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sylas astor
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It was pitch black inside the kraken. Sylas scrambled to his feet on top of its massive tongue, swaying and stumbling like a babe taking their first steps. Everything went eerily still, just long enough for him to get stable. Not being able to see, Sylas struggled to get his bearings, running his hands along its slimy mouth in search of anything to hold onto. The insides of the beast were just as slippery as its outsides.
Then the kraken's tongue raised trying to tip him over and send him down its throat to be properly digested. Desperate, Sylas took his rapier and plunged into the giant tongue before he could be swallowed. The kraken let in a brief glimpse of moonlight as it screeched out in pain. The second it felt Sylas trying to climb to freedom it snapped its maw shut, trapping him in darkness once again.
Sylas pulled himself to his feet panting as his mind raced to figure out a solution. In the end, the only thing he could think of was leaving the kraken no choice but to spit him out. He gripped the handle of his rapier tightly in both hands and began stabbing at the creature's insides furiously... Its tongue, right cheek, left cheek, roof of its mouth, over and over and over. Sylas was drenched in sweat, sea water, spit and kraken blood, but he didn't let up, hacking and slashing like a mad man.
The sea beast thrashed and growled, but it seemed reluctant to open its mouth, proving to be as determined as Sylas. He was quickly growing tired. His wounded palms throbbed and burned at his tight grip, but he didn't let up. He pulled the rapier back once again and drove it forward, unknowingly straight into the kraken's third heart. At that moment a strong strike of lightning surged through the kraken. The current made a circuit through the blade and into Sylas, scorching his palms where he held the weapon, unable to let go. In unisons both him Kraken screamed out in a disturbing harmony.
While the lightning might have only lasted a second or two, it felt like an eternity to him. With his sword like a conduit, the shock ruptured not only the intended heart, but the third one as well. When the current finally died, Sylas's grip fell from the hilt as his eyes rolled back in his head. Like a domino falling in slow motion, his unconscious body tipped backwards. Just as he would have landed on the kraken's tongue, the giant monster vanished, dusting him in soot before he was engulfed by the sea.
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blair carmichael
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Blair wasn't a tracker... or a fighter. So wandering her way through the forest with the echoing of distant screams, from campers and otherwise, proved to be a bit of a challenge. Luckily, she was smart enough to steer clear of any noises. She had no undying need to help any of the campers, she barely knew them. At that moment it was about self preservation and nothing else... Well, maybe finding someone who knew what the hell was going on and how to stop it. She highly doubted this was another training exercise.
It seemed when the screams might have faded away, for a time, there came hurried footsteps. Blair ducked behind a tree not knowing what to expect. Monster? Camper? Camper being chased by a monster? As the running drew closer, she noticed it was Nick and cursed under her breath. She didn't know if she was pissed or relieved it was him. Her brother told her to seek him out but he owed her nothing, and after what happened earlier that night she wasn't the biggest fan of him.
"Nasty gashes, but I canβt take you to the infirmary," Nick said as he reached her and took her biceps into his hands.
"I never liked hospitals anyway," Blair replied sardonically, using sarcasm as a defense mechanism like she often did. She sucked in a sharp breath and flinched as Nick started trying to bandage her shoulder. "Mother fucker!" she cursed, smacking his chest lightly in reflex.
Once Nick finished, he pulled a robe over her shoulders... Although definitely a woman's robe given how silky it was. Blair's brows furrowed slightly, but she didn't argue to the extra layer. She had almost forgotten she was shivering. There were more important things after all. "Raeβs out as a bird, so she wonβt miss this for now." She was tempted to make a snide comment insinuating that he spent the night with Rae, but even Blair had enough tact to know that it wasn't the time nor the place for her little green monster to come out.
Nick took her hand and started guiding them in a different direction. "Thereβs a Kraken at the beach. Iβll need you to think about how we are going to defeat that while we help others and get everyone there."
Blair scoffed as she tried to keep pace with him and watch where she was walking. "Do I look like a Kraken slayer to you!?"
They seemed to traverse a fair bit of the forest without an incident, but it didn't seem like that was going to last much longer. There was fast skittering around them in the brush which sounded far too quick to be a demigod, or anything with only two legs. Blair's gaze followed Nick's back over their shoulders. Her eyes widened at the sight of spiders that could have given Shelob a run for her money.
At first they tried to run but they were no match for the speed of the grotesque eight-legged creatures hurrying after them. Nick hollered after a rather large beefy looking camper who wanted absolutely nothing to do with the spiders, and pealed off in the opposite direction. Without any other options, Nick turned to face the hoard of spiders, putting himself between them and Blair. While she was thankfully for the act of chivalry, there was also no way one man could take on seven of the gigantic arachnids.
