Arachne hummed to herself happily.
This is the second time in only a couple days that someone challenged her to a fight! How could she not be happy? She had thought that the camp would be boring, but she's been having a lot of fun!
A small detour to clean herself and her companions off, and they were following the direction on the message she received.
Though she didn't know why her half-sister was tagging along, she didn't care too much.
"Shouldn't we go find Chiron? I'm pretty sure the rules say that duels need to be supervised…" Annabeth said hesitantly as they started moving through the forest.
"It's fine; I'm supervising." Mordred responded.
For some reason, that didn't fill Annabeth with confidence.
"These are children of the Goddess of Magic. Are you sure it'll be alright? Are you really good enough to compete with her children in Magic?"
"A am pretty good." Arachne said simply.
"Pretty good?" Annabeth repeated, weirdly concerned about her lackadaisical attitude. "How did you even learn magic anyways? Who taught you?"
"Well…" Arachne thought for a moment. "Me mum taught me a lot, but that was just her specialties. Then a had a bunch of aunties and uncles teach me stuff. O' course me da also taught me a lot….but a couldn't learn his magic." She grumbled at that last bit. "And a went to Hogwarts fer a few years, but I didn't finish cause it was boring."
Annabeth processed, hearing things that made sense. She didn't really 'know' who her mom was other than a name, but it didn't mean much to her, and she had no real way of checking.
But if her mother was really good at magic, it made sense.
"What's 'Hogwarts'?"
"A magic school up in Scotland." Mordred answered. "It's actually pretty nice. Though I can understand why the brat left and didn't finish."
"There's a school that teaches magic? That's awesome." Percy chimed in.
"A magic school!?" Annabeth all but shrieked in surprise. "You're telling me there's an entire school dedicated to teaching magic? Who teaches there, which gods!?"
"Aint no gods." Arachne scoffed. "It's mostly humans."
"No gods? But how does the magic work? How…even for the students? Everyone there is human?"
"Mostly."
"You mean like demigods or legacies, right?" Annabeth looked at her.
Arachne was confused. "Why do ya think only demigods or their children can learn magic? Me mum wasn't either and learned magic. Me da got no divine stuff inside o' him when he learned magic. Me Grandpa ain't no divine origin, and he's the best at magic."
Annabeth was silent.
It wasn't the first time Arachne had said this, although not as bluntly before. But Annabeth was trying to grasp at any semblance of normalcy in her words. It felt like every time Arachne opened her mouth, the world that Annabeth knew was whittled away just a little bit more.
When Annabeth first found out everything about the Camp, gods, everything, she felt like the world opened up to her. In a way, it made her feel special that she could see what's really out there.
But now, she felt small again, like the wider world she knew was just a tiny little corner and she was too stupid to see it before.
"Why'd you leave the Magic School? That sounds kinda rad." Percy asked.
Arachne let out a small sigh. "'Cause of who me family is, a got treated like a was royalty. A just wanted to learn magic and go to school."
Percy sympathized.
Partly.
He didn't really know anything about 'being treated like royalty,' but he understood just wanting to be normal, go to school normally, and do normal stuff.
Mordred snorted, though. "What she didn't say is that she kept getting in trouble because they wouldn't let her play with her spears or fight anyone."
"Why do they care if a practice with me spear!? A wasn't hurtin no body! They wouldn't let me have me spear; it's dumb!"
"But doesn't Magic come from the mists!?" Annabeth blurted out as the question popped in her head. "That's why children of the Goddess of Magic can use magic so well; they can control the mists easier."
Arachne scoffed. "What dumb bullshit is that? Do ya think Uncle Odin uses Greek stuff fer his magic?"
Annabeth blinked.
As learned as she is, of course she recognizes the name 'Odin.' And as she recently discovered that other gods exist, it didn't take her off guard, even if it was still strange to hear.
But what Arachne said made sense.
Why would another god, from a different region, use Greek stuff?
"Then…is everything I was told just a lie?" Annabeth whispered.
Her worldview was gradually being destroyed with each passing minute.
Annabeth and Percy were oblivious.
As they passed through the forest, Arachne would run a finger across various trees. Mordred noticed it as soon as it started happening, but she didn't say anything. She noted the various Runes that were etched into the bark as her fingers passed.
She wasn't here to police her little sister, just to make sure she doesn't get in over her head.
Mordred was of the mind that kids should get into a bit of trouble as long as it wasn't 'deadly.'
They eventually came to a clearing after walking a bit through the forest. They knew they were at the location described because there was a bonfire going and about a dozen figures covered in cloaks.
They had clearly prepared beforehand.
"Be honored, this is –"
"Yer trying too hard." Arachne interrupted her.
The girl, the one who was still cloaked amongst the others, seemed startled at the interruption. "What!?"
"Yer tryin too hard." Arachne looked around. "It's kind of silly."
"....."
They expected a completely different reaction.
"It looks like they put a lot of effort into things." Percy commented.
"Ah, yer right, a should be nicer." Arachne nodded. "Go ahead, a will wait." She gestured to the others.
"Well, the mood is ruined now." One of them scoffed.
"I can't believe we practiced for, like, three hours for nothing."
Various grumbles of annoyance were voiced as they all pulled down their hoods.
"Oh, are we startin!?" Arachne perked up, and immediately her demonic red spear appeared in her hand. "Who am a fighting first? Or are you all comin at me together!?"
"No!" The girl in front shouted. "This is a magic duel, not some brutish brawl!"
Arachne stopped in her proverbial tracks. "No spear?" She asked.
"A magic duel, you stupid girl!"
"...if a use magic to launch me spear at ya, does it count?"
"Stop! No spears! No weapons!"
Arachne looked at the spear in her hand with a genuine expression of sadness.
"Ah guess no spear then…" She put it away.
"Ugh, I can't believe I have to do this." She grunted. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. We're going to have a magic duel, and when you lose, you're not allowed to use magic anymore."
"That's fookin dumb." Arachne deadpanned.
"What?" The girl was taken aback by the response.
"I aint agreeing to somethin stupid like that.
"If you're scared – "
"Duel to the death." Arachne blurted out right back at her. "If yer want to be stupid 'bout it, let's just fight to the death!"
Once more, the child of Hecate was taken aback by Arachne's response. Everything was going way off course, all their practiced scripts seemed to not be working.
For Arachne, she wouldn't agree to something ridiculous like that if she didn't have to. If someone wanted to impose a dumb restriction, just make it a duel to the death.
"Don't worry, a know a Geass that will force us to fight to the death, or we both die; it will be fair." Arachne followed up.
The daughter of Hecate actually looked horrified.
"NO! No one's dying; what's wrong with you!?"
"Yer the one who was being stupid with somethin like 'no more magic.'" Arachne rolled her eyes.
"It's not stupid!"
"Very stupid."
She was seething at this point.
"We're the children of Hecate! We're the ones who get to practice magic!"
Arachne just continued to look at the girl like she was an idiot.
"Fine!" She all but screeched. "Then, you're not allowed to go around telling other people to start practicing magic! That's our thing; you don't get to tell others to do it!"
"Why are you guys so caught up on that? Shouldn't you be happy that other people want to learn magic and stuff?" Percy asked.
Arachne just nodded because she was confused.
The girl scoffed. "What do you know? How would you feel if a bunch of other demigods wanted to start controlling water, or whatever?"
"...I would honestly not care. Actually, it would be great because then they'd come out and join me in the lake!" Percy perked up.
The girl scowled deeply.
"And, like, don't you guys use weapons too? I see a dagger on your waist. Wouldn't that be like 'stealing' from other gods too cause they got weapons as their thing?" Percy pointed out.
There was a beat of silence as Percy said that.
Even Arachne hadn't considered that point; she was mostly hung up on the stupid concept of 'not wanting other people to practice magic.' But then again, she also knew a bunch of other idiots who wanted to monopolize magic.
"Well, he's not wrong." Mordred agreed.
"Can we hurry up? A am starting te get bored." Arachne stated.
"Fine, let's get started." The girl huffed. "You'll be dueling me. I'm Selene Farrow, the second-best witch of our group!"
"Why aint I fightin the best then?"
"As if she would come deal with someone stupid like you."
"...she thought it was stupid and didn't come, right?"
"Shut up!"
