Chapter Five

Percy stared at his hands. He could feel the power surging through his body, but he wasn't able to control it properly. He glanced at Jet, who was looking at him curiously.

"How do you control the fire properly?" Percy asked. Jet rubbed his chin, thinking.

"Well, I really have no idea how it works. I just think it, and it basically happens. Generally, that's how it works for most of us." Jet said.

"Hmm…. Alright. I should probably practice before that shadow demon gets back," Percy nodded to himself. It had been half an hour before that they had had their initial clash with the shadow demon. Still stuck in the clearing, Jet had lit a blue ring of fire around them so that they would have advance warning if the shadow demon attacked.

Jet stared at Percy, analyzing him. The new recruit was definitely something unique. I've never seen anybody be unable to control their powers. Either he's super incompetent, or… he's got some power inside. He heard a rustle in the forest around them, and lit a blue fireball instinctively. After a few moments of uneventful silence, he extinguished it and sighed. When are they going to open a portal for the others to come help?

The moon above, dim as it was, was gradually being covered by dark clouds. The light in the forest was also growing dimmer, and even Jet's fire seemed to roar weaker than before. Percy looked up just as the moon became fully covered.

"Well, that can't be good." He muttered.

"No, it probably isn't." Jet replied. "Any luck with controlling your power?"

"Not yet." Percy sighed. He looked around the clearing, and saw a three-foot-long branch with a sharp end. He grabbed it, and held it in front of Jet. "You mind lighting the tip of this? Better to fight with consistent fire than inconsistent fire, in my opinion."

Jet nodded, and he lit the tip of the branch on fire.

Percy balanced the branch in his hands, noting its weight. It's like a hybrid between torch and spear, he thought to himself, and chuckled.

There was a howl in the air. Not an animalistic howl, but the chilling howl of a cold wind. That wind blew into the clearing, instantly extinguishing the ring of fire that Jet had created. The torch that Percy had just lit was also extinguished.

Jet quickly lit Percy's spear-torch again before he brandished two blue fireballs.

The shadow demon emerged from the trees into the clearing, dragging its club on the ground behind it. Jet blasted it with a fireball, and the shadow demon swung its club into it, extinguishing the flame.

"There's no way Chaos is putting us in this dangerous of a situation, right?" Percy asked.

Jet didn't respond. The shadow demon rushed them, and they jumped aside, Percy swinging his spear-torch at the shadow demon. It ricocheted off of armor, and Jet's ensuing fireball at the shadow demon's back was met with the same fate.

The shadow demon turned around, and just stood there. Percy and Jet stared at it, slowly putting distance between themselves and their foe. After they were a good distance away, Jet sent a blast of fire towards the shadow demon, who blocked it with its club again. Percy analyzed the shadow demon's armor. It seemed to cover the demon everywhere. How are we supposed to kill this thing?

Jet thrust both of his hands forward, unleashing a continuous stream of blue fire against the shadow demon, who raised its club to block it. For a few moments, Percy watched in awe. The shadow demon was being pushed back, and its club seemed to be melting.

The demon roared in annoyance as its club was eviscerated, and put up its arms to absorb the fire.

Percy noticed that Jet was straining. He's almost out of gas… Percy thought furiously. He stared at the demon again. Now that its arms were up to defend against Jet's fire, there was a gap under the arm, where the armor didn't cover. Percy raced forward.

As he reached the shadow demon, the demon swung an arm at him. Percy ducked, and jumped up, throwing the spear-torch at the gap. He watched in satisfaction as he saw the spear-torch pierce through.

Jet's fire subsided, and he collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Both he and Percy watched as the shadow demon erupted into blue flames, and disappeared.

"You alright?" Percy called over the distance.

"Yeah." Jet panted out. "Thanks for the help."

"No, I should be thanking you," Percy replied. "You did the hard part."

Jet chuckled. "Perhaps," he said with a smile. "But at least now the portal should come and we can get the hell out of here."

Percy smiled. He walked over and sat down next to Jet. He thought about his fire powers. I really need to get this down…

There was a burst of black fire, and a man stepped through, clad head-to-toe with black armor trimmed with gold. If black could glow, his eyes certainly reflected it.

