The early morning sounds of the forest flooded his ears as he walked past the tall trees, birds singing with deceptively sweet songs and wild animals crying out to one another. He limped through the wood, dizzy and not knowing what was going on. Where was he? How did he get here? Why was he here at all? He had no idea. His mind was a blur, a darkened, incomprehensible mess. He could remember a few key words though: "power," "battle," and "help" being among the few that he could think of.

The sounds of large beasts hunting their prey entered the area. He could hear them running around him, attempting to surround him. He instinctively knew that he was in no condition to fight. If he stood his ground here and now, he would surely be killed. He began to move faster, going as quickly as his injured leg would allow. He had to find help somehow. He could only hope that there was someone nearby who could.

"Gods save me," he muttered to himself as he sprinted as best he could.

-o-

Percy Jackson yawned exhaustedly as he sat up from his bed in the Poseidon cabin. He had a long night of weird dreams. And that was saying a lot. He could remember a few details about the visions: an evil fog of darkness, some kind of fading green light that seemed to be leaning against a flaming bow, and some kind of triangular symbol. Maybe Annabeth or Rachel Dare could help him sort those images out. The last thing he wanted was to have nightmares about another apocalypse scenario, but it couldn't hurt to at least know for sure.

He quickly got dressed in a pair of tan shorts and his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and went to check his schedule. He had picked up a habit from Annabeth to cross out days that had already passed by, and that had helped him considerably when it comes to making a proper schedule. Today was Monday, so after breakfast, he'll have to practice his Ancient Greek writing and speech, help prepare lunch for the day, then he'll have archery lessons. He groaned at that last one. He was pretty much the worst archer in the whole camp, but it was still required of him to take lessons.

Sighing to himself and heading out of his cabin, he made for the pavilion, where he'd be eating breakfast. At least today couldn't possibly get any worse, right?

-o-

He could hear them behind him. They were taking their time, toying with their prey. Even as he acknowledged this, he didn't stop moving. He couldn't fight. He needed to find somebody, anybody, who could help him. He stumbled briefly over an exposed tree root, but quickly regained his footing and hurried to maintain his original pace.

Eventually, he could see small buildings from between the trees ahead of him. It may have been a village of some kind. He was close to civilization now, and possibly close to being saved from whatever was chasing him. He just needed to get closer.

-o-

The pavilion was packed as usual, crowded with demigods, satyrs, and nymphs, plus the centaur and god who oversaw just about everything at camp. Mr. D was sipping from a can of Diet Coke with a look of boredom and disinterest as usual, while Chiron beamed at the campers as they ate.

It was a typical morning, Percy thought as he sat down at his table and was about to start eating a plate of eggs. He wasn't really in the mood for a big breakfast, even knowing that the day was probably going to be as tiring as usual. Before he could really start enjoying his meal, however, a tray of food suddenly collapsed on him, burying the son of Poseidon under scrambled eggs and sausages, with orange juice dripping down his back. The others laughed at him, and even Annabeth over at the Athena table had to suppress a snicker.

"Oh, geez, I'm so sorry!" a girl spoke from behind. He turned to face a girl about his age, with shoulder-length dark hair and bright blue eyes. She had fair skin that was accentuated by the brightness of her camp shirt and her long dark pants. "I'm such a klutz! I-I'll go get you some paper towels!" As she was about run off Percy raised his arm in front of her.

"It's all right, I'm fine," he assured the girl, but she didn't seem too convinced. "Just go get yourself a new plate. I'll worry about the eggs in my hair, all right?"

"Er… okay. If you say so…" The girl then hurried off, clearly more embarrassed than she should've been. Percy sighed as he looked down at his food. It had gotten all soggy thanks to the orange juice that had made it over his head. With a shrug, he picked up a sausage off of the table and bit into it. The orange juice made it sort of tangy, but it was still pretty good.

He looked around, feeling bored with nobody to talk to, and noticed the girl from earlier again, this time apparently taking a longer route to her table, and clearly attempting to be more careful. She soon sat down at the Apollo cabin's table, where she began chatting with her siblings like nothing had happened. Curious, he made a mental note to ask Annabeth if she knew anything about that girl. He hadn't heard anything about a new camper lately, and even if he had, it had probably slipped his mind somehow.

Out of nowhere, he heard the sound of a pack of hellhounds chasing something out of the nearby forest. He wasn't the only one, as the other demigods all shot up at once, all looking as if they were ready to fight. Out of the woods came a figure dressed in green, followed by the hellhounds. The guy in green looked armed, but injured. Percy immediately took Riptide out of his pocket and uncapped it, letting it grow into its sword form, then charged with others who had also has weapons ready (which was nearly everyone in camp).

The hellhounds all stopped their chase once they saw the force of angry half-bloods and fled back into the forest. The guy they had chased out limped over to the campers as they approached, letting everyone get a good look at him.

He wore a forest green tunic, but more of medieval England kind of tunic than Greek, with a matching floppy-looking cap, with light brown leggings and dark brown riding boots. He wore a pair of leather fingerless gloves over his hands. He had wild blue eyes and light brown hair. He was clearly only around seventeen or so, but he looked as though he'd been in a fight with a trash compactor and barely made it out alive. His most bizarre feature, however, was his ears: they were long and pointed, almost as if he were an elf.

