Chapter 19: The New Leader
~Percy POV~
I woke up with my head on Artemis' lap. Her silver eyes shone with tears. The moment she saw me waking up, her lips curled into a beautiful smile. I wish she kept that adorable smile forever. She pulled me up to her chest and hugged me hard.
"Uh, what happened?" I muttered. "Well you attacked that guy and he flicked you away. You destroyed a pillar and fell unconscious." I grumbled and tried to get up. Artemis held me so I didn't fall. "Who even was he?" I asked Artemis. "He, Percy, was Chaos."
I wondered if I had heard her wrong. It couldn't have been Chaos, right? I mean Chaos was the first being. Why would he, out of nowhere, come to disrupt the world? I opened my mouth to ask if I had heard her right, but she cut me short and said "Percy, Chaos has come to destroy the world. He kidnapped your parents so you would yield to him. He even got the Indian Gods involved. Percy, we are now at war."
I was struck with a realization. Anger swelled inside me. I got up. "Artemis, what happened after he left?"
"Nothing much, all the campers, regardless of Greek or Roman, and hunters were sent back to Camp Half-Blood. We gods discussed the situation and what must be done. It was then decided that if Chaos came to declare war, there was no way we could avoid it, and now, there shall be war."
"So the campers don't know anything about it?"
"Well no. Not every camper was there with us at the meeting. Only campers who have done a great deed before, like Jason, Hazel, Leo, Annabeth, were allowed to enter. They were all told to return to Camp Half-Blood. They probably did tell everyone around what happened at the meeting, including things about the Indians and Chaos."
"Forget all that," I said getting up. Artemis too got up alongside me. "Didn't Zeus say we had permission to date?" I pulled Artemis towards me. She blushed into a shade of furious pink. "You look cute when you blush," I smirked. "Shut up," she purred, but she returned the hug all the same. "Now it is up to you how to act. After all, the camp needs a leader once again."
I had just started to enjoy the hug when she said this, and trust me, the worst time to disclose some important information like this is during a super nice hug. "WHAT?" I asked. I pulled back. "Why did I become the leader all of a sudden? I was supposedly dead for five years. I died because the camp no longer trusted me. Why would they start trusting me all of a sudden and make me a leader?" I asked astounded.
"Well, Percy, that was five years ago," Artemis said soothingly. She knew I was going through the trauma of my experience so she held my arm gently and continued. "They were misguided by that pathetic mortal, Zack, they learned it the hard way that you were in the right. Without you, they barely survived. They need you now. You have to lead them to victory, Percy."
"But-" before I could protest, she gave me puppy eyes. She was normally so very cute, it now felt impossible to say no to that cute puppy face. I gave up the protest and started walking out, still hand in hand with Artemis.
Artemis and I walked out only to be greeted by a bunch of heroes along with an old centaur. All my companions from my previous adventures. Jason, Hazel, Piper, and Frank were there. I was seeing them after a long time, after all, I wasn't able to meet them after I returned since they were back in Camp Jupiter. They bombarded me with questions. Most of them were similar to those asked by the campers when I first appeared.
"So Percy Jackson," I heard an old voice behind my friends. "You always tend to get in trouble, don't you?"
Uh oh. "Chiron, I am sorry. Please don't beat me up like last time. Please."
He just smiled. I guess that means no beating me up. "Walk over to the amphitheatre, hero, everyone is waiting over there." He winked and walked away.
The heroes left too, leaving me with only Artemis by my side. She held my hand whispered to me to go to the amphitheatre and lead the demigods.
The seats were all occupied, and everyone was whispering to one another. As soon as I walked up on the stage, everyone went quiet. I began speaking-
"Well, hello everyone. As most of you know, our mere existence is being threatened by this one primordial being called Chaos. I began speaking-
"Well, hello everyone. As most of you know, our mere existence is being threatened by this one primordial being called Chaos. You might have read about him in your ancient Greek classes as the giant abyss of nothingness. Well, it somehow gained a personality and is now about to attack all of us. He also gained the support of the monsters from the Indian Mythologies, due to which we shall now be helped by the gods of India."
Everyone was silent. "Now we need a leader. Rather than giving all the responsibilities to me, why not let you guys decide who you want to lead."
"WE WANT YOU TO LEAD US" shouted the entire audience. "Oh, that was kind of anonymous." Sighed Percy.
"I won't accept this!" came a voice from my left. A fuming Zack Skye stood there, "I will not let a loser like you be the centre of attention-uh, the leader as long as I am still here." With this, he rushed towards me intending to push me aside. I had the urge to pull out my sword and slash his head in two, but I controlled my desires and let him rush into me.
Most of the audience stood up as if Zack would push me down. To be honest, at first, I thought so too. But as he crashed into me, I realized that it wasn't physically possible for a guy like him to push me down. Why? For starters, he was at least a foot shorter than me. He was too weak as well. Forget pushing, he couldn't even move me. Rather than pushing me, he was propelled a few feet back. "Ow," he cried trying to get up. Before he could, I pierced Anasklusmos through his cloth and locked itself on the floor, making it impossible for Zack to get up.
The camp laughed at Zack. Jason stood up and walked up to me and asked: "So Percy, What do you plan to do now?" "So, here's the thing Jason, since we are about to fight Chaos in unity, and since today is a Friday, let's have a game of capture the flag," I answered.
"But what about the teams?" Thalia shouted, still sitting.
"Wasn't it obvious enough?" I said with a smirk. "It will be everyone vs. me."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone