CHAPTER 6: MEETING A HERMIT

Percy's POV

So there we were, in the middle of a sea of black, hacking and slashing at the threat that seemed to do no terrible damage to us. I could barely see in front of me and tried desperately to control the swings of my sword to avoid hitting anyone on our side. I slashed at one horse while another knocked me off my feet, after being turned to dust from an arrow fired by an Apollo Camper, I felt like I was fired from a cannon. My whole body ached and my head was pounding while I was terrified of what was happening because no matter how many we destroyed, ten more seemed to fill its place.

This thing is like a Hydra times ten! I screamed in my head as I turned to see who was beside me in the sea of darkness. To my right I could barely make out Chiron running through the sand with Annabeth and an Apollo camper on his back, slicing and shooting any horses in their path while he trampled them. The battle raged for a few minutes but let me say this, if you've ever been hit by a wave from the ocean, add the pain of being trampled by a horse and you have what I experienced whenever one ran through me. I was on the brink of passing out from exhaustion when all of the sand stopped in place as if frozen in time, then all of it collapsed to the ground, dissipating into the Earth.

I quickly looked around to see that no one was fatally injured, just a few cuts and bruises (myself included). As usual, Barney was nowhere to be found so I decided the best place to find him would be where we least expected him to be...the Big House. Every time I walk up to this building I get flashbacks, good and bad, of when I was younger. I remember being fed Ambrosia while Annabeth said I drooled, discussing plans for the Battle of the Labyrinth, and the beginning of the Battle of Manhattan. I opened the door, being followed by my friends and Chiron, to see Barney passed out on the floor and pale as a ghost. I walked up to him to feel his forehead and felt it cold as ice, I summoned some water from the air and splashed a bit on his face to try and wake him up as gently as I could. Mission accomplished. His dark brown eyes opened instantly and looked up, surprised to see a mass of people looking down at him..

"Barney, are you alright?" I asked, I don't know why but for some reason I somehow felt responsible for him. I felt like it was my mission to protect him even though I knew he would be in constant danger, due to being a demigod but also because he's Barney. I pretty much decided that there was more to him under his exterior than what he let on, he looked sad at moments when the attention wasn't on him or his eyes would droop as if he were remembering something terrible and long forgotten. Plus, I was just plain curious as to who he was exactly, I just met him and yet I felt like I knew so much and so little about the guy at the same time. When he finally got his bearings, he lifted himself into a sitting position on the ground where he had fallen and started looking around the room for something.

After about three seconds of him looking around quickly he turned his dark brown eyes to me, "Fine thanks. Now, where's the attic to this place?" He asked as I looked at him, wondering why he would need to go there.

Barney's POV During Battle (I know right?)

The black sand came rushing towards us like a pack of angry toddlers hungry for either blood or peanut butter...I was hoping for peanut butter. Everyone around me jumped into a ton of seemingly random formations and started pulling out weapons...where can I get a weapon? Do you happen to have a magical bazooka blessed by Zeus? I'll settle for a large stick blessed by Superman. Was he a God? I think so, he's freaking awesome! Oh right, sand threatening to kill us...

I snapped out of my random thinking to see myself in a small hole in the sand. It was swirling around me like a hurricane of tar, I could see bits and pieces of other people slicing through sand and every once in a while I would have to dodge a rogue sand formation. Was that a poodle? I wondered as time seemed to slow down and out came the creepiest dude of the century.

He was pale, like that newly bought white crayon you get and never use unless...well, you never really use it. His hair was slicked back with what looked like grease and was long, about to the ground. Wait, he was wearing a black trench-coat. I focused a bit more and saw that his hair went down to the back of his neck, his trench-coat looked like the blackest black there was (almost purple) and I thought I could see ripples in it of random shapes and sizes. His hands were behind his back and his voice was smooth but I could tell instantly this guy was bad mojo and wanted nothing more than to either offer me some delicious chocolate-chip cookie dough his girl scout troop was selling or to cause only fear and panic, I was really hoping for the ice cream offer. I tried to imagine him in a pure white outfit with the name tag, "Mr. Devour-Your-Soul-But-First-Eat-This-Poisoned-Ice-C ream" (or Phil to his friends), and a cheesy grin on his face as he drove down a suburban street in his pure white ice cream truck blaring annoying music to attract kids and their parent's wallets.

"Well hello my good fellow, I was just passing by and saw this beautiful camp and thought I'd pay a visit." He grinned at me like he knew something I didn't, which he probably did.