Jet and Percy got up, both nervous. It seemed that this figure was from Chaos' group, but for some reason, they both felt uneasy.

The figure ignored Jet and stared straight at Percy. For a few moments, the three stood in silence.

"Are you here to take us back to the headquarters?" Jet asked, breaking the silence. There was no response. Then, suddenly, a black blaze erupted in front of the man, and it shot towards Percy. Jet jumped in front of Percy, shooting his own blue fire in response.

The two fireballs collided, but the black fireball quickly consumed the blue one and slammed into Jet, who was blasted into Percy. They flew for several feet before hitting the ground. Percy groaned as he regained composure.

"You okay, Jet?" He asked. There was no response, and when looked at Jet's body, he saw that he was heavily injured. He then stared at the figure in black. "Whoa, dude. Chill out. We are all part of Chaos' army."

The figure gave a low chuckle.

"No, Percy Jackson. We are not all part of Chaos' army." The voice was the deepest voice Percy had ever heard, laced with hidden pain.

Percy knew he had to delay. He had no effective way of controlling his powers, and Jet was out of action. The only way was to stall for help to come. If help comes. He shrugged the thought aside.

"What do you mean? Are you not part of Chaos' group? Then why do you have black fire?" He asked.

"Not everyone with fire works for Chaos." The figure stood still. "I know what you're trying to do, Percy. It won't work."

He then shot a black blaze at Percy, who rolled to avoid it. Another black fireball, and Percy jumped back. He saw the ground where he was smolder before his eyes.

The figure stopped for a few seconds, and Percy instantly knew who his next target was going to be. The figure channeled a black sphere of fire in front of him, and Percy raced towards Jet's body. Just as the figure unleashed a torrent of black fire, Percy placed himself with Jet's limp body and the fire. He close his eyes, praying for his powers to save him.

He could feel an incredible force against him, but he stood his ground, gritting his teeth. When he opened his eyes, he saw a red sphere of fire surrounding him, staving off the black flames. For now. Percy felt the red sphere of fire around him, and realized that he could control it. It was quickly losing integrity. Percy reinforced it, thrusting his hands in front of him to help him do so.

Despite his newfound control of his powers, Percy could feel the black flame crushing his fire-shield. As he strained to keep his protective sphere burning, he fell to one knee over the incredible effort needed. A few seconds later, he gave out, collapsing to the ground.

His consciousness started fading. He saw the figure walk over to him, and stare down at him.

"I have to say, I'm impressed, Percy." The deep voice echoed around the forest. "Very impressed. No one has lasted that long against me in quite a while."

There were multiple flashes of purple light in the clearing, as portals began opening. The last thing Percy saw before he drifted into unconsciousness was an eruption of purple and green beams of fire in the clearing.

Percy was dreaming.

He was on the moon. Not just any random moon in the Universe, it was Earth's moon. He looked around. There was a lot of barren surface surrounding him. He wondered why he wasn't suffocating.

"I hope you have good news." Percy whipped around, to see the man in black who had just tried to kill him standing in front of what seemed to be the male version of Chaos.

The man in black kneeled, bowing his head.

"Forgive me, Order. I failed. The boy was able to survive long enough –"

"Silence!" Order shouted. The man fell silent. "You are a black fire user, Zerus. You really can't take out a red fire user – a complete novice at that?"

"My lord, he was much more powerful than any red fire user I have ever seen. His power perhaps –"Zerus, the man in black armor, was silenced as he was blasted back by Order.

"I cannot believe I entrusted you with this important of a task." Order snarled. "Next time, I will be sure to use others who are more suited for the task."

Zerus scrambled to put himself together and got on his knees again, bowing his head in deference.

"May I ask again why it is so imperative that we kill this boy? He is very strong, but he is still just a red fire user." Zerus asked, albeit hesitantly.

"Perseus Jackson will play a very crucial role in the coming war, Zerus." Order responded. "He has the potential to tip the balance into the favor of either me or Chaos. I would rather not take the chance and just kill him now."

Percy gulped.

"The war will begin soon, Zerus." Order looked off at the Sun. "And when it comes, everything in the Universe will be up for grabs."

He suddenly stopped, and stared straight at Percy.

"Well, well, well. It looks like we have an intruder." He smiled wickedly at Percy before shooting a blast of energy at him.