The Daughter Of Poseidon

Chapter 7 - Blue Diamond

*See? I'm not completely useless.*

My arms felt as if they'd fall off any second after the swordfighting session I had just gone through with Percy.
My t-shirt had been soaked through with sweat and my vision was almost blurry.
"Here," he said, handing me a bottle of water, "It'll help. Especially us."
I grabbed the bottle and took a huge gulp. Almost immediately, my eyesight turned sharp as ever, and I was aware of every single thing happening around me. Water always helped when I was tired, but it had never been that effective. Well, maybe I just hadn't ever been that tired.
"Thanks," I said, wiping my brow, "That was completely exhausting. Training with the other campers is relatively easy. But you, my brother, are extremely good at this."
"You'll get the hang of it."
"I'm not so sure that's true."
"What if... What if sword fighting just isn't your thing?"
"Wow. So I'm not the only person who's given up on me," I laughed, "Why did I ever think I could do this?"
"No! That is not what I meant." He furrowed his eyebrows and made a suggestion, "Well, you know Frank's a descendant of Poseidon and the son of Mars, neither of whom specialize in archery. But Frank himself? He's a master of the bow and arrow. What if you just need a different weapon?"
"Maybe..."
"Then let's get you one."

The Armory was a fascinating place, filled with deadly weapons of every kind. There were swords, daggers and bows on every wall, a shelf lined with guns, and what seemed like an endless supply of arrows, all celestial bronze.
We spent hours trying to figure out what I was best with, but I could barely hold any of the swords, the daggers weren't helpful because I was no good at fighting close range, and my aim was about as good as a blind man's.
"This is useless," I whined, as we walked back into the Armory to try another sword, "We've been searching for nearly three hours, but it looks like any weapon here would hurt me more than it would hurt my opponent."
"How about we call it a- hey! Are you seeing that too or is the exhaustion just getting to my head?"
Percy was looking at the far corner of the shed, which was empty except for a small stray shield. At first, I didn't see anything, but then I noticed an eery blue and yellow glow pulsing under the floorboard.
"Help my out with this, would you?"
I walked over to the corner and tried to pry the floorboard away from the floor with Percy's help, but it just wouldn't budge. For a minute I wasn't sure what more we could do, but then, as if I had fallen into a trance, I started saying something in a language I did not know I could speak, "Katastroféas ton skoteinón pnevmáton, sikotheíte páno apó ti gi kai voithíste me tin anazítisí mou."
Percy gasped, "'Destroyer of dark spirits, rise above the earth and aid me with my quest.'"
"What?"
"You just spontaneously burst into Ancient Greek."
"I did what?" I demanded, "I can read it, and understand it occasionally, but why can I speak it? I've never been able to do that! Besides, what good did it do?"
"Uh, you might wanna look at that," he said, as he gestured towards the floorboard again. The wooden panel had been replaced by a slab of stone engraved with what looked like a gold and blue fire.
I traced my finger along the pattern, as if I had been told what to do. The second my skin lost contact with the stone, the slab dissolved into thin air.
With a slight rumble, a short sword shot out of the hollowed-out floor, nearly decapitating me. It looked like it was made of Stygian  iron, embedded with Imperial gold ribbons and strands of a blue substance that seemed almost fluid. The hilt was made of the same blue material, with Imperial gold words embedded on it.
"Fotiá Fléva," Percy read.
"Fire vein," I translated.
I held my hand out and grabbed the hilt. I felt a surge of energy course through me as if I had been electrocuted. I felt invincible. As my right hand moved the blade through the air, my left hand seemed to get heavier, so I looked down at it. A sheild the size of my forearm had materialized on it. It was made of Stygian iron as well and decorated with the same pattern I had seen on the slab of stone.
"I think," I declared with a smile, "we've found what we've been looking for."
Percy just stared at the sword, dumbfounded.
After a few seconds of silence, he said, "That... How... Um, not that I'm scared or anything," he laughed nervously, "maybe we should tell Chiron what happened? For all you know, that thing might be cursed."
I sighed. He was right, so I nodded my head.

_._🔱_._

When we got to the big house, Chiron was sitting in his wheelchair, reading a book and, without looking up, he invited us in.
"What do you have there?" He asked, once he noticed the deadly weapon I was carrying.
"Either our best chance or doom," I stated, nonchalantly.
"I see you're as sassy as your brother."
Percy, who had been trying not to laugh until then, frowned.
Chiron continued, "Well this is no time to talk about the Poseidon children's snark. What you have here is an arming sword; a fairly recent model. But wait... No, it can't be," he looked at me, his eyes as wide as hockey pucks, "Blue diamond. I haven't seen it in millennia."
"Blue diamond?"
"Probably not the hardest, but definitely the most dangerous substance ever discovered. No mortal has ever seen it of course, seeing as it can only be found far underneath the deepest point in the Mariana," he paused to take a breath, "Any life that is taken while in contact with the diamond ceases to exist, irregardless of whether it's mortal, immortal or invincible. They will not reform in Tartarus, they will not suffer in the fields of punishment, they will not spend eternity in Asphodel. It would be as if they never even lived."
After what felt like a silence that lasted for hours, Percy said what all three of us had been thinking, "Well, at least now we know what Python's scared of."
"But what good would it do having me use it? I'm nowhere near as skilled as half the swordsmen here," I said
"The sword may scare him, yes, but it might not be the only thing he's afraid of. After all, a weapon is only as deadly as the person welding it." Chiron gave me a proud smile, "The sword chooses the soldier, Lea. There is no one better suited to this task than you."

_._🔱_._

Nico was present at the dining pavilion that night, talking to Will, which was good, because I was starting to get worried.
"Where have you been?!" I hissed at him, as soon as he had walked over.
"Hello to you too," he grumbled.
"Stop whining and tell me what kind of mess you got yourself into."
"What?" He drawled, "Can't a kid go visit his dad?"
I raised my eyebrow.
"Okay fine," he sighed, "I had to go see Jason. He's in Elysium, you know? He's like an older brother to me and-"
"You don't have to explain, I'm sorry."
"That's okay. What's changed since I've been away?"
"I'm going to fight Python and I have an incredibly dangerous weapon to help me."
Nico's eyes almost popped out of his head. "You're doing what? No! It's too dangerous. What if-"
"I have to. I'm our best shot, whether I like it or not."
"Lee, I can't-" his voice broke, "I can't lose anyone else."
"And you won't. I'll make sure of it. Besides I have this to help me," I pulled my sword out of its scabbard, which was a belt loop for the time-being, "It's deadly."
"Stygian iron, Imperial gold, and... What's that?"
"Blue diamond."
His eyes traveled to my other hand, "Did that just pop out of this air or something?!" He exclaimed.
I now realised he was talking about the sheild. I had taken my sword out of the belt loop so many times by then, that I had barely noticed that the sheild had materialized.
"Oh yeah that. Gave me a shock the first time it happened."
"That is really cool," he said, animatedly.
"Told ya it's deadly."
With that, we proceeded to dinner, and for the first time in days, I felt like maybe I could pull this off.

_._🔱_._

That night, as I drifted off to sleep, a cold raspy voice spoke in my head, "I see you have decided upon where you will stand, daughter of the sea god."
Two enormous yellow eyes opened in front of me and a heartless laugh filled the silence.
I woke up in a cold sweat. The image of the eyes lingered as if they had been burnt into my memory.
I had a lot of trouble falling asleep, even after the echo of the laughter had faded.

*So. Do y'all still want me to continue writing this?*