The Child of Many Worlds

Chapter 12:

Percy's POV

The crash had thrown me from the car, thankfully not killing or badly maiming me, but I had hit my head, making me incredibly dizzy. The fight wasn't helping either. My fighting style involved almost constant and unpredictable movement, which I couldn't do very well when the world was spinning. But all things considered I was doing pretty well. I was fighting the minotaur and one of the bat demons, while Natasha was fighting the other two bats. The Styr was doing something with a pan flute, but it didn't seem to be doing much.

I was doing my best to slowly head towards the glimmering barrier, which I assumed was the entrance to the camp, when I felt the cold wind that accompanies a swinging weapon. I guessed it was the minotaur and simply bent forward, but right then the bat creature swiped at me with a clawed hand. It would have taken my eye if I hadn't dodged. The problem was that I was back in the minotaur's path.

I desperately tried to roll to the side but before I could move I felt myself getting pushed out of the way. As I stumbled back I saw a terrible scene. The Minotaur's ax crashing into Natasha, causing her to fly back into a tree, unmoving.

The bats that Natasha had been fighting took the opportunity they had been given and started to attack me, while the Minotaur stalked over to Natasha's body. I did everything I could to get to her while I fought the tree vicious bat hags, but before I could even move a foot the monster reached her. He grabbed her body and held it up, taunting me, before he crushed her body between his hands, and a gold light encased her.

As I saw Natasha erupt into light I lost it. With a scream of unbridled rage and pain, I lost control of my body. I saw myself grab a knife a bat creature swung at me. The blade cut my bare hand, but I refused to let go and soon had the blade in my uninjured hand. I went on autopilot, slash here, stab there, duck and repeat. I barely recognized that the three bat women had retreated to the sky and all that was left was a now terrified minotaur.

With a frenzied roar I jumped at the beast. I rapidly scaled it's large body, repeatedly stabbing the knife into it's flesh and using it to put me up. The minotaur was bellowing in pain and fear with every stab and tried to dislodge me. It only suceded in making me lose the knife, but I kept going until I reached it's head. With a strength I didn't know I had I ripped off one it's horns with my bare hands. Instead of killing it quickly like I had done the last time, I jumped off it's head and stabbed the horn into it's lower back and spine, paralyzing it from the waist down. With a fearful moo, it fell haphazardly to the ground.

With a ruthlessness I had never known, I stabbed the horn into it's shoulders, almost completely immobilizing it. I was going to take my time and make sure he felt every ounce of pain I was feeling. Yet as I was about to start I heard a scared bleat and looked up. The Styr was just feet away and he looked terrified, at first I thought it was the minotaur that caused him to be so scared, but it wasn't the monster underneath me that he was looking at.

That snapped me out of my rage fueled frenzy. I looked down at the minotaur and saw the terrible things I had done, the wounds oozing monster dust and blood and the lifeless limbs lying askew on the ground. I knew I needed to end it.

With one final glance into the monster's pain filled eyes I plunged the horn where it's heart would have been.

It crumbled into monster dust as my knees hit the forest floor. A sudden wave of exhaustion overcame me and with one last look at the starry sky above, I collapsed onto the ground, knowing nothing more.

Annabeth's POV

It was a quiet night and I had been assigned border duty. The barrier should keep out any monsters, but as a precaution, we still had people do rounds every night. I was expecting the rest of the night to be pretty boring as well, but then I heard a loud animalistic roar.