"A Nuckelavee?!" Percy asked. "How'd it get past the camp's defences?"
"I honestly don't know." Chiron softly replied as he broke out of his stupor. . He like the other camper quickly became disgusted by the bloated figure of the Beast as it slowly walked forward.
Turning his head over to face the Norse Demigod, Chiron asked Aaron. "Can you kill it?" Aaron was hesitant in answering Chiron's question, as he kept his eyes focused on the Beast in front of him. Moving slightly to the right he noticed that the two eyes of the Nuckelavee seemed to be fixed solely on him.
'So I'm it's target.' Aaron thought to himself but his thoughts were soon shifted as he heard the Sons and Daughters of Ares scream out. "CHARGE!" As they rushed towards the Nuckelavee.
"NO!" Aaron shouted out as he slammed his Axe into the sand below. Mr. D was about to jump in and attack Aaron but he managed to stop himself when he noticed his action only created a small wall of thin Ice between the Demigods and Beast. "Do not engage it! The Black Breath's poisonous to what ever it touches. You'll be dead before you can even get near the fucking thing!"
Slamming the Axe down once more another thin wall of Ice was created on the opposite side of the one facing the Demigods, temporarily caging the beast with an icy trap. "This aint gonna hold long but it'll buy us enough time to get everyone out of here!"
"If Ice won't stop it, I take it my powers over Water is useless." Percy stated out getting a nod back from Aaron.
"That thing's a water Demon kid. Water'll only empower it even more." Aaron responded.
"We can't abandon the camp! There are Monsters who are waiting outside the Camps protection. Many of these kids won't make it." Chiron informed Aaron as he readied his bow. "We have to defeat it here and bow."
"Fuck." Aaron cursed his luck at hearing this. Quickly he began to think of a plan while he had little time to spare. Sniffing the air he turned and looked at another one of the older looking campers. "You there, you smell of Ash and Molten Metal. Are you a Son of the Blacksmith?" Aaron asked Charles Beckendorf, the head counsellor of Cabin 9.
"Yeah." Charles nervously responded.
"Tell me, can either you or anyone of your brothers and sisters have control over Fire?" Aaron asked. The tone of his voice sounding desperate.
"Not that I've ever been made aware of, but we do have a few Molotov cocktails made with Greek Fire." As Charles finished answering Aaron's question the Ice finally began to show large cracks.
"Hurry and grab as many as you can. I'll try to hold it off for the time being." Aaron shouted as he moved slowly away from the campers. The Nuckelavee slowly turned as well as walked towards Aaron.
"What's fire going to do against the monster?" Chiron asked as he moved in front of the younger campers.
Before Aaron could answer the right long arms of the Nuckelavee shot forward. Ducking and rolling towards his left, Aaron was able to dodge the attack but he still couldn't counter. "It's a Water Demon! Fucking think about it!"
Blowing into his left hand, it began to glow before Aaron waved it in front of him. The action had created two Runes in front of him. "Ansuz. Kenaz." From the first rune a small ball of flames burst forward and struck the Nuckelavee human face.
When the second Rune started to glow the fire started to spread throughout the rest of the Nuckelavee's body. "Yeah!" One of the campers shouted out in cheer.
"Can you produce more attacks like that?" Chiron asked with a small amount of hope.
"Fire isn't my strongest element. And that won't stop it for long. It's only buying more time." Aaron replied as his hand stopped glowing. When the glow faded the flames subsided as well. "And we've already run out time with that attack."
"Any other ingenious plan Norseboy?" Mr. D scowled as he taughted Aaron.
"Anyone here have control over lightning?" Aaron asked Chiron who turned and shouted towards Thalia.
"Thalia! Channel as much lightning as you can towards the Monster!" Chiron ordered out as Thalia grinned madly with excitement.
"Finally!" Thalia exclaimed out with excitement as she raised her spear into the air.
"Hit it with everything you've got kid!" Aaron shouted out in encouragement as Thalia brought down her spear, bringing forth a large bolt of Lightning that stuck the Nuckelavee causing it to scream out in pain.
"Hunters!" Aaron shouted out to Artemis' Hunters. "We'll need you to pin and trap it's arms and legs to the ground! Only one of you needs to aim and shoot it's two eyes!"
"Understood. I'll do it!" Normally Zoe would argue or berate any man or boy who dared give out orders to herself and her other Hunters. But she had never seen a Monster like this before. Reluctantly she had to place a little faith in whatever was Aaron's plan
As the Nuckelavee had finally managed to shrug off Thalia's lightning it roared out before running towards Thalia. "Ekki gott. (Not Good.)" Aaron sighed out before he slammed his right fist into the ground.
