Percy Jackson and The Council's Army

17. The One Where Phase 1 Begins

(Recap :"Okay, maybe you're right. They need time. You all do actually." Chiron said, looking at me.
We all left, pondering about this.
While I was leaving, Skylar stopped me and pulled me back "What do you think you mean by 'one of them can come? You can't see me?"
"What! No Skylar! That's too dangerous! No way you're coming."
"I make my own decisions Percy." She whispered angrily.
"And I've decided to come with you. That's final." She stormed out huffing in anger.
Well, it looks like the two members of the Chaos side are fixed.)

The camp became aware of the quest that night during the campfire. Meanwhile I could see the dread of having to go to Tartarus was churning in every immortal camper's mind. I couldn't blame them, my condition wasn't as bad as them only becuase I knew this time I was much stronger. And a part of me had changed, the part that was a scared little boy thrust into this world without a choice. I was no longer that. I was now an experienced commander of two large armies. I'd faced enough war and loss to mature on the way.
The campfire was still going and the campers were requesting Chiron to narrate him the prophecy once more. So he requested Rachel to narrate it once again
She began :

Five shall venture into eternal hell,
One shall be lost forever, I foretell.
Three of the Gods, two of Chaos must go east,
To stop the rebirth guarded by the beast.
The lost hero's past and present must unite,
Or all will fall to the beast's might.
The course of the war will be deicided by all,
But to only one must the beast fall.

The demigods were all silent for a moment before all of them started speaking at the same time. The senior campers had a rough guess what the destination of this quest was gonna be. Meanwhile my army was clueless, only Elmont was wide eyed. Of course he got it, earth's his domain after all. Fritz was also looking confused, so I gestured for Elmont to assure him that I'd tell him everything once I myself knew everything. Chiron banged his hoof to retain silence. Once everyone shut up, he began
"Children, I know this is tok much for you, but we have no choice. I'll tell you what we know about the prophecy."
"Yes,the questers have to go to tartarus. They have to go east, so maybe an eatern entrance to tartarus."
Eastern entrance! Why hadn't I though of that. Last time we broke the chains of doors of death they must've reappeared somewhere in east along with some new entrance.
"Something else we know is that instead of the regular three, this quest requires five for the journey. And there's one hero, whose past and present must unite." He continued.
"Who's this hero Chiron?" A girl from the Athena cabin said.
"We don't know that yet Llory. "
"Doesn't matter, whose this beast? I bet this hero is just another coward, allow me to go on this quest. I'll defeat this beast." a kid from the Ares kid said.
Well, cockiness is in their blood isn't it. Poor other cabins. Surprisingly Clarisse was glaring at the kid. Well that's hypocrisy of the top most level isn't it?
"You have any idea what you're saying? Its Tartarus. If you'd been paying attention in any of my classes Mike, you'd be peeing your pants or burrying yourself in the safety of your bunker blankets right now. So shut up!" Chiron said a bit angrily.

Whoa. That's certainly a first. I never thought Chiron even had the ability to be angry let alone actually shout at someone. Once Mike sat down embarrassed, Chiron continued
"We don't know who the hero is, we don't know who or what kind of beast is involved. All we know is that there have to be 5 questers, a combination of three and two. 3 from camp and 2 from Lord Chaos' Army. They are supposed to go east. Where exactly in east or why, we don't know that either."
"I can help you with that." Nico suddenly appeared out of the shadows. Chiron had ordered him to go to the underworld and dig up whatever he could about this situation.
"Nico, tell me. What did you find in the underworld?"
"The prophecy says east because the entrance to Tartarus is located in the east."
Everyone was confused. So Nico answered
"We destroyed the chains holding the doors of death during the war with gaea. So the doors dissappeared. According to my information, they have reappeared in the east.
"Okay...Where exactly in east? Hazel asked.
"Philadelphia. That's where the entrance is."
That seemed to satisfy everyone.
"Well, Philadelphia it is. The camp shall provide you with enough supplies and money to reach your destination. In fact, Argus will personally drive you upto the entrance." Chiron said.
"Okay, there's this one problem. We are so emgrossed about this beast, we haven't discussed what happens after we destroy him. I believe Rachel said she had a way to stop the rebirth of the titans?" I asked looking expectantly at Rachel.
"Yes commander. I do have a way. And I already informed Nico about it when I came to know he was making a trip to the Underworld." She replied, nodding at Nico to talk about it.
Everyone was looking at him, so he looked a bit nervous. Wow. After so long, Nico di Angelo still hates attention. He cleared his throat and began
"We need to break the doors of death in and enter tartarus, then kill this beast and place a protection amulet where the titans are being reborn. This amulet will wade off tartarus enough so that we don't have a problem for this war, and hopefully a few more centuries. Atleast that's what my dad says."
"So do you have the amulet with you right now? " Jason asked.
"Yes. Here. " he pulled out a deep back coloured shiny amulet with what looked like a gold chain from his pocket and held it out a bit high for everyone to see."
"Wait. All that's good, but if we open the doors of death again, won't the monsters come flooding out? And also the monsters here won't die! And we have a war during that time. We'll lose badly!" Calypso, who had her hand interwined with Leo said.
"Which is why one extra person will go with them. Once they're inside, the doors will need to be closed from both sides. The extra person will ensure its done from the outside while the questers would do the same from inside."
During this entire conversation, I couldn't help but notice that Nico never said anything in the first or 3rd person. Meaning he never used 'we' or 'they'. So he is conflicted. I know him. He must feel its his job, but he also feels he might not be ready.