Before anyone could do or say anything, the guy collapsed, his legs buckling under his own weight. Almost instantly, camp healers surrounded him. That was about when Chiron and Mr. D made it to the scene. "What's going on here?" the centaur asked.

"This guy was chased out of the woods by a pack of hellhounds!" Percy heard the voice of Will Solace call back. "He looks like he's in bad shape!" Eyes wide, Chiron galloped over to the collapsed young man, but his shock gradually merged with a look of confusion.

"Get a stretcher, quickly," Chiron ordered. "Get him to the Big House immediately." The Apollo campers nodded, and three of them ran off to get the stretcher. Chiron then made his way back to Mr. D. He whispered something to the wine god, whose eyes widened slightly, but quickly returned to their usual bored look. Percy knew almost instantly that that meant trouble.

"Attention, senior counselors!" Chiron called. "There will be a meeting in the Big House after breakfast! Everyone else, just go about your day as you normally would. Dismissed!"

With a few worried murmurs, and what may have been curses from the Ares campers, everyone returned to the dining pavilion. Before, Percy sat down, Annabeth came up to him and simply said, "What do you think?"

"That something bad is going to happen," Percy admitted with a shrug. "It usually does. When some guy comes into camp being chased by hellhounds, I'm gonna say that that's a bad sign."

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed with small nod. "I wonder what it's going to be this time?"

"Who knows? Could be a hoard of angry monsters out to get revenge. Again. But I've got a feeling that we're in for something way bigger than that." They were silent for a few moments after that. "I think Chiron and Mr. D know something that we don't."

"That'd be nothing new. I saw Chiron whisper something to Mr. D. Maybe they know who that guy is?"

Percy sat down and leaned back in his seat with a lazy groan. "I guess we'll find out at that meeting."

Annabeth nodded. "See you then, I guess." She turned to leave, but stopped and turned to land a quick kiss on her boyfriend's cheek. "Good morning, by the way."

"Morning," Percy replied as the daughter of Athena returned to her table and her siblings. He turned his eyes to the sky then, watching as clouds hovered past. He hadn't been lying about that bad feeling in his gut. Whenever something bad was coming, he just knew it. That was one of the many things that made being a demigod both a good and bad thing. Bad things were always just around the corner.

Chiron paced with a worried, almost distraught, expression, his hooves clopping hard against the wooden floor of the Big House. Dionysus was sitting, tapping his foot impatiently. After several moments of this, Chiron finally stopped and said, "You and the other Olympians had said that you had set up a barrier between here and there. What happened?"

"It must have gotten weaker over time," the wine god replied with a shrug of genuine lack of knowing. "At least this kid doesn't look like too much of a threat."

"That is what you said about that damnable mask that came through and fell into Adolf Hitler's hands!" Chiron exclaimed, angrily throwing his arms into the air. "That mask turned a man who had a good heart in a cold-blooded murderer almost overnight! Who knows what this boy may be capable of?"

"This is a mortal boy we're talking about," Dionysus stated matter-of-factly. "If he proves to be any kind of threat, I'll deal with him personally. Shouldn't be too hard, really."

Chiron sighed and gave a reluctant nod. He chuckled slightly. "In a situation like this, I'm usually the one who is the voice of reason. One of us is rubbing off on the other."

"Whatever," the wine god muttered as he took a swig of Diet Coke.

-o-

The darkened skies shrouded the land in bleak shadows, howls of unholy creatures flooding the once proud kingdom. The castle was occupied by the invaders, monsters that had showed no remorse. The demons whipped captured prisoners to keep them moving. Upon a balcony overlooking the city that surrounded the castle, a tall, muscular, heavily armored man stood with a malicious, victorious grin on his features. The kingdom was finally his. After all these years, he had finally won.

"Milord," said a woman's voice from behind him. The large man turned to see one of his generals, a dark sorceress, standing with several other armored warriors at her side. "We have found her." She stepped aside to reveal a young woman, only about eighteen or so, with long blond hair and sparkling blue eyes, her hands bound behind her back. Her royal dress was tattered torn in several areas, looking as though she had fought back to keep from being captured.

The armored man grinned and approached the young woman, easily towering over her. He lowered himself to eye level with her, his villainous smile never wavering. "So…" he said in a deep, powerful baritone. "Your kingdom is mine now, Princess Zelda. Would you be so kind as to give me what I seek now?"

The girl named Zelda narrowed her eyes at the man. "Never. You will never have the power you desire. Besides, even if I gave you the part of it that I carry, you would still need to find the last piece."

The man's smile shifted ever so slightly. "And where might the last piece be?"

"I will never tell you, King of Evil. All you need to know is that it's safe from your grasp. And once its owner returns, he'll have found help. You will never truly win."

"Is that so?" the king inquired. He stood to his full height once again and faced the sorceress who now stood by his side. "Take her to the dungeons, Veran. Do whatever you deem necessary to get the information out of her, but don't kill her. I need her alive to achieve my goals."

The witch named Veran bowed. "As you wish, Lord Ganondorf." With that, she led the armored soldiers and princess out of the chamber, leaving the huge man to himself.

Ganondorf returned to looking out over the balcony, his hands behind his back, his cape fluttering slightly in the wind. He smiled once more. Total conquest was just within his grasp. The gods will kneel before him.