Hero of the Damned

River of Fire

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Percy Jackson, nor Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan does

Lunar's POV:

I stood up and opened the duffle bag that held all my gear and slowly put it on. The voice hasn't spoken again since the burning on my arm but I knew that I couldn't ignore it now.

'Come to the river of the phoenix' The voice said and I nodded as I finished putting all of my clothes and weapons on

I walked to the window and opened it before climbing out and closing the window again. I then looked around as I pulled my wolf pelt up and started jogging in a direction.

'Where is the river of the phoenix?' I thought as I ran through the depths of hell

'Closer child' the voice spoke and I ran faster 'Answers await you at the river of the phoenix'

'Where is this river?' I thought again as a thought hit me and I sighed before I continued running 'river of fire you dumbass, I wish Iota was here...'

After a few hours of running, the ground beneath me gave away and I turned around as I started sliding. I clawed at the rocks trying to slow my descent but by the time I got a good hold I was already at the bottom.

'Pathetic, useless, weak' I scolded myself as I sighed and looked at my now bloody hands

'Closer, come closer' The voice said and I looked up and saw the Phlegethon river and I stood up and stepped towards it

"Ahhh, so you did come" A male voice said and I whipped around as I summoned Lunars Light and my shield "Put the weapons down boy, I am not here to hurt you" the male voice said and a swirl of fire erupted from the river as a man wearing elegant armor appeared on the surface "I am Phlegethon, the spirit of this river, and I have been asked to help you by a higher being" At this I sighed

"I am beyond help" I said sadly and as I turned to walk away I felt a burning sensation on my arm and I dropped to a knee as it bit harshly into my skin, ten times worse than when I got it

"No, you are not, now turn around or that burn will keep happening" Phlegethon said and I turned to him to see him holding a sword "Come at me" he said and I shook my head

"No, I can't fight... I don't have the reflexes... my instincts are gone..." I said sadly before spinning to the side as a fireball sailed past me and I looked back at Phlegethon

"I believe you still have them" he said as he walked onto the ground in front of me and looked at me "Now come on Guardian, I thought you were the top of your class, or are you going to go back on your word?" at this I tensed and I growled

"How do you know about that title?" I said as I held Lunars light at the ready

"Like I said, a higher being called in a few favors and in return I got some information about you, Percy Jackson, Guardian of Artemis" Phlegethon said in a mocking tone of voice and I shoved him away "Come on, oh powerful Guardian, show me what your made of" He taunted and I felt my anger boil over as I charged him recklessly

Phlegethon just laughed and side stepped and tripped me, causing me to fall on the ground. I stood up and growled as I charged him again and this time, I swung my sword, only to have him deflect it before knocking me past him.

"Come on, I thought you were supposed to be one of the best fighters alive, don't tell me you were chosen because you needed to be protected by Artemis" He sneered and I let out a roar of anger as I charged him only to have him put me on my ass again as he held the point of his sword under my throat "Rule one, don't be and idiot, your lessons start now" He said and he held out his hand and I looked at him before I took his hand and he pulled me up "I do not doubt your training, nor your skill in the blade, but you have relied on your pal 'instinct' for far too long, you are in control, not him. We will start off with forging a new sword, those ones will not due for our training. So all weapons off" Phlegethon said as he walked to the middle of the river and watched me "NOW!" he yelled and I quickly took my weapons off and laid them down before I walked over to Phlegethon and onto the river

"Why are you doing this? Honestly?" I ask as he pulls a hammer out of his river and hands it to me and an anvil rises up

"You're very interesting, a fate intertwined with this world, the higher power has given me a glimpse of the future and to say that if you don't help, it would spell disaster so, I have decided to kick you back into shape, now start forging" He said and I did

Over the next few days, I stayed at the river of fire, either forging a new weapon to train in or I was forced to endure extreme heat, countless pushups, and obstacle course that if you messed up once, you would burn yourself, overall it felt like Guardian training all over again, and by that, I mean hell. But, there was something that drove me, the many times I wanted to just give up, Phlegethon just said something about me being a guardian and I would be back at the training again for several hours. It was after the fourth day when we started sparing, I felt like I knew what to do, but my muscles wouldn't work on their own so I had to consciously block and attack which was easy enough, though it did mean I did make many mistakes.

(Time skip about a week and a half)

A week and a half later, I was sparing against Phlegethon like I was sparing against Phoenix in guardian training. Our swords were clashing neither one of us giving an inch as I leaned forward and smirked.

"How are you feeling Perseus?" Phlegethon said as he made a feint to my right side

"I don't know how to explain it" I said as I read the feint like a book and defended it before countering by lunging forward and thrusting with the basic sword "But I feel whole again, like maybe shadow was right and Instinct and Iota were just manifestations of my abilities and I relied too much on them, I couldn't hold my own even if I wanted to while they were gone" I finished as I sent a flurry of attacks toward Phlegethon who parried each of them as we continued to spar "And I guess my powers will come in time"

"Ahh yes, your moon powers that were blessed upon you. You still have them but they are yours to figure out how to use, I am unable to teach you those" He said as he failed to block an attack and I made a slight mark on his arm "It seems I have been beat" He commented as we pulled back

"A small mark does not mean I have beat you" I countered

"Ahh but a small mark is all it takes to win a fight, you have learned all I have to teach you, or rather, reteach you" Phlegethon said and I smiled sadly and nodded "However, I do have two gifts for you, one is an endless supply of Phlegethon water, so just in case you run out of nectar and there is no water around you can drink from it to heal" he said as he tossed me a flask and I took it and clipped it onto my belt "And the second is a pendant, now this pendant has a special affect"

"What is it?" I asked

"What is the Phoenix best known for?" he asked

"It's control over fire" I said and Phlegethon chuckled and handed me a phoenix shaped pendant

"Anyway, have a safe journey Percy, and I do believe Shadow needs your help up top, so gather your gear and get ready because the doors of death should be here any moment" he said and I rushed over to my gear and put everything on

Just as I finished, two elevator type doors appeared and I walked up to them and Phlegethon smiled and waved.

"Take care Percy" He said as the doors closed and I felt myself going up

"It's time to apologize to Shadow for being a coward" I said as I put my hood on

Third Person POV:

Unknowing to Lunar, A very powerful being, even more powerful than Chaos, watched him from afar with a small smile on his face.

"Those two will bring peace to both of their realms" the being said "They both have hard roads ahead of them though, they will need each other"

A/N: I'm going to bed, night!

~Major Nich