Nick made quick work of a few of them, swallowing them up in a chasm, but there were still three that remained. He seemed capable enough to take on two of them, but that still left one that was barreling right for her. Blair wasn't even brave enough to kill a normal spider without calling on the butler or her brother, let alone one the size of a car! She didn't have strength or agility on her side, so when the large bug reached her she was able to dodge it for a moment or two before getting knocked to the ground. She plunged an intangible hand up into the spider's body, like she did with the horse, but only got a fist full of spider goo. "Gross," she grimaced.
Pissed, the spider scooped her up in two of its arms then quickly began ascending the closest tree. Blair struggled against its hold but accomplished nothing. In the blink of an eye they were fifteen feet in the air as its legs started spinning and rolling her into a webbed cocoon. The spider's silk, while easy enough for Nick to break free of, was too tough for her. Not wanting to be the monster's dinner and out of options, Blair went intangible and slipped free of the mummy-like wrappings. She fell several feet to the ground with a loud and painful thud that cracked a couple ribs and took the breath from her lungs.
The arachnid fell from the tree, landing above her with its legs encompassing her like a gross hairy prison. Before she could talk herself out of it, Blair grabbed the spider's back two legs and went intangible, letting herself and the back half of the creature sink into the ground. She hated letting herself phase into the ground, it was like swimming in a pitch black pool, she couldn't breathe or see which way was up.
After nearly a minute, Blair finally found the chasm Nick created and emerged a few feet down in the crevice. She gasped for air before weakly pulling herself out. Unfortunately, the spider still wasn't dead. While its ass end was stuck in the ground like cement, its free legs flailed around while the monster screeched in protest.
Tired and still trying to catch her breath, Blair grabbed a decent sized stick and walked towards it. As the the spider craned its head closer to try and bite her, she thrust the stick through one of its eyes and into its exoskeleton. The spider's head popped like beach ball sized zit, covering Blair in a putrid green ooze.
She stood there frozen in a shocked, and disgusted, silence as the arachnid vanish in a poof of ash and embers. Then all at once, she doubled over and wretched up whatever contents were in her stomach. She remained on her hands and knees heaving until nothing else came out, and heaved a bit more. Her body trembled violently. Blair couldn't tell if it was from the cold or the strong wave of nausea that overcame her, probably both.
She could barely steady her hands as she pulled off the robe and used it to try and clean herself. Blair was able to wipe the spider's guts away from her mouth and eyes, if nothing else, as Nick approached her, obviously free of spiders. "Catch up with Liam or keep up," he said before he started off towards the beach once again.
Blair's legs felt like noodles as she got to her feet and discarded the ruined robe. She did her best to keep up, but was quickly falling behind. Every few steps her stomach knotted, threatening to wretch once again. When she reached the beach awhile after Nick, her legs could no longer carry her. Her knees buckled and she toppled over, nearly getting a face full of sand before her hands caught her.
She watched the others dodge tentacles and fight the massive kraken from behind goo soaked hair. How the hell was Blair supposed to help? She wasn't a fighter, nor did she have a wealth of knowledge about sea creatures. The only thing that came to mind was that octopi have three hearts.... But how was that helpful? If a Kraken was enough like an octopus, it might have three hearts, but that was a shot in the dark. And, as it seemed, was knowledge that quickly became irrelevant.
Nick had just collapsed on the beach after stabbing one of the hearts. Then some flying boy with a lightning ball, presumably one of Zeus's bastards, landed beside him. βManaged to explode one of the hearts, but that was after the damn thing swallowed one of us. Iβm just hoping they survive in there long enough for us to get them outβ¦ somehow.β
Not a moment later, the kraken became a cloud of ashes and embers like all the other monsters when they perished. Just barely visible through the smoke, Blair caught a quick glimpse of Sylas as he fell lifelessly into the water. "Sylas!?" she called out.
With a new rush of adrenalin, Blair pushed off the ground and ran through the sand towards the water. She might not have been a child of Poseidon, but she was still one of the strongest swimmers at her prep school. Plus, Sylas was one of the closest things she had to a friend at this bullshit camp... And no one else seemed to be rushing to his aid.
Just as her feet touched the frigid water and she prepared to dive, a vine the size of an anaconda shot out of the forest, wrapping itself around her legs. Before Blair had known what happened, she was yanked to the ground and pulled back into the woods like a frog's tongue that had just caught a fly.
She screamed as was pulled further in, while rocks, branches and anything else on the forest floor scratched and marred her body. Blair tried to grab hold of anything and get free, but whatever pulled her was stronger. Far past a normal point of exhaustion and with her head bouncing around like a rattle, she didn't have the strength or focus to use her powers effectively. Once or twice she managed to make her legs intangible but it was only for a second, and once they materialized the vine got hold of her again before she had time to stand.