"Toghairm! Lámh Wicker!(Summon: Wicker's hand!)" Aaron cried out as a red glow appeared between Thalia and the Nuckelavee. When the Beast entered the glow, a giant hand made Reeds and Willow wood emerged from below. The large hand then grabbed a hold and pulled the Nuckelavee down into the ground.
"Thalia! Grab on!" Chiron ordered as he rushed past and collect Thalia, taking her out of harms way for the moment.
The Horse's head of the Nuckelavee roared out as it's body became shrouded in Black Mist. But once it had made contact with the Wicker arm, Aaron yelled out in pain.
Zoe turned around and seen the Black marks now embedded into Aaron's right forearm like was a disease. Lifting his hand up from the ground, the Wicker arm disappeared back into the ground below.
Taking a calming breath, Aaron pulled out something from his back pocket. It appeared to be a small block of birch wood with a glowing white crystal trapped within. Rubbing the crystal over his arm, the Black marks dispersed. "So that's what Cernunnos meant with his warning over that summoning."
With a grin now on his face, Aaron rubbed the white crystal along the Axe's blade, causing it's edge to glow the same colour as the crystal. "Ljós Álfheimar! (Light Álfheimar!)"
With his weapon ready Aaron turned on to the offence and rushed towards the Nuckelavee. The horse's head breathed out a more concentrated amount of Black Breath. Thrusting the his Axe forward the glow from it's blade brightened as the black mist dissipated. With the Black Breath gone for a moment Aaron began his assault o the Monster itself.
However no matter how many cuts he made across it's bloated body, no blood was spilt nor did it's wounds remain as they healed as quickly as they were made. There was one small change that did occur from his attacks. The Nuckelavee's body appeared to have become less bloated with each strike.
'Alfheim's light isn't gonna last for much longer and I can't risk using any more to keep attacking. I need to save whatever left for my Bifrost jump back to Asgard and then Alfheim.' Aaron thought to himself as he began to become more frustrated.
However with his slight lack on concentration towards the Monster, the Nuckelavee managed to back slap away Aaron. Crashing into the Arena's floor, Aaron slid across and had to bury his Axe into the stone to stop his movement. He once more had to roll out of the way as he avoided the Monster's follow up attack.
As Charles arrived back he quickly passed out the Molotov cocktails to his brothers and sisters. Once he was finished he signalled to Aaron they were ready. "We're ready!"
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! PERMISSION?!" Aaron snapped back as he jumped back out of the Hephaestus' cabins line of attack. "FUCKING THROW THEM ALREADY!"
Upon impact the glass shattered causing the Nuckelavee to shriek and howl in pain. It's body began to shrink as it tried to retreat to back into the lake. "Hunters! Fire at will!" Aaron shouted out as the arrows of Aretmis' Hunters along with Apollo's children of Cabin 6, even Thalia joined in to help by throwing her spear right into the Nuckelavee's Human torso.
A hailstorm of arrows impaled the feet and hands of the Nuckelavee into the ground, preventing the Monster from moving. It's now skinny and frail body swayed side to side as it tried to free itself. With a single shot firing two arrows Zoe hit both of the Nuckelavee's eyes.
Taking this as his chance to kill off the Monster, Aaron rushed to the rear of the Beast and jumped into the air. With a clean swing aimed at the human torso's neck, he sliced it's head clean off from it's shoulders.
Not allowing the Beast to recover for even a moment, Aaron quickly twisted his body mid-air in order to cut off the Horse's head. To those watching his attack seemed like one swift and fluid attack.
With both heads of the Nuckelavee separated from it's body the Beast began to glow and faded into a golden dust, only to be scattered by the wind leaving nothing behind of the Monster.
Silence feel over the camp as they all watched the Monster disappear. "What? All that effort and no war trophy?" A random camper asked out loud.
"Leaving with you life is a much of a war trophy you'll get against a Nuckelavee." Aaron replied back to the camper. He didn't even look at them as he spoke, keeping his eyes fixed on the place where the Monster faded instead.
After a few moments of rest Chiron and Mr. D walked towards Aaron. "I think we'd best have a talk in private."
"Agreed." Aaron nodded in understanding as he, Chiron and Mr. D walked towards the camp's Big House.
