Commander Alpha

Chapter 27

(A/N Sorry in advance)

Emma's POV

When Percy and Kronos finally shut up, I wasted no time in finding the darkest part of our enemy's army. Sure enough, that was where I found Nyx. She was firing clouds of darkness at demigods, making them blind and susceptible to monster attacks. I threw a white hot fireball at her, making it as bright as I could. She hissed when the flame hit her.
"Who dares attack the mother of night?" She screamed. I raised my hand admittingly. "You've bought yourself a loosing fight, girlie."
"Bring it on!" I rushed forward, adrenaline pumping in my system. I brandished my sword, and began attacking. Nyx threw a ball of darkness, but I managed to dissipate it by covering myself in white-hot flame. I thanked Chaos that our cloaks were fireproof. Nyx, for the moment, was surprised about the non-effectiveness of her powers, and I used the opportunity to go on a strong offense. Nyx started backing up, blocking my strikes with somehow solid darkness. When she'd had enough, Nyx thrust her hand upwards. A plume of darkness rose and knocked my sword from my hands. It flew several hundred feet away, far out of reach.
Thankfully, I had a backup knife with me and had always excelled in hand-to-hand combat, but it was still annoying. I decided to leave the knife for later, only using my hands. Nyx seemed surprised, and kept her sword out. I dodged her attacks, and managed to get a few good hits in. Hitting darkness felt weird. It filled me with feelings of dread and paranoia, just as actually being in the dark did, but much more strongly (what? Even though I'm a warrior, I still have fears, and mine happens to be the dark. Deal with it.) I guessed that my fight was taking longer than the others' had, as out of the corner of my eye I saw a few of the seven rush by, and Luke carrying an unconscious Zoë to the infirmary. I still had no idea if anything had come of the last line of the prophecy.
As seconds turned to minutes, Nyx's attacks grew quicker and quicker, her becoming annoyed at how long I was lasting. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. I drew back for a minute, calling on all of my Athena-given brainpower, and analyzed her fighting technique. I remembered something. She still didn't know about my knife. I realized that going in with it, and leaving myself pretty much completely unprotected would be suicide, but then one of my lines from the prophecy ran through my head. "The fire-blessed one must win, no matter the cost." I'd known that whatever 'cost' the prophecy was referring to would be unpleasant, but my life? That was a little much. Sure, I'd been around for like 200 years, but time on Chaos's planet was fast. I was technically eleven. Had I not discovered my godly parentage, I would still be in sixth grade. Not even a teenager yet.
I decided to leave the whole stabbing-Nyx-and-dying plan for an extreme backup. I tried to use the emotion-controlling aspect of my powers. I reached inside of Nyx and found a lot of things. Anger. Greed. Mercilessness. I also found a few things that surprised me, namely that she was unsure. I amplified this unsureness, and thought it was working. Her attacks became weaker, disheartened. After a minute, I felt her emotions violently change. She was soon completely made of rage. On second thought, I decided, maybe messing with her emotions wasn't the greatest plan.
I was procrastinating doing what I knew needed to be done when the second part of my chunk of the prophecy came into my mind. "For if she loses against night, then all shall be lost". I had to do it. The fate of the entire Earth was depending on it. I stealthily drew my knife.
'Bianca,' I thought, my eyes beginning to cloud with tears. 'I'm sorry.'
I whipped around, knife ready. Nyx wasn't prepared for the attack, and my knife sunk into her lower abdomen, and I immediately let go of its handle. She fell, and I fell with her. I wondered why, as I had let go of the knife. Then I realized, she hadn't let go of her sword. The blade was embedded up to the hilt in my chest. I wondered why I was only just noticing it, as the pain was unbearable, but began to fade. I felt a sense of calm fill me, a sensation I hadn't experienced in a while, being with the Warriors and all. I looked over and watched Nyx dissolve, snarling at me with her dying breath. I smiled.
The last thing I saw was Bianca racing toward me, her face panicked. A crowd of monsters surrounded her, but she snapped her fingers and they all crumbled to ash. I was just conscious enough to be impressed by the display of power, stronger than any I had ever seen from her.
"Emma," she cried. She must have sensed my lowering life force, as she didn't try to bring me back. She sat next to me, holding my hands.
As my vision faded, I felt her gently close my eyelids. She kissed my forehead.
"Dormo bene, il mio coraggioso." (A/N: The translation is (I think) sleep well, my brave one) Bianca whispered in a language I didn't understand. Nevertheless, the sound comforted me. I allowed myself to drift into the underworld.