"I'm pretty sure you're too old for camp, maybe they have a cool Greek nursing home nearby?" I said as we did the signature 'two-people-walk-in-a-circle-having-intense-banter ' thing that always happened in movies.

"I see you're just as promised my little goblin." He stopped and waved his hand, creating a throne of black sand from the ground. Wow, what a lazy man. Ha, a lazy man sitting on what looks like a "Lazy Boy" chair. Wait, did he just call me a goblin?!

"I'm not a goblin! Okay, I admit I can be a bit of trouble but I look nothing like a Green Goblin. I'm a fan of Mr. Parker's work and like the spider dude!" I retorted truthfully, Peter Parker does take good pictures; well from what I've seen. He is fictional after all. The dude with greasy hair was about to retort but was knocked flat on his back as a horse came barreling through the barrier with a goat boy riding on it hitting the horse on the head with a tree branch.

"Ugh! You imbecile!" He screamed as I saw a golden necklace hidden under his coat collar. It was in a weird shape and I swear on my love of anti-jokes that I saw a tiny person in there, it looked like a surfer dude with bright shiny teeth. The lazy man caught me looking, or he thought I was, at it and quickly covered it up with his dark collar. People think I don't pay attention but in all honesty, I see a ton of stuff that goes on behind the scenes. No one seems to ask my anything though, I guess they assume I'm stupid. Which is completely wrong, I'm just eccentric...or goofy. Not stupid.

"It's no use my old friend, you will never win. We've taken both parties, all that's left is the humans and what can they do besides delay the inevitable a day?" He spoke as I felt myself lose control for a minute. If you've ever had a lucid dream, which is having control over your dreams basically, you have this feeling of floating and seeing everything...that's what was happening to me. I was still in my body but I couldn't move at all, I was just a spectator to some other force.

"Hello Black! About the humans, they're all I need to stop you. There is more to them than meets the eye, haven't you learned that?" I spoke, which was weird because it was my voice but not my words. Not cool, do I have a split personality? Are you mystical Barney and I'm awesome Barney? I thought as something actually answered me!

Being mystical is awesome Barney. Some voice told me, it reminded me of an old man scolding a kid for some reason.

I didn't think that!

No, I did.

What? Stop that, give me back my body!

You'll have it back, first I talk. Then we talk face to, er, face.

But that is my face? What are we going to do? Talk to myself(ourselves) in the mirror?

Not exactly, I'll explain once I impede the spell.

You're going to remove a spell from office?

That's impeach Barney.

Oh, right.

I was so caught up in talking to myself (well my other self, or that guy, you get my point) that I missed out on an important part of the conversation because I focused just soon enough to see a dark green sword with a brown hilt in my hands clashing with a giant black spear.

"It's too late, in one week's time both will be gone forever. We will have won, then we will destroy the others and forge new worlds." Black (I'm assuming that's his name) gritted through his teeth as he did a swiping motion with his spear to try and knock me (us?) off my (our?) feet. Luckily I'm(we're? You know what, I'm just sticking to me,myself,and I) super cool and jumped off the ground in an instant to slice through the guy's shoulder. Almost instantly he turned to a pile of black sand that sank slowly into the Earth, when the barrier of sand disappeared I was in front of some really big house. I walked in and collapsed onto the floor at the drop of a hat, that was when I had an extremely weird dream.

I was in the middle of a lush forest but it looked abandoned of all wildlife, all that stood was a small cottage that was made inside the largest tree I've ever seen in my entire life. I cautiously walked up to it and knocked, how would you feel if someone barged into your house? I'm no Goldilocks.

A voice called, "Come in Barney." and unless he was talking to a purple dinosaur he meant me, so I walked into the cottage to see something straight out of "The Hobbit" (the movie of course, why read the book when you can see the movie?) It had a low ceiling, dark hardwood floors, nice candle lighting and an all around homely atmosphere. As soon as I entered I felt extremely relaxed but aware of everything around me, the rocking chair in the corner, the portrait of a guy that looked like Santa and a giant bunny, a few boxes labeled "Future Pranks", and a ton of weird stuff in jars with animal names and orbs floating inside them. I looked for the source of the voice but what caught my eye was the only thing on what appeared to be a dinning table, was a picture frame. I walked over to it and examined a beautiful portrait of an old guy, and I don't mean he was a looker. It was painted really well though.

The guy had a rather long beard, lucky, and wore a dark green wizard's hat. His ears were being put down by the hat, they reminded me of cow ears, and he wasn't wearing a shirt at all except some necklaces and a strap that might have gone to a messenger bag. He looked like an old hermit, but fit and wise. I admired it for a few seconds until the voice spoke again, this time I nearly dropped the painting.