(The Big House)
As the three of them entered alone Aaron sighed as he seem the suspicious look on Mr. D's face, matched only with Chiron's worried expression. "Mind telling us what the fuck that was Norse brat!" Mr. D demanded an answer.
"As I said before, it was a Nuckelavee. And I believe it was sent by our enemies to prevent me from completing my quest." Aaron answered as he sat down and leaned back into a chair. "I've been sent down to Midgard in order to retrieve Mimir. He's Odin's Counselor who was kidnapped from Asgard around a month ago."
"Our enemies? What do you mean boy!?" Mr. D once more demanded.
"Listen you fat piece of shit! Whether you like it or not we've had the same enemy for thousands of years. Ever since the Kraken was taken by the Titans." Aaron shouted back as he stood up right up to Mr. D's face.
"I don't understand what you mean." Chiron stated. "The Kraken was born of Oceanus, the Titan of the Sea."
"No, it wasn't. The Kraken was created from the merger of a squid and a small island by Odin himself. It was created to prevent Jörmungandr from reaching his full length." Aaron calmly answered Chiron's confusion. "He was taken by the Titans. However I know that Poseidon captured the Beast and has wisely locked it away."
"Do you fear it'll escape?" Mr. D asked. He appeared to have calmed down if even slightly.
"I don't believe so. Poseidon from what I can see appears to be in excellent control over his dominion of the Seas and Oceans. I doubt he would've been lax when locking that beast away." Aaron replied with a nod of disagreement to Mr. D's worry.
"Our worries should be over the Titans though. The Aesir in Asgard don't know how they managed to capture Mimir. Heimdall the Bifrost's watcher couldn't even find the path that they took to get in and out of Asgard, he only managed to get a glimpse of one of the creatures that helped take him. Yesterday the beast revealed itself for the first time since then. I was sent to Midgard then and managed to get the name of the person currently holding him."
"So that would explain the how and why you showed up." Chiron replied. However he noticed Aaron's eyebrow was raised after hearing his statement.
"Young Percy Jackson filled me in on the events that happened in Bar Harbor. However he neglected on telling me who is this person that has your friend. It appears his excitement in retelling how you arrived forced it to slip from his mind." Chiron stated. Inside he hoped that he would be able to help Aaron during his quest by passing on anything he knew that might help him.
"The person who has Mimir goes by the name of the General." Mr. D's face became slightly pale when he heard that name. It was something Aaron noticed from the corner of his eyes but decided not to say anything over it. "However I have no clue on his whereabouts, so I'm gonna have to just continue with my search for Mimir instead. I'll run into this General once I've managed to track down my friend."
"I know of this General." Chiron stated with a soft hint of fear within his voice. "I dare not say his name but he is dangerous... I fear your journey ahead will not be as easy as you may think."
"I don't plan on engaging him in combat. I only came to retrieve Mimir. After that it's a case where I will have to follow Odin's order and return to Asgard." Aaron scowled as he mentioned Odin's name.
"The Allfather is an immensely vengeful God. I would not be far by speaking the truth in saying that if any War were to break-out between the Titans and Olympus... The Aesir and Vanir would with no doubt join Olympus' side in that war." Aaron face was full of worry.
"I can see you fear this? Why?" Mr. D asked.
Aaron seemed to once more become hesitant once more. Sighing he explained his fear. "This war will not be good for the Nine Realms with or without our help... I fear that no matter whoever the victor in this war. The result will be the same outcome. Odin wants my actions here to help prevent an early Ragnarök but..."
"You mean that." Chiron began to ask but was cut off by Aaron.
"Yeah... I fear that the gears leading to Ragnarök have already begun to turn." Mr. D was now showing the same worry that Aaron's face showed.
"This winter's wind does not help my nerves much either. It does not feel like the others I have been through. There is more of a soul crushing chill in the wind. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that Fimbulvetr or Fimbulwinter has begun. This is the final warning the Nine Realms get signals Ragnarök will begin within the next few years."
"The Twilight of the Gods..." Chiron now too held a worried look. "This... Does not sound good."
"I understand how you both might feel about hearing this. However I do feel I need to say this out loud in case it is missed but... I'm sorry to say but with Mirmir's kidnapping by Greek Titans, it may have inadvertently dragged Olympus into the events of Ragnarök itself." Aaron explained with a sombre tone to his voice.
"Curse my father's punishment. After hearing this I need a drink." Mr. D stated as he snapped his finger allowing a glass of wine to appear in his hand. Chugging it down quickly Chiron became more worried when he did not hear Zeus' thunder in the sky.
