PJO: Wait... This Ain't Kansas (Patreon)

CHAPTER 2

Carrying a tired Annabeth by piggyback, they continued their way to one of the safe houses that Hephaestus built for demigods through a thick forest.

"Still, I'm impressed that you two can walk 3 miles without stopping for a moment."

Claud voiced his thoughts out loud as Thalia answered his thought.

"Demigod remember? We have better physique than a normal human being."

"Still, it's quite impressive. Also, didn't ask at all, who're your parents anyways?"

"No idea."

Her answer was short and quick, making Claud understand that both of her parents, both god and mortal.

"Well, from what I've found, usually we get a sign from the gods, but nothing yet."

Luke answered with a hint of disappointment before stopping for a second to check their location currently. Bringing out a compass and the map he showed yesterday night, he smiles at the group as he said.

"We're almost there, just a few minutes longer."

He said as he kept his compass and map back into his bag before continuing on, making all of them follow behind him.

As they were walking, suddenly Claud stops in place.

"Stop."

He said to the group as he put Annabeth back to the ground before bringing out Black Angel, prompting the group to be on their guard.

"Enemy?"

Thalia asked as she drew her spear out and activated the bracelet on her left wrist with a single tap, making a shield with a gorgon's face transform out of it.

"7! All 4-legged light footsteps and heading our way."

"Annabeth, stay in the middle. The rest, hurdle up and cover everyone's back!"

They did what Luke said as they turned their backs against each other, covering their backs as Annabeth was in the middle of the triangle formation.

"They're surrounding us! Thalia, 2 at 1 o'clock. Luke, 1 at 11!"

Claud informed as he points at a random bush, holding Black Angel with both arms before firing an ear-piercing shot.

BANG!

The sound of a cry rang as it prompted the remaining 6 to pounce out of the forest. The appearance of the monsters were massive dog-like creatures with fangs as long as a saber tooth's, glowing red eyes, and were very ugly.

"Hellhounds! Fast and agile!"

Luke provided as Claud stored it into his head before blasting Black Angel, watching as it bursts into the head of a hellhound, disintegrating its head instantly.

From what he was hearing behind him, he could hear Thalia kill one while Luke was instructing Annabeth on how to defeat the hellhounds while fending it off himself.

The hellhounds were fast, as fast as a 70 km/h car, but Claud faced against a demon that could move so fast that time stilled, so this was nothing in comparison compared to it.

With one last aim, he pulls the trigger as he hears the familiar sound of a bullet firing and soaring to its target.

BANG!

Watching demons fall from Black Angel had always been satisfying, no different from monsters.

Hearing that every monster was down, he pulls out the magazine of Black Angel to check how many bullets were left, and noted how many he had to recreate before slamming it back into Black Angel and pocketing it into his jacket.

"Everyone good?"

"Yeah."

"No problemo."

"I-I'm fine."

"Good, come on. We're almost there."

After calming themselves, they continued their journey to the safe house.

Claud could only whistle when he found out the hideout of the safe house. On a mountain side.

'So that's why we headed into a forest...'

The moment Luke touches the base of the mountain side, the sound of gears could be heard near them as they started turning, eventually revealing a hallway with a handprint altar near a large door.

Walking inside, the opening in the mountain side closes a few seconds later, prompting Annabeth to clutch onto Luke's hand harder.

"Relax, this is to make sure that no monster can get in."

He patted her head as he walked up to the altar and places his hand into the handprint.

After a few more seconds, the large door slides open to reveal a room with beds, fridges, and weapons hanging on the wall.

"Sick..."

Claud muttered as they made themselves at home, putting their things down before exploring the place.

The first thing Claud did upon entering the safe house... Was to find something to eat.

Hey, he was starving alright? Marshmallows could only do so much to the hungry stomach of a kid.

Opening one of the fridges, he whistled as he sees a bunch of food ingredients in it. Eggs, fruits, vegetables, meat, and unfrozen pizza.

"Nice!"

He said out loud as he grabs two boxes, watching the emptied spots refill with pizza, making him grin. Walking to the kitchen area that he saw nearby, he quickly placed both pizzas on a plate before putting it into the microwave to defrost it. Then while it was defrosting, he walked to the oven to preheat it for some delicious pizza.

"Really? The first thing you do is eat?"

Thalia asked as she watches from a bed, making him just huff.

"A pizza a day keeps demo — monsters away, Thalia. Simple as that."

He said, ignoring the mistake that he just made, before humming a tune, cranking the oven's temp up to 190℃ to preheat the oven.

Looking at the beds, he sees that 3 were now claimed. Thalia and Annabeth's beds were between Luke's, so he just takes out his jacket and places it next to Thalia's before walking to the weapons on the wall while waiting for the pizza.

Luke was now teaching Annabeth about Greek Mythology, more specifically the monsters that are most common to help her fend off the monsters better. What a kind kid.

Thalia was just watching them fondly, since Luke was more experienced with monsters, along with the fact that she just bashes monsters without a thought. Instincts, she says.

"Any weapon that's NOT Greek?"

He asked Thalia who just hums in thought.

"I think there are weapons from other pantheons in that room, the last safe house had them in a separate room."

"Neat, thanks!"

And with a wave, he goes to the room that she pointed.

Damn, there's nothing in here that's nice at all.

He thought as he looked through the dozen of weapons in here. All were mostly broken spears, swords, and the occasional bow and arrows with tipped bronze.

'I might just take that.'

He looked at a western bow with reinforced steel for support of the strength of a demigod and tipped arrows for a while before grabbing them. The more weapons the better.

When he was about to walk and get it however, something caught his eye. It was a long weapon from the looks of it, wrapped in red cloth that felt VERY divine. His arms even grew goosebumps from just being close to it.