"Whatever, let's fight!" Arachne took out a wand, much to the surprise of the Hecate children.
"What's that?" Selene called out. "I said no weapons."
"It's a wand, are ye daft?" Arachne responded. "Have ya never heard o' a magic foci before?"
The girl clenched her fists tight and resisted the urge to really want to forgo the magic aspect and just jump her.
Everyone started to take steps back as they sensed it was about to start.
Even Arachne's group gave her enough space as she twirled the wand in her fingers.
"Well, make yer move." Arachne gestured to her.
The Daughter of Hecate held her hands out, and they became engulfed in flames. She threw the flames at Arachne wordlessly.
Arachne's wand glowed faintly, and she used it to deflect the fireballs away with ease.
Selene furrowed her brow, taking a step forward, and the fire from the bonfire surged around her. "O' Apollo's mighty Chariot, gathering the Sun's Flames and burst!" A wave of fire swept outwards from her towards Arachne.
"Aqua Eructo!" Arachne cast in return; a torrent of water erupted from her wand, clashing with the wave of fire as steam filled the clearing.
Once it settled and swept away in the evening sky, both girls were still standing without issue.
Arachne wasn't unfamiliar with Greek magic.
It involved words in more of a sense than most forms of magic. It was a thaumaturgical system that invoked a god, and by extension, their domain, to cast your magic through. At least, that was the primary method that she was familiar with. There were also generic ways to cast spells through the use of the Mists and innate magic.
"Is that it? are of ye done with the warm-up?" Arachne asked.
The mists surged around her, and she thrust her hands up. "Mother, turn the area to night!"
The sun above flickered, and in this specific area, a deep night descended downwards, covering all of them.
She could get away with quick and easy invocations of her mom's side in such a casual manner.
"Ah, using the Mists as a bridge, a get it." Arachne nodded, then flicked her wand, and an array of sparks and lights shot at the girl.
The Mists front of her swirled, as if devouring the magics; they collapsed on them, stopping them from reaching Selene.
The two of them started to wordlessly fling spells at one another.
They were simple by most definitions of the word. They could even be called cantrips by experienced mages, but they were plentiful and quick.
However, Selene was gradually becoming angrier because she didn't expect some random girl to be able to keep up with her – a daughter of Hecate, a talented one at that – in magic.
Selene let out a frustrated growl, and the shadows around her warped into daggers by the dozens and shot at Arachne.
Arachne held out her hand. "Ἄτλας"
An intense force pushed down all the shadowy daggers until they hit the ground. It didn't stop, and even rocks and stones beneath it cracked and shattered as the shadowy daggers also burst from the pressure.
Selene's eyes widened.
Of course she could understand the word; she was a Greek demigod.
She heard Arachne invoke Atlas, the Titan of Endurance.
But what utterly confused her was that there was no 'prayer' offered, no words to invoke the Immortal's being or their domain, or to ask for assistance.
That's what she's seen her mother do.
"I'll show ya one of me da's spells!" Arachne said excitedly, and Selene could see the magic starting to surge off of her. With a flick of Arachne's wand, Runes came into existence. "Freezing Winds of Jotunheim!"
Mordred was quick to react, grabbing Percy and Annabeth and putting them behind her, as their group was the closest.
A freezing cold surged outwards, immediately icing over everything in the vicinity.
Selene let out a shout, chanting in Ancient Greek as a shield enveloped her, holding off the deathly cold winds.
"Oh, that looks like a good shield!" Arachne grinned; her bloodlust was bubbling to the surface as she started getting into it. "Let's see if a can break it! Bombarda Maxima!"
Selene just saw an explosion in front of her face as her barrier cracked and broke, the ensuing explosion sending her flying backwards until she hit a tree and bounced off of it.
In a panic, she cried out, and the mists wrapped around her, making her disappear from the spot.
"O Immortal Night, hear my prayer! I ask for your children's nightmares to come to life. Tooth and Claw beckons them forward to tear apart my enemy."
Arachne tilted her head as red eyes began to glow in the surroundings.
Strange, shadowy creatures stepped out of the shadows.
To Arachne, they sort of looked like Grimm.
Arachne smiled. "Expecto Patronum!"