"If it's alright with you Dionysus... I think I'll take a drink as well." Aaron smiled as he looked at the Greek God of Wine, who appeared to smirk back at him.
Snapping his fingers a Stein of Lager appeared before. "I know that you Norse aren't 'cultured' enough for Wine, so I hope that'll do." Mr. D laughed as Aaron raised his glass back at Mr. D in appreciation before beginning to drink himself.
"You've meet other Gods before haven't you?" Mr. D calmly asked as he chugged his first glass of wine.
"I have." Aaron answered evenly as he lifted his glass. "Skál (Cheers.)"
"Who have you meet?" Mr. D once more calmly asked.
"I first came across a Wendigo when I was twelve in Canada. After I killed that Monster Teharonhiakwako congratulated me. He was going to use me as a vassal but my Mother quickly stopped that. The only other non Norse Gods I meet before Artemis and yourself was Cernunnos and Brigid from the Celts." Aaron answered before he continued. "We Norse see the Celts as Cousins. If I was to guess it's kind of similar to the relationship between you Greeks and Romans."
"Not even close brat." Mr. D scoffed at this as Chiron nervously chuckled.
"There one just one more thing that still concerns me." Chiron stated out in an attempt to change the subject, gaining the attention of both members drinking. "Why send that creature after you. You appear to have faced it before, so why send a monster that they know you have defeated before?"
"I never defeated the Nuckelavee before. This time was the first time I've ever won a fight in all my encounters with it... And even then I only won because I was with others that helped cover my disadvantages against the Beast." Aaron replied shocking both Chiron and Mr. D.
"If it wasn't for the Blacksmith's son..." Aaron didn't finish his sentence. He felt a great deal of shame even admitting such a thing out loud. "I should be moving soon. They could send more monsters here in the Nuckelavee's place."
Chugging down the rest of the Stein, Aaron stood up and walked towards the exit but hesitated for a moment. "I just have one question to ask."
Chiron and Mr. D nodded at Aaron allowing him to continue. "Is it possible for Hades to locate anything dead that walks Midgard?"
"Yes. He can also track those alive as well, but only those who wish to have themselves revealed to him." Mr. D instantly replied. Me might not agree with his Uncle often but he for sure respected his power and domain.
"Thanks... I think for my quest I'll have to pay him a visit then." Aaron replied back. "Thank you for your hospitality. As a thanks I'll be leaving a Protection Rune on the Tree near the top of that hill you pointed out to me earlier. That should help prevent any Norse Monsters entering camp in search of me after I've gone."
"Thank you." Chiron smiled at Aaron as Mr. D also stood up and walked towards the Norse Demigod.
"For a brat. Your not that bad." Mr. D smirked as he offered Aaron out a hand.
Aaron smirked back as he shook Mr. D's hand. "And for a 'cultured' god, your not too bad yourself."
"Great now get out of here before you try to ruin the moment. I have an image to uphold Norse brat." Mr. D snapped back however the face never dropped his smirk.
"Wait, before you go may I ask for a favour?" Chiron asked Aaron before he left. "You will need help getting into the Underworld. Would it be alright if I ask camper to join you as a guide perhaps?"
Aaron understood why Chiron was advising to bring a guide along. "I suppose so. But they better not slow me down. Now that I know I'm being hunted as well they would need to accept and understand the dangers of being around me now." Aaron replied.
Chiron nodded in agreement. "If you'd give me an hour I'll explain this to our cabin councillors. They'll vote on who will accompany you."
"I'll be fine to wait an hour or so. Tell who ever it is then to join me at that Pine Tree up at the Hill. I'll be finished with those Protection Runes once they arrive." Aaron replied as he nodded to Chiron before leaving the Camp's Big House.
"I don't think we'll need to allow the campers to vote." Mr. D stated. "We both know who you plan on sending to help the Norse boy."
(An Hour later - Half Blood Hill, Thalia's Tree)
With the blood still dripping from his thumb Aaron put the final touches to the long and complexed Rune written near the Tree's base. Applying ice over his cut to stop the bleeding, Aaron touched the Rune with his left hand and closed his eyes.
"Andi fjallsins. Vernda. (Spirit of the Mountain, Protect.)" Aaron commanded out loud causing the Rune to glow with a greenish yellow shine. The effect was felt by Aaron as he could smell several creatures both Norse and Greek move further away from the camp.
'That should last for a few years... Just in case.' Aaron thought to himself. He didn't have to wait much longer for the his guild to the Underworld to arrive. "Oh, it's you."