The Aftermath

~Thalia POV~

Thalia POV

I can't believe it. How did we lose? It was the perfect strategy. And I was busy fighting with Percy, the other teams could easily get the flag while I was fighting. Why did we have to lose?

Anger surged through me. I got up from the stretcher I was lying on. It hurt a lot, but I got up nonetheless as the humiliation hurt me more than the wounds. Rudy, who was leading Group A, and Connor Stoll, son of Hermes, who was leading Group B, stood there looking at their feet. "How did you mess this up? I asked them. "We gave you so much time to steal the flag yet you both failed. HOW?"

"There is no point in blaming those. Just admit it that you failed, Thalia," remarked Percy who still had Lady Artemis in his arms. "They couldn't have possibly broken through the barriers I put up."

I turned to the two leaders "What is this seaweed talking about?"

"well, when we reached there, there was a big barrier of water around the flag," stated Connor. "Yes, lieutenant, that water barrier wasn't just a normal barrier, it was running water. The water flowed downwards at extreme speed, so extreme, even a dragon couldn't cross it safely. We tried to move through the barrier but we were in vain. Most swords that were inserted in the barrier flattened in an instance."

"You could have worn a lot of armour and gone through!" I exclaimed. Percy smiled. "We could have, but that wouldn't have solved the problem," Connor responded. "Because after that barrier came a vacuum." I was lost. Vacuum? How could he create a vacuum in the entire region?

"Thalia seems lost, I will continue with the explanation." Percy piped in. "So Thalia, what I did was make two barriers instead of one. First was a barrier of water falling downwards at an extreme speed. After that, I left a gap and made a second barrier, this time with water flowing upwards, that is, against gravity at a nearly equal speed. Then I heated the middle region to get the air in it moving. This way the air became unstable and the moving water barriers easily removed all the air from the region. This barrier was tough to make as it required me to continuously heat the middle portion and make sure that the two barriers stay put. Maintaining it took a lot of my power and focus, but well, it worked."

Then it hit me, Percy wasn't even using his full strength against us. Much of his strength was used up in maintaining the barrier around his flag. I fell back to the bed. Percy had grown so much stronger in the last five years it is kind of scary.

Artemis came by my side "Thalia get yourself together. This idiot is a monster. Probably even the gods will have trouble with him." With that consolation, I went back to sleep.

~Percy POV~

Artemis lulled Thalia to sleep and came back to me. "You could have been more lenient towards them Percy," Artemis sighed. "Well I was going to go easy but then I saw a dumbass's face" I smirked. "Plus they need to understand the fact that they are unconditionally weak and will not survive if a new war starts."

Artemis held my hand as we started walking away from the infirmary. We were walking off to the lake, when we were stopped by Chiron, Dionysus, and some adult figures. It took me time to realize they were a few of those Hindu Gods. Don't blame me, they didn't have their characteristic multiple pair of arms or millions of jewels on their body for me to recognize.

I bowed to them as soon as I recognized them, as Artemis told me via telepathy that they were Brahma and Vishnu, two of the top-tier Gods. Once I was told that I started seeing some familiarities between their current forms and the ones I saw in Olympus.

Brahma was still old, but now his beard, which was very overgrown and matted, was a bit trimmed. His face was still that of an ascetic and showed calmness and serenity. He was wearing a hoodie that probably hid his heads which looked left and right. I wonder if he feels suffocated by doing that.

Vishnu on the other hand had a dark complexion and was wearing a long tailcoat. His face showed stress, yet somehow he had a mischievous smile. He held a stick in his hand, which had a coiled snake around it. If there had been another snake on the stick and had the stick been shorter, I would've mistaken it for the caduceus.

"Are the other Gods not here?" I blurted out. Artemis nudged me. Vishnu smiled "Do you want hundreds of Gods swarming into this small camp?"

"I-I um…."

"Nah, just playing with you, son. They are roaming around your country with the Greek gods. This way they can check on the situation while doing some sightseeing, which they don't get to do very often."

"Why not?" Artemis asked curiously.

"Well, we Indian Gods are everywhere yet nowhere. So naturally, we see everything. Plus we can't leave India to see other countries."

"Then how are you guys here?" I asked. Chiron started eying me.

Vishnu scratched his head. Well, since Shiv had absorbed all malice inside him, there wasn't much to take care of in India. Plus, we still have few Gods at the stand by in India just in case something happens."

I nodded. Brahma, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke, "Child, enough about us. Tell us about yourself. Chiron here told us a lot about you, but there are a few things we'd like you to answer, as well as few things we'd like to tell you."

I was confused. I looked at Chiron, and then at Dionysus, Both of whom nodded.

Seeing the two mentors nod, I went along with the two Gods into the meeting room thinking-

Very well, let's get this. What could go wrong?

And oh boy, how wrong I was.