"It's rude to stare Barney."

"Wha-" I started to speak but was interrupted, rudely I might add.

"We don't have much time so I'll just go ahead and start. I know you want answers to questions you've had all your life but I can't answer them, not now at least." I looked at the picture to see the man in the portrait moving like in Harry Potter movies or a hologram.

"Ya know, it's rude to interrupt someone when they're speaking." I said, forgetting to put up my filter for my motorboat mouth only to see the man smile gently.

"I knew I chose the right person. But back to business," He shivered like it was terrible to talk seriously like it was for me, we were then transported to a beach in front of the worst sea storm I've ever seen.

"Do you know why the sea is restless?"

"No I-"

"Never mind," The portrait waved it's hand like it didn't matter if I answered, "It's because it is under no rule. They have taken the Gods and Guardians, the world is plunging into chaos without their guidance. You hold the key to both of them escaping and us winning the coming war, you need to go upstairs into the attic and find the scroll of Star Trek." He smiled at me like I should know what he was talking about.

"Scroll of What?" I asked, confused at what I thought he said.

"I am truly sorry Barney, but I have to go. My energy is depleting, once you perform it correctly, assuming you don't die, you need to find the Workshop to start your quest. I'll be with you, in spirit at least." The storm was picking up and waves were crashing down on the beach as he spoke.

"Wait, what about my dad?!" I yelled as the portrait turned into a regular old painting and I was crushed by a wave of water but only after hearing the words, "He's alive." run through my head as I was swallowed by the raging sea.

I awoke on the floor of the house in a puddle to see a ton of people, the horse guy, and Percy looking at me. Knowing what the guy in my head said I had to find the attic to this place and activate my Klingon powers or something like that. I know what you might be thinking, "Barney, how can you trust a guy in your head? Are you insane?" Well, I might be insane but he didn't seem threatening and he knew something about my dad. If I could find him and ask him more questions...I could learn where I came from.

"Barney, are you alright?" Percy asked, the guy was oddly concerned for me. Not that I didn't like it, it was nice having someone care for you; even in a brotherly way. I felt like I owed him something, he saved my life from that hot snake chick and helped me reach this camp.

"Fine thanks. Now, where's the attic to his place?"

(A/N) So I haven't updated in a while for good reason. I kind of lost momentum with the story and interest but I thought I would tough it out till I found that spark and I think I did. Decided I am going to switch between 3-4 POVs throughout the story but keep the max at 2 per chapter. Been going through some tough times and working a lot, plus I have summer school (Government and Econ) so I'm rather busy at the moment. You all know how I forget what I wanted to put here so if I tend to ramble...yea. Going to focus a lot more on plot development, the first few chapters were really fillers in a sense but now I hope to get to the best part. The "intro" was the hardest to write, I had to set the background, setting, etc. and I think I have done a sufficient job on that! Been writing "The Lonely Mechanic" as well, which has gotten some good reception so you should check it out! I will try my hardest to update this as fast as I can but I had to force myself to write this chapter while listening to Pandora and talking to a friend, I think it turned out well! I really liked writing in Barney's POV, my favorite so far. Mainly because he is just so random, deep, and awesome (I know...I'm biased). So now I'll respond to some reviewers because people do that right? Right? P.S. Please review to let me know how I did, I think I have improved greatly in my writing ability since I first started!

puckoberon: Ummmmm...no comment. *shuffles away awkwardly*

daughterofthehunt: Again, love reading your reviews. They make me extremely happy and all fluffy and all that jazz. I probably did last chapter a bit too early but I wanted to write with Jack, don't worry though! I'll explain how they got there! Last chapter was sort of a glimpse of what is to come, if that makes sense? In all honesty I don't know why I wrote it, it just felt right. Good, never quit on DW! (That season finale...I only cried 500 times)

shalalalalalala: done.

GeekyGirlMeow: I didn't realize how long it has been so I guess the people owe me updating this chapter to you my good friend! Barney is not, I repeat, NOT Jack at all. He does know more than he lets on and I'll see if I can explain it at all in a later chapter, especially now that we know he has daddy issues! (Yea...he has way more issues than just daddy issues)

ImpossibleLaughs: That's my name bro! Already wrote more (look above) and are you Batman? I recently had a meeting with him and told him about my FF.

Thanks again for the support and everything! I love all of your faces and hope you have/had a great summer!