(Discontinued) The Light At The End of The Tunnel - Solangelo (Percy Jackson)

Part 35

Will's POV

Austin and I trekked across the leaf-littered ground. It was freezing out of the comfort of the camp. Dionysus could control the weather inside of the barrier, that's why it was usually warm and always looked like spring or summer. The trees were always filled with leaves, the strawberries always seemed ready to pick and there was never a chill in the air unless some times in the winter, Dionysus lets it snow sometimes so we can have snow-related camp games.

Austin didn't seem to be having too much luck with his thin jacket since the clouds covered the sun. I guess since there would be no leaves on the trees, they wouldn't block out the sunlight. Well, he was wrong. It was still freezing and he's not getting my jacket. I was alert of my surroundings in case a monster appeared.

I could sense something bad was going to happen and I think Austin did too, taking out his saxophone. The cool thing is about it is that it can lull his enemies to sleep or tire them out. Or, it could do the opposite and make them restless or do anything of the sort. Let's say we're were fighting something and he decided to keep it awake. It wouldn't be able to close its eyes if he hit all of the right notes. Which, he is pretty good at.

I took out my dagger and looked around. I could feel something's eyes on me. But I didn't know what. After a while, I heard Austin squeak something out.

"Um, Will... I think I found the problem." He whimpered backing away from 2 Myrmekes.

Myrmekes were pretty much just huge ants. They live around Zaphyros Crook where they have their anthills. I wonder why they're all the way down here. Now that I thought about it, they probably followed us. 

"Austin, lull them to sleep!" I hissed.

He was frozen for a few seconds before gulping and nodding. He started to play a soft tone that I knew the Myrmekes heard because their antennas started to twitch and they began to sway. One fell to the ground, in a deep sleep. But before the other fell to the ground it spotted us and the magic seemed to not affect it anymore. It marched right towards us with its mandibles snapping. 

Austin yelped, not knowing what to do he looked at me frantically. "Keep going!" I said holding my dagger tightly.

An arrow wouldn't be any good, it couldn't penetrate the Myrmeke's armor. But, with a dagger, I could stab it in the chink of its armor. If only I could get close enough without it spraying poison at me or grabbing me with its mandibles. I went to the side of it, the other one was already asleep but I still had one marching in the direction of Austin. 

"Hey! Snappy! Over here!" I yelled, kicking its side.

It didn't do anything to it, just making me stumble a little but it got its attention. It turned it's giant head towards me, snapping its jaws that was now foaming poison. I backed away from it before Austin chanted a hymn making the Myrmeke shudder, stumbling. It gave me enough time to get close enough to it. 

It reared up once it got over its new wave of dizziness. I grabbed its antenna before stabbing the dagger deep into the chink of its armor. I backed away the dagger still deep into its neck. I had ripped off its antenna on the way down. The giant ant was busy trying to take the dagger out of its neck, letting the orange-green blood run down its head from the ripped out antenna. 

It then charged at me, swaying doing so. I couldn't avoid it, knocking it down on my back, all of my breath was knocked out of my lungs. Its jaws dripped with poison onto me, burning holes into my shirt before burning me. I cried out in pain, the burning sensation was overwhelming. It felt as if something was eating at my skin, ripping holes into my body. I grabbed the dagger from its neck, tearing it out of the monster. 

It hissed in pain before snapping its mandibles too close for comfort to my throat. I could see Austin frozen in place a couple of yards away. My vision was getting blurry due to the pain of the acid-like poison still eating at my skin. I couldn't ask Austin for help, he couldn't do anything. He was scared. 

I clenched my teeth before driving the dagger into the Myrmeke's eye, pushing it away from me. It made a weird cry out in pain before I took the dagger out of its head. Before I could get away, it took my arm by its huge jaws. It dug it's pincers deep into my skin, cutting through my flesh like it was butter. I screamed out in pain, the poison and the fact that it was trying to cut my bone in half. 

I couldn't get my arm out of its grasp, in a haze I flew the dagger out in desperation, slicing its mandible leaving a huge gash its jaws. It let go of me before almost stepping on me. They may only be as big as a big dog, but they weigh a lot. Austin finally got himself together, yelling out a hymn, making the Myrmeke flee.

Blood was everywhere, the pain numbed my body, I fought to stay conscious. Austin rushed to my side, talking to fast for me to understand. Probably apologizing or something. He gave me some nectar, which stopped my arm from bleeding at such a fast rate. He cleaned up where the poison dripped on me and put some gauze over it. He worked fast and efficiently. I don't like to brag and now isn't really the time but I taught him everything he knows. 

Once he was done bandaging up my arm, he gave me some ambrosia. "Do you think you can stand? Do I need to call help?" He asked frantically.

I shook my head, looking at the asleep Mymeke. "No... that thing will wake up once you guys get here." I croaked, struggling to my feet with the help of Austin. "Let's just go back to camp."

"God Nico's going to kill me..." I grumbled as we walked back.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the wait! I was a bit busy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was pretty fun to right at the end. I hope you don't hate me for almost killing Will! Thank you for reading!