The luminescence light was gentle as it surged out of the tip of her wand. Almost like moonlight as it illuminated the engrossing darkness around her.
The ethereal light formed together until it was given shape.
A large owl flapped its wings, and the shadowy constructs halted their advance. The onlookers also noted the rather oddly placed top hat on the owl's head and the monocle.
"Go, Duke Hootsworth III!"
The owl let out a screech and flew around in a circle; its light pushed away the surrounding darkness and began to drive off the shadowy creatures.
However, there were a lot of shadowy creatures.
"Don't worry, Duke Hootsworth! Reinforcements are coming! Avis!" Arachne cast once more, and from her wand, she conjured a large flock of birds, but she wasn't done. "Oak Flesh!"
The conjured birds were enveloped in a flickering armor reminiscent of oak.
They started to 'attack' the shadow creatures. Though they weren't even real birds, their methods of 'attacking' were just to dive-bomb them.
The shadowy creatures, to their credit, were ripping them apart with relative ease, but Arachne was just laughing as she was having fun.
"O Goddess of –"
Arachne found her location in the darkness as soon as she started speaking. "Silencio!" She cast, and a burst of light shot from her wand and collided with the shrouded girl a few yards back into the forest.
She yelped and realized she could utter a word.
To her, it seemed like some kind of curse.
Arachne took that chance to aim her wand again. "This is one of me Da's favorites, Thunderbolt."
From her wand, the air crackled, and with a thunderous boom, a torrent of lightning tore through the air right at her location.
With an explosive boom, several trees were uprooted and torn apart.
The laughter from Arachne redoubled as a hidden Rune on each of the fake birds began to glow, and then they subsequently exploded.
Without context, if someone walked over suddenly, they would see an almost maniacal laugh from a girl as she was making the forest explode all around her with fires igniting and lightning shooting from her wand.
Annabeth stood there, utterly shocked.
She had seen her 'sister' fight already, but a lot of that she attributed to the recently learned Divine Spear she had in her possession.
But seeing it again, seeing her just use magic that apparently 'anyone' can learn, it made her really feel like she had been wasting her time.
And there was a second thought.
She was now wondering if her half-sister was in fact the bad guy in this scenario.
"Enough!" A shrill voice sounded out; Selene had gotten her voice back. She stepped out of the shadows, huffing, with some blood on her whitening face, tired and bruised, but still standing tall.
Arachne tilted her head. "Are ya finally going to use that spell ya was preparing all this time?"
Selene's eyes widened. "You knew!?"
"How could a not know? Ya prepared this whole place as a ritual." Arachne rolled her eyes as her Patronus let out a sound in the air.
Selene breathed harder, anger clear on her face.
The shadowy creatures that remained started to fall over and dissipate, and their magics all formed together.
The malevolent energy coalesced into a large figure that began to take shape.
To Arachne's eyes, it sort of looked like a wendigo.
It was big, though; its head stood above the trees.
"Isn't it cheating to have been preparing that beforehand?" Arachne asked.
"A real master of magic always makes preparations!" She responded hastily, even mockingly.
"Ah, good that we agree." Arachne smiled.
Then, several hundred small lights appeared in the forest behind her, from the path they took to reach here.
All the runes she had left behind lit up at once.
A large magic circle appeared under Arachne's feet and began to expand.
The ground began to rumble.
From her hand, five Talismans appeared between her fingers. "Metal Enriches Water. Water Nurtures Wood. Wood feeds Fire. Fire dries Earth. Earth refines Metal. Five Elements Mutual Generation!"
She didn't practice much Onmyōdō, but she knew a handful of spells that she felt were practical. In this case, the specific one that helped her cast this large scale Ritual.
"The Ultimate Spell of the Druids that me Uncle Cu taught me, come – Wicker Man!"
The trees used as material, out of the spell circle, the wooden construction emerged, wreathed in flames as it stood up behind her.
It was big, much larger than Selene's own 'summon.'
"Mine's bigger." Arachne said as Selene stared in horrified silence.
The Wicker Man then stomped her summon.
[Line Break]
A/N
Arachne as more fun, and more kids gets traumatized. It's weird how there seems to be some type of correlation there.
If you want to read 4 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
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