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wesley preston
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They continued through the woods trying to find someone else, or an intact cabin, all the while a bit too exposed. While Wes wasn't a bashful type of guy, it wasn't his idea of fun being completely nude with how cold it was that night. But more pressing, was Trinity not being fully clothed. Call him protective or selfish, but the only person who should see her like this was him. He didn't argue when she wished to walk rather than him carry her, but he still insisted on walking in front of her to help protect her modesty.
He wasn't as alert as Trinity was, so while she was able to dodge the flying demigod, when the boy crashed into the ground behind him Wes jumped, tripped over him, and almost fell over. "Heath?" Trinity said looking at the demigod on the ground.
Wes tried to keep himself between Trinity and Heath, last thing they needed was a nip slip. But quickly their nudity seemed to be far less important. It looked as though Heath had led a rather large boar in their direction. It squealed while kicking and bucking furiously. Luckily, the son of Athena managed to blind the creature. Unfortunately, that didn't make it any less dangerous.
To no surprise, Trinity was quick to action. She had the boar by its tusks and was pinned to a tree. Wes had half a mind to step in but with how close the creature was to her, he was worried about pissing it off more and getting her hurt. He gritted his teeth when she was bit, trying to think of something he could do. When Trin went to stab it in the heart, he held his breath hoping for her aim to be true, but in the very last minute it kicked and the blade missed.
Trinity was left crouched, frozen in front of the boar. Before common sense could worm its way into his mind, Wes raised his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly getting the animals attention. "Over here ugly!" The boar snorted then charged in his direction. Wes crouched like a sumo wrestler with his hands out and ready. Just before the angry swine could ram him, he grabbed its tusk and jerked its head sideways. Using the boar's momentum against it, he slammed his shoulder into is side and tackled it to the ground.
He wrestled with the boar, using all his strength and might to keep the creature down. Amidst their tussle, Wes got a tusk in his thigh and a few good kicks in the ribs. He groaned through gritted teeth, but didn't let up. After a few more minutes, bruised and bloody, he managed to get his mechanical arm around the boar's throat in a tight chokehold. One leg kept the animal pinned while the other pushed off the ground to give himself the most leverage possible. It squealed and screeched as his arm tightened and lighting began to spark along its tusks.
Wes only had two choices release the boar or get electrocuted. He cursed under his breath and clenched his jaw, bracing himself. The shock ran up his metal arm and throughout his body. Wes's skin felt tingly and on fire, but he didn't let go. His arm was short circuiting from the shock and he knew he didn't have long before it stopped working all together. With all his strength, Wes yanked back on the boar's head until there was a sickening snap and its body went limp.
Before it had a chance to vanish, Wes jumped off the boar cursing as he tried to remove his steaming mechanical arm. "Hot! Hot! Hot! Fuck!" He winced, burning his fingers as he ripped the arm off and tossed it aside. He stood still, his chest heaving and covered in sweat as he tried to come to terms with what just happened. His face scrunched catching a whiff of burning hair. He ran his fingers across his forehead, finding his eyebrows were singed off.
Then like the fog was lifted, he hurried over to Trinity. He held by her upper arms gently as his gaze fell on the bite the boar gave her. "Are you ok?"
Not giving her a chance to inspect his own wounds, Wes slowly released his hold on her and looked around until he saw a cabin not far away. "You need clothes. Wait here."
Wes grabbed a rock off the ground and smashed one of the cabin's windows. With little regard for cuts, he carelessly climbed inside. He had no idea who's cabin it was, that was a problem to worry about later. Wes quickly found a dresser and pulled out what looked like a mens t-shirt and basketball shorts. From inside he was able to unlock the door and return to Trinity without getting anymore scrapes.
He held out the clothes to her. "Put this on." Wes slowly turned around, using his body as a wall to give her some privacy to get dressed. Once she was clothed, he was able to get his boxers back from her so he wasn't entirely naked.
"Ok," he nodded his head trying to think of what they needed to do next. "We need to get you to the infirmary before that gets infected." Wes took her hand in his and started towards the main area of camp. It was nothing personal to Heath, but in the heat of the chaos it seemed Wes had tunnel vision. He was lucky enough to protect Trinity once, but it wasn't likely to happen again. He needed her safe more than anything.
With his adrenalin rush wearing off, Wes's own wounds were becoming harder to ignore. His thigh was bleeding a little more than he was comfortable with from where the boar's tusk got him and he was starting to limp. The blood loss was making him lightheaded. He did his best to shake it off but his pace was slowing. He released Trinity's hand and pointed in the direction they were heading. "Go... I'll be right behind you." The stubborn woman never listened to him, but he hoped, just this once, she would.
