lead, she had been in Tartarus longer than any other camper, including Perseus.
"I think we can all agree on that." The son of Zeus spoke for the rest of the cabin leaders. "I am glad we have our questers, you can decide amongst your selves what the rest of the prophecy means but for now I declare this meeting closed."

The sons and daughters of the minor gods left first, shortly followed by those on the head table that hadn't volunteered until only the five questers were left. Annabeth was still standing and as the leader of the quest she was in charge and she made the decisions. "We will leave camp at dawn tomorrow, use this time to pack your bags and get a good nights rest and remember, pack light."
Annabeth was a veteran of many quests and she knew that that was all that needed to be said. Nico left first, via shadow travel, Clarisse left next, followed shortly after by Annabeth. Now it was only Thalia and Guardian left, Thalia got up and Guardian followed her however when they were nearly to the door of the big house Thalia turned around to face Guardian. She looked like she was about to cry but she still managed to speak. "Percy I'm... I'm really sorry  for everything. I can stand to think that you died because of us. You were my cousin and... And the annoying little brother I never had. I'm so sorry." Guardian paused for a second, he very rarely saw Thalia cry and this glimpse through her tough exterior was almost unnerving. "It's all right Thalia." Guardian knew that those few words meant more to Thalia than anything he had ever said to her before. Before he knew what was happening Thalia flung herself at him, buried her face into his chest and started letting all the suppressed tears of fifteen years out. Guardian didn't know what to do, he certainly hadn't expected Thalia to cry like this. He wrapped his arm around her and held her for a minute as she kept crying. Eventually Thalia stopped crying and Guardian let her go, Thalia looked up into his face and he could see that her eyes were bloodshot and red. She smiled at him "thank you" she said quietly, before turning around and walking away from him. Guardian was left standing there and after a short while he followed her.

Guardian found Thalia back at Artemis' cabin, packing a silver back pack. She was talking with Phoebe, Atlanta and Naomi. Guardian left them and leaped onto the top of the roof. He sat down with his back to the small chimney that protruded through the roof of the cabin. He sat there, staring out at nothing and allowed himself a few moments to reflect on his previous quests.
He remembered his first quest and how he, Annabeth and Grover had all set off, knowing that they could die the next day. He remembered a few things from that quest, chief among them was the beheading of Medusa. He remembered the feel of riptide in his hands and how the blade had almost seemed to hum in his hand. Guardian wondered what had happened to riptide, he hadn't thought about the blade until just then. He supposed it had been melted down and was now a shield or a spear or an another sword. He dismissed his old sword from his mind and took out his new sword and started sharpening it. This sword was nothing like riptide. It was longer and darker and colder than riptide had ever been. The sword was a mixture of Bronze, Silver, Steel and Stygian Iron. Percy had loved riptide but Guardian felt nothing towards this blade.

The sun started to set, and the sky got blacker and blacker. The camper and hunters ate dinner and Guardian sat in a tree. He did not need to eat but half way through the dinner, Thalia walked out of the dining pavilion. She had a roll in her hand and when she reached the base of the tree she threw it up. Guardian caught it and found that it was a chicken, lettuce and mayo roll. He didn't need to eat but he appreciated the gesture. He turned to look back at Thalia but she was already walking back to the pavilion. He bit into the roll and thought, as he chewed, that maybe this quest wouldn't be so bad after all.

Hello everybody, I am so sorry for the long wait I know it's been ages since I last updated but i didn't know where the story was going and I have had a lot of school work. I should be updating more regularly and thank you for your patience.
If you see any mistakes in this chapter please tell me and I will correct them. I am sorry if this chapter isn't as good as previous chapters and i will try to make the next ones better. Thank you for waiting.