Chapter Text
It was...calm. Uncharacteristically so. This was unnerving for Percy. Usually it seemed like as soon as he arrived at Camp Half-Blood, something happened, like he was activating some switch he was unaware of.
"Come on Seaweed brain!" Annabeth brought him back to reality, to their sparring match. "Are you just going to brood, or actually fight?"
Percy did his best to get his head back into the game. "Sorry!" He got back into a fighting position, readying himself for Annabeths attack.
-
But, he just couldn't get his head back in the game, Annabeth beating him easily. He groaned as he held his head, Annabeth pulling him back up onto his feet. She raised an eyebrow. "You're acting weird, everything alright?"
Percy sighed. "It's just...calm. Too calm, you know? Feels like every time we were here at Camp, something happened. It just feels...odd."
Annabeth was silent for a couple seconds, thinking of a good answer. Eventually, she took a deep breath, before speaking up. "I've thought about it two. But honestly? I'm happy." A small smile appeared on her face. "I'm glad nothing's happening. Sure, it feels weird, but maybe we can finally just have one normal summer."
Percy thought about her words a bit before nodding. "Yeah. You're right, maybe we can finally have just one."
After everything that happened, being pushed around by Gods, fighting monsters, seeing people die, they had very much earned a break, hadn't they?
They slowly made their way back from the training grounds, wanting to get some water, them feeling parched both from the temperatures and from their match.
Inside the main building weren't that many people, most enjoying the nice day. There were Chiron and Dionysus, talking about some activities for the campers, and Rachel sitting at a table, also enjoying a cold drink while doodeling on a piece of paper. Percy and Annabeth, after getting some water themselves, decided to join her, sitting down across from her.
"Hey Rachel, how are you?" Percy greeted with a friendly smile.
Rachel looked up at the two of them, putting her pencil away. "Oh, Hello. I'm good, just enjoying the day. How about you two?"
Annabeth shrugged. "Same as usual, you know? Just..." Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she looked down on the paper Rachel had been doodeling on. "...What exactly are those?"
The doodels looked...unusual to say the least. Cartoonish portals, five, seemingly normal people, three guys and two girls, and two...gods? Monsters? They looked human, or at least somewhat humanoid, but things like glowing eyes made them look like something else. Maybe Fellow Demi-gods? But they didn't look familiar to her, and from Percy expression, he seemed to have no idea who they were either.
"Oh, these?" Rachel motioned to the piece of paper, scratching the back of her neck. "I...I don't know to be honest." She sighed, unsure of how to explain. "It's just, I've been having the same exact dream for the last few nights. It seemed important, so I thought maybe visualizing could help make sense of it."
Percy was a bit concerned by that. Rachel was the Oracle of Delpi after all, and it didn't exactly feel promising that she had a repeating dream like that.
But before either of them could think more about it, Rachel went quiet, and her eyes slowly started glowing, the room just subtly getting a bit darker as her eyes got brighter, Chiron and Dionysus looking over with a mix of wearyness and concern as they realised what was going on.
Rachels mouth opened, and slowly the Prophecy started to be spoken.
Five from a world that isn't our own,
here in this land, scattered they'll be thrown.
One in the place heroes go to train,
One where nine inspire and hone the brain.
One held up high, too cautious to leave,
One down low, where man can't breathe.
One after life, befriending the beast,
All five to collect, and bring up east.
For tethered to unite her all of them might be,
Find them not, and all worlds shall cease.
The room slowly returned to normal, the glow in Rachels eyes slowly dissapating. She held her head in her hands, looking a bit dazed. "Huh, what... Was it another...?"
"A Prophecy..." Chiron spoke up, him and Dionysus now standing next to their table. Disbelief was evident in his voice, and he wasn't the only one, none of them really having a clue what it could mean.
"So...Five people..." Percy muttered.
"But from another world? What other world?" Annabeth questioned.
"This is just so great, one of the brats is made the oracle, and Prophecys stop making sense." Dionysus muttered, rolling his eyes, but quickly receiving a jab to the side from Chiron.
But before any of them could really say anything else, they heard yelling, someone cursing out some "stupid plants".
"I think that is coming from the Demeter Cabin." noted Annabeth, being the first one to stand up, Percy closely following behind, Chiron sending Dionysus with them, him staying with Rachel.
When the three finally got there, they saw the source of the yelling. A man, wearing a blue shirt, white cap, jeans and black shoes, seemingly in his mid- to late twenties, being caught upside down in some of the vines on the side of the cabin, for whatever reason.
He continued his angry tirate, trying to rip the vines to free himself. "Just my fucking luck, of course I get away from an eldrich horror only to get caught by fucking vines!"
Dionysus just raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed, while both Annabeth and Percy were just extremely confused. Who was this guy? Why, and better yet how was he here?
After a bit more struggle, the guy managed to free himself, ripping some of the vines in the process. He dropped, landing on his head, and lying on the floor for a couple seconds, holding his head, trying to get his headache to go away.
Percy finally decided to step forward, reaching his hand into his pocket and grabbing Anaklusmos just in case. "Who are you?"
The guy slowly sat up, still rubbing his head with one hand, looking up at Percy seemingly a bit dazed.
"...The name's Curt."