'The hell?'

He reached out for it, and the moment his fingertip is in touch of it, he reels back his arm in pain.

"Ouch!"

Looking at his finger, he gulps as he sees the skin of the finger was burnt with the scent of burnt flesh as if something the level of lava just touched it.

Remembering to note it to either Luke or Thalia since they were more experienced with the "Other Side", he grabs the bow and two quivers full of tipped arrows before walking out.

"So, why don't demigods just camp in here and not go outside?"

He asked as he chews on another slice of pizza that he reheated. They were now on the dining table in the kitchen area eating pizza and drinking fruit juice. He was drinking a strawberry one.

"Well, a few things. First, there's a 3-day access limit. Once you've registered into the safe room, you have a 3-day timer. If you leave at all, it goes to 0, and you can't go back in for a year. It's for safety reasons, in case a monster gets into here."

"That doesn't sound efficient at all. Don't the safe rooms already have scanners from what you’ve said?"

"You think the gods care? One month to them is a second."

Thalia said with food in her mouth as she took another slice of pizza.

"Hey! I was aiming that!"

"Too bad ~ !"

"That's the gist of it, Annabeth Oh, and also, we need to train you to fight. Just because you have the knowledge of the monster's weak points doesn't mean that you can translate that in real life."

"What about him?"

She points at Claud who opened his mouth wide before gomping on a slice of pizza.

"From just now, I've seen that he's quite experienced, so I can use my full attention to train you instead. We need all hands in order to survive in this world."

He says with a stern tone as Annabeth nods, cutting her slice of pizza with a fork and knife before eating it.

"Oh, yeah. By the way guys, I found something interesting back in the store room. After this, we should check it out."

"What is that?"

Luke said with disdain in his tone as they looked at the spear. Both him and Annabeth were a few meters away from it with goosebumps all over their body while Thalia just looked at them confused.

"What? It's just a red cloth."

Looking at the unaffected girl, Claud gave a good idea.

"Open it."

"What?!"

"No! Claud, what in the world — ?"

"Clearly, she's not affected by what we're feeling, so might as well just open it and cure our curiosity no? Besides, Thalia and Annabeth are both game."

Luke turns to Annabeth who had a blush on her face as she looked away, consumed by the curiosity of the red clothed weapon. After a second of thought, Luke just cursed quietly (His mouth was saying "Fuck it") before nodding, letting Thalia walk towards it.

The moment she touched the red cloth, it suddenly unveils itself automatically without anyone's help, shining a bright light as everyone covered their eyes to block the light from their eyes.

The light burnt Claud's skin as he resisted the pain without yelling, using his demonic energy within him to instantly heal the wounds at the same rate of the burning.

After a few seconds, the light fades away as Claud heavily panted from using almost 70% of his reserves, making sure to quickly heal himself once more before looking at the source of the problem and pain.

Floating was a spear in silverish-grey, with a long spearhead the length of a ruler with a circle hole in the middle of the blade. The texture of the spear head was like damascus, but more fierce and untamed. 

The handle of the spear was golden and white, with accents of black on the middle of the handle. The end of the spear had two symbol of an infinite upwards,  parallel to the spearhead's flat ends.

The power from it was pure. Too pure. Pure enough to corrode his demon heritage skin and is affecting his circulation of demonic energy.

"W-What is that?"

Luke gasped at the weapon as Thalia grabs the spear and thwirls it around with ease, not showing any problems whatsoever.

"It feels light, really light. Wanna try, Luke?"

She asked with a grin as she tossed the spear to Luke, making him dodge the spear upon instinct, but before the spear landed on the ground, it stuck floating an inch from the ground.

"Huh, neat."

"H-How's that even possible? Gravity — "

"Means squash to gods, sorry Annabeth, but laws are basically useless when it comes to divine stuff."

"Divine? You know this thing, Claud?"

Oh shit. He and his non-existing filters. He guessed that it runs deep within the family.

"Ugh... I felt something like it before. A few months ago, something saved me and it felt... Like this."

It was true, he was not lying about the "pure" part of the story. Met an angel once, when he was about 20 something years old. Was so weird that his mind turned off from the presence.

Suddenly, the spear straightened itself mid air before launching at Thalia who effortrlessly grabs it, looking at it with glee and amazement.

"Ohhh it even has an auto-return feature! Sick!"

Bad timing, spear. Bad timing.

"Does anyone know what to call it?"

Everyone looked at Annabeth who looked away in embarassment at so many people looking at her.

"I mean, Claud said that it's divine. Shouldn't it have a name?"

"That is true..."

Luke gave his thoughts as he rubbed his chin.

"Hmm... How about Gungnir?"

"Like Odin's spear?"

Annabeth asked Claud who gave the suggesting.

"I don't know, Claud. Odin's..."

"I mean, you'd think that he'll get mad at a spear taking it's name? I bet there're millions of poeple who use the name Gungnir all the time."

He looked at Thalia who just stared at her new weapon.

"Gungnir... It's perfect."

With a clap of his hands, he lets everyone's attention move to him.

"Alright, so it's decided. The spear will now be called Gungnir. Great job guys, time to hit the sack. I'm sleepy as fuck."

"Language!"

Luke retorted with wide eyes as he quickly glanced at Annabeth who just tilts her head.

"Fuck?"

"... Oh fuck."

"Stop it!"

Thalia yelled as the spear suddenly gets wrapped in the red clothing, reducing it's presence by 90%, making her look back at Gungnir.

"Huh, an auto-sheathing function."

"Claud! You're grounded! Annabeth, don't ever say that again, please!"

This scene was just so laughable, making him laugh heartfully as he quickly exits the store room to avoid another scolding from Luke.